The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 154 A Shocking Discovery! Back to the First Case of Time Travel! Is it also related to Miao Yin'er?
Hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Fu Wuwei couldn't help but swallow.

He felt that tonight was the most tumultuous night of his life.

Not only were their original perceptions overturned, but they also learned that the real mastermind behind the silver embezzlement case was someone they knew who had once been right beside them.

The thought of that treacherous and cunning man behind the scenes, who caused the deaths of hundreds and the exile of thousands, watching him with a smile every day, sent shivers down his spine.

Horror, absurdity, unreality... a flood of emotions surged up, leaving him momentarily at a loss for words to express his feelings.

Liu Shuyi didn't give Fu Wuwei much time to process this. He directly asked Fu Wuwei, "Doctor Fu, do you know who the officials of the fifth rank or above who were involved in the matter of the military pay are?"

Du Gou and his sister stared intently at him, and even the venerable Yuan Tiangang, after understanding the whole story, looked at Fu Wuwei with interest.

Fu Wuwei took a deep breath to calm his chaotic thoughts before saying, "I was also involved in the matter of the salary at the time, so I know who was involved."

Without Liu Shuyi asking again, he took the initiative to say, "At that time, the Minister of Revenue, Wen Jun, the Vice Ministers of Revenue, Chen Miao and Deng Chengren, as well as Xue Ming, the Director of the Department of Revenue, and Guan Qi, the Director of the Department of Finance, were all in charge of the entire allocation and counting of the military pay."

The Minister of Revenue and two Vice Ministers oversaw the overall situation, while the Director of the Department of Finance and the Director of the Department of Currency Circulation were responsible for specific affairs... This personnel configuration was top-notch and luxurious, which shows how much Li Yuan and the Ministry of Revenue valued the matter of military pay.

However, the mastermind behind the theft of the silver was hiding among these five people. No matter how luxurious the lineup was, the rat was among them, and even held the most important position. This gave the mastermind the best opportunity.

Liu Shuyi shook his head and continued, "Do you know the current situation of these five people?"

Fu Wuwei said, "After His Majesty ascended the throne, Chen Miao, the former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was executed for being a member of the Prince of Xi's faction. Deng Chengren was demoted by His Majesty for making a mistake in his official duties and is now a sixth-rank Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Wen Jun, the Minister of Revenue, felt that he was too old to serve the court and took the initiative to resign and retire to his hometown. Xue Ming, the Director of the Department of Revenue, was promoted for his merits and is currently serving as Vice Minister in my Ministry of Revenue. As for Guan Qi, the Director of the Department of Finance, he was transferred to the position of Compiler and Editor of the National History."

These high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Revenue, just like the Three Departments of the past, also experienced a major reshuffle as the emperor changed his officials.

Some were killed, some were demoted, some were marginalized, some seized the opportunity to get promoted, and some voluntarily distanced themselves from the vortex...

Four years ago, during the salary scandal, they could still sit at the same table and discuss important matters concerning salaries, but now... separated by life and death, far apart, they will never see each other again.

Liu Shuyi felt a pang of emotion, but showed no sign of it on his face. He said, "Xue Ming and the others are still serving as officials in Chang'an. It won't be difficult to find them. You said that Wen Jun has retired and returned to his hometown. I wonder where his hometown is?"

Fu Wuwei thought for a moment and said, "In Huazhou, it's not far from Chang'an."

"Washington?"

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly. Huazhou was located near Huazhou District of Weinan City in later generations, about 60 or 70 kilometers away from Chang'an. Even in ancient times when transportation was underdeveloped, it would have been enough to make a round trip in a day.

"Somebody come!"

He directly told the guards of the Ministry of Justice, "Immediately send someone to Huazhou to invite former Minister of Revenue Wen Jun to the Ministry of Justice for a chat."

The guard nodded quickly: "Understood."

With that, he turned to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Liu Shuyi thought for a moment and instructed, "Be polite to Minister Wen. If he is not feeling well, you can proceed slowly. There's no need to rush. But do not tell Minister Wen why I invited him to Chang'an. If he asks you on the way, just say you don't know..."

The guard naturally wouldn't disobey, and he said, "I understand. Does Doctor Liu have any other instructions?"

"That's all, go ahead."

