Zheng Zheng bent in front of him to lead the way, and said as he walked: "Young Master Zhou, the official silver of our Cangzhou Mansion is placed in a top-secret place, and ordinary people will never find it here." Look here, on the surface, this is a treasury, but in fact, the official money is not here. ”

Zhou Xiaocao looked at the empty treasury and asked, "Where is the silver?" ”

Zheng Zheng said: "Hey, it's all underground!" ”

"Underground? Basement? ”

Zheng Zheng said mysteriously: "Yes! This treasury was designed by the villain himself, located five zhang deep underground, dug holes, filled with stone walls, solid and hidden. ”

Coming to the inside of the treasury, the innermost wall, Zheng Zheng pressed a more secret switch, and opened a door. Drilling through this door, the light was dim. Zheng Zheng explained: "Young Master Zhou, please see, there is a rope here, this rope leads directly to the house of the prefect Lord Xie, as long as someone uses this device, it will alarm Lord Xie." ”

Following the direction that Zheng Zheng pointed, Zhou Xiaocao really saw a rope that extended to the outside through a delicate wooden pulley device.

Zheng Zheng continued: "You see, as soon as this door is opened, this rope will be implicated. A string of bells is attached to the other end of the rope, and the bell rings loudly, and people are quickly attracted to it. ”

Pointing to an iron cage in front of him, he said, "This is an elevator, only two people can go in at a time, and two people outside will shake the roulette wheel to lower the ladder." Keep it all the way to the end, and you'll be at the location of the secret treasury. ”

Zhou Xiaocao and Zheng Zheng entered the iron cage, and the two officials began to twist the roulette wheel vigorously, and with a squeaky and screeching sound, the iron cage slowly descended. After walking for a distance, only to hear a "pop", Zheng Zheng said: "It's here!" ”

Zhou Xiaocao was still calculating in his heart, one zhang in ancient times was about equivalent to less than three meters now. Five feet underground, how can it be as deep as a three-story building, why don't you think it has gone down so deep?

"Mr. Zheng, why don't I think it's so deep?"

Zheng Zheng smiled and said: "What about this five zhang, it's just the number of jù when it was designed, and when it was excavated, it was possible that those laborers cut corners, but in fact it was not that deep." ”

Zhou Xiaocao nodded and looked at the huge stone door in front of him. There is a large iron lock on the door, which is very conspicuous.

Zheng Zheng took out a key and said, "This lock must be opened by two keys at the same time." Young Master Zhou, please insert the key in your hand. ”

Before leaving, Xie Bingzhou had already given Zhou Xiaocao the key he kept, and at this moment Zhou Xiaocao took it out, and inserted two keys at the same time, one to the left and the other to the right. Only to hear the "click", the big lock opened in response.

When the stone door was opened, there was a stone chamber made of strips of stone, about twenty square meters in size. It doesn't look big, but it's more than enough to put tens of thousands of taels of silver. But now, it's empty, and even the big boxes of silver are gone.

Zhou Xiaocao asked, "Are there any traces of thieves here?" ”

Zheng Zheng said: "This is where our headache is! There is no trace of outsiders entering it, or maybe they have wiped it out. ”

Zhou Xiaocao carefully inspected the environment of the stone chamber. There are only some scattered footprints in the ground, and it seems that they should have been left by Xie Bingzhou when they came in to investigate the case. The stone walls are also tightly fitted, with no signs of being pryed.

Zhou Xiaocao was secretly surprised, and asked Zheng Zheng again: "Mr. Zheng, is it possible that an insider stole it?" ”

Zheng Zheng replied with a bitter face: "This is also the direction of our initial suspicions. However, after looking for a long time, I have beaten many people, even the villain, and now this butt is still scarred! But nothing! The most strange thing is that the day before the silver in the treasury was lost, Lord Xie personally came to count the amount of silver and made sure that the amount was correct before leaving. The next day, the villain was relieved that he couldn't afford such a large sum of silver, and when he came in to check it again, he couldn't see the shadow of the silver! ”

Zhou Xiaocao said: "So, the silver was lost overnight? ”

Zheng Zheng said helplessly: "Yes! We still can't figure out how this thief managed to quietly take away so much silver! Overnight, there were people here day and night, and no one had a chance to enter the stone chamber. And, even if he did, how did he unknowingly take all the silver here? ”

Zhou Xiaocao also felt a headache. yes, how is this done?

Zhou Xiaocao carefully picked out the stones on the stone wall and asked, "Is every stone tight?" Is it possible that a tunnel or something was dug from the outside, one or more stones were pried off, and then secretly transported through the tunnel? ”

Zheng Zheng replied: "We have also considered this situation, but this place is very secret, and not many people know about it; Second, where did he put so much silver? ”

yes, that's a problem.

Zhou Xiaocao was also clueless at the moment, and said: "Let's go, let's find those craftsmen who have participated in the construction of this place, I still don't rule out the possibility of insiders committing crimes." ”

Zheng Zheng nodded and said, "Yes!" The little one went to find the list of the craftsmen who built this place at that time, Young Master Zhou, please wait. ”

After getting out of the stone room and coming to the ground through the elevator, Zheng Zheng found a list, and there were only five people on it. Zheng Zheng explained: "This kind of place, of course, the fewer people who know about it, the better, and the fewer people there are, at most, it is just a little longer to build, and the top secrets of the project must be ensured." ”

Zhou Xiaocao nodded and said, "Well, this consideration is correct. ”

When I took the list, I saw that the names of five people were neatly written on it. Zhou Xiaocao pointed to the first name and said, "Go to him first and ask about the situation!" ”

Zheng Zheng said: "Young Master Zhou is wise! Should you ask these craftsmen about the situation first, maybe one of them did it? I'm afraid, only they know the exact location of this basement, so that they can arrange it early and get it! ”

Zhou Xiaocao nodded and said, "Without further ado, let's set off now!" ”

Zheng Zheng asked, "Young Master Zhou, do you want to bring more people?" ”

Zhou Xiaocao thought for a while and said, "No need, let's just go over and understand the situation, if we really bring many people over, maybe we will scare people first, and we won't be able to ask anything." ”

Zheng Zheng bowed his head and said, "Yes, yes!" Let's go with the two of us. Let's go, this stone pier lives in Shimen Village, three miles outside the city, and the little one takes Young Master Zhou to go. ”

When the two of them came out, Zheng Zheng originally wanted to ride over, but Zhou Xiaocao knew how to ride a horse and insisted on walking over, Zheng Zheng had no choice but to agree.

Shimen Village is in the northeast corner of Cangzhou City, there is a small river passing by the village, and the scenery is pleasant. At this time, it is the early winter season, the sky is exceptionally blue, the water is exceptionally clear, and the branches with a few reluctant leaves are scattered and scattered, reflected in the slowly flowing river, and with the waves of the flowing water, a mischievous fish occasionally appears, popping up and spitting out a string of bubbles.

At this time, the autumn flood has passed, and it is the time when the wind and waves are calm.

When Zhou Xiaocao and Zheng Zheng came to the entrance of the village, it was already past noon, and their stomachs were growling. Zheng Zheng mentioned that he would have a meal first, and Zhou Xiaocao was worried about the tens of thousands of taels of silver, so he was not in the mood, so he decided to find this stone pier first and ask about it.

The two asked the villagers about the house of Shidunzi, stepped forward and knocked on the door, and a woman's voice came from inside: "Who?" ”

Zhou Xiaocao said: "Is the stone dun stone mason at home? ”

The woman replied, "Go away!" My man is not at home, there is no one at home! ”