contradiction
Returning to the information room along the same path, Qin Lan was already waiting at the place where he had shown Jiang Nian the clothes yesterday.
He was holding a stack of loose pages in his hand, standing among his troops, with his arms folded, turning his head and giving them instructions.
Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching from far inside the room, he stopped giving orders, turned around and saw them, then smiled and said:
"Miss Jiang, have you finished looking at the clothes? Are you satisfied?"
The maid's uniforms that Wu Buqu had improved were better than expected, so Jiang Nian naturally had no objections: "Thank you for your trouble, Master Qin. The clothes are very much to my liking."
"That's good."
Qin Lan responded, turned his head and said a few words to the soldiers surrounding him, then walked towards them holding the stack of loose pages.
"These are the loose pages that were in the basement before."
Jiang Nian mentioned very little about the information in the basement. Apart from a few previous conversations, Jiang Nian had hardly seen this information.
Qin Lan had no intention of showing it to them yet. Instead, he glanced outside, past the busy troops, and said, "This isn't a good place to talk. Let's go somewhere else."
There were indeed a lot of people in the data room. Jiang Nian and Xiao Yingzhu had no objection and simply walked through the group of people and out of the data room.
The Youguan Mansion is crisscrossed with long corridors. Except for the courtyards between each other, there are corridors in almost all other places.
The time to go to Zuihualou was imminent, and Jiang Nian no longer had the heart to admire the scenery inside the mansion as before. He just followed them silently.
Qin Lan was thinking about the loose leaves, while Xiao Yingzhu had other things on his mind since just now. He was thinking about something and remained silent.
The three of them walked into the empty side hall. After Qin Lan closed the door and sat down, he spread the loose pages on the desk, looked at them in thought for a while, and suddenly sneered:
"Am I being overly suspicious? I always feel that... after we investigate Zuihualou, the epidemic in Cang County will be over. Isn't that a bit too simple?"
The same characters and very similar room layouts gave Jiang Nian the illusion of returning to the Qishan Mansion in Pingzhou.
She pondered Qin Lan's words for a moment before saying, "Didn't we have a list of spies in Pingzhou before?"
"Has it been dealt with yet?"
The information that had not been mentioned for a long time was brought up again at this time. Qin Lan was stunned for a moment, and then he heard Xiao Yingzhu, who had been thinking with his eyes down, raise his eyelids and said casually:
"The people related to the bishop were initially dealt with by the secret guards, but now they have been transferred to Meng Zheng."
Jiang Nian paused, blinked, and turned to look at Xiao Yingzhu:
"Why? I remember they weren't..." Aren't they spies stationed in Cang County? They should be on the side of the Wu Mi people now.
Xiao Yingzhu glanced at her and explained, "Because according to their plan, after Meng Yao or the goddess succeed in their mission, they will pretend to be philanthropists and sprinkle the plague-infected powder into the porridge used for daily relief."
I have an impression.
It did show at the time that those people were all more or less related to relief.
Jiang Nian nodded and was about to ask more questions when Qin Lan took over Xiao Yingzhu's words and explained for him, "The Fourth Prince has clues about the bishop that are related to those spies. If we have to start from scratch, he will be more efficient in handling the bishop's case."
That's true. Even though the main directions of their investigations are different, there will be more or less some content related to each other's investigations mixed into their work.
Jiang Nian nodded in agreement again, and simply put the information with results aside and looked at the loose pages in front of him.
"Were these... taken from the basement earlier?"
Qin Lan nodded and reached out from the lowered one to the top one.
"The soldiers and secret guards only managed to salvage half of the items. The ones we talked about last time were the ones that got soaked by water and were not brought back. These today are the ones that were brought back earlier."
He scanned the densely packed Donglan characters and briefly summarized, "Most of these loose pages record the feasible transportation routes from Huandu to Donglan."
Perhaps the recorder was not familiar with the transportation route, but there was a map drawn on one of the loose pages.
Jiang Nian glanced at one of them and suddenly paused.
This picture looks so familiar.
She reached out and picked up the loose leaf. After taking a closer look, she asked in surprise, "Has this route... been thoroughly investigated?"
Following Jiang Nian's gaze, Qin Lan and Xiao Yingzhu fixed their eyes on the junction of Xuanmo and Huan.
The junction here extends further eastward to the junction of Donglan.
Seeing that they didn't respond, Jiang Nian curled up his fingertips in confusion and asked tentatively, "What's wrong?"
Xiao Yingzhu retracted his gaze and looked at her with a hint of inquiry: "Where did you hear that this line has been thoroughly investigated?"
Jiang Nian was inexplicably shocked, and then he simply summarized the previous conversation with Jiang's father:
"I asked my father some questions before, and he mentioned this border because of some of the goods in the medicine shop, such as Schisandra chinensis and Adenophora australis."
Unexpectedly, the answer to Jiang's father's previous question about his opinion of Xiao Yingzhu would be brought up at this moment. Jiang Nian's doubts grew deeper and deeper: "This matter... don't you know about it?"
Xiao Yingzhu calmly withdrew his gaze and shook his head slightly: "The military intelligence at the border between Xuanmo and Huandu is not my responsibility."
