As he was talking, the shadow guard who had been following him came back and bowed his head and reported, "This man's name is Chen En, and he is now the head of the Chen family's guards. It is said that the eldest son of the Chen family accidentally saved his life when he went out hunting one time, and since then he has kept him by his side and values him very much."
Yan Shiyue was stunned, and an idea suddenly flashed in his mind.
She looked at Emperor Ming Yan: "Aye, listen! What a similar story! I am going to overturn my own judgment!"
She thought and said, "Generally speaking, people believe in 'repaying a favor'. Suppose... I saved a person by accident, and this person has no relatives or friends, but is grateful for my kindness and is willing to stay and work for me to 'repay a favor'. I find that he has good kung fu, is smart, and is loyal to me, so I will naturally respect him more and more... But what if this 'accident' was designed?"
She paused and said, "Every wealthy family has a place to hide their silver. The silver in the private vault is usually not used much, especially the private vault of the head of the family and the mistress, which is almost never touched all year round. What if these fake ingots were secretly brought into the private vault and the fake ones were exchanged for the real ones?"
Although there are silver bills nowadays, people still believe in real gold and silver more, and are more accustomed to storing ingots, silver cakes and the like in the warehouse.
She asked the shadow guard, "Is the Chen family very rich?"
"Yes," the shadow guard had been here for half a year and knew the whole town's situation very well, so he said, "The Chen family runs a grain store. It is said that their ancestors worked as horsemen. They may look insignificant, but they are actually very wealthy. It is said that the current head of the family has a nickname called Lingdangzi, which means the descendant of horsemen."
Yan Shiyue asked again: "That Chen En, how long has he been rescued? How long has he been a guard?"
Shadow Guard said, "It should have been more than a year since I was rescued. Others said it was last spring. I have been a guard for more than half a year. It was said to be in winter."
...
...
Judging from the time, it should be about the same, right? I don't know if it was just one change or several changes. If it was just one change, he should have left after he succeeded, right?
Yan Shiyue just looked at Emperor Ming Yan.
Emperor Mingyan asked: "How good is this man's Kung Fu?"
The shadow guard said, "I haven't seen it performed, but it looks like it can be killed in one move and defeated within 200 moves. But if there are no accidents, it can be hidden from the eyes and ears."
Yan Shiyue had never heard of the description of Shadow Guard, and it was a little strange. Huo Qijing also said: "The Kung Fu should not be too good, he is good at Qinggong, and his ears and eyes are ordinary."
Emperor Mingyan said: "Think of a way to sneak into the Chen family's treasury and check whether there is any fake silver."
The shadow guard obeyed the order and left.
Emperor Mingyan said again: "Yuer, write a letter to your father and ask him to secretly check the treasury of the royal palace."
Yan Shiyue agreed and quickly wrote a letter to Yan Chengyuan. He did not write any details, but only asked him to secretly check the warehouse without telling anyone, and noted the appearance of the fake silver.
Emperor Ming Yan was quite relaxed and asked her, "If the matter is as you guessed, how do you think we should investigate next?"
Yan Shiyue said: "Father, don't you think this is very similar to Nian Yang's method? Spending two or three years to clean up a family, the wealth gained, if it is said that there are 100,000 taels, 200,000 taels... or even tens of thousands, it is considered a huge profit, right? When the matter is exposed, they will run away without a trace. I think there should be more than one such person..."
She remembered and asked, "Aye, you said that the shadow guard found the source here, which means that the place of production is here?"
Emperor Ming Yan nodded.
Yan Shiyue said seriously: "I suggest that Sima Long be tried in secret."
Emperor Mingyan said, "You just thought of this? I have already examined it."
He asked someone to send a testimony, and Sima Long summoned Zhu Hong, the doctor in charge of the national treasury. How should I put it... This matter is similar to the official protection talisman in Dream of the Red Chamber, a thing passed down from generation to generation in the Ministry of Revenue, with a contact location on it.
But probably because of the incident with the national treasury, that place has been deserted and there is no place to trace it.
Yan Shiyue hadn't thought of this at all at the time, and was furious when he saw it: "These people really deserve to die! They are even more hateful than I thought! They should all be beaten to death! Their houses should be confiscated! Ah Jing, buy me a whip, the kind with thorns, so that I can whip anyone I don't like in the future!"
Emperor Mingyan patted her on the back and said, "What's the harm of a few slaps? It doesn't hurt, and it damages your reputation. Just deal with it slowly."
Yan Shiyue was angry for a while before he began to think about it carefully.
Tin is one of the famous "five metals": gold, silver, copper, iron and tin. It was discovered very early and has a very low melting point. Tinsmiths can be found everywhere, but if it is used in large quantities... there must be tin mines.
Yan Shiyue asked: "Is there a tin mine here?"
Emperor Mingyan nodded, and the shadow guard said, "There is a tin mine in the local area, and it has been bought by someone a long time ago, and no problems have been found."
Tin ore is divided into two types: mountain tin and water tin. Mountain tin is further divided into tin melon and tin sand. The local ones belong to mountain tin and tin melon, and the quality is still good.
Smelting tin also requires a huge furnace, which usually contains hundreds of pounds of tin sand and hundreds of pounds of charcoal. It makes quite a big noise. Judging from the number of fake ingots, it is impossible for them to be smelted slowly bit by bit in the house.
Yan Shiyue asked, "Is it possible that they only refine a batch when it is safe and then stop refining it, or that they have stopped refining it since the treasury case?"
"It's very likely," Emperor Ming Yan said, "but where did they refine it before?"
Who knows this!
Yan Shiyue asked: "Is there a map?"
The shadow guard was just like Doraemon. He immediately took out a map and drew out all the streets and shops on it, and what each place did. Because there were tin mines in the local area, there were also many tinsmiths. Yan Shiyue asked, "Check the tin mines?"
Shadow Guard said: "We have checked it and found nothing suspicious."
Yan Shiyue said: "What about Cha the tinsmith? The most dangerous place is the safest place!"
Shadow Guard said, "We have checked them all."
Yan Shiyue thought hard for a long time, but she didn't know where to start. She looked at the map and said quietly, "Aye, are you asking the shadow guards to come out and humiliate me?"
Emperor Mingyan was playing chess with Xu Wenqu while talking to her. Hearing her words, he smiled and comforted her: "It is precisely because I have tried all the methods that I can use that I asked you to try your luck. Didn't you find Chen En as soon as you came? You have done a good deed!"
Yan Shiyue said: "But I have also been to the Ministry of Justice! I make a living by my wisdom and talent! Not by luck!"
Emperor Ming Yan laughed and said nothing.
Because they were not in the palace, everyone was at ease. Xu Wenqu smiled and waved, "Come here, Yue'er. I'm going to lose. Come and help me."
"I don't know how to play," Yan Shiyue came over and said, "I only know how to play checkers."
Xu Wenqu smiled and said, "Just close your eyes and take a random step."
The three of them looked at her with a smile. Yan Shiyue closed her eyes, touched one at random, and then let go of another one.
There happened to be no seed where it was placed. When it was put down, several people all laughed. Prince Chun laughed and said, "You can tell the distance immediately."
Xu Wenqu also smiled and said, "This move is indeed both intelligent and talented, it is brilliant to the extreme."
Even Emperor Mingyan laughed repeatedly: "My Yue'er really doesn't rely on luck to make a living."
After listening for a long time, Yan Shiyue realized that he had helped Emperor Ming Yan, and it seemed that he had helped quite well.
Seeing that the three of them were laughing so hard and continuing to study the cleverness of her move, she couldn't understand the fun of this kind of cultured people, so she sighed and stepped back.
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