Chapter 937: Setting Up a Scheme (Part 1) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]

A look of surprise flashed across the courtesan's beautiful, sparkling eyes.

She seemed surprised that Shen Tang was still so naive. In the past, which of those merchants who used connections would come up and ask how much they could borrow to guarantee a profit? Which of them wouldn't be cautious and smiling obsequiously? In a moment, the courtesan regained her usual charming composure.

"Your Majesty is joking. Business is always a mix of profit and loss. What business in this world is guaranteed to make money? The amount of capital you lend depends on how much capital Your Majesty needs for your business. According to the rules, as long as you lend, you will receive protection no matter how much you lend."

Shen Tang was not fooled by her.

He chuckled and said, “Indeed, you can get protection no matter how much you borrow. Protection is protection, but it varies in sincerity. It’s like the maids and servants around the Queen, who are divided into first, second, and third classes. What I want to know is, how much does the first class need to borrow?”

Her words were completely direct and without any beating around the bush.

The courtesan extended her slender fingers to pick up the teacup, pretending to drink tea, without directly answering Shen Tang's question: "I heard that the Queen is doing this business to protect her family's business from the elders of her clan. As long as the business is successful, that's enough. In that case, why pursue the highest level? In my opinion, the third level or even the lowest level is enough. Since she can easily borrow a little money and rely on protection to trade in Jinli County."

Faced with the courtesan's probing, Shen Tang simply shook her head: "If that's all you're looking for, you wouldn't need to come here today."

The top courtesan's drinks are also quite expensive.

The courtesan's heavy makeup flashed by unexpectedly for a moment.

He asked with a smile, "Is there another purpose?"

Shen Tang frankly said, "To be honest, I believe that Kunzhou has only been established for a little over a year, and everything is in need of rebuilding. There are business opportunities everywhere. I plan to take advantage of the fact that other grain merchants haven't realized what's going on and buy up all the grain here. If managed properly, the profits will be immense in the future. I am a commoner who has only been widowed for less than two months. Even if I have a fortune, I am troubled by the lack of connections to high-ranking officials. Although the king allows merchants to enter officialdom, the path is extremely difficult. It is only right that I pay some price for this."

To put it simply—

She just wanted to use money as a stepping stone.

The more money she borrowed from officials, the more interest she paid, and the more bribes she essentially gave them, making it easier for high-ranking officials to consider her one of their own. With such a powerful figure protecting her in Jinli County, wouldn't her business ventures be incredibly smooth sailing?

The courtesan covered her lips with a handkerchief, her laughter as clear as silver bells: "Your Majesty is forthright and outspoken. Of all the men who have sought your favor in the past, none have had even half your spirit."

He clapped his hands in praise, saying, "I admire you greatly."

"If this matter succeeds, the courtesan will also benefit." Shen Tang was a person who could remain calm even when a hundred officials were fighting, so how could she be tricked by a few words from the courtesan? She calmly waved her hand, and the accountant standing beside her took out his money pouch.

Chu Yao took out two heavy, gleaming gold coins.

The two pieces of gold were not large, but their purity was rare.

Shen Tang said, "This is for your tea expenses, Madam."

The courtesan smiled and reached into her sleeve to tuck the gold into her sleeve. Her heavy makeup couldn't hide her good mood: "Very well, Your Majesty's words, I will convey them to you in detail. This matter will surely be accomplished!"

After sitting for a while, Shen Tang prepared to disembark from the flower boat.

The courtesan covered the back of her hand with her palm and said softly, "Your Majesty, there's no need to rush. We'll be a little while before we reach the shore."

As the other person leaned closer, a rich fragrance wafted into Shen Tang's nostrils. Like a startled rabbit, she abruptly withdrew her hand, her face slightly flushed, all her previous arrogance gone: "Flower, Flower Queen... please have some self-respect, I am in mourning."

The courtesan rested her chin on her delicate hand.

His phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, his red lips parted slightly, and he whispered in her ear in a sweet and seductive tone: "It is truly a pity that the Queen has become a widow before she has even tasted the joys and sorrows of the world."

Shen Tang looked up at the courtesan.

The courtesan chuckled and said, "This place is the most romantic and sensual place in the world. There are some secrets that outsiders don't know. Your Majesty, there's no need to be so nervous. It would only make me seem disrespectful to you."

Shen Tang's lips twitched slightly as she blatantly lied to cover it up.

“Everything I said is true. My late husband and I were betrothed since childhood. Nine years ago, our families arranged our marriage, and he was conscripted to fight. Unfortunately, on our wedding day, he was forcibly conscripted to fight. Over the years, we only heard bits and pieces of news, so I assumed he was still alive. Two months ago, his comrades finally found him, and I learned that he had been dead for many years, and even his remains had not been found…”

As she spoke, her eyes welled up with tears.

Chu Yao and his colleagues: "..."

Seeing her reaction, the courtesan believed her somewhat and felt extremely guilty. Shen Tang gently tugged at her handkerchief and said, "It's not the courtesan's fault. Actually, I've had a premonition all these years, but I just refused to believe it. It makes me feel much better to say it out loud."

Then, the courtesan offered another round of gentle words of comfort.

To make Shen Tang feel better, the courtesan also took the initiative to tell some of her tragic past stories, which were quite pitiful.

The courtesan was originally of good birth.

Her father was violent and a gambler, and her mother was weak and submissive. She and her twin sister depended on each other for survival. In order to obtain gambling funds, her father came up with the idea of ​​selling his two daughters to a brothel. They were rare twins, with excellent features and looked exactly alike. If the brothel bought them and raised them well, they could use the gimmick of "Ehuang and Nüying" or "sisters serving each other" to attract customers.

The pleasure boat was willing to pay a high price.

The gambling addict readily agreed.

However, the man let slip the truth during a drunken encounter.

The courtesan's mother hid one of the children. When the appointed time came for the wedding boat to pick them up, they found only the older twin remained, and halved the price. Enraged, the man beat the woman half to death. Two years later, he pawned her to make money.

"Make money by pawning it?"

"Wife-renting, huh?" The courtesan smiled alluringly. Some men couldn't afford the dowry, so they rented wives, the price being only two or three tenths of the dowry. After the rented wife bore their child, she would return to her original husband. The original husband had sold his wife for profit, while the new husband used rented wives to continue the family line—"each gets what they want, everyone's happy."

Shen Tang's face gradually darkened.

He asked, "A lot?"

Courtesan: "I don't know."

Shen Tang's hands, hidden in her sleeves, clenched together, her knuckles tense.

She asked, "Are you the older twin?"

The courtesan smiled but said nothing.

As they were talking, the flower boat suddenly rocked violently.

Shen Tang stood up and said, "We've reached the shore."

The courtesan suddenly stood up and went to the window. More than twenty men dressed as soldiers had appeared on the riverbank. The leader pushed aside those around him and forced his way onto the boat: "Zhechong Prefecture, inspection! All men, stand to the left; all women, stand to the right. Be sensible!"

Shen Tang leaned closer, craning her neck to see what was going on: "What's this?"

The courtesan said coldly, her hand gripping the windowsill unconsciously tightening as she gritted her teeth, "It's those poor soldiers again!"

Shen Tang covered her face with a handkerchief.

A short while later, footsteps and the clanging of weapons and armor could be heard downstairs. Counting the footsteps, there should be six people.

The private room was kicked open.

"Everyone, men on the left, women on the right!"

Shen Tang: "..."

The leader was a female soldier whose appearance was unfamiliar.

Upon seeing the large group of people inside, the man's thick eyebrows furrowed, and he pressed down on the hilt of his knife: "I'll say it again, men on the left and women on the right, stand properly."

Shen Tang and the others had no choice but to do as they were told.