"Meng Hao is in charge."
Meng Hao? The Third Prince?
Qin Lan nodded immediately. "I'm in charge of intelligence in the mainland. There are many people and eyes over there, and various forces are entrenched. Although some of our troops are stationed there, we don't have much frequent contact."
"..." Jiang Nian was speechless for a moment and looked at the map again.
"Some merchants from the border areas of Pingzhou came to the south earlier. I even met a few of them in the pharmacy."
"Among the goods those people brought with them, could there be anything that the Wumi people need?"
Thinking that there were still some Wu Mi people lurking in Pingzhou, and those merchants might have dealt with Wu Mi people's spies to some extent, Jiang Nianxin became nervous for a moment.
Her research and experimental fields are all in Pingzhou.
There are also Father Jiang and Mother Jiang, as well as Fuling and Guizhi...
Qin Lan smiled soothingly, "That's not the case. When they came here, Xiao Yingzhu was still in Pingzhou. Everyone entering the city was thoroughly checked by his men, and nothing suspicious was found."
Jiang Nian was confused for a moment: "Then when they entered the city, didn't they say they were coming from the border?"
"Ah, this."
Qin Lan raised his hand and scratched his face, looking thoughtful:
"Because people living near the border have very fluctuating lives, there are people moving around every year. Huandu doesn't have any laws restricting this, so it's quite common."
"I see."
Jiang Nian nodded in understanding. "Then should we inform the Third Prince about the information related to 'Lu' along this line?"
If I remember correctly, Meng Hao should still be stationed at the border.
Xiao Yingzhu said calmly, "I will tell them, but I don't know if they will reply."
"?"
Jiang Nian turned and looked at Xiao Yingzhu questioningly: "...Why?"
He tilted his head and stared at her, his black hair sweeping across his shoulders along the jade crown tassel, his eyes barely meeting hers. "It's because of our relationship."
"My duties have nothing to do with General Meng, and no one except Your Majesty knows about this dispatch. If you rashly ask..."
Xiao Yingzhu smiled nonchalantly, her voice as light as a cedar tree:
"I'm afraid General Meng's Black Armor Guards will knock on the door of Youguan Mansion tomorrow."
That’s right.
After staying with Xiao Yingzhu for so long, I almost forgot that he was a dangerous person in the court with unclear stance and might betray Emperor Changde.
Even Meng Zheng, who observed Xiao Yingzhu from time to time, became extremely vigilant and suspicious when he saw Xiao Ying visiting Chimen.
Not to mention Meng Hao, whom I have hardly ever met.
Jiang Nian's train of thought reached a dead end. He was not as relaxed as Xiao Yingzhu and felt a little embarrassed for a moment.
"Then right now..." Does he still need to ask Meng Zheng for help?
But even though they are all princes, there are some who are familiar and some who are unfamiliar.
Whether Meng Zheng and Meng Hao are familiar with each other and whether they have had any contact is also a question.
Qin Lan shook his hands, looking away from the map, and chuckled, "Don't be so discouraged. I still have troops watching over there. Besides, apart from this line, there are other lines to investigate."
"Although the leaflet doesn't indicate which route they ultimately chose, if no traces are found along other routes, it won't be too late to contact Meng Hao through Emperor Changde."
"--What's more, Meng Hao is also on Your Majesty's side. If he finds any clues about the Wu Mi people, he will definitely inform Your Majesty. Then you can have Xiao Yingzhu write a letter and ask Your Majesty."
After a few words, Jiang Nian's doubts were dispelled.
Unable to think of anything else to analyze, he turned his attention to the loose pages in front of him.
If the previously restored loose pages recorded transactions involving money and children.
This loose leaf tells you the quantity of "mineral grass" you will get, as well as the method and route of transporting it to Donglan.
Such an important clue was left in the basement. How panicked was the person dressed as 'Lu' when he left?
Did something happen?
Could it be related to the collapse of the 'Lu' statue?
Xiao Yingzhu withdrew his gaze from the loose pages, passed through the floating dust, and fell on the window frame that was emitting bright light.
The tiny bird landed on the neatly trimmed bushes and was looking into the hall.
The coldness that touched Xiao Yingzhu's sight instantly spread its wings and flew away.
The contents on the scattered pages seemed to be a lot, but following Qin Lan's train of thought, all that could be extracted were the routes on the map and the connection methods related to "Lu".
Amidst the melodious bird calls, Qin Lan pointed to the location of "Lu" on the map.
"The 'Lu' currently under the goddess's control is no longer the 'Lu' who pretended to be a god. The statue's collapse was man-made, and these records only date back to before the statue's approximate collapse."
"I reasonably surmise that these people are missing after the statue collapsed—either they fled or died."
"So Donglan found no one who could take over the mission at the mine, so he sent the goddess and the second 'Lu' here."
He took a deep breath, raised his eyes and met Xiao Yingzhu's slightly cold gaze, then curled his lips meaningfully.
"I think after being in Cang County for so long, it's time for me to personally visit the villagers at the foot of Qixia Mountain."
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