0p0 Chapter 440 Hunter and Prey
Chapter 440 Hunter and Prey
Su Jixiang glanced at Wei Ling and then waved to Lushui.
Lu Shui bowed and retreated.
"What do you think about the fact that sulfur and saltpeter were mixed into the flour?" Su Jixiang looked at Wei Ling.
Wei Ling frowned.
"Are you trying to fan the flames?" Wei Ling thought for a moment and said.
He remembered that Su Jixiang had told him that flour was one of the several things that could easily explode.
Because Su Jixiang now operates a fleet, some warehouses have been built at the dock to store the transported items. The warehouse management rules formulated by Su Jixiang include storage methods and rules for powdered items such as flour.
Powdery substances such as flour are extremely easy to cause dust explosions in confined spaces. They are extremely powerful and should not be taken lightly.
Before this, Wei Ling had never thought that even something like flour could explode, so he simply moved Su Jixiang's method of storing flour in a warehouse to his own military camp.
In the past, there was flour in the military grain warehouses of the military camps, but the quantity was not large. The military rations of the imperial court were mostly things like sorghum and millet, and there were only very small amounts of refined rice and white flour. But now it is different.
Since the North was completely transformed, the military warehouses have their own rice and flour. The soldiers can now eat the fine grains grown by their own army.
Su Jixiang also used the water from a tributary of the Songjiang River to build a large waterwheel, using the power of the flowing water to drive the millstone. Now, grinding rice and flour no longer requires a lot of manpower! The efficiency has increased by many times compared to before.
There is now special flour storage in the military grain warehouse.
Therefore, fire prevention and explosion prevention become more important.
When Wei Ling heard that sulfur and other substances were mixed in the flour, his first reaction was explosion.
Su Jixiang's expression was solemn.
"If saltpeter and sulfur powder are mixed into the flour, it will become even more flammable and explosive. The explosion will be even more powerful, accompanied by toxic gases. Even if God blesses rain after the explosion, it will be acid rain..." Su Jixiang pondered for a moment and said, "Why do you think these people transported these things to the vicinity of the capital?"
"The Queen Mother's birthday banquet?" Wei Ling looked at Su Jixiang, his brows tightly furrowed.
"It should be." Su Jixiang has become very sure.
There is still some time before the Empress Dowager's birthday. After these grains are transported to Jiuqu Town, they will be transported to the capital in batches, without anyone knowing.
"So this batch of things was most likely obtained by Prince Chenliu?" Wei Ling said with a frown.
"It's most likely him," Su Jixiang nodded. "Prince Chenliu has already agreed to come to the capital to attend the Queen Mother's birthday celebration. I don't believe he's unprepared."
Su Jixiang looked at the secret report from Xu Mo that Lu Shui had just handed over. He secretly calculated the approximate amount of flour in it. There were a total of fifteen large ships in the fleet. Even if there were other things mixed on each ship, the total amount of flour transported on so many ships was not a small amount, about the amount of three or four ships.
If three or four ships of these things were buried in the four corners of the capital, once they were ignited, they would not only explode, but would also cause a fire throughout the capital.
The fire will also be mixed with poisonous smoke, and the chaos it will cause will be many times more severe than a simple fire.
The capital will be in chaos!
"It's impossible that the Prince of Chenliu only wants to burn down the capital!" Su Jixiang thought for a moment and looked at Wei Ling.
Wei Ling had obviously thought of it as well, his brows were almost twisted into a knot.
"Your Majesty wants to kill the Prince of Chenliu, and so does he?" Wei Ling said, "He must have other plans! But I don't know what they are yet!"
"Are there any troops of Prince Chenliu near the capital?" Su Jixiang asked.
"He and Your Majesty had agreed that whoever reached the capital first would ascend the throne. Your Majesty sent me as the first, so I took the shortcut." Wei Ling thought about it. He had been grateful for Emperor Longchang's kindness, so he had been determined to help him conquer the world. He also hoped that after conquering the world, he would be able to hand over the power of the deposed emperor to him. Unfortunately, the deposed emperor escaped.
Later, Emperor Longchang would rather accept the surrender of the deposed emperor than let him take revenge, which led to him secretly leaving the camp and cutting the deposed emperor into pieces.
"The Prince of Chenliu had an army of about 5,000 men taking a different route. They were cavalry like us," Wei Ling said. "We were both blocked along the way. I was blocked by the local army, while he was blocked by the Imperial Guard and the Jinwu Guard. I think the deposed emperor was already thinking of escaping south at that time, so he transferred most of the Imperial Guards guarding the capital to the south. And the Prince of Chenliu happened to be coming from the south." Wei Ling recalled the situation and said, "I entered the city before them, and then the current emperor entered. The Prince of Chenliu was delayed for a whole day before stopping near the current emperor's mausoleum and not moving north."
"The Imperial Mausoleum." Su Jixiang pondered for a moment, "Where can someone hide near the Imperial Mausoleum?"
"That's too much." Wei Ling said after thinking for a while.
There are imperial farms on the other side of the imperial mausoleum, and the mountains stretching for hundreds of miles all belong to the royal family.
Normally, no local officials would set foot in the mountains near the imperial mausoleum except for the troops stationed there.
If you really want to hide people, you can hide a lot of them.
"Do you think he might have been planning this situation several years ago?" Wei Ling looked at Su Jixiang.
It would take time to bury soldiers in the mountains near the imperial tomb.
"Perhaps he has long wanted to replace the current emperor, but he just lacked an opportunity. And the Queen Mother's birthday just happened to give him such an opportunity?" Su Jixiang also looked at Wei Ling.
"It's very likely. In the eyes of His Majesty, Prince Chenliu is a prey, but in the eyes of Prince Chenliu, His Majesty is also a prey. They are just competing to see who can hide deeper!" Wei Ling now thinks that what Su Jixiang said makes sense.
"Then let's..." Su Jixiang looked at Wei Ling's calm face.
"If the Prince of Chenliu is gone, Your Majesty will target us next." Wei Ling's mouth twitched, revealing a smile, but there was a hint of cruelty and sternness in the smile.
"When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked; when the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away!" Su Jixiang deeply agrees with this.
Your Majesty is unable to move to the north now because of the existence of Prince Chenliu. At the same time, even if Prince Chenliu ascends to that position, he will probably treat Wei Ling the same way as Emperor Longchang.
"So we have to let them continue fighting." Wei Ling said lightly.
"But if there is a fire in the capital, the people of the capital will be the ones who suffer!" Su Jixiang said quietly.