Chapter 54

After dealing with Prince Yan, Dong Ku brought Shunzi and Liu Zhong back into the study's secret room. They smoothly found the extremely hidden mechanism by the wall without any doors or windows, and pushed open the stone wall.

The corridor was over twenty meters long, and the mechanism was also on an inconspicuous stone brick. Dong Ku reached out and pushed the stone brick in, then pushed open the stone wall. Under the flashlight, a huge stone chamber appeared before their eyes.

When Dong Ku, Liu Zhong, and Shunzi saw the items under the light, they were startled.

The stone chamber was divided into three rooms, each over fifty square meters. The first room contained several Maxim and Gatling guns, all wrapped in oil paper, but Dong Ku would not mistake them.

"Damn! So many big guns!!"

Liu Zhong couldn't help but curse as he tore open the oil paper wrapping two Gatling and Maxim guns.

When they saw the second room filled with boxes, everyone was a bit unsettled. Prince Yan's father must have spent a fortune to acquire enough weapons to equip an entire regiment.

Opening a few boxes, Dong Ku couldn't help but shake his head. The rifles were all Soviet 91 models, which had been phased out, and the ammunition supply was insufficient. They were still useful for local militias, but for large units, the lack of ammunition made these guns as good as firewood.

The square boxes, however, brought a pleasant surprise to Dong Ku and the others.

These boxes were all filled with German mirror-finished Mauser pistols. These were far superior to the domestically produced copies, not only because of their wear-resistant rifling but also because they rarely jammed.

"Damn! Five hundred Mauser pistols, and this guy didn't even use them. Looks like his brain wasn't up to it."

Looking at the shiny new Mauser pistols, Dong Ku felt a pang of regret for Prince Yan's father. With such powerful armaments, he could have started higher than Ma Zhan-shan or even Zhang Zuolin, yet he ended up with no trace left.

The last room was filled with ammunition and over a dozen boxes of black powder, stacked all the way to the five-meter-high ceiling of the stone chamber.

After inspecting these inventories with great shock, Dong Ku calculated that the only usable weapons were the Mauser pistols. The Maxim and Gatling guns, known as the "Vulcan Cannon," were currently not usable. He then ordered, "Move one box of Mauser pistols, two per person, and one thousand rounds of ammunition each." After saying this, he prepared to move the ammunition.

Suddenly, he stopped, holding the flashlight and walked out of the room. He stood in the corridor, shining the light on both sides, and then walked to the end. At the end, he frowned. The narrow staircase that only allowed one person to climb was clearly not possible for transporting the Gatling and Maxim guns. To disassemble them, these untrained bandits would be unable to complete the task.

Could Prince Yan have not revealed all the secrets? Is there another secret passage?

Dong Ku walked back in confusion, crouching in front of the stone wall that led to the study and carefully studying it. He found that the mechanisms were very cleverly set up. If one didn't know which stone brick could be pushed in, it would be very difficult to find the mechanism.

Liu Zhong and Shunzi moved the ammunition and Mauser pistols to the corridor and didn't say a word when they saw Dong Ku studying. They knew that Dong Ku was not like them; his experience and knowledge far surpassed that of a hunter.

After studying the entrance, Dong Ku got up and walked to the end of the corridor, about a hundred meters away. He believed that there should be a passage there; otherwise, these heavy weapons could not have been transported in.

Sure enough, as Dong Ku used the tip of his knife to trace the seams in the stone wall, he found that there was indeed a door. After a careful search, it took less than ten minutes to push open a two-meter-wide, three-meter-high stone door.

"There really is a secret room..."

Liu Zhong and Shunzi looked at each other, understanding the message in each other's eyes, and followed Dong Ku into the stone door.

What a clever fox!

Looking at the room illuminated by the flashlight, Dong Ku sighed inwardly.

This place was similar to the previous stone chamber, with three rooms and a corridor.

The rooms were piled with various guns, none wrapped in oil paper, and a few boxes of silver dollars and a small box of gold dust, about ten pounds in total, clearly left there to mislead.

After inspecting the three rooms, Dong Ku turned back and said, "Liu Zhong, go back and close the study's secret room according to the method I told you, then guard the gate."

"Okay."

Liu Zhong responded, took the flashlight, and returned to the previous secret room, carrying a box of Mauser pistols and left.

After Liu Zhong left, Dong Ku and Shunzi began to search the area carefully. He believed there must be another passage, at least one that could transport the Maxim guns.

During the search, Dong Ku found a special place. Although they were at least fifteen meters underground, the stone walls were completely dry and cool.

It seemed there was a way to drain the moisture, perhaps through a channel around the secret room that led to an underground river, ensuring the dryness. There was also ventilation; although the smell was not pleasant, it was not suffocating, indicating the presence of air vents.

After about ten minutes, Dong Ku found a hidden door in the corner of the corridor, and Shunzi found a stone door at the end of the corridor and opened it.

