AUBTN -Chapter 28 Gathering Intel

“Now that we’ve confirmed he’s raising private troops and manufacturing firearms, this is easy to handle,” Yu Qing mumbled through a half-eaten piece of mung bean cake, her words slurred.

“Why not just take people and raid his lair directly?”

Lu Yan shot her a glare and said in a low voice, “If I knew where his lair was, I would have acted already. Right now, the enemy is in hiding while we’re exposed. If we startle them, force them into a corner, and they blow up the capital prematurely, countless lives will be lost. Who can bear that responsibility?”

Yu Qing shrank her neck, silently grumbling to herself: 【Why so fierce? I was just speaking casually. This NPC is getting more and more irritable. Has he hit early menopause or something?】

A vein twitched at Lu Yan’s temple as he forced himself not to pinch her face.

Su Hewan pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, “Before moving the troops, you secure the supplies first. Raising private soldiers, manufacturing firearms—aren’t they all money-devouring monsters? Especially the raw materials for gunpowder, like saltpeter and sulfur—they’re strictly controlled and expensive. If Prince Ning wants to maintain such enormous expenses, where is his money coming from?”

Her words awakened the dreamer.

“Money.” Shen Jue narrowed his long phoenix-shaped eyes, a gleam of insight flashing in them.

“Although Prince Ning’s mansion is wealthy, it’s mostly farmland and shops—at most, they bring in a hundred thousand taels a year. To maintain a force capable of breaching the capital, that amount isn’t even enough to fill a gap.”

“So, he’s raising money,” Su Hewan quickly concluded.

【Too bad I don’t know how he’s raising money. When I was researching earlier, I only studied Shen Jue—didn’t look into Prince Ning’s thread. Sigh!】

Shen Jue shot Su Hewan a sidelong glance.

Sure enough, she had her own agenda regarding him!

But he remained expressionless and continued, “It’s simple. If he wants money, either he’s making huge profits through his businesses and smuggling, or he’s dipping into the imperial treasury.”

“Both,” Lu Yan said coldly, finishing the thought.

“That old miser, the Minister of Revenue, has long been in Prince Ning’s pocket. In recent years, the treasury has been empty. Every time the Emperor wants to allocate funds for disaster relief, the Minister always claims there’s no money. Looks like all that cash has ended up in Prince Ning’s hands.”

“Then we audit the accounts!” Su Hewan decided immediately.

“As long as we can find evidence of him embezzling from the treasury or the flow of massive funds, we can follow the trail and locate where he’s raising troops!”

“Easier said than done.” Shen Jue slid the silver knife back into its sheath with a crisp snap.

“The Ministry of Revenue’s ledgers are state secrets, with Prince Ning’s men guarding them layer by layer. If we openly check, we’re telling him we’re coming for him. If we try to be covert…”

He paused, a hint of mockery in his tone: “Those ledgers are airtight. Without an expert, you wouldn’t spot a thing.”

Silence fell in the room again.

It was a deadlock.

They knew there was a problem, but had no way to break in.

At that moment, a hand timidly went up.

“Um… I might have a way.”

All eyes immediately turned to Yu Qing.

She swallowed the last bite of her mung bean cake, brushed the crumbs from her hands, and a sly smile appeared on her face. “There’s no wall in this world that doesn’t let air through, especially in a place like the imperial palace.”

“What are you trying to say?” Lu Yan frowned.

“Oh, you don’t understand.” Yu Qing stood, hands behind her back, pacing earnestly as if she were giving a lecture.

She extended a finger and waved it slightly. “Purchasing inside the palace always has a profit margin. If Prince Ning wants to make money from the palace, he has to go through the eunuchs in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the purchasing eunuchs in various palaces. Those eunuchs and palace maids might not know state affairs, but they definitely know who’s recently come into sudden wealth, who’s been frequently leaving the palace, who just bought a house or took a concubine—they have eyes and ears everywhere!”

Su Hewan’s eyes lit up, immediately catching her train of thought. “You mean, by analyzing the spending habits and gossip circulating among palace staff, we can reverse-engineer the financial flow?”

“Bingo! Correct!” Yu Qing snapped her fingers, beaming with pride.

“Whether it’s a single radish from the Food Department or a bolt of silk from the Clothing Department, anything that exceeds normal expenses is suspicious. This is called… what? Big data analysis!”

She turned to Shen Jue, her smile radiant. “Master Overseer, I suppose neither you nor Lord Lu can directly investigate those petty accounts, right? But I can!”

Shen Jue raised an eyebrow, showing a flicker of interest. “You have a method?”

“Of course—using my specialty: gossip!” Yu Qing thumped her chest with confidence.

“You see, the palace’s maids and eunuchs are a massive information hub. Give me a few days to blend in with them, and there won’t be any intel I can’t dig up!”

Her excitement grew with each word, eyes sparkling. “I want to find out which expense in the palace is the highest, and this is the fastest way! But I’ll need Master Overseer to send me back into the palace! Give me any low-profile identity—pot scrubber, laundry maid, anything inconspicuous works!”

Su Hewan pondered for a moment, then nodded. “This is indeed a good idea. No matter how meticulous Prince Ning is, he can’t silence all palace staff. Those seemingly trivial pieces of information, pieced together, might reveal the truth we’re after.”

Shen Jue also nodded slightly, fingers rolling the counters on his ring. “Interesting. In that case, we’ll assign you to the Clothing Department, and conveniently, they’re short of a—”

“No!”

A sharp shout suddenly cut through their discussion.

Lu Yan leapt to his feet.

The room fell into a dead silence.

Shen Jue looked at him with a faint, almost amused smile. “Commander Lu, what’s the meaning of this? Weren’t we just fretting over not being able to solve the case? Now that there’s a method, you want to block it?”

Su Hewan also looked at Lu Yan in surprise.

Only Yu Qing was startled, muttering in her heart: 【What’s gotten into this guy? Scared me to death.】

Hearing this unspoken thought, Lu Yan’s face darkened further.

He fixed his gaze on Yu Qing, emotions churning beneath the surface—

Prince Ning is watching palace movements right now. Sending in a wild card like her is a suicide mission if discovered!

“Why not?” Yu Qing asked indignantly.

“This is clearly the best method! Lord Lu, we’re all grasshoppers tied to the same string—you can’t just cut off everyone’s path because you dislike me, can you?”

Lu Yan took a deep breath, suppressing his inner agitation, and said coldly, “Too dangerous.”

“I’m not afraid of danger!” Yu Qing retorted, utterly confident.

“Fortune favors the brave! Besides, you’ll all protect me! With Master Overseer in the palace, what danger could there possibly be?”

Lu Yan was so exasperated by her carefree attitude that his teeth itched.

“I said no, and that’s final!” He offered no explanation, his tone as hard as stone.

“The Jinyiwei isn’t extinct yet. It’s not a woman’s place to charge into danger. As for auditing accounts, I’ll handle that myself.”

With that, he ignored everyone’s reactions, grabbed the embroidered dagger from the table, and turned to leave.

His back was resolute, radiating a strange, unspoken anger.