Chapter 588 Who is the thief?

Chapter 588 Who is the thief?

Chapter 588 Who is the thief?
Inside the palace, Princess Cui Yu insisted on having her husband wear a close-fitting stab-proof vest. It was made of an unknown material, but it was extremely tough and dense, not inferior to bulletproof vests of later generations.

Although Xiao Xia didn't want to wear it, he had to put it on due to his wife's insistence.

"I forgot where this stab-proof vest came from?"

Cui Yu smiled and said, "My dear husband, have you forgotten? It was given to you by your aunt. I even asked her. This stab-proof suit was given to your aunt by the late emperor. It was first worn by the Emperor of Southern Chen, and was later stripped from him."

When Xiao Xia heard that Chen Shubao had worn it, she immediately felt a little disgusted and asked, "Have you washed it?"

Cui Yu couldn't help but laugh and said, "How could it not be washed? You are the dignified King of Jin, who would let you wear dirty clothes?"

At this time, Xiaomei walked in and said, "Sister, I can't find my ruby ​​necklace. Did those assassins steal it?"

Cui Yu laughed and said, "You threw things around randomly, and you blame the assassin. The assassin came to kill people. How could there be anything in our house for them to steal?"

Xiao Xia's heart moved, and his eyes were thoughtful. He quickly said, "I'm going to the study to take a look. You call Xiao Ai over."

Xiao Xia walked out quickly, and when he reached the door, he suddenly hugged Xiao Mei and kissed her pretty face hard, "Thank you for reminding me!"

Xiaomei shyly pushed her husband away, Xiao Xia laughed and walked away quickly.

Xiao Mei said embarrassedly: "Sister, what's wrong with him? Where did I remind him?"

Cui Yu said unhappily, "Just call him husband, don't keep calling him him, I won't care. I guess those assassins came to steal things, so husband said you reminded him."

Cui Yu also hurried to find Xiao Ai. Xiao Mei touched her face and smiled foolishly: "Did I remind him? How can just a kiss be enough? Oops! My necklace."

She thought of her favorite ruby ​​necklace that she had not found yet, so she ran back to look for it.

Xiao Xia indeed found traces of someone breaking into his inner study. Someone had been lurking under his bed on the second floor. He found a few long hairs, and the dust underneath showed traces of a person, a petite woman.

Xiao Ai asked, "Is there anything missing from your study?"

Xiao Xia shook her head. "There are no signs that the cabinets and drawers in the study have been touched."

At this moment, Xiao Xia suddenly thought of something and hurriedly pushed open a bookcase. An iron door appeared on the wall behind the bookcase. Behind the iron door was Xiao Xia's secret room within a room. It was built with one-foot thick bluestone, and the ground and the roof were poured with iron liquid. It could only be entered through the iron door. There were only ten square meters inside, where Xiao Xia's most confidential items were stored. Xiao Xia wore the key close to his body.

Xiao Ai hurriedly tried to avoid it, but Xiao Xia waved her hand, "Don't worry, I won't open it!"

Xiao Xia looked closely at the iron gate and found traces of cutting, with a broken knife tip stuck in it. It seemed that someone wanted to cut the iron gate with a sharp dagger, but only cut a half-inch deep cut and the dagger tip broke.

"Your Highness, what's going on?"

Xiao Xia sneered, "Two men and one woman broke into my house last night. The two male assassins left, but the female assassin stayed and hid in my study. Did you not check the study?"

Xiao Ai shook his head. "We dare not enter His Highness's inner study without permission. We just checked the doors and windows from the outside and found they were normal. But we don't know how the female assassin got in?"

"Roof skylight, go and take a look!"

Xiao Ai immediately turned around and ran to the roof. After a while, he ran down and said, "Your Highness, the bolt of the skylight has been cut off."

The secret room was filled with his personal belongings, including the most valuable treasures, famous paintings, and some secret records. No one would steal these things. The only thing worth stealing by assassins was one thing. Xiao Xia vaguely guessed that the other party was most likely to steal the secret formula of the Iron Fire Bomb, and most likely an assassin thief sent by the Guanlong nobles.

