Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao put the letter on the desk and asked, "What happened? Why did they suddenly want to blow up the iron house?"

Qin An rubbed his hands, looking embarrassed: "I heard from Lord Sun, not Sun Guishan, but Sun Guihe, the supervisor of Mengshe Iron and Steel, that Lord Sun might come to inspect the iron mine. In order not to expose the great plan of the auxiliary general, the iron house needs to be hidden temporarily."

The date on the letter was half a month ago.

It was around the time that Guo Wenli left Yunnan County after discovering that Sun Guishan was an impostor.

but……

The water seepage occurred at least two months ago.

Judging from the saw marks on the supporting wooden beam, the first time people tried to saw off the beam was quite some time ago.

In other words, they had long intended to cause the iron mine to collapse.

Chen Shao continued reading the letter.

When I saw there were only five or six letters left, I finally saw the reason.

Her actions of confiscating the Zhu family and the Gu family in Hongyuan County made Sun Guishan, or rather the princelings of the previous dynasty, aware of the crisis.

The iron mine was leaking water, and they did it on purpose.

It was a delaying tactic to prevent her from coming to Yunnan County suddenly and catching them off guard.

Zhao Liangzhu's trip to the border and the capture of Ding Lisheng and Ma San made them feel the crisis further, which led to a series of actions such as the Shipailou subsidence, the Xitang County serial murders, and the artificial sawing off of supporting wooden beams, which accelerated the collapse of the iron mine.

After figuring out the whole story of the iron mine collapse, Chen Shao suppressed his rage and asked in a cold voice, "Where are the account books?"

Qin An keenly sensed the murderous intent hidden in her words, but did not dare to deny it, so he quickly took down a pile of "Book of Filial Piety" from the bookshelf, pulled out five volumes of them, and handed them over respectfully.

Chen Shao took a look at the "Book of Filial Piety" in his hand, and then at the "Book of Filial Piety" he handed over. He snorted coldly and took the "Book of Filial Piety" from him. "You work so hard for them, how many benefits have they promised you?"

Qin An knelt on the ground in fear: "I deserve to die, please forgive me, sir!"

"He really deserves to die," Chen Shao said coldly, "but whether he can be forgiven or not is not something that can be written off just by you kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy."

"Yes, yes, yes," Qin An answered tactfully, "They will give me a hundred taels of silver for each transaction with the Shan Kingdom, and at the end of the year, they will give me an additional three to five hundred taels."

Chen Shao flipped through the account books and asked, "Did their business with Shan start in the 16th year of Yuanhe?"

Qin An nodded: "From May of the sixteenth year of Yuanhe to now, a total of thirty-three transactions have been completed."

"One hundred taels for each business, thirty-three businesses equal three thousand three hundred taels, plus three to five hundred taels at the end of the year, which means you have made at least five thousand taels in five years." Chen Shao glanced at him, "How many accomplices do you have in the Military Equipment Bureau?"

Qin An said awkwardly: "Yes..."

"Write it down for me." Chen Shao ordered.

Qin An quickly got up, ground the ink quickly, and started writing.

Just after writing down the names of Luo Shizhong and He Kaiyang, the two of them staggered into the study amid the shoving of elite soldiers.

Qin An didn't dare to look at him for any longer. He just glanced at him briefly and then lowered his head again.

Seeing him like this, Luo Shizhong and He Kaiyang knew that the situation was hopeless, so they knelt down on the ground obediently and answered whatever was asked, not daring to hide anything.

The three of them confessed a total of 123 people, including middle and lower-level managers in all processes ranging from ore mining to weapons molding, quality inspection, warehousing, and general affairs.

There are only 340 middle and lower-level managers in the entire Mengshe Metallurgical Prison, and more than one-third of them have been bribed.

Chen Shao handed the list to Gu Feiyan.

Gu Feiyan read it from beginning to end, then handed it to the elite soldier beside her.

The elite soldiers took the list and rushed to various prisons and offices with Qin An and the other two to start arresting people.

"When the Zhu family and the Gu family were searched, they began to take defensive actions. You came to Yunnan County openly, but they only blew up the iron mine and did not destroy the evidence or evacuate Qin An and others. This is obviously unreasonable." Coming out of Qin An's courtyard with the account books, Gu Feiyan looked at the prisons and offices in the night and frowned.

Chen Shao nodded, "It is indeed very unreasonable."

Gu Feiyan looked at her: "What do you think?"

"When you went to Yunluo Mountain, there was also trouble at the iron mine." After summarizing the cause of the trouble and the people going up the mountain to ask for mercy, Chen Shao looked at her wounds and said, "Song Baotian's original intention should have been to lead us to Yunluo Mountain together so that we could be blown to death in that cave, but there are exceptions to everything, so they must have prepared more than just this one trick."

Gu Feiyan's expression gradually became serious: "What you mean is..."

Chen Shao looked towards the black stone cliff in the night.

Gu Feiyan also looked over with her.

There is no need to say more about the rest.

The collapsed iron mine and exposed iron house were just baits to trap them here.

Their goal from the beginning to the end was to keep them here permanently.

"What are your plans?" Gu Feiyan asked.

Chen Shao smiled: "They have locked me up here with the lives of nearly three hundred miners. Whether I advance or retreat, I have already fallen into their trap..."

If you go forward, you may lose your life.

If she retreats, the image she has built in Hongyuan County as a person dedicated to the people will completely collapse.

What a good plan.

Taking a look at the account book in his hand, Chen Shao sighed: "For the time being, I really can't think of any way to crack it."

Gu Feiyan thought for a moment and gave up.

If they evacuated everyone from Blackrock Cliff but left the iron mine intact, they would be criticized.

If they continue to stay here and something goes wrong, it won't just be the two of them who will die, but also tens of thousands of civilians.

"Don't worry," Chen Shao comforted her, and also comforted himself, "We have been at the mine for several days. They are reluctant to act, which means they are not ready yet. As long as we stay calm, we can always find a breakthrough."

"I hope so," Gu Feiyan said expressionlessly, "Fu Jiu is back, and it looks like she has gained a lot."

Fu Jiu approached and said excitedly, "I found five more iron houses! One in Jiafang Office, one in the Sword and Blade Workshop, one in the Material Warehouse, one in the Blacksmith Shop, and one in the Supply Camp. The iron houses in Jiafang Office, the Sword and Blade Workshop, and the Material Warehouse have all collapsed, but the iron houses in the Blacksmith Shop and the Supply Camp are still intact. Do you want to go take a look?"

"Lead the way." Chen Shao ordered.

The iron house of the forge and the supply camp, like the crossbow workshop, was also located behind the wall on the mountainside.

Chen Shao entered the cave through the hole in the wall that Fu Jiu had someone smash open. Looking at the intact iron house, Chen Shao was about to unlock the door when Gu Feiyan suddenly stopped her and said, "Wait a minute!"

Chen Shao's heart skipped a beat, and he obviously thought of a possibility.

Gu Feiyan signaled two elite soldiers to carry her to the front of the iron house. After looking it up and down, she turned around and told Fu Jiu, "Go and bring Sun Guishan over!"

Although Fu Jiu didn't understand why, she quickly returned to the iron mine and pushed and kicked Sun Guishan over.

"Go, open the iron gate!" Gu Feiyan gave the order without saying anything.