The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 147 The breakthrough has been found! Du Gou's shock: How could you have such an idea?
Du Ying understood Liu Shuyi's meaning, and simply left with the words "Leave it to me" before turning and leaving the office.

Watching Du Ying's decisive and efficient retreat, Liu Shuyi couldn't help but sigh. Du Ying always made him feel so at ease. He must have had incredible luck in his past life to meet her.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Du Gou, whose eyes were glancing at the food on the desk, and said with a smile, "Du, you've been asking your colleagues at the Court of Judicial Review a lot, and you haven't had time for dinner, have you? Let's eat together."

Du Gou was a little embarrassed: "Isn't this inappropriate? After all, this was specially prepared for you by my younger sister."

Liu Shuyi said with a smile, "It's alright, you can just not eat the dishes that Miss Du made herself."

Du Gou's eyelid twitched.

You won't eat your sister's cooking, but you'll eat the cook's?

He was tired of eating the cook's dishes at home every day, while his younger sister, although she had learned excellent cooking skills from Sun Simiao, did not cook often. Du Ying had never made these two dishes before.

So what he craves is the food his sister makes. If Liu Shuyi won't let him eat it, what's the point of him getting a free meal?
Seeing Du Gou's eyelids twitching, Liu Shuyi laughed. As if by magic, he took out another pair of chopsticks from the food box and said with a smile, "Actually, Miss Du has already prepared chopsticks for you. This meal was originally prepared for the two of us. Miss Du has not forgotten her brother."

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Du Gou's gentle face immediately lit up with joy: "This girl, at least she didn't betray her own side too much."

Liu Shuyi smiled and handed the chopsticks to Du Gou: "Miss Du may seem cold, but she is warm-hearted. She is actually very kind and remembers all of us."

Du Gou found these words rather strange.

Shouldn't it be the older brother who says things like "my sister is gentle and kind, cold on the outside but warm on the inside" to outsiders? Why is it the other way around now? Liu Shuyi said to himself.

This gave him a strange feeling that he was the outsider between Liu Shuyi and Du Ying.

However, Liu Shuyi told him to hurry up and pick up the food so it wouldn't get cold. His thoughts were interrupted, so he didn't dwell on the feeling.

While eating, Liu Shuyi asked, "How is the inquiry by Vice Minister Du going?"

Du Gou said, "We have already asked more than half of the questions."

As he spoke, he took a book out of his pocket and handed it to Liu Shuyi.

"The statements that have been obtained from the interrogation are all recorded here."

"It will probably take until dawn to ask everyone."

Liu Shuyi took the book and said, "The speed is already very fast. Du Sicheng, you've worked hard."

Du Gou smiled and shook his head: "There's no need to say these things to me."

"That's true." Liu Shuyi nodded.

He didn't stand on ceremony with Du Gou, and opened his books while eating.

Du Gou asked the questions exactly according to the outline he had given him, so the record was very clear and concise.

The rightmost column on each page contains the identity information of the person being questioned and their role in the investigation of the salary fraud case that year.

Then on the left are the statements given in the order of the questions.

Each paragraph is an answer to a question.

This allowed Liu Shuyi to clearly understand what questions they were answering without even looking at the questions.

The first question he posed to Du Gou was whether any of the soldiers had mentioned any accidents or unusual events that occurred while they were escorting the military supplies.

For example, during transport, a sudden downpour forces them to seek shelter and rest in an unfamiliar place.

For example, if roads are damaged, the direction of transportation must be changed.

For example, are there large numbers of people experiencing food poisoning, or unusually deep sleep...?

In Liu Shuyi's view, if the pay was lost during transport, the thieves would have had to use some method, such as creating an accident or drugging, to steal and replace the pay.

And as long as they do this, they will inevitably leave traces.

The soldiers responsible for transporting the money may not have thought there was anything wrong with it at the time, but as long as the pay was lost, and as long as someone brought it up, these soldiers would inevitably notice something.

Although the high-ranking officials of the Three Departments were a group of incompetent and ruthless people, the ordinary officials of the Three Departments were able to enter the Three Departments because they had certain beliefs and abilities. In addition, they were excluded from the circle of interests by the higher-ups and had no personal selfishness... Therefore, their questioning of the soldiers was truly to find clues to the case.

