126: Fan Xian was assassinated! Thoroughly investigate Shijia Town! (23

Chapter 126: Fan Xian Assassinated! Thorough Investigation of Shijia Town! (23)

Before Li Chang'an left Northern Qi, Zhuang Mo Han had passed away.

He passed away peacefully, holding the recently completed annotations of his poetry collection.

Zhuang Mo Han also left all his treasured books to Li Chang'an, which was seen as the Legacy of a literary Grandmaster.

However, Li Chang'an did not accept them, but left them to Zhuang Mo Han's Disciple.

Li Chang'an did not want to spend too much effort on cultural history; these things were more suitable for specialized people.

With the famous poems and verses copied from another world, Li Chang'an's status as a literary Grandmaster would never be shaken in this life.

Afterward, Li Chang'an left Northern Qi with Zhan Pianpian.

Not long after leaving Shangjing City, various news from Southern Qing also arrived.

Fan Wujiu even relayed most of the conversations between Li Yunrui and Li Chengze.

The little alpaca was in some danger; he had been forced by Li Yunrui onto the war chariot against Fan Xian, and Fan Xian's several fathers were not people he could contend with.

Of course, the one who truly trapped Li Chengze was his father, Emperor Qing, who used the perfectly fine literary youth as a whetstone.

Li Chang'an and Li Chengze had a good relationship since childhood, and he did not want Li Chengze to meet such an end.

Therefore, Li Chang'an would use his own methods to push Li Chengze out of the succession struggle.

The specific method was also very simple: just let him be eliminated early.

Let him give up early, and he wouldn't become too obsessed in the end.

As for the dramatic Crown Prince and Li Yunrui, Li Chang'an didn't have much goodwill towards them. Their eventual suicide could be considered getting what they wished for.

Next, Li Chang'an arranged for Teng Zijing to go to Shijia Town in Cangzhou first.

That was the gathering point for the Imperial Treasury goods smuggled by Li Yunrui and Li Chengze, and many solid pieces of evidence should be found there.

The two major distributors of the Imperial Treasury, the Cui Family, smuggled goods to Northern Qi via land, and the Ming Family smuggled goods to Eastern Yi City via sea.

Li Chang'an originally held the Imperial edict to investigate the Junshan Society, and the Origin of this smuggling business still came from the top-level Benefit exchanges of the Junshan Society.

In fact, the duty of the Shadow Guard was to monitor the Jianghu of the world; as long as Li Chang'an wanted to do something, he could find a legal basis.

With Teng Zijing mobilizing some of the Net's personnel there, he should be able to clarify the Cui Family's smuggling channels and facts.

As for Li Chang'an himself, he left Wang Qinian to keep up appearances and came to the Western Qin.

In the Imperial Palace of the Western Qin, Li Chang'an met Zhao Gao, Shen Wansan, Han Xin, and more than twenty important civil and military officials of Xi Qin.

All these important officials were talents Li Chang'an had unearthed from the lower ranks back then, and then rigorously trained by Zhao Gao. They were now the backbone of the Western Qin's court.

As for the Imperial Family of the Western Qin, they were now nothing more than birds in a cage, a group of mascots.

The Net's training center had been operating for more than three years, and the trained talents had all gone to various Net locations for deployment.

Zhao Gao bowed and reported, “Your Highness, the Western Qin has now trained a total of 100,000 elite soldiers, including 30,000 cavalry and 70,000 infantry.”

“The army's armor and weapons are all forged according to the designs and Materials provided by Shen Wansan.

Although the cost is high, they are at least twice as strong as the armies of Northern Qi and Southern Qing.”

Shen Wansan was a god of wealth and had also been an arms dealer for the Great Ming, so he was very clear about the production of military equipment.

“Now, the army, provisions, and military equipment have completed their final preparations, awaiting Your Highness's command.”

Li Chang'an said, “I came this time to see your preparations in military administration and intelligence.”

“The first step in raising an army is to occupy all the vassal states of Northern Qi in the west, and quickly establish a foothold in the west.”

