Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 406 Liu Xie: I want to move the capital back to Chang'an!

Zhen's Mansion, lobby.

"Master, we searched the ruins of the entire posthouse inside and out, and only found a few charred corpses. We moved them all here."

A member of the Zhen clan said respectfully.

Behind him were several corpses, all of which had been burned beyond recognition. Not to mention identifying their identities, even the bodies were not complete and could only be barely recognized as a person.

In the lobby, all the elders from each branch of the Zhen family were present.

Zhen Yi was sitting in the main seat in the hall. Hearing this, he didn't say much. He just waved his hand to signal the tribesmen to leave, and then looked at the corpses in silence.

The elders present exchanged glances, and finally the elder from the third branch said, "Master, I'm afraid that the Fa Yushi has died in the fire."

"But this flood was an accident. No one could have imagined such a thing would happen. The most urgent thing is to report this to the court as soon as possible."

"The imperial envoy is dead. This is a big deal."

The tone of the third clan elder was filled with worry, he sighed constantly and looked very worried.

But Zhen Yi acted as if he didn't hear anything and remained silent.

Then the second clan elder also spoke up: "Master, you should quickly make a decision. What should we do next..."

"I make the decision?"

Before the second-house elder could finish his words, Zhen Yi, who had remained silent, suddenly interrupted him with a cold look on his face.

He looked at the elders of the second branch and said expressionlessly, "You all dared to set fire to the posthouse, what else do you want me to do?"

"Don't call me the head of the family. I'm not the head of the family. You are the heads of our Zhen family!"

Hearing Zhen Yi's angry words.

All the elders fell silent.

Zhen Yi was furious at this moment, veins on his forehead were exposed, and he gritted his teeth and said, "How dare you burn the imperial envoy?"

"Do you know that this is a slap in the face of the court and His Majesty?"

"You are all a bunch of pig brains!"

Zhen Yi slammed the table, pointed at the elders and cursed them harshly.

He is not a fool. He just said yesterday that he was going to confess his crime, and then the inn caught fire that night. How could such a coincidence happen in the world!

Even if he used his toes to figure it out, he knew it was the elders of the tribe who did it!
"Master, this matter has nothing to do with me. I was not involved in it. They did it!"

Seeing Zhen Yi getting angry, the fourth elder quickly distanced himself from the matter.

Upon hearing this, the other elders glared at him.

However, they also knew that Zhen Yi would know about this matter sooner or later, so they were not too panicked.

The second clan elder said, "The head of the family has to take the initiative to hand over the evidence against my Zhen family and return the financial power to Your Majesty. How can we just sit there and watch?"

"The reason why our Zhen family is so powerful today is entirely because we hold the financial power. Once we hand it over, our status will plummet."

"As members of the Zhen clan, we naturally cannot remain indifferent."

Zhen Yi laughed out of anger when he heard this and said, "So you dare to burn the imperial envoy?"

"Or do you think that the court and His Majesty are all fools and don't know that it was I, Zhen, who did it?"

"You couldn't even hide it from me, and you're still trying to hide it from His Majesty. How do you think His Majesty was able to destroy Yuan Shao in just a few years?"

"Don't you know His Majesty's methods?"

The Second Branch Elder was silent for a moment, then said, "It has been done. If we admit it now, we will be annihilated."

"In this fire, all of my Zhen's accounts have been burned. I will find someone to take the blame for this fire."

"As long as we can hold on, my Zhen family can continue to hold the financial power. At worst, we can give more profits to the court in the future, but no matter what, we must not lose the financial power."

"You can report our crimes to His Majesty now, but can you bear the consequences of doing so?"

The second branch of the family had already prepared this excuse.

What had been done had already been done. Now there were only two options before Zhen Yi - either to go all the way with him and take a big gamble, or to admit his crime and bring disaster to the Zhen family.

"Good, good, good!"

"Very good!"

Zhen Yi seemed to be smiling, but every word he uttered seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

He glanced at all the elders with a cold look, then stood up and left the hall.

Seeing him leave, the elder of the Third House could not help but ask anxiously, "He will not really confess his crime to His Majesty, will he?"

The second clan elder sneered, "He doesn't have the guts to do that. He doesn't dare to gamble the lives of our entire Zhen family on your majesty's mercy. He has no choice but to cooperate in covering up the death of the imperial envoy."

All the elders breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

……

The backyard of Zhen Mansion.

"What you said...is all true?"