Therefore, they must have considered these most basic issues as well.

Moreover, since they are not within the circle of vested interests, their answers are far more trustworthy than the so-called perfect case-solving records in the case files.

Liu Shuyi quickly scanned the officials' answers to the first question, turning page after page.

Liu Shuyi quickly turned more than twenty pages.

And the final result...

He frowned and said, "All the soldiers answered that there were no accidents or setbacks during the transport of the pay. They delivered the pay to the camp according to the established route and the prescribed time, without the slightest error."

Du Gou understood which answer Liu Shuyi was referring to. He nodded and said, "I have confirmed with my colleagues several times. They said that this is what the soldiers said. All the soldiers they questioned said that there was nothing unusual or unexpected. So when they saw that the pay had been replaced with stones, they were all extremely shocked and could not believe it."

Liu Shuyi nodded, pondered for a moment, and then continued to look at the answers to the other questions.

His second question was whether, besides those beheaded like Feng Mu, there were any other suspects among these officials.
Their answer was consistent—no.

They had no doubt about any of the soldiers escorting the silver.

If one or two officials make such a judgment, it may be rather subjective.

But if everyone makes this judgment... then it most likely means that these soldiers are probably all fine, so that with so many of them, they can't find any problems and have no suspicion of anyone.

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered, and he quickly looked at the next question.

The third question is whether the boxes used to transport the pay showed signs of being pried open, and whether the weight of the stones inside those boxes matched the weight of the pay.

The answer remains the same.

All the boxes were sealed with the Ministry of Revenue's seals, and there were no signs of the seals being torn open, nor were there any signs of the locks on the boxes being pried open.

The stones in the box weighed roughly the same as the 200,000 strings of cash.

Moreover, each box weighed the same as the original box containing the silver.

Looking at the consistent answers to the three most important questions he had listed first, Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed with deep thought.

"Du Si Cheng..."

Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at Du Gou.

Seeing Liu Shuyi's serious expression, Du Gou subconsciously put down his chopsticks, straightened his back, and asked, "What's wrong? Did you find something?"

Liu Shuyi looked into Du Gou's eyes and slowly said, "Do you think there's a possibility... that the pay wasn't lost on the way and was replaced?"

Du Gou's pupils contracted: "You mean to say?"

Liu Shuyi squinted, his fingertips gently stroking the book: "You've also seen the answers from these colleagues. They all believe that these soldiers didn't lie, and that no one had the motive or ability to steal the pay. These soldiers also said that the transport of the pay went very smoothly without any accidents. Does this prove that the pay wasn't actually lost during transport?"

"And what about the chest containing the pay? If a thief wanted to steal the pay, it wouldn't be difficult to get the key and open the lock, but what about the seal?"

"Du Sicheng should have also put up the seal. The purpose of the seal is to prevent someone from secretly opening it without being discovered. Therefore, the seal is put up with the intention that once it is torn open, it will be destroyed and thus be discovered."

"Therefore, it is easy to unlock the door without breaking the seal. You can tear it open, remove all the silver coins inside, put the stone inside, and then put the seal back on exactly as it was before... It is almost impossible."

"So, is it possible that..."

Liu Shuyi took a deep breath and said, "The salary was actually lost before the seal was affixed and the lock was put on?"

Du Gou felt a buzzing in his head and felt a little dizzy.

It was indeed Liu Shuyi's conjecture; no one had ever thought of it.

After all, who would have thought that the pay would be stolen before it was even put into the box!

If what Liu Shuyi said is true, then it means that the Three Departments' thinking back then was completely wrong.

Their starting point was wrong.

At the same time, it also means that entirely new people will be implicated in the salary fraud case.

Du Gou couldn't help but say, "Are you sure? This is no small matter."

Liu Shuyi looked down at the book and did not answer Du Gou's question. Instead, he brought up another matter: "Do you think... thieves bring scales when they steal military pay?"

"Scales?" Du Gou was taken aback.

Liu Shuyi said, "If they didn't weigh it carefully, how could they ensure that the stones used to replace the silver coins weighed the same as the silver coins, so that the people carrying them wouldn't notice anything unusual?"

“This…” Du Gou frowned.

