Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

Seeing that Zhang Jingwei was coming with such a fierce momentum, several soldiers obeyed and put down their belongings.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and answered: "We are flag officers under General Yi. Sir, please be kind. We haven't received our salary for a long time! My mother...she starved to death last month..." As he spoke, he began to cry.

Zhang Jingwei's tone softened. "What should be returned to you will be returned to you after the Tongzhi investigates thoroughly! If you take it now, you are hindering the Tongzhi's investigation. You know the consequences!"

The soldiers nodded and consciously returned all the stolen goods from their arms and sleeves.

Two hours later, Zhang Jingwei had a good sleep. When he woke up, he found that Wang Ju had checked all the accounts in detail.

The armor, weapons, jewelry, the money that had gone into Prince Jin's pocket in the past two years and the money that Han Ye had embezzled were all calculated one by one.

Zhang Jingwei looked over the accounts again and again. This accounting method was very unique. There were five characters: "收、進、付、存、借". Although he had no accounting skills, he could understand this accounting method. "進進" minus "付" equals "存" minus "借".

However, the character "收" (receive) was not easy to understand, as it had no connection with the data corresponding to the other characters. So he turned around and asked Wang Jue, "Wang Shidu, what does this '收' mean?"

Wang Jue explained, "This is my labor expense, and should be included in the 'payment'. However, I already receive a salary from the Prince of Jin's Mansion, so I'm afraid it might be inappropriate to list it separately!"

At this time, Zhang Jingwei roughly added that Wang Jue had come about thirty times in two years and the labor fee he collected had reached tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Zhang Jingwei's heart instantly twisted: "Shit, if I had known I would study accounting, I would make so much money! I can't spend it all! Based on the purchasing power of this one tael of silver and two dan of rice, supporting a garrison with 10,000 taels is definitely not a problem."

However, seeing that there were still more than one million taels of silver in Han Ye's account, the bulk of this income came from King Jin.

One million taels! Han Ye really deserves to die, and Prince Jin deserves to die even more!

Seeing Zhang Jingwei so shocked, Wang Jue said, "Senior, this is just the account book for the Water Defense Battalion. There are also some accounts from the Limestone Kiln! Now is the time to investigate Captain Han's kiln camp before he destroys the evidence!"

Zhang Jingwei thought it made sense, but then he thought: Why is this guy willing to help me!

Forget about that for now. Keeping Han Ye around is a nuisance, so it's better to get rid of him as soon as possible. "What you said makes a lot of sense!" Then he turned around and ordered, "Mu Tou! Go call Gao Fei and the others in for a meeting!"

Mu Tou agreed, turned around and left.

After a while, Gao Fei and Liu Yanzhi came in with several officers for a meeting.

"What exactly is this limestone kiln?" Although Liu Yanzhi had heard Zhang Jingwei talk about it, he was still puzzled. Even if it was a mining kiln, there would be no need for so many guards.

"I only heard that it is a kind of gunpowder that can be made into firecrackers to blow up city walls!" Wang Jue's words shocked everyone.

"Hahaha, you scholars are so whimsical! Firecrackers can blow up the city walls, so why do we need to fight? Just throw a couple of firecrackers into the city and they'll surrender!"

"Nonsense, absolute nonsense!"

"You are spreading rumors to confuse the public. We are discussing military affairs with my son-in-law, and you, a scholar, shouldn't be here to listen in!"

In an instant, all the officers began to bombard Wang Zhen, and the insults and ridicules never stopped.

Liu Yanzhi saw Zhang Jingwei, who was lost in thought, and suddenly asked, "Jingwei, what do you think?"

Zhang Jingwei told everyone, "I know that kind of gunpowder. It really exists! Not only can it blow up city walls, it can even split mountains and shake the sea!"

He went on to say, "No wonder those who went to the limestone kiln either died tragically or developed chronic illnesses... That's a saltpeter mine. Inhaling saltpeter can cause coughing, and over time, it can lead to pneumonia. Those who died tragically probably suffered from allergies and didn't seek medical treatment in time!"

After listening to Zhang Jingwei's explanation, Wang Zhen couldn't help but praise him, "Senior, you are truly talented. You are so proficient in both medical techniques and medical principles!"

One nitre, two sulfur, three charcoal, I also saw this on TV.

He was allergic to saltpeter, which he had experienced when he was a child. He saw those white crystals next to the old houses and dry toilets in his hometown.

He was playful at that time, so he grabbed a handful of saltpeter and smeared it on his face, imitating the way adults put on makeup, and his face immediately became red and swollen.

After spending a whole day in the hospital receiving an IV drip, he learned his lesson and avoided saltpeter when he saw it and never touched it again.

Biao Heizi glared at Wang Zhen and shouted, "Sir, don't be fooled by my words!"

"No, he didn't lie! It's just that you can't understand this kind of thing yet!" Zhang Jingwei explained.

Wang Zhen didn't even look at Biao Heizi. He put his hands behind his back and snorted coldly, "Humph, barbarians!"

Biao Heizi's stubbled face was so angry that it exploded!

"Who are you scolding! @*%..."

He kept on saying a lot of dirty words, but Wang Ju ignored him completely.

Zhang Jingwei was speechless and quickly waved his hand to stop him: "Alright, alright! We're discussing military matters now, please don't treat this place like a market!"

Biao Heizi then shut his mouth and glared at Wang Zhen fiercely.

A group of people continued to discuss how to capture Yaoying and capture Han Ye.

A strong attack would definitely not work. The heavily armored garrison consisted of only a few hundred men, making it impossible to capture the city.

Outsmarting him won't work either. Han Ye is now like a frightened bird and will be much more cautious. He won't fall into your trap even if you set one.

If they were to besiege the city, a huge amount of food and fodder would be consumed, and there would be many civilians and innocent soldiers whose lives were in danger.

Biao Heizi became anxious again: "This won't work, and that won't work either. Are we going to wait for Han Ye to come out on his own before surrounding and killing him?"

Ji Fubao said, "How about we put this matter aside for now? I'll go back and ask the Marquis for permission to send troops. Once the Marquis's army arrives, we can storm the camp."

Yi Feiyu shook his head and rejected the idea: "The general may not kill Han Ye. Han Ye's mistakes were not made in one day. If the general wanted to kill him, he would have done it long ago!"

Just when everyone was anxious, Gao Fei wrote on the paper.

"Persuade to surrender!"

After finishing writing, he pointed at Wang Zhen.

Zhang Jingwei was immediately enlightened: "Brilliant! Wang Shidu is a retainer of the royal palace. Using him to persuade Han Ye to surrender will be more convincing."

Liu Yanzhi also agreed, "Indeed, judging by the current situation, he would be willing to surrender as long as he could save his life."

Seeing that Wang Jue didn't say anything, Zhang Jingwei asked, "Wang Jue, are you willing to help me persuade Han Ye to surrender?"

Although Wang Zhen looked unhappy, he still nodded and agreed.

Liu Yanzhi smiled and said to Wang Zhen, "That's great. Then I'll help you come up with a set of persuasive words to persuade you to surrender."

Wang Zhen politely declined, "Don't worry, Liu Tongzhi. I'm determined to make amends and will do my best."