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Page 512
Before he could even speak, Song Tingfeng told Xu Qi'an about the Sangbo bombing, and Wei Yuan and the Eldest Princess advised Emperor Yuanjing to make amends for his crimes by performing meritorious service.
Xu Qi'an's mind raced. "The Eldest Princess is indeed Master's person! This one will definitely be the future Grandmaster's wife... Besides, Lord Wei is quite righteous..."
Then, he thought of the cries for help he had heard in Sangbo and began to speculate about the connection between them.
"By the way, where did the boss go?"
Xu Qi'an realized that to solve the case, he needed helpers, and Li Yuchun was the best one.
Song Tingfeng grinned and said, "Lord Wei ordered him to be reinstated, but he has already gone to Yunzhou."
Xu Qi'an was full of questions. "It hasn't even been seven days yet, what is the boss doing running off to Yunzhou?"
"The boss is working as an escort for Lord Li's Changqing Trading Company. I heard the salary is incredibly high. A couple of days ago, he escorted a shipment that was urgently needed to Yunzhou."
Li Yuchun has switched jobs and gone into business! Xu Qi'an was somewhat disappointed that the old-fashioned Li Yuchun had actually taken the path he had previously envisioned.
Xu Qi'an gritted his teeth and said bitterly, "When he comes back from Yunzhou, we'll drag him back here to suffer. We can't let him make big money and live a life of luxury outside!"
Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao nodded repeatedly, both saying that this was exactly how it should be; the government office was a good place for self-cultivation, and the end of the universe was all about official duties.
Afterwards, Xu Qi'an went to see Wei Yuan.
On the seventh floor of the Haoqi Pavilion, upon seeing Wei Yuan, Xu Qi'an immediately bowed and said, "This humble servant thanks Lord Wei for his great kindness!"
Wei Yuan pointed to the seat next to Yang Yan and said in a gentle tone, "Sit down and talk. You should thank your master and the Princess. Without the Princess's advice, I wouldn't be confident that I could persuade His Majesty."
Xu Qi thought to himself, "I must remember the kindness of my master and mistress, and I must also remember the affection of my godfather."
Wei Yuan continued, "This case is being handled jointly by Jin Yutang, Chunfengtang, and Zhenxietang. You are the chief investigator. If you solve this case, you will be able to redeem yourself through meritorious service."
In front of Wei Yuan, Xu Qi'an quickly flipped through the scroll and then asked, "The national treasure sword is intact, so the thief must have had another target. Therefore, I guess that something is sealed in Sangbo."
Wei Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "No wonder Brother Li took you as his disciple. You do have a talent for solving cases. No one knows anything about what's under Sangbo except His Majesty."
"So, your goal is to find out who destroyed Yongzhen Shanhe Temple. You don't need to worry about anything else. If you don't have enough manpower or need experts, you can ask your master or Yang Yan."
"With this gold medal, you can enter any important secret location in the capital city without any problem. If the case is not closed within half a month, you will be beheaded and cut in half at the waist as punishment."
Xu Qi'an accepted the gold medal, but couldn't help shrinking his neck. Whether he was beheaded or cut in half at the waist, it would probably hurt quite a bit.
He then thought to himself that he was now the head of a national-level special task force. Although his official rank wasn't high, his power was immense; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he could do whatever he wanted in Beijing.
After accepting the assignment, Xu Qi'an gathered his men and went to several government offices to investigate the case. He would only seek his master's help when he encountered difficulties or encountered skilled individuals; he couldn't trouble his master with every little thing.
My master is very busy, after all, he has too many mistresses.
Xu Qi'an, accompanied by the night watchmen and carrying the imperial gold token, moved freely through the imperial city. No one dared to stop him, and all the government offices cooperated with him.
He first led his men to inspect the site at the bottom of Sangbo Lake and found that the blasting point was inside the temple, where gunpowder had been hidden after the ancestral worship ceremony.
Gunpowder in the Great Feng Dynasty was strictly controlled, so Xu Qi'an led his team to the Ministry of Works to check on gunpowder without stopping, and ordered a team to be dispatched to investigate the officials of the Court of Judicial Review, the Imperial Guard, and the Ministry of Rites who were on duty after the main hall that day.
Then he discovered that three officials from the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Rites had gone missing, as well as three palace servants.
Perhaps these missing people are inextricably linked to this bombing!
Chapter 310 Huaiqing, We Met Up
Like the night watchmen, the Ministry of Justice was also investigating the Sangbo case by imperial decree, but the Ministry of Justice did not obstruct Xu Qi'an in any way.
Because they dared not. First, Zhou Xianping, the Vice Minister of Revenue, fell from power, and later Xu Qi'an even dared to kill Jin Luo's son. Who would dare to walk into the line of fire?
Everyone knows that Xu Qi'an will be executed if he fails to solve the case. Anyone who tries to stop him from doing so is no different from killing him.
If Xu Qi'an is pushed too far, he might actually kill someone. Moreover, he has the gold token, so he can act first and report later. Killing him would be pointless.
With the cooperation of the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review, Xu Qi'an quickly discovered that some of the people on duty at the time had gone missing, and these people were very likely secretly helping to smuggle gunpowder.
However, Xu Qi'an suddenly remembered the case of the monster injuring people not long ago, and there was saltpeter in Dahuang Mountain.
Therefore, he quickly analyzed and concluded that the disappearances were actually a smokescreen to divert attention from the investigation, and that the explosives were homemade.
