Chapter 260: Rumors are spreading
The subtle test was that after dinner, she had a serious talk with Chen Wen.

That night after Chen Wen returned to the garrison, Song Bei escaped with his seriously injured body.

Not long after, Song Bei's body was found in the sea. No one knew how he tried to escape, but he drowned in the sea and was washed ashore by the sea water. Finally, he was pulled back by patrolling soldiers.

Wu Xiaoli's face was very ugly, and he questioned the soldiers guarding Song Bei, "You can't even watch over a man with so many injuries and his Dantian destroyed. What's the use of you?"

The soldiers bowed their heads in shame.

Wu Xiaoli said angrily: "Investigate it thoroughly. How did Song Bei escape? Who did he meet before he escaped? Did he leave anything behind?"

Chu Liang agreed.

Chen Wen watched from a distance. The prisoners were not guarded by his soldiers, so this matter had nothing to do with him.

Wu Xiaoli also knew that this had nothing to do with Chen Wen, but he just disliked him. He wanted to get angry when he saw him, and he couldn't help but wonder, did this matter really have nothing to do with Chen Wen?

However, Chen Wen had just made a great contribution, and all the spoils had been taken over by Wu Xiaoli. If he got angry with Chen Wen at this time, it would surely arouse resistance among the soldiers.

Wu Xiaoli has some courage, but not much.

He was still afraid that the army would mutiny. Since the beginning of this year, the number of deserters in Fujian and Zhejiang has exceeded 200.

At this time, the army recruited a group of more unstable pirates as military households...

Thinking of this, Wu Xiaoli waved at Chen Wen and said, "Chen Wen, you are a capable person. You are the only one under my command who has some talent for commanding the navy, so I want to send you to the Tongshan Guarding Thousand Households on Dongshan Island. There, you face the Japanese pirates and other pirates directly. With you stationed there, my defense line will be worry-free in the future."

Chen Wen was stunned for a moment and then immediately clasped his fists in response, his eyes sparkling and his face full of excitement, "Since my Excellency thinks highly of me, I will not refuse even if it means death. Don't worry, as long as I am here, I will not allow a single pirate to invade from the Dongshan Islands."

"Okay, then I will hand over Dongshan to you." Wu Xiaoli said generously: "I know you have always been short of manpower, this time you can bring all the newly recruited pirates and integrate them."

Chen Wen looked embarrassed. "Sir, these newly recruited soldiers are unruly and they are pirates. If we bring them to the island, I'm afraid they will be difficult to control. Why not transfer 400 people from other thousand households to me..."

He whispered, "I'm always short-staffed here, and there are many vacancies..."

Wu Xiaoli's face darkened, and he said, "The other thousand households also have heavy tasks. If you pick all the veterans and elite soldiers, how can they defend their own lines?"

Chen Wen frowned, "But those recruited ones are too stubborn, and we are on an island. If they cause trouble every other day..."

Wu Xiaoli thought about it, frowned and said, "How about this, you pick a few of their family members to take with you, and leave some on land, as hostages on both sides. When they often see their relatives on the island, they will think of their relatives left on land and will not cause trouble."

After thinking about it, Chen Wen agreed, which was considered as accepting the suggestion.

Ashin and others brought most of their family members to the island. Since life on the island was hard, they only brought the young ones.

Song Dali cursed as he loaded things onto the ship, "It's not enough that you've been fed up with our Qianhu Office for so many years. You've taken our military merits and spoils, and now you're giving us a bunch of recruited pirates..."

"Shut up," Chen Wen scolded him, "Don't say that Ah Xin and the others are pirates anymore. Now that we have recruited them, they are our brothers from now on."

"Brothers are not united. If the pirates don't come, we will die first."

Song Dali could only hold back and asked, "Captain, Dongshan is far away from here, and all supplies depend on the shore. If they don't supply in time, then we..."

Chen Wen looked deep in his eyes and said, "There are also military fields on the East Mountain. We can cultivate them ourselves."

Song Dali said irritably, "Most of the island is made of rocks. There isn't much land to grow crops on. Even if we do grow crops, we can only grow beans or something like that. Is that enough to eat?"

Chen Wen clenched his fists and said, "Don't be afraid, I'll find a way."

But mysterious words rang in his mind, "Wu Xiaoli is narrow-minded and greedy. Under him, you will not have any chance of promotion. If you want to realize your ambitions, you must jump out from under him."

Xuanmiao said: "He is your enemy!"

Chen Wen clenched his thumbs, various thoughts flashing through his mind, and finally he had to admit what Xuan Miao said, "If you want to get away from him openly, you must first gain a foothold in the army without relying on him."

"And he is your superior. He represents the imperial court. When the day comes when you can support a thousand households of warships without the imperial court's funding, you can make further progress."

When Chen Wen heard these words that night, he almost thought that Xuanmiao had asked him to rebel.

But he didn't expect that she asked him to go back to find Song Bei.

When he went to look for someone, he happened to hear Chu Liang interrogating Song Bei, asking about the location of the treasure and the sea chart.

Only then did he realize that her goal was the same as Wu Xiaoli's, both were treasures.

Song Bei said nothing.

He was right, if he opened his mouth he would not live to see the next day.

Only by remaining silent can you save your life.

Then Chen Wen had Song Bei taken out of the military camp, and when he could not get any useful information from him, he simply killed him.

Since Xuan Miao came to find him, the sea chart is most likely in her hands.