The formula of Iron Fire Bomb is in his hands, and only three people know this secret, which means that one of these three people has betrayed him.

Half an hour later, Li Luming hurried over and saluted Xiao Xia. "Someone has recognized the assassin who attacked on the road this afternoon. His name is He Xu. He was once the top warrior under Han Wang Yang Liang, a ninth-rank master. After Yang Liang was captured, he became the most valuable bounty assassin in Luoyang City. He would receive 3,000 strings of cash for assassinating one person, but we can't find out who paid him to come to Jiangnan to assassinate."

“He seems very unprofessional!”

"That's his style. He relies on his martial arts prowess and strikes violently. If he fails, he can escape unscathed and then continue assassinating until he succeeds. But he didn't expect that we would use heavily armored infantry and invent crossbow needles, which left him with nowhere to stab or hide."

Xiao Xia nodded and handed a note to Li Luming, "There are three people above, they are very likely to be the insiders, send people to monitor their every move, and report to me immediately if there is any situation!"

Li Luming took the note and saw the first name was Wang Pu, the Military Arsenal's Tongpan. Li Luming was shocked and said quickly, "Wang Tongpan has been with Your Highness for many years and is loyal to you. He will never betray Your Highness!"

"I believe he won't betray me, but I'm not sure about his family. Don't say anything more. Just send someone to monitor them."

Li Luming bowed and saluted, "As ordered!"

Li Luming left in a hurry.

At dusk, an oxcart slowly stopped in front of the Sihai Restaurant. Wang Hongye, Deputy Director of the Firearms and Gunpowder Bureau, got off the oxcart, glanced at the restaurant with a complicated look, and walked into the restaurant with a heavy heart.

The Prince of Jin was repeatedly assassinated and the situation in Jingkou City was very tense. The streets were full of patrolling guards. Wang Hongye did not want to come to the restaurant, but he had to come. If he took money from others, he had to help them get rid of the disaster.

He went up to the second floor and came to an elegant room. Yuan Wenzhen was in the room. Behind him stood two men and a woman. The woman was particularly petite.

"Director Wang is finally here. I thought you were too scared to come!" Yuan Wenzhen teased.

"Today, His Royal Highness Prince Jin was assassinated. Everyone was very nervous and stayed in the government office. They went home very late!"

After Wang Hongye said this, he looked at the two tall and thin men warily.

Yuan Wenzhen laughed, "Do you think I was the one who assassinated His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin?"

Wang Hongye was panicked and shook his head quickly, "I don't know!"

"You must be suspicious, but I can tell you straight out that we have no plan to assassinate His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin. My mission is to get the formula and technology for the Iron Fire Bomb. The porcelain bottle fire bomb won't work because it's too weak, but we can't blow it up with the iron shell. It must be that the formula is wrong. Wang Shuling, you took five thousand strings of cash and patted your chest to solve the problem for us."

"I don't know the formula for the Iron Fire Thunder, and I don't even know where to make it. I only know that His Royal Highness Prince Jin has the formula."

Yuan Wenzhen shook his head. "Your Highness Prince Jin's secret room cannot be opened, so we can only think of other ways. I thought that after all, it was made by craftsmen. It's nothing more than craftsmen making different things in different places, and then putting them together. In the end, the craftsmen don't know what they have in their hands. But as long as we find one craftsman from each place and everyone works face to face, I will understand. Do you understand what I mean?"

How could Wang Hongye not understand? He sighed and said, "The problem is that I don't know where the craftsmen are. Only my superiors know this secret."

Wang Hongye was the deputy director, and his superior was Zhou Shuo, the director of the Firearms and Gunpowder Bureau. Wang Pu was also his superior, but Wang Pu was in charge of more matters, not only firearms and gunpowder, but all military equipment was under his control.

Yuan Wenzhen's face darkened and he said coldly, "That's your business. Do you think five thousand strings of cash is so easy to get? I don't care what method you use, you must solve this problem for me."

(End of this chapter)