Compared to the young girl sitting in the previous row, who had a confident look, the people kneeling below were filled with dread! This was impossible! How could she know about the gold mine?
That’s right! She wasn’t human at all, but a demoness!
Ignoring the shifting expressions of the group, Su Muqing smiled at them and said in a gentle tone, "It seems everyone knows about the gold mine, so let's discuss the specifics! Who wants to go first? A friendly reminder, the first person to voluntarily come forward and tell everything will suffer much less later on!"
"You wish! You demoness, you used sorcery to bewitch the Empress. Our Prince, loyal and patriotic, only wanted to eliminate evils for the Tianzhao Kingdom, but he tragically died by your hand. The current Emperor is unjust, believing the words of a demoness. One day, the Tianzhao Kingdom will be destroyed by your hand!"
A man raised his head and spewed a torrent of words at Su Muqing. His straight back and raised head seemed to convey to everyone his resolve to accept death without surrender.
Seeing his impassioned display, Su Muqing found it almost magical. These people were truly masters of acting, and their ability to feign madness was impressive.
Concealing the private mining of gold, repeatedly dispatching assassins to target royal descendants, illegally crafting imperial thrones and robes, their treasonous intentions were obvious. To achieve their goals, they were unscrupulous! Could such a person be described as loyal and patriotic?
Su Muqing rose from her seat and slowly walked down. "You people are truly foolish. No wonder you associate with someone like Ke Biping. As an elder, he repeatedly sent people to assassinate his nephews and nieces, which is inhumane. To eliminate his rivals, he murdered his brother and framed others, which is unrighteous. As a subject, he manipulated others to attempt assassination of the Emperor, which is disloyal. As a son, disregarding the Empress Dowager's advanced age, he repeatedly caused trouble with the intention of subverting the government, leading to court turmoil, which is unfilial! Such a person, inhumane, unrighteous, disloyal, and unfilial, and you still put on this display to plead for him, it's truly disgusting."
"You… what nonsense are you spewing, you demoness!"
"You are not allowed to speak of our Prince like that!"
Su Muqing saw that each of them was puffing up with anger, their faces showing a stubborn expression. "It seems you all have strong spines and no one is willing to speak? That's fine! There's still plenty of time, so let's take them one by one!"
"Demoness! Use whatever means you have! My head is big enough to be scarred, and if I, Xu Hongzhi, betray the Prince, may my entire family suffer terrible consequences!"
"Yes! Use whatever wicked tricks you have! No need for so many honeyed words here. If I say one more word, I am not worthy of being the Prince's man!"
"Hmph! Ke Biyou sent a mere girl like you to interrogate us, what is his intention? Does he think everyone in the world doesn't know? I, Old Chen, am alone with no attachments, and I am not afraid of your threats. If you want me to betray the Prince, your plan is likely to fail!"
"Heh! Your mouths are quite tough. Don't speak too boldly. You're all nearly fifty, what if you get slapped in the face later and have to eat your words? And you, as the most loyal subordinates of rebels, must know you won't live long. But not all of you are alone. Think about your families for a change."
After speaking, Su Muqing no longer wasted her breath. She took a small porcelain bottle and a dropper from her sleeve and handed them to Lu Yuzhi. The small bottle contained a truth serum, which she had accidentally discovered in a cultivation trading pavilion.
This serum was refined by a beginner alchemist, belonging to the lowest grade, so it was quite cheap, costing only one low-grade spirit stone for a small bottle.
Su Muqing found it a great bargain and cleared out all 99 of his items, purchasing them after experimenting on others and discovering the serum’s remarkable effectiveness! It was truly an accidental treasure find, and it came in handy right now!
Lu Yuzhi took the small bottle and dropper. He drew a tube of serum and walked up to Chen Zhiyong, the man who had just sworn he would never betray Ke Biping. He cupped the man's cheek and quickly squeezed the serum down his throat. The serum went directly down his esophagus.
Chen Zhiyong, Ke Biping's right-hand man, initially tried to resist. However, Lu Yuzhi's grip was astonishingly strong. He struggled for only a moment before his mouth was easily pried open. After being administered the serum, he felt as if the bones in his face were about to be crushed.