The raw materials for making gunpowder are sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal. Sulfur and charcoal are not precious, but saltpeter is the hardest to find. And there happens to be a saltpeter mine in Dahuangshan that was not reported in time.
If the night watchmen focus their investigations on the missing persons, they will be completely misled. They will have to screen people from several government departments, which will not only be a huge workload but will also cause panic in the capital.
Ultimately, Xu Qi'an's next focus in the investigation was to identify the person who transported the gunpowder into the capital.
This person must have the freedom to enter the imperial city, and just the day before the ancestral worship ceremony, a junior officer of the Imperial Guard died.
Based on all the information, Xu Qi'an has a general conclusion.
In the Great Yellow Mountain, the demon race drove and killed the Gray Household in order to collect saltpeter from the Great Yellow Mountain. Their purpose was to make gunpowder to destroy the Yongzhen Mountain and River Temple and release the sealed artifact.
Gunpowder was used because the palace was heavily guarded and skilled fighters could not break in, but gunpowder, being an inanimate object, could be brought in silently.
Whether it was the Director of the Imperial Observatory, Luo Yuheng, the leader of the Human Sect, or Wei Yuan, a high-ranking martial artist, they could sense the aura of powerful individuals, but they would never be able to detect gunpowder, an inanimate object.
The deceased Liu Han was a nobody with no real power, but his superiors were, so Liu Han was probably silenced by his superiors.
Therefore, all suspicion now points to Liu Han's superior, Zhou Baihu of the Jinwu Guard.
However, when Xu Qi'an arrived at Zhou Baihu's house, the Baihu named Zhou Chixiong had already fled.
Xu Qi'an had been busy for a long time, but suddenly lost sight of his goal.
After returning home, Xu Qi'an took out the small jade mirror, ready to have a brainstorming session.
[Number 3: Another incident has occurred in Beijing!]
After the message was sent, Number Two replied almost instantly: "Was Emperor Yuanjing assassinated?"
In Xu Qi'an's eyes, Number Two had already been labeled as a radical youth of the Great Feng Dynasty, always thinking about the death of Emperor Yuanjing.
[Number 5: Really? Really? This time it's for real!]
What's real? Number Five's mouth... no, his hands are way faster than his brain.
At this moment, Huaiqing was in Li Chang'an's arms, panting softly, her heart pounding wildly. She was clearly very busy, but in just a few days, she had come to him of her own accord.
Li Chang'an knew very well that girls in love often lose their minds.
Women of Huaiqing's age already have children old enough to run errands, so Huaiqing is somewhat lacking in love.
However, before Li Chang'an, she hadn't met anyone she could make a move on. Now, Huaiqing was hopelessly in love.
Huaiqing, who was being held and ravaged in Li Chang'an's arms, suddenly opened her eyes and noticed that Li Chang'an's gaze also flickered.
Li Chang'an complained inwardly, wondering which fool had started a chat group at this time, ruining the pleasant atmosphere.
Under Huaiqing's questioning gaze, Li Chang'an took out a small jade mirror from her long sleeve.
However, there is nothing unusual about the small mirror on the outside. Only the person who has recognized it can see the information on it. Right now, the mirror only shows the two people touching each other.
Huaiqing blushed and said in a coquettish voice, "You bad person, what are you doing with my mirror?"
She wanted to put the mirror away and continue her tender moment with Li Chang'an, but the reminder in her mind rang again.
Then, to her surprise, she discovered that Li Chang'an had also taken out an identical mirror.
"Oh! Li Chang'an...you! You too..."
Li Chang'an placed the two small mirrors together on the desk next to him, then continued to hold Huaiqing down and play with them. "Who cares? Maybe it's just Number Five chatting again."
"Little sister Yiyi, let's continue."
Huaiqing closed his eyes, lost in a daze of passion, and murmured, "Oh, so you're number seven... no, how did you know I was number one... um..."
Li Chang'an savored Huaiqing's sweetness for a while longer, then helped her up.
"Let's check the small mirror, just in case someone is calling for help."
As Huaiqing tidied his clothes, he looked in the small mirror and realized that it wasn't hard to guess that Number One came from the palace, so it wasn't surprising that Li Chang'an guessed he was Number One just by looking in the small mirror.
Then, Huaiqing lay in Li Chang'an's arms, and the two sat on a large armchair, each with a small mirror, and began to check the messages.
Li Chang'an casually said, "Huaiqing, this can be considered a face-to-face meeting."
"Meet up? What do you mean?" Huaiqing asked, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"We've been exchanging ideas for a while now, and we've finally met," Li Chang'an explained.
Huaiqing smiled smugly, "They definitely don't know that Number One and Number Seven already know each other, and they're even in cahoots!"
Then, Huaiqing saw the message.
"Hmph! I wonder who Number Two is, always thinking about Father Emperor being assassinated!"
"This number five is just like that, all he does is watch the show. I wonder which neighboring country he's from?"
"And this number three, he's also in the capital, but he doesn't say anything, keeping everyone in suspense."
Huaiqing's chest heaved as he casually jotted down recent events.
[Number One: An explosion occurred at Sangbo, the Yongzhen Mountain and River Temple was destroyed, the item sealed within Sangbo disappeared, and Emperor Yuanjing is unharmed.]
Li Chang'an couldn't help but chuckle; Huaiqing was always trying to maintain his father's authority.
[Number Two: Really? Such a commotion, and Emperor Yuanjing is still unharmed!]
[Number 5: Oh, so the emperor didn't die.]
[Number Four: Number Three, is this what you wanted to talk about too?]
[Number Three: Yes, that's it.]
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