So you came to ask me to spare your lives? (Please subscribe and vote with monthly tickets)

Xiao Ming had recently received an assignment from Pang Jin, the Minister of Justice, and begun investigating Li Yang, the Heir of Prince Jing'an.

Yet after all his investigating, he had found nothing. The fellow played the wastrel so convincingly that he left no openings.

But Xiao Ming's instincts told him something fishy was going on, so he went outside the city to investigate Prince Jing'an's Residence's forcible seizure of farmland.

His master, the Saint Remnant Soul, thought the two matters were completely unrelated. But a child of fortune really was something else: Xiao Ming actually found some clues.

As the emperor had ordered, the farmland had indeed been returned to the local farmers, and Prince Jing'an had paid considerable compensation.

By chance, however, Xiao Ming found the people who had seized the farmland. From one minor ringleader, he learned that the man had previously worked for the Crown Prince and had followed Li Yang after the Crown Prince died.

Recently, Li Yang had set his sights on a mine and was preparing to make another move.

The more Xiao Ming investigated, the stranger he found it. What did Li Yang need so much money for?

Xiao Ming kept tailing the minor ringleader, visiting the places he frequented.

And he really did uncover some clues.

The man's purchasing list was complicated, but Xiao Ming was still capable of determining that it mainly consisted of warhorses, provisions, weapons, equipment, pills, and the like.

Xiao Ming and the Saint Remnant Soul immediately concluded that Li Yang must be maintaining a private army somewhere nearby.

Just what sort of army required Li Yang to pour so much money into it?

And had the Crown Prince known about this while he was alive?

Xiao Ming had wanted to investigate further, but the minor ringleader