Qi Ning snorted coldly and said, "Qin Yuege, you are so brave. Who instigated you to do all this?"
Qin Yuege said respectfully: "Master Marquis, I can't explain my humble position at the moment." He then looked at Mrs. Tian and said apologetically: "Madam, I offended you so much. I really had no choice. Please forgive me!"
"Qin Yuege, what are you doing?" Qining frowned, glanced at the black figure over there, and asked, "Who is he?"
"Master Marquis, please go to a place to see something. After seeing it, you will understand everything." Qin Yuege said solemnly: "I will also tell you the whole story in detail to the Marquis."
"Where to go?"
Qin Yuege pointed to the entrance of the cave and said, "Enter from here and all the puzzles will be solved."
"You want me to get into this hole?" Qi Ning said coldly: "Where does this tunnel lead to?"
Qin Yuege said: "I believe that the Marquis must be interested in the things inside. The Marquis already knows that this island is actually a warehouse. The existence of these people on the island is to guard the warehouse here." He raised his hand and pointed at the warehouse. The cave entrance said: "This passage took more than two years, and it was just opened a few months ago. Until now, no one on the island has discovered this secret."
"You mean... this tunnel leads directly to the warehouse?" Qining understood.
Qin Yuege nodded slightly and said, "Exactly!"
Qi Ning was thoughtful, and then asked after a moment: "Qin Yuege, there are evil intentions on this island. It seems that you have known about it for a long time."
"Master Hou, I have said that this matter is extremely complicated. Only when Master Hou has seen the goods in the warehouse with his own eyes can I report the cause and effect." Qin Yuege said: "This matter is of great importance, I don't dare to talk nonsense."
Qi Ning hesitated for a moment and then said: "Okay, you go in first, and I will follow."
Qin Yuege, however, said nothing, put away the knife, slightly raised his hand to Qining, and then came to the edge of the cave entrance and looked towards the black shadow. The two of them looked at each other and nodded. Qin Yue Ge immediately lowered his body and entered the cave. The black figure also came over, glanced at Qining, his eyes were cold and nonchalant, and he followed Qin Yuege in.
After the two of them entered, Mrs. Tian whispered: "Master Hou, you... you have to be careful about them and don't fall into their trap. What if... what if there is a trap in this tunnel...!"
Qi Ning smiled and said: "You don't have to worry about me. Even if they really set a trap, they can't do anything to me." Mrs. Tian put it down carefully, sat down against the rock wall, and then said softly: "Madam, what they said Yes, things on this island are indeed of great importance and may threaten the court. Now that I am here, I must find out what is going on. I see that there are no traces of the bandits on the island here. Just wait for me here and I’ll be out soon, okay?”
Although Mrs. Tian was worried, she also knew that since it was a major matter concerning the court, she could not stop it. She could only say softly: "Then you have to... be careful!"
Qi Ning nodded slightly, thought of something, put the cold blade in his hand into his wife's hand, and whispered: "It should be very safe here. If anything happens, you can resist with this in your hand. This knife cuts iron like mud. It's very sharp." In fact, he knew very well that if Qin Yuege really wanted to harm Mrs. Tian, she would not let him find it so easily. Since the entrance to the underground grotto has not been discovered, it proves that it is still very safe.
It is not yet completely certain whether Qin Yuege is an enemy or a friend. If he really has ulterior motives, Qining does not have a cold blade in his hand. With his current martial arts, Qin Yuege cannot be an opponent at all.
This stone cave was pitch black. Qining concentrated on alert, bent over and walked slowly inside. After walking for about a few dozen meters, the stone path began to climb upwards. Qining walked for a while, and then he found a faint light coming from the front. , approached the past, and had reached the end. At the exit, Qin Yue, a singer, was waiting for Qi Ning with a fire stick. Qin Ning walked out of the cave entrance and found a huge rock next to the cave entrance. He turned around and looked at the cave entrance again. He immediately Understand, this rock was used to seal the entrance of the cave regularly and has just been removed.
He raised his head and found that he was already in an extremely empty stone room. What he saw in front of him was a mountain of wooden boxes. The wooden boxes were arranged very neatly and stacked up. Qining looked around. Look, Qin Yuege and the black shadow stood in front of him on the left and right, both looking at him.
Qin Ning didn't say anything and walked forward slowly. Qin Yuege followed Qin Ning holding a fire folding piece.
The stone chamber was extremely wide, and there were countless boxes. Qining felt that these boxes separated it like a maze. There were at least a thousand boxes stored here.
Qining walked to a box, suddenly turned around, and pulled out the knife from Qin Yuege's waist. Qin Yuege was extremely calm, Qining pulled out the knife, inserted the blade into the gap on the edge of the box lid, and sealed the order. The wooden box was pried open. At this time, the black figure had followed. He picked up the lid of the box with both hands and carefully placed it on the edge. There was something in the box, and the top layer was covered with yellow grass. Qining stretched out his hand to remove the yellow grass. Pulling it open and taking a closer look, a look of horror appeared on his face.
