Chapter 97: The Intricate Tunnels
Gongzhou sent his confidants to the Qingzhou government office in order to ask the government office to go to the nearby garrison camp to encircle Qingyi Tower in the name of suppressing bandits.
If Qingyi Tower was just looking for the Gong family to settle accounts, the government office would not care. This is a matter of the underworld.
But if they were labeled as bandits, the government office would have a legitimate reason.
He has done this more than once over the years.
Anyone in Qingzhou who opposes his Gong family will be wiped out by the government in this way.
Of course, he would not miss out on the benefits of the government office.
After giving instructions to his confidants, Gongzhou stood there alone for a long time.
Just when Ling Chan began to lose focus while watching the surveillance video, Gong Zhou moved.
He walked out of the meeting hall...
Ling Chan quickly switched the screen and watched him walking aimlessly in Floating Cloud Villa...
After walking for a long time, he suddenly walked towards his own yard.
Still so cautious in his own villa? Ling Chan suddenly perked up.
Gongzhou was also very careful in his own yard. He practiced martial arts and looked around, probably to make sure that his yard was not targeted.
After all, there are several sect leaders living in Floating Cloud Villa, as well as Prince Rui...
Gong Zhou walked to the house and suddenly stopped. Yes, Prince Rui was there too. So, what about him...
Turning around, he quickly left the yard, went to the meeting room, and started processing documents in the side room.
Vocal! Ling Chan couldn't help but curse out loud, where is she?
"Miss." Hongdou, who had brought her hot tea, had just stepped in and was frightened by her words.
Although she didn't understand, Hongdou thought...it was probably not something nice.
"Why are you here?" Hongdou should have been practicing martial arts with Cheng Feiyu and the others today.
Hongdou poured tea for Ling Chan, "Senior Cheng asked us to rest for a while. I will take this opportunity to make a pot of hot tea for you, so that you won't have to drink cold tea."
Although it is after the New Year and spring is about to begin, the weather is still very cold.
Drinking cold water at this time will hurt your stomach.
The little girl didn't look tired at all, but rather excited, "Miss, Senior Cheng praised me today."
"He said I was making rapid progress and that I would become a formidable female warrior in due time..."
Hongdou was immersed in Cheng Feiyu's praise and didn't notice Ling Chan shaking her head helplessly.
Cheng Feiyu is a guy who is really good at weaving beautiful dreams for Hongdou.
Hongdou started learning martial arts at the age of sixteen. If we consider the time it takes...it will probably take quite a few years.
As a result, this girl is still here feeling complacent.
However...with the help of the pool water in the space, the years can actually be shortened a lot.
Ling Chan is very discriminating between relatives and strangers. Although she trusts the sisters in Qingyi Tower, they are still not as good as Hongdou.
This closeness is reflected in the dilution ratio of the pool water.
If she wasn't afraid of suspicion, she would have wanted to give Hongdou the pool water in the space to drink.
"Miss." Hongdou continued to add water to Lingchan's cup. "We have come to Qingzhou after a long journey. It is not convenient to do anything in the mountains."
"But I see that you have gained weight on your face, miss."
Ling Chan touched her face. Wasn't she gaining weight? She drank that magical pool water every day.
Wait until he returns to the capital from Qingzhou... No, wait until 'her' returns to the capital from Yulu Temple, which will definitely surprise those people in the capital.
"Hongdou's face has also grown fat." Ling Chan pinched her face.
Outside, Cheng Feiyu was calling everyone to gather and continue practicing.
"Go ahead, Cheng Feiyu is calling."
Hongdou put down the teacup and flew out like a little butterfly impatiently.
The prefect of Qingzhou Prefecture received the information from Gongzhou and did not doubt it. He went to the garrison camp outside Qingzhou Prefecture the next day.
However, General Zhu Xu in the military camp was cautious.
Qingzhou Prefecture is going to hold a martial arts conference, and Zhu Xu has already sent troops to Qingzhou Prefecture to help. Those people... plus so many martial artists, it should be enough to suppress the bandits.
But the Gong family still wants to mobilize troops...
I'm afraid this matter is not that simple.
"I understand, Mr. Prefect, please go back first." Zhu Xu did not give the prefect an accurate answer.
As soon as the prefect left, Zhu Xu immediately sent people into the city and went to Fuyun Villa.
The person Zhu Xu sent was not to find Gong Zhou, but to find Xiao Jin.
The prefect came and asked him to mobilize troops to suppress the bandits. As long as he took action, he would represent the court.
If there's something hidden about this...
So he must be careful.
It just so happens that Prince Rui is also at Floating Cloud Villa.
It wouldn’t be wrong for him to ask King Rui for his opinion.
