The Imperial Study.

Emperor Jianning sat behind the bookcase with a gloomy face, and a group of ministers stood in front of him.

The two imperial historians on the left and right of the Inspectorate, Su Yi and Jiang Chong, Xu Fu, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Luo Wenyuan, the secretary of the Military Department, Xu Changnian, the Duke of Ruiguo, and Qin Zhao, the Marquis of Jingchang.

"You have all read the confession, let's talk about it, you think King Yu has little to do with this matter."

Emperor Jianning threw the string of red sandalwood beads in his hand onto the table, and his eyes swept to the people below.

"Xu Shangshu, you say it first."

Xu Fu, who was named, had a tight face, and took half a step forward and gave his hand.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the gunpowder mentioned in this person's confession was transported to Yuzhou, and whether King Yu interfered in this matter or not, he was guilty of negligence."

As the king of a state domain, he made gunpowder privately in his fiefdom and sold it, and King Yu was indeed derelict in his duties.

After all, the king is not for you to go there to have fun and enjoy yourself, but also has the responsibility of governing one party.

Emperor Jianning couldn't deny it, his eyes turned, "Su Yushi, you have been in the Inspectorate for many years, supervising hundreds of officials, what do you think of King Yu." ”

When the question was thrown, Su Yi's eyes moved, and he quickly thought about how to deal with it.

"Back to the emperor, the Inspectorate has not found anything wrong with the officials in Yuzhou over the years, but Yuzhou is still far from Bianjing, and if a high-ranking person deliberately conceals it, it will be difficult to detect it, so you have to send someone to Yuzhou to conduct in-depth supervision."

"And the minister thought that the sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter needed to make gunpowder could still be obtained in the first two, but saltpeter could only be obtained in large quantities from the mines, and the mines were in the hands of the imperial court, and if they wanted to secretly sell the next part to the black workshops, it was bound that among the high-level officials who managed the mines, there would be people who used their power for personal gain."

After listening to Su Yi's words, Emperor Jianning seemed to have obtained a little bit of the information he wanted, or what he wanted to hear, and slowly withdrew his gaze.

Then he said in a deep voice, "The Ministry of Industry is responsible for the mining matter, and the wife of Feng Qian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, is from Yuzhou." ”

As soon as these words came out, the officials present knew that the emperor must have checked before calling them here today, otherwise how could they know where a minister's wife is.

So Ruiguo Gong Xu Changnian immediately stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, using power for personal gain or moving the official mines of the imperial court, if this matter is serious, it is not a trivial matter, and it has to be carefully investigated."

"Naturally, it is necessary to find out." Emperor Jianning raised his eyes, "If it is related to King Yu, it is also the collusion between the court officials and the vassal king, this gunpowder is transported without permission, if it is used for military purposes, then it may not have the intention of rebellion!" ”

"The emperor is angry!"

Everyone immediately lowered their heads and said in unison.

King Yu, as the sixth prince of the first emperor, was also discussed as a prince back then, so he would not be a person who had no ambition at all, and it was normal for Emperor Jianning to be jealous of him.

At this time, Qin Zhao, Marquis of Jingchang, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the minister remembers that among the people captured by the Criminal Department this time, there are not only those who make gunpowder, but also those who come to buy gunpowder, I don't know what news can be found from the mouths of these people?" ”

When he asked this, Emperor Jianning looked at Xu Fu.

The latter said, "Those people have very hard mouths, and they didn't pry out anything useful, they only said that the people above asked them to make gunpowder, and someone would buy it regularly, and the others didn't know, and they didn't know what gunpowder was bought for, and they didn't know, and as for those firearms, they made them themselves for self-defense." ”

"The reason why I was bumped into by Shen Qianhu that day was because the person who bought the gunpowder said that there was a problem with the gunpowder and the quality was poor, and he returned to the theory, so his whereabouts were revealed.

These people are either hard-mouthed and don't fully explain, or they really only know that.

At this moment, Luo Wenyuan, the secretary of the military department, added next to him.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the gunpowder workshop that was discovered is not big, if you want to produce gunpowder in large quantities for military use, I am afraid it is not enough, and that production volume is probably suitable for making fireworks for sale, so the minister thinks that he can also send someone to search Bianjing City to see if there is still such a gunpowder workshop."

After he said this, Xu Fu immediately picked it up.

"Back to the emperor, the minister has already sent someone to investigate, but there is no harvest for the time being."

"If those people have accomplices, and they are caught, the others will immediately withdraw and hide, and it will certainly not be easy to investigate." Qin Zhao spoke, "The minister thinks that the entry and exit of personnel from the Bianjing City Gate should be controlled tightly, and these people should not be allowed to go out. ”

Emperor Jianning nodded in agreement.

"Luo Shangshu, you give an order to the city defense battalion to go down and strengthen patrol control."

"Obey." Luo Wenyuan gave up.

Then everyone listened to Emperor Jianning say again.

"The person behind this matter is really rampant, after being destroyed in the den, he didn't stop there, and dared to assassinate the court officials in broad daylight, it can be seen that he is unscrupulous, and there are people behind him, so he must give me the water to investigate, otherwise the feet of this son of heaven are uneasy, where can Beidi be safe?!"

The courtiers immediately surrendered their hands.

After a stick of incense, several ministers left the imperial study.

However, the two imperial historians of the Inspectorate, Su Yi and Jiang Chong, as well as Xu Fu, the secretary of the Criminal Department, were retained.

Emperor Jianning decided that this matter had to give King Yu a chance to defend himself, so he asked the Inspectorate and the Criminal Department to send people to Yuzhou together to find out the case and see if King Yu had any changes.

East Palace.

After Xu Changnian, the Duke of Ruiguo, left the palace, he went straight here.

When the prince heard that he was coming, he saw him in his study.

"Your Highness." Xuchang year salute.

The crown prince waved his hand, "Uncle is exempt, sit down, what did my father say today?" I'm busy paying taxes, and my father doesn't seem to want me to interfere in this matter. ”

Xu Changnian sat down before he spoke in a deep voice.

"Today, the minister has read the confession from the criminal department, the person who assassinated Shen Qianhu confessed, someone sent him and two other people to follow Shen Qianhu, waiting for an opportunity to kill him, because Shen Qianhu destroyed the gunpowder black workshop, and someone above wanted to kill him to vent his anger, as for who and that person does not know, but he knows that the order came from Yuzhou."

"There are also the first group of people to be caught, they only know that the gunpowder was transported to Yuzhou, and the rest, including the source of the gunpowder raw materials, are unknown, the emperor suspects that this matter is related to the Ministry of Industry and the King of Yu, and now the thunder is angry."

After hearing these words, the prince's face sank a little.

"If it is really the collusion between the vassal king and the minister, and gunpowder is involved, it is inevitable that there will be a suspicion of raising troops and plotting rebellion, and the anger of the father is also expected, I am afraid that this time the father will send someone to Yuzhou to thoroughly investigate the case."

"The minister also has this conjecture, after the emperor sent everyone back, he left the people of the Inspectorate alone to talk to the Shangshu of the Criminal Department, and I don't know who will be sent in the end." Xuchang Nian Road.

The prince nodded and took a deep breath.

"The tax matter in Lone's hand has not been solved yet, and I am afraid that I will not be able to get away, but this case is not trivial, and Lone can't not know the progress of the case at all, so I ask my uncle to bother to arrange it."

Xu Changnian arched his hand, "Your Highness, rest assured, the minister will definitely try to let our people go with us." ”