Despite Li Xuan making bold promises in front of Madam Xue, once he left Jiangnan dical Hall, he felt at a loss.
He currently has no useful clues. The Queen Bashe refuses to speak and so does Lord Huang Wuhuan.
Lord Huang believes that saving Xue Yunrou and the others is one matter, but revealing the location of the Black Deer Demon King is an entirely separate issue.
At this mont, Li Xuan’s only option is to neuter the Black Deer King’s Divine Skill, ’Dingshen Technique of five Qi’.
This skill should be crucial to the Black Deer King, a matter of life and death.
Moreover, the Queen Bashe possesses sothing that is vital to the Black Deer King.
Li Xuan guesses that the Black Deer King wouldn’t just leave like this.
However, to find its whereabouts, he will have to ask Jiang Hanyun for help.
While waiting, Li Xuan isn’t just idling. His second mind is working on the expansion of the left Shenji battalion, and occasionally his main body helps out while arranging search for the whereabouts of the Black Deer King.
Li Xuan believes that the areas around Beijing are not good sources of soldiers, so he chose Baoding Governnt and Hejian Governnt as recruitnt locations.
After discussing with his deputy Wang Yuan, they decided to specifically pick poor families’ second sons aged not less than fourteen or above fifteen.
The reason being, after the age of fifteen, it’s challenging to master martial arts. However, if they are too young, it won’t seem plausible as well.
Recruiting them into the army and providing them with good food, sufficient protein, and so elixirs, plus hiring so skillful military officers to teach them martial arts, will help them grow tall and develop musculature rapidly.
As for the army officers, it’s even simpler. High-ranking officers of the Shenji left battalion couldn’t be influenced due to the ’mutual regulation of size’, so Li Xuan can only exert influence on the lower-ranking officers.
At this point, he had completely drained the elite guards of Earl Chengyi’s mansion.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter, as Li Xuan can still ask for more from his close uncles.
Duan Dong, the Marquis of Zhen Dong, promised through a transmitted letter to provide thirty elite guards whose cultivation ranks were mostly on the fifth house level and proficient in battle formation, which can serve as Baihu and Zongqi in the army.
These nobles are actually happy to see those under them have a way out.
Then, there are the weapons. The Ministry of War didn’t put up any obstacles. Apart from the ’runed rifled flintlock gun’ required by Li Xuan, everything else was assigned as required.
However, the Daxueshi Shang Hong who also served as the left Shilang of the Ministry of War, annoyed by Li Xuan’s persistence, promised to provide 8000 flintlock guns to the Shenji left battalion within five months. He was also made to sign an official docunt by Li Xuan.
This is due to the upcoming autumn harvest. Even though the North and South of Jin Dynasty faced constant flood and drought, the main grain-producing areas are still expected to have a bumper harvest this year. The Court has also made a fortune by overhauling the salt administration, foreseeing a relaxation in the state finance.
At this mont, the price offered by the Shenqi Union also dropped significantly. The original price was 1200 patterned silver per gun, but now the price dropped to 600 patterned silver, halved directly.
This wasn’t due to the previous shady practices of Shenqi Union, but because Leng Yurou’s Peacock Manor recently successfully produced Li Xuan’s ’designed’ blast furnace and converter and mastered the thod of making coke.
They used coke and blast furnace to slt iron and used a converter to cast steel blanks, which reduced the cost of Shenqi Union’s steel-making by more than half.
Leng Yurou previously invited him to visit when he had ti was for him to see the results of the blast furnace steel-making.
Then, the manufacturing cost of the firearms at Peacock Manor also drastically decreased with the completion of various water-powered machine tools.
The hardest part of manufacturing rifled flintlock guns is to drill holes and rifle the gun barrel, which was the most labor-intensive part. But now, it can be done effortlessly with a water-powered boring machine.
Of course, a price of six hundred patterned silver is still extravagant. Adding on the other equipnt for the Shenji left battalion, ans that the court will have to spend nearly five million patterned silver on Li Xuan’s Shenji left battalion this year alone.
But the power of these ’runed rifled flintlock guns’ is undeniable. It poses a significant threat to those Wu cultivators who are on the third level, within a hundred steps.
Those Wu cultivators who don’t practice advanced evasion techniques can hardly avoid it, and those who don’t practice ’Henglian Golden Body’ cannot resist it.
The vital point is that Yu Jie is very interested in Li Xuan’s new weapons and new warfare tactics, he feels that investing five million patterned silver for a trial is worth it.
Given the support from Shaobao Yu Jie and holding the Emperor’s decree, even if Shang Hong and the Minister of Revenue Xiao Ci grumbled, they could only acknowledge this huge expenditure with a resigned air.
The current turmoil in court is escalating by the day.
