Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

The crossbow arrows were once again shot towards the distribution maps of various departments.

This time, the arrow feather also penetrated the wall.

Qin An's heart instantly rose to his throat.

Ten breaths later, the wall... collapsed with a loud bang.

Arrowheads, arrow shafts, haystacks, etc. piled against the wall also scattered with the collapse of bricks.

Looking at the dark cave exposed behind the wall, Qin An's legs went weak and he knelt on the ground.

"Wall, what's behind the wall? Why are there houses?" Zhao Asan was stunned.

Chen Shao gestured to Fu Jiu: "Go and see what's going on?"

Fu Jiu walked over quickly, using both his hands and feet to push the arrowhead and arrow shaft aside, then kicked the half-collapsed wall and stepped back.

After all the walls collapsed, he took the torch and strode towards the cave.

A moment later, in the residual light of the torch, his voice echoed: "There is an iron house here!"

After ordering Zhao Asan to keep an eye on Qin An, Chen Shao and Gu Feiyan quickly walked towards the cave.

The cave is wide enough to accommodate two carriages running side by side.

Walk forward for more than four meters, turn the corner and walk another two meters, and you will reach the iron house.

The iron house tilted to the right, and there was collapsed ore blocking the way ahead.

"According to what Zhao Asan said, the mountain belly of the Nufang Office is at least dozens of feet away from the iron mine." Chen Shao stepped on the ore and walked to the iron house. The iron house was locked and half of it was sunken in the ground. After pushing it several times without any effect, he couldn't help but say, "If the iron house we saw at the iron mine is the same as this one, then this iron house must be quite big."

According to current technology, it would be difficult to cast an iron house of such a large area without several years.

"The distance between the mountain belly of the Nufang Office and the iron mine is more than a few dozen feet. According to the direction, it is at least two hundred feet higher." Kang Tian followed and said as he looked at the iron house, "From the direction, this iron house should not be the same one as the one at the iron mine."

If it was the same building, it wouldn't be crushed so easily.

Chan Yi looked at the iron house and said, "If it's not the same one, does that mean there are other iron houses in other parts of the mountain?"

"We'll know if there is one or not if we go over and take a look!" Fu Jiu said.

Chen Shao ordered: "Then you take people to check it out."

After Fu Jiu left excitedly, Chen Shao also came out of the cave. Zhao Asan didn't dare to bump into Qin An, fearing that Qin An would retaliate against him after Chen Shao left, so he called the workers who were assembling the arrows to come. Seeing that he was timid, the workers who were assembling the arrows naturally didn't dare to take action, so they all timidly surrounded Qin An.

Seeing Chen Shao coming out, Zhao Asan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Tell me," Chen Shao walked through the workers assembling arrows and stood in front of Qin An, "What is the iron house inside used for?"

Qin An's face turned pale, and he begged for mercy in fear: "My Lord, I will..."

"We already know that you are privately selling this improved crossbow machine and crossbow arrows to the Shan State," Chen Shao interrupted him forcefully, "If you still want to live, then tell the truth. If you don't want to live, I can help you now."

Qin An felt a chill in his heart and looked up at Zhao Asan involuntarily: How did she know that they were privately selling improved crossbow machines and crossbow arrows to the Shan State?

Zhao Asan flatly denied it: "I didn't say that. I know nothing."

He was just a small fry, and he really didn't have the ability to know. Qin An put away his doubts and kowtowed fearfully: "I know I was wrong, and I will never do it again. Please forgive me, sir!"

Chen Shao said patiently: "Don't talk nonsense to me, answer my question, what's going on with the iron house?"

"Iron House, Iron House..." Qin An didn't dare to tell the truth, nor did he dare not to tell the truth. After pondering for a while, he could only say half-truthfully, "Your Excellency is wise. The Iron House is used to hide the weapons that were sold to Shan."

"So," Chen Shao's eyes flashed with murderous intent, but he remained patient, "the private sale of weapons to the Shan Kingdom was only a conspiracy between you, Luo Shizhong, and He Kaiyang, and there was no one else instructing you?"

This... Qin An hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

Chen Shao sneered twice and reminded slowly: "According to the laws of Datong, weapons and ironware are all banned and are strictly prohibited from leaving the country privately. If you violate the order and trade privately, you will be punished for 'treason', the main offender will be hanged, and the three clans will be punished. There are more than 200 miners who have not dug out the iron mine. My patience is extremely limited. How to come back, you have to think clearly."

Qin An's forehead was covered with cold sweat. After saying "your humble servant" several times in succession, he finally gritted his teeth in fear and said, "Your Excellency, please understand. Everything I did was taught by Lord Sun!"

Chen Shao said slowly: "Which Lord Sun?"

Qin An pinched his sleeves, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead twice, and replied tremblingly: "Sun Guishan, the governor of Yunnan County!"

Glancing at the dumbfounded workers around him, Chen Shao walked out and said, "Follow me!"

