Chapter 110 Connected Pony Has a Name
"Do you know how many counterfeit copper coins were minted back then?"
Xiao Ma recalled, "I remember Dad saying... the amount of counterfeit copper coins wasn't too large, only one batch was cast, and one batch produced five hundred strings of cash, yes, that's all."
Five hundred strings of cash, if Guan Ye plotted against it, that's roughly four or five hundred catties of brass. In terms of materials, that's only two or three large bags. It's not a lot, but it's not a little either... After all, brass is under the control of the imperial court and is a strictly controlled material for minting coins.
"Little Ma, your family must be very rich," Guan Ye asked again.
Xiao Ma rolled his eyes. "That's because... Dad said our house took up half a street, and when he married my mother, the bridal procession stretched for miles. The scene was..."
Guan Ye interrupted, “Five hundred strings of copper coins, one-tenth of a kilogram of brass, is at most four or five hundred catties. According to the current market price, it can be bought for at most eight or nine hundred taels of silver. This amount is a lot for ordinary people, but for your family… it should not be much at all.”
Xiao Ma wanted to tell Guan Ye that, apart from the house and property that had been confiscated, her family still had 100,000 taels of silver in their possessions. A mere few hundred taels was not worth risking her life for.
Before Xiao Ma could answer, Guan Ye was already talking to herself again, "But the most important thing is... brass, which is extremely difficult to buy with silver."
"Why?" Xiao Ma pointed to the warehouse next door with the hilt of his sword. "There are some in Xingguo Warehouse."
Guan Ye frowned. "That wasn't bought by us. It was sent by the Salt and Iron Bureau from the imperial court. The amount sent was only enough to forge the hilts of a hundred swords for the Eagle Guard. If we need it again later, we'll have to report to the Salt and Iron Bureau for allocation. Brass is a material that has been strictly controlled by successive dynasties. Private mining of copper is forbidden, and concealing it is a capital offense. You can't buy it in ordinary markets. Even someone like Wan Qixi from the Ghost Market, you can get Kunwu stone, but brass? I'm afraid he wouldn't dare."
"Four or five hundred pounds of brass..." Xiao Ma murmured, "What are you going to do with all that? Guan Ye, you're familiar with all kinds of iron ore materials. What else can brass be used for besides casting coins?"
Guan Ye thought to herself, “The ritual and sacrificial vessels are all made of bronze, and…” Guan Ye pointed to Xiao Ma’s sword, “Your sword hilts are also made of a mixture of bronze and iron.”
Xiao Ma pondered for a moment, then asked himself blankly, "Several hundred pounds of brass, it won't make me rich, it won't be of much use, so what... is it for?"
"The confiscated brass," Guan Ye added, "was it found afterward? Was it all confiscated by the Salt and Iron Bureau?"
Little Horse shook his head. "They're all gone."
"—It's gone?" Guan Ye exclaimed in disbelief.
“It’s gone.” Xiao Ma repeated, “No one knows where the brass went except for my grandfather. He was executed a few days after turning himself in. My parents were exiled, the mint was shut down, and the court revoked the right of the outer mint to produce coins. The case was closed.”
After the Blood Crossbow Case, the qualifications of private workshops to manufacture weapons for the imperial court were all revoked, and weapons were now cast by the imperial workshops, a practice that continues to this day. Guan Ye's lips parted slightly, then she swallowed. From what Xiao Ma had said, the two cases seemed somewhat similar... but Guan Ye couldn't quite put her finger on the similarities. Perhaps both cases involved injustice... Were the two families least likely to have committed the crime simply incredibly audacious?
Tianhu Workshop has been forging weapons for the imperial court for many years. If the military operation is delayed due to weapons, all five workshops will be implicated, with Tianhu Workshop bearing the brunt. This is a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of the entire clan. The Lu family has served the country for generations. Even with a knife to the neck of the workshop owner, Lu Nian, he would never dare to do such a thing.
Colluding with the rebels, and then fleeing with the entire clan after the incident? Father had considered this possibility, but he quickly dismissed his guess. The Lu family consisted of over 130 people, young and old. The old lady was already in her seventies with white hair, and the young master, Lu Xiaoyun, was still a child. Could they really escape Rongdu with over a hundred people, young and old? Father had to take Mother with him, using favors and gold, and it took a lot of effort. For so many people from Tianhufang to leave the city quietly... even if you offered them a mountain of gold, the city gate guards would never dare to let them pass.
Most importantly, apart from her parents, everyone in Tianhufang was dead. The gates of Rongdu were locked between the living and the dead, and the pursuit of her father had not stopped for more than ten years. The imperial court believed that Tianhufang was responsible for the blood crossbow case, and Guan Xiaotian could not escape the responsibility. Her parents fled and fled until they had nowhere to go, until they were at their wits' end, until they died one by one, until only Guan Ye was left.