These vassal states were all part of Northern Wei before. After Northern Wei's demise, although they were not incorporated into Northern Qi, they were all vassal states of Northern Qi.

“The second step is to consider forming an Alliance with Northern Qi to attack Southern Qing and seize the province that Northern Qi covets.”

“As for the matter of the Great Grandmaster, this Prince has reached an agreement with Ku He, and he will no longer interfere with the rise of Western Qin.”

Upon hearing this news, all the civil and military officials in the hall showed expressions of excitement!

“Congratulations, Your Highness, on becoming a Great Grandmaster!”

With a Great Grandmaster, the Western Qin would have the capital to stand alongside Southern Qing and Northern Qi!

At the very least, Shen Wansan's vast business network in the other two countries would be guaranteed.

At this moment, Han Xin said excitedly, “Your Highness, Northern Qi has the Northern Barbarians of the snowy regions to its north, and Southern Qing pressing from the south.”

“Their military strength in the western vassal states will not exceed 100,000. With our current military strength in Western Qin, as long as the Great Grandmaster does not intervene, we can expand our territory by a thousand li within a month!”

After listening to the civil and military officials in the hall report on the Western Qin's preparations, Li Chang'an, along with Zhao Gao, Shen Wansan, and Han Xin, inspected the Western Qin's arsenal and armories.

Li Chang'an said meaningfully, “Zhao Gao, Shen Wansan, Han Xin, you three are in charge of government affairs, finance, and military affairs, respectively.”

“Although Zhao Gao oversees the overall situation, you mainly manage intelligence and talent training, and let other ministers share more of the specific government affairs.”

Given that Zhao Gao had once ruined a Qin Country, Li Chang'an still specifically reminded him.

However, Zhao Gao, who had experienced Transmigration through various worlds, was very self-aware, “Your Highness, rest assured, this old servant understands!”

“All the talents discovered by Your Highness have extremely high aptitudes and handle government affairs with great efficiency, which saves this old servant a lot of trouble.”

Li Chang'an then said, “I brought a lot of Brocade-Clad Guards' intelligence Materials about various vassal states, which you should find useful.”

Upon hearing about the intelligence Materials, Zhao Gao's eyes immediately lit up, “The burning of the Brocade-Clad Guards' yamen was indeed Your Highness's doing!”

“With these intelligence Materials, the founding war of the Western Qin will proceed even more smoothly!”

Li Chang'an was very confident in entrusting the intelligence to Zhao Gao, “If you encounter major issues, the three of you should discuss them together.”

“If there are matters that the three of you cannot decide on, you can report them to this Prince for a decision via secret pigeon post.”

Li Chang'an looked at the gleaming battle sabers and spears in the arsenal, as well as the neatly arranged Ming army armor, and completely set his mind at ease.

In the armory, various siege crossbows, trebuchets, strong bows, and arrows were being urgently produced and stockpiled.

In the newest workshop, even the research and development of cannons and firearms had begun, and Li Chang'an also provided a lot of help using the memories in his mind.

Ye Qingmei's Imperial Treasury did not have thermal weapons; on the one hand, it was due to the limitations of current craftsmanship, and on the other hand, she herself was unwilling to develop them.

Moreover, in the past, once humanity showed any signs of inventing firearms, the Temple would send envoys to intervene in a timely manner.

After all, the artificial intelligence in the Temple claimed to control the direction of human history for the overall benefit of humanity.

In Li Chang'an's view, this was simply nonsense.

Li Chang'an always believed that human development did not require the intervention of gods or Immortals.

Under the Temple's intervention, could the destruction of humanity definitely be prevented? Not necessarily.

Without the Temple's intervention and control, would humanity definitely be destroyed? Not necessarily.

Therefore, what belongs to the human world belongs to the human world, and what belongs to the heavens belongs to the heavens.

The overall interests of humanity should be left to humanity itself to choose.

Whether to be completely destroyed or to rush into outer space, allowing it to develop freely is the Righteous Path.

