Honey, you didn't really drugged me, did you?-Chapter 262 - 127 Zheng Chuan: He can find out even this?
Chapter 262 -127 Zheng Chuan: He can find out even this?
Iron mine!
This is the real strategic resource of Mianshui County, the foundation of their wealth.
Trafficking in illicit salt may be forgivable, but illicit iron mining is a genuine capital offense.
But there are exceptions, such as guilds recognized by the court, which have the qualifications to mine iron ore.
For example, the two dominants of Mianshui County: the Fishing Guild and Guild Cao!
They are permitted by the court to mine for iron ore, which is a reflection of their extraordinary status. Of course, even though they are allowed to mine, there is still some control.
Each month they must submit a fixed proportion to the court; only the remaining can they sell privately.
Of course, this private selling also depends on the buyer; they can only sell to blacksmiths forging agricultural tools, and some can be used within the guild, but it is all controlled.
As the first major hall of the Fishing Guild, White Tiger Hall has its own mining area on the iron mine mountain, and this part is accounted for separately without going through the management of the Fishing Guild Headquarters.
This was also part of the agreement reached between Peng Shizhong and Nan Batian back then.
When Chen Jie brought up the investigation of the iron mine, Peng Shizhong frowned and said, “Do you think there is a problem with the iron mine?”
Hearing this, Chen Jie said, “It should be, because I asked many people, and in the end, they all said that on the day Fourth Brother got into trouble, he was looking at the accounting books for the iron mine mountain. I suspect Fourth Brother found something in the accounting books that led to him being murdered.”
“Hmm? You mean the person who made the move is very likely one of our own?”
Chen Jie said, “I don’t know, but I’m not ruling out any possibilities. Also, adoptive father, if it were you, what would you tamper with in the iron mine?”
Peng Shizhong said, “Iron is a weapon of the state; there are too many places one could tamper with. Without evidence, it’s not easy to investigate!”
After this was said, Peng Shizhong added, “However, since you, Jiu Si, wish to investigate, then investigate. This matter is up to you. You will be assisted by the Twelve Eagle Guards in your investigation.”
Chen Jie said, “Understood.”
“Yes, you may go now.”
Peng Shizhong waved his hand, Chen Jie left, followed by the Twelve Eagle Guards. Each of the Twelve Eagle Guards was a strong fighter from the Willow Tendon Realm; with their help, Chen Jie should be able to accomplish a lot.
After leaving Peng Shizhong’s room, Zhou Chu was waiting at the door and asked, “How did it go, Jiu Si?”
Chen Jie replied, “Adoptive father has agreed for us to investigate the iron mine and has assigned the Twelve Eagle Guards to assist us.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Chu gave a salute to the Twelve Eagle Guards behind him and then looked at Chen Jie saying, “So Jiu Si, what do we do next?”
“Check the accounts!”
Chen Jie uttered these words and headed straight for the accounting room of White Tiger Hall’s side court.
Upon arriving at the accounting room, he saw many accountants busy with their books. When they noticed Chen Jie’s arrival, an accountant in charge promptly stood up and said, “Fifth Master, what brings you here?”
Chen Jie replied, “Nothing much; I’m just coming to look at the accounting books. Bring me the ones recording the iron mine mountain.”
Hearing this, the accountant in charge responded, “Alright, please wait a moment.”
Soon, an accounting book was brought over, and Chen Jie started to flip through it.
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While looking through it, Chen Jie pointed to a page and said, “What is this about? How can smelting iron result in a loss?”
Hearing this, the accountant in charge explained, “Oh, these are defective iron.”
“Defective iron?”
Chen Jie, puzzled, looked at the accountant, who immediately explained, “It’s like this; in some areas of the North Mountain Mine, the iron ore produced, for reasons unknown, becomes extremely fragile once smelted into iron. It doesn’t seem to have an issue when we look at it, but the moment it’s used, especially when it encounters a strong impact, it shatters on impact.”
“It’s completely unusable; thus, it’s called defective iron.”
“And such defective iron, once smelted, leads to a loss.”
“That’s why there are losses within these accounts,” explained the accountant.
Hearing this, Chen Jie narrowed his eyes, intuitively sensing that there was something fishy about this defective iron.
Chen Jie flipped forward and gradually discovered that the output of defective iron had been increasing; when he finished with the current book, Chen Jie said, “Do you have the account books from last year, and the year before? Bring all of them to me.”
Upon hearing this, the accountant said, “Yes.”
“However, Fifth Master, these old accounts have been archived. Please wait, it will take some time to find them.”
Chen Jie said, “It’s okay, just go find them.”
Chen Jie took a sip of tea while Zhou Chu, looking at Chen Jie, asked, “Is there a problem with the accounting books?”
Chen Jie replied, “The books themselves are fine, and they balance out. But just because they balance doesn’t mean there’s no problem.”
While Chen Jie was pondering, the accountant hurried over with a small box containing nearly ten accounting books, saying, “Fifth Master, these are all the accounting books for the past ten years, please review them.”
Chen Jie took them and examined them closely.
The first year of Zhizheng: 2,000 jin of defective iron.
The second year of Zhizheng: 2,500 jin of defective iron.
The third year of Zhizheng: 2,300 jin of defective iron.
The fourth year of Zhizheng: 1,800 jin of defective iron.
…
The seventh year of Zhizheng: 10,000 jin of defective iron.
The eighth year of Zhizheng: 30,000 jin of defective iron.
The ninth year of Zhizheng, which is just over half a year, already had 20,000 jin of defective iron shipped out.
Looking at the accounting books, Chen Jie found that the defective iron production drastically increased starting from the seventh year of Zhizheng, which is the year before last.
Chen Jie closely examined the seventh year’s defective iron output and noticed the increase began in the last three months.
Chen Jie also reviewed the production of normal iron in the last three months and found a significant decrease.
Chen Jie dabbed his finger in some tea water, then performed some simple arithmetic with Arabic numerals on the table.
He discovered that when adding the numbers of defective iron to the numbers of normal iron, it amounted to a stable figure: approximately 80,000 jin, with no more than a 3,000 jin deviation.
