Chapter 214: Espionage Incident
“I have a token, so I can enter and exit Chaisang Town. I did some things for my brother-in-law, and he promised to give me money, but he never did. Yesterday I went to him to demand it. Taking advantage of my older sister going to buy vegetables, I rummaged through their box and found gold at the bottom of the box, so I took one piece and sneaked away.”
Wang Xiaoman’s eyes narrowed. There was a lot of sensitive content in this statement!
“How much gold was at the bottom of the box?”
“I didn’t count carefully, probably about ten ingots.”
Wang Xiaoman nodded and asked again: “What did you do for your brother-in-law?”
“Hand a cloth bag to a man.”
“When did this happen?”
“Five months ago. My brother-in-law said he would give me money at the end of the year, so I went to him yesterday.”
Gold, cloth bag—Wang Xiaoman immediately understood. This must be an extremely serious military secret espionage incident.
“Don’t you have a token? Where is the token?”
Liu Wu’er took the token from his waist and handed it to Wang Xiaoman. “The token was given to me by my brother-in-law!”
“This is a family member access token, token number is twenty-one!”
The token number was very early in the sequence—at least a deputy supervisor level master craftsman.
Wang Xiaoman realized the seriousness of the problem. He ordered his subordinate to lock Liu Wu’er up first, then he hurriedly went to see Gan Ning.
Gan Ning was preparing to return home. Hearing that Wang Xiaoman had a major event to report, he knew the seriousness of the problem and immediately summoned Wang Xiaoman.
Wang Xiaoman detailed today’s discovery to Gan Ning. Gan Ning was immediately shocked and angry. He really hadn’t expected an artisan to be bribed.
He looked at the bronze token, then immediately took out a roster to check. Soon he found the target: Access token number twenty-one, Wang Lei, seventh master craftsman in firearm development, enjoys deputy supervisor treatment, lives in courtyard number forty-seven.
Gan Ning copied the list for Wang Xiaoman, pondered for a moment, and said: “Tonight, take dozens of brothers to bring this couple in, and search their home. Take away all suspicious property. Do not alarm other master craftsmen. Interrogate them overnight and report to me first thing tomorrow morning.”
“This subordinate understands!”
Wang Xiaoman bowed in salute and hurriedly left.
Gan Ning paced to the window with hands behind his back. He was truly furious in his heart. To think such a huge mess had been made—intelligence sent out five months ago. With ten ingots of gold, Cao Cao had taken away how much of his own fire oil secrets.
He now suspected that the incendiary bombs used by Cao Cao very likely came from the leaked secrets.
There was a huge loophole here, in the access token system. The bit of welfare he had originally given to the artisans had actually been exploited by someone with ulterior motives. This loophole had to be plugged immediately.
Gan Ning packed his things and rode a carriage home.
Gan Ning’s son had already had his full moon celebration. He held a banquet at a restaurant, inviting dozens of important officials and their families, letting his son show his face.
Very coincidentally, on the day of Gan Ning’s son’s full moon celebration, the imperial court’s imperial titles also arrived. His just full-moon son was enfeoffed as Marquis of Nanxiang, and his three wives were all enfeoffed as madams.
As usual, Gan Ning first went to see his son. His son was, without exception, sleeping. He spent most of the day in deep sleep. After a month, he had grown chubby and fair, watched over by the wet nurse.
Gan Ning returned to his study and sat down in his seat. He was not in a good mood.
At this time, Da Qiao came in carrying ginseng tea. Da Qiao had finished her postpartum recovery, and her figure had recovered well—still so slender. She didn’t look at all like a mother who had given birth.
“Husband not in a good mood?” Da Qiao saw her husband’s emotion was rather low.
Gan Ning sighed and said: “Today we discovered an espionage incident. An important artisan was bribed by Cao Cao with heavy gold and leaked many important firearm secrets. If not for his greedy younger brother-in-law, this bribed artisan wouldn’t have been discovered who knows when. Now we’ve only found one. I’m worried there are more undiscovered.”
Da Qiao leaned against Gan Ning to comfort him: “I remember husband told me before that as soon as firearms are used, the enemy army will quickly learn them. Unless husband never uses them, what does it matter if secrets are leaked? Could Cao Cao use firearms to attack us?”
Gan Ning gave a wry smile and said: “That’s true, but it still doesn’t sit well in my heart.”
At this time, Xu Wei said from the side: “If Cao Cao uses the firearms invented by husband to attack the nomadic peoples, it’s actually not a bad thing!”
Xu Wei’s words made Gan Ning feel a bit better. He remembered Cao Cao’s next step was to attack the Wuhuan. If Cao Cao used the firearms he invented to attack the Wuhuan, it really wasn’t a bad thing.
Gan Ning said cheerfully: “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Let’s go eat dinner. I’m a bit hungry.”
The next morning, Wang Xiaoman handed the interrogation record to Gan Ning.
Attached to the interrogation record was a leaked secrets list: incendiary bomb, small flying bomb, fire kite, fire paste, fire barrier wall, etc.—a total of thirteen technologies. Received two hundred taels of gold from the other side.
After reading the confession, Gan Ning pondered and said: “How did the other side find this Wang Lei? Who was the go-between? Why is it not in the interrogation report?”
“Reporting to Marquis of Chu, he doesn’t know either. He said half a year ago after tomb sweeping, while eating at a restaurant in Chaisang, Cao Cao’s scout directly found him. He also asked the other side who introduced him, but Cao Cao’s scout wouldn’t say.”
Gan Ning nodded. “This shows we still have a spy inside.”
Wang Xiaoman bowed and said: “This subordinate will definitely dig out this internal traitor.”
Gan Ning thought for a moment and said: “There are some suspicious points here. For example, how did Cao Cao’s scout know he went tomb sweeping and track him? They met three times—why send intelligence via his own brother-in-law? Why did the go-between choose Wang Lei and not others? Wang Lei is not a deputy supervisor or top artisan, just the seventh artisan. If they found a deputy supervisor, they could get more intelligence. I suspect this go-between is closely related to Wang Lei and knows he’s easy to bribe. Break through from here—investigate Wang Lei’s interpersonal relationships, and you’re likely to find clues.”
Wang Xiaoman bowed and said: “This subordinate understands. This subordinate will continue interrogating, peeling back the layers bit by bit. Also, how to dispose of this Wang Lei?”
Gan Ning pondered and said: “Wang Lei must ultimately be executed, to make an example of him. His wife can be spared, their personal property returned to her, gold confiscated.”
“Understood!”
Wang Xiaoman saluted and left.
Wang Xiaoman had just left when Lu Su hurriedly came in.
“Marquis of Chu, this subordinate heard there was a serious espionage incident?”
Gan Ning nodded. “There’s a loophole in the system. We must fix it after the sheep is lost. Strategist, you can go find Wang Xiaoman to understand the situation fully. I hope this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”
Lu Su felt truly ashamed. The security system was one he had formulated. In a moment of softness, he wanted to give the artisans a little freedom, but that one soft thought became a huge loophole.
“This subordinate will certainly learn the lesson and guarantee no similar incidents occur again.”
Lu Su went to find Wang Xiaoman to understand the situation.
Gan Ning pondered for a moment, then wrote a letter to Cao Cao. Might as well do a favor to the end—he would teach Cao Cao how to deal with the Wuhuan people.
