Datang: Hiding private money, exposed by Xiao Sizi

Chapter 570: It's so strange! Why is it like this?

"In this way, all possibilities are verified by comparison."

"Military pay..."

Shen Lian said with absolute certainty, "It must be hidden in the palace!"

Although there is no hard evidence, Shen Lian believes in his own judgment.

He believed that the military pay must be hidden inside the imperial palace!
Only the imperial palace is the safest!
Anywhere else, under the circumstances at that time, was not safe.

At the same time, only the imperial palace meets the condition of not being able to be moved for ten years.

But where in the palace would the military pay be hidden?
Shen Lian narrowed his eyes.

The palace is very large and there are many places to hide things.

Therefore, it is not an easy task to find out the military pay.

Shen Lian pondered for a moment, then slowly exhaled and said, "We must find a way to enter the palace!"

Since it is speculated that the military pay is hidden in the palace, we must enter the palace to check.

Only by finding out where the military pay is can we proceed to the next step.

After all, in court, inferences are not accepted, but evidence and facts are accepted.

But how do you get into this palace?

If Shen Lian regained his identity, it would be easy for him to enter the palace.

Just scan your face.

Li Shimin gave him the privilege of entering and leaving the palace freely. What was a forbidden area for others was nothing to Shen Lian.

But now he has to continue to hide his identity and investigate the case secretly, so as not to alert the enemy and force the person behind the scenes to take desperate measures.

So he can't be exposed.

But it is not easy to sneak into the palace without being exposed.

Shen Lian was well aware that the palace under Li Shimin's control was strictly guarded.

Fortunately, Shen Lian was capable enough and climbed in easily.

Once inside, you will find that the palace is very large and the functional divisions are very clear.

The places where the emperor works and lives are the most heavily guarded, so unless something unexpected happens, even the royal family would not dare to hide the pay there.

After all, even if Li Shimin had just come to power at that time and did not have strong control over the palace, he should not be unable to control even the place where he lived and worked.

Well, that eliminates the two most important places!

What's left is the Imperial Garden, where the concubines live, and where the palace guards such as the Qianniu Guards live.

As for the place where the Qianniu Guards live, unless the person behind the scenes bribed all the Qianniu Guards, it is absolutely impossible to hide the military pay in the place where the Qianniu Guards live.

After all, if he really had this ability, wouldn’t it be better for him to just rebel?
What other money is hidden?
After eliminating the Qianniu Guards, only the Imperial Garden and the places where concubines, princesses, princes, palace maids and eunuchs lived were left.

The Imperial Garden is crowded with people every day, so the probability is actually not high.

It is very difficult for outsiders to enter where the concubines live, and the amount of military pay is quite large, so it is definitely not easy to transport it. Therefore, if a large amount of things suddenly enter the harem, it will not go unnoticed.

After all, those concubines are all competitors. If they find anything unusual, they will never miss the opportunity to deal with their competitors.

So, the probability is not high.

Where do the palace maids and eunuchs live?
The people here are mixed, so it is not impossible if we can bribe the managers.

So, there is a certain probability.

But after all, there are so many people and so many eyes. If one of them can't keep his mouth shut, the information will easily leak out.

In addition, the incident was very explosive at the time, and the atmosphere inside and outside the palace was depressing. If there were palace maids or eunuchs who really knew the inside story, they would probably have leaked some news, so there wouldn't be no news at all after ten years.

So, this has a certain probability, but it is not high.

Looking at it this way, it seems that no place is possible.

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes.

He suddenly thought of a place.

If it is this place, then it may not be impossible.

Cold Palace!!
With a clear goal in mind, Qin Wenyuan moved forward without encountering any obstacles along the way and soon arrived at the cold palace.

This cold palace is called Hanfang Palace.

The name is as cold as it sounds.

Hanfang Palace is located in the northeast corner of the imperial palace and is very remote.

And as he walked along, Shen Lian discovered that there were not many guards here.

After all, no one comes here normally.

Only concubines or royal family members who have been punished would come here to reflect.

So normally, there is no one here.

Therefore, there is no need to guard where there is no one.

