Datang: Hiding private money, exposed by Xiao Sizi

But...it is obvious that this is not just the murder of Zhou Qin.

Could it be that Shen Lian also grasped deeper clues?

Li Shimin's eyes flashed, he looked at Shen Lian and said, "Shen Lian, have you also found out who is behind this?"

After hearing what Li Shimin said, Shen Lian took a deep breath, then slammed the gavel and said, "Before that, I want to tell you about a case that has been pending in the Dali Temple for ten years!"

"Ten years of unsolved crimes?"

"What case?"

"A ten-year cold case?"

"That case, is it related to Zhou Qin's case?"

When everyone heard Shen Lian's words, they all looked puzzled.

Li Shimin also looked at Shen Lian, with inquiry in his eyes.

Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji were also curious at this moment. Obviously, they did not expect Shen Lian to talk about a case from ten years ago.

So, what kind of case is this?
Everyone's eyes were focused on Shen Lian again.

At this time, Shen Lian said, "Ten years ago, a case that shocked the government and the public occurred in Chang'an City."

He looked around at everyone and said slowly, "This case had a huge impact back then, and most of you were serving as officials at the time, so I think you all still remember this case."

After hearing Shen Lian's words, Fang Xuanling and others couldn't help but look thoughtful.

The case that caused a stir in both the government and the public ten years ago?

Or did it happen in Chang'an City?

What case?
Ten years is not a short time, and these officials go through countless things every year, so they really can’t remember them all.

Shen Lian looked at everyone and said directly, "Ten years ago, the Tang Dynasty was hit by natural disasters and foreign invaders were surrounding it. The soldiers on the border had not received their salaries for several months and complained a lot. In order to ensure the soldiers' salaries, His Majesty ordered the local gentry to contribute money and effort. After much effort, they finally collected 500,000 copper coins to pay the soldiers and provide supplies to ensure the border's combat effectiveness."

"But in the end, not long after the military pay arrived in Chang'an and before it was sent to the border, 500,000 copper coins disappeared without a trace!"

"That 500,000 copper coins was the only money the Tang Dynasty could afford at the time. However, it disappeared before it could be used. That incident almost caused a mutiny among the soldiers. His Majesty was furious and ordered the Dali Temple and other institutions to conduct a thorough investigation."

"But in the end, we still haven't found out where the money is."

"In the end, the case remained unsolved for ten years, and up to now, the money has still not been found."

"This case..."

Shen Lian looked at everyone and said slowly: "My Lords, do you still remember?"

In fact, Fang Xuanling and others already had some ideas when they heard Shen Lian say that the household registration was short of money ten years ago.

And when Shen Lian finished speaking, they remembered it completely.

And I still remember it vividly!
It's really impossible not to be impressed.

After all, at that time, the Tang Dynasty, a country that had just been established, was almost on the verge of collapse.

If Your Majesty had not sold many valuable things in the palace, taken the initiative to take the lead in saving, and spent some money in exchange for benefits from the noble families, that difficulty would have been impossible to overcome.

That was the second major crisis Li Shimin encountered after he ascended the throne, apart from the Weishui Alliance!

And at that time, Li Shimin was really furious...

People from the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate went searching every day, checking every house. If they found anyone suspicious, they would arrest him first.

People were also in panic at that time.

All officials feel uneasy.

At that time, the search, investigation and arrest lasted for a whole month, and they did not eat or sleep well for a month.

In the end, Li Shimin discovered that the efficiency of officials was affected and many matters of the court were delayed, so he stopped the crazy investigation.

Therefore, everyone has a very deep memory of this incident.

Even Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji had their houses searched and they also had vivid memories of it.

Therefore, after hearing Shen Lian talk about this case, they quickly thought of it.

At the same time, they all looked at Shen Lian with great curiosity.

They wanted to know... why Shen Lian brought up this case for no reason!
Could it be that Shen Lian has already found out how the military pay went missing?
Could it be that... that case is related to the case in which Bai Yanguan was framed by Zhou Qin?
But that was a case ten years ago.

