Chapter 121
121 Locked in suspect (1)
When the officials of the Ministry of Justice heard eunuch Liu’s words, they thought that he was making things difficult for Xu Qi ‘an. They gloated and decided that if Xu Qi’ an said anything wrong, they would immediately criticize him and embarrass him.
Scholars were actually very good at fighting, but not in martial arts.
The officials and constables of the magistrate’s office had a wait-and-see attitude. They didn’t care what kind of clues this impetuous Gong could give. However, they were surprised to find that the Prefectural magistrate was no longer in a daze. He stopped slightly and actually put on a posture of listening attentively.
Lu Qing whispered,”have you forgotten?” Xu Qi ‘an, the Xu Qi’ an from the tax and silver case.”
After her reminder, everyone in the house suddenly came to their senses and remembered Xu Qi ‘an.
No wonder the name sounded familiar. It turned out that he was the quick-handed person who turned the tide in the tax silver case and solved the mystery of the fake silver.
Well, it was now the gong for the night watchman.
No wonder His Majesty appointed him as the Chief Executive Officer of the Yamen … At this time, the officials of the Magistrate Court finally came to their senses.
“There are indeed some gains!” Xu Qi ‘an nodded.
He didn’t want to say it at first, because the Ministry of Justice and the government were competitors. There was no reason to share the clues with this group of dogs.
However, when he noticed the young eunuch taking notes and the unreserved communication between the Ministry of Justice and the government office, Xu Qi ‘an suddenly realized that this might be an opportunity for him to show off.
He wanted to show it to the Emperor.
Unsurprisingly, this transcript was to be handed over to the Emperor for perusal. Think about it, after Emperor Yuan jing finished reading the transcript, he found that the Ministry of Justice and the government office were actively discussing and giving clues to solve the case, but the night watchman was silent.
What would he think?
Although sharing the information was a bit of a loss, the credit was already written on the paper.
“I have a few questions regarding Constable Lu’s speculation.” Xu Qi ‘an and the others looked over and said in an orderly manner, ”
I went to sang Bo this morning to check. If we want to blow up the entire mountain river temple and the high platform, we will need a huge amount of gunpowder.
“Yes, what’s the problem?” Lu Qing had also gone to sang Bo to investigate the scene.
“Here’s the problem. You just said that gunpowder is a strategic material that the Imperial court places great importance on, and all kinds of security and anti-theft measures are very strict and complete. It’s already very difficult to smuggle out these gunpowder, let alone erase the corresponding traces.” Xu Qi ‘an said, ”
“What kind of person do you think can do this?”
“The Minister of Works, or the two vice ministers,” Lu Qing hesitated.
The crowd was taken aback, and even the young eunuch, who had his head lowered to record, paused.
Xu Qi ‘an nodded. if it’s the Minister of Works and the two vice ministers, then everything makes sense. With their means and abilities, it’s not impossible for them to bribe the Imperial Guards, the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of Rites. However, isn’t this too stupid?”
Lu Qing frowned and said.”you mean …”
Xu Qi ‘an said,”smuggling gunpowder of such a scale, no matter how clean it is, it won’t be able to withstand investigation.” I believe that those who can become ministers and vice ministers can’t be so stupid.”
“Since it’s not them, then where else can provide so much gunpowder besides the Ministry of Works?” Lu Qing nodded.
“Is it possible that they were transported in from outside the city?” Xu Qi ‘an asked.
Lu Qing shook his head. let’s not talk about the outer city first. The inner city has to collect an entrance tax. The soldiers guarding the city will check the goods. It was even more impossible in the Imperial City. Gunpowder was such an obvious thing, how could they smuggle it? Unless they’re transporting raw materials and not gunpowder …”
Lu Qing and Xu Qi ‘an continued their reasoning as if there was no one else around. There was no room for anyone else to interrupt. Eunuch Liu was not in a hurry and listened patiently.
The young eunuch in charge of recording the statement wrote faster and faster.
It was not gunpowder but raw materials. Among the raw materials for gunpowder, neither sulfur nor charcoal were precious. Especially in winter, the capital consumed a lot of charcoal … But saltpeter was strictly controlled in Da Feng … Xu Qi ‘an, who was deep in thought, suddenly had a flash of lightning.
saltpeter mine?! His eyes widened as he stared at Lu Qing.
The pretty face of the female Constable was stunned for a moment, then she understood and exclaimed, ” saltpeter mine!!
Both of their faces were filled with shock. On the other side, song tingfeng and Zhu guangxiao looked at each other, their expressions changing slightly.
The four of them had personally explored the great Yellow Mountain and found saltpeter there.
Lu Qing calmed down from his shock, and all kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind.”If it’s really them, then what’s up with the nine missing people?”
“It’s simple,” Xu Qi ‘an said slowly,”we’re going to frame him!”
“No, it’s to divert our attention and fight for time to escape the capital.” He shook his head.