All the palace maids and eunuchs need to do is clean regularly to ensure that when someone is punished, the place is not too dirty. That's all.

Shen Lian looked at the Hanfang Palace in front of him and did not go straight over.

On the one hand, Hanfang Palace is locked at the moment, and no one can enter unless someone is being punished.

On the other hand, Shen Lian was worried that the person behind the scenes might send people to secretly watch Hanfang Palace.

If the military pay was really hidden in Hanfang Palace, he would definitely send someone to keep an eye on it.

After all, if someone discovered the hidden military pay in Hanfang Palace, it would be a big disaster.

Therefore, if we go there rashly and without reason now, it is likely to arouse the vigilance of the person behind the scenes.

Therefore, Shen Lian did not plan to go there now.

He planned to wait until dark.

Even if the person behind the scenes sent people to keep an eye on Hanfang Palace, as long as you are in the palace, you will definitely not be free for twelve hours a day.

At best, you can choose a fixed time every day to check and see if anyone has entered. That's enough.

It is absolutely unrealistic to keep staring at it.

Not to mention that Li Shimin must have many secret agents and spies in the palace. If someone had been staring at Hanfang Palace, Li Shimin would have been alarmed long ago.

Therefore, under these circumstances, the Hanfang Palace can be explored, but it is best to do so after dark, when it is late at night and everyone is asleep, as one cannot walk around the imperial palace at will.

Even if Shen Lian came to investigate at that time, I believe that the person behind the scenes would definitely not know.

…………

Night falls.

Shen Lian did not delay any longer. He quickly climbed over the wall and entered the Hanfang Palace.

There was not a single lantern in Hanfang Palace under the night sky.

Fortunately, the moonlight is bright tonight, so even without a lantern, you can see most places clearly.

Hanfang Palace looked very desolate because it had been uninhabited for a long time.

The cold wind blew, rustling the treetops.

Occasionally, there is the sound of water drops falling, making a tinkling sound.

In this silent and empty hall, it seems very desolate.

Shen Lian had just arrived here, and he couldn't help but sigh.

The cold palace is the cold palace.

If those concubines and royal family members were locked up here, they would probably be scared to death in just one night.

By then, I believe they will be obedient enough.

Shen Lian felt that once someone had been locked up once, no one would want to be locked up a second time.

Therefore, there is very little traffic here, and maybe only a few people come here in a year.

Therefore, it is a good place to hide things.

Hanfang Palace is also a palace with a large area.

But fortunately, there are not many furniture and decorations, and you can see the end at a glance.

There is a deeper lake outside.

Then there is a pavilion. After the pavilion, there is the main hall.

There was only a table and a few chairs in the hall.

It can be said that it is cool and simple to the extreme.

Shen Lian looked around the hall and his eyes slowly narrowed.

This Hanfang Palace is so simple. If it really hides so much military pay, then where would those military pay be?

Where will it be hidden?

It is simple and easy to hide without arousing suspicion.

The layout of Hanfang Palace is very simple.

As a place for punishing royal family members, this place is naturally not very comfortable.

So, there is not even a couch here.

If you come here, you will really be punished.

So, how could such a simple Hanfang Palace hide so much military pay?
Shen Lian walked into the hall.

Although Hanfang Palace is a cold palace, the architecture here is not crude and it forms a systematic structure like other palaces in the imperial palace.

Therefore, no walls can be added to this temple without permission.

Hiding the military pay in the wall would naturally not happen.

After all, every part of the hall has been exquisitely designed, and one point more or one point less will be very obvious.

Therefore, there is absolutely no secret room with any mechanism in this hall.

He really thinks everyone in the palace is blind.

Building a secret room is by no means an easy task. Even though Li Shimin had just ascended the throne and his control over the palace was not perfect, it would not be possible for someone to spend so much time building a secret room and it would not be discovered.

Therefore, the military pay should not be hidden in the main hall.

If not hidden in the main hall, where else could it be hidden?
Could it be the courtyard outside the palace?

Shen Lian walked out of the hall while searching.

He stood at the palace gate and looked toward the courtyard.

