Qi Yanzhou knew that the emperor had two private treasuries.
One was the public one.
The items inside were good, but they were not rare treasures. They were mainly used as rewards.
The other was the secret one.
All the items inside were once - in - a - century masterpieces, mainly for imperial inheritance.
It was said that the secret private treasury was as solid as a fortress, and only the emperor could enter it.
Qi Yanzhou looked at Shuangxi suspiciously. "Is the information reliable?"
"We'll soon arrive at the emperor's bedroom. Your Highness will know the truth once you see it."
Hearing this, Qi Yanzhou knew that Shuangxi wasn't lying.
He quickened his pace and soon reached the bedroom.
Outside the bedroom, there were not only imperial guards standing guard, but also quite a number of imperial troops. There were at least two hundred of them.
Inside the bedroom, it was even more exaggerated. The imperial guards were shoulder - to - shoulder, and even the Dragon - protecting Guards had appeared.
Qi Yanzhou knew that the emperor was afraid that the "Ghost Thief" would steal his life as well!
Shuangxi stood at the door of the bedroom and shouted loudly, "His Highness, the Prince of Chen, requests an audience!"
The voice of Eunuch De came from inside the bedroom.
"Admit him!"
Qi Yanzhou entered the bedroom and found that there were only the emperor and Eunuch De inside.
It was in sharp contrast to the strict defense outside.
But he knew clearly that it wasn't a situation of tight outside and loose inside.
The imperial shadow guards must be hiding in the dark, protecting the emperor airtight.
The emperor was lying on the dragon bed, looking very pale.
Seeing Qi Yanzhou approaching, he grabbed the jade pillow and threw it at him forcefully.
"Idiot!"
Qi Yanzhou didn't take the hit head - on, nor did he dodge. Instead, he caught the jade pillow.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. This jade pillow was left by the previous emperor. It can't be smashed."
After saying that, he handed the jade pillow to Eunuch De.
The emperor was already angry. Seeing that Qi Yanzhou dared to disobey him, his face turned ashen.
"You've been investigating the 'Ghost Thief' for so many days, but you haven't found a single clue?"
Qi Yanzhou knelt on one knee.
"I'm incompetent. Please find someone else, Your Majesty."
The emperor knew very well that no matter who was in Qi Yanzhou's place, they couldn't find out more.
"Eunuch De, lead the Prince of Chen to my underground private treasury to have a look."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
When Eunuch De led Qi Yanzhou to the treasury, he told him the whole story of how the emperor discovered that the underground private treasury had been stolen.
Not long ago, the emperor summoned the ministers to discuss the matter of disaster relief in the South of the Yangtze River.
The grain was easy to handle. They could just distribute the relief grain from the granary.
The relief silver was not a small amount. Ye Jingchuan proposed that the emperor should pay this sum of money.
One reason was that the national treasury was empty, and the other was to help the emperor win the hearts of the people.
The emperor thought that 200,000 taels of silver wasn't too much, so he agreed.
There were many good things in his private treasury, but there were only a little over 200,000 taels of silver.
If he took out 200,000 taels, there wouldn't be much silver left for rewards in the future.
So the emperor took some jewels from the private treasury and gave them to Ye Jingchuan, asking him to exchange them for silver at the pawnshop.
After Ye Jingchuan left, the emperor went to the underground private treasury to take a look.
As a result, he found that the private treasury, which should have been filled with priceless treasures, had been ransacked.
There was only a note from the "Ghost Thief" saying "I've been here" and a sarcastic smiling face.
After hearing this, Qi Yanzhou asked Eunuch De.
"Is it the same as before? There are no clues, but the things have disappeared without a trace?"
"This time it's different. Your Highness will understand after you've seen it."
As they were talking, the two of them had already entered the side hall.
There were people guarding both inside and outside the side hall, at least a hundred of them.
Eunuch De led Qi Yanzhou to the entrance of the underground private treasury.
The entrance was obvious, a thick iron gate.
Eunuch De explained, "This door can only be opened with a password and a key. One is stored in the emperor's mind, and the other is kept close to his body."
After the underground private treasury was emptied, the emperor gave the password and the key to Eunuch De.
With three sets of passwords and three keys, the mechanism of the iron gate was activated.
As the sound of the chain being pulled rang out, the iron gate opened.
The downward passage was lit by torches, as bright as day.
Eunuch De reminded, "Prince Chen, follow my steps."
The implication was that there were traps on the downward stairs.
The two soon reached the underground private treasury.
It was completely empty.
About two feet away from the stairway, a circular cut was made in an iron plate one foot thick.
Inside the cut, the cut - shaped iron blocks were arranged to form a ☺.
On the wall, written in pungent red dye, were the words: "The Ghost Thief was here!"
Qi Yanzhou said, "The 'Ghost Thief' is provoking the emperor."
Eunuch De nodded. "So the emperor is worried that the 'Ghost Thief' will take action against him. Therefore, he has arranged enough people inside and outside the imperial bedroom to protect him around the clock."
After saying that, he stared intently at Qi Yanzhou.
"Prince Chen has wide knowledge and experience. Have you figured out the 'Ghost Thief's' intention?"
He still believed that there was some kind of connection between Qi Yanzhou and the 'Ghost Thief'!
Even, the 'Ghost Thief' was hired by him!
Qi Yanzhou calmly met Eunuch De's eyes. "No."
Even if he had seen that the 'Ghost Thief' was targeting the emperor, he wouldn't say it.
"The eunuch doesn't mind telling you another thing. On the night when Heavenly Master Zhang had an accident, the 'Ghost Thief' also stole the imperial jade seal."
"Didn't the emperor issue two imperial edicts? How could the imperial jade seal be stolen?"
Qi Yanzhou hadn't gone to the city gate to look at the imperial edicts carefully, so he naturally didn't know that the seal on the edicts was a fake.
The common people had never seen the engraving on the bottom of the imperial jade seal, so they couldn't tell the difference between the real and the fake.
"It's fake. The emperor had a craftsman make a copy."
At first glance, there was no difference in the seal of the imperial jade seal, but it couldn't stand close examination.
Qi Yanzhou frowned slightly. "What does the 'Ghost Thief' want with the imperial jade seal?"
Eunuch De smiled and said, "That's what you, Prince Chen, have to find out. I don't know."
"Also, the emperor said that since no clues about the 'Ghost Thief' can be found, there's no need to waste time. He wants you to set a trap to catch the thief!"
Since the 'Ghost Thief' loves money, then use money as bait!
Qi Yanzhou could tell that Eunuch De was suspicious of him.
No, it should be said that the emperor was suspicious of him!
"I will do my best to relieve the emperor's worries."
Eunuch De nodded in satisfaction. "Prince Chen, take your time to look around. I have to go and attend to the emperor."
After he left, Qi Yanzhou stared at the ☺ on the ground, feeling that it was not just a form of mockery.
The ☺ could have been directly drawn on the wall. Why did the thief specifically cut through such a thick iron plate to arrange it?
Could there be a hidden secret beneath the ☺?
