For two whole hours, Qingyan kept turning her little head toward the tent entrance, afraid that she would miss Saito's return. As the hour of Chou approached, Qingyan finally calmed down, her watery eyes couldn't help but look sleepy, and her mood also became bad.
"Sulan, another cup of coffee!" Qingyan felt that without coffee, she definitely wouldn't be able to last until the end of the interrogation. She would feel ashamed if she couldn't even compare to Yin Genjue Luo Shi.
"Little darling, don't drink too much!" Last time, Qingyan drank a whole pot of it and didn't sleep well for two nights in a row.
Qingyan stubbornly shook her head, determined to get through this.
"Little darling, have Sulan prepare some midnight snacks!" Fei Yanggu couldn't hold on any longer; his stomach was empty, and his mind was blank.
The atmosphere inside the imperial tent was even more tense. Everyone hoped to find a breakthrough as soon as possible. Qingyan's little face puffed up, as the responsibility of preparing the midnight snack had been entrusted to him.
Qingyan nodded slightly to Sulan, signaling her to prepare the food.
"Wait, Sulan, prepare the hot pot, it's so refreshing!" Emperor Kangxi loved hot pot, and in winter, he would have different kinds of hot pot served in rotation.
Even if Emperor Kangxi loved hot pot, he wouldn't eat it like that.
Consort Tong frowned. Since they often ate hot pot, Emperor Kangxi would definitely get a sore throat. They only brought Imperial Physician Yuan with them; the rest of the people didn't stay. If they were not careful, it could harm Emperor Kangxi's health.
Su Lan was a little anxious. These servants who knew how to cook would give Kangxi a list of his physical condition every day, and the list would be changed according to the different conditions.
"Just this once!" Consort Tong relented.
The waiting time was the hardest to endure. Fei Yanggu stared blankly at the tent, hoping that his son would bring news as soon as possible.
Under the expectant gazes of everyone, Li Dequan finally arrived. His face was very pale, which seemed to be largely in line with their expectations.
"Master, now that we've gotten the information, it must be closely related to Prime Minister Suo. Now, Lord Eshuo wants to find out whether it was handled according to the rules."
Yin Dehe held a high position because his surname was Hesheli, and Suo'etu entrusted him with many matters.
"Liulichang should be an important source of information. The palace servants would go there to dispose of some stolen goods. Hesheli opened an antique shop there and often handled treasures that flowed out of the palace. Yin Dehe confessed that those rare items that circulated out were basically made into fakes in Liulichang, placed in the palace, and sold off the real items."
Qingyan was somewhat astonished; she had only ever seen such a situation on TV dramas, and now she was witnessing it here.
"Pearls?" Qingyan was very curious about how those things got out. She went to Liulichang and found a precious artifact, which was said to be an authentic work by Emperor Huizong of Song, but it had been dismembered into several pieces and taken out of the factory.
Li Dequan choked, not daring to say directly how the pearl was taken out of the palace, after all, these things were somewhat dirty.
"Yes, deal with all those who came along. Yin Dehe is no tough guy, otherwise he would have vomited it all out in just a few hours." Kangxi's words made Fei Yanggu and Yin cover their faces. In order to save Eshuo's face, Kangxi spared no effort to smear the Hesheli family.
Those who can sustain interrogations in the secret camp for more than an hour are basically elites.
"Alright, let Eshuo return. Have the men sent by Hesheli interrogate them all with the New Army. Whoever can extract new information will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold." With Kangxi offering a reward, those people will definitely be more motivated. A thousand taels of gold can support a noble family for two years.
A generous reward will surely attract brave men!
These few words are a profound truth. When Eshuo informed his subordinates of Kangxi's imperial edict, the soldiers of the new army were overjoyed. The Emperor's reward made everyone highly motivated.
Qingyan watched as Kangxi waved his hand, and Li Dequan personally went to fetch a thousand taels of gold and placed it on the tall shelf outside.
The soldiers' eyes lit up when they saw the gold.
"Boss, if we get any new information, will His Majesty reward us all?" The new recruits had gone through thick and thin with Saito and Eshuo, and they treated them like ordinary friends.
“Yes!” Li Dequan said directly from the side.
Outside the imperial tent, the servants' passion was completely ignited. More people wanted to get their hands on the gold; their salaries were higher than those of ordinary soldiers, and they faced greater dangers.
They were all at risk of sacrificing their lives for their country at any moment, so they all wanted to leave their families as much money as possible. Even if they met with misfortune in the end, they wanted their families to no longer have to worry about making a living.
Qingyan sat comfortably inside the tent, listening to the sounds outside, feeling a mix of emotions.
These people had no background, but with their own abilities, they wanted to elevate their families to the ranks of minor nobles within the Eight Banners.
"Li Dequan, give Xiao Guai a thousand taels of gold!" The information provided by Qingyan was the most important.
Emperor Kangxi had always known that Suo'etu had planted spies within the Imperial Guards, but he had never been able to find out. Qingyan's words suddenly gave them a clue.
"Father Emperor..." Qingyan was bewildered. How could he have something to do with himself?
"You found the person we've been looking for for three years with just a few words!" Yin Dao felt that Qingyan deserved the thousand taels of gold.
Her eyes gleamed as she saw that Li Dequan had presented a gold ingot.
"Thank you for your grace, Father!" Qingyan waved his hand with a smile, letting Sulan take the gold ingot first.
Upon seeing this, Yin immediately ordered Su Peisheng to take it out. The people outside were still unaware of what was going on. Many soldiers assumed it was a reward from E'shuo. It was common knowledge that Saito and E'shuo doted on their younger sister, and they would always let Qingyan choose first when receiving a reward.
Fortunately, the interrogation room of the secret camp is far away from here, otherwise the sounds could be heard here, and no one would be able to sleep well.
Yin frowned as he watched the reports coming in becoming increasingly scarce, with only two or three pieces of information proving useful.
"Father, judging from the current situation, there must still be people hiding!" Yin and the others passed around the interrogation records, feeling somewhat annoyed.
Most of the court officials had sent spies into the palace; it was just a matter of whether Emperor Kangxi would tolerate it. If they went too far, Emperor Kangxi would certainly not tolerate it anymore.
"Investigate!" Kangxi uttered only one word.
Qingyan sat awkwardly to one side. The three women took the news record and were shocked by the information on it. Consort Tong hadn't expected that Suo'etu, a grown man, would be so knowledgeable about the affairs of the harem. Not only were there spies around Kangxi, but they were also everywhere in the harem. Consort Tong often had unruly servants beaten to death, most of whom were sent to the palace by aristocratic families. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
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