ATPnovel Chapter 2108 Arrows in the Army
Chapter 2108 Arrows in the Army
Continuing from the last chapter, Li Shen was very surprised to hear Xue Rengui say that the rebels' arrow feathers came from the Tang army. He took the arrow and examined it carefully.
But after looking at it for a long time, Li Shen still couldn't figure out what it was.
"Rengui, are you sure this is an arrow from the army? But why can't I tell it? Look at the rough workmanship and ordinary material.
Look, there are burrs on the wings after polishing.
How could this possibly be something from our Tang Dynasty army? "
Li Shen showed the arrow to Xue Rengui with disdain. In his opinion, the workmanship and materials of this arrow were all inferior, and could not match the materials used in the work of Prince Ji's Mansion.
"Your Majesty, this... this arrow is indeed as Your Majesty said, the workmanship and material are a little inferior. But it is indeed a military item.
I have seen such arrows in the Imperial Guards before, so I will not be mistaken." Xue Rengui replied helplessly.
"This is not just a little bit short, it's a few hundred million short, okay?" Li Shen curled his lips in disdain.
Wang Xuance, who was standing by, knew that Xue Rengui was not good at speaking, so he stood up and reported to Li Shen directly:
"Your Highness Prince Ji, what Sima Xue meant is that these are the arrows in the army.
The reason why the prince thinks it is not good is because the prince is comparing it with the equipment of the guards in the palace. The equipment of the guards in my Ji Palace is specially made for the Ji Palace.
The workmanship and materials are first-rate, and the materials used are rare in the world, and others cannot imitate them even if they want to. "
After hearing this, Li Shen's face became solemn, his brows furrowed, and he shook his head with an unpleasant expression:
"No, you are wrong. There are still people who can imitate it, and they can imitate it in large quantities."
Hmm? Wang Xuance was stunned, somewhat puzzled. Which family in the Tang Dynasty had smelting technology comparable to that of the Ji Palace?
"Which family is your Highness talking about that has such strength?"
"The royal family, the Northern Yamen Imperial Guards inside the Xuanwu Gate." Li Shen replied with a gloomy face.
"..." Wang Xuance was speechless as a crow flew over his head. He thought it was some powerful enemy, but it turned out to be His Majesty.
Still royalty, you talk like you're not royalty.
Wang Xuance chose to remain silent, as he really could not keep up with Prince Ji's unconventional thoughts.
"Your Highness, judging from the material of this arrow, it belongs to the palace soldiers, and they should be palace soldiers from the important border town. If it is an ordinary palace soldier inside the border, I am afraid they don't have such material.
Your Majesty, look here." Xue Rengui pointed to the tip of the arrow shaft and showed it to Li Shen.
Li Shen stretched his neck to look over, and saw that it seemed to have been rubbed by something.
“Your Majesty, if I’m not mistaken, there were words written here originally, usually the names of arrow-casting workshops, or the names of craftsmen and officials.
It’s just that someone used something to grind it off because they were afraid of being exposed.”
"It really looks like that." Li Shen took it again and held it in front of his eyes to examine it carefully, but because it was rubbed too clean, the words on it could not be seen.
Putting down the arrow, Li Shen looked up and asked:
“That is to say, there was a rebellion in the army, and these arrows were secretly given to the rebels.
So where do you think these arrows came from?"
Wang Xuance thought for a moment and replied:
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, this arrow must have come from the army outside the Great Wall, and the most likely source is the Anxi Protectorate."
"Oh? How do you know? Why aren't they soldiers from other places?
I have heard that Guo Xiaoke has been suppressing rebellions and killing countless people in recent years. How could he give arrows to the rebels?
Could it be that he is nurturing the enemy to protect himself?"
After hearing this, he questioned without hesitation. According to his father, Guo Xiaoke performed very well in Anxi Protectorate except for his greed for money.
He is loyal to his father and has no second thoughts. He is ruthless towards rebels. It can be said that he has a blood feud with the rebels, so how could he give them weapons?
“Your Highness, if we give weapons and equipment to the rebels, it must be kept secret from outsiders. But if we transport them from inside the country, they will be inspected when they pass through the customs.
But even if they had approval documents for reporting, they dared not give them directly to the rebels, otherwise they would be easily discovered.
They only got it out after the local areas received it, and then used some means to do so, so that the imperial court would not know about it.
The local authorities never take detailed inventory of arrows, which gives some people with ulterior motives an opportunity."
Wang Xuance's explanation made Li Shen suddenly realize.
This is indeed the case. Secretly transporting weapons out of the pass will definitely be discovered, unless the entire pass is filled with our own people, but this is simply impossible.
If it is discovered, it will be a capital crime and the risk is too great.
The only way is to find a solution from outside the country, which will reduce the risk a lot.
"Anxi Protectorate?" Li Shen stroked his chin and thought.
This is the most reliable one. Liaodong is too far away, and the northern tribes have no soldiers. Once you pass Yumen Pass, you will reach the northwest region.
"It seems that my guess was right. There really is someone secretly colluding with the rebels. And it seems that he is a member of the military and holds a high position."
"Your Highness, what are we going to do now? Are we going to count the weapons?" Zhou Daowu listened for a long time before he spoke up to grab the spotlight.
“It’s useless to count the weapons. They can use the weapons lost or damaged during training as excuses to me. Just rest and recover. I will take care of everything.
You must not be in any trouble, otherwise how can I explain to my sister? My sister... eh?"
Li Shen was stunned when he said this, and suddenly stood up and began to feel himself up and down.
"Your Highness, what are you doing..." Zhou Daowu looked at Prince Ji with some confusion.
"My sister wrote you a letter when she came. Hey? Where is the letter? I remember keeping it with me."
Li Shen said calmly while touching it. It took Li Shen more than two months to get to Xizhou, and he had long forgotten about Li Mengjiang's letter.
If his sister hadn't been mentioned just now, Li Shen might never have remembered her in his life.
"Your Highness, it seems to be in the secret compartment of the carriage. Your Highness said he was afraid of losing it, so he put it in there."
Just then, Stone reminded from behind.
"Really?" Li Shen looked up at the stone suspiciously and asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Shitou nodded affirmatively.
"Why don't you go get it? Do you want me to go get it myself? You bastard, you knew it but didn't remind me, and I have been playing with myself for a long time."
Li Shen's face suddenly changed and he cursed angrily.
"Yes, yes, I'll go right away." After saying that, Shitou quickly ran out to get the letter.
Soon, Shitou came back with a letter and handed it to Li Shen. Li Shen took it and took a look. It was indeed a letter from his sister.
Then he handed the letter to Zhou Daowu.
"Daowu, just rest and recover. Everything will be settled after you recover. I will not disturb your rest."
Li Shen knew that he was here, and Zhou Daowu was embarrassed to open the letter, so Li Shen said something and led his men out.
(I am getting busy now. I will write and sleep at night.)