Nightwatcher

# 109. Make Trouble

Xu Qi'an reached the bottom of the lake pretty quickly, qi circling in his eyes, making them look like two small lanterns in the darkness.

Silt had been piled up in the bottom of the water. Concurrently, taking the white jade platform as the centre, many white pillars had been arranged on the river according to a certain pattern for the protection and support of the centre platform.

*This seems to be a certain formation...* Xu Qi'an made a guess.

In the capital of the Great Feng, only the Arcanists from the Sitianjian could arrange such formations. That means Sitianjian Arcanists had also participated in the construction of Yongzhen Shanhe Temple in that era.

*This implies that Old Man Jianzheng is another person privy to the secret apart from the current majesty... Is old man Jianzheng actually sick? Or Did he get into a predicament due to the current situation of Yongzhen Shanhe Temple?*

*Sss... What's the secret hidden here?*

*The force looking for the secrets of Sangpo Lake and the force that destroyed Yongzhen Shanhe Temple are definitely ruler-level extreme forces... I'm just a small bronze gong. It's as if I am a small fish in a pond near a battlefield of deities...*

*Even if I find out the truth behind the case, will the imperial family allow me to live?*

*Wei Yuan has pointed out a direction for me. If I encounter problems that I couldn't solve, I should notify the Constabulary, Gold Gong Yang would help me... His implication is obvious. I'm just a pawn laid out casually, a hunting dog sent out for tracking. If I can't complete the task, I'm going to have to feign death to get away from the capital.*

As these thoughts flickered in his mind, he swung his limbs to reach toward the stone pillar closest to him.

The surface of the stone pillar was carved with twisted and weird feeling tadpole-like characters.

Xu Qi'an guessed that this should be a certain script, but he couldn't decipher it due to his low education level. He could only forcibly try to remember the characters.

After checking the other stone pillars, where he discovered the same script, Xu Qi'an was motivated to leave the dark lake bottom by his thalassophobia.

When standing in silence in the depth of water, his mind always seemed to conjure up an image of a pair of cold eyes staring at him from behind, or a huge black figure emerging from the darkness in front of him.

Xu Qi'an got out of the water and returned to the small boat, after which he returned the black gold long sabre from his mouth back to its scabbard, while his qi evaporated dry his soaking clothes.

A cloud of steam rose from the water body.

Li Yuchun stared at him with surprise *This kid was promoted to the Refining Qi stage not long ago. How's his Qi mechanism this strong already?*

"Your qi mechanism doesn't look like it belongs to a newcomer to Refining Qi." Li Yuchun said, puzzled.

"I just meditate for two hours every day." Xu Qi'an showed an innocent expression.

"..." Brother Chun waved his hand, not wanting to carry on this conversation further. He pointed his fingers at Silver Gong Yang, and said, “Yang isn't still convinced, so he came to analyse the situation at the bottom of the water with us, and he did gain something. He has said that he'll not be convinced until he sees that you have analysed the same things as him.

"Everyone is from the same team. There's no need to hide anything."

The tall and lanky Yang Feng smiled, not refuting his words.

Xu Qi'an took a glance at the bearded Min Shan, who didn't say anything, rather looking like he was waiting for him to speak.

Xu Qi'an rolled his eyes “Looking at the point of breakage, we can infer that the explosion occurred at the temple, not in the bottom of the water. In addition, most probably, the gunpowder was hidden in the temple after the ancestor worship ceremony. Well, It shouldn't exceed an hour after the ancestor worship ceremony was completed.

"Gunpowder has a strong smell, so if the gunpowder had been hidden in the temple ahead of time, His Majesty would have surely smelled it upon entering the temple. The only chance the thieves had would be after the ancestor worship ceremony. Go and arrest all the palace servants involved at the end of the ceremony, the officials of the Court of Judicial Review, and the officials from the Ministry of Rites as well. Arrest and interrogate them one by one. Silver Gong Yang can handle this matter.

“Additionally, Inform the Constabulary to ask His Majesty for some white cloaks from the Sitianjian to cooperate with the case. Boss, you can handle this. Mmn, I want Miss Caiwei from the Sitianjian to come and help me.

"Silver Gong Min, you'll follow me to the Ministry of Industry. I want to check the records of entry and exit to the gunpowder factory. It should be impossible to smuggle such a large amount of gunpowder."

After pausing a little, he continued, "But, we have to take a look at the bones of the dead soldiers before we do all this."

The three silver gongs looked at each other, thinking, *This little brother is quite reliable, He arranged tasks reasonably, and his thought process is quite clear, his logic just as rigorous.* Yang Feng and Min Shan, the two silver gongs, put away all their contempt towards him.

They knew that even they wouldn't be able to find such a clear direction for investigation this quickly. They would have needed to think for a long time before they cleared their minds.

The corpses of the soldiers were collected in the barracks. The royal guard led them to a tent on the outskirts and opened the curtain to reveal corpses covered with white cloths.

Similarly, corpses could also be found in the other two large tents nearby. Among the soldiers patrolling nearby Sangpo, among the 312 people, nearly all of them died at the time.

Xu Qi'an lifted the white cloths and looked at the tragic state of each corpse.

"You can also do autopsies?" Finding that his expression had gotten serious, Yang Feng couldn't help but ask, "What did you find?"

"I found something big."

"Tell me." The three silver gongs were inspired by his words. Even the royal guard squad leader, who had lead the way, couldn’t resist turning his head.

Xu Qi'an slowly said, "I found that I am just a little bronze gong. When encountering combat situations, I still need three sirs to work hard."