Liu Shuyi continued, "If the thieves switched the silver during transport, their time would be extremely limited. With thousands of soldiers, it's impossible for them to bribe them all. So, in this situation, they would definitely try to be as quick as possible. How could they possibly waste a lot of time weighing the stones and silver box by box?"

Du Gou's eyes flickered, and his brows furrowed deeper and deeper; he had indeed never considered these things.

He said, “You’re right. Replacing the silver and stones will take a lot of time. If we weigh them carefully, it will take much longer than just a few minutes.”

"In a situation where they had to be constantly on guard against being discovered by other soldiers and were constantly facing the risk of exposure, they simply couldn't have that much time to do these things."

"Although the soldiers need to move the pay together and guard it when they rest at night so that the horses can rest, human perception is different from that of scales. Unless there is a particularly obvious difference, it is difficult for them to notice. So even if these thieves do not use scales so accurately, there should not be a big problem."

"But they can weigh them almost perfectly accurately..."

Following Liu Shuyi's line of thought, the more he analyzed, the more alarmed he became, and the more he felt that Liu Shuyi's guess made sense.

Du Gou couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that they really switched the pay before it was even delivered?"

Liu Shuyi turned his gaze to the plate of food that had been completely eaten and said, "If Miss Du hadn't told me that two of these dishes were made by the cook, I wouldn't have suspected who made them."

"Before leaving the Du family's kitchen, it was already destined that two dishes were not made by Miss Du, nor were they dishes that Miss Du had the cook prepare on the way to the Ministry of Justice..."

"Although this description is somewhat inappropriate, it is actually very similar to the situation of the salary case."

“There aren’t enough ingredients along the way, nor enough time for the cook to showcase her culinary skills… Similarly, the transport of the silver won’t give the thieves that much time either.” “The only place where the thieves would have enough time to carefully weigh the stones would be before the silver was transported away, which is the warehouse containing the silver!”

"It's like a cook who can only work in the back kitchen, where she has enough time and ingredients to prepare the dishes."

"As for why the thieves weighed the stone exactly the same as the silver ingot..."

Liu Shuyi reopened the closed file and said, "Although this file is a ridiculous farce from beginning to end, there are still some useful parts."

"For example, here..."

He pointed to a spot in the dossier and said, “This record states that the silver was loaded and sealed the day before. Then, the next morning, after Feng Mu and the others arrived, they would weigh the boxes of silver in turn, check their weight, and then load them onto different carriages according to their weight to ensure the horses’ transport capacity.”

"At the same time, it also allows the soldiers to have a basic sense of the weight of the box and understand what weight represents how much it weighs. In this way, if an accident occurs during the journey, the soldiers can feel it even without tearing open the seal."

"So why did the thieves weigh the stone exactly the same as the silver?"

Liu Shuyi raised his head and met Du Gou's eyes: "Because they have to get past the warehouse. If they can't even get past this hurdle, the court will immediately discover the missing funds, which will directly threaten the safety of the thieves."

Du Gou was unaware of this matter. Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, he hurriedly went to look at the contents of the case file.

Sure enough... the records in the case file were exactly the same as what Liu Shuyi had said.

His heart pounded like a drum, and his pupils trembled slightly: "So... the salary was lost in the treasury? Between the time the Ministry of Revenue finished counting it, sealed it, and locked it, and the time Feng Mu and the others arrived the next morning?"

His voice carried a hint of excitement.

When he learned that Feng Mu and the others had been wronged, he was both angry at Wu Chenyang and the others for their ruthlessness and troubled about how to find out the truth about the silver treasury case.

After all, this means they will have no usable clues or witnesses, and four years have passed since the silver coin case. The box and the stone from back then have long been lost, and not even a single piece of evidence that has been destroyed can be found... No matter how good Liu Shuyi is at investigating cases, how can he find the truth out of thin air?

Unexpectedly, in just a short time, Liu Shuyi not only discovered the key to the case, but also confirmed the actual location and time of the incident.

How could this not excite him?

All of this was not a coincidence or accident. After all, Liu Shuyi had prepared these questions in advance, which means that he was already considering how to find a breakthrough in the silver treasury case before confirming that there were problems with the results of Wu Chenyang and others.

