The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 204: A Time of Turbulence

At six o'clock in the morning, Jia Rong was called to work again.

When Jia Rong came to the Minister of War's house and took a look, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.

"The explosion was so powerful that the house must have been closed at the time!"

Jia Rong walked directly outside the main room of the Minister of War, looked at the broken wall and said, "The smell of gunpowder is so strong, it should be within an hour!"

The Minister of War quickly said, "Your Majesty, you are as good as a god! This is indeed a disaster that just happened!"

Jia Rong looked at the familiar old man with a puzzled look.

"Why didn't the assassin kill you when he came here? What was he doing here?"

The Minister of War was almost crying, "I didn't know... I was sleeping soundly in my house today, and suddenly I heard a loud noise. When I came out, I saw that the house had been blown up."

Jia Rong frowned, "Why didn't you sleep in the room so late at night? Where did you go? Tell the truth!"

The Minister of War hastily explained, "Your Majesty, please understand! I was sleeping in my concubine's room. Fortunately, I didn't sleep in the room today, otherwise I would have been dead!"

Jia Rong was furious, "How dare you hide this! Someone, come! Capture this man! I want to question him!"

Those who came over at this time were all soldiers from the garrison who were participating in the investigation. Although there were also many agencies under the Ministry of War, the Minister of War was quickly held down by a group of men.

The Minister of War has no military power in the capital.

Not to mention the people from the Beijing Barracks, the Guards, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, the Bingmasi and other places, even the gatekeepers of the Ministry of War would not listen to him and go out with swords.

Jia Rong, on the other hand, had the power to go to the barracks and call out hundreds of people to go shopping.

The Minister of War didn't dare to resist, let alone stand up.

"Your Majesty, please understand! I am truly innocent! That assassin must have deliberately framed me! Your Majesty was also framed by that assassin, so you must know that I am innocent!!"

Jia Rong said angrily: "Shut up! I'm analyzing things, don't mess up my thoughts!!"

The Minister of War quickly stopped talking.

The Vice Minister of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Military Department, as well as several commanders with troops who came nearby, also listened quietly.

Jia Rong quickly looked at the wooden house that had been burned to ruins.

"I told you to move to a concrete house a long time ago, but you didn't listen!"

Jia Rong said coldly: "Why do you think the emperor ordered the construction of concrete high-rise buildings in the capital before his death? You really don't understand the emperor's good intentions at all!"

"I knew it at the first sight!" Jia Rong pointed at the ruins of a building that was no more than one meter high. "The assassin appeared on the roof, removed the tiles and poked a hole, then threw the explosives directly from the roof and ran away."

"If the house is made of cement, it will be as solid as stone. How could this happen?"

The officials nearby quickly said, "Your Majesty is very perceptive. I admire you!"

Jia Rong said coldly: "This is nothing. The most important thing is to find out why the assassin would bother a minor official like you?! It must be you who caused the trouble!"

The third-rank official, the Minister of War, was in tears.

The others had nothing to say. They wanted to say a few words for the Minister of War, but considering that the assassin had targeted the emperor, princes, and dukes, the Minister of Revenue was indeed a minor official.

"Your Majesty! I am innocent! I am innocent!!!"

The Minister of War kowtowed so much that his forehead was bleeding.

Jia Rong looked down on people who could only kowtow, and he gave an order directly: "Guard this place and the other exits tightly! Anyone who dares to let anyone out will be imprisoned with them!"

"Minister Xiao, don't kneel anymore. I'll give you a chance. Come with me to the palace to see the emperor now. If you are innocent, no one will wrongly accuse you!"

The Minister of War kowtowed again hurriedly, "Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Everyone quickly went to the palace. The Minister of War, who was wearing home clothes, was touched and searched for several rings and iron pieces. He was so scared that he almost peed his pants.

Jia Rong quickly entered the hall with a knife.

"Your Majesty! I have already investigated the crime scene."

The emperor nodded and said, "I already know what happened over there. Today, a strange object was also found in the courtyard of the Ministry of Works. Brother, please take a look at what it is."

Soon the eunuch dragged out a tin bag the size of a watermelon on a plate.

Jia Rong took it and looked at it. Under the gaze of all the civil and military officials, he weighed it and then put it to his nose and smelled it.

Soon Jia Rong took a deep breath and walked out without saying a word.

Everyone looked at Jia Rong as he was about to leave, feeling very confused.

The emperor asked, "Where are you going, brother?"

Jia Rong said without turning his head: "Don't move, I'll be back soon."

The emperor was very confused, and neither were the civil and military officials in the palace or the royal family generals.

The commander-in-chief of the five armies came over and asked, "Lord Zhongxiao, what do you mean?"

Jia Rong said, "It's okay. I feel much better now that I see the governor."

The Five Army Commanders were even more confused, "What?"

Jia Rong had already reached the entrance of the main hall and quickly handed the iron bag in his hand to the commander of the five armies, "Please hold this for me, sir. Just walk fifty meters forward."

Although the commander-in-chief of the five armies did not understand, he still took the thing after seeing Jia Rong hand it to him.

"This thing is not light. Does King Zhongxiao know what is inside?"

Jia Rong said, "Let's talk while we walk."

The commander of the five armies walked out quickly. He had just walked five meters when Jia Rong quickly ran into the palace and said, "Your Majesty! That was a bomb! It was that thing that blew up the Zhongxiao King's family and the palace!!"

The emperor was so frightened that his legs went weak and he couldn't even sit still.

