Chapter 181 Interrogation

Over the course of two years, three of the four transport commissioners from three prefectures were undoubtedly involved in the tax embezzlement case, but one of them is already dead.

Jiang Yu tapped her hand on the table, then stood up after a while and said to Xia He, who was guarding outside the door, "Get ready to go to the dungeon."

Upon hearing this, Xia He immediately went to find the steward, Li Zhong, who was in charge of the dungeon. A short while later, Li Zhong arrived and led Jiang Yu and Xia He to the dungeon. The madam, Lan Mudan, the eldest son of the Chen family, and the boat captain were still imprisoned there.

Upon entering the dungeon, Jiang Yu had someone bring over the eldest son of the Chen family first. Nearly a year had passed, and the eldest son of the Chen family had long lost his former glory, becoming as listless as a puppet. Only upon seeing Jiang Yu did he regain some of his spirit.

"Are you here to kill me?" Young Master Chen asked in a flat tone.

After nearly a year of imprisonment, he had long lost any hope of freedom. So afraid of death, he had thought of ending his life many times, but he never had the courage.

Jiang Yu sat in the armchair and shook her head upon hearing his words. Young Master Chen, however, became somewhat agitated upon seeing this, saying, "Kill me! I dare not commit suicide, kill me!"

Seeing his state, Jiang Yu's expression remained unchanged. She said, "If you can answer my question, I will kill you."

Young Master Chen was taken aback by her words, and then stammered, "No...shouldn't you let me go after I answered your question?"

Jiang Yu wore a speechless expression. "You're the one who told me to kill you."

Young Master Chen: "..."

“To tell you the truth, I will not let you out,” Jiang Yu said. “Answer my question, and you can choose to continue living as before, or die.”

Young Master Chen didn't understand her words and looked confused. "What if I... what if I don't answer your question?"

Jiang Yu: "Life is worse than death!"

She spoke calmly, but Chen Shao involuntarily took a few steps back. "You...you...what will you do to me?"

Jiang Yu's gaze fell on the torture instruments on the wall, her expression meaningful. Chen Shao followed her gaze and, seeing the gleaming instruments, immediately said, "Ask away, I'll tell you everything."

Jiang Yu was satisfied with his account and asked, "Did your uncle, Kong Wenjie, the former transport commissioner of Jiangzhou, participate in tax embezzlement?"

Young Master Chen shook his head: "I don't know."

Jiang Yu frowned slightly upon hearing this. Upon seeing this, Young Master Chen immediately said, "I really don't know. I'm just a spoiled brat. He never tells me about important family matters, let alone my uncle's affairs."

Jiang Yu hummed in agreement, indicating that she didn't doubt his answer, and Young Master Chen breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Then he heard Jiang Yu ask again, "Think back, has Kong Wenjie ever done anything particularly unusual?"

"What's the matter?" Young Master Chen asked.

Jiang Yu: "Anything you can think of is fine."

"Does he like touching women's feet count?" Young Master Chen asked.

Jiang Yu: "...Is there anything else?"

Young Master Chen thought for a moment, then said, "He's having an affair with the widowed sister of the Prefect of Jiangzhou."

Jiang Yu: "...Besides these kinds of things, is there anything else?"

Young Master Chen looked somewhat embarrassed. "I...I've been paying a lot of attention to this kind of thing before."

He thought for a while and said, "I heard my mother say that something happened in his family. She said that my aunt took the public money of their household and used it to lend money at exorbitant interest rates. When the money for that month was not collected, my aunt took some silver from Kong Wenjie's private treasury and used it to pay the people in their household monthly wages."

Kong Wenjie had a concubine who was greedy and loved counting silver every day. This concubine was pregnant at the time, and after receiving her monthly allowance from my aunt, she counted the silver for a few days and then miscarried. The concubine accused my aunt of poisoning the silver, crying and demanding that Kong Wenjie avenge her child. Kong Wenjie reprimanded the concubine, and the matter was dropped.

The remaining silver in Kong Wenjie's storeroom was moved away that same day. My mother said that Kong Wenjie must have intended to use that silver to harm others, but ended up harming his concubine instead.

"When did this happen?" Jiang Yu asked.

Young Master Chen thought for a moment: "The spring of the year before last."

Jiang Yu lowered her eyes slightly. Those silver coins must have contained heavy metals. What metals could they be? Iron, copper, mercury, lead—common metals in ancient times.

Iron and copper are ruled out, as their colors differ too much from silver, making them easily detectable. Mercury is too soft, so that's also ruled out. That leaves lead.

Lead is similar in color to silver, only slightly darker. However, it is denser than silver, so when mixed with silver, it increases the silver's weight and is difficult to detect. Furthermore, there are abundant lead mines. Because of its limited uses and high production volume, lead is very cheap.

While Daqian did have controls over mineral resources, the controls were not strict for mines other than gold, silver, iron, and copper. It wasn't difficult for ordinary merchants to buy lead, let alone those with power and influence.

"Have you seen that silver?" Jiang Yu asked Young Master Chen again.

Young Master Chen shook his head. "I only heard it from my mother; I've never seen it myself. But my aunt said that the silver was dark in color, so it must have been mixed with something harmful."

It seems that most of those silver pieces contained lead.

"Is there anything else?" Jiang Yu asked.

Young Master Chen thought for a while and mentioned a few things that he thought were unusual about Kong Wenjie, but they were all useless information.

Seeing that he had nothing more to say, Jiang Yu asked, "Tell me your choice?"

Young Master Chen looked completely bewildered. "What choice?"

Jiang Yu was speechless. "Do you choose for me to kill you, or to continue living in this dungeon?"

Young Master Chen suddenly realized he had forgotten about that and quickly said, "I'm alive, I want to live."

Jiang Yu hummed in agreement and ordered someone to take him away. Then he ordered the boatman to be brought up. The boatman, like Young Master Chen, was deathly listless. When he saw Jiang Yu, he only glanced at him before kneeling there with his head down, looking resigned to his fate.

Jiang Yu: "You have two choices. One, answer my questions properly and continue with your previous life. Two, hide something from me, and then you'll suffer a fate worse than death."

Jiang Yu's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a heavy sense of oppression. The boatman looked up at her, "It's better to live a wretched life than to die. Anyway, it's already like this, so ask away."

This is a smart person.

“You are a servant of the Kong family. I ask you, where did Kong Wenjie privately mint official silver?” Jiang Yu asked.