Seeing Su Muqing begin to feed Chen Zhiyong, the others thought she intended to control them through poison. That demoness was truly despicable! Did she think this would force them to submit? It was wishful thinking…
Before their thoughts could even finish, they saw Su Muqing walk up to Chen Zhiyong, even turn and smile at them, before turning back to ask again.
"Tell me where the gold mine is?"
"At Xiping Island, Port Head Village."
"Chen Zhiyong, shut up!"
"Chen Zhiyong, why are your words like farts? The Prince treated you so well, how could you betray him!"
"You're not a man!"
The others never expected Chen Zhiyong to blurt out the location of the gold mine without batting an eye. He had just sworn he would never betray the Prince. What did the demoness feed him? At this moment, they would have preferred it to be poison that would burn their insides!
Chen Zhiyong was probably the most bewildered person at this moment. He also didn't know why his mouth wouldn't obey his commands.
He stared with wide eyes, looking at the young girl in front of him with a hint of fear, then looked at the others who were constantly cursing him as a traitor with a wronged expression. Chen Zhiyong opened his mouth to explain something, but his throat felt blocked, and he couldn't say anything.
Hearing the incessant chatter from the side, Su Muqing frowned. You wouldn’t speak when I asked, and now you won't stop when I don’t want you to, it’s so annoying!
Already impatient, she raised her hand and conjured a wall of wind blades, which then swept over the few men. The men immediately fell silent. In a short while, as if they had rolled through a mountain of knives, their bodies were covered in tiny wounds from which blood was seeping.
While such a wind blade wall was not directly fatal, the sheer number of crisscrossing wounds was enough to cause agonizing pain, almost killing them!
Seeing the men writhing on the ground, Su Muqing felt they still had some self-control. Even though the pain caused cold sweat to break out on their foreheads, they only grabbed the ground with their hands and did not cry out loudly in embarrassment.
With their reason consumed by pain, the men finally stopped their incessant babbling. Su Muqing continued to question Chen Zhiyong, "How long has the gold mine been discovered? How far is it from Rongcheng? How did Ke Biping transport the gold back each time?"
Chen Zhiyong was on the verge of tears. He desperately wanted to cover his mouth, but his hands were tied behind his back and his legs were bound together, making it impossible to cover his mouth.
He thought he wouldn't be able to speak again this time, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, his mouth involuntarily began to pour out the information he knew like beans from a dispenser.
"The gold mine was discovered over 6 years ago. It takes three days and two nights to travel there. Initially, it was transported back once every six months, but as refining became more proficient, the Prince changed the schedule to once every three months using large ships."
As his words fell, Chen Zhiyong's face was streaked with tears. He felt utterly devastated and guilty, and his emotions were very agitated, feeling that he had betrayed his master!
Seeing the hateful gazes from the others, Chen Zhiyong really wanted to explain, but he found that after finishing his words, his throat felt blocked again, and he couldn't utter any sound.
Su Muqing looked at the man crying miserably, pouting with a hint of distaste, and then continued to ask, "The gold mine has been mined for so many years, has no one noticed anything amiss? And what about the people on the island, don't they know?"
Chen Zhiyong, while crying, continued to answer against his will, "Xiping Island was an unremarkable isolated island. After the Prince discovered the gold mine, he sent people to secretly take control of it. The people on the island were all under our control. Apart from our own people, no one could easily leave Xiping Island."
Su Muqing found some loopholes in his words. "If Xiping Island is so unremarkable, how did Ke Biping discover it back then?"
"It was the fishermen on the island who first discovered the gold ore. Their tribal chief took the gold ore to Rongcheng, intending to report it to the officials. By chance, the Prince found out, and then he sent people to control the tribal chief and bring him back to Xiping Island. After confirming it was a gold mine, the Prince ordered all those who knew about it to be silenced, and then sent people to suppress the villagers and have them mine the gold." After saying this, Chen Zhiyong's eyes had lost their luster. He had said everything that needed to be said, and there was no point in resisting further.
Su Muqing simply couldn't understand the thought process of these people. They actually admired such a notorious individual so much! "Hmph! Such a person, and you still say he is loyal and patriotic? It's simply ignorant!"