The one who arrested Song Bei was actually Xuanmiao's junior sister, the young Taoist priest named Pan Sanzhu.

Chen Wen was waiting, waiting for Xuanmiao to come to him again. Xuanmiao was also waiting, waiting for things to develop.

Sure enough, as soon as Chen Wen left with the boat, the news of Song Bei's death spread, and rumors of treasure became rampant.

Even Alliance Leader Lin, who had left the city to go home, turned back and asked Cao Daoji to ask Pan Yun, "Little Taoist Sanzhu, when you arrested Song Bei, did you find anything on him?"

"No."

Alliance Leader Lin frowned.

Seeing that he seemed unconvinced, Pan Yun immediately said, "If you don't believe me, ask Zhang Ning and Li Ji. They were hiding in the woods and saw everything clearly. After I caught Song Bei, I cut off all his clothes with one sword, leaving only a piece of cloth wrapped around his buttocks."

Crowd: ...?
Pan Jun: "Do you suspect that he hid the treasure map in that piece of cloth?"

Everyone choked again and fell silent.

Pan Jun said with a look of regret: "I regret it every time I think about it. I should have picked up the cloth with my sword at that time. Sigh..."

Everyone couldn't help but step back together, and even Alliance Leader Lin felt a chill between his legs.

He forced a laugh and said to Tao Ji, "Brother Tao, Taoist Sanzhu is not young anymore. He still needs to be taught the difference between men and women."

Tao Ji: "We in Sanqingshan are mainly about Dan Dao, would we not teach it? This is not our problem, it's you who care too much about the difference between men and women."

Leader Lin: So it’s still their fault?
Zhang Ning and Li Ji appeared out of nowhere and testified in a low voice: "Alliance leader, at that time Taoist Sanzhu did... stripped them all naked, leaving only a piece of cloth on their bodies. We didn't find anything on them."

Leader Lin frowned, "Could it be that the thing was hidden in the shredded clothes and not discovered, or it's not on Song Bei but on someone else?"

Alliance Leader Lin suddenly reacted and looked at Pan Yun, "Where is Zhu Zixun?"

Pan Yun pointed at Li Ji and said, "Ask him."

Li Ji said with shame on his face: "Alliance leader, at that time Young Master Lin and Young Master Yu had just woken up from their comas. I was worried about them, so I ran up to check on them. In just a moment, he escaped."

Leader Lin: ...

He was also interested in the treasure and came to ask. The surrounding knights and Taoists looked at Alliance Leader Lin. It seemed that Alliance Leader Lin and the Wulin Alliance were more suspicious.

Pan Yun was frank and open, saying that all her actions were in everyone's sight and she did not hide anything.

Pan Yun: "Except for the two swords, we didn't even leave any spoils. Alas, we are the ones who suffered the most."

"The treasure map must be with Zhu Zixun. He has followed Song Bei for many years, so it is impossible that he doesn't know anything."

"That's right. If we catch Zhu Zixun, we will know where the pirates' treasure is hidden."

"There are people behind them. Will those pirates take out the treasure in advance?"

"Damn it! Those things were all stolen from our Ming Dynasty. How could we let them take them away? If I had a boat, I would patrol the islands every day. Those pirates would never get close to those islands."

"That's a solution. If it doesn't work, we can just wipe them out and kill them all. Then see how they can get to the island and take the treasure."

Then if they capture Zhu Zixun, wouldn’t they know where the treasure is hidden?
Everyone looked at it and thought it was a good idea.

Therefore, in order to force the Ming navy to send ships to disturb the islands, not only did Cao Dao Ji actively write a letter to the emperor to report the Quanzhou Wei incident, but even the people from the Jianghu Alliance passed the news to the court through various channels.

So, not long after the beginning of winter, the capital was shocked by two things.

First, the Japanese pirates were able to smuggle official swords, muskets, and gunpowder from the Ming Dynasty.

The second item is the treasure left behind by the Japanese pirates, which is said to be hidden on an island, with gold, silver and jewelry piled up into a mountain.

The little emperor was curious about the second thing, but the first thing was more important.

He also wanted to know, "Who sold the muskets and gunpowder to the Japanese pirates?"

The officials were silent.

The emperor glanced at the people below one by one, sneered and said: "Order the Censorate and the Imperial Guard to investigate this matter strictly. Wang Wen——"

Chief Censor Wang Wen stepped out and bowed his head, saying, "I am here."

"Investigate this matter yourself and make sure to find this termite," the emperor said after a pause. "And investigate the treasure as well. There are rumors flying everywhere. I heard that some fishermen secretly went to the sea to find treasure and wanted to swim to the island. It's ridiculous!"

Wang Wen quickly agreed and said that he would investigate it thoroughly.

Wang Wen withdrew, and the Jinyiwei commander Ma Shun arranged for him to take the Jinyiwei with him, "Sir Wang, this is Wang Shan, a captain of the Jinyiwei. He will lead the Jinyiwei this time."

Wang Wen was dissatisfied. Wang Shan was Wang Zhen's nephew and had no ability at all. Normally, he was willing to be friends with him and drink and go to brothels. But this was a business trip. If he sent an incompetent person, wouldn't he be a hindrance to him?
But Wang Wen didn't show it on his face and agreed with a smile.

Ma Shun leaned close to Wang Wen's ear and whispered, "Sir Wang, my father is also very curious about this treasure..."

　good night

　　
　
(End of this chapter)