The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 153 Liu Shuyi is right! The mastermind behind it all has surfaced!

The result is in!
What results were obtained?
Don't tell me you actually found something in the warehouse!

Fu Wuwei was taken aback by Liu Shuyi's sudden words.

However, after saying this to him, Liu Shuyi couldn't wait to go into the warehouse, leaving Fu Wuwei with a bellyful of questions but no one to answer them. He could only hurriedly follow Liu Shuyi into the warehouse.

Upon entering, he discovered a middle-aged man, a complete stranger to him, standing in front of the east wall. The man's official robes were of low rank, but he possessed an otherworldly air and a sense of otherworldly grace. His eyes were fixed on the wall in front of him.

Who is he?
Is he the one who just said he discovered some kind of door?

Fu Wuwei frowned and walked up to the man, ready to question him about what nonsense he was spouting.

Before he could even speak, Liu Shuyi interrupted, "Yuan Lingtai, you say you can find the door? Really?"

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Yuan Tiangang, who had been staring intently at the wall, finally looked away.

He looked at Liu Shuyi, his usually deep and calm eyes now seeming to be filled with a raging storm, unusually losing their composure.

Yuan Tiangang did not rush to answer Liu Shuyi, but instead asked the question that had been on his mind: "Doctor Liu does not understand feng shui, and the door has been completely sealed off. There is no flaw that can be seen from the outside. So how did Doctor Liu know that there was a problem underground?"

Looking at Yuan Tiangang, whose heart seemed to be battered by a storm, Liu Shuyi calmly said, "Let's make a bold guess."

"A bold guess?" Yuan Tiangang frowned.

Liu Shuyi said, “When I investigate cases, I prefer two methods. One is to unravel the mystery by following the clues and finding the truth. The other is to eliminate all possibilities that can be eliminated, make reasonable inferences based on logic, and then carefully verify them.”

"Because this case is from a long time ago, there are very few clues, so I can only make bold speculations... I have searched for many people and finally found Yuan Lingtai. I asked Yuan Lingtai to come here to investigate, just to carefully verify the information."

Yuan Tiangang nodded: "I see... Doctor Liu truly lives up to his reputation as a detective. Even without understanding feng shui, he can easily detect the problem."

Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "It's not that easy to say... Of course, that's not important. Now, Yuan Lingtai, can you tell me the specific details?"

Yuan Tiangang didn't delay any longer. He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Uncle's Taoist skills are superb. It's impossible that he would handle such an obvious feng shui problem incorrectly."

"Moreover, my uncle is steadfast in his beliefs and has extremely high standards and bottom lines. He would never knowingly fail to provide the correct solution if there is a problem with the feng shui."

"Therefore, the reason why my uncle moved this warehouse here must be to suppress the feng shui and gather wealth. If my uncle is not mistaken, then it must be a problem with the feng shui of this place. It's not just what we can see on the surface; there are also problems in places we can't see."

"Therefore, I first confirmed that my uncle was fine, and then, combining the apparent feng shui situation, I made a deduction... In the end, I came to the same conclusion as Doctor Liu: the ground beneath our feet had been dug up!"

The ground beneath my feet has been dug up!?
Fu Wuwei didn't understand anything about feng shui. He only knew that if, as Yuan Tiangang said, there was a problem with the underground of the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse, then the Ministry of Revenue would be in big trouble.

He said sternly, "You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want! Do you know the consequences of your words? If you dare to wrong the Ministry of Revenue, no one can protect you!"

Although Yuan Tiangang's rank was much lower than Fu Wuwei's, he showed no tension or fear in the face of Fu Wuwei's stern rebuke.

He simply looked calmly at Fu Wuwei and said, "This humble official never lies."

"You—" Fu Wuwei never expected that this lowly seventh-rank official would be so arrogant, showing no fear of him whatsoever.

He frowned, about to reprimand again, but Liu Shuyi stepped forward and blocked Fu Wuwei and Yuan Tiangang.

