Chapter 748: Dividing blueprints to prevent theft; dark currents surge, raising murderous intent

After the resolute command from the Xia Prefecture Governor's Office was issued, the entire prefecture operated like a wound-up, massive war machine, in an almost crazy posture.

Zhang Wenqian, holding Chen Yan's hand-written order to act as he saw fit, mobilized thirty percent of the pig iron reserves in the Xia Prefecture official treasury overnight, transporting them continuously to the giant workshop in the south of the city, which had been temporarily designated as a military restricted zone.

To prevent the core secrets of the curved-shaft plow from being stolen by enemy states, Chen Yan brutally and extremely effectively moved the assembly line model of modern factories to this feudal era.

Thousands of craftsmen were forcibly moved into the high-walled courtyard by the Mingjing Si, cutting off all contact with the outside world.

Those who forged iron only hammered the plowshare according to the mold; those who carved wood only focused on the curvature of the short shaft. Even the process of assembling the final product was completed independently in a dark room by a few trusted old craftsmen who had taken poisonous oaths, whose families were all under control, and who simultaneously took poison that required regular antidotes.

Gao Jiong, leading over a thousand Embroidered Attire Envoys who were like wolves and tigers, worked in shifts around the clock, setting up a net of dark sentries around the workshop.

Even a bird trying to fly over the high wall would be instantly shot into a sieve by the heavy crossbows hidden in the dark.

As time passed, one curved-shaft plow after another, assembled and covered with black cloth, was secretly transported to military colonies and farms across Xia Prefecture under the escort of the most elite garrison soldiers under the cover of night.

On the vast fields, the scene of a dozen strong men pushing and pulling an ox struggling desperately in the hard ground had completely disappeared.

The garrison soldiers who had changed to the new farm tools only needed to lead one animal to plow black mud furrows rolling like waves on the wasteland, and the speed of land reclamation was simply to the point of being hair-raising.

Amidst this hot tide of land reclamation, beneath the surface prosperity and stability of Xia Prefecture, a deadly dark current was vaguely surging.

Beneath a dilapidated Taoist temple in the east of the city that appeared abandoned, there was a secret chamber tightly sealed with heavy blue bricks.

There were no lights in the secret chamber, only a few extremely weak rays of moonlight leaking diagonally through the ventilation holes, illuminating some wooden fragments scattered on the stone table.

A middle-aged man in a gray Taoist robe, with a face as thin as a skeleton, was using that meager light, his hands grabbing like chicken claws, desperately piecing together some discarded plow parts bought at high prices from the market.

This man was named Feng Yuan, a top-level dark agent planted in Xia Prefecture by the Shadow Department of the Qi State, lurking for several years, specializing in stealing the military and political secrets of the Zhou State.

"It's not right, it won't fit. The interfaces between these parts are all incomplete. What kind of demonic art did that Chen Yan use?"

Feng Yuan irritably smashed a wooden piece with a mismatched mortise-and-tenon joint against the wall, making a dull impact sound, frantically pulling at his sparse hair in frustration.

Standing beside him were two masked black-clad assassins. One of them lowered his hoarse voice and reported: "Boss, we lost three of our top experts just to barely fish these scraps out of the water ditch on the periphery of the south city workshop. The defense inside is too tight."

"You don't know, the sentries around that workshop change their passwords eight times a day, and the crossbowmen in the dark are severely punished even if they doze off..."

"And they implement batch operations. Those who forge iron only know how to hammer iron sheets, and those who carve wood don't even know what position they are carving..."

"Even if we caught a few craftsmen from the periphery, we couldn't ask about the full picture of the plow from them even with torture..."

Feng Yuan's eyes, deep in their sockets, turned twice, a cold, fierce light like a venomous snake rising.

He knew too well what it would mean if this farm tool were fully rolled out.

Once Xia Prefecture stockpiled enough grain to consume for three years, Chen Yan, who held great power, would surely lead that tiger-wolf brigade south, directly pressing toward Jinyang of Great Qi.

Great Qi would be consumed of a lot of energy by this endless grain foundation...

"We can't wait any longer. We can't get the blueprints, and those core old ghosts who build the real things are protected by Chen Yan like an iron bucket."

Feng Yuan paced back and forth in the narrow secret chamber, his leather boots stepping on the uneven ground, making a heart-palpitating rustling sound.

He stopped abruptly, turned to look at the two assassins, his shriveled lips cracking into a cruel slit, spitting out a few words filled with intense murderous intent.

"Since we can't steal the hen that lays the eggs, let's burn the chicken coop along with the person who lays the eggs into ashes."

He walked to a dilapidated map, his withered fingers poking heavily at the conspicuous position of the Governor's Office.

"Immediately send people to the black market to get a batch of blazing oil and saltpeter for ignition, and contact those death warriors of the aristocratic families who are dissatisfied with Chen Yan..."

"Buy saltpeter from dozens of pharmacies in the city, buy it separately, only two taels each time, don't buy too much..."

"Don't attract the attention of those Embroidered Attire Envoys in the city. Their eyes are more poisonous than eagles when looking at account books!"

Feng Yuan's voice trembled slightly from extreme excitement, as if he had already seen the soaring fire.

"Three days later is the day Chen Yan inspects the newly built canal. The Governor's Office must be empty of defense. I want you to use any cost to burn that workshop in the south of the city to white ground."

"If there is a chance, let those aristocratic death warriors intercept and kill Chen Yan on the way, take his head, and His Majesty will surely reward you heavily!" ===== CHAPTER 749 =====