allonlinenovel Chapter 295: Lord Cheng En wants to open the coffin for autopsy
Chapter 295: Lord Cheng En wants to open the coffin for autopsy
On the Lantern Festival, an auspicious day selected by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, the Empress Dowager's body was placed in the coffin.
His Majesty and the Queen were waiting outside, while the abbot and monks of the Huguo Temple were chanting sutras in the funeral hall.
Duke Cheng'en and Wei Shuyun stood on both sides of the coffin, watching Hua Zisheng lead the eunuchs to perform the coffin-burying ceremony for the empress dowager.
Duke Cheng'en cried bitterly, filled the empress dowager's coffin with gold and silver objects, and placed a jade lotus flower on top of the empress dowager's bones, and jade lotus leaves under her feet.
It means lotus flowers blooming at every step.
Duke Cheng'en looked at His Majesty and asked, "Is it time to cut your hair?"
When closing the coffin and lowering the nails, Your Majesty needs to cut a lock of hair and wrap it around the coffin nails.
His Majesty did not cut his hair either, and said calmly: "The Queen Mother's life was not easy, and she has made immortal contributions to Daqian. I am not in a hurry to close the coffin. If General Jiangxia comes back, he can still see the Queen Mother's remains."
Wei Anyuan was the military governor of the Northwest Frontier Army and held the official title of General Jiangxia.
Duke Cheng En was very satisfied and said casually: "The Queen Mother and Your Majesty are so loving and filial to each other that they move heaven and earth."
Your Majesty was angry inwardly, but he did not show it on his face.
The Imperial Astronomical Observatory pointed out that January 22 was an auspicious day and the empress dowager could be buried and her coffin closed.
On the 21st, after the meeting in the court, His Majesty called Duke Cheng'en, the Empress, the Crown Prince and others to come and said, "Tomorrow is the auspicious day selected by the Imperial Observatory for the closure of the coffin. Do you have any items for the Empress Dowager to put in the coffin?"
The Empress Dowager is the glory of the Wei family and is a huge mountain that has always weighed on Your Majesty's head. As long as the Empress Dowager has not been buried, Your Majesty must hold her in high esteem and respect her.
But the person is already dead, and more than 20 days have passed since the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, and all the troubles that needed to be done have been done.
Duke Cheng'en was over seventy years old and the Queen was fifty, both of them were elderly. After more than twenty days of hard work, they were already exhausted.
"Close the coffin. I have nothing else to buy."
All the necessary etiquette was followed, and money was spent like water these days. It was hard to find fault with his family.
His Majesty was also a little tired and rubbed his head.
Before dawn the next day, the Minister of Rites, the Vice Minister and others followed Hua Zisheng into the funeral hall.
The empress dowager's face was covered with a jade veil and her body was covered with five or six brocade quilts.
Hanako Sheng led people to count and check the things in the empress dowager's coffin again, and found nothing wrong.
The Ministry of Rites followed the procedure and ordered the coffin to be closed.
Emperor Hui took a small handful of hair in his hand and gave it to Hua Zisheng, then wrapped it around the coffin nails and closed the coffin!
The pallbearers in charge of carrying the coffin began to perform the movements with the poles.
For some unknown reason, several pallbearers suddenly became suspicious of the empress dowager's coffin.
The next day after court was dismissed, the Queen came to His Majesty's imperial study to ask for an audience.
"What's the matter, Queen?"
"Your Majesty, my brother sent a pair of jade ruyi from the border to the Queen Mother. He wants to put them in the Queen Mother's coffin. I want someone to open the coffin lid and put them in."
Emperor Hui knew that the Wei family must have heard something.
Why put the jade ruyi there? Do you want to open the coffin for an autopsy?
He threw the memorial in his hand and said angrily, "Empress, although the Queen Mother is from the Wei family, she is the Queen Mother of Daqian and is no longer a member of the Wei family. The Wei family has no right to open the Queen Mother's coffin."
"Your Majesty, please calm down. I have not disrespected the Queen Mother, nor would I dare to do so. But your kindness is evident to all..."
"Then let him ask God! How can a coffin be opened just like that? This will affect Daqian's fortune, do you understand?"
The Queen and His Majesty parted on bad terms, and the Queen was driven back to the Central Palace, feeling angry.
She was annoyed that her father was nosy and believed everything he heard. The coffin was in good condition and she had people watching it all the time. How was it possible that the empress dowager's body was not in the coffin?
However, my father has always been shrewd and calculating, and he would never question anything that he was not sure of.