Many clues of evidence have long disappeared without a trace.

Shen Lian, can you really find out the truth?

Fang Xuanling was curious, and Changsun Wuji was also confused.

The emperor Li Shimin, who was under the most pressure at the time, had a pair of tiger eyes flashing with dazzling light.

He stared at Shen Lian with his eyes, and said in a deep voice: "Shen Lian, you suddenly brought up this case, but have you found out the truth?"

Everyone's attention was focused on Shen Lian.

Even Bai Yanguan looked at Shen Lian.

Although he knew that he was framed, he didn't know what was going on.

But he still had no idea who was behind the case that happened ten years ago.

So he also wanted to know whether Shen Lian had solved the case and found the person behind it.

The originally bustling court became quiet again.

When Shen Lian heard Li Shimin's question, he said, "Your Majesty, don't be anxious. Just listen to me one by one."

As Shen Lian spoke, he said, "Come here, bring the files that I have selected."

Soon, two yamen runners came in dragging two trays, and on the trays in their hands were some files piled.

Shen Lian said: "Give the file to His Majesty and the others for a look."

The bailiffs then distributed the files to Li Shimin and others.

Li Shimin casually opened a file.

He discovered that the file was about a murder case in Chang'an City.

However, there was nothing special about this murder case. It was just that two people had a conflict and then accidentally beat each other to death.

This case was solved by Jingzhao Yin. The evidence was sufficient and there was nothing special about it.

And the Dali Temple also gave the final conclusion.

No matter how Li Shimin looked at it, this case was perfectly normal.

So he looked at Shen Lian with some confusion, not understanding why Shen Lian singled out this case.

Fang Xuanling and others also finished reading the files in their hands.

Those files were similar to what Li Shimin had seen.

They're all homicides.

But they are all solved cases.

And the evidence is abundant.

The witnesses and physical evidence are all there.

Even they couldn't see any problem at all.

Fang Xuanling couldn't help but ask Shen Lian: "Sir Shen, are there any problems with these cases?"

Everyone also looked at Shen Lian.

Then Shen Lian said, "My Lords, please don't be impatient. Let me explain it slowly."

"Please look at the dates of these cases."

"date?"

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly looked at the file.

Then, their eyes widened slightly. "This..."

“These dates are so close.”

"Yes, it seems that these cases all happened within the past one or two months!"

"There is not a single case that occurred more than two months ago."

"What a coincidence?"

"Coincidence?" Shen Lian heard their words and said slowly: "You think it's a coincidence, but I think it has nothing to do with the word coincidence."

"Here I have a statistic showing the number of cases that occurred in Chang'an City over the years and months."

As he said this, he ordered someone to hand the statistical form to Li Shimin and others.

When Li Shimin saw it, he raised his eyebrows.

He said: "Since the past few years, the crime rate has been declining year by year, and the number of declines each month is about the same."

"But in the past two months, the crime rate in Chang'an City has indeed strangely risen in the opposite direction."

"Moreover, three months ago, it was still declining normally, which shows that this increase was unexpected and very sudden."

Shen Lian said: "Your Majesty is very observant and hits the nail on the head."

Li Shimin is worthy of being the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Although Shen Lian didn't give any reminders before.

But after seeing this statistical table, I understood everything instantly.

Shen Lian said: "The crime rate has increased abnormally in the past one or two months."

"There was no chaos inside or outside Chang'an City, and the crime rate in other areas of the Tang Dynasty continued to decline."

"So, this clearly shows that... Chang'an's crime rate in the past one or two months is very problematic."

"And when I took out these files and counted other cases, I found that... it was consistent with the previous pattern."

Fang Xuanling's mind moved, and he said, "Could it be that... these cases occurred suddenly outside the normal crime rate?"

"Did someone do this on purpose?"

He quickly looked through some other files.

But after looking through it for a long time, Fang Xuanling still couldn't find any pattern.

He frowned: "Is there no pattern?"

Shen Lian smiled when he heard Fang Xuanling's words and said, "Master Fang, you can't find any pattern in the current case."

