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Empress Dowager Wei glared at him. "Now that I know I'm in a hurry, what did I do before?"

"Nephew already knows his mistake."

"Just because you said 'know your wrongs', do you know how many lives This Dowager has to lose?" If it wasn't for the fact that she was a nephew by blood, and that she valued this junior highly, Empress Dowager Wei wouldn't want to clean up this troublesome mess.

Wei Wenbin rubbed his hands in embarrassment and said, "It's because nephew is inexperienced, that I've troubled aunt. nephew promises that in the future, I will listen to aunt's instructions and will definitely not do the same thing again."

Empress Dowager Wei ignored him and said to Yin Qiu, "Right, bring out the map of Jinling City."

"Yes." Yin Qiu agreed, then quickly took out a map, which was drawn out using the Clear Heart Pavilion paper and placed it on the long table in front of the window. This map was extremely detailed, one could find all the houses in the city on the map, including the house where the Fire Cult was hidden.

After Lu Yi pointed out the house they were hiding in, Empress Dowager Wei looked around before pointing at a slightly smaller mansion. "Where is this place?"

Lu Yi was very familiar with the situation in Jinling, so she immediately replied, "To reply the empress dowager, that was one of the messenger king's mansions. After his accident, he was left empty-handed."

The corners of Empress Dowager Wei's lips curled up as she raised a thin line on the side of her cheek. "Very good. This Dowager wants that place to turn into a private artillery workshop within one day."

These words came from nowhere, causing both Lu Yi and Wei Wenbin to look at each other. They didn't understand what she meant, but Yin Qiu was the fastest as she probed, "Does the empress dowager want to use gunpowder to deal with those Fire Assemblers?"

"That's right." Empress Dowager Wei caressed the meticulously drawn map and slowly said, "As you said, no one knows what else is hidden in that mansion. It would be too risky to recklessly send all the offerings over, but by comparison, gunpowder isn't that risky."

When she heard this, Lu Yi's eyelids jumped as she blurted out, "The empress dowager's intention is to use the mansion next door to them to blow up the house they're hiding in?" The power of the gunpowder was tremendous. As long as the quantity was sufficient, even if the two houses were razed to the ground, it would still be easy to kill off the robbers. But near the houses, there were many civilians. He really did not place human lives in his eyes.

"What, do you think that's inappropriate?" Empress Dowager Wei asked casually.

Lu Yi didn't dare to say what she was thinking and quickly replied, "I wouldn't dare. I was just worried that I wouldn't be able to transfer so much gunpowder in a single day."

Empress Dowager Wei sized up the emerald armour on her finger and said lightly, "This Dowager remembers that there are a lot of firearms at the Ministry of Works. I presume there's quite a bit of gunpowder as well."

Yin Qiu's eyes turned slightly, "The Ministry of Industry does have a lot of gunpowder, but the Minister of Industry isn't one of us. I'm afraid he won't listen to our orders, even if we force him to come, there will be endless troubles in the future."

Empress Dowager Wei took the teacup with white porcelain branches and used the lid to brush off the foam on the surface of the teacup. She said amidst the mist, "Why let him know that it's better to secretly transfer them over? Could it be that he'll be able to inspect the warehouse every day?"

Yin Qiu lowered her head and thought for a while before smiling, "Your servant is confused. The second son of the Prince Pingyang Prince just happens to be working in the Ministry of Industry. It shouldn't be difficult for him to get some gunpowder."

Empress Dowager Wei gave a faint smile and ordered Yin Qiu to take out a pen and ink to write an imperial edict. "You can take this imperial edict to Shen Xi. Remember, be careful and don't let anyone see it. Shen Ji was the second son of the Pingyang Kingdom, and also Shen Xijun's brother.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Go." From start to finish, Empress Dowager Wei never mentioned that this explosion might have harmed innocent lives. In her eyes, with the exception of the members of the Dongfang Clan and the Wei Clan, everyone else was just like ants, not worth mentioning.

"Hold on." Wei Wenbin called back Lu Yi, who was about to leave, and said with a worried frown, "Aunt, what if they reveal the matter of my nephew before tonight? What should we do then?"

Empress Dowager Wei gave him a glare and said coldly, "If that's the case, then even if the heavens won't forgive you, there's nothing I can do." Even though she valued Wei Wenbin greatly, she wouldn't risk the lives of all the reverends just for him.

Seeing that Empress Dowager Wei's mind was set, Wei Wenbin had no choice but to return to his house. As soon as he entered, the butler handed him a letter, saying that it had been delivered by himself not long ago and wanted to give Wei Wenbin his name.

Wei Wenbin opened the letter doubtfully. There were only two lines of words in the letter, but it caused his expression to change. He hastily asked, "Where is the person who delivered the letter?"

"He left as soon as the letter was delivered." Butler saw that there was something wrong with Dudian's face: "Elder, what happened?"

Wei Wenbin quickly put away the letter and said coldly, "It's fine, you can leave now."

After the butler left, Wei Wenbin paced back and forth in his room with a hesitant expression. After an hour, he gritted his teeth and left the house alone. He arrived at a restaurant called "Eight Immortals Residence".

It was still early in the morning and there weren't many customers in the restaurant. The waiter saw him standing at the entrance and hurried over to greet him. "Please come in, sir. What would you like to drink?"

Wei Wenbin took a glance at the restaurant's long staircase and asked in a low voice, "Have you booked the Sky Room?"

"Yes, someone booked a grand room this morning and told me that he wanted to invite a guest with the surname Wei." As he spoke, the waiter sized up Wei Wenbin and probed, "Are the guests surnamed Wei?"

Wei Wenbin ignored his words and asked, "Who is the person who booked the private room?"

"This …" The waiter scratched his head, "I really don't know. I only remember that it was a tall and thin customer, he was very generous with his money."

"He stole so much of my gold and silver, of course he's rich!" Wei Wenbin cursed in his heart and said to the waiter, "I am the person he wants to hire. Take me up there."

"Sigh." "Yes!" The waiter responded and quickly brought Wei Wenbin to the Sky Room on the second floor. The Eight Immortals' Room was opened using six folding screens, so they didn't offend each other.

The waiter brewed a pot of tea and served it to Wei Wenbin, saying, "That guest has already given his instructions. He still has some matters to attend to, so please come over as soon as they are done. Please wait here for a moment."

"Got it." After the waiter left, Wei Wenbin held his tea as he pondered on the reason for the person's call for him here. The letter was sent over by the group of Fire Sect robbers.