The father loved his wife dearly and doted on his daughter. He would rather die than take his wife and daughter down a path of no return.
Guan Ye recalled the image of his father burning fuel with all his might. He gritted his teeth and kept his head down, oblivious to the burning smell. He swung the shovel with all his might, as if he wanted to burn the past to ashes.
Father regretted not informing the neighborhood, and even more so, he regretted that he could do nothing, having nowhere else to go, his thoughts still lingering on the unknown island on the other side.
Father said—they didn't do the bloody crossbow incident. If Father said it wasn't them, then it definitely couldn't have been. Guan Ye spread her hands, looking at the calluses on her palms, and tears fell.
Seeing Guan Ye cry for no reason, Xiao Ma frantically searched his body for a handkerchief. He had known Guan Ye for so long, but he had never seen the iron-willed Guan Ye shed tears. Now she was crying like this with him. If A Jiu suddenly appeared, she could draw her sword and put it to his neck with just one glance.
“Guan Ye…” Xiao Ma held up a finger, wanting to touch her but not daring to. “Why are you crying?”
"I want to overturn the verdict too." Guan Ye cried even louder. "The blood crossbow case wasn't done by Father, nor by them. Why do they all have to die? They shouldn't have died."
Xiao Ma carefully pressed on Guan Ye's trembling shoulder. "No one deserves to die. The dead are gone, and the living must live well. As long as I live, the Ma family's case is not closed. We met on Canglang Island, and I even let you keep this last fake copper coin. I believe that this time, God is on our side."
Guan Ye's eyes were red and large tears welled up in them. She thought of something and said, "Why are there fake copper coins from back then next to the skeletons in the Canglang Island mine?"
Xiao Ma pointed his sword at the sky and said, "Everyone says that even Heaven is on our side. Guan Ye, you are my witness today. I, Ma Lin, hereby swear that if I fail to overturn this case, I will not be a man!"
"Ma Lin?" Guan Ye stared blankly at Xiao Ma's face, which seemed to have changed completely.
Xiao Ma raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I have a name. Let me introduce myself. My name is Ma Lin."
Little Ma has a name; his name is Ma Lin.
Inner Workshop Jingwu Pavilion
From Chenshi (7-9 AM) to Wushi (11 PM-1 PM), Shen Ao finally saw Wushuang, who was late. Seeing Wushuang walking languidly and smelling the alcohol on her as she passed by, Shen Ao's expression became increasingly unpleasant, but he suppressed his anger and did not lash out.
"Have you heard, young lady?" Only after Wushuang sat down did Chen Ao dare to speak. He was the head of the inner palace and the emperor's brother-in-law. Both princes were his nephews. But for some reason, perhaps because Wushuang's aura was too strong, every time Chen Ao saw Wushuang, he felt an indescribable fear. Was it because he was afraid of her sharp words, or because he was afraid of the sword in her hand?
“One interesting thing after another happened in Rongdu, but I don’t know what you mean by ‘unparalleled’.”
Chen Ao suppressed his anger, "Xingguo Ward has received one hundred precious swords from the Eagle Guard Battalion. I heard that half of them have been forged and will be delivered to the Ministry of War before the end of the year."
Wu Shuang raised her eyebrows in surprise, "A mere hundred swords? Steward Shen actually cares about that?"
Shen Ao's emotions instantly collapsed, his fat face trembling with excitement. "One hundred swords is just the beginning. The Eagle Guard is the elite of the army. If we can forge swords for the Eagle Guard, one day, the weapons of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Great Jin Dynasty will likely all belong to Xingguo Workshop." Shen Ao paused and then continued, "I heard that you even personally selected twenty swordsmiths for Xingguo Workshop..."
"The Emperor's edict was spoken in front of so many people." Wushuang glanced at him. "Does the Inner Palace intend to defy the imperial decree?"
"Of course not." Shen Ao's face turned pale. "The verbal order is true, but the execution is in the hands of the inner workshop. Twenty blacksmiths could have just chosen some sword slaves to fill the positions, but you actually picked experienced veterans... It's really... infuriating."
Wushuang chuckled mockingly, "No matter how useless Xingguo Workshop is, it is still a century-old workshop. Pei Yuan and his men may not understand forging techniques, but the forging masters and sword slaves can still tell the difference. Do you want the Pei family to go to the Emperor and say that the inner workshop is deceiving the emperor and using sword slaves to fill positions?"
Speechless after being rebuked, Shen Ao hastily dusted off his sleeves, no longer daring to look at Wushuang.
