On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

As he spoke, he wiped the cold sweat from his face with his sleeves and his body was shaking like a sieve.

Shimazu Hisasuke sat cross-legged on a futon, watching Jin Shunyi's performance with cold eyes, as if he was watching a mangy dog ​​wagging its tail and begging for mercy.

Chi Xing stood aside with his sword in hand, his eyes filled with undisguised contempt.

"That's enough." Shimazu Hisasuke's voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable pressure that instantly suppressed Jin Shunyi's crying. "How is the thing I asked you to do?"

Jin Shunyi shuddered and quickly stopped crying. He wiped his face with his sleeves and forced a flattering smile that was uglier than crying: "Done...Done! My Lord! I've done it for you at the risk of my life!"

He frantically pulled out a small package wrapped in layers of oilcloth, still warm from his body, from his arms as if offering a treasure.

With trembling hands, he peeled off the oilcloth layer by layer, revealing a roll of yellowed drawings with worn edges.

"Look, sir!" Jin Shunyi carefully spread out the blueprint on the low table, his eyes gleaming with a gleam of desire to win praise. "This is the rough draft of the Port Materials Department. I spent a full eighty taels of gold to bribe a warehouse clerk named Wang Er! He's a gambler and owes a lot of debts to the gods! I took advantage of him being drunk, coaxed him, and threatened him... to get him to secretly sketch it out!"

When the drawing was unfolded, the lines were rough and the ink was of varying shades, obviously drawn in a hurry.

But the above content made Shimazu Hisasuke's eyes sharp in an instant!

The drawings clearly mark the structural sketches of the core area of ​​the first phase of the deep-water port project - the No. 1 and No. 2 10,000-ton berths!

While details are hazy, key features are clearly visible: a cage-like structure (a steel cage) outlined in thick lines beneath the berth, with the words "Stone Pavement" (concrete) labeled above, and the words "Harder than fine iron, unbreakable by a knife" scrawled in small characters next to it. Nearby are diagrams of several massive "overhead crane" booms, with key components like the "rotating shaft" (bearings) and "capstan core" (gearbox) circled and labeled "Easy to Wear" and "Requires Frequent Oiling."

What is even more alarming is that the edges of the drawings are distortedly drawn with several fixed sentry posts of the Jinwu Guards outside the port, with vague shift-changing times marked next to them: "East sentry post, shift change at 3:30 am", "West corner tower, shift change at noon".

"And there's more! And this!" Without waiting for Shimazu Hisasuke to take a closer look, Jin Shunyi took out another smaller oil-paper bag from his arms as if by magic.

He carefully opened it, revealing a grayish-black, coarse-grained powder that smelled strongly of lime and slag. "Sir! This is the 'sacred soil,' the ash powder that turns to stone! I... I bribed a nightshade dealer at the cement factory! His name is Li Laonian! I had him secretly scrape a little clean material from the bottom of the waste pile every day while he was doing the nightshade work! I've saved... I've saved for nearly half a month to get this much! I don't know the exact recipe, but it's definitely that stuff! No doubt!"

Shimazu Hisasuke stretched out two fingers, picked up a small pinch of powder, and brought it to his nose to take a deep sniff.

The strong, pungent smell with a hint of sulfur and metal made him frown slightly, but a trace of uncontrollable greed flashed in the depths of his eyes.

He wrapped the powder calmly and his gaze fell back on Jin Shunyi's face. The cold scrutiny made Jin Shunyi shiver all over.

"Well done, Boss Jin." Shimazu Hisasuke's voice remained calm, but with a rare hint of "approval." "Satsuma will not mistreat its meritorious officials."

Jin Shunyi's face instantly lit up with ecstasy, like a long-awaited downpour. "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! I... I am willing to go through fire and water for the Satsuma Domain and for Shimazu-sama, and I will not hesitate!"

"But..." Shimazu Hisasuke changed the subject, his eyes suddenly sharp as a knife, "This isn't enough. What I want is the large ship that can make iron ships sailless and autonomous! I want its blueprints! Or its 'heart' (core component)! Can you get it?"

The ecstasy on Jin Shunyi's face froze instantly, as if he had been splashed with a basin of ice water. Cold sweat broke out. "My lord, you are not talking about the steam engine of Daqian, are you? My lord... that... that is in the branch of Wuqing Machinery Factory! In the innermost part of the industrial park! It is... heavily guarded by the Jinwu Guards! Not even a fly can fly in! I... I..."

"Everything depends on human effort." Shimazu Hisasuke interrupted him, his voice carrying an unquestionable pressure. "Think of Xirang! Think of the inexhaustible gold and silver mountains in the future! As long as you can accomplish this, your Jin family will definitely have a place in the future development of Hu County! Otherwise..."

He snorted coldly and made an extremely concealed throat-wiping motion with his right hand.

The fat on Jin Shunyi's face twitched violently, and his eyes were filled with a fierce struggle between fear and greed.

In the end, greed overwhelmed fear. He gritted his teeth, a fierce look of determination on his face: "I...I understand! I...will definitely find a way! I will!"

At this moment, the thick door curtain of the secret room was silently opened a crack as if blown by a breeze.

A figure slid in silently like ink blending into the shadows and knelt on one knee in front of Shimazu Hisasuke.

The man was wrapped in a pitch-black nightgown, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes as deep as an ancient well. He was none other than the leader of the Iga Ninja clan - Hattori Hanzo.

"Hanzo, what's the situation?" Shimazu Hisasuke turned his gaze to him, his tone carrying a barely perceptible hint of urgency.

"The port is heavily guarded, with Jinwu Guards deployed densely, making the core area difficult to approach. The perimeter of the cement plant has been explored, but there's something fishy about the core kiln area, with strange lights flashing at night."

Hattori Hanzo's voice was like the wind blowing through dead leaves, smooth and silent, yet every word was clear. "Also, the Rat Group has discovered a new force in the refugee slums: the Scorpion Gang, led by Black Scorpion. They're available."

"Black Scorpion?" Shimazu Hisasuke raised his eyebrows slightly.

"He's the leader of the orphan refugees, ruthless and merciless. He's gathered dozens of desperate criminals and controls three shanty towns near the docks. He's greedy for money, a gambler, and a nemesis of the foreman. He's responsible for more than one murder," Hattori Hanzo reported, as if stating an insignificant item. "He can be bribed to do our dirty work, like surveillance, causing minor disruptions, or even clearing obstacles."

"Contact him." Shimazu Hisasuke ordered without hesitation, "Tell him that if you work for us, you will be given enough money and women. But if you dare to have any other thoughts..." A cold light flashed in his eyes, and his right hand made the throat-wiping gesture again.

"Yes!" Hattori Hanzo took the order, and his figure flashed, and like a ghost, he merged into the shadow behind the door curtain again and disappeared, as if he had never appeared.