Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"If I were to make the arrangements," Quan Shuyu considered, "I would probably let Geng Dingli and Kang Zhengshou go to the Sihucao, and let them be responsible for household registration, transit, miscellaneous duties, land litigation, etc.; let Zhang Ruyuan and Chang Si go to the Sicangcao, and let them be responsible for examinations, academies, medicine, etc.; as for Cui Shu..."

Quan Shuyu thought for a moment before saying, "He might be more suitable for the position of Judicial Officer, but he can't be the one who makes the decision."

After listening to it, Chen Shao didn't say it was good or bad. He just thought about it for a moment and said, "Take some time tomorrow and bring them over. I'll have a chat with them."

"Young Master has to go to Uncle Fang's house tomorrow and meet Uncle Liang Zhu," Chan Yi reminded him, "Can you handle it?"

"Just a few questions, no problem." He said this, but looked at Li Tianliu, "Have you asked Zhao Liangzhu what he gained from this trip?"

Li Tianliu glanced outside and asked, "Are you sure you want to discuss this at this time?"

Chen Shao looked outside and said, "Just tell me briefly."

"To put it simply, there are gains, but not much." Li Tianliu took out a blueprint with mountains and rivers and spread it in front of her. There was a winding and rugged path between the mountains and rivers. Pointing at the path, Li Tianliu continued, "This road is the road they took to travel between Hongyuan County and the towns bordering Shan State."

The blueprint was too simple. Mountains and rivers were just simple triangles, rivers were just three wavy lines, and the labels were just the names of mountains and rivers. For people who were not familiar with the terrain, it was basically useless. And Chen Shao happened to be the one who didn't understand this terrain. Fortunately, she didn't want to walk this road again. After picking up the blueprint and carefully observing it twice, she asked, "Is it only Hongyuan County that takes this road to those towns, or are there people from other places taking this road?"

"On their way there and back, they encountered at least thirty caravans from Yuexi County, Yunnan County, Qianwei County and Nanxi County going to the town bordering Shan State to do business." Li Tianliu said, "According to Zhao Liangzhu's indirect inquiries, the information obtained from these caravans is that they heard about this path three months ago, and then walked it twice with a try-it attitude. They found that it saved nearly one-third of the time compared to the original route, so they started to officially take this route. As for who developed this road, they don't know. And who told them about this road, there are different opinions."

Li Tianliu took out another list and said, "Zhao Liangzhu wrote down the names of the people who showed them the way. He also arranged for people to secretly inquire in these county towns, but they found nothing."

Chen Shao asked: "What do you mean by not finding out anything?"

"It means that, apart from these merchants or caravans running goods," Li Tianliu said word by word, "no one knows them at all."

Chen Shaoyang raised his eyebrows: "What happened later? Did Zhao Liangzhu ask about it again?"

Li Tianliu glanced at her and said, "It was after Zhao Liangzhu returned to Hongyuan County that these people who were asking about this came back one after another."

"That is to say," Chan Yi saw Chen Shao remained silent for a long time and couldn't help but interrupt, "After the young master investigated the Zhu family and the Gu family, the former prince's party knew that they couldn't hide their dealings with the Shan Kingdom, so they simply announced the road to the Shan Kingdom, thereby cutting off the clues for the young master to continue investigating?"

Li Tianliu said: "At present, it seems that this is about the case."

Chan Yi looked at Chen Shao and saw her lowering her eyes in deep thought. She couldn't help but glance at the sky outside, then took two steps forward, put away the drawings and the list, and said, "It's getting late. If you have anything to say, let's talk about it tomorrow."

Chen Shao's thoughts were interrupted. He looked at them, then looked outside, then stood up and said, "Let's talk about it tomorrow."

Anyway, I can't figure anything out with just this drawing and list.

"Sir, don't forget," Chan Yi reminded again, "The teachers in the academy have long said they want to meet them, but it has been delayed for a month or two. If you are free tomorrow, you should meet them as well."

Chen Shao patted his forehead and replied, "I know."

The weather is getting colder day by day, and the wind is getting colder day by day.

The next morning, Chen Shao barely washed his face in the biting cold wind. When he saw Zhao Liangzhu waiting under the eaves, he paused and called him into the study, "Why are you here so early? Where's Fu Jiu? Hurry up and get a heater."

"It's okay, I just got here, I'm not going to be cold yet." Zhao Liangzhu said.

"Fu Jiu is already preparing it." Quan Shuyu came in with hot tea. After pouring a cup for Zhao Liangzhu, she continued, "Uncle Liangzhu has been here for a while. I told him to wait in the study, but he refused to come in. He said there were so many valuables in the study. If he accidentally broke something, the young master wouldn't say anything, and he wouldn't be able to get away with it."

"Don't listen to her, sir," Zhao Liangzhu said hurriedly, "That's not true."

Looking at his red cheeks and nose due to the cold, Chen Shao said, "Next time you come here, just go to the study and wait. There are indeed many valuable items in the study, but no matter how valuable they are, they are not as valuable as humans."

Zhao Liangzhu held the warm tea and said with a smile: "Okay, then I will go directly to the study and wait next time I come."

Chen Shao said "hmm", asked him to sit down, chatted with him for a while, and then asked him about his trip to the border town.

Zhao Liangzhu picked up the key points and said something that was similar to what Li Tianliu said last night. Chen Shao asked a few questions about the details, and when he saw that his answer was of little value, he changed the topic to him: "You have lost a lot of weight during this trip, and it seems that you have suffered a lot."

"In the past, we used to take the official roads when escorting goods." Zhao Liangzhu did not deny it. "This time, we went to those towns and crossed mountains and ridges all the way. It was really hard."

Chen Shao took out the blueprint, spread it out on the desk, and asked, "I see that this road doesn't pass through any villages or towns from beginning to end. How do you usually get food and accommodation?"

"Most of the time it's dry food," Zhao Liangzhu replied. "On rare occasions, if there's still room in the thatched or wooden hut they built earlier, they'll cook one or two hot meals there."

Chen Shao raised his eyes: "The thatched houses and wooden houses built by the former caravans of the Zhu and Gu families?"

Zhao Liangzhu nodded, "There are many thatched and wooden houses along the way, and there is a lot of firewood and food stored in the houses. In recent months, more and more people have taken this road, and a lot of firewood and food have been used up, and many people have also stayed in the houses at night."

He laughed again and said, "Having more people has its advantages. If you start a conversation with him, you can get a lot of information out of him."

Chen Shao asked again, "There should be quite a few people trying to trick you, right?"

"It's natural," Zhao Liangzhu said, "When people are chatting, if you ask about your family, they will definitely ask you back. However, I just changed their answers a little bit and fooled them."

Chen Shao asked: "Did you run into anyone you know?"

"I really met them," Zhao Liangzhu said with a smile, "Two old friends I met in Nanxi County. After hearing that they could make a lot of money by running goods, they left Ruifeng Trading Company and went to the border together to try their luck."

Chen Shao: "Have you asked them what goods they plan to transport to the border?"

Zhao Liangzhu replied: "Most of them are medicinal herbs, but they are mainly medicinal herbs. They also do things like fur and jade. They do whatever makes money. There is no fixed pattern."

Chen Shao said nonchalantly, "Going to the border to run goods may make money, but it is also very risky. Since they are old friends, I think they are no longer at the age of believing everything they hear. Have you asked them who they plan to sell the goods they run back to?"