As the four passed through the secret passage, they were immediately met with a huge wave of heat. What came into view were busy blacksmiths, and the ground was piled with various unfinished weapons.
Upon seeing the four men enter, one of the blacksmiths looked up and saw Liu Ertie, casually greeted him, and continued hammering his weapon. It seemed that everyone here was too busy to pay attention to others.
"Er Tie, just leave the materials here. Send more materials over from your side, otherwise we won't have enough."
A man who looked like a manager pointed to an empty space next to him where materials were piled up. He then flipped through the ledger in his hand and muttered, "They forge two thousand weapons a month. Do they think we're gods?"
Liu Ertie wiped the sweat from his forehead, whether from nervousness or from the heat, and nodded repeatedly in agreement.
The four men began unloading the pig iron from the cart.
Su Ruojin took the opportunity to observe the place. It was a circular blacksmith's workshop with passages all around, which should lead to the rest area.
Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, Liu Jing quietly followed the steward. When the steward reached the corner, Liu Jing knocked him unconscious, took the ledger from his hand, fed the steward a pill, and stuffed it into a hidden place.
The group then left the secret room.
Su Ruojin took the ledger and looked at it. It recorded the number of weapons produced and the number delivered, and it was divided into two columns.
One column was marked with the character "官" (official), another was blank, and there was a section for signatures, presumably for inspection. The blank column was filled with the name of Magistrate Huang, while the "官" (official) column had the names of different people.
The ratio of numbers allocated to the two groups is approximately eight to two.
It's equivalent to forging one hundred weapons, recording eighty under the "official" category, and twenty under the "blank" category.
Su Ruojin glanced at it and saw that about a thousand weapons had been handed over in the past month, with two hundred of them recorded in the blank column.
What exactly does the weapon listed in this blank column mean?
Su Ruojin looked at Liu Ertie. He could come and go freely here, so he must not be an ordinary blacksmith.
"Where are these weapons from your blacksmith shop being transported?"
Liu Ertie was stunned, his eyes filled with panic. "I...I don't know."
I don't know~~
Before Liu Ertie could react, Su Ruojin had already sent out three needles.
Then Liu Ertie felt an unbearable itch all over his body and began to scratch himself frantically.
"Don't blame me for not warning you, this needle is poisoned. If you scratch your body, your skin will fester and ooze pus, and you will die," Su Ruojin said calmly.
Upon hearing this, Liu Ertie dared not scratch anymore, but the itching on his body made him roll around on the ground in an attempt to relieve the discomfort.
"If you tell me the truth, I can help you detoxify. Oh, right, I forgot to mention, you're just itchy now, but soon you'll feel thousands of ants biting you. Enjoy it."
Su Ruojin's calm voice sounded like a devil's mockery to Liu Ertie, and he did indeed begin to feel the pain of being bitten by insects in his body, although the feeling was not yet intense.
Liu Ertie was anxious. He hadn't felt anything before the Soul-Severing Powder had taken effect, but this poison was taking effect immediately.
"I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll tell you everything." Liu Ertie couldn't take it anymore. "Our blacksmith shop's weapons are sent out in different batches every day. On odd-numbered days, a large number are sent out, and on even-numbered days, a small number are sent out. Each time, different people are transporting them, and the weapons sent out on even-numbered days are only transported at night."
Do you know the person who made the delivery?
"Weapons delivered on odd-numbered days are handled by the shopkeepers, shop assistants, and yamen runners, while those delivered on even-numbered days are handled by Magistrate Huang."
Where are these weapons being transported?
"I really don't know. I just work at the blacksmith shop. Whenever they come to collect goods, my job is only to arrange for people to load the weapons. Ah—"
At this moment, Liu Ertie felt as if every inch of his skin was being scraped by knives. He couldn't help but cry out, but Su Ruojin shot out another needle. Liu Ertie was even more horrified to find that he couldn't even speak.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com