That means there is a high possibility that the Queen Mother's body was replaced in the coffin.
But His Majesty does not agree to open the coffin!
His Majesty did not agree to open the coffin. Duke Cheng'en put together the news he had heard and became even more confused.
But Your Majesty is not an ordinary nephew/son-in-law. As his uncle/father-in-law, he has to obey Your Majesty.
There is only one way to force His Majesty to open the coffin. The officials request and the monks propose that if the coffin is not opened, it will affect the country's destiny.
The Minister of Rites is a royalist, but the Vice Minister is his man.
The Minister of Rites secretly gave him advice and asked the prince to go to the Imperial Observatory. The Imperial Observatory suggested that the coffin be re-closed, saying that there were changes in the stars in the sky...
Duke Cheng'en did not choose to have a conversation with the Minister of Rites in the imperial palace. Even in a corner of the palace, there would probably be a few secret guards hiding there.
The two met at a teahouse owned by Duke Cheng'en.
Due to the Empress Dowager's funeral, restaurants, brothels and pleasure boats all stopped operating, but the teahouse was still open.
After the two of them had made their plan, they hurried back to look for the people from the Imperial Observatory.
Not far away, I heard a loud "crack", spring thunder exploded, and a heavy rain came.
That rain was not the drizzle of spring, but a real heavy rain.
"I thought it would snow because the sky was gloomy, but I didn't expect it to rain so heavily."
Even though Duke Cheng'en and the Minister of Rites had a carriage, they had to hide from the rain under the shed for a while.
The spring rain is not only cold, but also thunderous, which can easily scare horses.
Because they didn't bring raincoats, many passers-by came running in from under the Buddhist shed to avoid the rain.
Who in Kyoto didn't know the carriage of Lord Cheng'en? Seeing him drive the carriage in to take shelter from the rain, everyone consciously made way for a large area and crowded into a corner a few steps away.
The lay Buddhist shed was built with money donated by Buddhist believers in Kyoto. It can provide shelter from rain and snow.
The shed was not big, and when the wind blew sideways, people standing nearby were soaked to the bone.
A little girl came running in quickly from the road, carrying a cloth bag across her shoulder and a broken wooden board on her head, and ran quickly under the shed.
Seeing that there was some space under the shed near the carriage of Duke Cheng'en and the Minister of Rites, he immediately ran over to take shelter from the rain.
The driver of Lord Cheng'en looked at the girl, who seemed to be no more than eleven or twelve years old, with her hair tied up in a mess with a piece of cloth.
The clothes she wore were worn and thin. It was still very cold during the first month of the year in Kyoto, and the little girl was only wearing shoes.
"You stinky beggar, where are you trying to squeeze into? Get out of the way." Lord Cheng'en's driver guessed that she was a country girl, and maybe a poor beggar.
With a strong push, the little girl was pushed into the rain.
The little girl who was pushed into the rain protected her head with her hands and squeezed in again.
She looked at the driver with round eyes and said angrily, "I am taking shelter from the rain, what does it have to do with you? This is the capital, not your home."
The prime minister's doorman is a seventh-rank official! The full-time driver of Cheng Engong, even officials below the fifth rank have to respectfully call him "little brother".
At this time, he saw the girl squeezed to the side of Lord Cheng'en's carriage again and shouted, "How many heads do you have to chop off for bumping into Lord Cheng'en?"
"You are not Lord Cheng'en, why are you so arrogant? Besides, Lord Cheng'en can't just kill ordinary people casually, right?"
Lord Cheng En saw the little girl as a little beggar, but she didn't shrink at all. She had a pair of big round almond eyes, with clear black pupils.
This girl is still young, but when she grows up, she will definitely be a rare beauty.
Taking Yin to replenish Yang, it was obvious that the girl was a virgin. He had been in poor health and spirit for more than a year, so he took the girl back first, and then took her away after the empress dowager's funeral was over.
With a gentle look on his face, he scolded the driver, "Don't be rude to the people. - Miss, where are you from? Do you have a place to go?"
The little girl turned her big eyes, tilted her head to look at Lord Cheng'en, and said, "I came from the mountains and came to Kyoto to find my brother."
"Who is your brother?"
"Lu Xinzhi."
"Which government office do you work for?"
"do not know."
Lord Cheng'en said patiently, "There is nothing in Daqian that I cannot do. You can stay at Lord Cheng'en's mansion first. As long as your brother is still alive, I will definitely find him for you."
The little girl got into his carriage happily.