Xiao Jin asked Jiu Zhen to bring the person in. As soon as there was any movement here, Ling Chan would receive a notification.
"I was sent by General Zhu Xu, the garrison general of Qingzhou Prefecture. I'd like to greet King Rui." The man knelt in front of Xiao Jin.
He told Xiao Jin what Zhu Xu meant, and then waited quietly for Xiao Jin's reply.
Xiao Jin hadn't expected Gongzhou to send troops to encircle Qingyi Tower...
But thinking about what happened yesterday...
The Gong family and many other sects suffered losses at Yangyangjian, so Gongzhou wanted to drag the imperial court into the fight, using the power of the government...
"Qingzhou is about to hold a martial arts conference. Qingzhou will be in chaos in the near future. As the garrison troops of Qingzhou Prefecture, you should maintain order in the capital and county towns of Qingzhou Prefecture..."
"We also need to send people to patrol the villages under our jurisdiction to prevent robberies and looting."
After hearing this, the man immediately lowered his head and said, "Prince Rui is right. I know what to do now."
In fact, he had no idea, but he knew that General Zhu would definitely understand.
He hurried back to the barracks and relayed Xiao Jin's words to Zhu Xu, "General, what does Prince Rui mean by this?"
Zhu Xu's eyes turned and he understood immediately.
"Make arrangements immediately. Deploy personnel to Qingzhou Prefecture, its subordinate counties, and villages."
"As for the prefect, tell him so."
All the manpower has been deployed to the provincial capital, county town and villages. Where is the manpower left to suppress the bandits?
Prince Rui's meaning couldn't be clearer... He would be a fool if he still didn't understand.
When the prefect received the news of rejection, he immediately sent someone to inform Gongzhou.
Gongzhou was angry but dared not speak out. The matter could not be made a big deal and King Rui could not be informed.
Ling Chan couldn't help but thank Xiao Jin on the other end. He was a great help.
If the imperial court sent troops, she might not be able to do it.
After all, those were the soldiers who were defending Daqi. Their nature was similar to hers, and they were all fighting for the country.
She couldn't do anything to these people.
That night, Ling Chan was sleeping soundly when the surveillance glasses placed next to her pillow suddenly vibrated.
Ling Chan opened her eyes and instantly became clear-headed.
She turned sideways and took her glasses.
Earlier, she had set Gongzhou as the key surveillance target at night. As long as he made any movement when he was supposed to be sleeping at night, the surveillance glasses would immediately vibrate to remind her.
Adjusting the surveillance footage to the unusual scene, Ling Chan saw Gong Zhou putting on his coat...
He put on his coat and walked stealthily to the study next door.
The doors and windows of the study were closed, but the surveillance equipment had thermal imaging, so it was clear that he could be seen walking to the innermost part of the study.
"Vocal..." Ling Chan sat up in shock, looking in disbelief at Gong Zhou on the screen slowly walking towards the ground.
Oops, what a mistake.
She should have used a drone to map Floating Cloud Villa earlier so that she wouldn't miss any underground secret rooms.
Fortunately, her monitoring equipment can rotate 360 degrees. Although Gongzhou has gone underground, she can still see the thermal imaging.
He went down pretty quickly. It seems the basement was dug quite well.
Ling Chan really wanted to go down and take a look.
I don't know what Gongzhou was tinkering with in the basement, but he came out after about twenty minutes.
Ling Chan tutted. "Doing nothing? And coming out again? Impossible!"
What should I do? The urge to explore this basement became stronger.
I can't wait to go now...
But she also knew that now was not a good time, and that she had to wait patiently for the good time...
Only after Gongzhou returned to bed did Ling Chan flip through the other pictures in frustration and boredom.
As I was flipping through the pages...I suddenly saw a figure outside Gongzhou's courtyard.
"Looks familiar..." Ling Chan murmured. She zoomed in on the image and brightened it... "Is it him?"
It was the guard beside Xiao Jin. Why was he outside Gongzhou's courtyard?
Xiao Jin is also investigating Gongzhou?
Ling Chan stared at Jiu Zhen's figure silently. This guard was very patient. He just stared at her like that, and she would not be discovered by the guards arranged by Gongzhou outside the courtyard. It seemed that his kung fu was quite good.
She hopes that Hongdou can become her right-hand man in the future.
It's a pity that he just stared here and at most he could see Gongzhou's figure, but he didn't know anything else.
It depends on her.
"What?! Still going?" Cheng Feiyu widened his eyes.
Ling Chan is ready. This time she is going to use a drone to draw a map of Fuyun Villa.
As long as we have the blueprints, it will be much easier to search for clues at the Gong family next time.
"My niece." Cheng Feiyu didn't want her to take any more risks. "Why are you going? Didn't you return empty-handed last time?"
