Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

"Tell me, what else have you found out!" Emperor Yanping looked at Wang Zhongzhi.

Wang Zhongzhi hastily replied: "Your Majesty, apart from the connection between the Market Shipping Department and the pirates, we have also discovered that many prominent households in Jiangnan are in contact with pirates!"

"Moreover, we found that these pirates might be related to the Star Moon Sect!"

Emperor Yanping's brow furrowed, "Star Moon Sect?"

Wang Zhongzhi said, "Yes, the Star Moon Sect. We have found Niu Ben, the Hall Master of the Kaiyang Star Hall, in Hai State Mansion."

"Hasn't the Martial Arts Temple been issuing warrants to capture the martial artists from Star Moon Sect over the past two years?" Emperor Yanping looked somewhat displeased.

The Martial Arts Temple had not been idle over these three years.

After clarifying all the Jianghu forces within Da Rong, the Martial Arts Temple began to clean up those external force's bases set within the territory of Da Rong.

The main target was the Seven Stars Hall of the Star Moon Sect. Over three years, all the bases of Seven Stars Hall were found and destroyed.

However, many remnants of the Seven Stars Hall escaped the pursuit of the Martial Arts Temple, some fled back to Star Moon Island, and others concealed their identities and lurked in the bustling cities.

Among them, Niu Ben, the former Hall Master of the Kaiyang Star Hall, was one.

"Your Majesty, you can't blame the Martial Arts Temple, the Star Moon Sect has many masters, and it's almost impossible to capture all of them!" Wang Zhongzhi said softly.

Emperor Yanping nodded slightly; he was not blaming the Martial Arts Temple, he was just annoyed by the Star Moon Sect.

"Do you know why they attacked Yu State City?"

Wang Zhongzhi hesitated briefly before replying, "It might be related to the Weaving Bureau!"

"How did it get involved with the Weaving Bureau again?" Emperor Yanping asked.

Chen Zhongshu's eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a dangerous gleam.

Originally, the Weaving Bureau was an internal agency under the Ritual Supervision, mainly producing silk products for the court and also providing various silk goods for tribute trade.

Now, although the Weaving Bureau is under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Commerce Bureau, it is still supervised by the eunuchs of the inner court.

Changing the broth but not the medicine, the Weaving Bureau is still under the control of the Ritual Supervision, and Chen Zhongshu holds the stamp of the Ritual Supervision.

If there were problems with the Weaving Bureau, then he, the holder of the Ritual Supervision stamp, could not shirk responsibility.

Wang Zhongzhi said, "The Weaving Bureau in Hai State has four weaving factories in Yu State, and all four factories turned to ashes overnight."

The night Yu State City was breached, the entire city was ablaze, with many houses destroyed, including the Prefectural Government. Even though it looks reasonable that the four weaving factories were burned simultaneously, the problem is that the four weaving factories in Yu State City were not together.

Yu State City was breached from the South Gate, and most of the destroyed areas were mainly in the northern part of the city, but one of the factories was in North City, where not many places were destroyed, but included the weaving factory among them.

Thus, the secret agents of the Secret Martial Guards felt this issue might be related to the Weaving Bureau.

Emperor Yanping rubbed his brow, feeling the situation was getting more complicated.

The Weaving Bureau is part of the inner court, the Market Shipping Department belongs to the outer court, and the components of Jiangnan's prominent households are quite complex, comprising wealthy merchants, official families, and Martial Arts Families.

And the Star Moon Sect and pirates belong to external forces.

If the Star Moon Sect were related to pirates, it isn't hard to understand.

The East Sea has many pirates, and the Star Moon Sect resides in the East South Sea Domain, where they already control some pirates. If they incited the pirates to attack Yu State City, this can be explained.

The Martial Arts Temple had been striking against the Seven Stars Hall these two years, their desire for revenge against Da Rong is understandable.

But why involve the Market Shipping Department and the Weaving Bureau?

"Did you capture anyone from the Market Shipping Department?" Emperor Yanping asked

"No, to avoid alerting them, we have not made a move!" Wang Zhongzhi replied.

Emperor Yanping nodded slightly, "Then continue the investigation, we must uncover the truth! I will have the Martial Arts Temple cooperate with you!"

The investigation by the Secret Martial Guards is professional, but as they have many responsibilities, it is impossible to allocate too many resources to Jiangnan.

The current highest priority of the Secret Martial Guards is to trace the Divine Sun Sect. Over these three years, it seems practically non-existent; neither the Secret Martial Guards nor the Martial Arts Temple have found any trace of the Divine Sun Sect.

Now, the Secret Martial Guards are focusing outside Da Rong, dispatching many agents to the Southeast Sea Domain and to several dynasties south of Da Rong.

Therefore, the Secret Martial Guards cannot withdraw too many agents now, however, the Martial Arts Department under the Martial Arts Temple in Jiangnan has sufficient manpower.

"Your servant obeys the decree!" Wang Zhongzhi took the order.

After receiving the imperial decree, Wang Zhongzhi first went to the Martial Arts Temple to find Zhang Luan, borrowed some manpower from Zhang Luan, and then headed to Jiangnan.

Jiangnan is the wealthiest region of Da Rong, not only is its grain output abundant, but it also boasts a developed silk and cotton industry. Besides that, there are tea, ceramics, brewing, medicine, and shipbuilding industries, etc. Jiangnan has unique advantages in various sectors.

Additionally, with abundant water resources, large rivers, lakes, and seas interconnected, transportation by water is extremely convenient, making Jiangnan the wealthiest region in Da Rong.

And Yu State is one of the nine prefectures and four states of Jiangnan Province, located in the northeastern corner of Jiangnan, and是江南最重要的生丝产地之一, which is one of Jiangnan's most important raw silk-producing areas.

At this time, the situation in Yu State was even more severe than Lin Zhan anticipated. Upon arriving in Yu State, he discovered not only was Yu State City attacked by pirates, but many villages and towns also suffered from their plundering.

And after the pirates attacked Yu State City, there were still small bands of pirates roving within Yu State Territory.