"If we have to look for something, we have to look for the pattern from ten years ago."

"Ten years ago?" Fang Xuanling was stunned.

Then, he saw Shen Lian smiled gently, and he said: "Yes, these dead people, without exception, all have the same common identity."

"That is……"

Shen Lian's eyes flashed, and he said slowly: "The eyewitness of the missing military pay case ten years ago, is commonly known as... a witness!"

"And all these witnesses, without exception, died within these two months!"

"No one escaped, no one survived!"

Brush it!
Whether it is Fang Xuanling or Zhangsun Wuji.

The moment he heard what Shen Lian said, his eyes widened suddenly.

The whole person just stood there in a daze.

Fang Xuanling and others never imagined that the victims of these seemingly solved cases were actually witnesses of the military pay case ten years ago!
What is happening?

How come all these witnesses died within these two months!

They hurriedly looked at the file again.

Fang Xuanling flipped through three files in one breath.

After reading it, his brows couldn't help but frown again.

"Something's still wrong."

He said: "These files all say that the causes of their deaths were different, and they were all confirmed by the Jingzhao Yin and the Dali Temple, and the murderers were also found."

"It seems that their deaths don't seem to matter!"

Changsun Wuji also looked at a few papers and said, "Indeed, these cases really don't seem to have any connection."

He couldn't help but look at Shen Lian and said, "Master Qin, what's going on?"

Hearing this, everyone looked at Shen Lian in confusion.

Chang Sun Wuji asked: "Could it be that Jing Zhao Yin found the wrong murderer?"

When Jingzhao Yin Han Min heard this, he almost exploded.

He quickly said, "Master Changsun, please don't talk nonsense!"

"Although I am not as capable as Lord Shen, I will strictly follow the law when closing the case. I will strictly compare all the evidence and make sure that there is no problem with the evidence and the murderer has left his fingerprints before I can close the case."

"So I can guarantee that the murderer is absolutely fine."

Shen Lian smiled and said, "Master Han, you don't have to be nervous. Master Changsun is just making a random guess. He is not really saying that there is something wrong with you."

"In fact, the murderer you found is indeed fine."

Han Min finally breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this.

But Changsun Wuji and others were a little stunned.

Zhang Sun Wuji couldn't help but ask: "There is nothing wrong with the murderer that Jingzhao Yin found, and then Lord Qin, you said that their death was not normal, this... what's going on?"

They just felt that Shen Lian's words before and after were somewhat contradictory.

At this time, Shen Lian no longer kept the secret, and said, "Master Changsun, let me give you an example."

Shen Lian thought for a moment and said, "I want to kill someone because that person would be a threat to me if he were alive."

"But I know that if I do it myself, I might be discovered, and I don't want to be discovered. I don't want to be implicated in this person's death."

"So, I thought about it and came up with a solution."

Chang Sun Wuji asked hurriedly: "What method?"

Then Shen Lian laughed and said, "I can't do anything, and I can't even let anyone related to me do anything, because that might lead to someone finding me out."

"So, if I can't take action, then why can't I guide others to take action?"

Chang Sun Wuji asked doubtfully: "Others?"

Shen Lian smiled and said, "As long as you are a person, you will always have friends, and there will always be people you don't like. It's normal for a person to never be liked by everyone."

"So, the person I want to kill must also be someone who has a grudge or conflict with him. Then what?"

"As long as I look carefully in the dark, I will definitely find it."

"After that, I can secretly plot against them, increase the conflicts between them, and make their hatred grow deeper. Then I can find an opportunity to secretly fan the flames."

Shen Lian looked at Changsun Wuji and said, "When the time comes, I will deliberately increase the hatred between them and create a perfect opportunity for them to attack. Lord Changsun... do you think this will work?"

Changsun Wuji's eyes widened slightly.

He couldn't help but say, "So, what you mean is... these cases are actually pushed by someone behind the scenes?"

Changsun Wuji's eyes widened slightly.

He couldn't help but say, "So, what you mean is... these cases are actually pushed by someone behind the scenes?"

(End of this chapter)