Afterward, Li Chang'an went to observe the army's training.

The Intermediate military officers in the army had basically all undergone training by the Net, and they were all talented commanders discovered by Li Chang'an.

Even Han Xin couldn't help but exclaim that the quality of the generals and officers in this army was truly admirable!

For three full days, Li Chang'an inspected all the key aspects related to raising an army.

The backbone talents of the Western Qin were all personally unearthed by him.

The biggest impact he brought after coming to this world was here.

This was also the Foundation he had accumulated over more than ten years, so of course, he had to examine it very carefully.

“Three of you, after this Prince leaves, you can immediately raise an army!”

Zhao Gao asked, “Your Highness, should the national title of Western Qin be changed?”

Li Chang'an smiled and said, “No need to re-name it, Qin Country is very good!”

“Great Qin! It sounds much more majestic than Great Qi and Great Qing!”

Soon, this new country will stand alongside Northern Qi and Southern Qing in the world!

Southern Qing border.

Fan Xian also received intelligence from the Supervisory Council that his true identity was now known throughout the world.

He truly couldn't imagine who had leaked his identity.

As soon as he entered the country, the five hundred Black Knights sent by Chen Pingping had already arrived.

Not long after, ten Inner Court guards, whose cultivation was no less than Gao Da's, also came to personally protect Fan Xian.

This greatly broadened the horizons of Yan Bingyun and Guo Baokun; this was the honor of a Prince!

With such powerful protection, even if there were assassins, they could only return without success.

But what they didn't expect was that there were indeed assassins who, oblivious to their own peril, came to kill Fan Xian.

There were a total of more than ten experts, half of whom were eighth-rank.

Although each of them fought fearlessly, they were quickly killed by the Inner Court guards and the Black Knights.

What surprised Fan Xian the most was that such assassinations had already occurred six times!

Fan Xian knew that this was Li Yunrui constantly sacrificing lives to express her hostility and irreconcilable opposition to Fan Xian!

“I really didn't expect that the leaked identity of an illegitimate Prince would bring such great risks!”

“Director Chen was right, as many people who loved my mother, as many people hated her!”

“After returning to the capital this time, I must be especially careful. Although I have more people protecting me, it is more dangerous than when I first entered the capital.”

Fan Xian knew that the murderers who killed Ye Qingmei back then, the Empress's and Empress Dowager's maternal clans, had all been purged by Chen Pingping and Fan Jian.

However, there were still some forces hidden in the shadows that had not been investigated.

The most troublesome were people like Li Yunrui, who, although she didn't act back then, still harbored deep hatred for Ye Qingmei to this day.

Fan Xian was very clear that the deadly feud between him and Li Yunrui was completely irreconcilable.

Through the Supervisory Council's intelligence, Fan Xian also learned that Li Chengze was truly allied with Li Yunrui.

Therefore, Fan Xian was destined to become an irreconcilable enemy of Li Yunrui and Li Chengze!

Unlike the original plot, because Fan Xian was not designated to manage the Imperial Treasury, the conflict between Li Chengze and Fan Xian was not as intense.

Also, because Fan Xian would not take charge of the Imperial Treasury, and thus did not obtain clues about Li Chengze's smuggling through Shen Zhong, Li Chengze also did not send people to ambush and kill the envoy group.

After inspecting the Western Qin, Li Chang'an also rushed back to the convoy day and night.

A few days after he returned, the convoy had just left Cangzhou when Teng Zijing returned.

In the camp tent after nightfall, Li Chang'an called Teng Zijing and Wang Qinian.

“Teng Zijing, how is the investigation of Shijia Town progressing?”

Teng Zijing said somewhat excitedly, “Your Highness, according to the Brocade-Clad Guards' intelligence Materials, I have already clarified all the land smuggling channels of the Cui Family.”

On the night the Brocade-Clad Guards' yamen was burned, Li Chang'an indeed had the Shadow Guard retrieve a lot of intelligence Materials.

