Chapter Thirty-Seven: Scolding the Old Fox-Cinco Dragões na Corte: Eu Só Quero Morrer em Batalha na Fronteira(Buscar a iluminação do caminho celestial)

The armory is on fire?!

How could the county magistrate fail to report such a major incident!

Gao Changsheng glared fiercely at the magistrate. He had originally only been wary of the man, but now he had officially placed him on his blacklist. At the same time, he felt fortunate that the identity of the fake Dou Yuan had not been exposed; otherwise, all the efforts he had made until now would have been in vain.

"Your Highness, please forgive me!"

"Your servant simply did not have the time to report it; I did not intentionally conceal it!" The magistrate was drenched in sweat, his aged face pale as paper.

"Hmph!"

Gao Changsheng had no time to waste on the magistrate. He turned to Wang Yong and asked, "Do you know the cause of the fire in the armory?"

His primary concern was the assassins lurking in Fengxi County. If the fire was linked to these assassins, the situation would escalate significantly. To his disappointment, however, Wang Yong was completely clueless.

"It is not that I did not want to investigate, but as soon as the incident occurred, I was placed under arrest by the Vice Minister," Wang Yong said with a look of grievance. "If the people sent by the county magistrate hadn't said that Your Highness wished to see me, I would likely still be locked up."

Hearing this, Gao Changsheng could not help but internally curse Wang Yong for a useless fool. He couldn't even manage a small armory, and this was even with the prior knowledge that danger was lurking in Fengxi County. It was clear that Wang Yong had not used his brain at all. Furthermore, when something went wrong under his watch, he had the audacity to shift the blame onto the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. In Gao Changsheng’s eyes, Wang Yong was nothing more than a spineless coward and a bungler. If not for the fact that he still held some slight utility, he wouldn't even bother with such an idiot.

"Take me to the scene," Gao Changsheng said with a suppressed sigh.

A group of them soon arrived at the site where the armory had stood. A large crowd had gathered around the charred ruins, and a middle-aged man dressed in the robes of a high-ranking official was busy at the scene.

"Second-rank official robes. That must be Song Ziyong, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War," Gao Changsheng muttered to himself.

There were only a few high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Since Chu Yunyan, the eldest daughter of the Minister of War, Chu Jiangnian, had a close relationship with Gao Changsheng, the background of the Ministry of War's second-in-command was no secret to him. On the surface, the entire Ministry of War was under the control of the Crown Prince, Gao Changling. Although Chu Jiangnian himself was a fence-sitter, for the officials of the Ministry of War, pledging allegiance to the Crown Prince was a matter of righteousness. Furthermore, the reputation of the two princes, Gao Changwen and Gao Changfei, as incompetent fools was known far and wide.

Except for the Ministry of Rites, which had foolishly backed the other princes, the other five ministries were practically begging to declare their support for the Crown Prince in front of the Emperor. Thus, it stood to reason that Song Ziyong was one of the Crown Prince’s men.

"Minister Song!" Gao Changsheng stepped forward first to greet him.

"Your Highness, the Sixth Prince!" Song Ziyong feigned surprise. He had already been informed of Gao Changsheng’s arrival by Wang Yong, yet he acted shocked, showing clearly that he did not wish to see the prince here.

"Minister Song, have you found any clues regarding the cause of the fire?" Gao Changsheng had no patience for the games of these old foxes. The sky was beginning to darken, and the crisis in Fengxi County would surely follow. Because of Wang Yong’s negligence, his carefully laid plans had collapsed. Gao Changsheng needed to find a way to reassemble a combat-ready force as soon as possible, but that first required dealing with Song Ziyong.

"Did Your Highness come to Fengxi County with the Great General to inspect the supplies?" Song Ziyong ignored the question and changed the subject. "It is my dereliction of duty that such an incident occurred. I ask for Your Highness's and the Great General's forgiveness."

*You bastard!* Gao Changsheng cursed Song Ziyong’s mother a hundred times over in his mind. These bureaucratic old foxes were all cunning; they knew exactly what was going on, yet they refused to speak plainly. *So annoying!*

"I am asking you, have you found the cause of the fire?!" Gao Changsheng suddenly shouted. "Stop the damn stalling!"

The surroundings fell silent instantly. Curious gazes were cast toward Gao Changsheng. Even Song Ziyong looked stunned; he had never expected the dignified Sixth Prince to use such coarse language.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Shi Meng and the others accompanying Gao Changsheng drew their swords in unison. The air within a mile seemed to freeze, becoming stiflingly heavy.

"Minister Song," Gao Changsheng said coldly. "Although you are a second-rank official of the imperial court, you are currently involved in frontline warfare. This means that as part of the supply train, you are a member of my tripartite army. Now that the armory fire has affected frontline deployment, as the military advisor to the three armies, I have the authority to deal with anyone except the Great General. Song Ziyong, I will ask you one more time: have you discovered the cause of the fire?!"

Gao Changsheng reprimanded him publicly. Upon hearing this, the composure on Song Ziyong’s face vanished, replaced by shock. The Sixth Prince, who had once been looked down upon by everyone in Jinyong City, seemed to have been reborn. There was a newfound sharpness of a soldier about him. How had he achieved this in such a short time?

"Replying to... replying to Your Highness," Song Ziyong stammered, swallowing hard. "I have not yet found the cause."

"Hmph!" Gao Changsheng said with contempt. "You can’t even handle such a small matter; I truly wonder how you managed to become a Vice Minister of the Ministry of War."

"Now, everyone, begin the search! Find every trace of incendiary material in the ruins!"

He bypassed Song Ziyong, the official in charge of the first supply division, and took command of the thousands of men present. Even the dullest person could understand the implication: Gao Changsheng was suggesting the fire had been set intentionally.

However, Gao Changsheng didn't care about the truth, nor did he need to know who the real culprit was. His true goal was to sideline Song Ziyong and take control of the twenty thousand men in the supply division for his own use. To achieve this, he had to suppress Song Ziyong, strip him of his authority, and thereby destroy his control over the troops.

"I found something!"

Not long after, a group of men unearthed a clue from the debris. Gao Changsheng walked over to inspect it and found a large number of black clay jars remaining in the heaps of ash. These jars were specially made, not commonly found among the populace, and were used exclusively by the military to store "fierce fire oil"—petroleum. Because it was highly flammable and explosive, it was always stored and transported separately. A standard armory was not equipped to store such dangerous materials.

"Your Highness, there was no fierce fire oil in the armory I was guarding!" Wang Yong shouted in a panic, eager to clear his name.

But his outburst made the entire supply division realize the gravity of the situation, which did Gao Changsheng a great favor.

*Even a fool has his uses,* Gao Changsheng thought. *Is this what they call recycling the useless?*