The officials in the hall also fled in panic, looking for pillars or something to use as cover.

"Protect the Emperor!" the eunuch shouted, "Protect the Emperor!"

Jia Rong shouted, "Your Majesty, please leave! I will be your rear guard! Your Excellency, hold on tight! That thing will explode even without being lit! Don't drop it on the ground!!"

The commander of the five armies was so frightened that his soul left his body. He cursed loudly: "Jia Rong! You are harming me! You evil villain! I will never let you go even if I die!"

"Protecting the emperor is important!" Jia Rong shouted loudly, drowning out the insults from the commander-in-chief of the five armies.

Jia Rong quickly covered the emperor as he left the Golden Throne Hall from the back door, then went around to the front of the Golden Throne Hall and looked at the Five Army Commanders standing there from a distance of one hundred meters.

"Your Majesty, I did not intentionally frame the governor. It was just that he insisted on coming over to me at that time. I had already told him not to move and was ready to die bravely."

The emperor's forehead was covered with sweat. "Brother, don't say more. I don't blame you. If I knew it was a dangerous thing, I would never let anyone bring it to the palace! It's my fault... it's the fault of those idiots in the Ministry of Works! They all deserve to die!"

The emperor wishes he could kill all those bastards in the Ministry of Works!
Fortunately, Jia Zheng is not here, otherwise he would definitely kneel down and kowtow.

At this time, all the palace guards outside the Golden Palace had already evacuated, leaving only the commander-in-chief of the five armies there, sweating profusely.

"King Zhongxiao! Save me!" The commander-in-chief of the five armies, who had just been cursing, could only hope that Jia Rong would save him.

Jia Rong walked over, and the emperor saw him and said quickly: "Brother! Don't take risks!"

Jia Rong said directly: "If I kill the governor, I will never have peace of conscience in this life. Your Majesty, don't worry, this explosive is not very powerful outside. As long as it is not in a closed room or hall, it will not be so terrible."

The emperor quickly shouted to the others: "Protect my brother! Protect the King Zhongxiao!"

The guards nearby quickly approached Jia Rong, but Jia Rong said, "Stand still!"

The guards quickly fell silent.

Jia Rong said to the commander of the five armies, "Now listen to me! Throw that thing under the steps next to you, and when you throw it out, run back to the hall!"

The commander of the five armies shouted, "Send someone to throw it! I have no strength left!"

Jia Rong shouted, "If he can't catch it, you two will die together. Stop talking nonsense and throw the thing away quickly. When you throw it out, run into the hall!"

The commander-in-chief of the Five Armies gritted his teeth and quickly threw the bomb out with both hands.

Unfortunately, his hand slipped...

When the watermelon-sized explosive slipped from his hand, everyone looked at him nervously.

The commander-in-chief of the Five Armies ran into the hall as fast as he could, grabbing around with his hands like a swimming turtle.

The iron ball fell to the ground like a bastard.

"bump!"

"boom!"

Jia Rong didn't lie...

Fortunately, the explosives exploded upwards, but the flying iron pieces quickly hit the surrounding palace guards and the five army commanders, as well as the eunuchs and ministers a hundred meters away.

Jia Rong ran fast and hid behind the stone railings of the steps.

After more than ten seconds, everyone stood up to clean up the mess.

A dark ground about one or two meters wide appeared in the original place, and a lot of iron slag was scattered on the ground nearby.

The emperor stood up with difficulty, feeling a chill as if he had survived a calamity.

Jia Rong took a quick look at the situation and quickly came back to say, "Your Majesty, the governor was only injured by the explosion, not dead. I will go and save him right away, but I have a favor to ask of you."

The emperor said directly: "Brother, if you have anything to say, just tell me. If it weren't for you, I would have been killed by those rubbish!"

Jia Rong said, "This time it's not the Ministry of Works' fault. The assassin was very skilled, and the Ministry of Works was staffed by officials, not craftsmen familiar with gunpowder. Even I didn't recognize it right away. It was the first time I saw it, and only after I felt something was wrong did I figure out the truth from the incident with the Minister of War."

The emperor knew that Jia Rong was pleading for the people in the Ministry of Works.

"Well, I'll let this go."

Jia Rong said, "Thank you, Your Majesty. Why not let the Ministry of Revenue go to the battlefield to test the truth of firearms? Otherwise, it would be difficult to surpass the assassin's skills by just working behind closed doors. Besides, the Ministry of Works can also be useful in war."

"Okay!" The emperor didn't want to let that bunch of rubbish go. They actually dared to bring such a dangerous thing to the throne!

The emperor wished that the bastard who sent the bomb should be tortured to death.

Jia Rong quickly brought the imperial physician to rescue the commander-in-chief of the Five Armies, and then he avenged his personal grudge by sending the imperial physician who had been asked to take charge when he encountered difficulties to the battlefield to serve as a military doctor.

The commander-in-chief of the five armies could not attend the court, and soon Jia Rong was the only one left in the royal family team.

Jia Rong also didn't want to get up early to attend court, so he didn't give separate positions to the royal family members, but directly divided them according to civil and military officials.

On the left stood civil officials and princes, and on the right stood military officers and super-ranking officials below the prince.

Jia Rong didn't remember one thing until he left the court.

"I think I told the emperor last time that we can have a peaceful new year."

Jia Rong, who was riding a horse home from get off work, slapped his thigh.

"Oops...how could I have forgotten this?"

(End of this chapter)