Chapter 54: There is another royal secret outside the city.
Minister Chen walked out of his office, followed by Fu Chang and a slightly panicked Minister Dong. "What are you doing in Minister Dong's office?"
"Your Excellency, I am waiting here for Minister Dong to report my work to him."
Zhou Tinglan's tone was respectful and there was nothing wrong with it.
She looked at Fu Chang behind Minister Chen. If it was true as she expected, that Fu Chang was not as loyal to Prince Duan as she had imagined, then he should...
Fu Chang glanced at Minister Chen and said, "Minister Chen, they are just two minor officials. There is no need to pursue them."
"Your Excellency is right. Since you've come to see Minister Dong, and Minister Dong has finished his report, please return to your office."
Minister Dong bowed and said, "I will return now."
After saying this, he deliberately yelled at Zhou Tinglan and the other man, "Hurry up and apologize to the master! If you've disturbed him while he was working, you'll be in big trouble!"
"My lord, forgive me!"
"Let it go this time, but be more careful next time."
Before the office door closed, Zhou Tinglan heard Minister Chen's voice: "Master Fu, I thought I heard Minister Shen's voice just now, but when I left, I couldn't find him. Was I hallucinating?"
"I didn't hear anything. Perhaps Lord Chen has been so worried about His Highness these days that he's just hallucinating. Once we understand the situation, Lord Chen should take some time to rest."
Minister Chen laughed. "Of course not. I am simply fulfilling the trust placed in me by Your Highness. I hope Your Highness's plans will be accomplished. Please do not forget us, your meritorious officials."
"Of course I won't forget."
The office door was closed, blocking out any outside noise. Zhou Tinglan looked up and saw Minister Dong looking towards a certain place in the office with a look of horror on his face.
"Minister Shen...why is he in my office? And what is he doing here?"
"As Lord Dong thought, the one who was shouting outside before was Minister Shen."
Xie Zechuan echoed, "To avoid being discovered, we had no choice but to knock him unconscious."
He pulled up Minister Shen, who was hiding behind the desk, and placed him on the chair next to him.
Zhou Tinglan nodded in agreement when he saw his action. After all, he was an assistant minister of the Ministry of War. He was just allowed to fall to the ground without any care. How filthy!
Dong Shilang asked doubtfully, "Now that he's been knocked unconscious by you, what are you going to do with him later?"
Zhou Tinglan replied, "Don't worry, Master Dong. We will carry Minister Shen back to his office shortly. If Minister Shen wakes up and asks about it, Master Dong will just pretend he didn't know."
Anyway, no one except them knew that Minister Shen had appeared.
Of course, Fuchang must be excluded from this.
Minister Dong was relieved. "As you heard, I originally wanted to invite Minister Chen to the restaurant to drink with me to calm him down. However, since he will be going to the Arsenal later, he will not stay in the Ministry of War."
When the Arsenal was mentioned, Zhou Tinglan thought of something and asked, "Master Dong, do you have a map of the Arsenal?"
Minister Dong was surprised: "You guys are going to the Arsenal too?"
"Yes, to be honest, His Highness ordered us to come to the Ministry of War to find you for this matter."
"It's simple, just a map. I do have it."
Minister Dong walked to the desk, opened the drawer and took out a map.
He looked at Zhou Tinglan again, then walked up to her and handed it to her: "This is the map of the Arsenal. Keep it well and don't lose it. I will also write a rune for you two to enter the Arsenal."
After Zhou Tinglan unfolded the map and confirmed it, he put it in his arms and said, "Thank you, Mr. Dong, for your help."
Minister Dong waved his hand and said, "You are His Highness's men. His Highness asked you to come to me. It is truly a sign of His Highness's trust in me. How dare I thank you?"
After that, Zhou Tinglan kept an eye on the movements outside the office, and finally heard a noise coming from the door of the office diagonally opposite.
"Xie Zechuan, it seems like they are leaving."
