"Sir, you have searched and found everything, but there is nothing in my house that was stolen or used for corruption." Guo Cheng, who was being held in custody, said at the right time, "Sir, should I be released?"
Gu Yun frowned, glanced at Guo Cheng sternly, strode forward, grabbed Guo Cheng's collar, and asked, "Where is Qin Huaiyuan? Where is the dirty silver hidden?"
Guo Cheng's face lost its fake fear, and he laughed instead, "Sir, I don't understand what you are saying. What about the dirty silver from Qinhuaiyuan? You suddenly came to visit me in the middle of the night and accused me without any evidence. Even if I went to the six ministries, I would still have something to say."
The smile on Guo Cheng's face really deserved a beating. Gu Yun couldn't contain his anger and clenched his fist to attack. Liu Ziqi spoke in time to stop Gu Yun's action.
"Move this cabinet away, and send a few people to search outside the yard and the nearby yards." Liu Ziqi and the soldiers ordered.
Two people stepped forward and moved away the wooden cabinet that Liu Ziqi mentioned, while the others went outside to search.
Gu Yun walked to the wooden cabinet and asked, "What did you find?"
Liu Ziqi's eyes fell on the scratches on the ground, "There are signs that it has been moved."
Guo Cheng, who was standing by, suddenly felt a change of expression on his face. Seeing that the cabinet was about to be moved away, he struggled to free his arms from being handcuffed, knocked the two people who were holding him to the ground, and attacked Liu Ziqi.
Gu Yun kicked a porcelain bowl on the ground, and the porcelain pot shattered in the air, blocking Guo Cheng's attack.
The soldiers on the side hurried forward and protected Liu Ziqi behind them.
Gu Yun flew forward and started fighting with Guo Cheng.
Liu Ziqi retracted his gaze and said to the soldier who had not moved the cabinet due to the sudden change, "Move the cabinet away!"
Two soldiers hurried forward, picked up the wooden cabinet and moved it aside.
A dark hole appeared on the ground. A soldier grabbed a burning log from the furnace and looked into the hole.
"Send a team down to investigate first." Liu Ziqi ignored Gu Yun who was still fighting with Guo Cheng. The most important thing right now was to get the dirty silver back. With the dirty silver, there would be evidence.
Liu Ziqi and a team of soldiers quickly went down to the cellar with torches. After going down, Liu Ziqi found that this was not an ordinary farmer's cellar at all. There was a road underneath, but no one knew where it led to.
Fearing that the dirty silver and Qin Huaiyuan would escape through this secret passage, Liu Ziqi asked one person to return to the ground to report to Gu Yun, and took the others to chase after them through the secret passage.
Under the siege of the soldiers, Guo Cheng was severely injured by Gu Yun and was detained by the soldiers again. Gu Yun removed his arms and was about to go to the cellar entrance under the wooden cabinet to find out what was going on when someone came up from below.
The soldier coming out of the secret passage reported, "Young Marquis, there is a secret passage below, Master Liu is leading his men to chase after them."
Gu Yun couldn't help but feel a little worried when he heard this. Liu Ziqi didn't know martial arts, and it would be terrible if there were any traps in the secret passage.
Gu Yun wanted to go down to the cellar, but someone had to watch over the courtyard. He hesitated and ordered loudly, "Send another team down, and make sure to protect Master Liu."
"Yes!" A team of soldiers took the order and went down to the cellar again.
Gu Yun was fidgeting on the ground, guarding the entrance to the cellar, and occasionally leaning over to look down. Just then, someone suddenly came to report, "Young Marquis, there's movement next door."
Upon hearing this, Gu Yun stood up, asked someone to guard the entrance to the cellar, and followed the soldier who came to report to the next yard. The whole family, young and old, were stopped in a corner of the yard. Gu Yun's arrival caused a commotion, which was quickly suppressed by the soldiers who stopped them.
"Our subordinates were searching the house just now and heard some noise under the bed. This place is empty." The soldier led Gu Yun straight to the east room in the next yard.
Gu Yun raised his hand and motioned for the two to move the bed forward. Voices and noises were heard from under the ground again.
Gu Yun reached out and knocked on the ground, and sure enough, it was hollow. He lifted up a blue brick, and the soldiers nearby hurried forward to help. Soon all the blue bricks were lifted up, revealing the hole.
The sounds of weapons clashing and human voices below were clearer. Gu Yun jumped down, followed by several soldiers.
It turned out that the secret passage in the cellar of Guo Cheng's house led to the yard next door, and Qin Huaiyuan was hiding in this secret passage with the newly minted dirty silver and several barrels of silver liquid that had not yet cooled down.
There were several villagers holding iron knives hiding in the secret passage with Qin Huaiyuan. Liu Ziqi followed the secret passage to find them. Qin Huaiyuan heard the noise and wanted to leave from the exit here. As soon as he pushed the blue brick, he was discovered by the soldiers sent to search.
Therefore, before he could leave, he was caught up by Liu Ziqi and his men.
Those villagers holding iron knives were no match for the soldiers and were quickly subdued. Qin Huaiyuan knew he could not escape, so he had to surrender.
Qin Huaiyuan was taken to the ground and the dirty silver was brought up. Gu Yun left a team of men to guard the village. After sorting out the dirty silver, he took Qin Huaiyuan, Guo Cheng, and Liu Ziqi back to the city.
"That's great. We have witnesses and evidence in our hands, and we can also take down Cheng Ying. It's really satisfying!" Gu Yun said with a light-hearted look.
Liu Ziqi was not as optimistic as he was. After Emperor Mingzheng ascended the throne, Cheng Ying had been in charge of the Imperial Household Department for many years. He had great power and a strong foundation. Although the case of embezzlement of official silver in the north was a serious case, if one wanted to use it to overthrow Cheng Ying, he would not even be able to shake his foundation, not to mention that the casting of new silver was probably not Cheng Ying's work at all, and Cheng Ying was just following the wishes of that person.
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