Chapter 40 Infiltration
The main reason why South City is poor may be that there are many mountains to the south of Longyuan City, making the road difficult to travel.

Even the official roads outside the city were still winding and twisting. Therefore, even merchants from the south would choose to enter the city from the east and west. Over time, the two cities of East and West were derived, and the South City became a place where the poor gathered. The public security situation became worse and worse, gradually forming a vicious cycle.

Walking along the official road for seven or eight miles out of the south gate, you will see a mountain among a group of mountains. It looks so small and ordinary that it doesn't even deserve a name. On the back slope of this nameless mountain, there is a cloth shop.

From the plaque hanging above, you can see that its name is "Longsheng Cloth Shop".

……

Early in the morning, Ling Yuanbao hurried to the station again, took Liang Yue out and brought him here.

"Wow, it's so big." Liang Yue said, looking up.

Rather than calling it a cloth shop, it is better to call it a mountain villa. It is hidden among the lush greenery halfway up the mountain and almost covers the entire hillside.

"It's absolutely abnormal that this cloth shop is in such a remote place!" Ling Yuanbao frowned and said, turning his head, "All our people have gone to the Ministry of Industry, and we called you over again, sorry to bother you."

"It's okay." Liang Yue said with a smile.

He was more enthusiastic about Zhen Chang's case than Ling Yuanbao, and should be grateful to the other party for allowing him to participate.

"You have put so much effort into investigating the Ministry of Works. How deep is your hatred?" Liang Yue knew that the Ministry of Justice was investigating the Ministry of Works, but he did not expect that so much effort and time would be invested.

It's been so long and it's not over yet.

Of course it is impossible that he has no idea, he can only be holding back.

"You are far from the imperial court, so it's normal that you don't know these things." On the way up the mountain, Ling Yuanbao explained to him, "The Right Prime Minister is in charge of the three departments of Personnel, Households, and Rites, and the Left Prime Minister is in charge of the three departments of Military Affairs, Criminal Justice, and Works. In name, this is the case, but... each department has its own power."

"The Right Prime Minister came from the Ministry of Personnel, and he promoted everyone, so the Ministry of Personnel is his territory, and everyone obeys his orders. But the two ministers of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue, relatively speaking, don't give him that much face. The same goes for the Left Prime Minister, he came from our Ministry of Justice, and his word is law here. But the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works are not so obedient."

"Lord Zuo Xiang is not as good-tempered as Lord You Xiang. He has long been dissatisfied with the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works. Needless to say, Mr. Qi, the Minister of War, is untouchable; and the Minister of Works, Lu Yuanwang, is the father-in-law of the current emperor. Concubine Lu is very favored in the palace, and he is not easy to deal with, which is why he has endured it for so long. This time, the Ministry of Works finally has problems, and Lord Zuo Xiang has issued a death order that the Ministry of Works must be thoroughly dug up."

"The court is also quite chaotic..." Liang Yue nodded thoughtfully as he listened.

"Of course, it's hard to find a more chaotic place in the world." Ling Yuanbao said, "My father wouldn't let me enter the court, but I wanted to join the army, but he wouldn't let me, so I..."

"Just what?" Liang Yue stopped talking halfway through her sentence.

"Hehe, nothing." Ling Yuanbao changed the subject and pointed with his hand: "Look!"

The two of them came to the top of the mountain on the other side and looked down. They saw long bamboo poles in the cloth shop, with colorful cloth hanging on them. The cloth fluttered in the wind and the colorful cloth filled the sky. The manor was so big, but there was no trace of the scene inside.

If you stare at it for too long, you may even feel dizzy.

For a while, I only saw two carriages entering from the front gate and going out from the back gate. I couldn't tell where it was, but it was definitely not a normal cloth shop.

"It seems like there is some kind of formation. We have to go in and take a look." Ling Yuanbao put his hands on the pergola and looked for a while, then said.

"If a fight breaks out, Captain Ling, you have to look after me." Liang Yue immediately gave a reminder, and was prepared to curry favor with the powerful.

"Don't worry." Ling Yuanbao patted his chest, "We are partners!"

Liang Yue nodded and said, "That's right! We are the best partners."

……

After several contacts with Liang Yue, Ling Yuanbao felt that this person was more and more useful... It was as if he was a brain growing outside her body, and if she didn't bring him with her when she went out, he always felt that he was not so smart.

Besides, he is very nice and willing to help me.

But she is not someone who doesn't know how to give back. As the saying goes, you help me and I help you.

Before Captain Ling came, she made a promise to Liang Yue that if he needed anything in the future, she would be the first one to help!