Thinking of all this, Du Gou looked at Liu Shuyi with even more admiration.

The more you investigate cases with Liu Shuyi, the more you realize how terrifying he is.

Looking at Du Gou, who was usually gentle and composed, with such a burning gaze, Liu Shuyi knew that Du Gou might have misunderstood something.

In fact, when he wrote the question outline for Du Gou, he did not think that deeply. After all, at that time he was not sure what the truth of the Feng Mu case was. He was just using the investigation approach from his previous life to cast a wide net. He asked all the questions related to the case to get a general idea of ​​the situation and understand the whole picture of the case first.

He just didn't expect the answers to these questions to be so consistent, which allowed him to deduce the true situation of the salary case.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been worrying about how to find a breakthrough.

However, I won't tell Du Gou about these things. It's always good to leave a good impression on my future brother-in-law.

He said, "Logically speaking, the thief is most likely to have made the move in the warehouse, but whether that's the case or not will only be known after further investigation."

With that, he stood up and said, "Du Sicheng, go and make arrangements to hand over the questioning of our colleagues to someone else. Let's go to the Ministry of Revenue."

Upon hearing this, Du Gou quickly understood Liu Shuyi's meaning. He immediately stood up and said, "Wait a moment."

After saying that, he quickly walked out of the office.

With a breakthrough in the case of the salary payment, Liu Shuyi breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and walked out of the room.

Stepping outside, I looked up and saw countless stars dotting the dark night sky, like sparkling gems vying for attention.

The weather is getting warmer, and even at night, it is no longer so cold and bone-chilling.

Spring is finally approaching, and it shouldn't be long before we see greenery.

"Are you going out?"

At that moment, a familiar, clear, and exceptionally pleasant voice rang out.

Liu Shuyi turned his head and saw Du Ying, with her fair skin and beautiful face, standing in the warm light of the lantern.

He nodded and said, "I'm going to the Ministry of Revenue."

“I’ll go with you,” Du Ying said immediately upon hearing this.

Liu Shuyi asked, "Has the matter of Wu Zhongcheng been resolved?"

Du Ying came to Liu Shuyi's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

The night breeze carried the faint, sweet fragrance emanating from Du Ying into Liu Shuyi's nostrils.

Du Ying also looked up, mimicking Liu Shuyi as she gazed at the starry sky. Perhaps because there was no one else around, her voice softened slightly: "He does have some health problems, but they are long-standing, hidden ailments, not sudden, explosive heart diseases."

"So, he was indeed faking illness?"

"Yes."

Liu Shuyi sneered inwardly. No wonder he could become Pei Laogou's student. Wu Chenyang was just like Pei Laogou, a cunning old fox. Seeing that things were not going well, he knew that no matter how he answered, he would leave trouble for himself, so he simply pretended to be sick and ran away.

It's unclear whether Wu Chenyang intends to follow Ren Xing's example and disappear suddenly, or if he wants to take this opportunity to contact Dai Fei and the others, letting them know that he already knows their secrets.

He said, "Then now, he should really be sick, right?"

Du Ying's voice was like ice hitting ice, sounding particularly comforting in the quiet night: "He won't be able to get out of bed, speak, or move for at least seven days... but he is still conscious and can still hear what other people are saying."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "That's enough. After Mu Ping and the others arrive, I will have them visit our good brother Wu Chenyang. I just don't know if Wu Chenyang will be so happy to see these friends that he will want to cry."

Du Ying thought about Liu Shuyi's schemes against Wu Chenyang. He felt that Wu Chenyang would probably shed tears, but whether he would be happy or afraid was another matter.

"Mu Ping and the others might have to call the imperial physician for Wu Chenyang. If the imperial physician comes, will he be able to discover the tricks you've played on Wu Chenyang?" Liu Shuyi asked again.

Du Ying then turned to look at Liu Shuyi. She didn't say anything, but Liu Shuyi understood what the cold-faced doctor meant.

Du Ying was clearly saying that she looked down on her too much.

Liu Shuyi couldn't help but smile. Indeed, as the last disciple of Sun Simiao, the Medicine King, he naturally possessed skills that ordinary doctors could not match.

He felt relieved, thought for a moment, and then said, "The food was delicious. As a reward, after this case is over, I'll treat you to dinner at another very special restaurant, okay?"

