At first, Bu Hua recounted everything that had happened to Xiao Jingcheng after he arrived in Ningzhou, just as Shen Lingyun had asked. For example, how he had discovered that local officials in Ningzhou were smuggling private salt, how he had investigated and handled the case, how many local officials he had punished, how many shops he had sealed up, and how much stolen money he had confiscated.
Xiao Jingcheng had written all these details in a case file. After the case was closed, he had sent someone to deliver it back to the capital. Although Shen Lingyun, as the queen, was not allowed to interfere in politics, she had her own ways of getting a copy of the file and learning about Xiao Jingcheng's achievements on this trip.
She already knew all this.
Bu Hua then mentioned the three assassinations that Xiao Jingcheng had encountered one after another after leaving Ningzhou. First, it was the water bandits, then the mountain bandits, and finally the killers. One thing led to another, clearly trying to force Xiao Jingcheng to his death.
She also knew all this, right up to the point when Xiao Jingcheng was shot by an arrow and fell off a cliff, disappearing.
"After that, I led the other guards of the Eastern Palace and followed the river all the way south, searching every village and town..."
Shen Lingyun interrupted him. "You searched every village and town. How exactly did you conduct the search?"
Bu Hua replied, "Naturally, we checked every household. His Highness the Crown Prince fell from such a great height. Whether he was alive or dead, there would surely be some traces left behind. We searched along the way for a whole month but couldn't find any trace of His Highness. It wasn't until we reached Dongli Town that we found the boot that His Highness had left behind..."
"Checked every household?" Shen Lingyun sneered. "Carrying the flag of the Eastern Palace, you barged into the common people's homes, beating and smashing things. You made the people too afraid to voice their grievances and ruined the Crown Prince's reputation. As the Right Commander of the Eastern Palace Guards, is this how you do things?"
Bu Hua pleaded for mercy. "Your Majesty has wronged me. I was just worried that those stubborn commoners didn't know His Highness the Crown Prince's identity. If they met His Highness, they might treat him badly. That's why I wanted to teach them a lesson."
"Still daring to argue!" Shen Lingyun shouted angrily. "Slap his mouth!"
Zi Xi stepped forward and slapped Bu Hua hard across the face. Zi Xi used her strength, and in no time, Bu Hua's face was swollen like a pig's head. There was blood in his mouth, and his teeth began to loosen.
Zi Xi grabbed Bu Hua's hair and forced him to look up.
Shen Lingyun said, "That corpse clearly wasn't the Crown Prince. There were so many flaws on the corpse. And you, as the Right Commander of the Eastern Palace Guards, who often accompanied His Highness, couldn't tell at all."
"You were the most familiar with the Crown Prince's itinerary. It must have been you who betrayed the Crown Prince and revealed his whereabouts to the assassins, thus forcing him into a dangerous situation."
Shen Lingyun said coldly, "You dared to collude with outsiders and betray the Crown Prince. This act is equivalent to treason. According to the laws of the Great Sheng Dynasty, you should be executed by slow slicing, and your nine generations of kin should be exterminated."
"Someone, go and find out who else is in his family. Arrest them all and, in front of him, slice off the flesh from their bodies piece by piece. Let him see with his own eyes what it's like to watch his loved ones die miserably."
Just a while ago, she had made Zi Yan feed the Gu worm to Concubine Shu, which had already surprised everyone. Now, hearing her say such cruel words so coldly, the two sisters, Zi Xi and Zi Yan, changed their impression of her once again.
Xiao Tianchi had given an order for them to be loyal to Shen Lingyun. No matter what orders she gave, they must carry them out.
Zi Xi immediately replied, "Yes, this servant will go and do it right away."
Bu Hua's pupils constricted, and he struggled violently. "No, please, Your Majesty the Queen. I - I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything. It was all my doing. Please, Your Majesty, spare my family!"
When dealing with a snake, you have to strike at its seven - inch spot. If Shen Lingyun had just tortured Bu Hua, he might have gritted his teeth and remained unyielding.
But Shen Lingyun was threatening him with what he cared about the most. Bu Hua didn't put up much of a struggle and confessed everything.
According to him, half a year ago, when he was drinking and having fun in a brothel, he had a conflict with another guest over a prostitute. Relying on his position as the Right Commander of the Eastern Palace Guards, he refused to give in. During the scuffle, he pushed a young master, and the young master died just like that.
Bu Hua didn't take this matter to heart at first. He even gave the madam of the brothel a sum of money to keep her mouth shut. Who would have thought that a few days later, a masked man found him and said that the young master he had pushed to death was the nephew of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works. Now, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works was posting notices all over the city to find the murderer of his nephew.
Only then did Bu Hua panic.
The rules in the Eastern Palace were strict. Xiao Jingcheng prohibited his subordinates from visiting brothels and from acting tyrannically outside under the name of the Eastern Palace.
If the matter of him killing someone were to be exposed to Xiao Jingcheng, he would surely be severely punished. By then, not only would he lose his title as the Right Commander of the Eastern Palace Guards, but he might also lose his life!
So he begged the man to think of a way for him.
Only then did the man reveal his identity. It turned out that he was a strategist under Prince Xuan. As long as Bu Hua served Prince Xuan, Prince Xuan would surely find a way to suppress this matter and allow him to continue staying in the Eastern Palace.
When Prince Xuan eventually became the Crown Prince and ascended the throne as the emperor in the future, he would also confer the title of general on Bu Hua and bestow a general's mansion on him.
For the sake of interests, Bu Hua agreed. From that moment on, he completely betrayed Xiao Jingcheng and secretly defected to Xiao Yixuan.
Following Xiao Yixuan's secret order, Bu Hua led Xiao Jingcheng to Ningzhou and then led him to discover the matter of private salt smuggling. Given Xiao Jingcheng's character, he would surely pursue the matter to the end, and this matter would involve the interests of many people.
Xiao Yixuan took advantage of the situation and arranged the assassinations with the aim of killing Xiao Jingcheng in Ningzhou so that he could seize the position of the Crown Prince.
Bu Hua's high - profile and tyrannical behavior among the common people, which ruined the Crown Prince's reputation, was also at the instigation of Prince Xuan.
"However, although His Highness Prince Xuan gave me orders, he didn't let me know everything. I can't guess why His Highness Prince Xuan arranged things in Dongli Town. And I really didn't know that the corpse wasn't His Highness the Crown Prince. I thought, I thought..."
Shen Lingyun finished his sentence for him, but there was no trace of warmth in her voice. "You thought that it really was the Crown Prince?"
Bu Hua hung his head deeply.
"Do you know where the Crown Prince was at that time?"
Bu Hua shook his head. "I don't know."
"What else did Prince Xuan ask you to do in Dongli Town?" Shen Lingyun asked.
Bu Hua said in a low voice, "He asked me to send people to the teahouses, restaurants, or places with a lot of people in the town to spread a lot of malicious remarks about His Highness the Crown Prince. In this way, the common people would think that the Crown Prince deserved to die, and he could naturally take his place."
Everything that Bu Hua said was more or less in line with Shen Lingyun's speculation.
However, she still couldn't quite figure it out. If Xiao Jingcheng really had fallen into Xiao Yixuan's hands, then what was Xiao Yixuan's intention in going to so much trouble to get a fake corpse?
Wasn't he worried that Xiao Tianchi would see through the flaws at a glance and continue to investigate this case in depth?
Shen Lingyun always felt that the matter of the Crown Prince's assassination was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.
A single corpse couldn't explain much. There must be deeper purposes and intentions hidden behind it.
It seemed that she still had to find a way to learn more.