Lu Qing nodded slightly. that’s right. They made us think that the gunpowder came from the Ministry of Works. We thought that there were spies planted in the Imperial court. Thus, the focus of the investigation turned to the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites, and the chief of the Supreme Court.
Eunuch Liu furrowed his brows. He realized that he was beginning to not understand the conversation between the two.
Apart from the Minister of Justice and magistrate Chen, who held high positions, the others looked at each other and did not understand what Xu Qi ‘an and Lu Qing were talking about.
He felt like he had missed an episode.
Xu Qi ‘an shook his head. if that’s the case, there’s something I can’t solve. How did they transport the gunpowder to sang Bo? ”
“It’s very simple,” Lu Qing said,”the nine missing officials should have been bribed or threatened. I’m more inclined to the former.”
It made sense. The demons must have accomplices if they were able to secretly transport the gunpowder into sang Bo. If there were no spies from the Imperial court, they would not have been able to do it.
Putting aside the traitors in the Imperial court, why did the demons want to blow up sang Bo?
To be more precise, they were after the sealed artifact under sang Bo. What use did the sealed artifact have for them?
As he was thinking, he heard Lu Qing say, ” we seem to have misunderstood something. I noticed a detail just now …
The heroic-looking Female Constable stared at Xu Qi ‘an,”Nine missing people, three from the palace, three from the Ministry of Rites, three from the Supreme Court … How did they manage to smuggle the gunpowder in without their colleagues knowing?”
Xu Qi ‘an was not very clear about the process of the ancestral worship ceremony and had not had the time to ask the officials and servants who were in charge of finishing the ceremony. But after hearing Lu Qing’s words, he thought, “”You’re saying that with just three people, it’s impossible to smuggle gunpowder without their colleagues” knowledge. That’s right, why did you deliberately separate these nine people? if these nine people were all from the Ministry of Rites, the Supreme Court, or the palace, there might still be a possibility.”
Lu Qing smiled from the bottom of her heart, and her smile was quite bright.
She appreciated this point about Xu Qi ‘an the most. He was smart and could immediately understand her meaning. It wasn’t tiring to discuss with him, and he could even smile at her.
so, there must be someone else helping them, ” Xu Qi ‘an said. and this person must have the ability to freely enter and exit the Imperial City, or have the ability to send gunpowder into the Imperial City …
Xu Qi ‘an and Lu Qing looked at each other again. They remembered a case.
The case of the Golden Guard’s small flag Officer.
This case happened the day before the ancestral worship ceremony, and they were also the ones who took over.
The small banner officer of the Golden guard had been killed … Before he killed her, he told his wife that he was going to take his family away from the capital … He was on duty before he died … Xu Qi ‘an was suddenly enlightened. Connecting the saltpeter mine and Liu Han’s case, it was not difficult to come up with a truth.
The demons drove away the grey households to collect the niter ore in the great Yellow Mountain to make gunpowder and blow up the mountain river temple in Yongzhen to release the sealed artifacts in the Mulberry Lake.
The reason for using gunpowder was that the Imperial Palace was heavily guarded and it was impossible to break in. However, gunpowder could be used as long as it was transported in without anyone knowing.
Whether it was the supervisor of the Directorate of Celestials, the female Imperial Preceptor of the human sect, or the high-ranked martial artists of the Imperial Army, they could detect the invasion of experts, but they could not detect inanimate objects like gunpowder.
Liu Han was only a small flag Officer and was not capable enough to place gunpowder in the Imperial City without his superiors ‘knowledge.
He was just an errand boy, and the instigator was his superior, who killed him to silence him.
D * mn, the way the Goblin race did things was like an old sow wearing a bra, one set after another.
The brothel was full of guests-everything was in good order.
As long as he captured Liu Han’s superior, the centurion of the Golden guard, and interrogated him, he would know everything!
Xu Qi ‘an quickly locked onto a suspicious person.Centurion Zhou!
Xu Qi ‘an stood up and cleared his throat. “Eunuch Liu, my Lords, this one still has some matters to attend to at the Ministry of Works, so I will take my leave first.”
“Night watchman, follow me,” he said in a relaxed tone, his expression as usual.
He quickly led his men away.
The officials present were not fools. Although Xu Qi ‘an’s behavior was normal, his expression had changed several times during his conversation with Lu Qing. Although they did not fully understand the contents of their conversation, it did not prevent them from speculating that Xu Qi’ an had found an important clue.
Everyone immediately looked at Lu Qing.
Lu Qing played dumb.
Eunuch Liu rapped the table with his fingers and urged, ” did Xu Qi ‘an find something? did he make any progress in the case? tell me!
Lu Qing said in his heart, I’ve already done my best. After all, although he admired Xu Qi ‘an, they didn’t have any special relationship, and they weren’t fiancĂ© or anything.
It was already very loyal of him to help him stall for time.
[ P.S. This goes on for six to seven hours. ]