Accidentally dressed as an empress

Chapter 206 The man behind the scenes

The scholar's report of the prefect as a false accusation has come to a temporary end.

Yun Xiu frowned slightly, knowing in her heart that since coming to Yunyin City, there must be someone secretly planning behind the series of seemingly ordinary yet strange things.

These people must have some ulterior motive for going to such great lengths.

"Zhong Yi, Su Er, don't you find it strange? The things that happened recently seem to have nothing to do with each other. In fact, what they have been doing is to drive us out." Yun Xiu looked at the two people beside him.

Zhong Yi gripped the hilt of his sword, his expression serious. "My wife is right. These things are definitely not accidental. Someone must have done it deliberately."

Su Er scratched his head: "But what is it for?"

Yun Xiu narrowed her eyes slightly and paced back and forth, saying, "They've gone to such great lengths to do this. Is there some unspeakable secret hidden in the prefectural governor's mansion?"

"My wife is saying that this prefectural government mansion might have a secret underground room?"

"The warehouses in the prefectural government are basically empty." Yun Xiu paused and said slowly, "Perhaps there are gold, silver, and jewelry hidden in the underground secret room."

"It's fine if they're just after the money, but I'm afraid they have other intentions," Zhong Yi said. "The people behind this are hiding something very deep, so we have to be extremely careful."

Su Er also nodded solemnly: "Then we must quickly look for them. We can't let these things fall into the wrong hands."

Yun Xiu's eyes were cold: "Su Er, take your men and turn the prefectural government office upside down."

Su Er's eyes were as sharp as an eagle, scanning his busy subordinates and guards scattered throughout the prefectural mansion, searching for clues.

"Be careful and don't miss any clues!" Su Er reminded loudly.

In a corner of the courtyard, several guards gathered around a floor tile, discussing something. "Look, there's a small scratch on this tile. It looks like it was intentional."

"Yes, there are no tiles around. Could there be a cellar underneath?"

Some guards were crouching, feeling the wall inch by inch with their hands, looking for clues on the rough surface.

"Hey, there seems to be a crack here, something unusual!" a guard shouted, and his companions immediately came over. "Really? This crack is very thin, and you can't really feel it unless you touch it carefully. Could it be related to the cellar?"

Some guards held swords and carefully tapped the ground. The "clang clang" sounds came one after another, echoing in the empty mansion.

With each knock, the guards would listen attentively. "The sound down there is a bit muffled, come and listen," one guard waved to his companions, his brows slightly furrowed, a puzzled look in his eyes.

Another guard came over to listen and responded, "Yes, there's a little bit. Maybe there's something empty underneath. Let's dig it up and see. But be careful. If there's a trap, we'll be in trouble."

As he spoke, he pulled out a small shovel from his waist and carefully began to shovel the dust on the ground. The other guards watched nervously from the side, holding their weapons tightly, ready to deal with any possible danger at any time.

Under the nervous gaze of the crowd, the guards shoveled away the dust on the ground bit by bit. When they dug to a certain depth, they found a hard wall brick under the soil.

Su Er frowned, thought for a moment and said, "Smash the bricks and be careful." A tall and strong guard stepped forward, raised the sledgehammer in his hand, took a deep breath and smashed the bricks hard.

With a "bang", cracks appeared in the wall tiles. The guards hit them several times in succession, and the wall tiles finally broke. A black cavity appeared in front of everyone, and a stale and decayed smell hit them in the face.

Inside the cavity, the first thing that caught my eye was a thick layer of dust, as if it hadn't been disturbed in years. Beneath the dust, a faint light flickered.

After the guards carefully brushed away the dust, they discovered some small gold and silver objects, including exquisite gold ornaments in the shape of flying birds and silver bracelets engraved with mysterious patterns.

As I stepped into the secret room, a stale, decaying smell hit me. In that dark, damp corner, I saw a large number of bamboo slips piled up in piles and bundles, messily stacked together.

Looking closely, these bamboo slips look like account books, with faint traces of dense incisions and handwriting on them.

It turned out to be evidence of the former governor's crimes, which he secretly colluded with notorious bandits.

The former prefect completely disregarded the lives of the people and the local peace, and colluded with the bandits for his own selfish desires.

