Chapter 85: Theft of the Treasury Department
Huan Zi'an was nervous before he came. He had no contact with the Grand Princess of Jinyang and he didn't know the purpose of the sudden summons.
After arriving, he saw Feng Shenyu there, and felt at ease. It must be Feng Shenyu who asked him to come.
Then he followed Shen Siqing forward and greeted him: "Greetings to the Grand Princess of Jinyang."
"No need to be polite."
"I wonder why Your Highness summoned me here?"
Li Yueyao glanced at Feng Shenyu. Before Feng Shenyu could speak, the Duke of Zhenguo said angrily beside him:
"It's still those Nanli spies."
"A spy from Nanli?" Shen Zhengming was puzzled.
Feng Shenyu slowly said: “Their target is the Ministry of War and Treasury.
Therefore, Wen Ruliang, the person in charge of developing the thunder bomb in the Ministry of Industry, had his entire family killed and he himself disappeared.
I want to hand this case over to you, Zi'an, to investigate."
Huan Zi'an said to Li Yueyao, "Your Majesty, I obey your command."
After a cup of tea, Fan Yong appeared in front of everyone with a panicked look on his face, like a frightened donkey.
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you."
"No need to be polite."
"What's the situation at the Treasury Department?" Li Yueyao asked quickly.
"Your Highness, the Treasury Department was robbed, and the secret weapons, the Eight Ox Crossbow and the Sky-shaking Bomb, were lost."
After hearing this, Li Yueyao took a deep breath and found that it was indeed the case.
Feng Shenyu asked, "What's the exact number?"
“Three Eight Oxen Crossbows and seven Sky-shaking Bombs were all lost.
Let’s not talk about the Eight Ox Crossbows for now, let’s just talk about the seven Sky-shaking Thunder Bombs, which can destroy an entire town.”
The Duke of Zhenguo was surprised when he heard this and asked, "How could it be so powerful?"
Shen Zhengming said: "The Eight Oxen Crossbow has a complex structure and is quite large. If they want to transport it out smoothly, they can only disassemble it into parts.
Therefore, we still need to ask the people guarding the city if any similar parts have left the city in recent days."
The Duke of Zhenguo said, "I will immediately arrange for someone to investigate."
Huan Zi'an asked Fan Yong, "Could you please tell me in detail about this thunder bomb, so I can investigate."
Fan Yong took out a map from his pocket and handed it to Huan Zian.
"Here, it looks like this, black, the size of an adult's fist, and made of fine iron."
Huan Zian took the blueprint, looked at it, and asked, "What are the storage conditions?"
Li Yueyao explained: "This is actually an upgraded version of fireworks, but it is more lethal.
It needs to be stored dry and not exposed to moisture.”
After hearing this, Huan Zian understood instantly and nodded.
"This thing is small and easy to carry, but it should have a smell of gunpowder."
Li Yueyao and Fan Yong both nodded.
Huan Zi'an then said, "Since the matter is urgent, I will go to Wen Ruliang's house first to see if I can find any clues.
If there is any progress here, please send someone to inform me."
Li Yueyao nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Lord Huan."
"Your Highness, your words are too kind. This is my duty."
After saying this, he said goodbye to everyone and turned to leave.
The rest of the people gathered around the map and looked at it. Li Yueyao asked the Duke of Zhenguo:
"What have you found out in the past two days?"
"We've raided several suspicious areas these past two days, but unfortunately, they're all deserted, leaving no trace."
"Didn't His Majesty send Gan Qing to assist you? Did he find anything?"
The Duke of Zhenguo shook his head after hearing this.
Shen Zhengming then said, "Your Highness, how about sending someone from our Dali Temple who is good at reasoning and investigating cases to go to the places mentioned by the Duke of Zhenguo.
See if you can find anything.”
Li Yueyao listened, thought for a moment and said, "That's fine."
After hearing this, the Duke of Zhenguo looked at Shen Zhengming with gratitude.
Li Yueyao marked out the suspicious places that the Duke of Zhenguo had just mentioned.
Then connect several places, and finally several lines converge and intersect to form a triangle area.
The triangle area is located in Zhangshanfang and Jiashanfang in the southeast of the capital.