Liu Shuyi had no interest in listening to their exchange. He asked Yuan Tiangang, "Where is the door?"

Upon hearing this, Fu Wuwei's heart tightened instinctively, and he quickly stared intently at Yuan Tiangang.

Yuan Tiangang turned around and looked at the wall in front of him again, saying, "Uncle's method of suppressing feng shui is based on the Eight Trigrams: Qian represents heaven, Kun represents earth, Zhen represents thunder, Xun represents wind, Kan represents water, Li represents fire, Gen represents mountain, and Dui represents marsh. The feng shui of this place is characterized by high mountains and deep water, and the element of fire is lacking. Therefore, if we want to leave a gate of life, it should be in the Li position."

"And the displacement of this place..."

He raised his hand and pointed to the wall in front of him: "Right here."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi immediately looked at the wall in front of him. The wall was made of bricks and coated with silver paint, making the whole wall look like a piece of metal.

It makes people subconsciously think of it as a whole.

Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes, realizing in his heart: "Using sight to deceive people's senses?"

He had just suspected the mechanism was on the ground, but he hadn't considered that the entrance might be in the wall... It has to be said, this design is truly ingenious.

After all, who would have thought that the entrance to the underground passage would be on the wall, and that the wall would appear as an indivisible, solid piece of iron?

"nonsense!"

Fu Wuwei's voice rang out at this moment: "How could there be a door leading underground in this wall? Even if you're just talking nonsense, at least make it believable!"

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "Doctor Liu, don't believe him. This wall connects to the outside. If there really is a door, it leads to the outside. It's impossible for it to lead to any underground. Obviously, this eccentric person is talking nonsense. Don't be fooled by him!"

Even with his good temper, Yuan Tiangang frowned slightly at Fu Wuwei's repeated attacks: "I am not talking nonsense. This is a secret feng shui technique, a Taoist tradition."

"What feng shui secrets? I think you've been a charlatan for too long, and you actually think you have some supernatural powers. You've even fooled yourself!"

Fu Wuwei didn't believe Yuan Tiangang at all. His understanding made him think that even if there was a door in the wall, it should lead to the outside, not underground. So at this moment, he was very confident. He reminded Liu Shuyi, "Doctor Liu, this man is obviously obsessed. You must think carefully and not cause trouble for yourself because of his mistakes!"

Since Yuan Tiangang rose to fame as a fortune teller, he had never encountered anyone who questioned him like this. He frowned and looked at Liu Shuyi, trying to convince Liu Shuyi to believe him.

"Yuan Lingtai, please calm down."

Liu Shuyi seemed to understand Yuan Tiangang's thoughts. Before Yuan Tiangang could speak, he nodded to Yuan Tiangang, then looked at Fu Wuwei and said, "Thank you for reminding me, Physician Fu. I understand Physician Fu's good intentions, but the silver case happened too long ago. I have finally found an opportunity. If I give it up now, I am afraid I will regret it for the rest of my life."

"Therefore, I hope that Physician Fu can understand that if I am really wrong, I will personally apologize to Minister Tang and my colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue."

After saying that, Liu Shuyi glared at him and said directly, "Men, smash the wall!"

"What!?"

Fu Wuwei's eyes widened. He never expected that Liu Shuyi would actually believe in this charlatan and even dare to smash the wall!
This is the building of his Ministry of Revenue. Demolishing the wall is equivalent to destroying his Ministry of Revenue office. If no door is found, or if the door does not lead to the underground, then Liu Shuyi is essentially making an enemy of the entire Ministry of Revenue!
Has Liu Shuyi gone mad?

This is clearly nonsense, so why would Liu Shuyi believe it?
Fu Wuwei couldn't help but look at Du Gou and said, "Du Sicheng, you are well-read and knowledgeable, you certainly won't believe this charlatan's words... You should quickly persuade Liu Langzhong, this wall can't be smashed, if he smashes the wall, what will become of the Ministry of Revenue's reputation? How will he face others in the future?"

