As soon as Yun Shang got off the carriage, she smelled a faint odor of oil in the air. The oil spread in the air at a fast speed. About four hours had passed, but it still smelt like that. She was afraid that a lot of oil had been used.
The head of court of justice knelt down in front of the carriage to greet them. After emperor Ning called him to stand up, Yun Shang said, "the oil has not dissipated for such a long time. It must have been poured by many conniving people. The oil smell is so strong, why haven't anyone found it?"
The head of court of justice raised his eyes to look at Yun Shang. He was shocked for a moment, as if he did not expect that Yun Shang would come with emperor Ning. After a moment of silence, he hurriedly said, "the fire raiser is a kung fu master. Last night, he even drugged everyone in the prison secretly. Thus no one found him."
A kung fu master? Yun Shang frowned. The prison was built by well-known craftsmen. As all the important prisoners were imprisoned, there were many traps in it. If they were skilled, they could easily break in, but it would be useless. The secret guards sent by Qian Yin didn't find out anything today. It was obvious that even if it was burnt, this prison was not easy to enter. That "martial arts" was a bluff?
"How is Princess Hua Jing?" Yun Shang looked at the head of court of justice and asked.
The head of court of justice lowered his head so that Yun Shang couldn't see his face clearly. However, when she saw his hand before her, her fingertips trembled slightly. "Your Highness, just now when the prison guard was cleaning up, he found a burned corpse in the prison where Princess Hua Jing was imprisoned. With a totally destroyed face, I couldn't tell who the body was. I just came from the palace and haven't seen it yet. I just heard from the guards that the corpse's figure was similar to that of Princess Hua Jing, and she was holding Princess Hua Jing's jade pendant. "
Yun Shang frowned. As the fever had burnt the face of the corpse, it was hard to judge whether it was Hua Jing or not. The jade pendant was useless. The head of the court of justice might also know this, so he couldn't come to a conclusion.
Emperor Ning asked calmly, "how many people are dead and wounded in total?"
"Your Majesty, the guards have counted the number. There are thirty-two dead, eighteen prisoners and fourteen guards." The head of the court of Justice said with a bow.
There were eighteen prisoners. Yun Shang crooked her finger. All the prisoners in the warden of the court of justice were felony, at least some with official positions, and some with the royal family. The eighteen people were not too many, but they had a huge impact.
"Give me a list of the eighteen prisoners." Emperor Ning said calmly.
The head of court of justice answered yes immediately, and ordered the guards beside to tell the head of court of justice that he had to stand by and wait for the emperor's order.
"Go to the prison to have a look." Emperor Ning said in a low voice and walked inside.
Prince Jing and Yun Shang followed closely. And the cooking oil in the prison smelled more pungent. Yun Shang frowned at the smell. The prison was made of hard marble and much more solid than other ordinary cells.
As iron pillars separated the palace from the court of justice, the prison was still intact even if there was a fire. It was just that the whole palace was engulfed by the fire. The head of the court of justice knew who the Emperor cared about, so he took him to the door of a cell. There was almost burned quilts and quilts, on which there was a scorched female body.
Yun Shang frowned and looked at them for a long time. It really looked like Hua Jing.
Yun Shang hesitated at the door and went straight in. She walked around the corpse, but didn't find anything wrong. So she squatted down and carefully checked the corpse.
"Let the coroner do it." Emperor Ning frowned and whispered to Yun Shang.
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