Chapter 220 - Who is the Mole?

Chapter 220 Who is the Mole?

"My third younger cousin." Dou Meishuang drew back her neck, looking miserable.
"If you have nothing else to do here, please go." Qin Yunuan had her own way of seeing the guests off. "As for my Second Sister, I was helping her by not hurting her. Don't wade that muddy water."
"If you refuse to clear up the misunderstanding with me, then I would..." Dou Meishuang shook her head cowardly, sighing to herself and then left.
Leng Changxi had just come back from the Royal Court. He happened to see Dou Meishuang leaving the yard hurriedly. Dou Meishuang saw Leng Changxi at a glance, her eyes sparkled. But quickly, she adjusted her emotions. Her eyes were red, and she was covering her face with the veil. People who don't know would have thought that Qin Yunuan had bullied her. Leng Changxi frowned slightly and only glanced at Dou Meishuang before entering the house.
Upon entering the room, Qin Yunuan ordered Ting Xue to serve the warm duck soup on the stove.
"I cooked it. Try." Qin Yunuan handed him the spoon and opened the lid with the other hand. The duck meat had the fragrance of lotus leaves, exuding an alluring breath in the golden soup.
"You didn't have to work so hard." Leng Changxi smiled and took the spoon while squeezing Qin Yunuan's now rounder face. Perhaps it was that she had been treated nicely, Qin Yunuan had gained weight. White and tender, her face felt good in his hands.
The duck soup was absolutely delicious. Leng Changxi liked it very much. He turned and saw Maner waiting on the side, "Recently, there have been more affairs in the court. Leng Wu was busier helping me, which wasn't joyous for the new couple in marriage. Please don't take it personally."
His words were filled with care.
Maner bent to thank him, "He was promoted because of your trust and love. As his wife, I couldn't be happier."
Leng Changxi nodded, "Leng Wu has a good wife."
Other people had gone. Only Ting Xue and Xi'er were left to watch outside. Qin Yunuan wiped the corner of Leng Changxi's lips. "How did the affair of the Sun Family go?"
Leng Changxi frowned, "The people are almost handled. The Sun family members were mostly women, so there had been relatively little resistance. However, I searched all over the Sun family and didn't find those three maps."
Qin Yunuan sighed. The Sun Family owned all three maps. Countless eyes must have been on the treasure after the house was searched and the proprieties confiscated. If Leng Changxi had found it, he would get into more trouble. Thinking about it this way, it might have been a good thing for him not to find it.
"Money confuses our hearts." Qin Yunuan shook her head. "The fall of Sun Family must be the beginning of a bloody fight."
"Stupid girl," Leng Changxi knocked Qin Yunuan's silky forehead dotingly, "It couldn't be as simple as that. It was just thirty million taels of gold. With your ability to make money, you will earn them back in ten or twenty years. What's more, though money was important, but the four big families have been fighting for so long, and the masters have been killing each other to get them for so many years. Do you think it was worth thirty million taels of gold?"
Qin Yunuan suddenly understood. She thought that Old Madam had exaggerated the value of this treasure, but she didn't know the secret behind it.
Leng Changxi continued, "When you looked at it for the first time, you would naturally have thought that it was just thirty million taels of gold. Only the insiders knew what the former emperor did after getting the thirty million."
"There had been a woman named Chen Wan in the former dynasty. She was agile, capable of doing something that nobody else could. She even managed the water transport of her husband's family very well. The pirates on the sea attacked furiously, they often looted merchants’ fleets, causing heavy losses and the dilemma that no one dared to travel on the sea. This Chen Wan learned from some whimsy thought. She designed a kind of ship, not only could it sail as fast as a flying arrow, but also it had cannons on both sides. When encountering those pirates and someone powerful and valuable was on the boat, it could use their full power. Ordinary boats wouldn't be able to catch up. Under suitable distance, it would fire and attack. The boats never missed. They are called Thunderbolt boats."
"It must be a good boat." Qin Yunuan nodded, "But why wasn't it handed down?"
"Huh," Leng Changxi snorted coldly, "That was the shrewdness of the woman. She was afraid that her invention would be abused by others, so her design drawings were drawn in a very mysterious way. It seemed to be a blank piece of paper. Only by knowing the method could one understand the mystery. Later, Chen Wan was buried in the flames. The previous monarch tried all his best to get the drawing, but he could not read it. In the end, he could only die in distress."
Leng Changxi shook his head and spoke again, "When it came to the time of the former emperor, he met an expert by chance and solved this drawing. He was surprised to find that not only the shipbuilding method and design structure of Thunderbolt boats were drawn, but also many novel weapons designs and structures. Chen Wan, the woman, was extraordinary."
"Therefore," Qin Yunuan guessed, "Did the former emperor build a weapon factory with those thirty million taels of gold?" Qin Yunuan suddenly understood how the first emperor turned the situation around and defeated more with less as the history books recorded. It was mostly the help of these mysterious weapons.