All the soldiers had died in the same way. They had all been drained of blood through some evil technique. No other wounds can be seen on their bodies.

This kind of technique couldn't be resisted by a mere Refining Qi martial artist.

If he encountered the thief, Xu Qi'an could only wave his hand: Go, Silver Gongs, I choose you!

He will, obviously, remain at the back.

...

Xu Qi'an took Min Shan to the Ministry of Industry. With the gold token, they were unimpeded in the road.

He found the officer in charge of the gunpowder factory and said, "I want to check the production and use records of gunpowder in the past month."

It was quite easy to falsify accounts, with the most common method being to exaggerate the usage. For example, It may take only 200 kilograms of gunpowder to manufacture a batch of shells, but it could be recorded as 300 kilograms of gunpowder used instead.

Another example is, when making gunpowder, the raw materials could be used to make two hundred kilograms of gunpowder, but the number of raw materials could be kept low so the excess gunpowder could be kept privately.

But, none of these methods could withstand investigation, as every crime leaves traces.

Xu Qi'an didn't trust the officials from the Ministry of Industry, so he had officials sent over from the Nightwatchers Office. Dozens of people rushed over to the Ministry of Industry in haste.

The process was cumbersome, and it involved a lot of work, as it was necessary to go to the places where the raw materials were collected to collect evidence and verify the accounts.

...

After having lunch at the Ministry of Industry, Xu Qi'an comfortably sat on the big chair, picking his teeth, as he watched the petty officials and the bronze gongs in their work.

Yang Feng, who was in charge of investigating the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Rites, and the palace servants, sent someone to report.

"Three officials from the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Rites are missing, and three palace servants are also missing." The bronze gong acting as a messenger said.

"When did they disappear?" Xu Qi'an sat upright, breaking free from his lazy mood in an instant.

"The people responsible for concluding the ancestor worship ceremony were all detained by the Ministry of Law and the prefecture constabulary, and they refused to hand them over." The bronze gong said, helplessly, "Silver Gong Yang is currently confronting the people from the Ministry of Law, but the stalemate can't be resolved."

"Do they dare to rob suspects from us?" Xu Qi'an raised his eyebrows.

Although it hadn't been long since he joined the Nightwatchers, He had already been contaminated with the arrogance and domineering attitude common amongst them.

The Bronze Gong explained, "The Ministry of Law and the Prefecture Constabulary have also received an order from His Majesty to investigate this case. As they were all decreed by the emperor, they didn't worry about us. And Silver Gong Yang doesn't have the gold token given by the emperor as well. So, he had this one come and inform you, sir."

Usually, the status of Nightwatchers was higher than other constabularies, with one exception, that is, an imperial decree.

"Let's go and get the suspects!" Xu Qi'an showed his temper.

It wasn't surprising that the emperor let the Ministry of Law and the prefecture constabulary get involved in the case at the same time. Many major cases had been similarly investigated by multiple parties, as a single government office had limited manpower and couldn't devote all its time and resources to a single case.

While Multi-Party Investigation had obvious benefits, the disadvantages were also quite obvious, Grabbing Credit.

*It's not that I'll be fine if the Sangpo case is solved. I have to make actual important contributions to the case so that the imperial court can exempt me from the death penalty. If I don't make any contribution, I'm afraid that I can't escape the punishment of being beheaded in the vegetable market... If you want to obstruct me from handling the case, don't blame me for being impolite.*

Not delaying in matters of life and family, Xu Qi'an grabbed the black-gold long sabre on the table and looked around at the petty officials before he said in a loud voice:

"You all continue to investigate. Thoroughly check all the production and consumption records from the middle of this year till now. If someone finds any clues, he'll be rewarded twenty taels of silver."

As the chief investigator, he had the right to dispense some rewards, and the rewards came from the Nightwatcher Office.

The eyes of the petty officials from the Nightwatcher office began shining.

Twenty taels of silver were equivalent to their income over half a year.

After leaving the petty officials behind, Xu Qi'an took the silver gong Min Shan and the Bronze gongs along with him and hurriedly left the Ministry of Industry, after which he rode a fast horse, rushing to the Ministry of Law.

As the Ministry of Law wasn't too far away, Xu Qi'an reached its red lacquered gate within the time it took for a stick of incense to burn.

The gate was heavily guarded, with two rows of armoured soldiers standing guard.

Yang Feng and six Bronze Gongs had been blocked outside, and the two sides were confronting each other.

"The Ministry of Law has been ordered to investigate the case. Anyone who hinders the Ministry of Law from handling the case will be killed." A middle-aged officer was at the front, holding a sabre with one hand while he scolded the Nightwatchers.

Behind him, dozens of officers were holding the hilts of their sabres.

The blue veins in Yang Feng's forehead were about to explode, as he had never been so aggrieved. Never did such a small fry dare to scold him in the face before.

Although he was holding the handle of his sword, he didn't dare to act recklessly. The Chief Investigator wasn't here, so he couldn't claim that he was acting on his orders. It was impossible that the Ministry of Law didn't know that the Nightwatchers were ordered to handle this case, so they were deliberately blocking him out of the door.

They were deliberately disgusting them, making a trap for them.

"Humph!" The middle-aged officer at the lead sneered and held his sabre in one hand when he saw a group of Nightwatchers arriving on horseback.

"The Ministry of Law is handing a case. Anyone who doesn't have anything to do with it will be considered to be trespassing, and will be shot or killed."

As soon as he finished his words, he saw the young Bronze Gong riding the foremost horse, pull out the military crossbow from his waist, and pull its trigger without hesitation.

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