This is not the time to reveal our identities.

The leading female soldier stepped forward, stopped, and looked at the courtesan. The woman stood there, seemingly frail and boneless, and sneered, "You poor soldiers, instead of training and farming, why do you spend your days chasing after pleasure boats? How many times have you come here? Have you found a pair of disheveled people? Or do you insist on seeing a man and a woman having intercourse before you're satisfied? If not, I..."

As the courtesan spoke, she raised her hand and took off the clothes on her shoulder.

Before she could finish speaking, Shen Tang heard a loud slap.

The female soldier swiftly slapped the courtesan across the face. The latter, caught off guard, turned her face away. After slapping her, the female soldier said, word by word, "Willingly debase yourself."

The courtesan licked the faint taste of blood from the corner of her lips.

He said indifferently, "Those who are not lowly are outside."

The female soldier ignored her words and waved her hand: "Take her away!"

The courtesan scolded, "How dare you?"

The female soldier stuffed a cloth into her mouth: "Take her away!"

He stopped at the door, then remembered Shen Tang and the others, and added, "And these few too, take them all with you!"

Shen Tang: "..."

Several ministers: "..."

This is the first time in my life I've been thrown into jail for coming to a pleasure boat.

The prison in Zhechong Prefecture was relatively clean.

Shen Tang sat on the straw mat, covering her face: "No, how did these people suddenly appear? What's the General's Office up to?"

The king and his ministers were arrested while strolling on a pleasure boat together.

This would be a huge scandal anywhere.

Turning his head, Shen Tang saw the accompanying court attendant holding a small pen, his other hand cradling a scroll, engrossed in writing something. Shen Tang's expression immediately cracked. The court attendant was in charge of recording the king's daily activities and important state affairs, writing the king's daily logs…

In other words—

If the nation of Shentang can be stably passed down through several generations, future generations will see a record of the founding emperor and his ministers being caught in a crackdown on prostitution and pornography—a record destined to be etched into the annals of shame. Thinking of this, her head throbbed even more.

"Your Excellency, could you please stop writing?"

The other officials were stiff and their expressions were wide open.

Holy crap, they forgot about the steward!

Will this guy write their names down too? Thinking of this, my vision blurred—whether they'll be remembered in history is still unknown, but they're sure to be disgraced for posterity along with the king.

When the Imperial Secretary was called out, he looked up at Shen Tang, then at his colleagues, and turned his back to continue writing and drawing with the palm-sized bamboo slips in his hand, showing no respect to Shen Tang whatsoever.

Just as several officials were about to roll up their sleeves and beat up the imperial scribe to force him to rewrite the content, people from the prison arrived.

It turned out that Qi Shan and Zhechong Duwei had come to take people away.

Qi Shan sighed, "My lord..."

Shen Tang raised her hand: "This matter has nothing to do with me."

The commander immediately knelt down, bowed his head and clasped his hands: "...This humble general has failed in his duties. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

Shen Tang: "You should take care of the Zhechong Prefecture."

The commander lowered his head even further: "This humble general obeys."

"Ji Shou, have you found anything here?" Several groups of people entered from different places, with Kang Shi in another group.

After being released from prison, they met at their temporary lodging.

Yes, the staff is quite organized.

Kang Shi: "I sent people to investigate the nearby funeral shops. During the period when the ghosts stole grain, there were few ancestral worship ceremonies among the people, so they should not have used much paper money. After searching all over the place, I found that there was indeed a shop that sold a lot of paper money. The people who bought the paper money were the gatekeepers of the government offices."

Shen Tang sneered: "The government gatekeepers buy so much paper money?"

They really didn't try to hide anything at all.

Kang Shi said, "The news he heard was that the gatekeeper's family appeared to him in a dream, so he bought a lot of paper money and burned it for them."

Shen Tang casually asked, "What's the gatekeeper called?"

Kang Shi checked very carefully: "Niu Zhong".

