In a chaotic and famine-stricken era, I picked up an empress to be my wife.

Mr. Mingyue dared not conceal the truth.

The origin of the mask was explained clearly.

"This item is called a human skin mask. Only members of the Divine Dragon Society at the level of Dark Servant or above can possess it. My mask was issued to me by my superior."

"You mean you don't know how this human skin mask is made?"

"All I know is that it's made of human skin, but I really don't know how it's made. Maybe my superior, the one in charge of the outer court in the southeastern prefecture, knows."

"You've shifted all the blame onto your superior. I'm not satisfied with your answer." Shen An's expression darkened. "You previously said that you and your superior could only contact each other unilaterally, which means I can't even see your superior, let alone obtain the method for making the human skin mask."

Mr. Mingyue sensed a murderous aura and quickly said, "Although I can only contact my superior unilaterally, he places orders in the temple in the Nanling Mountains every half month. I think that since he places the orders there, even if he doesn't go in person, he will send his trusted confidants."

If we just stake out the place beforehand, we can catch them red-handed, right?

Then, by following the clues, wouldn't we be able to catch my superior?

"Do you think they're stupid? If I go over there to ambush them, won't they scout ahead? If they find anything suspicious, not only will they not come, but they'll immediately connect it to you betraying them."

"Then you're completely useless to me!" Shen An was still dissatisfied.

Mr. Mingyue's heart sank. If he was of no use to Shen An, he would surely be killed by Shen An.

He absolutely cannot be exposed.

He pleaded, "Lord Shen, please listen to me. The current situation is very unfavorable for you. You should focus on resolving the immediate issue before thinking about the human skin mask."

Although Shen An was somewhat unwilling, he did need to prioritize in the current situation.

As long as his superiors don't discover his betrayal, Mr. Mingyue is still very useful.

Let's squeeze every last drop of value out of him first, then figure out how to make the human skin mask.

"What you said makes some sense," Shen An nodded.

"So, do you want me to persuade Li Huaiyi's three forces not to attack you? Or do you want me to clarify that you are not actually the son of the Prince of Zhennan?" Mr. Mingyue asked.

"Can't you use your brain for once?" Shen An slapped Mr. Mingyue again. "No matter which one you do, it goes against your Divine Dragon Society's plan. Even if they're stupid, they can see that you've betrayed them. They'll still stick to their original plan, and you'll be abandoned by them. They might even kill you and wipe out your entire clan!"

Mr. Mingyue's heart sank again: "Lord Shen, what should I do? Please show me the way."

"I need your men to transmit important information such as the movement of Li Huaiyi, Yuwen Qin, and Yuwen Bingyu's supplies and troop movements as soon as possible."

In addition, I need your people to slander Li Huaiyi and others, making them think that even if they attack me, they should still think about how to benefit from other forces. Even if they cooperate on the surface, they should still scheme against them behind the scenes.

"Once they actually cooperate, we must sow discord and make them fight amongst themselves first," Shen An instructed.

Mr. Mingyue immediately gave a thumbs up and flattered him, saying, "Lord Shen, it has to be you! Your method not only prevents them from suspecting me, but also allows us to know the movements of Li Huaiyi and the others at any time. For example, regarding the grain supplies, if we know their movements, we can send people to launch a surprise attack and burn their grain supplies, leaving them without food. Naturally, their army will not be able to hold out for long."

As for sowing discord, that's even more ingenious...

"Shut up, stop flattering me!" Shen An made a pause gesture: "Write a letter to your people right now and tell them that you are transferring to Qingyang County. If they want to send you messages in the future, just have them send the messages to No. 23, Zhongshu Street, Qingyang County."

"Okay, okay, I'll do it right away!"

After Mr. Mingyue finished writing the letter, he sent it over using his coded message, as requested.

Shen An then imprisoned him, and then returned home and told Dugu Meng everything he knew about the Divine Dragon Society.

This was extremely shocking to Dugu Meng.

She was completely unaware that the Divine Dragon Society existed and was plotting to seize the country!

Even the fact that she was being hunted down was orchestrated by the Divine Dragon Society.

"Damn it, there are actually treacherous villains like the Divine Dragon Society who steal from the country!"

Dugu Meng was furious: "It seems that the infighting among warlords in various regions was most likely instigated by their own people! If these villains are not eliminated, there will never be peace in the world!"

"They're just exploiting people's desires to sow discord. Even without them, those warlords would still fight amongst themselves, and the world wouldn't be at peace!" Shen An shook his head and said, "For the world to be at peace, only one faction can possess absolute power, defeat all competitors, unify the world, and reshape the rules."