"Let's wait a little longer. It would be bad if they come back."
When there was no more movement outside, Zhou Tinglan stood up and said, "Master Dong, please keep an eye on Minister Shen for us. We will come and carry him back later."
Minister Dong nodded in response.
Zhou Tinglan walked to the door of Minister Chen's office and tried the same trick again. He knocked on the door a few times and saw no one answered, so he opened the door and went in.
"Xie Zechuan, time is limited. We still have to go to the Arsenal to investigate the situation. Let's search separately."
"Okay, I'll go over there."
The two searched for useful evidence in Chen Shangshu's office separately.
"It's easier to find the Ministry of War office. It's not like the study in Yao Ningde's house, where they built a dark room to store important evidence."
Zhou Tinglan soon found several volumes of letters with Prince Duan's private seal.
Xie Zechuan suddenly called Zhou Tinglan over: "Lan'er, look what I found?"
"What?"
Zhou Tinglan walked over and looked over. In Xie Zechuan's hand was the account book of the Arsenal's recent purchase of forging materials, which recorded the Arsenal's recent cash flow in detail.
"How can the amount be so large?"
She looked at the sky-high price on it with her eyes widened. With so many forging materials purchased, the weapons should have been more than sufficient at that time.
However, when he saw the weapons reserves, Zhou Tinglan exclaimed, "Why is it only this much?"
"Xie Zechuan, this isn't right. Prince Duan and his men not only took weapons from the arsenal, but perhaps also forging materials."
Xie Zechuan also carefully checked the amount and was shocked.
He continued to look through the books, and Xie Zechuan pointed to a certain place in the account book: "Lan'er, look at the amount of forging material loss."
"Sure enough, I felt something was wrong when I saw the forging materials in front. Now it seems that Prince Duan is transporting the forging materials away by wasting them."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the office door from Minister Dong.
Zhou Tinglan was shocked. Why did Minister Dong come here? Did something happen?
"Put away the account books, and let us go and have a look."
The two of them walked to the office door, and Minister Dong had already pushed the door open and walked in: "You scared me to death. Minister Shen just woke up suddenly, but he didn't scare me to death."
Zhou Tinglan turned sideways and saw Minister Shen lying on the ground: "Did Lord Dong knock Minister Shen unconscious?"
"Yes, I just punched him on the head in a hurry. I don't know if it will be okay."
Mr. Dong is really a man of few appearances but a man of great vigor and vitality inside.
In order to avoid being noticed, Xie Zechuan temporarily pulled Minister Shen, who had fallen outside the door, into the room.
"Master Dong, do you know where else this office can hide things?"
Since the Crown Prince said that there had been changes in Prince Duan since Yao Ningde took office, even if someone other than the Minister of War was replaced, there should be some remaining evidence.
The evidence they have found now all points to recent times.
Even the account book.
Minister Dong pondered for a moment and then spoke in a deep voice, "I think the two of you could search the bookshelves. Many of the Ministry of War's files are kept there, and perhaps they'll be able to help."
When Zhou Tinglan heard what Minister Dong said, he felt that his question was in vain. How could they not know that there might be clues on the bookshelf?
However, time was tight and they didn't have time to search carefully.
Fortunately, the evidence found now is sufficient to prove that it was done by Prince Duan. After Xie Zechuan threw Minister Shen back to his office, the two said goodbye to Minister Dong.
**
"Xie Zechuan, what do you think Fu Chang is doing standing in front of the forge?"
Zhou Tinglan asked while hiding in the corner.
"I don't know. I don't think he's looking at the forge, but rather waiting for someone."
"Waiting for someone?" Zhou Tinglan's eyes showed doubt. She and Xie Zechuan took the runes written by Minister Dong, disguised themselves as clerks who came to report, and came to the weapons forging room of the Arsenal very smoothly.
Although the rune was written by Minister Dong, the seal was stamped with the seal she and Xie Zechuan found in Minister Chen's office.