"Yes."

The guards lingered and quickly left.

Du Gou watched the guards' departing figures and said, "Shall I arrange for someone to summon Xue Ming and the others to the Ministry of Justice as well?"

Liu Shuyi thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No rush."

He raised his eyes and scanned the spacious and dark "underground air-raid shelter" again, saying, "Although we have determined that the mastermind must be among these people, we do not have any further evidence or clues that can directly confirm who the mastermind is."

"I sent the guards to summon Wen Jun only because he is quite far away from us and cannot arrive in time. In case he is the mastermind behind this, I need to be careful that he doesn't hear the news and hide."

"As for the others... they are all in Chang'an, right under our noses. They didn't escape before, but now they are like caged birds, with no chance of escaping."

"Therefore, the most urgent task now is not to rush to see them, but to find more and more specific clues before we meet them, enough to help us determine who the thieves are, so that when we meet them, the thieves will seize the opportunity to retaliate and cause unnecessary trouble."

Du Gou frowned. He naturally understood Liu Shuyi's meaning, but the silver here had already been transported away, leaving only a pile of useless boxes. There was nothing else in the entire underground space. How could he find any other clues?
Therefore, in his opinion, it would be better to outwit Xue Ming and the others, and perhaps obtain clues from their questioning.

Of course, doing so would be dangerous. If nothing could be found, the thief would inevitably do what Kong Xiang did in the Ma Qingfeng family massacre case: mislead others into believing that Liu Shuyi was framing them, thus interfering with Liu Shuyi's investigation. But when clues are hard to find and the investigation has no other way to proceed, this is the only option.

Seeing Du Gou's expression, Liu Shuyi knew what Du Gou was thinking. He smiled and said, "It seems that Vice Minister Du has forgotten something."

"What?" Du Gou looked at him subconsciously.

Liu Shuyi said, "With this secret space and hidden passages, stealing the pay is indeed easy, but don't forget, the thieves' goal isn't just to steal the pay, but more importantly..."

He looked down at the empty boxes: "We need to move those 200,000 strings of cash away."

“But we just saw that the Ministry of Revenue’s treasury is heavily guarded. It’s impossible for thieves to transport these salaries out of the treasury. So the fact that they were able to move such a mountain of salaries can only prove one thing…”

Du Gou's pupils suddenly dilated, and he quickly understood Liu Shuyi's meaning, saying, "You mean, there's another entrance and exit here?"

Liu Shuyi smiled and nodded: "To be more precise, there is at least one import and export point."

"The thieves first brought in boxes of stones, and then took out so much silver... This is no small amount. It's not something that can go unnoticed. The thieves' actions in the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse were very well concealed and went unnoticed by anyone. But it might not have been so easy at the other exit. So if we can find the entrance and exit where they transported the silver and stones, we might be able to find some new clues."

Du Gou slapped his forehead: "That's right, I was so focused on those people in the Ministry of Revenue that I overlooked them."

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the spacious underground space, and he asked, "I wonder where this exit is?"

Liu Shuyi didn't go looking for it himself. He knew from the state of the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse that the other exit must be very well hidden and couldn't be found by just knocking around.

Fortunately, the door design was not chosen on a whim, but based on feng shui and the Eight Trigrams. As the saying goes, leave professional matters to professionals. So he looked directly at the venerable Yuan Tiangang and said, "Yuan Lingtai, I'm sorry to trouble you again."

Yuan Tiangang was also curious about what his uncle had been hiding from him, and he would take the initiative to investigate even if Liu Shuyi did not ask him for help.

Upon hearing this, he readily agreed: "Physician Liu, please wait a moment while I perform the calculation."

As he spoke, Yuan Tiangang began to walk around. He came to the wall and slowly walked around it, muttering something to himself. To Fu Wuwei, he looked just like a charlatan swindling people on the street.

However, after witnessing firsthand how Yuan Tiangang accurately located the entrance to the secret passage, Fu Wuwei no longer dared to underestimate Yuan Tiangang. He knew that this seemingly mysterious person had real skills.

While Yuan Tiangang was searching for an exit, Du Gou glanced at Fu Wuwei, who was captivated by Yuan Tiangang, and whispered to Liu Shuyi, "Since we can't see Xue Ming and the others for the time being, should we keep the news under wraps? In case Xue Ming and the others hear about it?"