Wushuang toyed with the ore on the table. "A hundred swords from the Eagle Guard Camp, they must be Flowing Gold Swords?"
"You know about it too?" Shen Ao's eyes widened, and he became angry again. "It's the Flowing Gold Sword, the Flowing Gold Sword that you broke during the Imperial Sword Trial. The defeated opponent of the Inner Palace, how could such a useless sword be given to the Eagle Guard?"
Seeing Wushuang remain silent, Chen Ao hurriedly added, "The inner workshop clearly won the sword trial, so why is Xingguo workshop still allowed to gain a foothold? They should have been kicked out of Rongdu long ago."
“Yes,” Wushuang echoed softly. “Why can Xingguofang stay in Rongdu? All of them, Pei Yuan, Pei Bi, those swordsmen, and…” Guan Ye’s stubborn face appeared before Wushuang. “They should all go back to Canglang Island, trapped on the island for all eternity, never to step out.”
In Shen Ao's eyes, Wu Shuang's handsome face suddenly turned terrifying. Her starry eyes overflowed with a color more intense than the fire in the furnace. The veins on her slender hands with their distinct joints bulged, and her knuckles made a cracking sound as she clenched her fists. Shen Ao stared blankly at Wu Shuang's suddenly changed face and was so frightened that he took a few steps back.
"If I hadn't won the sword test," Wushuang coldly stared at Chen Ao, whose face had turned pale, "the Inner Workshop would have long been replaced by Xingguo Workshop. Would you still be in charge? You know better than anyone why the Emperor summoned Xingguo Workshop back to the capital. Was it really because they forged the Meteor Sword? Even if Xingguo Workshop couldn't melt the meteorite, they would still be summoned back to Rongdu. Why? It was to replace the Inner Workshop. The Inner Workshop controls the court's weaponry, with an annual turnover of no less than a million taels. The Emperor was worried that you and a few other wealthy families were eating too much, so he summoned Xingguo Workshop to help you share the burden. Today it's sharing the burden, but in the future, I'm afraid Manager Chen won't even get leftovers. In the future... perhaps you'll even have to vomit up everything you've eaten before..."
Shen Ao's face turned from green to white. He picked up his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "I am extremely grateful that you won the sword test, but... Xingguo Fang is like a sharp blade hanging over my head. As long as they are in Rongdu, I will not be at ease."
"As long as Xingguo Ward remains in Rongdu, I will feel uneasy." Wushuang darkened the fire in her eyes. "Getting them to leave Rongdu is not difficult..."
"Oh?" Chen Ao's eyes lit up. "Please speak, young lady."
Wushuang drew his sword and stroked it up and down. "Steward Shen, how much is a single Eagle Guard sword worth?"
When Wushuang suddenly asked about the price of weapons, Chen Ao's weak body twitched. "The Eagle Guards are elite, and the weapons they use are different from ordinary military equipment. They are made of very good materials, which takes a lot of time and materials, so the cost is naturally higher. The materials alone for one sword cost about ten taels of silver."
Wushuang seemed to have known all along, and blinked and laughed, "No wonder the court gave the order to Xingguo Workshop. How much does black iron cost? The materials for one black iron sword cost ten taels. If you include labor and the profit of the inner workshop, wouldn't you have to ask the court for twenty or thirty taels for one sword?"
“Not that many…” Shen Ao’s back was soaked with sweat after Wushuang pointed out the truth.
Wushuang shook her head. "No wonder they gave the Eagle Guard Camp's order to Xingguo Workshop. For the same price, they forged a Golden Sword, mixed with diamond sand. One pound of diamond sand costs four taels of silver. Even including ordinary iron ore, the cost is only about ten taels, which is much more expensive than the Xuan Tie sword from the Inner Workshop. Manager Shen, with that, what can the Inner Workshop use to compete with Xingguo Workshop?"
Shen Ao spread his hands, "The inner workshop is such a huge operation, how many expenses are there inside and out? The Emperor knows that... If the court doesn't pay, are you suggesting that it come out of my own pocket?"
“Xingguo Ward’s plates aren’t empty either.” Wushuang found it amusing. “No less than a hundred people came to Rongdu with us, and now there are twenty more chefs. Pei Yuan has to feed these people every day he opens his eyes. Manager Shen, from the moment we returned to Rongdu from Xingguo Ward, the Emperor has gained a winning piece in his hand, a piece that can capture the Inner Ward. If you’re still playing by the old rules, you and the Inner Ward will definitely not win this game.”
Silver was like flesh to Shen Ao; earning less was like cutting flesh off his body. If he had to give it back, he would rather die. But if he didn't force Xingguofang out, he would be boiled in oil and rolled on a bed of nails every day, and that would be the only option left.
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