Because Liu Shuyi was holding a handwritten edict, Fu Wuwei dared not stop him. However, as the official on night duty, if he did not stop him, Tang Jian and others would surely blame him the next day. Therefore, at this moment, he could only let Du Gou take action.

Du Gou held a high enough position to speak with considerable weight, and given his usual composure and ability to know when to advance and retreat, he certainly wouldn't agree to Liu Shuyi's madness.

But to Fu Wuwei's surprise, something unexpected still happened.

After hearing Fu Wuwei's words, Du Gou simply looked deeply at Liu Shuyi before shaking his head without hesitation and saying, "Master Liu is a brilliant judge who has never made a mistake. I believe in him."

"What!? You..."

crazy!

All crazy!
Fu Wuwei felt that Liu Shuyi and his gang were all out of their minds. Were they really not afraid of offending the Ministry of Revenue? Or did they think they could bully the Ministry of Revenue at will?

This is something that anyone with eyes can see is impossible, so why do they insist on doing it?
boom!boom!
Just as Fu Wuwei was getting extremely anxious, like an ant on a hot pan, the men Liu Shuyi brought from the Ministry of Justice had already begun smashing down the wall.

Yuan Tiangang could only find the location of the exit, but not the mechanism. Moreover, Liu Shuyi suspected that after stealing the silver, the thieves, fearing their secret would be discovered, might have already destroyed the mechanism, making the door completely sealed... Therefore, he was not going to waste time on the mechanism and would just smash it with force!

No matter how sophisticated the mechanism, it's just one way to open the door. As long as you smash the door, you can pass through even without the mechanism.

Brick walls are much less hard than stone walls. As the guards swung their sledgehammers and smashed the walls, the originally flat walls began to deform, some areas began to dent, and the silver plaster kept peeling off.

The plaster fell to the ground with a crackling sound, and the clean marble floor, which was clean enough to be used as a mirror, began to be covered with dust. Then the dust turned into thick clumps of dirt, and finally bricks fell on it.

Hearing the loud banging against the wall, Fu Wuwei's eyelids twitched incessantly. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but it was too late.

"It's over, you actually managed to break through the wall."

"This is the strongest wall in my Ministry of Revenue. What you're doing is tantamount to slapping my Ministry of Revenue in the face!"

"Dr. Liu, this matter can't be resolved... You shouldn't have done this, you shouldn't have done it!"

Looking at the crumbling wall, Fu Wuwei turned to look at Liu Shuyi, his eyes filled with reproach, anger, and shame.

If it weren't for my night duty, Liu Shuyi would have just smashed the wall; we'd all lose face together. But now that the wall was being smashed down right in front of me, it was entirely my problem.

How am I supposed to survive in the Ministry of Revenue from now on?
He closed his eyes, clenched his fists tightly, and forced himself to take deep breaths to calm down. He thought about how to explain things to Minister Tang and how to make Liu Shuyi take the blame so that he could appear as an innocent lamb...

"That is!?"

"A passage! There really is a passage inside the wall!"

Just then, before Fu Wuwei could figure out how to shift all the blame onto Liu Shuyi, the sound of banging on the wall suddenly stopped, and then... came the sound of the guards' utter shock.

He paused for a moment, then realized what was happening and his eyes snapped open.

He quickly looked at the wall that had been smashed to pieces.

"What!?"

A sharp cry, filled with disbelief.

"This...how is this possible? How could there really be a secret passage inside the walls!"

As the brick wall was smashed open, Fu Wuwei was shocked to discover that the brick wall inside the warehouse was not directly connected to the stone wall outside; there was a hollow space between them!
Furthermore, on the ground between the two walls, directly in front of the wall that the guard had just smashed open, there was a secret passage leading underground.

Standing here, you can't tell how deep the passage is, or where it leads.

Fu Wuwei's pupils contracted rapidly, and his face turned deathly pale. His mind, which had been contemplating shifting the blame to Liu Shuyi, went completely blank at that moment.