Liu Shuyi thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No need."

“At night, there is a curfew outside, and no one from the Ministry of Revenue can leave. No one would dare to leave alone at this time, knowing that I am looking for thieves.”

“And after dawn, unless we prevent Xue Ming and the others from coming to work, they will know everything as soon as they arrive at the Ministry of Revenue… If we stop them from coming to work, it is the same as confronting them directly. They will definitely demand a reason. We do not have clear and specific evidence. At that time, they may protest without the thieves’ guidance, thus making a big fuss.”

"So no matter what we do, the result will be the same, so we might as well save some manpower."

Upon hearing this, Du Gou's relaxed mood, which had been relieved by finding the secret passage, became serious again: "As you said... we'd better find clear evidence and clues before dawn, otherwise, at best we'll alert the enemy, and at worst, the Kong Xiang incident will happen again?"

Liu Shuyi laughed and said, "That's not necessarily true... If we still have nothing to show for it before dawn, we don't have to say we suspect them. As long as we don't officially list them as suspects, they have no reason to resist us."

"Of course, in that case, I need Doctor Fu to keep this a secret. If he tells me, then it won't be able to be kept quiet."

Du Gou glanced at Fu Wuwei again. Although Fu Wuwei was still staring curiously at the rambling Yuan Tiangang, the unconscious clenching of his hands revealed that he had clearly heard Liu Shuyi's words.

Du Gou frowned, wondering if he should lock Fu Wuwei up first.

grunt.

Fu Wuwei felt Du Gou and Liu Shuyi's gazes lingering on him, and subconsciously swallowed. He really wanted to tell Liu Shuyi and Du Gou that he could swear he would not say anything reckless.

But he was afraid that if he said that, he would expose that he had heard everything, and then Liu Shuyi and Du Gou would say, "Only the dead can keep secrets," and kill him.

Although he felt the possibility was slim, he wouldn't dare gamble even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance!

"found it!"

Just then, Yuan Tiangang's voice suddenly rang out.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to Yuan Tiangang.

Fu Wuwei felt that Yuan Tiangang's voice had never sounded so pleasant. He quickly said, "Great! Yuan Lingtai has been found! Let's go take a look..."

As he spoke, he ran towards Yuan Tiangang as if fleeing, as if Liu Shuyi and Du Gou behind him were a raging flood.

Liu Shuyi and Du Gou exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly.

With their keen eyesight, they could naturally see what Fu Wuwei was thinking. Du Gou couldn't understand Fu Wuwei's thoughts at all. No matter how ruthless they were, they couldn't possibly kill a high-ranking official of the fifth rank in the court so casually.

"Let's go."

Liu Shuyi also walked towards Yuan Tiangang, saying as he went, "Don't worry about how to shut Fu Wuwei up. I was just joking... The thieves are right in front of me. How can I let them continue to have their way just to avoid trouble?"

“Your previous idea was correct. In the absence of any clues, confronting them and trying to find out the clues is the only chance... Even if this method is risky, I will not hesitate if it really comes to that.”

"Of course, we haven't reached that point yet. Let's first see where this exit leads and whether it will give us any surprises."

Listening to Liu Shuyi's words and looking at Liu Shuyi's straight back, as if no mountain could bend him, Du Gou pursed his lips. It turned out that Liu Shuyi had made all the preparations long ago, good or bad, he was already prepared.

…………

Liu Shuyi and the others came to Yuan Tiangang's side, only to see Yuan Tiangang standing in front of the wall again, staring at the wall as if he were facing it.

"Is the door inside this wall?" Liu Shuyi asked.

Yuan Tiangang nodded and said, "The feng shui underground has been modified by my uncle and is basically the same as the feng shui above ground, but because of this, it has some flaws."

"To avoid the negative consequences of these flaws, we need to open another dead door."

"When life and death are both opened, one can enter the cycle of reincarnation, where fortune goes back and forth, ultimately returning to this state."

"And the location of the Death Gate is right here."

Liu Shuyi nodded... Hmm, I didn't understand.

Knowing that the exit was located here was enough. He stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the stone wall before him.