In the middle of the yard, there was a huge lake.

The lake occupies about two-thirds of the yard.

Shen Lian didn't know what the official from the Ministry of Works who built Hanfang Palace was thinking. Perhaps he felt that Hanfang Palace had to be cold enough to live up to its name.

So we built such a big lake.

In addition to the lake, there is a pavilion on the edge of the lake and a small garden nearby.

Naturally, there is no comparison between this garden and the Imperial Garden.

But there are quite a few flowers inside.

It can be seen that even though not many people come to Hanfang Palace normally, it is still well taken care of by the palace maids and eunuchs.

Apart from the garden, there are only a few trees left.

Apart from that, there is nothing else.

Simple and clear, you can see the whole picture at a glance.

Shen Lian looked at this simple courtyard, his eyes filled with thought, his brain working frantically.

If it were him, he would need to hide a large amount of salary here, where would he hide it.

Moreover, to hide military pay, two conditions must be met!
First, the time must be short!
At that time, Li Shimin frantically ordered people to search for the whereabouts of the military pay. As long as the military pay was still in his hands, there was a danger of being discovered at any time.

Therefore, all the military pay must be hidden as quickly as possible.

The second thing is that once it is hidden, people won’t easily notice that there is a problem.

Although not many people usually come to Hanfang Palace, the palace maids and eunuchs still come at fixed times to clean and take care of the garden.

After hiding the pay, the first thing to do is to prevent the palace maids and eunuchs from discovering anything unusual.

The palace maids and eunuchs in charge here are very familiar with this place. Even with their eyes closed, they know where is.

Therefore, it is not easy to hide it from them.

Even if we dug a hole and bury the pay, it would be difficult to hide it from them.

After all, the amount of military pay is not small. If so much military pay is buried, it will produce an equal volume of soil.

The soil is very conspicuous no matter where it is placed.

Moreover, the dug-up soil has a different color compared to other soils.

If the palace maids and eunuchs saw it, they would definitely guess that someone had disturbed the soil in Hanfang Palace.

Therefore, this kind of danger must be avoided at all costs.

Then...what else can I do?
Shen Lian put himself in the role of the person behind the scenes.

From the perspective of someone behind the scenes, think about what should be done.

And at this moment... his gaze suddenly fixed on one place!
He just looked ahead - at the lake that occupied two-thirds of the entire yard!
A lake that is said to be quite deep!
"Could it be..."

Shen Lian quickly came to the front of the lake.

He looked into the lake and saw some dirty things like dry leaves lying on the surface of the lake.

These things blocked some of the view.

But you can still see below the lake.

The lake water is fairly clean.

But human vision is limited.

Standing on the shore, you can only see two or three meters below the lake, and because the lake is very deep, you can't see the bottom of the lake.

Not to mention, you can see below the center of the lake.

You know, Shen Lian's eyesight has been enhanced by the system.

It's beyond ordinary people.

But even he couldn't see the conditions at the bottom of the lake in the center, let alone others!
Moreover, the lake is very large. Even if military pay is thrown into it, it will only cause the water level to rise slightly.

But the rising water level would not attract many people's attention as long as it had rained those days.

After all, those palace maids and eunuchs probably don’t have the ability to judge how much the lake has risen in water based on the amount of rainfall!
What’s more, lake water is not mud, so there will be no color difference!

So...if Shen Lian chooses.

Shen Lian would definitely choose this lake!
This is simply the most suitable and best place to hide so much military pay in the shortest possible time!

So……

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes. Is this really the place?
Payroll hidden in the lake?

Shen Lian stood on the shore, looking at the lake in front of him.

The moonlight shines down, making the lake surface clear and bright.

However, standing here, you cannot see the bottom of the lake in the middle of the lake.

He pondered for a moment and finally sighed.

"It seems that we have to go into the water."

"I hope I can gain something this time, otherwise I will lose out."

"The city of Chang'an in March is not really warm."

In order to confirm the clues, Shen Lian had to go in himself.

He quickly took off his clothes and shivered as he felt the cold wind.

He felt that he was really dedicated.