"After mining for so many years, the gold mine must be depleted by now, right?"
This time, Chen Zhiyong no longer struggled. He even shook his head in cooperation as he spoke, "No! This gold mine is very large. In over six years, only about a third has been mined. The Prince once said this was destiny, that heaven was giving him an opportunity, and this wealth was for him to contend for the supreme position."
As Chen Zhiyong's words fell, the others closed their eyes in despair. Upon hearing this answer, Su Muqing expressed her satisfaction.
Originally, she had considered leaving half the gold for her father if she found the mine depleted. But now, hearing that two-thirds of the gold mine remained unmined, she felt much less guilty about taking the gold into her spatial dimension.
Having obtained the answers she wanted, Su Muqing prepared to return to the palace to report. She asked Chen Zhiyong to describe the general topography of Xiping Island and the locations of their troop deployments, and Lu Yuzhi was responsible for drawing the topographic map.
Before leaving, Su Muqing had Lu Yuzhi administer the truth serum to the other eight individuals, then she summoned the prison warden and informed him that the prisoners could now be processed.
By the time they returned to the palace, it was just past nine in the morning. They presented the topographic map and the information about the gold mine to the Emperor. The Emperor immediately issued an decree, ordering Ke Bote to depart for Xiping Island with the topographic map.
Ke Bote briefly bid farewell to Lu Yuzhi and the others, assuring them that he would keep the promotion of waterwheels and the planting of new crops in mind and supervise their diligent execution.
After a simple farewell, Ke Bote returned to his residence to pack his belongings, then went to the main camp to muster troops and set off for Xiping Island. Su Muqing returned to the Huaxia Courtyard and placed all the prepared items in a row of separate rooms.
While she was busy with the tasks that needed to be done before her departure, the Ping Prince's mansion was unusually lively.
Early in the morning, officials responsible for processing the case of Ke Biping arrived at the Ping Prince's mansion. They waited until eight o'clock, but the Princess Consort showed no intention of appearing.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, and considering the Princess Consort was a new widow, several officials went to the main courtyard together. Unexpectedly, as they passed Xiangya Garden, they heard shrill screams from within.
Oh no! Had something happened to the female members of the Prince's mansion? The group hurried towards Xiangya Garden. Upon entering, they saw the young servants and maids gathered in small groups in the courtyard, pointing and whispering at a beautifully carved small building.
"Help! There's a ghost, a ghost…!"
"Ah! Who is it? Who did this? Insolent… You offend this County Princess so, it's utterly insolent!"
Following a piercing scream, everyone saw County Princess Yunxiang, dressed in a thin undergarment, rush out of the small building with a furious expression.
What was most striking was not that she wasn't wearing an outer garment, but the suspicious mark between her legs. Everyone looked at each other, thinking to themselves, had County Princess Yunxiang wet her bed?
A second-rank elder turned his face away in displeasure. He was a stickler for etiquette and found such a situation scandalous.
"Ke Bixiang, before the matters of the Ping Prince's mansion are settled, you are a Princess of the Tianzhao Kingdom. Under broad daylight, with disheveled hair and scantily clad, what kind of behavior is this?"
"My lord, save me! There are ghosts in the courtyard, things are missing, everything is gone… We slept on the ground…" A maidservant prostrated herself at the feet of several officials, crying for help in a state of shock.
"Explain it carefully, what exactly happened?"
The little maidservant began to recall in fear. Somehow, she had slept very soundly from midnight onwards, and even needed to relieve herself, but she couldn't wake up. In the end, she could only do so in her sleep.
It wasn't until dawn broke that she groggily woke up. But when she saw the situation before her, she wished she could faint immediately. They were lying on the bare ground, and the beds, screens, tables, and chairs around them had all vanished!
What was going on? Had the Prince's mansion been raided overnight? Why hadn't anyone woken her? But after she fully regained her senses, she realized something was wrong. It wasn't that the Prince's mansion had been raided; rather, the items in the room had been moved by someone, and that person had also thrown them onto the ground.
The little maidservant struggled to her feet, woke up Ke Bixiang, who was also sleeping on the ground, and then the scene of the screaming County Princess Yunxiang running out of the small building occurred.