The theft of a powder magazine is the most important and dangerous thing.

Xiao Pingsi had to be nervous, he had already learned the power of a large amount of gunpowder to explode in an instant.

Once there is enough of this thing, it is enough to destroy the rocks.

In this Gyeonggi neighborhood, if someone uses it to do something, it is really at everyone's own risk.

"How could it be stolen, haven't the guards all checked the details? There are still a large number of forbidden troops and Hanging Sword Division soldiers around, how can they steal it? Xiao Pingsi became serious.

If this is really a theft, there are more than three or five people involved.

Among the guards, there must be internal ghosts, teams in the sentry checkpoints, and patrolling along the way...... There are problems.

"Your Majesty, for the sake of secrecy, the area around the powder magazine is not impassable, and theft is not completely impossible."

"The minister has already checked that the family members of two of the people on duty in the capital have disappeared, and they may have sent their families away in advance when they were doing this."

The minister was suspicious...... It may be an enemy spy, a spy who has been planted for many years, but it has been too long, and the Hanging Sword Division has not found any clues. Yan Lanfeng said helplessly.

This kind of thing is a spy detective, as long as you are patient enough and hide it for several generations, who knows that he is a meticulous worker?

There are also a lot of such spies planted by various countries in each other, and many of them have been activated one after another, and many more have fallen asleep and have not been awakened.

"Since that's enough to explain the theft of gunpowder, what can you find?"

"Gunpowder is out of the warehouse, and it will become invalid if it is not stored properly, do they want to do it in a sudden move, steal the gunpowder out or transport it into the capital?"

Xiao Pingsi's first suspicion was that someone wanted to use this gunpowder to blow up some important buildings in the capital, or assassinate an important person.

The first thing that comes to mind is himself.

The emperor, naturally, was the first target of all spies, who wanted to assassinate.

"How much is lost?" Xiao Pingsi asked.

"More than a few hundred pounds."

Xiao Pingsi: "At this juncture, they stole so much gunpowder, if they can use it, where does Yan Qing think it will be used?" ”

"Blow up important targets, or people or buildings."

"Then what do you think are the current goals in Jingzhong that are worth such a risk?" As soon as Xiao Pingsi asked this, he suddenly thought of a place.

Yan Lanfeng had long been suspicious, and said unhurriedly:

"Your Majesty, the minister suspects that the Great Sacrifice to Heaven at the end of the year, thieves may attack here."

"Festivals?"

Xiao Pingsi sat down and nodded slowly: "Yes...... Wang Feng sent someone to inspect the festival site built by the Ministry of Industry, and asked Xie Qi and the forbidden army to go, and all of them were demolished and rebuilt. ”

"Whoa." After Wang Feng bowed, he withdrew from the warm pavilion and passed the decree.

After Wang Feng left, Xiao Pingsi's face turned a little colder: "If this batch of gunpowder is found in the city, it will be terrible." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, that means there is a problem with the city's defenses." Yan Lanfeng is worried about this.

If gunpowder wants to be transported into the capital, it is impossible, and it is the patrol battalion that is responsible for the outer gates of the capital.

Unless there is a deliberate indulgence in the patrol battalion.

"King Ning is going to rebel, if the capital is in chaos, his chances of victory will be very great, if he is lucky enough to kill me, King Ning may really have a chance to watch the artifact." The first thing Xiao Pingsi suspected was King Ning!

This juncture is too much of a coincidence.

If he didn't know the power of gunpowder, Yan Lanfeng would not suspect that a large amount of gunpowder had been stolen, but he was afraid that the capital would realize it later, and he would not know until the incident happened.

"There's one more thing." Yan Lanfeng saw His Majesty and realized the seriousness of this matter, so he mentioned another matter.

"What?" Xiao Pingsi sighed, "This year is really eventful, isn't there a lot of good news?" ”

Yan Lanfeng smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, the various expenses at the end of the year will suddenly increase a lot, and there is some surplus money in the treasury this year...... Should there be a New Year's banquet to reward all officials and governments? ”

"Oh?" Xiao Pingsi breathed a sigh of relief, "It's finally good news." ”

"It's rare, you still dare to say that the treasury is rich." Xiao Pingsi smiled.

However, Xiao Pingsi was not in a hurry to discuss how to spend the money, but asked: "This Northern Expedition is almost over, and the young master is about to return to Beijing, how much did the household department cost?" ”

Fighting a war is the most expensive job.

Although he has earned a lot of money this year, Xiao Pingsi estimates that there is not much left after this Northern Expedition.

"Back to Your Majesty, so far in the Northern Expedition, the household department has allocated four million taels, but it has not been spent, and many materials will be sealed on the spot...... It cost less than three million taels. ”

"So little?" Xiao Pingsi was surprised.

From the beginning of the Northern Expedition to the present, it has been nearly three months, and the land of four states has been captured, but it has only spent three million taels of military expenses.

It's a great deal!

In the past, just to suppress a mob, it would cost millions of taels, and some people even applied for military expenses in order to receive more money from the imperial court, and even raised their own dignity.

According to Xiao Pingsi's estimates, it will cost at least six or seven million taels this time.

How could it be only this number, Xiao Pingsi suddenly doubted whether the soldiers were hungry.

"Your Majesty, the young master led the troops well, won a great victory all the way, without the slightest delay, and captured a lot of loot to make up for the losses...... So far, the loss of ordnance is less than 10%. ”

"How is this possible?" Xiao Pingsi was a little unconvinced.

In the era of cold weapons, why did it cost money to fight a war, in addition to the difficulty of supplying the battle line, there was also the loss of ordnance.

After a battle, many weapons have to be replaced or re-smelted.

In the later stages of a war, many soldiers' weapons became cracked pieces of iron, which could not be called ordnance at all.

But in the Northern Expedition, the loss of ordnance was only one percent, which was completely unprecedentedly low.

"Your Majesty, the young master opened the way with firearms, the tactics of cavalry harvesting, and the Northern Liang Army has no incompetent people to lead the troops...... It can be said that it was a big victory all the way, the losses were too small, and how many people were shocked when they returned to Beijing after the battle......"

Yan Lanfeng is also admired, Fang Jue is not only a good way to make money, but he is really an all-rounder as the Emperor Pavilion said.

"By the way, when the young master triumphs, and the meritorious deeds are rewarded, can the household department have money to reward the departments?" Xiao Pingsi asked.

If there is no money for this, if you want to owe it, it will be really laughing to death.

I'd rather give the courtiers' rewards in the past, but don't be strapped for money at this time.

"Your Majesty rest assured, you have money......" Yan Lanfeng didn't want to say that he was rich, but he still had to support His Majesty for this kind of thing.

Otherwise, the courtiers will not receive the annual reward at that time, and he, the head of the household, will really offend everyone.

……

"Your Majesty......" Wang Feng took small steps and came in from outside.

Only Wang Feng can approach the Son of Heaven directly without notice.

"Did you find anything?" Xiao Pingsi saw that Wang Feng was back and asked.

Wang Feng said: "There is nothing found at the altar, but the people of the household department intercepted a merchant ship that was about to go south, and found hidden gunpowder in the bottom of the ship!" ”

"Planning to leave Beijing?" Xiao Pingsi was surprised, and thought that the thief was going to kill him.

"Did you ask, who did it?"

"Your Majesty, Xie Qi went to torture him, saying that he was a spy from Xichu who came to steal gunpowder and formulas." Wang Fengyu reports.

Xiao Pingsi said coldly: "Bei Liang stole the new grain seeds, and Xi Chu came to steal the secret recipe for gunpowder again, it is really a wolf ambition!" ”