Shen Youying then briefly recounted how she had instigated Cai Wenxuan and his wife, concluding, "Cai Wenxuan has probably harbored resentment towards Xu Shi for a long time. The two of them started fighting in front of me today, and they certainly won't let it go once they get back."
Xue Shen hadn't expected that his original intention of simply having Shen Youying stall for time would result in her directly undermining the alliance between Cai Wenxuan and the Xu family. He couldn't help but laugh and say, "Zhao Zhao is resourceful and truly a woman who is just as capable as any man. If Cai Wenxuan really goes back and divorces Xu, then my actions in Xizhou will face much less resistance."
"I'm glad I could help." Shen Youying then asked curiously, "Did you find the location of the gold mine on this trip?"
Xue Shen nodded, sat down boldly beside her, took a sip of water, and said, "We've found the approximate location. It should be somewhere in the Tatar Mountains, where Xizhou borders Tibet."
Xue Shen had been secretly monitoring the governor's mansion. Cai Wenxuan, being timid and cautious, feared exposure since Xue Shen had come to Xizhou City and therefore avoided all contact with the gold mine. Xue Shen had his men keep watch day and night, finally capturing the falcon that was secretly relaying messages between them.
Perhaps fearing the letter would be intercepted, it contained only two brief sentences. Based on the information he had already guessed, Xue Shen deduced that something major must have happened at the mine, and the person in charge was unsure of what to do, which was why he wrote to Cai Wenxuan.
He intercepted the letter midway, found the contact person based on the information left in the letter, ordered his spies to keep an eye on the person, and then put the secret letter back in its original form and released the falcon.
If Cai Wenxuan were to return this time, he should have already received the letter.
Xue Shen tapped his fingers on his knee and said, "Once Cai Wenxuan responds, the spies can follow the contact and find the exact location of the gold mine."
*
Meanwhile, Cai Wenxuan arrived at the governor's mansion and, without looking back, left Xu Shi behind and went inside.
When Xu saw him heading to the study, she remembered his words about writing a letter of divorce and was instantly filled with rage. She jumped off the carriage and chased after him, yelling, "Cai Wenxuan, you ungrateful wretch! Don't you realize that if you hadn't married me, would you be living such a glorious life today?"
Cai Wenxuan was unable to move forward because she grabbed his sleeve. He could only turn around and shout, "You shrew, let go of me!"
The Xu family was a family of military generals, and Xu's daughter was also a large, strong woman with considerable strength. She grabbed Cai Wenxuan's arm tightly and questioned, "Let go? Let go so you can write a letter of divorce and divorce me?! Don't even think about it!"
Cai Wenxuan found her utterly unreasonable. Having already made up his mind to board the Qin King's ship, he grew increasingly impatient with her. He forcefully shook off Xu's hand and sneered, "Now you know fear? Too late!"
Just as he was about to head to the study, his trusted aide came running up, bowing, and said, "My lord, there is urgent news."
As the governor, Cai Wenxuan received many letters, but the only one that would prompt his confidant to rush over was something that had happened on the other side. Although Cai Wenxuan resented Xu Shi, he still knew what was important. He straightened his clothes, took the letter, and asked as he walked away, "When was it delivered?"
The confidant said, "Just a quarter of an hour ahead, they were using Red-footed Falcons."
Cai Wenxuan took a deep breath. There were two types of falcons used for communication: one was a blue-footed falcon with blue-dyed feet, which was used for everyday correspondence; the other was a red-footed falcon with red-dyed feet, which was only used for urgent matters.
The fact that they're using red-footed falcons over there must mean something big has happened.
He was anxious and wanted to deal with the mine matters immediately, but Xu Shi was unaware of this. Seeing him turn and leave without taking her seriously, she was so angry that she pulled off the gold hairpin from her head and threw it at Cai Wenxuan, shouting, "Cai Wenxuan, you just wait, I'm waiting for you to come begging me to come back!"
After saying that, she turned and went into her own yard: "Pack your things, I'm going back to my parents' house."
When Xu returned to her parents' home, Cai Wenxuan had already read the letter and secretly met with the contact person.
Things at the mine are kept secret, and Cai Wenxuan rarely sees anyone unless absolutely necessary. But this time was different; a letter came from the mine saying that two miners had died and some people were causing trouble.
The miners in these mines were all soldiers from the garrison. After the gold mine was discovered, he joined forces with the Xu family to block off the mine and found craftsmen to explore and locate it, and began mining in secret.
Mining is different from other things; it requires a large number of people. To prevent leaks, they used the pretext of suppressing bandits to transfer troops from several nearby garrisons to the mine.
Outside the mine, Xu's personal guards stood watch to prevent any soldiers from sneaking out and leaking secrets.
Fearing trouble, Cai Wenxuan paid the soldiers a generous wage. At first, the soldiers were quite obedient, but as time went on and they couldn't go home, coupled with the poor food and lodging at the mine, they gradually began to complain. However, they were kept in check by their superiors, which kept things peaceful.
As a result, yesterday, for some unknown reason, two soldiers were accidentally injured by rocks rolling down the mountain while mining. Because there was no doctor at the mine, and the Xu family's personal guards who were guarding the mountain refused to let them go out to fetch a doctor, the two men were dragged to their deaths, which angered the public.
The soldiers at the mine were causing a huge disturbance. Seeing the situation was turning against them, the third son of the Xu family, who was guarding the mountain, sent troops to suppress the unrest. However, this only led to another conflict, resulting in the deaths of about ten more people. Cai Wenxuan's trusted confidant, sensing the danger, quickly left the mine to report the situation.
Upon hearing this, Cai Wenxuan slammed his fist on the table in anger: "I knew the Xu family was just a bunch of brutes, and they'd cause trouble sooner or later!"
It was his men who discovered the gold mine in the first place. If he hadn't been struggling with a lack of manpower, he wouldn't have had to cooperate with the Xu family. The Xu family controlled the military forces in the garrison, and used this as leverage to take half of the gold mine.
Cai Wenxuan initially thought that if the Xu family was willing to do things their way, he would give up half of the gold. However, the Xu family's warriors became increasingly arrogant and insatiable after acquiring the gold mine, and even began to try to monopolize it.
The Xu family first had their third son oversee the gold mine, then used various pretexts to force him and his men out. He had a position and couldn't frequently enter and leave the mine, so he tolerated it and withdrew. But no one expected these brainless brutes of the Xu family to cause such a huge mess!
He had said before that mining required too many people, and if they wanted to keep the news from these soldiers and keep them willingly staying at the mine, they would have to be appeased with huge rewards. After all, they owned the mine and didn't need a little extra pay. The third son of the Xu family did agree, but he disobeyed orders and even caused a death!
The King of Qin is currently in Xizhou City. Although Tatar Mountain is far away, if any movement reaches the city and attracts the King of Qin's attention, none of them will survive.
Cai Wenxuan gritted his teeth, then suddenly stood up and said, "Prepare the car, let's go to the Xu family!"
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