Li Chang'an, of course, had no interest in old archives and Northern Qi's dossiers.

What the Shadow Guard brought back were basically intelligence related to Southern Qing, Xi Qin, and other vassal states.

Among them, of course, were the channels and routes for smuggling Imperial Treasury goods.

Teng Zijing continued, “Your Highness, Imperial Treasury goods are all produced by the Three Great Workshops in Jiangnan.

However, over the past decade, the Three Great Workshops have been severely infiltrated by the local Ming Family.”

The two major distributors of the Imperial Treasury were the Cui Family and the Ming Family, but the Ming Family's Foundation was precisely in Jiangnan, where the Three Great Workshops were located.

The exorbitant profits from selling Imperial Treasury goods made the Ming Family as rich as a country, so corrupting and infiltrating the Imperial Treasury's Three Great Workshops was not difficult.

“The Ming Family could actually directly take goods from the Three Great Workshops' transfer office, then privately sell them to the Cui Family for smuggling to Qi Country, or smuggle them to Eastern Yi City themselves.”

Li Chang'an knew that this was the most crude and egregious form of corruption.

The Imperial Treasury's money paid for the cost of the products, but many of the produced goods were missing.

Li Yunrui then used the Ming Family to balance the accounts, and the profits from the smuggled goods all went into The Eldest Princess's pockets through the Ming Family.

On the books, the Imperial Treasury's expenditures exceeded its income, naturally leading to huge losses!

Li Chang'an asked, “Have you obtained both human and material evidence?”

Teng Zijing replied, “This subordinate has not failed in his mission and has apprehended the Second Young Master of the Cui Family, who was solely responsible for smuggling.”

“The accountants of the several largest smuggling shops have all been detained, and the accounts have all been preserved as evidence.”

“This subordinate acted very covertly; the Cui Family and Li Yunrui will not know that it was us.”

Li Chang'an said, “They will know sooner or later, but not now.”

“Acting covertly now is just to make them fall into chaos; once they are in chaos, they will make foolish moves!”

After discussing the matter of Shijia Town, Wang Qinian reported news from the capital.

The capital was now somewhat chaotic due to the leaked identity of Fan Xian.

Li Chengze had already begun to lay out plans to deal with Fan Xian, and the Embrace the Moon Brothel incident still occurred.

What was different this time was that Sang Wen, who was forced into prostitution at Embrace the Moon Brothel, was already an elite spy of the Net.

Therefore, Li Chang'an was very clear about everything happening inside Embrace the Moon Brothel.

The proprietors of Embrace the Moon Brothel were the clueless Fan Sizhe and the Third Prince, Li Chengping, both of whom were Li Chang'an's nephews.

The real manager of Embrace the Moon Brothel was Yuan Meng, whom Li Chang'an had dealt with back then.

And the one truly manipulating Yuan Meng was not her lover, the gullible Li Hongcheng, but Li Chengze.

Wang Qinian said, “Because Sang Wen received training at the Net headquarters last year, her abilities in all aspects improved by leaps and bounds, and she became Yuan Meng's assistant.”

After Li Chang'an met Sang Wen last year, Sang Wen was sent to Langya Mountain for training.

She had just returned to the capital at the beginning of this year when she encountered Yuan Meng's forced purchase of courtesans, which Just right allowed her to enter Embrace the Moon Brothel as an inside agent.

“Your Highness, because of Sang Wen's persuasion, no one has died at Embrace the Moon Brothel yet.”

“But many incidents of forcing good women into prostitution have occurred.”

“Although this matter involves the Second Prince, the Third Prince, and Fan Sizhe, it does not harm Your Highness, so Jing Ni did not allow Sang Wen to interfere too much.”

Li Chang'an nodded and said, “Jing Ni did well. This Prince is not in the capital, and this matter is not aimed at this Prince, so observing the situation is correct.”

“However, this Prince now wants to eliminate the little alpaca early, so the matter of Embrace the Moon Brothel should be brought to an end!”