The Golden Knife Case is not yet settled, but it has already caused heavy damage to the faction supporting the Empress.
At this ti, Empress Sun and the True Emperor were both under house arrest in the palace, and many of the ministers in the court had begun to deliberately distance themselves from Prince Yi, Yu Jianshen, and the imperial son-in-law, Sun Jizong.
Jing Shen Hall Scholar and Minister of Personnel, Wang Wen, were exerting trendous power. In just two days, they had reassigned more than a dozen civil servants of the fifth rank and below from the Capital City, citing various reasons.
The appointnt and dismissal of officials of this rank did not need to be discussed in the cabinet. As the ’Heaven Official’ of the dynasty, Wang Wen could directly decide their whereabouts.
Originally, there were checks and balances from both left and right Shilang in the Ministry of Personnel.
But at this mont, due to the Golden Knife Case, these two remained silent on the matter.
Furthermore, the montum to place ’Prince Xiang’ as heir and ask the Emperor to establish the granduncle as regent was gradually growing, starting to perate throughout the court and common folk.
At this ti, not only was the ’debate over the heir’ gradually becoming unbalanced, the situation in the cabinet also dramatically changed. The impeachnts of Gao Gu, Shang Hong, and Xiao Ci from both inside and outside the court ca in endless waves.
Even Zuo Daoxing, the Dudu Tongzhi of Xiuyiwei, felt imnse pressure.
Once when he t with Li Xuan, Zuo Daoxing complained that Prince Xiang’s mansion had rallied a group of royal relatives and sent three consecutive petitions to Jianguo, Yu Hongchang, pleading for rcy.
They even found Zuo Daoxing and questioned him on why he detained Commandery Princess Yu Yunhuang. Did he have substantial evidence? If he did not have any evidence, could he release her as soon as possible?
The Inspectorate also paid attention to the case, and several Imperial Censors tried to probe into Yu Yunhuang’s situation one after another.
Due to Prince Xiang’s succession, it had beco a highly probable event and a public debate in the court. Every word and action of this wise prince could stir up a great deal of montum in the court.
Zuo Daoxing only had Jingtai Emperor in his eyes and did not care about Prince Xiang’s opinion of him.
The problem was that his subordinates could not endure the pressure, not everyone dared to offend a future Emperor.
This led to his control over the Zhao Prison of Xiuyiwei weakening even further.
What surprised Li Xuan slightly was Prince Yi, Yu Jianshen.
This forr crown prince exhibited astonishing tenacity. He did not give up and still tirelessly campaigned for the Golden Knife Case.
Even ministers whom he had wanted to alienate were moved by Prince Yi and once again leaned towards this forr crown prince.
As a result, a consensus gradually ford at the court - no result of the ’Golden Knife Case’ would satisfy the public unless the Marquis of Guanjun, Li Xuan, presided over the case.
As a result, the demand for Li Xuan to handle the ’Golden Knife Case’ grew louder and louder.
Especially in the cabinet, it is said that Gao Gu and Shang Hong, who were under fierce impeachnt, were moved by this.
Li Xuan was quite vexed about this case and did not want to get involved.
If he proved the innocence of the True Emperor Zhengtong and Empress Sun, he would feel uneasy. However, if he affird the guilt of Zhengtong Emperor, it seed like he would be favoring Prince Xiang.
It was during the intensifying struggles in the court, which gradually began to impact the political affairs, when Jiang Hanyun finally returned to the Capital City.
Her spiritual protector, the ’Six-tailed Spirit Fox’ Lei, went around where the Black Deer King had been active and sniffed Li Xuan’s ’Gelong Knife’, then it dashed out.
It first rushed six hundred miles to the east of Beijing, then turned back and led Li Xuan and the others to a place that surprised Li Xuan a bit.
"Huitong Northern Pavilion?"
Li Xuan, looking at the pavilions and courtyards in front of him, was surprised: "Are you sure he’s here?"
The ’Huitong Pavilion’ is a place specially used by the court to accommodate vassals and foreign guests, divided into Huitong Southern Pavilion and Huitong Northern Pavilion.
And the Huitong Northern Pavilion was just next to the ’Ten Princes’ Mansion’ and the ’Zhuwang Pavilion’, where the court accommodated the royal princes and vassal kings.
It was also less than five miles away from the Forbidden City.
Furthermore, the Bashe queen and the previous ’Prince Anburo’ Deji Yangzong, and Jinping Dharma King, all lived in the Huitong Northern Pavilion.
Jiang Hanyun simply stepped in: "Lei said he followed the trail and the aura of the Black Deer King had entered here."
Li Xuan was speechless, thinking this was really like not being able to see for looking, he didn’t expect the Black Deer King would hide in Bashe Queen’s residence in Huitong Pavilion.
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