Children of Loulan

Chapter 245 Why Are You All Looking at Me?

The king frowned slightly and motioned Keremu to stand up and speak. Keremu stood up, took a deep breath and said, "Father, I have quietly taken Captain Mo to the palace and arranged for the palace doctor to treat him. Mo Ming is seriously injured and needs to be recuperated, but I am worried that someone will take the opportunity to assassinate him and endanger his life. Therefore, I dare to ask you to send a few more imperial guards to the palace to strengthen the protection of Mo Ming!"

The king thought for a moment and nodded, indicating that he agreed to Keremu's request. However, he also reminded: "The fact that Mo Ming is recovering in your house must be kept strictly confidential and must not be publicized. After all, your injuries have not healed yet, and an assassin may hurt you!"

Keremu nodded solemnly and said, "Thank you, father. I understand that this matter is of great importance and I will handle it with caution. At present, apart from a few trusted servants in the mansion, only my third brother knows about this matter."

The king nodded with satisfaction and praised: "Very good, this matter must be kept confidential. Now that he is in your house, you can ask him whatever you want. After asking, start the investigation!"

Keremu said respectfully: "Yes, I will take my leave now!"

The king nodded slightly to show his agreement.

When he returned to the palace, he found that Aidil and Batur had been waiting for him for a long time. When the three met, they exchanged greetings. After the greetings, Aidil asked curiously: "Brother, why did you come to the palace today? Why didn't you ask the younger brothers to come with you?"

Keremu covered his mouth and coughed a few times, his face showing a trace of fatigue. He sighed and said, "Alas, it's not a big deal. Yesterday, my father ordered the three of us brothers to investigate the fake stone and fake wood. The two of you were in the palace yesterday, so I went to the palace today to express my gratitude and ask the head of the academy to take a look at me to see when my injury can be healed!" As he spoke, he covered his injured chest with his hand, his eyes revealing worry and uneasiness about the future.

Aidil and Batur looked at each other, and a trace of heartache flashed in their eyes. Aidil comforted him: "Brother, don't worry too much. As long as you take good care of yourself, I believe you will get better soon!"

Batur also echoed: "Yes, brother, this is only temporary!"

Keremu waved his hand. "Okay, this is not important now. Let's talk about the investigation first! What do you think? Where should we start?"

Batur replied: "After I returned home yesterday, I sent someone to find the escort. As far as I know, there are three people in charge of the escort. The first one is the Shangshu's cousin, his name is Ali Kuti, who once served under General Ankar's father. He is responsible for escorting them from the border to our Loulan. Because he is also the commander of the border between us and the Tang Dynasty, he cannot leave too far and can only escort them to the territory and then hand them over to the second person in charge!"

Keremu frowned, "Then what? Who is the second person in charge?"

Batur continued, "The second person in charge is a small captain in the imperial guards. His name is Aguli. It is said that he was chosen as the second person in charge of escorting because of his rigorous work and good martial arts. After he is escorted from the border to the capital, he will be handed over to the third person for escort!"

Keremu thought for a moment, "So, what about the third person in charge?"

Batur replied: "The third person in charge was selected from the original garrison in the West City. His name is Aman. Because he is familiar with the wind and sand in the Gobi Desert, he was responsible for transporting stones from the capital to the West City. However, when my people found his residence, they found that he had disappeared. No one knows where he went?"

Keremu was puzzled: "We sent people to look for him yesterday and found him missing? How could he be missing? Maybe he went to West City!"

Batur shook his head and said, "According to our investigation, he usually returns to the capital after delivering the stones and wood to the West City, waiting for the next escort mission. Because these things do not have a fixed delivery cycle. So he dare not stay too long and must return to the capital to wait!"

Keremu asked doubtfully, "So, how often is it delivered?"

Batur replied: "Sometimes it takes ten days, sometimes fifteen days, and sometimes it takes twenty days before the next delivery."

Keremu was puzzled: "Why are the delivery times so irregular?"

Batur shook his head helplessly: "We still don't know the answer to this question, but I have sent people to the border to investigate."

At this time, Aidil, who had been standing nearby, heard the two people talking back and forth, and felt that they did not take him seriously at all. So, he could not help but interrupt and said, "Brother, you were the one in charge of building the West City. How come you don't even know how long it takes for these important materials to arrive?"

Keremu lowered his head, took a sip of tea, and then slowly explained: "There are special people responsible for handling this matter, and I can't do everything myself."

Batur also turned his head and his eyes fell on Aidil: "Yes, second brother, don't we keep our subordinates to do things for us? If we have to do everything ourselves, wouldn't we be exhausted!" There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

After hearing this, Aider frowned and looked displeased: "I was just asking casually, why are you two talking so much?" There was a hint of irritation in his voice.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Batur quickly put on a flattering smile and said, "Second brother, don't be angry, I was just joking. But seriously, you checked all the file records yesterday, did you find any problems?" He tried to change the subject to ease the tense atmosphere.

Aidier shook his head, indicating that he had found nothing. "I carefully checked the cash withdrawal records, shipping documents, purchase quantities, etc. in the treasury. Each link has the signatures and seals of the relevant persons in charge. It can be said that there are no loopholes."

Keremu nodded, as if he had expected this result. "It's normal that we can't find any problems with these superficial things. After all, if they dare to tamper with them, they will definitely do it perfectly."

After thinking for a moment, Aider said: "At the moment, it seems that we can only gather all the responsible persons together and question them one by one to see if we can get some clues from them." There was a firm light in his eyes, and he was determined to find out the truth of the matter.

Batur agreed and said, "That's right. We should not only question the person in charge, but also investigate the soldiers who were escorted together one by one!"

Keremu: "But as for General Alikuti, we can't invite him back. We can only go there ourselves, and we must find the man named Aman as soon as possible!"

Aidil frowned: "Who is the most suitable person to go?" When he asked this, Batur and Keremu immediately turned to look at him at the same time. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Why are you both looking at me?"

Batur: "Brother, according to rumors, the Shangshu has always maintained close contact with the Prime Minister, and they are even related by marriage!"

Aidil was surprised and asked, "Does this have anything to do with who goes to see General Alikuti?"