This night, Jurong was not peaceful.
The yamen servants worked hard and traveled to various places under the stars. This means that Yanglianyin has gained people's support. Otherwise, few government officials would "work overtime" to do things.
The eight elders who had gotten out of bed were called out and went to the county government office to talk. The filial descendants who wanted to wait outside the county government office were also invited in.
Gu Zhengchen took the yamen's mineral deposit distribution map and asked the elder if there had been any new mineral deposits discovered in recent years.
The county government's mineral deposit distribution map was compiled in the second year of Hongwu. It has been four years since. Some mineral deposits were not added in time, and the elders have more information from the public.
The elders did provide some new mineral deposits, such as iron mines, coal mines, copper mines, and lime mines. Coal mines and lime mines are either right next to people's houses or at the foot of mountains. Only two of them go deep into the mountains, but there are hunters here from time to time. When I went there, there were still people living in the mountains, and I didn’t hear anything happened.
"In recent years, have there been any weird things in the mountains and forests?"
Gu Zhengchen rolled up the drawings.
The elder Zhou Xiang remembered something, moved his crutches, and said in an old voice: "Master, two years ago, there was a Yin soldier's passage in Yanshan Ridge. Is this a strange thing?"
"The Yin soldiers' aisle?"
Gu Zhengchen stared.
Zhou Xiang nodded and recalled: "I remember it was the Lantern Festival in the fourth year of Hongwu. More than a dozen families in Yanshan Ridge went out to the mountains to have a lively Lantern Festival in the town outside the mountain. When they returned at night, they suddenly encountered Yin soldiers in the aisle. According to them, there were more than four hundred Yin soldiers wearing black hats and carrying blue lanterns. Groups of people were hung by ropes, and they were as quiet as ghosts, walking from west to east."
Another elder, Huang Gu, nodded repeatedly and echoed: "I have also heard about this matter. It was a sensation at the time."
"More than four hundred people?"
Gu Zhengchen took a deep breath.
The number of missing miners plus those who were transferred to look after the miners totals at least four hundred!
The Lantern Festival in the fourth year of Hongwu was close to the time when the Wuchengshan account books were changed and a large number of miners were transferred away.
Could it be said that the Yin soldiers' corridor back then was actually the transfer of miners?
Yanshan Ridge is located in the southwest of Kongqingshan Mountain, which is also related to the caves of Kongqingshan Mountain.
Gu Zhengchen took out the map of Jurong mountains and rivers, looked at the location of Yanshan Ridge, and immediately called Yang Liang and ordered: "Early tomorrow morning, all government officials will go to Yanshan Ridge."
Yang Liang agreed.
Gu Zhengchen sent the elder and his family away with a smile, then sat back in the second hall and waited quietly.
An hour later, Yao Zhen, Wang Liang, and Zhao Hailou entered the second hall.
Zhao Hailou reported to Gu Zhengchen: "Shortly after the elders left, the Guo family sent people to contact two of the elders. After returning to the Guo family, there was no movement."
"I saw that Guo Liu's family has a lot of pigeons, but no one releases pigeons in Guo Dian's family?"
Gu Zhengchen asked while drinking tea.
Zhao Hailou shook his head, and Wang Liang said seriously: "Our people are scattered everywhere. If there are really pigeons flying out, they will not be missed. The starlight is not too dim tonight."
Gu Zhengchen put the tea bowl aside, spread out the map and looked at it: "So, Yanshan Ridge is not their fatal point. The Yin soldiers in the corridor must have been moving the miners. If this is true, then this batch of The people should still be in Jurong at this time, otherwise they don't need to pass through Yanshan Ridge. There should be something we have overlooked here. Take out the files and I will check them one by one."
"Mr. Gu, it has been two days and two nights since you left the mountain on the evening of the 18th. You are either on the road, reviewing cases or reading files. You have never had a good rest. This is not the way to go."
Zhao Hailou stopped him.