He stared blankly at the secret passage before him, feeling as if he were having a nightmare.

How is that possible...? How could there really be a door on the wall?

Behind the door, how could it really be a secret passage leading underground?!

"It's over!"

Fu Wuwei said "It's over" again, but this time, it wasn't Liu Shuyi who was finished, but the Ministry of Revenue that was finished.

The fact that the treasury for transferring tax money had secret passages and mechanisms is impossible to explain.

Liu Shuyi was not wrong, and even the charlatan was not wrong; the one who was wrong was himself!
Fu Wuwei felt a chill run down his spine.

Liu Shuyi's heart finally settled down after he saw the secret passage leading underground.

He let out a long breath, and felt as if most of the dark clouds blocking his view had dissipated in an instant.

"So that's why they built another brick wall inside the warehouse..."

"It's not to make the warehouse walls stronger, but to hide this passage leading underground..."

Liu Shuyi turned his head and looked at the dimly lit warehouse again, saying, "Furthermore, this warehouse is already very large, and the windows are all blocked, making it difficult for sunlight to shine in directly, which makes the interior of the warehouse quite dark. In such a large and dark place, it is difficult for a person to have a clear perception of space. Therefore, even if the walls steal part of the warehouse's space, it is difficult to notice."

Du Gou nodded, walked to the wall, and touched it, saying, "The wall thickness at the entrance is normal, but the further in you go, the larger the internal space becomes. It's a process of slowly stealing space. If we didn't know the outcome now and observe it purposefully, we wouldn't notice any of this." Du Ying added, "The warehouse is used for transferring tax silver and storing things. Normal people wouldn't come here to casually check if the thickness of a wall has changed, and even if they noticed it was thicker here than elsewhere, they might not investigate further."

Liu Shuyi arrived at the secret passage and nodded: "Yes, for many reasons, this door leading underground has been hidden so well that even though the Ministry of Revenue of the Great Tang Dynasty has been stationed here for ten years, we still know nothing about it."

Upon hearing this, Fu Wuwei seemed to realize something. He suddenly raised his head and looked intently at Liu Shuyi: "Does Doctor Liu mean that this secret passage was not the work of our Ministry of Revenue, but rather the work of the former Sui Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue?"

His expression was both tense and expectant. If the secret passage was built by the former Sui Dynasty, then it wouldn't have much to do with them. Although their Ministry of Revenue would also have to bear the responsibility for failing to investigate effectively, this responsibility was much smaller than secretly building the mechanism and secret passage.

Liu Shuyi laughed and said, "I don't think I've ever said that you built this secret passage, have I?"

Fu Wuwei's eyes lit up immediately, feeling that Liu Shuyi was like a ray of sunshine, instantly dispelling the darkness around him.

"but……"

Liu Shuyi changed the subject again, saying meaningfully, "While the secret passage wasn't built by you, it's uncertain whether anyone in your Ministry of Revenue knew of its existence or even used it."

Fu Wuwei was taken aback at first, then his expression changed drastically.

What does Liu Shuyi mean?
Could it be that the salary fraud case back then was really related to certain people in their Ministry of Revenue?

He wanted to ask more questions, but Liu Shuyi had already entered the secret passage with Du Gou and the others, so he had to keep his doubts to himself for the time being and quickly followed them in.

The warm light of the lanterns dispelled the darkness in the secret passage, allowing Liu Shuyi and the others to see the passage they were taking.

The secret passage was very spacious; two people could walk side by side without feeling crowded.

The stone walls on both sides are smooth and flat, and at intervals there is a lamp inserted in the wall, which shows that this secret passage must have been carefully crafted by many craftsmen.

This level of craftsmanship is not much inferior to the tower-shaped warehouse mentioned above.

This clearly demonstrates the high standards of the underground fortifications back then.

