Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

"I dare not! I dare not! It is my honor to serve the court. I do have some clues about the case of the coarse silver back then."

"Please speak freely, Patriarch Zhao!"

Zhao Gan took a sip of tea and slowly said, "Actually, Liu Bao had an accident when he was delivering silver to the capital for the second time. It was normal when he went to the capital to deliver silver the first time; they all came back."

Two months later, they were escorting a second batch of silver to the capital when they were attacked by unidentified men on Dongting Lake. Liu Bao was killed on the spot by crossbow bolts, and his hundred guards were either killed or captured. The three silver-carrying ships were also taken away, and they were never heard from again.

"How does the patriarch know so much?" Xue Wei pressed.

"Because three guards escaped back. They are members of my Zhao family. I hid them. They experienced the horror of that night and are still affected by it. They are taciturn and afraid of strangers."

Yuan Renjing then asked, "What happened to the former mine supervisor, Han Wenyi?"

"He's dead. He was a drunkard who lived a life of debauchery. The real power of the mine supervision was in the hands of Sun An and Liu Bao. He was just a hands-off manager. Three years ago, he fell into the water while drunk, and his body was not found until the next day."

However, the truly bizarre case involved another deputy mining supervisor, Sun An, who hanged himself ten days after news of the silver ship's demise. In the end, all three mining supervisors—the director, the second director, and the deputy director—were dead.

Xue Wei pondered for a moment and said, "Six years ago, the Imperial Household Department received 20,000 catties of coarse silver, but it was later discovered that it was not coarse silver, but 20,000 catties of lead. The whereabouts of the real 20,000 catties of coarse silver are unknown. Now the court wants to reopen the investigation. Does Patriarch Zhao know anything else?"

Zhao Gan sneered, "Those 20,000 jin of lead-containing straw were produced by the Dankou Mine, weren't they!"

Yuan Renjing's spirits lifted. "How did Patriarch Zhao know?"

"It's very simple. Twenty thousand catties of grass-joint lead. No other mine can produce that much. Only Dankou Mine can produce it. Dankou Mine belongs to the Mo family. The lead ingots they produce have always been sold to the Chenzhou Silver Regulatory Bureau. Moreover, the Mo family has a close relationship with the official silver mine. Otherwise, how could they have obtained the second richest mine after the official silver mine? I'll tell you about someone. This person may be the key."

"Who?"

"Mo Yu'an, the brother of the family head Mo Yusheng, was the chief clerk of the mining supervision department back then. After Sun An hanged himself, he was so frightened that he came back. The family head Mo Yusheng arranged for him to hide in another place for two years. He only returned four years ago and is now in charge of the accounts in the Mo family."

"Are there bandits in Dongting Lake?" Xue Wei asked again.

Zhao Gan stared at Xue Wei with complicated emotions, hesitated several times before finally just smiling lightly.

"No, never. Our cargo ships sail through Dongting Lake every year, and we've never heard of any bandits. Besides, even if there were bandits, they wouldn't know anything about crude silver."

He paused, then looked at Xue Wei with a strange expression, and said cautiously, "Actually, there are many problems here. Why wasn't the interception carried out the first time? The fact that they intercepted the second time means that the other party has an inside man in the official silver mine. Twenty thousand catties of crude silver is equivalent to two years' worth of production from the Chenzhou Silver Bureau! Such a big matter, yet the imperial court didn't send anyone to investigate back then, and it was ultimately left unresolved. We are all very puzzled."

Xue Wei also sensed that the other party was looking at him strangely, as if he should also know the truth. He seemed reluctant to talk about the ambush in Dongting Lake.

Xue Wei didn't ask any more questions, but instead turned to another key issue.

"Which side is the Mo family backing—Wu Chengsi's or Wu Sansi's?"

"First it was Wu Chengsi, and only after Wu Chengsi died did they switch to clinging to Wu Sansi."

On this issue, Zhao Gan did not hesitate any longer and answered decisively.

........

After Zhao Gan left, the three of them immediately closed the door and discussed the matter.

"Commander Xue, do you think this Zhao family head is trustworthy?" Gao Yuanli asked first.

"It's hard to say!"

Xue Wei pondered for a moment and said, "Let's assume that Zhao Gan's description is true. Then there are two major forces involved in this case. The first major force is of course Wu Chengsi. He has been watching the output of official silver in Chenzhou for two years. He arranged for the first shipment of silver to the capital, which was in the form of lead blocks. Then he played a trick and made 300,000 taels of official silver disappear into thin air, diverting everyone's attention. The court began to investigate the disappearance of the official silver, but little did they know that the real 20,000 catties of coarse silver was still in Chenzhou. This move was very well done and was kept secret for six whole years."

