The Prodigal Son

water?

Qin Yu looked around and immediately called Ding Che over, hurriedly asking, "Have you searched in the water?"

In the water?

Hearing Qin Yu's question, Ding Che suddenly woke up.

"yes!"

Ding Che suddenly slapped his forehead, exclaiming in surprise, "How could I forget to search in the water! Especially the deep water!"

"Throwing all that mess into deep water is the fastest way to clean it up."

"As mountain streams carry silt and sediment over time, they naturally bury those things!"

Suddenly, Ding Che seemed to have unlocked his full potential.

He was almost certain that a large number of objects had been thrown into the water!

"Then let's find it!"

Qin Yu made a decisive decision: "Give the order to have everyone search along the mountain stream, focusing on areas with deeper water and nearby pools of water!"

"good!"

Ding Che nodded emphatically, "I'll give the order right away!"

As Ding Che relayed Qin Yu's orders, the group immediately changed their search direction.

"Thump, thump..."

Despite the cold, many people jumped into the water to begin the search.

Time passed little by little.

"Lord Qin, we've found it!"

As darkness fell completely, Ding Che excitedly brought good news.

"Where?"

"Take me to see this quickly!"

Qin Yu suddenly stood up, and Guo Yang, who was sitting alone to the side, also stood up instantly.

"It's in a deep pool just three miles away! Many of them are buried under silt, and our people are still searching for them. I'll take you there to see!"

As he spoke, Ding Che quickly lit a torch and led the way.

Qin Yu immediately followed with Nan Que'er and Guo Yang, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

These guys are fucking cautious!

They actually threw the object into a deep pool three miles away!

If he hadn't suddenly thought of that spot in the water while he was drinking, who knows how much longer the search would have taken!

Soon, they arrived at a deep pool three miles away.

Fires were lit all around, and a large number of people continued to search the water despite the cold.

A considerable amount of the salvaged items had already piled up nearby.

There are broken or intact earthenware bowls and pots, as well as severely rusted iron picks and steel hoes, and a few blackened metal parts.

"It's now almost certain that this is a gold mine!"

Ding Che squatted down and picked up the metal parts next to him. "These should be some parts of the gold panning tanker. Judging from the marks, these are all remnants of the fire! Before those people left, they must have burned everything that could be burned, and threw the rest into this deep pool..."

Those people were indeed very cautious.

They were not given any objects that could be found at a glance.

Everything was cleaned up perfectly!

This also shows that those people were actually terrified.

They were not only worried about the imperial court investigating, but also worried that someone might accidentally wander into these places, discover their belongings, and expose their secret gold mining activities.

"It should be!"

Qin Yu nodded and immediately ordered, "Examine everything that has been retrieved carefully, and see if there are any clues that can trace its origin!"

"good!"

Ding Che nodded, then asked, "Will the mining continue?"

"dig!"

Without hesitation, Qin Yu said, "Even if we have these things, we must keep digging! Let's see what's inside!"

Since Qin Yu says we should continue digging, then let's dig!

He actually wanted to see what was inside!

That night, many people took turns retrieving fish from the deep pool.

One group of people couldn't stand the cold, so they came up to warm themselves by the fire, while another group went down to continue the salvage operation.

Years of silt accumulation have buried many things in the silt at the bottom of the pool, which has greatly increased the difficulty of retrieval.

But with everyone taking turns to salvage, a lot of things were also salvaged.

Most of them are things that are difficult to burn.

By daybreak, there wasn't much left to retrieve from the bottom of the pool.

Qin Yu ordered his men to stop the salvage operation, and then he himself inspected the salvaged artifacts.

"These ironware items are of relatively good quality and their styles are basically the same, so they must have been manufactured uniformly and then transported here!"

While examining the salvaged ironware, Ding Che said to Qin Yu, "Based on the grip marks, we can basically conclude that those people have been secretly mining here for nearly two years, which matches the evidence we found earlier..."

"etc!"

Qin Yu looked at Ding Che in surprise, "You can determine the usage time based on the grip marks?"

"Of course we can make that judgment!"

Ding Che nodded, pointing to the wooden handle of a pickaxe, and said, "Sir, please look. These two places, clearly different in color, are the marks of long-term handling!"

"With prolonged use, the oil and sweat from your hands will seep into the wooden handle. After being soaked in water, the difference between the handle and the area that is not held is very obvious."

"Based on the depth of color and the degree of decay, one can basically determine the time of use..."

Ding Che explained it to Qin Yu in detail, and Qin Yu listened attentively.

Believe it or not, I actually learned something from this!

As he continued, Ding Che's expression turned regretful. "Unfortunately, no traceable markings or anything like that have been found on these iron artifacts so far."

"That's normal! These people are so cautious, they wouldn't leave such obvious clues!"

Qin Yu wasn't discouraged. He picked up another intact earthenware bowl and examined it closely. "These earthenware pots and bowls are all the same style, so they must have been purchased together! Can you tell where these earthenware pots and bowls are from?"

"this……"

Ding Che shook his head. "We really can't tell! We can ask someone who knows a lot about pottery later."

"Alright!"

Qin Yu nodded slightly.

……

For the next three days, Qin Yu and his group stayed deep in Nanping Mountain like wild men.

After a careful search, they also found traces of gold panning carts in several places with relatively rapid currents, as well as piles of tailings left over from gold panning, and a small amount of unpanned gold dust in the surrounding area.

All signs indicate that this is a gold mine!

Moreover, this gold mine has a high gold content and is relatively easy to mine.

Through careful examination of those artifacts, they also discovered some vague clues.

However, like the horse bean, these clues lacked clear direction, and the investigation could only proceed based on these vague clues.

Judging from the current situation, Taozhou is a place that deserves a thorough investigation!

Just as Qin Yu was carefully pondering these clues, an excited voice suddenly rang in his ears.

"We've broken through!"

Upon hearing this voice, Qin Yu suddenly came to his senses and, without saying a word, grabbed Nan Que'er and ran towards the mine.

As they ran over, Ding Che, Lü Si, Guo Yang, and others also ran over from all directions.

"What's inside?"

Qin Yu asked impatiently.

The mud-covered staff member from the Baojing Bureau replied, "Dead people, many dead people!"