Chapter 515 The Missing Silver Sheath

Everyone was shocked.

There was silence in the room for a while.

It was Rong Ma who spoke first, “I can’t remember who introduced this monk Zhiguang’s master.”

Old Madam Gu frowned and thought hard, but she also couldn’t remember.

Qin Yuan said: “Monk Zhiguang’s master has passed away a long time ago. This incident may have happened more than 10 to 20 years ago. It is normal that he can’t remember it.”

However, Master Gu Liu asked in surprise: “So many silver ingots were buried? Where did these silver ingots come from? Is it legitimate? Is there any connection between this and the skull?”

Qin Yuan said nothing.

Old Madam Gu also looked at Lord Gu nervously.

Lord Gu said, “Even if he has anything to do with it, he won’t confess. Otherwise, he will be murdered. Zhiguang is now refusing to confess. Jingzhao Yinfu is trying to torture him and interrogate him about the silver ingots. The prosecutor said that it might be the tax silver that was lost more than ten years ago.”

Madam Gu asked in surprise, “Are you talking about the tax silver that was lost at Lugou Bridge?”

Lord Gu nodded.

Madam Gu murmured, “Oh my god, what an injustice! How can I explain this?”

Qin Yuan frowned and asked, “But the former crown prince…”

Lord Gu nodded heavily: “That time.”

Gu Liuye was confused and asked hurriedly, “Did you lose tax silver at Lugou Bridge more than ten years ago? How come I don’t remember it at all?”

Madam Gu slammed the table and said, “How old were you then? You stayed at home all day and never went out. These things are not often mentioned in our family. Back then, the former crown prince lost the emperor’s favor because of this incident, and later he was implicated in the Jurong treasure banknote counterfeiting case… Oh… It’s really an injustice. Back then, we dug three feet into the ground but couldn’t find where the silver was hidden. Many officials were implicated and dismissed, and some even sent their families to serve in the frontier. These bandits actually hid in our family temple. It’s really a sin.”

Lord Gu’s eyes were filled with anger, and he said in a hateful voice, “That’s right, this bunch of bandits, I swear to catch them all and bring them out to pay tribute to the late crown prince.”

Qin Yuan didn’t say anything.

This was indeed a very vicious thing to do.

Lord Gu was the late crown prince’s study companion, and they had a deep friendship. However, the bandits chose to hide the tax silver in the Gu family’s ancestral temple.

No one can swallow this insult.

Master Gu Liu was worried and asked, “Will this matter involve the Marquis’ Mansion?”

Madam Gu slammed the table again and said, “This matter was discovered by our family, so how could it be implicated in the Marquis’ Mansion? If it is exposed in the future, we will be implicated if we can’t explain it clearly. I think this matter is not right.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Mr. Gu Liu.

Madam Gu did not answer, but looked at Qin Yuan and asked, “My dear wife, you are always clever and smart, tell me something.”

Qin Yuan thought for a moment and said, “It’s hard to say. The tax silver back then was not a small amount. They were able to snatch the tax silver from the soldiers in broad daylight and then transport it to our ancestral temple without anyone noticing. How could Master Zhiguang and his apprentice do this?”

Madam Gu nodded repeatedly.

“Yuan’er is right. This matter is very strange! Third brother, why does Jingzhao Yinfu think that this money is the tax silver from that year? What is the basis?” Gu Jinghui said solemnly: “The tax silver sent by the prefecture was sheathed for the convenience of transportation.”

Mr. Gu Liu was even more confused.

“What is sheath silver?”

Qin Yuan said, “When the prefectures were escorting the soldiers to the capital, they had to pass through mountains and rivers. To prevent them from being robbed by bandits and pirates, they split the wood in half, hollowed out the middle, melted the small silver coins collected and poured them into the wood, then tied it tightly with an iron hoop. When they arrived at the destination, they split the wood again and handed over the silver. This is how the military pay was delivered.”

Lord Gu secretly admired his little wife in his heart that she even knew this.

My father-in-law is really good at teaching his daughter.

Madam Gu nodded and said, “Yuan’er is right. When the old marquis was alive, he said that the Ministry of War sent tens of thousands of taels of silver to Goryeo without any problems. No one would have thought that this tax silver would be robbed at Lugou Bridge after crossing mountains and rivers all the way.”

Master Gu Liu suddenly realized: “That is to say, when this silver ingot was poured, it was stamped with the seal of the prefecture.”

Lord Gu said, “Otherwise, the Ministry of Revenue must have a voucher when counting and registering. The silver ingots have a mark on them, so no one can deny the debt unless they are melted down and recast. Some of the silver ingots found by Jingzhao Yinfu under the Buddhist temple have not been melted, so they were recognized by the prosecutor.”

Qin Yuan smiled and said, “This is too deliberate. If you ask me, after so many years, all the silver would have been melted.”

Lord Gu glanced at Qin Yuan.

Qin Yuan said seriously: “I’m afraid this was put there for people to see, but we just accidentally opened the lid.”

There was silence in the room.

Madam Gu said solemnly after a while: “Yuan’er, are you saying that this is a trap set by someone else for the Marquis’ Mansion?”

Qin Yuan nodded and said, “Mom, I’m just guessing.”

“Please tell me in detail.”

Mr. Gu Liu already felt that his brain was not enough and looked at his third sister-in-law eagerly.

Qin Yuan cleared his throat and said, “It is clear that Monk Zhiguang has a strange origin, and it is not surprising that they found such a place to hide. The Marquis and the late Crown Prince have a deep friendship, and the Marquis of Dingbei has been hereditary and has always supported the orthodoxy. Naturally, no one would have thought that the thieves and tax money would hide here. This makes sense.”

Everyone nodded.

Qin Yuan took a sip of tea and continued, “But since they spent so much effort and made such a big fuss, why did they carefully not spend the money?”

After looking around at everyone, Qin Yuan continued, “Since the Jurong Baochao case, Baochao has been abolished. The only coins in Daxing are gold, silver and copper. There are many people who privately mint copper coins and forge silver. Although the law is strict, those who are caught will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane, three years of imprisonment, and be put in the shackles for a month in the local government office as a warning to the public, and their entire family will be sent to the border as a punishment, but the court has repeatedly banned the production of private money, but it still does not help.”

Lord Gu nodded and added, “There are a lot of private money in the northern part of the country. After the court issued a strict ban, official money was not enough. Moreover, the officials and craftsmen who made official money all pocketed the money. The official money was just like private money, and they were short of weight and filled with lead, tin and other things. The official money sent to us by the Ministry of Revenue broke into pieces when it fell to the ground. So private money can’t withstand fire at all. There are even more counterfeit silver. They all look like big, shiny silver ingots, but in fact they can’t withstand the slightest burn.”

This was the first time Master Gu Liu heard this, and he couldn’t help asking, “Third Brother, did we also mint private money in Saibei?”

Lord Gu glanced at them coldly and said, “What do you think? In Saibei, some people even cut aluminum and iron to trade goods.”

This sentence confused Mr. Gu Liu.

Glancing at Mr. Gu Liu, who looked confused, Qin Yuan changed the subject and said, “These bandits are so daring, they are desperate criminals who dare to fish silver out of a frying pan. Money comes easily, so naturally they spend it twice. Back then, they robbed the silver, hid it for a few years, shipped it out in batches, found a secluded place, melted it and marked it, and then it disappeared like a drop in the ocean, and there is no trace of it. Over the years, it should have been melted down and stored in the warehouse, or circulated on the market. Who has ever seen it melted and spent immediately?”