Liang Yue was also very happy to have a friend like Ling Yuanbao... He had inevitably offended some people overtly or covertly during this period of time, so having such a friend was definitely a good thing.

At least, putting aside her IQ and EQ, she is really good at fighting.

The two of them came to the hillside and found a corner out of sight. Ling Yuanbao said, "I'll go in and explore the way first. You can come in if there's no problem."

Having said that, he leaped forward and entered the cloth shop in the blink of an eye.

After a moment, she whispered from inside: "Come on."

Liang Yue then jumped into the wall. As soon as he landed, he saw pavilions and towers in front of him, which looked like a back garden. The two crouched down and walked along the long corridor. There was no one here. The two walked through the garden and came to the edge of the main courtyard. Before he left, Ling Yuanbao waved his hand, "Hold your breath!"

Liang Yue immediately lowered his body like her, sticking close to the wall to conceal his figure.

After a pause, he heard footsteps. There should be two people coming. Their footsteps were light and steady. It sounded like they also had some experience in martial arts.

However, the tough Ling Yuanbao was not afraid. She leaned closer and whispered, "Come out to attract their attention later. I'll take care of them from behind."

"Remember to leave him alive." This was Liang Yue's only instruction to her.

Pop, pop, pop.

The footsteps circled around and finally came closer. Liang Yue took a deep breath, rushed out suddenly, and raised his hands high: "Everyone look at me! I have something to announce..."

Opposite an archway, there were two people wearing black robes and brass masks on their faces. The moment they saw Liang Yue, before they could even show surprise in their eyes, a black shadow flashed behind them.

Bang!Bang!
Ling Yuanbao's speed was so terrifying that Liang Yue could hardly catch it with his naked eyes. She had already circled behind him and connected two palm strikes, one on the left and one on the right, completing the attack at lightning speed.

The two men in black fell down, revealing Liang Yue's somewhat embarrassed face. He smiled awkwardly: "I haven't had time to attract their attention yet."

"Fortunately, I have solved it." Ling Yuanbao clapped his hands twice.

The two dragged the two men in black to a hidden jungle nearby. Liang Yue said, "Wake one up first."

Ling Yuanbao slapped one of the men in black twice, waking him up. He was so swift and decisive that Liang Yue grinned.

"Huh? You..." The man in black woke up and was about to shout.

"Shut up!" Liang Yue took off his mask and saw the face of a man in his thirties, then covered his mouth with his hand: "Now we want to ask you something, it's okay if you answer everything truthfully, don't even think about lying. We will wake up the person next to him and ask the same question again. If the answers are different, you two..."

There was fear in the man's eyes, and he nodded quickly.

Liang Yue put his hand down and asked the first question: "What do you do in this cloth shop?"

"Here... this is a bank." The man hesitated for a moment, then met Ling Yuanbao's murderous gaze and said immediately, "A lot of money comes in every day, and a lot of money goes out."

"Do you recognize this?" Liang Yue showed the golden silk in his hand.

"Here is the voucher," the man said. "No matter who you are, as long as you bring the gold silk, you can exchange it for silver ingots and take it away. One foot of gold silk can be exchanged for one thousand taels of silver."

Liang Yue looked at the golden silk in his hand and suddenly felt it was heavy.

As expected.

This is an underground bank that specializes in storing stolen silver of unknown origin, and the gold and silk are tokens of exchange for silver. Since Zhen Changzhi also owns the gold and silk, it means that this place is also closely related to the corruption in the court.

This kind of underground money house should allow anyone to exchange gold and silk for silver regardless of their identity, facilitating many crimes.

It is hard to say whether it is related to Zhen Changzhi’s death.

He then asked, "Who is the owner of this bank?"

"I don't know..." The man shook his head, perhaps to save his own life, and added: "I only know that Mr. Liu is in charge here, and we usually follow his orders."

"Where are the bank's vaults and account books?" Liang Yue asked finally.

"I don't know either... Ah, the important things should be stored in the Privy Council Loft, but I don't know if there's what you want in there!" The man was about to shake his head again when he saw Ling Yuanbao's murderous eyes and immediately pointed in a direction, "Go straight along this road, the one in the middle is it."

Bang.

After he finished speaking, Liang Yue gave Ling Yuanbao a look and hit him with the knife again. He fainted again.

"What should we do now?" Ling Yuanbao asked habitually.

Liang Yue glanced at the two men in black and said, "Take off their clothes first."

"Ah..." Ling Yuanbao frowned: "What do you want to do?"

Liang Yue turned around and said, "Of course I changed into their clothes. What are you thinking?"

(End of this chapter)