Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 402 - 401: Illicit Arms Manufacturing

Lu Yan was slightly taken aback, but he understood Lu Qing’s intentions from the previous conversation and quickly nodded in agreement, "I have the same thought.

There’s nothing particularly outstanding about me, but I’m not short on self-awareness. I know I lack great ambitions and don’t harbor much ambition. So, I requested early on to defend the frontier for Father, hoping to enjoy a peaceful corner, but also lead troops galloping on the battlefield, protecting my homeland, which is quite satisfying.

However, I never imagined that the world isn’t as simple as I thought. It’s not that I can stay out of trouble just by not fighting or competing.

Since that’s the case, I will rely on my brothers for care in the future."

Lu Qing nodded with a smile, then reminded, "Your second brother hastily returned this time; you shouldn’t linger in Lan Country anymore, lest someone seizes the opportunity, creating trouble for you in the future."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan’s face revealed a smile.

"It seems, brother, that this time your information isn’t well-informed." Since things had been brought to this point, Lu Yan naturally wouldn’t hide anything, and his tone carried a hint of unconcealed schadenfreude, "I had already heard some rumors while at the fiefdom. There are some rumors in the Capital that don’t seem particularly favorable to that old rascal Zhao Bi.

I reckon Zhao Bi should be having a headache during this period, otherwise he wouldn’t have sent people to call back Lu Zhang, and it’s unlikely that he would let him run to Lan Country to meddle blindly.

Maybe on his return journey, he might encounter the people Zhao Bi dispatched to look for him."

"Oh? What rumors? I indeed haven’t heard about this." Lu Qing seemed quite interested, and after the previous conversation, he was direct with his question, wasting no time in indirectness.

Lu Yan was obviously fond of straightforward communication, without playing riddles. When Lu Qing asked, he immediately replied, "Brother, you might not know, but General Cao encountered a bit of trouble recently while staying in the Capital."

Lu Qing and Zhu Yu exchanged a glance, maintaining their composure. Both wondered whether the "trouble" Lu Yan mentioned might be the incident where General Cao’s nephew was almost framed as a murderer.

After all, since Lu Yan received the decree and went to the fiefdom, he had indeed been very well-behaved, not stepping near the Capital without Emperor Jin’s summon.

If not for the suspicion that the tax collectors he sent were killed, he might not have been so furious as to lead troops away from the fiefdom to Lan Country.

"Hasn’t Cao Tianbao held significant power for all these years?" Lu Yan, seeing Lu Qing and Zhu Yu not speaking, assumed their ignorance on the matter and continued speaking on his own accord, "I heard that just a few days ago, someone submitted a memorial to Father, saying there was a batch of weapons of unknown origin in the camp under Cao Tianbao’s command, detailing it vividly with convincing evidence.

Father summoned Cao Tianbao to inquire about this, and Cao Tianbao erupted in anger, vehemently claiming someone was trying to frame him, seemingly believing that Father inquiring into the matter itself was a disheartening act.

Father, displeased, didn’t question Cao Tianbao further and straightforwardly ordered an investigation.

The result was startling; upon investigation, issues were indeed uncovered.

Indeed, there was a batch of newly issued armor and weapons in Cao Tianbao’s army, all made of Black Iron, and the weapons even bore the stamp of the Warehouse Department of the Ministry of War."

"Then wouldn’t that mean they aren’t privately manufactured weapons?" Lu Qing asked, perplexed.

"Exactly, that’s where it gets interesting." Lu Yan smirked, "Those Black Iron weapons indeed bore the official stamp of the Warehouse Department, seemingly supervised and uniformly issued by the court, with no apparent issues.

The problem lies in the fact that when Father sent someone to retrieve and examine the relevant registers from the Warehouse Department, they found that although the batch of weapons newly added under Cao Tianbao’s command bore the Warehouse Department’s imprint, they weren’t recorded in the Warehouse Department’s accounts.

In other words, the Warehouse Department of the Ministry of War had never supervised the manufacture or issued such a batch of weapons to Cao Tianbao’s army.

Even if those blades and swords bore the Ministry of War’s stamp, they were likely privately forged or counterfeited."

Zhu Yu, after listening, felt Lu Yan’s tone seemed overly assertive: "Couldn’t it be a record-keeping error on the part of the Ministry of War?"

"That indeed could happen. I heard Father, considering Cao Tianbao’s dignity, initially entertained that possibility. Hence, he summoned the person responsible for weapon supervision and distribution records from the Warehouse Department to the palace for clarification.

After entering the palace, that person staunchly insisted his accounts were clear and accurate, with no possibility of errors, having been diligent and meticulous for many years with never a single mistake.

Eventually, seeing Father was skeptical, that fellow even attempted to prove his loyalty by death, lunging towards a nearby pillar, only to be saved by someone pulling him back, leaving a gash on his forehead with blood streaming down, but his life was spared.

Father felt the person’s earnest attitude unlikely to be fabricated, yet Cao Tianbao was also loudly proclaiming his innocence, ultimately leaving Father in a difficult position.

Though the matter was left unresolved in the end, and Father instructed the Ministry of War to retroactively record Cao Tianbao’s batch of armor and weapons, telling everyone not to mention it further, it still stirred quite a commotion, with various rumors spreading throughout the Capital. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

People said with Cao Tianbao consecutively causing scandals, his prestige with Father was almost depleted.

At the time, I was puzzled, because while I heard about the privately manufactured weapons, I wondered what else constituted the consecutive scandals?

I originally thought, given Lu Zhang wouldn’t speak of this matter to me, to find an opportunity to inquire about it from Brother.

Unexpectedly, Brother hadn’t even heard of Cao Tianbao privately manufacturing weapons, which made me realize his information isn’t much more up-to-date than mine."

Lu Yan’s tone sounded a little disappointed.

Zhu Yu touched his nose, thinking this guy indeed guessed wrong. Lu Qing’s ignorance of the matter concerning the unauthorized weapons in Cao Tianbao’s army likely relates to their journey to Shuo Country, where they spent considerable time.

After all, Lu Zhang seemingly wasn’t informed either, which, in turn, indicates the event occurred after Lu Zhang had requested to patrol the frontier.

Instead, regarding Cao Tianbao’s so-called "consecutive scandals," the prior happenings were clear to both them and Lu Zhang, leaving only Lu Yan, who was far from the Capital, in the dark.

Lu Qing clearly wasn’t concerned with that; he wasn’t inclined to recount the past events to Lu Yan at this juncture.

"Such an unresolved case, seemingly protecting General Cao, actually makes it even harder for him to clarify, doesn’t it?" He asked Lu Yan, "Why didn’t the Holy Emperor suspect someone in the Ministry of War framed Cao Tianbao? Was it just because that fellow risked his life for proof?"