Leng Changxi nodded, "Today is an era of stronger people having a greater say. The four families are richer than the emperor and invincible. The only things they lack are sufficient military power and weapons. If they find the weapon factory, the family can use the power of it and soar into the sky."
The soar meant that the family could revolt and be the emperor.
It turned out that the four families had their own thoughts inevitably, and it was no wonder that Queen Mother would have thought of such a way to break the power of the four families.
Qin Yunuan frowned, "But had there been an arsenal, there must be workers. Have these workers been isolated from the world? Also, if these workers stole the construction drawings..."
"No," Leng Changxi shook his head, "The former emperor was hard-handed, and his method was unimaginable. In the beginning, all the workers who could enter the weapon factory signed a death agreement. Each of them can only work for three years. When the working period was over, he must commit himself to suicide and sacrifice the weapon with his own blood. On the one hand, it was to prevent these people from bringing out the news. On the other hand, they had only worked for three years, and every production step was separated. They didn't have time to figure out the entire construction process. When the former emperor passed away, he had already brought the last batch of workers out and buried them in the Imperial Mausoleum."
"But even after years, people are still eager for the mysterious arsenal, because possessing it was equivalent to possessing the most powerful army on land and sea." Qin Yunuan made a conclusion. Then she couldn't help but sighed, "This Chen Wan was really a marvelous woman."
"Speaking of military power," Leng Changxi put down the spoon in his hand. The duck soup in the warm cup had been wiped out, "There is one more thing. Except that the three maps were not found, one thing that should have been in Sun's house is also gone."
"What?"
Leng Changxi frowned, "The Commander's Seal of Jinling."
The Commander's Seal of Jinling was under the custody of Marquis of Jinling and the Sun Family. The military envoy sent by the emperor then gave orders to the army, which not only ensured the ability of the local military to respond to changes but also the central government's control. Now, the Commander's Seal in the Sun house was missing.
"Did Old Madam Sun and Madam Sun carry it on themselves?"
"No, we have searched all over the house." Leng Changxi answered seriously.
Qin Yunuan knew the severity of this matter. The Sun family secretly raised a group of troops. As long as there was the Sun family's seal, the army could be dispatched at will without any cooperation of the Marquis of Jinling or the royal military envoy. Jinling was the northernmost part of the regions south of the River, only five hundred miles away from the Royal City. The army started from Jinling could reach the Royal City in only two days. Although the Royal City also had one hundred thousand central military forces, they are all lavish officials. Their combat effectiveness is negligible.
Ting Xue rushed in at the moment, pinching a letter in her hand.
"Third Young Madam, this was an urgent delivery from Jinling."
Qin Yunuan took over the letter. She remembered that the handwriting was from Fang Ziying. She shook the letter paper open. Qin Yunuan read quickly with her heart tightened. It confirmed the worst suspicion in her heart.
"What do you think?" Leng Changxi asked.
Qin Yunuan handed him the letter, "Sister Fang wrote that she requested Marquis of Jinling for a secret investigation as soon as she got my letter. It turned out that Sima Ray had appeared in Jinling as they expected."
Sure enough, Sima Ray wasn't dead.
Qin Yunuan suddenly thought of the three maps that had disappeared for no reason. She glanced at Leng Changxi, and they had a bold guess. If the maps were really in Sima Ray’s hands as well as the Commander's Seal, he would have an army and the best weapons. Qin Yunuan believed that Sima Ray would definitely be able to do things like killing his father and seizing the throne.
"Do you need to notify the emperor?" Qin Yunuan asked.
Leng Changxi shook, "The emperor hasn’t been in good health since the last time. I am afraid that Sima Ray had a back-up plan. Sun Miaoyang came and said that the Ecstasy incense was mixed with some other poisonous herbs. It destroyed the emperor’s spirit, now the mildest wind and the drop of temperature would make the emperor feel sore and catch a fever."
"Sima Ray was a terrifying man."
Leng Changxi narrowed his eyes. "He didn't have those borderlines. That's why he was never afraid of anything."
Qin Yunuan said thoughtfully, "By the way, now that the empress and Imperial Concubine Yun both passed away, who had been in company with the emperor?"
"Who else could it be?" Leng Changxi said faintly, "The Lady Yang who had been just given the name of Imperial Concubine Rong a while ago."
"It really was her." Qin Yunuan raised her eyebrows, "At that time, I thought she was not easy. A lady-in-waiting could have had such courage in a critical moment. If she clung to Imperial Concubine Yun, why did her position and honor rose instead of falling after the death of Imperial Concubine Yun?"
"Do you think that she and Sima Ray..."
"I don't know yet," Qin Yunuan's eyes narrowed slightly, "The only thing I know is that it's time for me to enter the palace to meet this Imperial Concubine Rong."