In order to act recklessly on this land and plunder more of the people's wealth, the bandits continuously sent large amounts of gold, silver and jewelry to the former prefect.

What these bamboo slips recorded were the detailed accounts of the dirty deals between them.

Su Er looked through it carefully and said, "Go and report to the governor!"

The young guard ran all the way to the prefect's house. Without stopping, he anxiously told the servant at the door that he had something important to discuss with the prefect, but the prefect had already left the mansion.

Yunxiu knew that the person behind the scenes was still hiding and had not been caught by her. She didn't know where the person was hiding.

Suddenly, Yunxiu remembered something and asked the system, "System, do you know if there are any caves near Yunyin City?"

The system's emotionless mechanical voice quickly sounded, "There is indeed a cave, located in the back mountain."

Yunxiu has already figured out how the person behind the scenes managed to pollute the groundwater at the same time. There must be a place connected to the groundwater. The person behind the scenes only needs to put a large amount of red algae into the groundwater.

Red algae appear due to eutrophication of water bodies. The red color in well water should not be blood.

A hint of determination flashed in Yunxiu's eyes, and she immediately asked Su Da to gather the most elite guards.

Everyone held weapons in their hands, looked solemn, and followed Yunxiu as they rushed towards the back mountain. Zhong Yi also insisted on following Yunxiu.

Along the way, a strange atmosphere filled the mountains and forests. The originally clear bird calls disappeared, leaving only the hurried footsteps and heavy breathing of the crowd.

When they arrived at the back mountain, a damp and rotten smell hit them in the face.

The entrance to the cave is hidden behind dense thorns and vines, and can be easily overlooked if you don't look carefully.

Yunxiu took the lead in swinging his sword to cut through the thorns and open up a path.

After entering the cave, it was dark and deep, with phosphorescent spots flickering on the cave walls, as if countless pairs of eyes were peeping at them.

The ground was slippery and people almost fell from time to time, but they still groped forward firmly.

The further they went in, the stronger the pungent smell in the air became, and they could faintly hear the sound of gurgling water. They knew that they were getting closer and closer to the truth.

Finally, deep in the cave, they found a huge underground pool. The water in the pool was a turbid dark red color and emitted a fishy smell.

However, Yunxiu soon discovered that they were surrounded by dark shadows.

Yunxiu immediately ordered a retreat, and they ran wildly along the secret passage. The passage was dark and damp, filled with a foul smell, and the candlelight on the wall flickered, as if it would go out at any time.

The enemy's shouts behind them were getting closer and closer, and the sound was haunting them like a ghost in the narrow secret passage.

After running to the end of the secret passage with great difficulty, there was a dilapidated stone door.

After groping around the stone door, he finally found a loose stone. He pressed it hard and the stone door slowly opened.

After a burst of dust, what came into view was a small room full of miscellaneous items.

Just as they were about to enter the small room to search, a huge roar suddenly came from above their heads, like the sound of some mechanism being activated.

Immediately afterwards, huge rocks rolled down from above and hit them.

Zhong Yi yelled, "Be careful!"

He swung the sword in his hand, knocking away several smaller stones, while Yunxiu and Su Da quickly took shelter in the small room.

After Yunxiu and Su Da hid in the small room, Zhong Yi also rushed in.

The huge rocks kept rolling down and hitting the stone gate with a deafening noise. The stone gate cracked under the impact and was on the verge of collapsing.

"We can't stay here for long. We need to find something quickly." Yunxiu said as she rummaged through the clutter. Su Da found an object wrapped in cloth in the corner. When he opened it, he found it was an ordinary vase.

At this moment, the enemy outside seemed to have bypassed the mechanism in the secret passage, and their footsteps were getting closer and closer. Zhong Yi stood guard by the stone gate, ready to deal with the enemy.

Suddenly, Yunxiu noticed that there was a brick on the wall of the small room whose color was slightly different from the surrounding bricks. She reached out and pushed it, and the wall slowly turned, revealing the dark room behind it.

Yunxiu and Zhong Yi exchanged a glance, then rushed towards the stone gate. A huge rock had smashed a large hole through the gate, and the enemy was pouring in.