This wooden box was actually filled with a box full of blades.
He immediately looked at Qin Yuege, who just nodded. Qining then pried open two boxes in succession, which contained knives. In each box, there were at least twenty or thirty brand-new blades.
"Master Marquis, all the boxes here contain weapons." Qin Yuege lowered his voice and said, "They are mainly broadswords, and there are also short swords and spears." He raised his hand and pointed to the northwest corner of the village: "Over there. The boxes are filled with long bows and arrows. I have estimated that there are at least more than 20,000 broadswords and spears here, and nearly a thousand long bows. The number of arrows is not that many, and there are also crossbows. Hundreds of them!”
After the founding of Da Chu, the imperial court immediately issued a sword hunting order.
The most important thing about the Sword Hunting Order is that all instruments that can be used as weapons are strictly prohibited from private ownership. Weapons such as broadswords, long bows, sharp arrows and spears can only be owned by the government, while farming tools used by the people, such as sickles and axes, etc. Instruments that are close to weapons are strictly managed by local governments. What kind of farming tools each household owns, the local government must keep accounts. If they are not convinced by the facts, everyone from the village chief Li Zheng to the local officials will have to keep accounts. Be severely punished.
The world is uncertain, and powerful enemies from the north are eyeing it. Chu's move is also to prevent man-made chaos among the people.
According to common practice, the Donghai Jiang family is just a merchant and is naturally not allowed to own weapons. However, due to special circumstances, the Donghai Jiang family's caravan has been trading with Nanyang. In order to deal with pirates at sea and even for safety in Nanyang, the imperial court granted Donghai Jiang a special license. The family formed a maritime escort to protect merchant ships from traveling smoothly, but even so, the government on the East China Sea side would strictly inspect the number of weapons owned by the Jiang family in the East China Sea.
Even if the Jiang family wants to add another knife, they must report it to the local government. Otherwise, it will violate the law of the court and be punished as a crime of rebellion.
At present, there are such a large number of weapons stored in this underground warehouse, and the intention of treason is already obvious.
After Qi Ning learned that the goods were stored on the island, he had been thinking about what kind of goods they would be, but he never thought that they would be weapons.
The forged weapons of the empire belong to the yamen of the Ministry of Industry. The Ministry of Industry has a special forging field responsible for forging weapons for the imperial court. Even so, without the approval of the Ministry of War, the weapons forging field of the Ministry of Industry is not allowed to forge even a single blade without authorization. Forging in the forging field The type and number of weapons must strictly comply with the documents issued by the Ministry of War.
Moreover, every weapon coming out of the forging field must be strictly inspected. Not only the quality of the weapons must be checked, but also the quantity of the weapons must be particularly cautious. There is a special yamen responsible for counting the number of weapons coming out. This set of procedures is extremely standardized and strict. There is no room for sloppiness, and after the appearance, the whereabouts of every weapon must be registered, and the weapons will never be allowed to escape the supervision of the court.
The procedures for forging weapons in the imperial court were so strict, let alone among the people.
Whenever someone is found to be secretly forging weapons among the people, they will be directly charged with treason. The crime is several times more serious than hiding weapons secretly. Once the crime is punished, the three tribes will be directly implicated.
If the Jiang family purchases weapons from Nanyang and transports them back to the East China Sea, there is of course a huge risk. As long as the news leaks out, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, no matter how stupid the Jiang family is, they will never purchase so many weapons from Nanyang. weapon.
Qi Ning has just observed the style of the knives. This is obviously the method used by the Central Plains people to forge weapons. Qi Ning even doubts whether Nanyang has such advanced forging technology. Even if there is such technology, it is doubtful whether it can supply such a large number of weapons. .
Qi Ning did not expect that one of the most important reasons in this warehouse was that it was difficult for him to imagine where these weapons came from
Of course, the Jiang family in Donghai would not be so stupid as to collect weapons from the East China Sea and transport them to this island. The imperial court has always been wary of the Jiang family, so the Jiang family has always been under surveillance in Donghai. Whenever a box of these goods is discovered, The imperial court will never show mercy to the Jiang family.
So of course these weapons cannot be transported from the shore. If so, where do they come from
"Master Marquis, these weapons are only a temporary quantity." Qin Yuege said solemnly with a serious look on his face: "Two batches of weapons are sent here every year, and the total number is at least a thousand."
Among the several large battalions of the Chu State that guarded the capital, Xuanwu Camp had the largest number, but it only had fifteen thousand soldiers and horses. Once the weapons here were used, they would be enough to supply tens of thousands of people. Once it really appeared in the East China Sea, Thousands of rebels, the consequences can be imagined.
Qin Ning handed the sword back to Qin Yuege. Qin Yuege sheathed the sword. Qi Ning stared into his eyes and asked, "Qin Facao, since you have been keeping an eye on this matter for a long time, you naturally know this." Who is the mastermind behind this? I ask you, who is the mastermind behind this island?"