The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 794 Residential Building Explosion
In the afternoon, Emperor Xiao Xia received an urgent report from Shi Xiaozhen, the commander of the Inner Guard, that a paper fire bomb had exploded in a residential house, killing a family of four on the spot.

This news stunned Xiao Xia. Of course he knew what it meant. How could it be that gunpowder firecrackers made in a private house exploded? Gunpowder has always been a strictly prohibited substance. How could it have ended up in the hands of ordinary people?
Xiao Xia tapped the table and said to Shi Xiaozhen, "This matter must be investigated immediately, and any news must be reported to me immediately!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

Shi Xiaozhen hurriedly bowed and left. Xiao Xia pondered for a moment, wondering if the thing she was most worried about had happened.

Li Yuan possessed the technology of using porcelain bottles to make gunpowder. Before leaving, Li Yuan promised to hand over all remaining gunpowder and gunpowder craftsmen to the Sui Dynasty. But was Li Yuan's secrecy system as strict as his own?
Shi Xiaozhen led the Imperial Guards to the house where the accident occurred. The collapsed part of the house had been cleared away, and the four bodies were wrapped in straw mats and placed in the yard.

The deceased were a middle-aged couple and two boys aged fifteen or sixteen; all four members of the family were killed in the explosion.

After searching for a long time, Shi Xiaozhen finally found a box full of paper firecrackers in the kitchen. Tang Tao, the gunpowder master who accompanied him, stepped forward to identify them and recognized them at a glance.

“General Shi, this is not our gunpowder, and the raw materials are different. Ours is pure saltpeter, while this contains chemical saltpeter, which should have been swept out of the latrine.”

Just then, a soldier's voice came from the backyard, "Commander, please come and take a look!"

When Shi Xiaozhen arrived at the backyard, she saw soldiers carrying out several large boxes of saltpeter from the cellar. The saltpeter had been swept out of latrines in various places.

Shi Xiaozhen went down into the cellar and saw that it was filled with honeycomb briquettes and several iron pots, as well as several ventilation openings. There were also remnants of saltpeter in the iron pots.

It turned out that the cellar was where this family boiled saltpeter. At this moment, Shi Xiaozhen discovered a wooden box hidden behind the honeycomb briquettes. When he opened the wooden box, there were more than twenty scrolls inside. When Shi Xiaozhen opened one of the scrolls, he was stunned. It read "Secret Manual of Gunpowder Making". Looking at the other scrolls, he found that they read "Secret Manual of Paper Fire Bomb Making".

Upon examining all the scrolls, Shi Xiaozhen gasped. The "Secret Manual of Gunpowder Making" had twelve volumes, and the "Secret Manual of Paper Firecracker Making" also had twelve volumes, with identical contents.

This family was not only making gunpowder and paper firecrackers, but also selling their technology, and the case immediately became the number one case in the Sui Dynasty.

Shih Hsiao-chen immediately ordered the arrest of three neighboring households and subjected them to rigorous interrogation.

In the evening, Shi Xiaozhen reported the latest situation to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, the man who invented gunpowder and paper-throwing bombs is named Wang Mengze. He is a local from Luoyang and works as a private tutor."

Based on what I've gathered from the surrounding area, he probably only started collecting nitrates in latrines around August of last year, which is when he acquired the technology. The explosion was likely caused by his inadequate skill with the matchlock.

We found a box of finished paper firecrackers he had hidden. The fuses were completely faulty; they exploded as soon as they were lit, indicating that his paper firecrackers hadn't been sold yet, and there were no injuries from setting them off during the New Year period.

"What do you mean by him selling technology?" Xiao Xia asked.

"Your Majesty, we questioned the neighbors. They said that this family rarely leaves their home, and their door is always tightly shut. Occasionally, his wife goes out to buy some food. But the man borrows money from the neighbors, which means that his family is in dire straits. That's why he is considering selling his skills. He made eleven sets of secret manuals and tried to sell them to the neighbors, but he asked for too high a price and didn't sell a single one."

Xiao Xia looked at the list and asked, "Your list said that twelve sets of secret manuals were found, how come it has become eleven sets?"

"Your Majesty, there is a different set, which is quite old and the handwriting is also different. It should be the original he bought back, and then he copied eleven sets of the original and sold the copies."

Xiao Xia nodded. "In other words, he didn't have time to spread it before the explosion. The key question now is who taught him. Is there any clue about the original blueprints?" "Your Majesty, we haven't found any clues about the original blueprints. However, his neighbor provided a clue. In early September last year, a middle-aged man came to their house and stayed for a month. The women in the neighborhood all thought he was a lover that Wang Mengze's wife had found, so they subtly questioned her. Later, they found that her husband and children were at home, so they stopped making fun of his wife."

What clues did you get?

All we know is that the man's surname is Wei, he came from Chang'an, and he is a relative of the woman, who also has the surname Wei.

This clue should be very useful. Ordinary people wouldn't believe in something as unfamiliar as gunpowder; they would only be fooled if the other party was a relative.

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "Li Yuan arrived in Chang'an at the end of July, and more than 10,000 craftsmen arrived at the same time. This man is very likely one of them. You split into two groups to investigate. One group checks the list of registered craftsmen, and the other group checks the woman's relatives. I'm worried that the man surnamed Wei might have received news of the explosion and fled. You investigate overnight. The women in the neighborhood like to gossip about this and that, and they may know some clues. Keep digging!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

Shi Xiaozhen rushed back to the Inner Guard and sent people to continue interrogating his neighbors. He himself went to the Crafts Bureau and the Military Equipment Bureau and obtained the list of craftsmen in Chang'an.

Inside the room, Shi Xiaozhen personally checked the list and found it quite overwhelming. Among the more than 10,000 craftsmen, nearly 200 were surnamed Wei, and more than 50 of them were over 40 years old and had no connection with firearms or gunpowder.

At this moment, the subordinate in charge of the interrogation returned and reported, "Reporting to the general, we have found a clue. The woman who was killed in the explosion had a cousin who sold honeycomb briquettes in Yanqingfang. He was responsible for delivering the honeycomb briquettes to several of their households."

Shi Xiaozhen's eyes lit up, and he immediately remembered the honeycomb briquettes in the cellar. He made a snap decision: "Find the person who sold the honeycomb briquettes!"

Yanqingfang and Renfengfang are very close. Shi Xiaozhen personally led three hundred people to Yanqingfang. Only two households in a ward are qualified to sell honeycomb briquettes, so it was easy to find them.

Shi Xiaozhen knocked on the gate of a courtyard. The owner was a dark-skinned, stout man in his fifties. He was startled to see that there were soldiers all outside. "You...who are you looking for?"

Shi Xiaozhen looked him over and asked, "You're Wei Huan?"

The man stammered, "Yes, it is!"

Shi Xiaozhen waved his hand and led a large group of soldiers into the courtyard, which was very large and piled with honeycomb briquettes.

Shi Xiaozhen turned to the bewildered Wei Huan and asked, "Don't you have a cousin who lives in Renfengfang?"

"That's right, her name is Wei Jiuniang, and she is my second uncle's daughter."

"She had an accident today, did you know?"

Wei Huan was startled. "What happened to her?"

Shi Xiaozhen stared into his eyes and slowly said, "His whole family was killed by gunpowder."

Wei Huan's face turned deathly pale, and he froze.

(End of this chapter)