However, Wu Chengsi didn't expect that while one mantis stalks the cicada, another oriole lurks behind. Someone within the Chenzhou Banking Regulatory Bureau leaked the secret to another faction, so the 20,000 catties of official silver came under the attention of that other faction. This led to the second incident of the silver being attacked and robbed on Dongting Lake. Sun An, knowing that the matter had been exposed, committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

Yuan Renjing nodded. "The captain's analysis is very thorough. This should be the truth. The current mine supervisor, Jiang, is also aware of this. His greatest achievement is that he balanced the accounts and left no trace. That's why he was promoted to mine supervisor. As for the death of the former mine supervisor, Han Wenyi, I think someone wanted him to vacate his position and make way for the current mine supervisor, Jiang."

Gao Yuanli thought for a moment and then said, "I have a feeling that both the Zhao and Mo families are involved in the case, and this Zhao Gan is not clean either; he knows too much."

Xue Wei sneered, "He keeps saying that everyone knows something, but in reality, this matter was handled very discreetly. If you weren't involved, you wouldn't have known at all. I suspect that he is an informant for another force. He thought he was infallible, which is why he dared to expose the Mo family."

"So what do we do now? Arrest Mo Shengyu first?"

Yuan Renjing was also a little worried, "Arresting Mo Shengyu will definitely provoke a strong resistance from the Mo family, and we don't have enough manpower."

"We have no problem with manpower. If necessary, I will mobilize the troops from Chenzhou Prefecture to help. What we need now is evidence, not our inferences."

Gao Yuanli's eyes darted around and he said, "We can arrest the Mo family under the pretext of assassinating an official of the imperial court. Perhaps we can find Wu Jizhi's letter and then use it as leverage to force the Mo family to hand over evidence. I think the Mo family should have evidence of 20,000 catties of white lead ore."

Gao Yuanli's words reminded Xue Wei that even if the Chenzhou silver case could not be solved, Yuan Mao must not be allowed to take an arrow for him in vain; someone must pay the price.

........

Xue Wei immediately led several men to the Chenzhou garrison camp and first presented the gold plaque of the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

Immediately, a soldier ran to inform the commander-in-chief. The Chenzhou garrison was a lower-level garrison with only eight hundred soldiers. The commander-in-chief was Dou Changxing, a fifth-rank military officer.

Dou Changxing was a member of the Dou family, a noble family in Guanzhong, and also a Qianniu Beishen (a type of military officer). He did not know Xue Wei, but Xue Wei's father, Xue Shao, was his superior.

Upon entering the military camp, Dou Changxing looked Xue Wei up and down. "I heard that Commandant Xue was struck by a poisoned arrow and is dead. What happened?"

Xue Wei smiled slightly and said, "It was just a trick of my back to advance that a mere poisoned arrow could kill me. The one who was truly poisoned was Yuan Mao, the Dali Sizhi."

"Yuan Mao, Yuan Qi's son?"

"Does General Dou know him?"

"They're all from the Guanzhong aristocracy, how could I not know them? I even taught him archery back then, and I recommended him for the position of Imperial Guard. How is his injury?"

Unexpectedly, the Commandant of the Imperial Guards was an acquaintance. But thinking about it, it's not surprising. The final career path for palace guards is to serve in various local military governorships, and most palace guards are sons of nobles.

"So it's Brother Dou! I'm Xue Wei, son of Xue Shao. Brother Dou, you should know me, right?"

Dou Changxing laughed heartily, "So Commandant Xue is General Xue's son. Your father was my former superior. What a coincidence to meet an old friend in a foreign land!"

Dou Changxing quickly invited Xue Wei to sit down and had the soldiers serve tea. He asked in confusion, "Commander Xue is a military officer, but how come he's also the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review? How come one is a military officer and the other a civil official?"

"I am merely the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, here in Chenzhou on a secret imperial decree to investigate a case from six years ago involving 20,000 catties of coarse silver. Does Dou know anything about the inside story?"

"I took office six years ago as a Guoyi Duwei. There were rumors in the Chenzhou officialdom about this case: two years' worth of inventory was lost, and two deputy mine supervisors died. But strangely, the imperial court did not send anyone to investigate. The case was eventually dropped because the mine supervisors were directly under the imperial court and not under local jurisdiction. So everyone just talked about it over drinks, and no one dared to get involved. I didn't know much about it either."

This is what it means to have a normal understanding of the general situation, not to know the extremely detailed information like Zhao Gan did.

Xue Wei nodded and said, "Now we roughly know that the people who tried to assassinate me are from the Mo family. I don't have enough manpower, so I want to borrow troops from the general to arrest the Mo family."

Dou Changxing pondered for a moment and said, "The Mo family is a local powerful family with strong backing in the imperial court. If the captain wants to arrest them, he must have solid evidence and ask the county government to assist in the arrest. However, to mobilize the local troops, he needs approval from the Ministry of War or a special token like that of an imperial censor. Otherwise, if I violate the rules and help the captain, I will be dismissed from my post."

Xue Wei knew his predicament and that he wouldn't easily agree to send troops to help him. He took out a gold token and said calmly, "Can I use this gold token to mobilize troops?"