The Nufang Office was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and the Minister of War was the Prince of Jin.
The King of Jin asked solemnly, "Where did you get these bows and crossbows?"
"There is a batch on the black market. After much persuasion, those people only sold six to me." Jiang Nan answered truthfully.
"There are a batch." Prince Jin's face became even uglier. With such a huge mistake in the Ministry of War, he, as the Minister of War, could not escape the blame.
"To be precise, this is actually the second batch. I discovered that there were excellent crossbows on the black market, so I asked people to keep an eye out for them. That's why I bought the six crossbows from the second batch."
“When did the first ones appear?”
"Twelve days ago."
"Investigate, get to the bottom of it, I want to know who is so bold as to touch the crossbows of the Crossbow Office." The King of Jin gritted his teeth, as if he was going to find out who was responsible and torture him to death.
"I have someone investigating."
"Be careful, don't let anyone find out. Anyone who dares to touch the crossbows in the Crossbow Factory is definitely not a good person."
"I will ask them to act with caution. Thank you for your concern, Your Highness."
The master and servant discussed for a while, and then Jiang Nan took his leave.
The King of Jin called Cao Jiang in and said, "Take a look at this."
Although there was no unique number on the crossbow, he could recognize from the groove that it was a crossbow made by the Crossbow Bureau and had not been reviewed by the Bureau.
Logically speaking, such crossbows would only be in the warehouse of the Crossbow Factory.
"Your Highness, these bows and crossbows were stolen from the Crossbow Factory, right?" Cao Jiang guessed.
"It should be. Ask the people in the Crossbow Office to check the inventory of bows and crossbows and how the scrapped ones are handled."
"I will send someone to investigate right away." Cao Jiang took the order and left.
While Prince Jin was busy investigating the matter of bows and crossbows, Jiang Changning also learned that someone outside wanted to contact the Zhao family.
"Send someone to follow Mr. Dou. I want to know who he is." Jiang Changning calmly instructed Xiaochun.
"Could it be Mrs. Zhao's former lover?" Fu Cui guessed.
Xiulan and the others stared at her, but Jiang Changning smiled and said, "It's possible."
If it is true, should she persuade King Jin to allow the lovers to reunite
Although Xiaodouzi has his own means, he is just a eunuch lurking in the harem after all. Xiaochun's informant quickly found him and followed him, but he didn't notice.
The news was fed back to Xiaochun, who immediately told Jiang Changning, "That young master Dou has a pale face and no beard. When he arrived at the palace gate, he took out his waist badge and waved it. The guards at the palace gate called him eunuch Dou."
"He's a palace eunuch." Jiang Changning smiled. "He should be the Grand Empress Dowager's man. Let's check and see what the Grand Empress Dowager wants him to do."
Jiang Changning couldn't understand the Empress Dowager's desire for power. She was already standing at the top of the pyramid, but she still wanted to make trouble. Was she trying to reach heaven
Could it be that she wanted to follow the example of Empress Wu of the previous dynasty, stop being the Empress Dowager, and ascend the throne to become the Emperor
No matter what the Empress Dowager wanted to do, Jiang Changning never wanted to be her stepping stone to help her rise to the top.
Xiao Douzi hasn't found out anything yet, but Jiang Nan and Cao Jiang have found some clues.
What Jiang Nan found out was: "Your Highness, the man who sold the crossbows is named Mo. He is a street thug and his brother-in-law works in the Ministry of War."
"Who is his brother-in-law?" asked Prince Jin in a deep voice.
"Head of the Military Department's Arsenal and Civil Service Division."
"A mere sixth-rank official doesn't have such great ability."
The person in charge is the one who appears in the open, while the person behind the scenes is hiding deeper.
"I will continue to investigate."
"Just keep an eye on the black market. I'll have other people investigate the Ministry of War."
Cao Jiang found out that "several craftsmen in the Crossbow Workshop have improved the process of making crossbows, which not only shortened the production time by half, but also reduced the material consumption compared to before."
"The Crossbow Office did not report this matter." Prince Jin frowned. This was a great achievement. Those craftsmen could get promoted and make money based on this merit.
"I also found out that these craftsmen have been on leave for a month."
King Jin thought for a long time and said, "Find him as soon as possible."
If another batch of bows and crossbows were to flow into the market, the matter would certainly not be covered up. Once exposed, even if the Minister of War Prince Jin was not confined to his quarters, he would probably be fined and demoted.
But the capital city is so big that finding a few craftsmen is undoubtedly like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Especially the homes of these craftsmen were deserted, and even their neighbors didn't know where they were.
Jiang Changning was unaware of this, but by coincidence, Xiaochun's informant followed Xiaodouzi to a remote courtyard in West City.
This courtyard belongs to a strange doctor. He has superb medical skills and can also make some strange medicines.
Xiaodouzi came to buy medicine from him, "medicine that makes people weaker day by day."
The strange doctor, wearing a black robe and covering his face, said, "No."
"Don't deny it. I came to you after finding out everything. Don't worry, money is not a problem." Xiaodouzi said as he took out a stack of banknotes from his arms.
"No." The strange doctor still refused to give in.
"One foot is in and the other is out. You and I are brothers in the door, so let's not take advantage of this opportunity." Xiaodouzi threw the banknote on the table.
The strange doctor sneered twice, "Since you are a fellow disciple, the medicine is five thousand taels per packet."
"No problem." Xiaodouzi counted out five.
The strange doctor took out a packet of medicine from his wide sleeves and threw it to Xiao Douzi, "Divide it into three equal parts."
"Is there no medicine that works in one go?" asked Xiaodouzi.
The Prince Jin's Mansion is heavily guarded. It would be great if we could successfully administer the medicine once. It would be too difficult to administer it three times.
"If you have such a good medicine, I will spend ten thousand taels of silver to buy it." The strange doctor sneered.
There was a slight "click" sound, and the strange doctor asked sternly: "Did you bring anyone with you?"
"No, I didn't bring anyone here." Xiaodouzi quickly denied.
The person who was following Xiaodouzi outside quickly climbed to the courtyard next door.
"I've given you the medicine, go away and don't come again." The strange doctor said bluntly.
Xiao Douzi left with the medicine, and the man who went to the next yard heard the knocking sound. Curious, he sneaked in to see, and saw several people making it.
Crossbow!
As far as he knew, private craftsmen were not allowed to make bows and crossbows, so this was
The man was covered in cold sweat. Has he jumped from a wolf's den to a tiger's lair
If someone finds out, he will definitely be silenced.
He didn't dare to stay for long, and quietly moved to the other side of the courtyard wall. He climbed over again, and this time he fell into an alley. After identifying the direction, he ran away quickly.
He reported the matter of Xiaodouzi buying medicine truthfully, and he also mentioned that someone was privately making bows and crossbows.
Xiaochun told Jiang Changning about this, and Jiang Changning smiled and said, "Be more careful with the food, don't let anyone take advantage of you."
"Don't worry, Princess. Madam Cui is watching very closely and will never give anyone a chance to take advantage of us." Xiulan said.
As for the matter of bows and crossbows, Jiang Changning felt it was quite serious and planned to talk to Prince Jin about it when he returned.
(End of this chapter)