Gu Zhengchen rubbed his sore shoulders and smiled calmly: "I just slept for a while in the mosque. Don't try to persuade me. I vaguely feel that there is something that I have overlooked. If I find something like this, I can close the case."
Wang Liang and Zhao Hailou looked at Gu Zhengchen in a desperate posture with some admiration and some helplessness.
What I admire is that although this person is a civil servant, his strong willpower is not comparable to that of ordinary people. Unfortunately, the two of them were rough men and could not help more.
Diving into the files, Gu Zhengchen reorganized the entire case, visualized each scene, connected them together, and deduced the scene at that time.
Thanks to many confessions, account books and physical evidence, the context of the entire incident is very clear. But even so, Gu Zhengchen was still full of doubts, always feeling like he had missed something.
Stayed up all night.
Gu Zhengchen still didn't find what he was looking for. The government officials who went to various places returned one after another. Except for the news about the Yin soldiers' passage and the tigers in the mountains, there was no valuable information.
The tired Gu Zhengchen changed into casual clothes, washed his face, and led Zhang Pei out of the county office.
After passing the bridge, not far away is the lively vegetable market.
The butcher opened the butcher's shop and cut the meat with a sharp edge. The farmer sat on the ground, pointing to fresh spinach and selling it.
The old lady was carrying a basket of eggs, and there was a little girl beside her who was shouting in a low voice.
Farmers and traders set up stalls along the street, which was very lively.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the smoky street and glanced at Zhang Pei: "Zhao Hailou, Wang Liang and others will go back to Jinling tomorrow morning. They came to Jurong and did a lot of things for me. They traveled back and forth. , I haven’t entertained you seriously due to official business, so I might as well buy some more vegetables and meat today and entertain you well.”
A smile appeared on Zhang Pei's face: "I thought the master was involved in the case and would never get out. It's been really worrying these days."
Gu Zhengchen shook his head helplessly: "Perhaps I am too anxious and just want to solve the case within a time limit so that I can give an explanation to His Majesty and live up to His Majesty's favor. Now it seems that we can only close the case temporarily and write a letter to explain the doubts. I hope You can buy some time.”
Zhang Pei saw Gu Zhengchen sighing and knew that the emperor might not give Gu Zhengchen this time.
Buy vegetables, buy meat.
Gu Zhengchen walked towards a farmer, leaned over a big winter melon and asked, "What's the price of this winter melon?"
The farmer stretched out a hand and spread his four fingers: "This winter melon weighs twelve kilograms and only costs four cents."
Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly, took out two copper coins from his arms, both were discounted by three cents, and handed them to the farmer.
The farmer put away the money, looked at it, opened the money bag at his waist, took out four copper coins and handed them to Gu Zhengchen.
Gu Zhengchen weighed the four copper coins in his hand and frowned slightly: "I'm looking for two cents, why should I give you four cents? I don't want to take advantage of you."
Seeing that Gu Zhengchen was young and down-to-earth, the farmer couldn't help but smile and said, "You see that the young master seldom buys vegetables. Two copper coins are worth one penny, and four copper coins can be converted into two cents. That's right."
"how come?"
Gu Zhengchen didn't believe that Hongwu Tongbao had never depreciated in value.
Even if the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes are issued in the future, the price of the treasure banknotes has dropped to the point where they can be used as toilet paper, but the Hongwu Tongbao is still strong.
Gu Zhengchen moved his fingers and opened the copper coins in his hand. When he saw "Taiping Tongbao", he was immediately startled. He raised his head and looked at the farmer and said in a deep voice: "This is Song coins!"
"That's right."
The farmer is calm.
Gu Zhengchen frowned: "Now is the Ming Dynasty!"
The farmer smiled and said: "That's even more true."
Gu Zhengchen picked up a copper coin and said doubtfully: "Is it appropriate for you to use money from the Song Dynasty to buy things from the Ming Dynasty?"