"Yes, Fuchang appears to be looking at the fire in the forge, but neither he nor Minister Chen knows how to forge, and he often looks up and around."
"It does seem like he's waiting for someone, but who is he waiting for? Could it be Prince Duan?"
Xie Zechuan's eyes darkened slightly: "We'll know if it's true or not later."
After waiting for a while, a man in purple-black robe appeared at the door of the forge.
It was indeed him.
Zhou Tinglan saw Fu Chang and Minister Chen bow respectfully to the visitor: "I greet your Highness."
Prince Duan glanced at the two of them, waved his hand and asked them to stand up. He said in a cold voice: "Are all the goods ready for today?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. Everything is ready."
Prince Duan laughed heartily: "I know that you, Fuchang, are capable. Come! Tell me about it!"
Fu Chang responded, "I have already sent people to pack the forging materials into boxes and secretly transport them to the barracks outside the city. All the blacksmiths in Shangjing City have also been taken under control. There are very few weapons left in the armory. I believe that when the time comes, Shangjing City will be without weapons to resist."
"Alright! I have to go back to the palace later to deal with my old brother. If my mother had died early, how could he be the one sitting on the throne?"
The conversation between the two made Zhou Tinglan tremble slightly. She lowered her voice and asked, "What do they mean? Is it what I think?"
Xie Zechuan's face was solemn. It seemed that the situation in Shangjing City was very bad.
"Don't panic, Lan'er. We will always be together."
Fu Chang's flattering words continued, "Your Highness is wise. His Majesty may never know that your biological mother, the Imperial Concubine, actually wanted to kill him, but when she was about to be discovered, she rescued him and became his savior."
Another royal secret.
Zhou Tinglan sighed, it turned out that men should not be too fickle. Ancient emperors had many wives, and there were constant troubles in the palace.
She also heard that in ancient times, there were emperors who died of a stroke while riding horses, which was terrifying to think about.
"The Crown Prince told us that Your Majesty was lenient with Prince Duan because the Imperial Concubine saved his life. If Your Majesty knew that the Imperial Concubine was actually the murderer, I'm afraid Your Majesty would not show mercy."
How can an emperor be merciful and soft-hearted?
"We'll just go back and report. I'm curious about Fuchang's words about sending forging materials outside the city. Could it be that they have a base outside the city?"
Zhou Tinglan thought quickly in his mind. In ancient times, strongholds were mainly used for strategic locations and material storage.
The transportation of forging materials is a good example of material storage. As for strategic locations...
"Xie Zechuan, I have a worse idea."
Xie Zechuan glanced sideways, waiting for Zhou Tinglan to continue.
Zhou Tinglan took a deep breath. "I previously thought that Prince Duan was plotting a rebellion and usurping the throne. He would poison the Emperor and murder His Majesty and the Crown Prince to seize the throne. Now it seems that Prince Duan is secretly raising private soldiers and could rebel at any time."
Xie Zechuan had fought in Beijiang City for several years, so how could he not be aware of the seriousness of Zhou Tinglan's words.
"This matter must be reported to His Majesty as soon as possible for him to make a ruling."
Just then, a clerk ran into the forge. He saluted and asked, "My Lords, have you seen any other clerks come here?"
Fu Chang shook his head and said, "No, what happened?"
"Not long ago, two minor officials came with a rune stamped with Minister Chen's seal and said they wanted to see Minister Chen to report on matters. They haven't been seen for a long time, so I came to inquire."
Minister Chen was surprised and said, "I didn't see any minor officials looking for me."
Prince Duan sensed something was wrong and shouted angrily, "Go investigate for me! Find the person!"
If the person was sent by his immortal brother, he would have to treat him well.
It’s not good, evacuate quickly!
Zhou Tinglan and Xie Zechuan looked at each other, turned around and quietly fled from their original place, running towards the door of the forge.
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