Du Ying glanced at Liu Shuyi again with her beautiful eyes, and this time she spoke: "Okay."

She also secretly swallowed, as if thinking about how delicious the food Liu Shuyi had taken her to eat last time was.

Looking at Du Ying's foodie behavior, which was so different from her cool and aloof temperament, Liu Shuyi thought Du Ying was really cute and wanted to reach out and pat her head.

At this moment, Du Gou walked over quickly: "It's all arranged."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi's previously joking expression immediately turned serious, and he said, "Then let's set off."

…………

It was already past 7 PM, and the Ministry of Revenue had long since finished its shift.

Therefore, when Liu Shuyi and his party arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, only the officials on night duty came to receive them.

"I wonder what brings Physician Liu to the Ministry of Revenue so late at night?"

Fu Wuwei, a senior official in the Ministry of Revenue, strode out of the yamen and bowed to Liu Shuyi and his companions.

Liu Shuyi returned the greeting with a cupped hand. He didn't exchange many pleasantries with Fu Wuwei and went straight to the point, saying, "I wonder if Physician Fu is aware of my renewed investigation into the military pay case?"

Fu Wuwei hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "I've heard a thing or two. Could it be that Physician Liu came to the Ministry of Revenue about the issue of the military pay?"

Liu Shuyi nodded and explained his purpose: "I want to know where the military pay was stored at that time, who counted it, and who was in charge of guarding it."

Fu Wuwei, being quick-witted, understood Liu Shuyi's meaning immediately. He frowned and said, "Doctor Liu wouldn't suspect that the loss of the funds is related to my Ministry of Revenue, would he?"

When Liu Shuyi saw that Fu Wuwei frowned and showed displeasure after only three sentences, making no attempt to hide his dislike for his suspicion of the Ministry of Revenue, he couldn't help but recall what Du Gou had said to him.

Du Gou told him that the Ministry of Revenue was a powerful government office that was in charge of the nation's finances. Every government office needed the Ministry of Revenue's approval before it could receive the funds it required.

Therefore, all government offices treated the Ministry of Revenue officials with great kindness and humility, which led to the Ministry of Revenue officials becoming rather arrogant.

They might be more friendly when facing officials of higher rank, but they generally won't be so friendly when facing officials of the same or lower rank.

Their purpose in going to the Ministry of Revenue was to find fault with it. If these officials knew this, their attitude might be even worse. Therefore, Du Gou had Liu Shuyi prepare himself mentally in advance.

Having navigated the corporate world in his previous life, Liu Shuyi naturally understood the temperament of those who managed money. However, he never expected that Fu Wuwei, who was at the same level as him, would turn against him after just three sentences.

However, he didn't care, since he had connections above him.

Liu Shuyi still had a smile on his face: "Of course I do not doubt the Ministry of Revenue. However, His Majesty trusts me and has entrusted me with the important task of reinvestigating the military pay case. Therefore, I cannot let go of any possibility, otherwise I would be betraying His Majesty's trust."

"I think……"

He stared at Fu Wuwei, and said meaningfully, "Doctor Fu wouldn't deliberately obstruct me and cause His Majesty to have any unnecessary misunderstandings, would he?"

Fu Wuwei was surprised that Liu Shuyi would bring up Li Shimin, and his expression changed slightly. He dared not give face to Liu Shuyi, who was of the same rank, but he would never dare to let Li Shimin have any misunderstanding or dissatisfaction with him.

He quickly replied, "What are you saying, Physician Liu? Of course I won't stop you. Please come in, Physician Liu. Whatever you want to know, I will tell you the truth."

As he spoke, he quickly made way for Liu Shuyi and the others, warmly inviting them into the Ministry of Revenue.

Seeing this, Liu Shuyi turned his head and winked at Du Gou, then said with a smile, "Doctor Fu is too kind. I knew Doctor Fu would cooperate with me."

Watching Liu Shuyi swagger into the Ministry of Revenue under Fu Wuwei's warm hospitality, Du Gou couldn't help but shake his head with a smile.

All my efforts were in vain.

Indeed, when it comes to controlling people's hearts, how many people in this world can be better than Liu Shuyi?

(End of this chapter)