"Niu Zhong? That's a decent name." Because of their low level of education, commoners usually just picked names randomly.

"It is said that his original name was Niu Er, but he donated money to get a job as a gatekeeper, so he changed his name to Niu Zhong."

Shen Tang stroked the teacup: "Niu Er?"

The words the middleman had said earlier involuntarily came to mind.

"Did you encounter any brokers at the post station?"

"A broker? No."

Shen Tang became increasingly certain that this broker was plotting against her.

"Does Niu Er have a crazy wife?"

"How does Your Majesty know? This Niu Er does indeed have a wife. The neighbors say he's mentally unstable, acting crazy and hurting people indiscriminately, biting anyone he sees. Once, he even bit off someone's ear. Niu Er's mother-in-law locked her daughter-in-law at home to take care of her... These are just the neighbors' stories, but a deeper investigation revealed some discrepancies between the testimonies and the facts. I believe this woman was neither mentally unstable nor stupid before," Kang Shi continued. "A neighbor once said that this woman's hands were slender and fair, unlike those of a farmer..."

A pair of slender, fair, and flawless hands is not easy to maintain.

This means that this person basically does no work.

They live a life of luxury and are always taken care of.

and--

“Niu Er is a gatekeeper in the government office. Not just anyone can sit in that position. Where did he get the money to get the job?” Shen Tang pointed at the table. This money was probably ill-gotten. “Ji Shou, besides this clue, are there any others?”

Kang Shi said, "Niu Er is dead."

Shen Tang was not surprised: "It would be normal for him to die."

Are we just going to leave such obvious clues unattended and wait to get caught?

Shen Tang asked again, "Have you investigated the mass grave area?"

If those ghosts were actually living people in disguise, there would definitely be places where people hid in the mass grave, or at the very least, traces of a large number of living people's activities, which might provide some clues. The real fear is that those ghosts are disguised spirits, which would leave no trace whatsoever.

Kang Shi said, "I checked it too, and there's no problem."

No problem, just no clues.

"The Tianquan Guard conducted undercover investigations on many commoners who saw the ghosts that day, and most of their testimonies matched up. Those ghosts did not resemble living people. One child ran into the group of ghosts while his elders were not paying attention and walked straight through their bodies. He came back with a high fever."

Shen Tang thought for a moment, then looked towards Gu Chi.

I didn't bring Gu Chi with me to the pleasure boat today. Gu Chi went to do something else, to put it bluntly, to dig up a grave—the grave that the broker had been muttering about in the middle of the night.

Gu Chi said, "There is a woman in the tomb. Judging from the condition of the skeleton, she should be around seventeen or eighteen years old. There are cracks of varying degrees on her occipital bone, temporal bone, scapula, clavicle, and ribs. There is also a knife on her lumbar spine. She was obviously murdered."

The woman's leg bone had also been struck with a blunt object.

|ω`)

Regarding the investigation, I probably don't understand why Tang Mei would get involved.

Initially, Tang Mei sent seven guards to assist the Ministry of Justice in making the arrest, but she later changed her mind because this matter was very serious.

First, the censor died.

Do you know how serious it is to kill an imperial envoy?

Secondly, Kunzhou borders the Northern Desert, and Tang Mei only completely conquered the entire territory in the third year of Yuanhuang's reign; before that, she only controlled a portion (especially the border forces bordering the Northern Desert). If war breaks out with the Northern Desert, food supplies will be supplied to Kunzhou. Part of Kunzhou is also a neighbor of Wu Xian.

It would be the best outcome if the grain were embezzled by officials; otherwise, no matter which neighbor took it, the problem would be extremely serious.

Tang Mei is now conducting a private investigation to confirm which situation it is.

If it's just simple corruption, we can just crack down on it decisively and eliminate everyone on the list. But if foreign powers infiltrate, it will alert them.

P.S.: Everyone knows how lucky Tangmei is, so... ┓(`)┏

(End of this chapter)