Chapter 870 Death of the Guide
It's really weirdly tight!
It was surprising enough that Li Enxian appeared in Jia Yucun's sedan chair in the morning, but only half a day later, he was lying in the morgue of the Dali Temple.
But what surprised Sun Shaozong even more was that this guy actually froze to death!
You should know that the last time Sun Shaozong saw him was around noon.
Although the temperature this winter was much lower than in previous years, Sun Shaozong refused to believe that a lively person could be frozen to death in the middle of the day.
At this time, Qiu Yunfei and Qin Kejian had also followed in. Seeing Sun Shaozong frowning and looking at the corpse on the bed, they guessed that he might have known the deceased.
So Qiu Yunfei couldn't help but ask, "Sir, who is this guy?"
Sun Shaozong turned around and glanced at him, and saw that his face was full of inquiry, but it didn't seem like he was asking a question knowing the answer.
So he asked in return: "How was this body found?"
Qiu Yunfei hurriedly said, "The Ministry of Public Health closed the road this morning. When Old Xu was performing the autopsy this afternoon, he found a lot of valuables on him. One of them was engraved with the words "Supervised by the North Korean Internal Construction Bureau."
"And Old Xu found out that this man must have lived a life of luxury. That means his tattered clothes were probably a disguise."
"After hearing about this, Jia Fu Yin suspected that this person was an important figure in the Korean delegation. He also remembered that you had dealt with them before, so he asked me to bring the body here and ask you to help identify it."
It turned out to be Jia Yucun who sent it!
But why did he do this?
And how did Li Enxian die?
He had clearly been carried into the palace in a sedan chair.
Could it be that...
Is this what the emperor meant?
But why did Emperor Guangde secretly kill an envoy of a country and intend to treat him as a roadkill?
With countless doubts in mind, Sun Shaozong frowned and looked at Li Enxian's body for a long time. Suddenly, he turned around and walked to the desk in the corner. He took out the blank autopsy booklet prepared by the coroners, and placed the writing brush, inkstone and inkstone on the table one by one.
Qiu Yunfei wanted to help grind the ink, but was forced back by Sun Shaozong's look.
"I need to think about something alone. You guys go wait outside."
Although the two were confused, they could not disobey Sun Shaozong's order, so they hurried out of the morgue.
When there was only one person and one body left in the morgue, Sun Shaozong ground the ink and picked up the pen to write on the booklet, sorting out all the information he had currently and the unresolved doubts.
…
Li Enxian, the eldest son of the late Joseon powerful official Li Guizhi, is naturally far less influential than his father, but he can be considered one of the important officials in the court and is quite trusted by the Joseon King Cho Dong-wook.
This can be seen from the fact that he led diplomatic missions to pay tribute twice.
He has a gentle and elegant personality, like a gentleman but not pedantic. During the Jinmen Prefecture incident, he showed the same courage and intelligence as before.
He highly respects the Great Zhou and is a typical guide.
This can be easily judged from his daily words and deeds, as well as his reaction when the new firearms were stolen.
In addition, although Li Enxian had never shown his skills, judging from the various traces on the corpse, he should have practiced martial arts.
As to whether it can be used in actual combat, it is unknown.
…
After listing Li Enxian's personal information one by one in the autopsy book, Sun Shaozong hesitated for a moment and added two words at the end:
anxiety.
Compared with his first diplomatic mission, although he tried his best to restrain his words and deeds this time, the sense of anxiety did not escape Sun Shaozong's eyes.
But at that time, Sun Shaozong only thought that his anxiety was caused by the aggressiveness of the Jurchens in Liaodong.
After all, what he was thinking about at that time was to promote the two countries to send troops together to attack the Jurchens in Liaodong.
But now it seems that what causes his anxiety may also be the pressure from within - in fact, the pressure from within is the biggest cause of his anxiety.
This inference comes from the fact that the North Korean delegation announced that Li Enxian was too ill to manage the affairs of the government, but today he appeared in the refugee camp in good health .
Although I only took a quick glance at him this morning, I could tell that he didn't look sick, at most he just looked a little disheveled.