Dugu Meng could not refute this; it has always been the case throughout history.

But who can reshape the rules right now?

The more she understood the world, the more difficult it became. Even though Shen An had demonstrated extraordinary abilities, his scale was too small, and the possibility of reshaping the rules was too low.

Perhaps before he could even develop his power, other strong individuals would use overwhelming force to crush him.

A sense of powerlessness rose within her, and she quickly changed the subject: "Since the Dragon God Society was responsible for hunting me down, can we say that Princess Gaoping has absolutely nothing to do with this?"

"What if she's a member of the Divine Dragon Society?" Shen An countered. "If the Divine Dragon Society knows your whereabouts, it must be someone close to you, or someone extremely close to you, who is a member of the Divine Dragon Society. In the current situation, your aunt, Princess Gaoping, is the most suspicious."

Upon hearing this, Dugu Meng deflated like a punctured balloon: "According to you, this was almost certainly done by my aunt?"

"Facts must be based on evidence, not on our analysis here."

"So, will you continue to have contact with my aunt?"

"Previously, you had to contact her to find out the truth, but that's not necessarily the case now. I don't know who arranged for you to be hunted down by Mr. Mingyue, but the person in charge of the outer court above Mr. Mingyue might know."

"Once the threat from Li Huaiyi and the others is lifted, I will find a way to capture them and interrogate them!" Shen An replied.

Dugu Meng can distinguish between primary and secondary matters. Now that Shen An is almost facing a three-way siege, let's put her matter aside for the time being. After all, even if she knew the truth now, what could she do?

After Shen An finished speaking with Dugu Meng, he summoned Liu Wenyuan and ordered him to dispatch a team of two hundred men, divided into two groups, to search for saltpeter and sulfur.

Although with current production capacity, we can only find natural saltpeter and natural sulfur in extremely limited quantities, the amount of explosives we can produce is also extremely limited.

But! Limited doesn't mean useless.

If we expand the search area, we should be able to produce a considerable amount of explosives.

Even if it cannot sustain a large-scale war, it is still possible to launch a surprise attack on others at a crucial moment and catch them off guard!

"My lord, where should we look for these two items?" Liu Wenyuan asked.

According to Shen An's understanding, there were three places where saltpeter was obtained in ancient times.

On old walls, such as the earthen walls of outhouses and the rammed earth walls of cattle sheds and horse pens, a layer of white, frosty crystals will precipitate on the wall surface. This is saltpeter, which can be purified to obtain saltpeter stone.

However, Shen An had already thoroughly excavated the entire Qingyang County using this method.

Then we'll have to rely on the remaining two places.

Firstly, there are natural nitrate deposits in deep mountain caves. Southwest of Qingyang County lies the continuous Nanling Mountains, where a considerable amount should be found.

The second is to find natural salt flats in saline-alkali lands, where the amount is extremely large.

Unfortunately, these salt flats are almost always located in the arid saline wastelands of the north. Qingyang County is at least 1,500 li away from the nearest saline land, and that area is also the territory of another country. The only way to acquire them is through the Helian Merchant Alliance.

But given the nature of the Helian Merchant Alliance, they will definitely try every means to find out what this thing is for.

It will only cause him more trouble.

Therefore, the place to find saltpeter is deep in the continuous mountains of the Nanling Mountains.

As for sulfur, it is even more difficult to obtain. It is almost entirely found in natural sulfur deposits within volcanoes and geothermal hot springs, and cannot be found anywhere else.

Nowadays, apart from a few wealthy and powerful families using sulfur in their steamed buns, there is practically no other use for it, resulting in very little sulfur available on the market.

This is also the most difficult part of obtaining the materials for making explosives.

The nearest volcano recorded in books is at least a thousand miles away.

As for whether there are volcanoes and hot springs in the Nanling Mountains?

It is not recorded in any book.

With no other options at the moment, Shen An placed all his hopes on the Nanling Mountains, sending the people Liu Wenyuan had chosen to investigate.

Liu Wenyuan knew that Shen An would not do anything in vain. Since he arranged this matter before the upcoming battle, it must be related to the war. He dared not be negligent and immediately selected two hundred loyal and reliable people to search in the nearby mountains.

His men had only been gone for five days.

Mr. Mingyue hurriedly met with Shen An.

"Lord Shen, my men have sent word that Yuwen Bingyu is planning to cooperate with you on the surface, but secretly ally with Li Huaiyi. When Li Huaiyi attacks the city, she will take advantage of your unpreparedness and launch an attack on you!"

The two of them have already set a specific date for the siege: the twelfth of next month!