socalfunplaces Page 200
Page 200
"Because my identity as a commoner is confidential, it could not be disclosed at will before."
This has caused a misunderstanding with Lord Fan and the Censorate; I hope they will forgive me.
Fan Xian's face darkened; he realized he had been completely tricked by Li Chang'an.
In the current power struggle over the Imperial Treasury, Fan Xian and the Crown Prince are temporarily allies.
The rivalry between the Crown Prince and Prince Yong was common knowledge, so it was entirely understandable that Li Chang'an chose to help Lin Wan'er.
Xia Qifei had already pledged allegiance to Li Chang'an, and then pretended to pledge allegiance to Fan Xian. Taking advantage of Emperor Qing's support for Fan Xian, he won the lawsuit against the Ming family.
Therefore, Fan Xian was completely used by Xia Qifei. Now that the goal has been achieved, Xia Qifei has also revealed his identity.
Fan Xian stared resentfully at the city gates of the three new districts, assessing the strength of both sides.
His elite Black Riders could fight ten men each, equivalent to five thousand elite soldiers.
Xia Qifei's water fortress also had 5,000 troops, but the enemy had 100 experts under Lin Wan'er, as well as Shadow Guards brought by Li Chang'an from the capital.
If they were to actually fight, Fan Xian had no confidence in winning.
Moreover, all the equipment and craftsmen in the three major workshops are now in the hands of Li Chang'an and Lin Wan'er.
By this time, Fan Xian finally realized that his grand southward journey had resulted in a complete defeat in the struggle for control of the Imperial Treasury.
Ming Qingda and his other brothers have fallen into Li Chang'an's hands.
When Li Chang'an investigates the Junshan Society's rebellious party case, he will definitely also investigate the smuggling case.
Zong Zhui looked at the bright arrows on the city wall and felt a little uneasy.
"My lord, what should we do?"
Although Fan Xian was furious at being schemed against by Li Chang'an, he also knew that when he decided to pursue the three major workshops, he had already become involved in the struggle between the Crown Prince and Prince Yong.
Although he would never favor the Crown Prince even if he controlled the Imperial Treasury, Prince Yong would not trust him.
What Fan Xian didn't know was that Li Chang'an helped Lin Wan'er seize the Imperial Treasury for his own purpose: to improve his own wealth ranking.
Fan Xian addressed the city tower, "Xia Qifei, the reason I've come south this time is to investigate the Ming family's smuggling case."
"His Highness Prince Yong has come south to investigate the Ming family's treason case. Since we're both going to investigate the Ming family, why don't we conduct the interrogation and handle the case together?"
After Fan Xian finished speaking, Teng Zijing, disguised and in disguise, appeared on the city wall.
"His Highness Prince Yong has ordered that the Ming family's treason case is a confidential matter and the Supervisory Council should not get involved."
Fan Xian and Zong Zhui couldn't help but grin. They used to say such things to other government departments, but now someone actually dared to say it to the Supervisory Council.
Teng Zijing continued, "His Highness said that the smuggling case is a minor matter, and the Shadow Guard will handle it together."
Upon returning to Kyoto, we will hand over the smuggling case files to the Board of Audit.
Previously, the Shadow Guards did not have the power to adjudicate cases, but now that Li Chang'an's power is growing, the Shadow Guards' powers have become more comprehensive.
Fan Xian insisted, "The smuggling case involves many aspects, and it will be too late to hand it over when we return to the capital."
"I will wait in Hangzhou. I hope the Shadow Guard will investigate the case thoroughly and promptly hand over the smuggling case files!"
Teng Zijing readily replied, "Alright, please return to Hangzhou and wait for news, Lord Fan."
Now that things have come to this, Fan Xian can only continue to do another imperial duty in Hangzhou, which is to punish corruption and wait for the dossier from the Shadow Guard.
At this moment, Ye Liuyun poked his head out of the sea, a hundred miles away from the dock.
Because of his fear of Barrett, the Grandmaster actually stayed underwater for two hours!
Ouch! My back is killing me!
Chapter 141 Emperor Qing Forges a Divine Shield! Lin Wan'er Takes Control of the Imperial Treasury! (23)
A few days later, in the Imperial Study in Kyoto.
News of Ye Liuyun's appearance in Jiangnan reached the capital. Emperor Qing stared expressionlessly at the two intelligence reports from the Shadow Guard and the Surveillance Bureau.
Intelligence reports indicate that the Junshan Society's traitorous activities and the internal treasury smuggling case have led to the discovery of the Ming family's accountant.
Grandmaster Ye Liuyun was commissioned by the Junshan Society to rescue the accountant.
The grandmaster had just shown off his skills when he was struck by lightning and fell into the sea.
"Si Xiang, what do you think?"
Hong Sixiang said definitively, "The so-called Heavenly Thunder should be the divine weapon from more than 20 years ago."