In addition, he did not request an audience with the emperor through diplomatic channels, but instead took a radical approach and went to seek help from a small manager in the refugee camp.
It can basically be inferred that he was most likely under house arrest by the diplomatic mission before!
If we think about it more deeply, Li Enxian was the chief envoy and one of the important officials in the court. The fact that he was placed under house arrest without any news meant that either one of the most powerful officials of Joseon was hidden in the delegation, or the internal situation of Joseon had changed, and it was a drastic change!
Sun Shaozong prefers the latter.
Because he vaguely remembered that the current King of Korea, Cho Dong-wook, seemed to be nearly eighty years old. If it was because of his health problems that led to the instability in the court, Sun Shaozong would not find it strange at all.
As mentioned before, Li Enxian is Cao Dongxu's favorite...
etc!
Could it be that the ruling clique in North Korea is now also harboring rebellious thoughts towards the Great Zhou?
This could also explain why Li Enxian did not reveal a single word to him when they first met, but now that he had escaped from the inn, he was clamoring to report a huge secret.
At the beginning, he probably didn't think of exposing the internal conflicts to the Great Zhou.
But he didn't expect that when he returned to the post station, he would be placed under house arrest by the spies arranged by his enemy in the delegation.
Li Enxian was indignant, and as he had the genes of a traitor, he wanted to pass on the news of the instability in North Korea to the Great Zhou court after escaping from the embassy.
Um……
Judging from his initial attitude of being eager to promote an alliance between the two countries and attack the Jurchens of Liaodong, he might have intended to collude with the domestic authorities and the Jurchens of Liaodong.
Li Enxian was eager to destroy this alliance.
…
Having written this, Sun Shaozong suddenly frowned and stopped writing, because if his inference was correct, Li Enxian's subsequent plan was already infinitely close to success.
After all, Sun Shaozong saw with his own eyes that the sedan chair he was riding in entered the palace through Xihua Gate.
If that was the case, why did he die an untimely death and be sent to me as a road accident?
perhaps……
Should we think from a different angle?
After randomly scribbling many meaningless symbols on the autopsy book, Sun Shaozong suddenly became serious and wrote the words "Da Zhou" on it.
The current Zhou Dynasty is undoubtedly in a turbulent period.
The Japanese invasion in the southeast had not yet been quelled, and the war in the southwest had just begun. The imperial court was afraid that it would not be able to deal with the gradually rising Jurchens in Liaodong.
If North Korea officially has an affair with the Zhenni at this time, it would be even worse.
If I were the emperor, I would definitely try my best to avoid this situation from happening.
At this time, Li Enxian suddenly jumped out to report...
Perhaps he died because of the word "suddenly"!
Whether Li Enxian's actions were out of his awareness as a guide or he wanted to use Da Zhou to deal with domestic political enemies, they pushed Da Zhou into a corner, forcing it to face the possibility of Joseon's imminent betrayal.
However, how can the court respond now?
Show off the majesty of the Celestial Empire and send envoys to denounce the Kingdom of Korea?
If this were really done, the happiest people would probably be the Jurchens of Liaodong.
Do nothing?
Not all members of the North Korean delegation are blind or deaf. They will inevitably sense the risk of exposure from Li Enxian's disappearance.
At that time, the Zhou Dynasty's attitude of turning a blind eye will probably only encourage the ambitions of Korea and the Jurchens in Liaodong.
Therefore, Li Enxian can only die before achieving his goal!
In this way, the court naturally does not have to face the difficult problem of choosing between two options.
Even if Li Enxian's death is still going to arouse suspicion from the North Korean side, it will be the North Korean side that will face a difficult choice.
And if things go as expected, the imperial court should also seize the opportunity and make corresponding arrangements as soon as possible.
Alas~
This may be the sadness of the leading party.
Once a conflict breaks out between two countries, you will have to face internal pressure from radical factions that want to punish traitors; and the daddy country may not be truly grateful to you, and you may be abandoned at any moment.
Sun Shaozong sighed with emotion, lit the autopsy book with a fire stick and threw it into the charcoal basin beside him. Then he walked forward to pick up the white sheet and covered Li Enxian's stiff face again.
