Volume 4: Holy Capital Tribulation Chapter 240: The Abyss (Part 2)
As the hour of Xu was about to pass, the lights in the Neiwei Palace were bright and the noise of people was everywhere.
The meeting hall was packed with people, with people moving back and forth in a frenzy.
Relevant personnel from the Ministry of Industry, the Cabinet, the Dali Temple, the Yulin Guard and other departments were all present. Even Bi Sheng, who was always unique, led the backbone of his intelligence department to wait in the hall.
"This is Shangfu, Guixu, Wanli," an old man with gray hair and wearing a bright red official robe pointed at the map and explained, "This is Daxincheng five hundred years ago, which basically overlaps with the current location.
"Look at this one. This is a city construction project recorded by the Ministry of Works. A general stele was dug out 25 meters underground at Quliang Gate. It was verified to be an ancient relic from the Tianlong Dynasty, a full 1,400 years ago..."
This person is none other than the Minister of Works, Lan Qizhi, who is already 73 years old this year and is at the critical juncture.
"Minister Lan," Lin Chaofeng frowned and said, "Am I asking you to teach us now? To popularize history?
"Can you please use your brains?" He shouted angrily at everyone, "The current situation is that those Xuanmen rebels are hiding in the underground city, and I don't know what they are going to do!
"Who among you knows what Cao Ding found from the ancient map?"
"General Manager!" At this time, a general of the Imperial Guard said, "The Xuanmen rebels have ulterior motives. Since time is short, why don't I lead a team to search!"
"Do you know how big it is down there?" Lin Chaofeng asked with eyes wide open. "It's only bigger than Xuanmiao City. Even if you send an army down there, it will be useless!"
"Sir," Bi Sheng said, "The Xuanmen rebels are hiding underground, and they must be planning to attack the palace. After we send people down, we will search in the direction of the palace!"
"No... that doesn't make sense! " Minister Lan frowned and said, "I have worked in the Ministry of Works for my entire life, and I know the structure of the entire palace like the back of my hand. Even if those Xuanmen rebels use explosives underground, they can't cause any damage to the palace."
"You..." Lin Chaofeng asked, "Are you sure?"
"The current imperial palace was built on the foundation of the Song capital back then," said Minister Lan, stroking his beard and shaking his head. "During the construction, it was discovered that the ground was covered with a full layer of diamonds.
“The craftsmen estimated that when the Song capital was building the palace, they might have considered that there was a city below and were worried that the ground would collapse, so they spent a huge amount of money to lay the diamond.
"So... even if those Xuanmen rebels are rats that can dig holes, they will definitely not be able to get into the palace!"
"The key point is," the general of the Imperial Guard said confidently, "the entire palace is impregnable. Even if they can dig a hole in, what can they do?"
"I'm just afraid..." Cai Kun frowned and said, "There might be something unknown down there!
"Manager Lin..." He pulled Lin Chaofeng aside and asked in a low voice, "Do you think... do we need to ask the Queen Mother to move?"
"How dare you!" Lin Chaofeng's face suddenly changed, and she shouted, "Aren't you courting death? Don't you know the Queen Mother's temper? Xuanmen forced the Queen Mother to move. If we tell anyone, the Queen Mother will have our heads taken."
"Yes... yes, yes..." Cai Kun realized that he had not thought it through and quickly kept silent.
"Hurry up and show me..." Lin Chaofeng ordered the people in front of the map, "How far is the entrance found by Xu Zun and others from the palace?"
" About...about..." someone from the Ministry of Works said after measuring, "It's only three miles away from the nearest Taiping Gate."
"Three miles..." Lin Chaofeng pondered for a moment, and instructed the General of the Imperial Guard, "Send someone down immediately to search in the direction of the Imperial Palace!"
"Yes!" The general had been eager to try and immediately took the order and left.
"The key is..." Unexpectedly, Minister Lan stroked his beard and said, "Being close doesn't necessarily mean being connected!
"You know, those underground cities have already collapsed. Even if we can get through, we can only rely on some gullies and underground canals..."
"Gully and underground channels..." Lin Chaofeng savored it carefully and said suddenly, "No wonder Xuanmen cares so much about Cao Ding!
"Cao Ding must have a distribution map of those ancient underground canals. Only by following those underground canals can they reach the designated location.
"Bi Sheng," he turned and asked, "Don't you have this kind of map in Zuowei Mansion?"
"Um..." Bi Sheng quickly bent down and answered simply with two words, "No!"