"Don't go in yet. Let's check this place first. Prince Yan said his grandfather learned to use poison, and we haven't found any mechanisms yet. We should be careful," Dong Ku said, holding the flashlight and squeezing through the door.

Shunzi shone the flashlight into the room, saw the darkness, and decided not to explore further, following Dong Ku through the small door.

Squeezing through the half-meter-thick stone door, Dong Ku saw something unexpected. There were several more iron boxes, similar to those in the study's secret room.

Shining the flashlight around the small chamber, he saw nothing and carefully opened the boxes.

As soon as the boxes were opened, the small chamber was instantly bathed in a golden glow. The jewels and gold in the boxes reflected the light, making his eyes hurt.

"Damn!"

Shunzi, who was behind, cursed. If these dozen or so boxes were all filled with jewels and gold, they wouldn't be much less valuable than those in the study's secret room.

Dong Ku forced himself to calm down and carefully opened each box one by one. Each box contained gold ingots and jewels, nothing else.

"Damn!"

Closing all the box lids, Dong Ku cursed. Prince Yan must have known about this secret room but didn't reveal it even at the end. If it weren't for the size of the Maxim guns, he might have thought all the wealth had been found.

Leaving the secret room, he closed the door and, seeing no trace of a door on the outside, said, "Let's go see what's behind that door."

Shunzi nodded, following Dong Ku in silence, clearly still shocked by the wealth they had found. To him, and to Liu Zhong and the others, this wealth was beyond measure, as they had never seen gold or jewels, let alone silver dollars.

Entering the room, Dong Ku noticed that the door was marked with the location of the mechanism, a hexagonal stone column protruding from the wall, easily visible.

"Smart!"

Dong Ku praised.

If one followed the conventional thinking, a person entering from the outside would open the stone door, take the guns and a small amount of gold and silver, search the area, and not find the hexagonal stone column. Most people would assume this was the end. If the person inside was not a family member, they would likely overlook the small door in the corner, allowing the owner to retain enough wealth to rise again.

The design of the secret room was clearly intended to make people believe that the gun and ammunition storage was the only treasure, as guns were very valuable in this era. A Mauser pistol could be sold for about 400 silver dollars on the black market, more than an ounce of gold. If the study's secret room was not found, the owner would still retain enough wealth. This was a clever design, with multiple layers of security.

Entering the room, Dong Ku realized there would be no more secret rooms, as this was a passage-like area, about two meters wide and high, with small square holes in the walls every few steps, each containing a blackened oil lamp.

"Watch your step."

Dong Ku stopped searching and headed straight forward.

Shunzi responded, shining the flashlight on both sides, and followed Dong Ku.

As they walked, they realized the passage was very long, and the flashlight couldn't reach the end, with no turns.

Could it lead outside the city? Not to someone's house in the city?

Dong Ku pondered as he walked. This was very different from his initial judgment. The passage clearly did not lead to a specific house, as there was no sign of an end, even after walking for over ten minutes.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Dong Ku and Shunzi finally reached the end of the passage. A series of steps led to Xiangshan, and the stones were damp, indicating that there was no drainage system here.

Reaching the top of the steps, they saw a two-meter-square stone slab overhead, with two iron pillars attached to it, one end fixed to the stone slab and the other to the wall.

Dong Ku tried pushing the stone slab and found it a bit loose but elastic. He then took out his dagger and cut along the seam, quickly severing the roots and quietly lifting the stone slab a few centimeters to listen for any sounds outside. After confirming it was safe, he lifted the stone slab, revealing a gap of about ten centimeters and looked outside.

The view was desolate, and the exit was clearly not in the city.

Dong Ku didn't dare to open it too wide. After confirming it was not in the city and there were no buildings, he put the stone slab back, pulled it down, listened for a while, and then signaled Shunzi to return.

They quickly returned to the weapons storage, carried two boxes of ammunition, and returned to the living room.

As soon as Dong Ku entered, Liu Zhong greeted him, saying, "The Japanese just called, asking Prince Yan to go out of the city to collect grain. The trucks are already parked at the gate. Shanzi is handling the handover with the Japanese drivers, two of them."

"Collect grain?"

Dong Ku put down the ammunition box, frowning.

This was not a good sign. They could only stay in the Wang family courtyard until the next morning. If they didn't act tonight, they would have to move; and even if they moved, if Prince Yan didn't deliver the grain to the Japanese tomorrow, he would be questioned, and if people came, then...

It seemed they had to act tonight, but the risk was high. If the wind direction was wrong, the gas could drift to the western part of the city, making him a murderer of his own people.

This news made Dong Ku hesitant, the first time he was unsure and indecisive. If they didn't act, the Japanese might impose a curfew and search the city, leaving them with very limited options, and a possible fight before they could act. This was not what Dong Ku wanted. If they released the gas, and the wind blew towards the west, it would not just kill a few people.

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