The farmer pointed to the hawkers on the left and right: "Most of us are like this, but the Song Dynasty coins are old and can only be exchanged for two cents per cent. Copper coins are not divided into dynasties..."
Gu Zhengchen ignored the winter melon and asked people on the sidelines. Sure enough, many people had Song Qian in their hands.
"Go back to the county office!"
Gu Zhengchen did not let go of winter melon and asked Zhang Pei to carry it back.
Gu Cheng and Sun Shiba hurriedly entered the second hall. Gu Cheng wiped his wet hands without even untying his scarf: "Master, are you looking for us?"
Gu Zhengchen picked up the Taiping Tongbao one by one and looked at Gu Cheng and Sun Shiba: "You two are in charge of the expenses at home. Have you met Song Qian since you arrived in Jurong?"
Seeing this, Gu Cheng smiled and said: "Master, this is not an ordinary thing, why do you ask this? In our Ming Dynasty, there are two types of coins. One is made money, which is the Hongwu Tongbao created by the imperial court. The other is old money, such as Tang money and Song money. The two coins are used together. Many people among the people will use old money, and merchants will also accept it."
Gu Zhengchen finally understood.
Although you cannot use the sword of the previous dynasty to kill the officials of the current dynasty, you can still use the money of the previous dynasty to buy things of the current dynasty.
During the Song Dynasty, copper coins from the Tang Dynasty were also in circulation.
From this point of view, it is not unusual for Tang and Song coins to circulate in the Ming Dynasty.
Copper coins are not like banknotes. When a regime changes, the banknotes of the previous regime must not be recognized to demonstrate the uniqueness of the new regime. Tang coins were circulated in the Song Dynasty, and Song coins were circulated in the Ming Dynasty. This is because copper coins contain copper and have value in themselves.
In order to cast Hongwu Tongbao, Lao Zhu had to recover the old money and recast it. Among these old money, there was a large amount of Song Dynasty money, and this kind of unrestricted recovery itself recognized the value of the old money.
It is not surprising that old folk money and made money are used together. After all, it was only six years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the amount of Lao Zhu's minted money was limited. If you only rely on Hongwu Tongbao to live, I am afraid that folk money will be so scarce that they will have to return to barter.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the four Song coins on the table, flipped them with his fingers, and added two more Song coins, both of which were Taiping Tongbao. The difference was that some Song coins were quite old, and some Song coins were still a little rusty.
"Zhang Pei, I remember you said that this copper coin was found in the Wucheng Mountain mine."
Gu Zhengchen pointed to a copper coin.
Zhang Pei nodded: "Yes, just outside a lime pit."
Gu Zhengchen pointed to another copper coin: "This is what Han Qiang and others found in the cave of Qingkong Mountain."
Zhang Pei nodded, Han Qiang made this very clear.
Gu Zhengchen stared at the six copper coins and thought for a long time. He raised his brows slightly and said with a sharp look: "No way!"
"Master, what can't you do?"
Gu Cheng was a little confused.
Gu Zhengchen took over the distribution map of Jurong's mineral deposits and glanced at Wucheng Mountain, Kongqing Mountain, Yanshan Ridge, and then towards Dazhuo Mountain not far from Yanshan Ridge.
On the side of Dazhuo Mountain, there are a few small words marked:
Official copper mines prohibit people from entering the mountains.
Gu Zhengchen suddenly stood up and looked at the copper coins on the table again. He compared it with Gu Cheng's Hongwu Tongbao and found that Taiping Tongbao was not only thin but also light, and the quality of the copper coins was also quite inferior.
Gu Zhengchen originally thought that these problems were caused by corrosion over time. Now it seems that the problems with the Song Dynasty Taiping Tongbao are not caused by corrosion, but by poor casting technology!
"This is a private coin! The Guo family is so brave!"
Gu Zhengchen's face turned ugly and he punched the table with his fist, causing the coins to vibrate slightly.