Zhen Mi's face was pale. She looked at Fa Zheng in front of her and asked in a slightly trembling voice.

Fa Zheng sighed and said respectfully, "This is absolutely true. The fire in the posthouse last night was caused by Zhen."

"If I hadn't been lucky, I would have died in the sea of ​​fire."

Upon hearing this, Zhen Mi's face turned even paler.

She never expected that her family members would be so crazy and do such a heinous thing!
Assassinating the imperial envoy is tantamount to treason!

Fa Zheng continued, "Now the Zhen family thinks I am dead. If they knew I was still alive, they would probably kill me."

"Wuji County is far from Yecheng, and I cannot go back alone, so I came to ask for help."

"I hope you can help me."

Fa Zheng said this and bowed deeply to Zhen Mi.

With Qingzhu's help, he sneaked into Zhen's mansion, came to meet Zhen Mi, revealed his identity and explained the truth, all in order to ask her for help.

Now the only one who can help him return to Yecheng is Concubine Zhen.

Upon hearing this, Zhen Mi looked at Fa Zheng and asked, "Zhen family is my family, why did Fa Yushi dare to come to me for help? Isn't he afraid that I will protect my family, or that I was the one who planned the fire in the posthouse?"

Upon hearing this, Fa Zheng said solemnly, "Your Majesty always says that you are a reasonable and sensible woman. You are a rare and wise wife. In the early years, you were able to secretly develop and accumulate strength with your help."

"As a noble, you would never do something like assassinating an imperial envoy."

"As for the family that protected him... Your Majesty has been with you for a long time, so you should know that whether I am dead or alive, Your Majesty will investigate this matter to the end."

"But if I can get your help and stay alive, it will be much better than my death."

The reason why Fa Zheng dared to ask Zhen Mi for help.

The confidence lies in the emperor.

It is impossible for this Concubine Zhen not to understand the character of the emperor, so it is impossible for her to assassinate him. Moreover, now that she is pregnant with the heir, she dare not act rashly, otherwise it will directly cut off the possibility of the heir in her belly inheriting the throne in the future.

On the contrary, if Zhen Mi took the initiative to help him return to Yecheng alive, he would be able to completely get out of this matter.

After hearing what Fa Zheng said, Zhen Mi had a complicated expression and sighed: "What Fa Yushi said is right. I really didn't know anything about this matter. Otherwise, I would have stopped them from doing this anyway."

"Don't worry, Censor Fa. I will not protect my family and will help you return to Yecheng. But I only ask for one favor..."

Fa Zheng anticipated what she was going to say, and shook his head, saying, "I will report everything to Your Majesty truthfully. As for how Your Majesty decides, I cannot interfere."

Upon hearing this, Zhen Mi's eyes suddenly dimmed, and the last glimmer of hope in her heart was shattered.

"I understand. I will ask to return to Yecheng in a few days, and then the Fa Yushi will follow me in the convoy."

Fa Zheng was surprised when he heard this and said, "You are pregnant now, how can you travel such a long distance? If..."

"Been here long enough."

A trace of fatigue flashed across Zhen Mi's face, and she whispered, "I don't want to embarrass His Majesty, and I don't want to see my clan members die."

If she continued to stay in Wuji County, Liu Xie would have taken her into consideration to some extent and would not dare to send troops over at will.

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But she believed that with Liu Xie's character, he would eventually send troops, so she might as well go back early. This way, she would not put Liu Xie in a difficult position, nor would she have to see the scene of Zhen's bloodshed.

Fa Zheng was filled with respect for Zhen Mi and said admiringly, "Your Excellency is indeed very righteous. I admire you."

Zhen Mi sighed and looked up at the sky.

She didn't understand why the family had come to this point.

Maybe all this is God's will.

……

Jizhou, Yecheng.

With Liu Xie's strong support, the Metallurgical Bureau was officially established and began to slowly take over the responsibility of ordnance manufacturing that was originally supposed to be in charge of the Zhen family.

Hundreds of craftsmen were forging weapons there, the sound of clanging iron could be heard constantly, and it was a scene of bustling activity.

Today Liu Xie came to the bureau specially for inspection.

"Your Majesty, these are the swords that we forged using the Xin family's smelting method. We have also made some improvements on the original basis to increase the toughness of the weapons."

Meng Yang asked someone to bring out a batch of swords.

Liu Xie grabbed a sword and weighed it. He saw that the blade of the sword in his hand was shining brightly, and it was almost the same as the one made by the Zhen craftsmen before.