Too……
Lin Chaofeng then remembered that Zuowei Mansion was an intelligence agency, so it was natural that it did not have these things.
So he turned and looked at Lan Qizhi again.
"No...no..." Lan Qizhi hurriedly explained, "My Ministry of Industry is the contractor for the Daxuan Building and has never inspected the underground!"
"I just don't believe it," Lin Chaofeng said fiercely, "Except for Tie Jing and Cao Ding, is there no one else who has the ancient canal map?"
"Manager Lin," Lan Qizhi said helplessly, "The key is that every dynasty had to build canals when they built their capitals. We don't know which dynasty Cao Ding took away."
"I don't care about that," Lin Chaofeng shouted in an imperative tone, "Go and find all the canal maps for me right now!"
"This...this..." Lan Qizhi was helpless, but did not dare to disobey, so he turned around and discussed with his colleagues in the Ministry of Industry.
"Hey?" Lin Chaofeng then noticed that there was one person missing and asked hurriedly, "Where is Mr. Xu? Where did he go?"
Cai Kun looked around and realized that Xu Zun was not in the meeting room.
"Special Envoy Xu is in the inner hall!" A guard nearby immediately gave the answer.
Upon hearing this, Lin Chaofeng took Cai Kun, Bi Sheng and others to the inner hall.
As a result, when they entered the inner hall, they found Xu Zun sitting in front of the desk, looking at something carefully.
When they got closer, they saw that the desk was filled with various materials, all of which were about the large-scale assassination.
"Xu Zun," Lin Chaofeng asked curiously, "Why are you still reading these materials?"
"Oh," Xu Zun saw the three people and hurriedly stood up and saluted, and replied, "Lord Lin, we found out before that Shi Chun, the chief architect of the Ministry of Water Resources, was recommended by Yan Hai, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
"And Yan Hai also died in this assassination."
"Manager Lin," Bi Sheng added, "We found that Yan Hai's recommendation was not in accordance with procedures and was not reviewed by other departments of the Ministry of Personnel. There is a suspicion of selling official positions."
"This..." Lin Chaofeng looked at Xu Zun, "Why, do you think this is not a coincidence?"
"Report..."
Unexpectedly, at this moment, the voice of guard Hou Zhen suddenly came from outside.
"Sir," Hou Zhen reported as he entered the room, "Li Xing, Zhao Yu and others have already descended along the ropes to the bottom of the canal. The canal is about ten feet deep, and there is water in the trough at the bottom, which is two feet deep and not flowing.
“They have found the body of housekeeper Cao Ding and confirmed his death.
"We searched his body but found no clues.
"At present, Li Xing and Zhao Yu are each leading a team to explore in two directions. Once they find something, they will immediately send someone to report."
"Okay," Xu Zun ordered, "Go back and tell them to be careful and not to rush in. If they come across a fork in the road, they must mark it."
"Yes!" Hou Zhen withdrew.
"The canal runs north-south," Bi Shengyan said, "it should be closer to the palace if it goes north."
"It doesn't matter," Lin Chaofeng said, "The Yulin Guards will be here soon, let them search thoroughly.
"What kind of monsters can they create more than ten feet underground?"
While Lin Chaofeng and others were discussing, Xu Zun was thinking about other things.
He remembered the mark on Cao Ding's house, which was most likely left by Cao Ding's housekeeper.
Maybe... the people in Xuanmen don’t know each other, and can only convey orders and information through those symbols.
According to the information Xu Zun currently has, in addition to the murder scenes of Assistant Minister of Works Ying Rang and Cao Ding, marks were also found at the scenes of several victims.
There are about seven or eight of them in total, and none of these marks are repeated.
Since the marks are used to transmit information, it is enough to show that Xuanmen has supporters on the ground, and there is more than one!
So... he can't focus all his energy on the dungeon; these threats on the ground are equally important.
So...can we think of a way to lure these people out?
As a result, just when Xu Zun was thinking seriously, a muffled sound suddenly came from outside the hall.
boom……
As the muffled sound came, the ground shook slightly.
However, although the tremor was small, it frightened Lin Chaofeng, Xu Zun and others greatly.
Everyone rushed out of the hall and looked towards the direction where the sound came from, but the muffled sound disappeared quickly after it came, and calm had already returned.
"That's..." Lin Chaofeng was horrified. "That's the direction of Taiping Gate. What happened just now? Was it... an explosion?"
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