CMWKSD -Chapter 215 Silver Mine

Jiu Yue found it curious.

She even caught a hint of reluctance in Ji Yiqing’s eyes.

Perhaps what he wanted to say wasn’t “be careful,” but rather, “can I come with you?”

But everyone knew Ji Yiqing couldn’t go.

He had no martial arts skills.

At a time like this, that made him utterly useless.

Jiu Yue bent down.

She pinched Ji Yiqing’s face with both hands. It wasn’t particularly fleshy, but still satisfying to the touch.

“Why are you so endearing?”

Ji Yiqing let out a small chuckle.

Jiu Yue turned away again, without a trace of reluctance.

Ji Yiqing clenched the blanket in his hands.

There was no way he could sleep anymore.

He got up instead and picked up the documents from the table inside the tent.

Jiu Yue was out running errands. Ji Yiqing couldn’t accompany her.

All he could do was sift through this mountain of paperwork, searching for any clue.

This time, it was different from before. Everything was unknown. If the enemy’s numbers were too great, could Jiu Yue even make it out unscathed?

His heart tightened.

He could only grip the pen and force himself to focus on work, striving to make things a little easier for Jiu Yue.

Even if just a little, it would still be something.

Jiu Yue regrouped with Ying Yi and the others, joined by Ying San and the rest who were originally by her side.

This time, Ying Yi brought only two others.

After all, no matter how important things here were, the men around the Emperor of Fengyuan could not be fewer than twenty.

They also needed to rotate shifts; everyone needed rest.

Jiu Yue exchanged brief greetings with them and then led the way.

The men with eagle eyes wore all black, cloaks included.

They moved silently through the forest. From afar, one might think they were grim reapers coming to claim souls.

Following the information Shao Qing had provided, Jiu Yue twisted left and right through the woods for what felt like an eternity.

Occasionally, the eagle-eyed scouts would stop to examine traces on the ground.

Even if someone deliberately erased all traces, years of use had left subtle differences in the grass along the path.

The Dark Moon Pavilion agents reported that heavy goods had been transported up Yunlai Mountain, leaving wheel tracks.

The clever ones had kept these tracks deep within the mountain. If anything had really been transported out, the rest would have been done manually.

Yunlai Mountain was vast, its ridges stretching into one another. The overall layout was impossible to discern.

Once someone entered, it was like a drop of water flowing into the sea—completely untraceable.

If the Dark Moon Pavilion agents weren’t naturally skilled at gathering intelligence, they probably wouldn’t have been able to piece together a single route from such sparse information.

They walked until dawn.

Ying Yi, scouting ahead, suddenly signaled to stop.

Instantly, everyone behind him vanished into the forest.

The naked eye could not tell where they had gone.

Ying Yi knelt on one knee, carefully examining the ground. Then he rose and whispered lightly toward an unknown spot: “Your Highness.”

Like a leaf, Jiu Yue floated down from the trees, landing silently.

She walked to Ying Yi’s side. “What did you find?”

“This should be it.”

Jiu Yue glanced at the sky. Morning light filtered through the trees, scattering tiny specks across her face. Truly a beautiful morning.

“Do we wait until nightfall?”

She looked at the others but saw no sign of fatigue. Professional training showed.

“Let’s move forward and take a look.”

Better to resolve this early, so she wouldn’t have to slog through it like a workhorse.

Without further words, they continued. Aside from brief pauses for two meals, they walked non-stop for twelve hours.

Even with their excellent stamina, a normal person would take two days and nights just to keep up.

Crossing a dirt hill, Jiu Yue suddenly halted everyone. “We’re here.”

The hands of the eagle-eyed men were already on their weapons.

At her signal, swords and blades slid silently from their sheaths.

Jiu Yue swiftly climbed a tree, and the scouts followed suit.

Ahead, only faint torchlight glimmered, yet they were close enough to see everything clearly.

The ragged villagers hauling baskets—they were carrying unrefined silver.

A silver mine, right here in Pingtai County, just two days from the capital.

And the Emperor of Fengyuan, residing in the capital, was blindfolded and deafened to all of it.

This incident would surely involve high-ranking officials, third rank and above.

The more, the merrier—maybe it could free up a position for Ji Yiqing.

No wonder along the route from Lingshu County to Pingtai, many villages were missing able-bodied men. Only women, children, and the elderly remained—they were all here.

Beyond the dirt hill, the mine spread astonishingly large.

Even at night, the sound of whips cracking filled the air, but Jiu Yue and the eagle-eyed scouts merely watched.

They couldn’t intervene.

The guards around the perimeter were numerous: twenty per patrol group, constantly patrolling.

Closer to the mine entrance, five guards per group, each armed with a matchlock.

Ying Yi even saw cannons on the outer open area, the type normally reserved for battlefields. Only two, but incredibly powerful—capable of destroying a house from a hundred meters away.

No wonder the outer posts weren’t as densely manned. The guards numbered at least six hundred, not counting those inside the mine.

With the laborers, the total was likely over a thousand.

Jiu Yue pinched the bridge of her nose, overwhelmed.

Ying Yi glanced at her and whispered, “Your Highness, what should we do now?”

Jiu Yue gave him a sidelong glance.

By her logic, they had cannons. General Shen surely did too. A dozen artillery pieces could blast the place to pieces.

But no.

The villagers being whipped around the mine were all subjects of Fengyuan—citizens of Great Qi.

“The emperor calls me a lucky star, but I think I should be called the God of Wealth instead.”

Hearing her cryptic remark, Ying Yi was momentarily stunned, then several of the eagle-eyed scouts chuckled quietly behind him.

Indeed, in past incidents, the families of the Rong and Jiang households had been raided, netting hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

And now… this massive silver mine.

If Jiu Yue wasn’t the God of Wealth, then who was?

“Let’s move on and check another location to see how many private soldiers are here.”

Jiu Yue didn’t want a battle. She was exhausted, and although killing was satisfying, a person’s threshold rises over time.

She was merely preparing in advance, worried that if she killed too much now, someday a simple act of killing might no longer satisfy her.

That would not be good for her.