The stone wall is very smooth; when you touch it, you can only feel the slight unevenness between the stones.

The entire stone wall was coated with silver paint, but over time, the silver paint had peeled off and faded. With a swipe of Liu Shuyi's brush, the silver paint came off in a flash.

Looking at the peeling silver paint, Liu Shuyi thought for a moment, then quickly scanned the stone wall for a closer look.

At that moment, his eyes suddenly flashed. He noticed that on the upper right side of the stone wall, there was a spot where the silver paint was much lighter than the rest of the wall, and a small patch of it even revealed the original color of the stone.

He squinted, raised his hand, touched the chipped area, felt it for a moment, and then pressed down hard—

clack clack...

The gears turned, and the sound of the mechanism operating rang out.

At the same time, a stone door nearly ten feet high and three feet wide suddenly detached from the wall in front of everyone and automatically moved backward.

Finally, with a loud bang, it seemed to have hit something and came to a stop.

Upon seeing this, Liu Shuyi quickly took the lantern and went inside. He then discovered that there was another secret passage behind the stone wall, and the stone door crashed directly into the stone wall opposite the secret passage.

The secret passage runs straight ahead, its destination unknown.

"Let's go."

Liu Shuyi didn't waste any time. After dawn, he would face off against Xue Ming and his men. Time was of utmost importance to him.

The others quickly followed.

This secret passage was different from the Ministry of Revenue's secret passage; it was significantly longer. Liu Shuyi couldn't even remember how many steps he had taken, and he even felt a little tired before the straight path turned into an upward staircase.

Upon seeing the stairs, Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed. He knew... the secret passage was finally coming to an end, meaning the exit was just around the corner.

He sped up, and sure enough, it didn't take long for Liu Shuyi to reach the end.

This time, what blocked the exit was no longer a stone door or brick wall, but wooden planks.

Du Gou raised his hand and knocked, and heard a thumping sound. Du Gou frowned and said, "Why is this exit so carelessly made? It has been replaced with a wooden board."

Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed, and he smiled, "It's not necessarily because we're not serious... The material of the door isn't important; what's important is its location, so that people won't find it easily."

As he spoke, he carried a lantern and carefully observed the end of the road.

This is not the Ministry of Revenue's treasury, so the thieves probably wouldn't have expected anyone to find this place. Therefore, the mechanisms are likely not damaged.

Unlike the outside world where precautions must be taken against outsiders, the mechanisms inside secret passages are generally not too well concealed.

"found it……"

Sure enough, the next moment, Liu Shuyi discovered that there was a stone protruding out of the rock wall, and the stone was very smooth, as if it had been worn a lot.

He touched the stone, then pushed it—

The wooden board in front of them suddenly emitted a mechanical sound and then automatically separated from the middle to both sides.

"opened!"

Fu Wuwei looked at Liu Shuyi with eyes full of awe.

This is the third mechanism already... Liu Shuyi always finds the mechanism accurately after a little thought each time. He is truly impressed by such wisdom.

Liu Shuyi carried the lantern and quickly walked out of the dark passage. Then he discovered that what was blocking the end of the passage was not a wooden board at all, but two rows of bookshelves.

At the end of the secret passage was a study!
"It's a study?"

Du Gou illuminated the room with a lantern. Inside, there was a pear wood desk, and on the wall next to it were two open bookshelves. They had emerged from behind those bookshelves.

"I see. Using a bookshelf as a door and placing it inside the study makes it very difficult for people to find," Du Gou said.

Liu Shuyi nodded. He went to the desk, wiped his finger on the desk, and then lifted his finger, revealing that his fingertip was covered in dust.

“It seems that no one has used this study for a long time…” Liu Shuyi said.

Fu Wuwei looked left and right, finding it all unbelievable. Who would have thought that a seemingly ordinary study could lead directly to the most heavily guarded storeroom of their Ministry of Revenue!
Who built this secret passage? And what was its purpose?
Whose residence is this?

Liu Shuyi and Du Gou were also thinking about this issue, but unlike Fu Wuwei who simply pondered it, the two of them directly pushed open the study door and went out.

Stepping out of the study, they found themselves in a courtyard. The lanterns hanging overhead were broken, leaving only their bamboo frames. The courtyard was quite large, and with the snow melted, it was as wet as if it had just rained.