The secret passage wasn't a straight downward path; it was a distinct curve from the moment they stepped in. Liu Shuyi sensed it and realized they had turned 180 degrees along the curve. In other words, they had started out of the warehouse, circled around, and ended up back directly below the warehouse.

And the moment they returned to the area directly below the warehouse, the steps ended, and in front of them was a stone door.

The stone door was tightly shut and extremely heavy; no matter how hard the guards tried, they could not push it open.

Liu Shuyi thought for a moment, then picked up a lantern and observed the stone wall near the stone gate.

At that moment, a glint flashed in his eyes.

On the right side of the stone gate, there was a lamp stuck in the stone wall. But this lamp was different from the others. There was not a drop of wax on it, as if it had never been lit.

Liu Shuyi raised his hand, grabbed the round tray on top of the lamp, tried to bend it, and when he couldn't, he tried turning it left and right—

Click, click, click!
With Liu Shuyi's effort, the lamp tray was easily rotated.

At the same time, the stone gate in front of them began to shake violently, as if a sleeping giant beast was about to awaken.

Everyone instinctively took two steps back.

then……

The heavy stone door slowly opened.

"opened!"

"Dr. Liu is amazing!"

The guards exclaimed in surprise.

Yuan Tiangang looked at Liu Shuyi in surprise. He knew very well that Liu Shuyi had never been here before, but Liu Shuyi seemed to know everything and found the mechanism without making a single mistake.

This gave him, for the first time, a sense of awe that his personal wisdom could rival that of Taoist arts.

Liu Shuyi was unaware that his insignificant reasoning had shocked Yuan Tiangang. After the stone door opened, he did not rush in, but instead stood in front of the stone door with a candle in his hand to check its condition.

The candle continued to burn normally, and the flame even danced slightly backward, indicating that the space behind the stone door was not lacking in oxygen and that it should be connected to the outside world, allowing a slight breeze to blow in.

Without further delay, he handed the candle to the guard, took the lantern from the guard, and went inside.

As soon as he entered, he felt as if he were reliving his previous experience of entering the warehouse. All he could see was darkness, and he couldn't judge how big the space was. He felt like a stone that had been thrown into a boundless ocean.

“Spread out along the wall to determine the size of this space,” Liu Shuyi said.

Upon receiving the order, the guards quickly moved in different directions along the walls on either side of the stone gate.

As they walked away, the light from the lanterns gradually spread, and the entire underground space before them slowly came into view.

"hiss……"

Looking at the scene before him, Fu Wuwei couldn't help but gasp and said, "This...this is just like the warehouse upstairs! Have we gone back to the warehouse?"

Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes. Fu Wuwei was right. The space in front of him was basically the same as the tower-shaped warehouse.

They have the same shape, and their area cannot be determined at the moment, but judging from their appearance, the difference should not be significant.

In particular, the stone walls are all coated with silver paint, making the entire underground space look as if it were supported by a single iron plate.

The only differences are that it is not as tall as a three-story tower and has windows that are not sealed off.

Liu Shuyi had doubts. Based on the clues he had obtained so far, this secret base should have been secretly built by Emperor Wen of Sui... But why would Emperor Wen of Sui, the emperor of the great Sui Dynasty, secretly build such a place?
Did Emperor Wen of Sui have some special, unspeakable secret that required him to use this place?

"Dr. Liu, look here!"

At that moment, a guard's voice suddenly rang out.

Liu Shuyi's thoughts were interrupted. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a guard standing in the center, waving to them. Beside the guard were boxes.

“Those boxes…”

Fu Wuwei looked at the boxes next to the guard and rubbed his eyes. "Am I seeing things? These boxes look like the ones our Ministry of Revenue uses to load tax silver."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi immediately asked, "Were the salaries back then also packed in boxes like this?"

"That's right, the collection of military pay is actually the advance collection of taxes."

Upon hearing Fu Wuwei's words, Du Gou quickly looked at Liu Shuyi. At this moment, even someone as composed as him sounded somewhat excited: "Could it be these boxes?"