"Yes." Qin An got up quickly, bowed slightly, and followed her closely. After leaving the Nufang Office, he saw her eyes lingering on the other offices, and he took the initiative to explain, "There is an iron house like this in the Jiafang Office, the Sword and Blade Workshop, the Material Warehouse, the Forge, and the Baggage Camp."

Chen Shao paused: "Are they all used to hide the weapons that were smuggled to the Shan Kingdom?"

Qin An was shocked: "Yeah, not entirely."

Chen Shao looked at him and asked, "Besides hiding the weapons to be sold privately to Shan, what else is it used for?"

Qin An secretly glanced at Gu Feiyan and the elite soldiers around her, hesitating and not daring to say anything.

Seeing this, Chen Shao said calmly: "Just say whatever you want to say!"

Qin An secretly glanced at Gu Feiyan a few more times before he said anxiously, "These iron houses in the front are used to hide the forbidden weapons that are privately sold to the Shan Kingdom. The iron houses in the back are used to store the weapons that are escorted to the general of the auxiliary country!"

Feeling the soldiers' cold gazes, Qin An quickly knelt on the ground and said tearfully, "Every word I said is true. I was just following Lord Sun's orders. I didn't intend to rebel against Datong. I beg you to investigate and clear my name!"

Chen Shao remained unmoved and asked, "What did Lord Sun tell you to do? Or, is there any evidence to prove that it was Lord Sun's order?"

"Yes!" Qin An said hurriedly, "There is a secret letter from Lord Sun hidden in my residence. If you don't believe it, you can go with me to check it out!"

Chen Shao ordered: "Lead the way!"

Qin An lived in a courtyard house not far from the Mengye Military Equipment Prison.

Before entering the courtyard, Qin An quickly glanced at the two courtyards next to him and said with determination, "Luo Shizhong and He Kaiyang also live here."

It's not okay for him to be held accountable while they remain unscathed!

Without Chen Shao's instructions, Gu Feiyan had already ordered four elite soldiers to go in groups of two to capture the person.

Looking at the backs of the elite soldiers, Qin An immediately opened the door and welcomed them in: he couldn't let the two of them see that he had betrayed them.

"This is Lord Sun's secret letter." Qin An entered the study and took out all the private letters Sun Guishan had written to him before Luo Shizhong and He Kaiyang arrived.

There are two boxes of private messages in total, and I estimate that there are at least fifty or sixty of them.

Chen Shao handed a box to Gu Feiyan.

"Half of these secret letters require me to supervise the casting of the list and quantity of banned weapons to be privately sold to the Shan Kingdom," Qin An took the initiative to explain again when they were opening the private letters, "and the other half requires me to supervise the casting of the list and quantity of weapons to be given to the general of the auxiliary country."

Chen Shao read more than ten private letters in a row, and more than half of them instructed him to supervise the casting of the list and quantity of banned weapons to be sold privately to the Shan State.

Among the items privately sold to the Shan State, swords and spears were the largest in number, followed by crossbows and crossbow machines, and armor, helmets, shields, etc. were the least.

The weapons given to the General of the State were just the opposite.

After Chen Shao read more than 20 private messages in succession, he casually asked, "How much are these forbidden weapons sold privately to Shan?"

Qin An shook his head: "I don't know."

Chen Shao glanced at him.

Qin An hurriedly explained: "I am only responsible for supervising the casting. The one who is responsible for escorting the forbidden weapons to the Shan Kingdom for the transaction is Mr. Sun's confidant Chen Yanbing. However..."

Qin An hesitated for a moment, then confessed honestly: "But I once heard Chen Yanbing say that the generals of Shan State don't have much money, and can only buy some swords or spears. They only have a few elite soldiers who can equip them with high-quality goods such as crossbow machines, which cost six or seven strings of coins, and crossbow arrows, which cost sixty or seventy coins each."

"What does this Chen Yanbing look like?" Chen Shao asked.

Qin An and Chen Yanbing had only met three or four times. After giving a rough description of his appearance, he said, "This Chen Yanbing has been with Lord Sun for many years. Since Lord Sun has been captured, he must have been among them."

Chen Shao nodded to show that he understood, and then continued to ask: "It's fine if they were privately sold to Shan State, but why did they hide the weapons given to the General of the State?"

Qin An quietly moved aside, a little further away from Gu Feiyan and the elite soldiers, before answering, "Lord Sun said that the current emperor is incompetent, and the general wants to establish the Prince of Guangling as the new emperor, so..."

Qin An's voice became smaller and smaller, and at the end, it was silent.

It seems that the princelings of the previous dynasty used the same rhetoric to manipulate the lower-level officials to work for them. Chen Shao did not ask any more questions and continued to look through the remaining private messages. At this time, Gu Feiyan handed over the private message in her hand.

Chen Shao took it, quickly scanned the contents, and his expression suddenly darkened.

This was an order for Qin An and others to blow up the iron house immediately.