Forced to be a third person: I turned around and left the palace to marry a villain

"What are you trying to gain time for?" Xiao Zhan asked. It was obvious that there were some unknown secrets in Yecheng.

"Don't you know? Since Lord Ba sent you here, he should have told you." The man began to doubt and his eyes became alert.

"Lord Ba only asked us to look after this place. The specific actions will depend on the situation. After all, Yecheng has many supporters, and everyone knows their responsibilities." Xiao Zhan's words eliminated the man's doubts.

A person like Bahai, who has a powerful backing, naturally has many helpers. Mutual protection in the officialdom is everywhere, and Yecheng is a place of concern to the Three Kingdoms, so Bahai must have made some arrangements.

"You're right." The man nodded in agreement, lamenting that the officialdom is like a battlefield and the upper echelons are unfathomable.

"Lord Ba gave instructions a few days ago, saying that the princess is coming back for inspection, and asked officials to suspend other matters and focus on handling matters related to the mines, as well as speed up the collection of land and grain taxes."

Hearing this, Jiang Xue's face darkened.

Regarding the mineral vein, she had never seen it mentioned when she reviewed memorials for the emperor.

As for taxes, the state only collects them once a year, and we have already paid them at the beginning of this year. Why do we have to collect them again now?

"Sir, the entire Ye City has been controlled by the Ba family. The iron ore resources here are rich, and they mined it privately, made weapons, and sold them to other countries for profit.

In addition, the people of Yecheng not only had to pay taxes to the imperial court, but also had to pay additional taxes to local officials every six months.

Since the new emperor ascended the throne, they have intensified the taxation and changed it to a tax every three months.

This caused the people to live in hardship and complain. When they learned that Princess Changle was coming, some people even wanted to kill her, intending to use her death to vent their dissatisfaction.

The spies from Linglong Pavilion had found out the situation in Yecheng in just two hours. Jiang Xue sat on a chair, listening to the secret report while holding her chin in thought.

After listening to the report, she gently waved her hand, signaling the spy to leave. "It turns out that Bahai has been very busy in the past two years."

Recalling that Bahai had strongly suggested that Yecheng and ten other cities should be independent, Jiang Xue now finally understood his real purpose... He wanted to monopolize all the weapons of Qian Kingdom.

The importance of iron ore to a country is self-evident, just look at the promise.

Because of its rich mineral resources, Daying Kingdom not only has top-notch weapons and equipment, but its military strength is also not to be underestimated.

For more than 20 years, no country has dared to provoke the United States easily, for fear of its powerful military force.

Bahai concealed the iron ore without reporting it and secretly manufactured weapons and traded them with foreign countries. This is a fundamental crime that undermines national security.

The reason why he proposed the independence of Yecheng was probably that he had reached some kind of agreement with the three countries.

"Where is the specific location of the Three Kingdoms in Yecheng?" Jiang Xue asked.

"All locations are marked on the map." The spy unfolded the map and placed it in front of Jiang Xue.

She pointed to a point on the map and said, “Let’s start from here.”

That night, huge fires broke out simultaneously at three locations in Yecheng. The flames were so fierce that these strongholds were reduced to ashes in an instant.

"Lord Tu, the most important stronghold of our Yecheng has been burned down." Ding Tu's men were covered in smoke and dust, obviously having just escaped from the fire.

"Where's the stuff?"

The loss of the stronghold is not the most important thing. The key is whether those weapons are safe?

"Reply...Reply to the Lord, the thing...is missing."

Before he could finish his words, the man was kicked away by Ding Tu, his ribs were broken, and he lay on the ground in pain, coughing up blood.

"You are really useless. Why should I keep you here? You can't even keep such a small thing." Ding Tu roared. The batch of weapons was requested by Queen Lian herself.

Now that the weapons were missing, how could he report this to his superiors? Jiang Xue, this woman was simply his calamity.

Ding Tu clenched his fists and forced himself to calm down.

After a moment, he turned to the person on the ground and asked, "Have you found where Jiang Xue is hiding?"

"My lord... in a house in the city... cough cough..." Blood splattered on Ding Tu's boots as he coughed. He frowned in disgust and signaled the guards to drag the man away.

"Sir, shall we take action now?" the guard who had just come in asked respectfully.

"No." Ding Tu shook his head. "We can't just rely on force to deal with her. Tell Bahai's people where she is hiding, and they will know what to do."

Humph, Jiang Xue, let’s see how you deal with the angry people this time.

On the other side, Xiao Zhan saw three large boxes in the hall as soon as he entered the door, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise: "It seems that the harvest is not small."

"I didn't expect that the Bahai people have such skills in weapon forging, which are comparable to ours." As he said this, Xiao Zhan picked up a knife to try it out. It was well-made and the polishing technology was also very advanced.

"I have found out the craftsmen behind these weapons." Jiang Xue handed him a list. "Most of them are from the camp. There are too many blacksmiths there, and the competition is fierce. In order to make a living, they have to go out and look for opportunities."

"Since they have left the camp, it means their skills are not top-notch." Xiao Zhan said after taking a look at the list.

"But it's good enough for our Qian Kingdom." Qian Kingdom excels in systems and sacrifices, not weapons manufacturing.

"These people must be closely protected by Bahai." After all, they are valuable resources.

"What are you going to do?" Xiao Zhan asked.

Jiang Xue showed a sly smile: "What do you think the effects of the fires I set today will be?"

Xiao Zhan immediately understood her intention and shook his head with a smile: "Bahai is extremely unlucky to have met you."

"If they had behaved themselves, they wouldn't have forced me to take action," Jiang Xue said calmly.

The original plan for this trip was to find the medicine Yunyan needed and to observe the movements of the Bahai clan. But unexpectedly, the development of the matter completely reversed the priorities.

"If everything goes well tomorrow, many people will gather here, and Bahai's people will take the opportunity to sneak in. This will definitely distract the guards. We must be ready by then and seize the opportunity to rescue those blacksmiths."

She decided to win by wits. Since the other party wanted to catch her in a trap, she would lure the tiger away from the mountain. She would not let them underestimate her.

"Make preparations according to the princess's instructions." Xiao Zhan quickly gave instructions to the spy.

"Princess..." Jiang Xue came forward and looked at him with a teasing look after the spy left. "I remember that the position of Princess Gong is still vacant."

Hearing him address her like that, Jiang Xue chuckled, "Although my brother is no longer so opposed to our relationship now, if I really want to be the Princess of Gong again, I'm afraid I'll have to put in some thought."

"This is just a small matter. It's not insurmountable, unless you don't want to." Xiao Zhan gently held her in his arms and whispered in her ear, "Even if you don't want to, I won't let you leave easily again."