Li Yueyao said to the Duke of Zhenguo and Fan Yong, "Focus on arranging people to investigate this triangle area. This is the first search circle.
With this triangular area as the center, the second search circle is five miles around, and the third search circle is five to ten miles around.
These three search circles are the key search areas.”
After he finished speaking, he looked at Fan Yong and the Duke of Zhenguo and said, "How do you think we should divide the work?"
Fan Yong knelt on one knee and pleaded, "Your Highness, I am responsible for the theft in the Treasury Department. I hope Your Highness will allow me to make meritorious contributions while I am serving my sentence."
Li Yueyao nodded and said, "Then you should lead your men to focus on the triangle area. Remember to check every household."
"As you command, my lord."
Li Yueyao then said to the Duke of Zhenguo, "Go and arrange for Gan Qing to investigate the situation within a radius of five miles outside the triangle area.
The rest of the people went to investigate within a radius of five to ten miles.
And you need to go back to the place where His Majesty was assassinated. There must be clues there."
After hearing this, the Duke of Zhenguo and Fan Yong both nodded.
After the two left, Shen Zhengming said to Feng Shenyu:
"The Ministry of Justice should have a conclusion when the court is held tomorrow. If nothing unexpected happens, the Right Prime Minister will be able to attend the court the day after tomorrow."
Feng Shenyu was quite reluctant after hearing this. This meant he couldn't live here anymore. Sigh...
But then he thought about the chaos in the court, with spies, assassinations, and thefts happening frequently, and he had no choice but to go back.
So he nodded with a stern face.
Shen Zhengming continued, "As for the case of Imperial Censor Yuan Zhiying, I have already collected all the evidence.
If nothing unexpected happens, this matter should be discussed in the court tomorrow."
Li Yueyao nodded: "The Chief Censor and the Grand Censor have both been dismissed. Who will the Censorate appoint?"
"Zheng Yuansheng." Feng Shenyu replied.
"Zheng Yuansheng, this name sounds quite familiar?" Li Yueyao thought.
"It was Censor Zheng who impeached Princess Zhaoqing. His Highness even commended him."
Now Li Yueyao remembered the middle-aged censor with a thin face, dark complexion and long beard.
So he nodded and said, "Well, yes, he is an upright man. What is his current position?"
"Attendant Censor." Shen Zhengming replied.
"That's perfect, let's give him a promotion and make him the Chief Censor.
"The position of Imperial Censor will remain vacant for now and we'll discuss it later," Li Yueyao said.
Feng Shenyu echoed, "This minister also intends to do the same. Zheng Yuansheng is a man of integrity. Let him rectify the atmosphere of the Censorate."
Li Yueyao nodded.
Then he asked Shen Zhengming: "What is the reason for impeaching Yuan Zhiying?"
"There was an old case when he was a censor, where he accepted bribes and confessed under torture.
When the Ministry of Justice reviewed the case, it found some discrepancies and sent it back to the Dali Temple for retrial.
After the Dali Temple investigated, they found that there was injustice and eventually implicated Yuan Zhiying.
As soon as Li Yueyao heard it, she knew that the case had probably been solved long ago, but had been kept on hold.
Choosing this time to expose the matter must be Feng Shenyu's work.
Then he smiled and said, "That's great. Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Shen."
After the three of them talked about a few other things, Shen Zhengming also took his leave.
Feng Shenyu saw that Li Yueyao was in a bad mood, so he stepped forward, took her hand and said:
"Your Highness, let's go play chess and calm our minds."
Li Yueyao didn't say anything and let Feng Shenyu lead her to the study.
The two were playing chess, and Li Yueyao was obviously absent-minded.
After a while, Qian Lou came in and said:
"Your Highness, Gan Qing and his men have found a spy base, but it's not Nanli's, it's Xirong's."
"knew."
After a while, Qian Lou came in again and reported:
"Your Highness, the Nine Gates have reported that no one has seen parts similar to the Eight Ox Crossbow leave the city in recent days."
After Qian Lou left, Feng Shenyu placed a white piece on the chessboard and said:
"That means the three Eight Ox Crossbows are still in the city."
Li Yueyao continued, "Then guess where these three Eight Oxen Crossbows are?"
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