Last time they went to install surveillance equipment, but they couldn't tell Cheng Feiyu and the others, so Ling Chan just said that they went for a night visit but didn't find anything.
"If you want to go, we will go with you." Zhi Xuanzi's rough voice revealed concern.
Their old injuries have healed, and in just three or four days, their internal strength has increased significantly.
The three of them are now very confident. They don’t have to be afraid of the elders of the Gong family at all during the martial arts conference three months later.
"No need." Ling Chan shook her slender white index finger, "I can go alone."
Their presence would attract attention.
"But it's too dangerous." Di Ming also disagreed with her going alone.
"Let's go together."
"If anything goes wrong, we can still help you."
Ling Chan extended her hand and declined, "Forget it, I can go alone."
"You should stay here and protect the sisters." She gave them a task. "Although the court will not send troops to encircle and suppress us, the Gong family will not give up."
Of course, this is just an excuse. Fuyun Villa suffered heavy losses before, and then other sects withdrew their personnel. They can't spare so many people to cause trouble for Qingyi Tower now.
He soared into the air and said, "I'm leaving now. You guys stay here and don't follow me."
Disappeared in an instant...
"We wanted to follow..." Cheng Feiyu sneered, "He slipped away faster than a rabbit."
Di Ming laughed and punched him, "Lele, my daughter, has a personality just like hers."
"Yes, it looks like it." Zhi Xuanzi also agreed.
He smiled innocently, with the corners of his mouth raised high, "Before, Lele..."
The three of them sat together happily and began to recall the girl they were familiar with.
Ling Chan soon arrived at Floating Cloud Villa.
She found a vantage point and raised the drone.
"What is this?" The familiar voice sounded in my ears again.
"Ah..." Ling Chan turned around and saw Xiao Jin's mask.
She had seen it several times before and didn't find it scary, but she was still scared when she was caught off guard.
I almost couldn't hold the remote control steadily, and the drone in the air shook several times.
Fortunately, Ling Chan grabbed the remote control in time and started controlling the drone.
"You wouldn't know even if I told you." She still remembered answering Xiao Jin.
Xiao Jin watched her fly the drone into the sky, so now he was looking up at the drone in the sky just like her.
How did that little black box-like thing get up there? He wondered to himself.
Ling Chan was certain that he wouldn't understand, so she didn't hide it from him.
The high-tech drone has no conspicuous blades, so it is very small and at first glance looks like a small black box.
He must be curious about why this box can fly into the sky.
Fly the drone to a position where you can capture a panoramic view, then fix the drone and wait for it to scan Floating Cloud Villa and draw a map.
After holding the remote control, Ling Chan turned around to look at Xiao Jin.
"Prince Rui, please don't show up so suddenly next time. Scaring people can scare them to death."
If it were in modern times, she wouldn't be so scared.
But here, they are good at light work and can walk without making any sound.
"Okay, then I'll remind you next time?" Xiao Jin seemed very easy to talk to.
Ling Chan smiled awkwardly.
"How did you know I was here?" she asked.
Suddenly she thought of Jiu Zhen, who was perched on a tree branch and watching, "Oh, was it your guard who told you?"
Xiao Jin nodded, it was indeed Jiu Zhen who informed him.
And since she knew Jiu Zhen, she must have known that Jiu Zhen was following her.
"Don't you want to ask me why I asked Jiuzhen to keep an eye on Gongzhou?" Xiao Jin asked, looking up at the sky from time to time. The black box suddenly stopped. Why?
"You have your reasons, I don't care." Ling Chan lied.
Xiao Jin originally wanted to exchange information with her, but she clearly didn't want to talk.
The remote control in Ling Chan's hand vibrated, indicating that the drone's scan was over. She just had to go back to the space and draw a map.
After taking the drone back, Ling Chan prepared to leave.
"Hey, you haven't told me what this black box is." Xiao Jin called her in time.
Ling Chan waved the black box in her hand and said, "This is called a drone."
Xiao Jin looked at the girl flying into the air. Her clever eyes shone in the darkness, and the smile on her lips was full of pride.
In his eyes, her face also became bright, without any shadow.
As she slowly disappeared from sight, a gust of wind woke Xiao Jin up.
A drone? What?
After leaving Fuyun Villa for a distance, Ling Chan entered the space and drew a map.
Floating Cloud Villa is so big that a thick stack of maps had to be drawn.
However, what surprised Ling Chan even more was that there were many secret rooms in the basement of Fuyun Villa, and they were very complicated. The key was that they were connected to each other, and there were even secret passages leading to the outside of the villa.
"Gopher? Digging so much..."
It's unclear whether these secret passages were dug when Floating Cloud Villa was built, or when Gongzhou was the leader of the martial arts world...
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