At the end of the year, firecrackers are being shipped to Gyeonggi in a steady stream. Xu Yuan sat in the middle of the mansion in a daze, thinking about Roy's last words, asking him to check the gunpowder. This is a big deal, and if gunpowder is hoarded in large quantities in Gyeonggi, the consequences will be unimaginable. He hurriedly summoned the butler and said, "Go and prepare the horses, I want to go to the palace." ”

He told Zhao Qian about this meeting as it was, and the young king nodded, throwing his question to Xu Yuan: "What he said is indeed a question, but let me ask you, which side do you think this Roy is heading towards?" "The minister thinks that it must be towards His Majesty's side." "How?" "Minister, when you go to find him, if he has already colluded with the lords, he can be vain and wronged by the ministers. But Lord Luo, no. ”

"I'm a little worried, what if it's a trap?" "Your Majesty, if this matter is a trap, it should be regarded as a sacrifice for the country." "I have other things for you to do, and if you say so, then you don't want to go." "Your Majesty, what do you mean by this? Your Majesty, rest assured, I will help you create a prosperous era of eternal peace. ”

"I'm just worried about your safety, and now I'm in ruins, and I don't want you to have anything to do." "Your Majesty, rest assured, the ministers should do their best, and there will be absolutely no trouble." There are too many words to guarantee, but Xu Yuan vaguely feels that this matter is not so simple, what needs to be investigated has to be done, and the Gyeonggi forces are intertwined, and they can't be too easy to startle the snake.

"I said Li Gong, now Your Majesty doesn't have any obvious antipathy towards us. I don't think there should be too much movement at this time to set yourself on fire. "Can't you see that? Uncle Liu? This new emperor has no power in Beijing. If he is weak, then why should we be polite to him? It's a big deal to re-establish an emperor. A hoarse voice sounded in the night, and the owner of that voice turned his back to the earl, unusually calm.

On the surface, Xu Yuan is still the same as before, training recruits every day and stepping up the construction of city defense. Meng Jia was already secretly investigating the matter, so he should not be too public. Soon there were results: according to Meng Jia's survey, there were a lot of commercial houses that bought firecrackers from other places in Gyeonggi this year, about 3,000 quintals, but in terms of sales volume and population in previous years, there was no need to buy so many firecrackers, and no one would buy them at all.

"Although firecrackers are made by the government, they are also gunpowder products, and it is impossible to sell them to one person on a large scale. So they went to the various branches to buy these things. Especially, senior brother, look, this Ruixing cotton and linen shop and this Huaxing pawn shop, why do they buy 2,000 firecrackers for use? They don't have any involvement in this kind of business at all. Xu Yuan nodded, he probably knew what was going on behind this, it was these people who were using all the tentacles they could use to buy gunpowder.

"It's obviously a bit expensive to buy like this, and it's too blatant, right? I don't think these people are stupid like this, but I want to know about these trading houses, dart bureaus, and so on that they buy firecrackers. Meng Jia nodded and walked out, leaving the pensive Xu Yuan.

Bought a large number of firecrackers, which was here in Chengguan, there was no response, and it was up to him to find out, which was very abnormal, they should not be unaware, it can be seen that the city defense system is no longer so credible. In that case, what is directly relevant is... Xu Yuan opened his eyes suddenly, and called the pro-soldiers in the mansion to rush out.

When he arrived at the military warehouse of the City Defense Mansion, Xu Yuan asked, "What is it in here?" "General Yu, this is the artillery and iron sword left over from the time of the first emperor." Xu Yuan raised his eyebrows: "Artillery and iron sword together?" "Exactly, because both of them are afraid of the tide on weekdays...""How long has it been since it opened?" "Since Wang Jun entered the city, it has not been opened." "Turn it on." "General, it's not appropriate." The little clerk in charge of the warehouse shirked it.

"Why isn't it appropriate?" "Because it's in disrepair, I'm afraid there's a danger of explosion." Xu Yuan raised his hand and whipped him in the face with a horsewhip, and the man covered his face and fell to the ground, and a deep blood mark appeared on his face in an instant. "Since you don't want to open the lock, then just pry it open, anyway, the lock can be changed."

The warehouse opened, and the contents were met with some shells and leads, and there was no iron sword in it. Xu Yuan asked people to take out some cannons and eject them, and when they disassembled the shells, they were some brand-new gunpowder, not like old cannonballs that had been frozen stiff for more than a month. Xu Yuan grabbed a handful of gunpowder and asked jokingly, "Don't you say that you are afraid that they will freeze and deliberately make a fire to roast them." ”

"Go, call our brethren from the barracks outside the city, and remove all the contents of these warehouses, whatever they are. You stay here, count and report, this person, I'm going to take it away. The little officer had already collapsed to the ground, just covering his face and screaming in pain, and the two sergeants set him up and went to the yamen of the criminal department.

It is also strange to say that this General Xu imprisoned the man in the yamen of the criminal department, and let him be alone in a cell, guarded by soldiers for twelve hours a day, and someone sent him food and drink, and he did not interrogate, as if he had forgotten that this person existed. But he really can't take care of him now, and he has more difficult things to do.

Of the fifty warehouses that were emptied this time, two warehouses were quilts and winter clothes for the city defense army for the winter, Xu Yuan moved them away directly, and the angry city defense army general jumped up and scolded his mother, but the official was crushed to death, and he didn't dare to go to Xu Yuan himself to talk about things, so he joined him to the front of the palace, planning to let Zhao Qian help cure his arrogance.

Unexpectedly, His Majesty the Emperor was still famous for protecting his shortcomings, and he didn't pursue Xu Yuan, but just gave the general 3,000 quilts and winter clothes to condolence, and the general saw that Zhaoqian did give benefits and didn't pursue Xu Yuan, so he had to swallow this nest himself. Zhao Qian took his recital of Xu Yuan, summoned Xu Yuan to the palace, and asked the chief attendant to read it to him word by word.

"I remember that I just gave you a subsidy, why, I don't know if it's not enough, I don't know how to rob the city defense army?" Zhao Qian was a little joking. "Not really." Xu Yuan scratched the back of his head, "It's just that those warehouses secretly have their own things." We raided 50 warehouses this time, and there were only two warehouses of bedding and winter clothes, totaling 1,000 beds and 300 pieces. This is what General Chen told His Majesty, and there are still thirty warehouses, all of which are gunpowder, and they are new gunpowder, and according to the records of the warehouses, these warehouses have not been opened for a year. "What about the remaining ten warehouses?" "It's firecrackers."