Liu Shuyi understood Du Gou's meaning and said, "Let's go and see for ourselves."

The group quickly went to the boxes.

Upon arriving, they discovered that the boxes were sealed, but the seals had been torn open, and many unlocked locks lay scattered beside them.

Liu Shuyi squatted down, picked up the lock, examined it carefully, and said, "The lock wasn't damaged; it must have been opened with a key."

As he spoke, he handed the padlock to Fu Wuwei and said, "Was this the same padlock that held the pay back then?"

Fu Wuwei took the lock, examined it carefully for a moment, his pupils trembling uncontrollably. He swallowed hard: "Yes, that's exactly it!"

"Take another look at the seal..."

Liu Shuyi pointed to the torn seal on the box: "Is this the seal for those paychecks?"

Fu Wuwei quickly squatted down, bringing the lantern close to the seals. Looking at the writing on the seals, his voice trembled: "Yes, these are the seals. They even have the exact date and purpose on them..."

He couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi, cold sweat pouring down his forehead: "Could it be that the wages from back then all ended up here?"

"But if that's the case, where did those boxes filled with stones come from?"

Liu Shuyi opened the box, looked at its empty interior, and said calmly, "The boxes containing the military pay are all here. Where did those boxes come from?"

Fu Wuwei felt a chill run down his spine, and his whole being felt unreal.

The salary case has been closed for four years, and everyone knows that the salary was stolen by Feng Mu during transportation.

However, at this very moment, they discovered the boxes containing the military pay hidden beneath the Ministry of Revenue's treasury...

This only proves one thing... Everyone was wrong! The outcome of the salary fraud case was completely wrong!
The salary wasn't stolen by Feng Mu; it was transferred here before it even left the Ministry of Revenue's treasury!
"How could this be... Who on earth dared to do such a thing right under our noses?" Fu Wuwei didn't dare to even think about how audacious it must be to take action in the Ministry of Revenue.

What cunning people! They managed to switch the money before it was even shipped out.

Who could have imagined, and who would have thought, that the pay in the treasury was no longer real pay?
Du Gou let out a soft breath. Finding the box containing the pay was enough to prove that all of Liu Shuyi's previous deductions were correct, and that Liu Shuyi's efforts had not been in vain.

He looked at Liu Shuyi, his tone much more relaxed: "The box containing the pay has been found. What are you going to do next?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately looked at him, and Fu Wuwei didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Then they saw Liu Shuyi ponder for a moment and say, "Through these boxes we can know that the thieves knew all the information about the pay in advance, at least they knew the status of the pay in the warehouse."

"That's why he was able to prepare the same boxes, locks and seals in advance before the pay arrived, and even basically determine how much pay would be in each box."

"And this is something that outsiders could never know."

"That is to say..."

Liu Shuyi's gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on Fu Wuwei: "The thief, or rather, one of the thieves, is definitely someone from the Ministry of Revenue!"

Fu Wuwei's pupils contracted sharply. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he could only sigh.

He couldn't refute it; the box in front of him was proof enough.

His Ministry of Revenue is really in trouble.

"Moreover, this person is not a nobody in the Ministry of Revenue."

Liu Shuyi looked at Fu Wuwei: "I think even Doctor Fu back then wouldn't have received such accurate information in advance, would he?"

Fu Wuwei pursed his lips and nodded, saying, "Back then, I was just a sixth-rank official, not a high-ranking one, and I could only keep my head down and do my job... I only knew that the Emperor Emeritus wanted to levy taxes, and that the Ministry of Revenue was responsible for all the preliminary tasks. As for more accurate and specific information... no one told me, and I dared not ask."

Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "So, the rest is very simple."

"I wish to see all officials of the fifth rank and above in the Ministry of Revenue who were involved in the matter of military pay at that time!"

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances..."

His eyes flashed with a sharp, cold light: "The real thief who committed the silver embezzlement, the mastermind who deceived the world for four years with a sleight of hand, is among these people!"

(End of this chapter)