"Otherwise, this old servant really can't think of any other weapon that could harm a Grandmaster."
As Emperor Qing's most trusted confidant, Hong Sixiang knew that the divine weapon was Emperor Qing's greatest worry.
Emperor Qing looked at the intelligence report and said, "The sound was like thunder. Ye Liuyun was bleeding from the abdomen and jumped into the sea to escape."
"But more than twenty years ago, my two uncles were almost beaten to a pulp!"
Hong Sixiang analyzed logically, "It should be that the divine weapon was too fast and passed directly through the flesh and blood, without the explosion you mentioned earlier."
Over the years, Emperor Qing has done a lot of research on the assassination of the two princes.
However, due to the vast difference in their knowledge, they could only make wild guesses based on some words left behind by Ye Qingmei.
Emperor Qing has now confirmed that Fan Xian opened Ye Qingmei's box.
Moreover, the divine weapon in the box is the same divine weapon that killed the two princes back then.
Because the two princes were killed by lightning, the direct beneficiaries were Emperor Qing and his father, Prince Cheng.
Since Prince Cheng and Emperor Qing ascended the throne one after another, Ye Qingmei has accomplished a great deal smoothly in Nanqing.
Ye Qingmei knows so many strange and unusual things, and now that we know she comes from the Temple, Emperor Qing has concluded that it was Ye Qingmei who used the Temple's divine weapons to help him and his son ascend to the throne.
It seems that Fan Xian has already mastered the divine weapon, which makes Emperor Qing very uneasy.
If Fan Xian discovers the truth about Ye Qingmei's death, the divine weapon might be aimed at Emperor Qing!
"Si Xiang, do you think that if we melt down the body of that temple messenger and forge it into armor, it would be able to stop the divine weapon?"
Hong Sixiang said, "The envoy comes from the temple, and his physical strength is far greater than that of ordinary steel. We can give it a try."
Emperor Qing immediately said, "You must immediately select craftsmen and send them with a secret decree to the three major workshops to find Princess Yichen and have them learn smelting from the craftsmen of the three major workshops."
"After I have completed my studies, I will build a small smelting workshop in the inner court to forge divine shields!"
Hangzhou City.
Fan Xian only waited three days before Teng Zijing came to visit him.
"Lord Fan, it will take at least ten days to half a month to fully investigate the smuggling case."
"Here is the progress report on the case. His Highness Prince Yong was afraid you would be anxious, so he specially sent me to deliver it."
Fan Xian took the dossier from Teng Zijing's hand, feeling very puzzled.
Why not investigate everything before handing it over? Would Li Chang'an really be so concerned that he'd worry Fan Xian would be anxious?
Once Fan Xian finished reading the file, he understood that Li Chang'an wanted him to run errands.
It turned out that the dossier brought by Teng Zijing contained the smuggling routes and key figures revealed by the Ming family.
Li Chang'an was not assigned to investigate smuggling, so he certainly wouldn't expend his own manpower on such matters.
Chang Kun, the naval commander of Jiaozhou, was extremely arrogant. His 10,000 naval troops were fierce and powerful, and capturing him would not be easy.
They might as well just pass it on to Fan Xian and let him handle it himself.
"Commander Jing, please convey to His Highness Prince Yong that you thank him for the clues he provided."
"I will do everything in my power to arrest these key accomplices involved in smuggling."
Teng Zijing said, "His Highness also said that he hopes you can act swiftly in your campaign."
"It's possible that a ruthless character like Chang Kun, knowing that the Ming family had fallen and the accountant had been arrested, would turn around and defect to Dongyi City."
As expected, whoever captured the Ming family gained the upper hand.
Fan Xian, the dignified Imperial Envoy of Jiangnan Circuit, is now being bossed around by Li Chang'an.
"Thank you for your trouble, Commander Jing."
Outside Hangzhou city, misty mountains.
With Li Chang'an's help, Lin Wan'er quickly eliminated the Ming family's core forces in the three major districts.
All those who were originally trained by the Ming family were arrested by the Shadow Guard on charges of unauthorized relocation of the three major workshops.
The Ming family's accountant handed over the true accounts of the Junshan Society over the years, and Li Yunrui took a large amount of money from the Ming family.
This wealth supported a large number of martial arts masters, the most prominent of whom was Grandmaster Ye Liuyun.
This grandmaster's luxurious lifestyle was provided by the Junshan Society's organizations in various locations.
Although the Junshan Society still has many members, they only exchange resources with each other, and the accounts cannot reflect the behavior of all members of the Junshan Society.
This is related to the loose structure of the Junshan Society itself, but these accounts alone are enough to destroy the core of the Junshan Society.
In recent years, with the help of the local Luo Wang (a powerful organization), Xia Qifei's power has expanded rapidly.
Therefore, he completely took control of the Ming family in a very short time.