But there were no withered grasses or weeds growing in the yard...

Du Gou thought for a moment and said, "With the lanterns broken like this and no one taking care of them, this mansion must be abandoned."

"The absence of weeds indicates that someone had been tending to the area at least until last autumn, but the fact that the ground is covered in snow after the snowmelt suggests that no one has cleared the snow from the last few snowfalls..."

"Has this mansion only been abandoned for a few months?"

Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes, not rushing to a conclusion, and said, "Everyone split up and go check some rooms to see if you can find anything."

Upon hearing this, the crowd immediately scattered and began searching the mansion.

Liu Shuyi arrived at the center of the courtyard and looked back. He saw that the study was located in a row of rooms. Roughly counting the rooms in front of him, there were nearly ten rooms. There was a gate at the back of the courtyard and another row of houses in front.

It is obvious that this is a courtyard with three entrances.

Although I don't know exactly where in Chang'an this is, I can tell from the distance that it's not far from the imperial city. In Chang'an, the closer you are to the imperial city, the higher the property prices.

Therefore, such a large mansion with three courtyards is absolutely priceless.

But this priceless mansion is uninhabited and abandoned... Why?
What accident happened to the owner of this place?
"There's definitely no one here!"

"Every room was a mess, as if someone had ransacked it."

"Nothing of value was found."

The guards kept reporting the search situation to Liu Shuyi. Liu Shuyi stroked his chin: "Every room has been searched, and all the valuables are gone... Did they hastily pack their belongings and leave?"

"still……"

He narrowed his eyes, then suddenly turned and walked outside, saying, "Let's go out and see where this place is located, and see if this house has a plaque."

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly followed Liu Shuyi outside.

The study where they had just appeared was located in the middle of the three courtyards. To get out, one had to walk through a long corridor and a wide courtyard before reaching the main gate.

Upon reaching the gate, they discovered it was locked from the outside.

Liu Shuyi had no time to waste and said directly, "Break down the door!"

Upon hearing this, the guards immediately rammed the door.

Finally, with a loud bang, the door was smashed open.

At the same time, a piece of paper pasted on the door was also torn off.

Half a sheet of paper was blown by the night wind and floated towards Liu Shuyi's face.

Liu Shuyi reached out and easily grabbed it.

Then, he looked down at the paper in his hand—

brush!
Liu Shuyi's pupils suddenly twitched.

At the very top of the paper was a red "seal" character.

This is a seal from the imperial court!
The seal was affixed to the door, so...

The owner of this mansion did not leave in a hurry by packing his belongings.

Instead... their property was confiscated and their homes were sealed off by the imperial court!

Who is it?
Whose mansion was raided and sealed off?
Liu Shuyi strode out of the gate, picked up the lantern, and looked at the plaque above the gate.

On the plaque were two large characters: Zhao Mansion.

"This this……"

Just then, Fu Wuwei, who had been curiously looking around, suddenly narrowed his eyes and his expression changed drastically the moment he saw the plaque.

He raised his hand, pointed to the plaque above his head, and then looked left and right at the wide street.

"Do you know whose residence this is?" Liu Shuyi asked, a thought crossing his mind, upon seeing Fu Wuwei's reaction.

Then, he saw Fu Wuwei swallow hard and look at Liu Shuyi with a very complicated expression: "Doctor Liu also knows him. After all, without Doctor Liu, we would never have known that his true face was so terrifying, we would never have known that Zhao Zhuo was framed by him, and we would never have known that the spirit of the Prince of Xi was his doing..."

"You mean..."

Liu Shuyi suddenly raised his head, his eyes fixed intently on Fu Wuwei: "Former Vice Minister of Revenue Zhao Chengyi! This is Zhao Chengyi's residence?"

Fu Wuwei nodded emphatically.

It was him...

Liu Shuyi's expression changed for the first time.

Fu Wuwei was right; he knew him very well.

After all, this was the real culprit in the first case he investigated after transmigrating!
But how could it be him?
Zhao Chengyi and Miaoyin'er are from the same faction!
Wasn't the case of the salary payment handled by Fushenglou?

Why is the exit located at Zhao Chengyi's residence?!

(End of this chapter)