"Firearm!" The Queen's hands trembled, and she nearly dropped the teacup in her hand. She put the teacup down and had someone open the firearm to take a look, then hurriedly had someone cover it again. "Why did I give you this thing? If you don't use it properly, you could easily hurt yourself!"
The Sixth Prince said nonchalantly, "How could Second Brother hurt me? Mother, please keep it for me. I'll need it when we get to the border. And..."
The Sixth Prince said proudly, "My second brother said that none of the other brothers have ever seen this firearm, but I have seen and touched it. This thing is really good!"
The queen had never seen a firearm, but she had seen the recipe that Bai Wanyi presented to her. She had secretly written it down and asked someone to make it, but there was no result.
But it doesn't matter. She can send someone to investigate. Once they leave the palace, the prince won't be able to find out.
But once the things entered the palace, no matter how tightly they were kept secret, the queen eventually got to know some details about the firearms.
She disagreed with him bringing it: "I don't know if your second brother can handle this thing, so you'd better not bring it."
"Mother!" The Sixth Prince was afraid that the Queen would snatch it away, so he quickly snatched the box back. "I'll tell you you're worrying too much. I'll take it with me."
The Sixth Prince put away his firearms and then looked at the things the Queen had prepared. He was speechless: "Mother, are you sending your son on a business trip or getting him married? You even prepared a toilet."
"Nonsense!" The Queen glared at him angrily. "It's bitterly cold at the border, not to mention the disaster now. How can you do your job properly if you can't eat or sleep well there? I still think these things are not enough. Oh, and please prepare some more charcoal, so my son won't freeze."
The Sixth Prince watched helplessly as another box of charcoal was added to the boxes. He was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, but he was no match for the Queen. The next morning, the Sixth Prince left the capital in a grand manner with a carriage full of things.
Disaster relief at the border is not something that can be solved by just sending people there. The capital also needs to coordinate and dispatch troops from all directions to collect food, medicine, etc. and send them to the border. Therefore, people in the court are very busy.
We were busy until the end of the first month of the lunar year, when news came from the border that the disaster relief work had been completed and the people's lives were back on track.
The people who lost their homes also began to rebuild their homes with the help of the garrison.
The Sixth Prince will be able to return to Beijing in half a month.
But a few days later, news came again that the Sixth Prince was injured!
The queen immediately became angry, thinking that the crown prince and others were unwilling to see the sixth prince make achievements, so they sent people to attack him. She made things difficult for the princes like a mad dog. The simplest way was to pretend to be sick and let several princes' wives enter the palace to take care of him.
In the previous dynasty, the queen's family also attacked several princes and skinned them alive and well.
Xie Qing took the opportunity to reveal the Fourth Prince's firearms workshop to the Queen. The Queen was decisive and set fire to the firearms workshop and kidnapped all the craftsmen inside.
The fire almost spread, but fortunately it was winter and it had just snowed, so it was wet everywhere and the neighbors were spared.
The Queen had long coveted firearms, but she had no one from the Ministry of Works. The Fourth Prince's people just filled this gap.
However, this group of people did not know how to make firearms, and Professor Bai Wanyi and his team also kept their knowledge secret. What they made were all parts, and if they did not assemble them by hand, they would not know what these things were used for.
The Queen didn't care whether they had firearms or not. She just heard that it was unsafe and didn't want them to make it. Seeing that they were good at making gunpowder, she started asking them to prepare explosives, and finally they made grenades and other things. Of course, that's a later story.
The Fourth Prince's men were lost again, and this time no one knew who was responsible. He started to go crazy in the court. The eldest, third and fifth princes were overwhelmed and had no time to care about him.
So somehow, the task of welcoming the relief team back to the city fell on Xie Qing.
Xie Qing would not wait for the Sixth Prince to return in the capital. He took Prince Du and a group of guards and headed north to meet them.
When Xie Qing saw the Sixth Prince, he first looked at his injuries: "Where are you hurt?"
The young eunuch who served the Sixth Prince said, "It hit his arm. It was hit by a stone thrown by the refugees."
Xie Qing pinched his arm: "Does it hurt?"
The Sixth Prince nodded tearfully, feeling extremely aggrieved: "I said I wouldn't go, but you all insisted I go. Look at how injured I am, don't you?"
"How is the injury?" Xie Qing asked.
The Sixth Prince was only concerned with his grievance but did not answer. The young eunuch answered for him: "The imperial physician said that it was probably a bone injury. He needs to rest well."
"What happened?" Xie Qing knew that his injury was not serious, so he asked about the cause and effect.
The Sixth Prince was reluctant to speak, but the young eunuch answered quickly:
"Your Majesty, our master found evidence that the Third Prince was embezzling funds from disaster relief efforts. That's why he was ambushed by assassins hiding among the refugees during the relief efforts."
Xie Qing frowned: "The third brother is embezzling money? How could he leave such obvious evidence?"
The Sixth Prince sighed, "That's right, there must be something fishy going on here. I didn't want to say anything because I was thinking of returning to the capital and having a good chat with my Third Brother, asking him to rein in his men. Who knew something would go wrong?"
He was afraid that the Crown Prince would vent his anger, so he pulled his sleeve and said, "Second brother, don't blame Third Brother. It must be someone below who made the decision without Third Brother's knowledge."
Xie Qing immediately became angry and shook off his hand, saying, "You're thinking of protecting them, but how can they treat you as a brother? Even though I'm treating you well now, if your mother lays hands on me in the future, I won't let you go. I'm not that magnanimous."
The Sixth Prince was silent. He knew that his second brother was telling the truth, but the truth was so heartbreaking that after a long time, he reluctantly handed over the evidence.
However, the Sixth Prince was still worried. His brothers had been so kind to him when he was little. He held on to the thing and refused to let go. "Second brother, you must investigate carefully. It might not have been Third Brother who did it."
"You're like this, and you're still speaking for him!"
Xie Qing snatched the evidence away in a bad mood and poked at his wound. Seeing him grimace in pain, he withdrew his hand. "Have you ever considered that you are the one in charge of this disaster relief? If the corruption is blamed on you, what will you face when you return to Beijing?"
The Sixth Prince panicked. "I'm just a lucky charm. I don't handle any money, so how could I be so corrupt? Besides, I'm still a prince. I don't need money. If I embezzled such a small amount of disaster relief money, wouldn't I be struck by lightning?"
Xie Qing sighed, "If it wasn't for the corruption, how could you have been injured? If I'm guessing correctly, you caught someone for corruption, and the people knew about it, so that's why there was a commotion, right? Have you ever considered that your investigation into corruption was conducted in secret, so how did the people know about it? How did the news leak out?"
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