He nodded slightly, then threw it to Gao Lan beside him and said, "General Gao, you try it."

"promise!"

Gao Lan took the sword and walked to the straw man used for testing.

The straw man's body was covered with thick leather.

Gao Lan swung his sword with all his might, and after a flash of the sword, the scarecrow was cut directly in half, with the cut being extremely neat!
Then Gao Lan took out a sword currently equipped by the Han army to test it, and chopped it hard with the sword.

With just one strike, the active sword was cut off!

The sword in his hand, made by a Mohist craftsman, only had a slightly bent blade. It only needed to be polished to be restored and could still be used to kill the enemy!
"Your Majesty, this sword is much stronger and more durable than the swords currently equipped by our soldiers. It is quite good."

Gao Lan put down his sword and reported to Liu Xie.

Liu Xie smiled with satisfaction when he heard this, and said to Meng Yang: "The Mohist disciples are proficient in the art of smelting, and their reputation is well-deserved."

Hearing Liu Xie's praise, Meng Yang was very humble.

"Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. I have only made some improvements and enhancements to the original smelting technique. It can only be regarded as icing on the cake."

The smelting methods originally mastered by the imperial court were far more advanced than those mastered by the Mohists. After some research, they were all amazed.

They were even more shocked when they heard that this smelting method was originally taught to the emperor by Emperor Gaozu in a dream.

"It is already very rare that you have mastered the art of smelting and made improvements in such a short time. I was not wrong about you."

Liu Xie was not stingy with his praise.

It took the Zhen family craftsmen several months to research and master these techniques, but this group of Mohist disciples mastered and improved them in a short period of time, which shows that they are indeed excellent technical talents.

"But there are still some shortcomings. I can give you some suggestions. For example, for the production of the sword, you can directly make a mold and use molten iron to cast the blade, and then let the craftsmen further process it."

"The same goes for armor. You can use a mold to cast some iron parts and finally combine them into a finished armor."

"Such division of labor and cooperation can not only unify the standards of all equipment to the greatest extent, but also save a lot of time."

The concept of assembly line production and standardization must be there.

"I understand."

Meng Yang nodded in agreement. This was the emperor's suggestion, and these methods could indeed greatly improve efficiency.

"But in addition to these, I think you can also find some veteran soldiers in the army and let them serve as testers of these equipment."

"They are all from the battlefield. You can follow their advice to improve your weapons and equipment. I believe they will be more useful."

Liu Xie also raised a very important point.

The old soldiers are experienced. They are the users of these equipment and understand them best.

They know how to make a knife handle so that it is most comfortable to hold and allows for the smoothest application of force; where armor needs to be strengthened for protection and where weight can be reduced.

They are the ones who have the most say.

Don't underestimate these seemingly insignificant suggestions, as they may be the key to saving a soldier's life on the battlefield.

"I accept the decree!"

Meng Yang agreed to all the suggestions made by Liu Xie.

Just as Liu Xie was about to continue inspecting the situation at the Metallurgical Bureau, a guard hurried over and reported excitedly: "Your Majesty, a great victory in Chang'an!"

"General Zhang and Lord Wen broke through Tongguan and headed straight for Chang'an City. Ma Chao was defeated and fled with his remaining troops. Now Sizhou has been recaptured by the imperial army!"

After the guard finished speaking, everyone present was shocked and at the same time felt extremely surprised.

Ma Chao claimed to have 100,000 Western Liang cavalrymen, dominating the city of Chang'an. But less than two months had passed since the Western Expedition, and the enemy had been defeated?
Even Liu Xie was surprised to hear this news. After he came to his senses, he immediately asked, "Where is the battle report?"

"Here is the battle report, please have a look, Your Majesty!"

The guard handed over the battle report with both hands.

Liu Xie snatched it away, unfolded it and read it carefully.

This battle report was written by Sima Yi. When he saw the words "Pang De surrendered" and "internal and external cooperation", he could no longer hide the joy on his face.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Quickly announce this news to all officials and the people of Yecheng, so that we can celebrate the victory together!"

After Liu Xie finished speaking, he quickly walked out of the Metallurgical Bureau. Right now he was in no mood to continue his inspection. He wanted to quickly return to the palace to summon Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu and others to discuss matters.

Because Chang'an City was breached, his previous plan to move the capital to Luoyang had to be changed and the capital had to be moved back to Chang'an!

(End of this chapter)