"I have three things here that I need you to do." Ye Tianhuai got straight to the point.

"First, Du Zhengen, the commander of the former forbidden army's right yafu division, should be locked up in the Criminal Department now, I want to know his current situation, and his relationship with Du Jing, the secretary of the Criminal Department."

Tao Yuan nodded.

"Second, find someone to keep an eye on the movements of the Gu Mansion, who Gu Shihai sees every day and how long he has seen him, he has to report to me one by one."

Tao Yuan nodded.

"Third, find a fourteen-year-old girl named Wang Siyun."

Tao Yuan paused and asked, "Is it the case of Gu Gongzi who made a fuss in Beijing?" ”

"Yes. Wang Siyun, the daughter of the shopkeeper of Heshun Buzhuang, is missing according to Jingzhao Mansion, but I don't believe that anyone in this world can disappear out of thin air. Ye Tianhuai's expression was grim, and he said, "I want to see people in life, and I want to see corpses when I die." ”

"Understood. If there is progress, how can the grass people pass on the news to His Majesty? ”

Ye Qianhuai thought that the few things she mentioned were not easy to do, and Tao Yuan would say something, but he didn't want him to respond in a relaxed tone.

That's a good thing. Ye Qian said: "In this way, you can write a note about the situation you find every day and store it here." Early the next morning, I sent someone to Huisheng to pawn the gold medal with it. ”

Tao Yuan was silent and said, "There is a kind of colorless ink here in the grass people, and the ink color can only be revealed when encountering special potions. The grass people used this ink to write, and His Majesty waited for the bottle to come back with a bottle of potion, and each time he dripped two drops in the water, and then put the blank note in the water, so that the words could be revealed. It's safer to prevent changes along the way. ”

Ye Tianhuai was slightly stunned, thinking that this was the usual method used in their business. She nodded, "It's better that way." ”

She thought for a moment and asked, "Is Wang Lisong your person protecting?" ”

"Yes."

"How does he know now?"

"On his way back to Beijing, he will be able to reach the capital in about five or six days on the official road and carriage he will take."

Tao Yuan's expression and tone were obviously not worried about Wang Lisong's safety. This made Ye Tianhuai breathe a sigh of relief.

The two looked at each other speechless for a while, and Ye Tianhuai asked, "Before Mr. Lu, were you loyal to the first emperor?" ”

Tao Yuan nodded: "Yes, at that time, it was the first emperor who directly ordered us, and Gonggong Li conveyed it from it." ”

Li Baoquan was a eunuch who grew up with the first emperor, and he followed the first emperor from beginning to end, and even the history books commented that the first emperor's trust and reliance on Li Baoquan completely exceeded the relationship with the courtiers.

Now it seems that Li Baoquan knew about the existence of Eagle Guard from early on. But he never revealed a single star to Ye Qianhuai, until Ye Qianhuai placed the gold medal in front of him.

Ye Qianhuai's mind came to Li Baoquan's low-eyed appearance.

She couldn't help but feel that although the first emperor had been dead for more than two years, in Li Baoquan's heart, his master was still the first emperor, not her.

"When Mr. Lu took over the Eagle Guard before, was the Emperor Xian here with him?" Ye Qianhuai asked.

Tao Yuan shook his head and said, "At that time, it has been ten years since Shunping, and I heard that the first emperor couldn't even go to the early dynasty, so he should be in poor health and couldn't get out of bed." At that time, the first emperor personally wrote a secret edict and asked Mr. Lu to come with the gold medal and the secret edict. ”

Tao Yuan recalled that year, and added: "Mr. Lu didn't know the content of that secret edict in advance, and he didn't even hear of Eagle Guard. The secret edict was sealed by the emperor himself, and it was only opened here that he arrived. Seeing the contents of the secret edict, Mr. Lu was even more surprised than us. ”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and those peach blossom eyes suddenly became charming.

Ye Tianhuai was indifferent to the charm he had unintentionally released, and she immediately asked the question she was most concerned about: "How many people are there in Eagle Guard now?" ”

"One thousand and seventy-three." Tao Yuan did not shy away.

"I heard from Li Baoquan that the inner court would allocate 100,000 taels of silver to the Eagle Guard every month. What did all this money go to? ”

Tao Yuan paused slightly and said, "Your Majesty, wait a minute." ”

He got up and left the room, and after a short time he turned back, holding three thick indigo-covered booklets in his hands.

Tao Yuan put the booklet in front of Ye Tianhuai and said, "This is the annual account book of Eagle Guard from the year and the first year to the present. ”

Ye Tianhuai flipped through it.

Although she has not learned the account room, these account books are detailed records, the purpose of each expense, the payee, and the time are written very clearly, and at the end of each account book, there is a summary of the classification of various expenses this year, which can be said to be clear at a glance, and even Ye Tianhuai, a layman, can see it very clearly.

Ye Tianhuai quickly flipped to the end, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"What does this mean is that Eagle Guard still has a balance of more than 1.5 million taels on his books?" Ye Qianhuai asked.

Tao Yuan bowed slightly, but his expression was gloomy, and said: "The last large-scale dispatch of the Eagle Guard was the ninth year of Shunping, and since then, until now, the tasks that the Eagle Guard has taken can be counted on two hands. But despite this, the appropriation in the palace has never been broken. Your Majesty should be able to see from the account books that most of the Eagle Guard's expenses in the past three years have been focused on training new people. At the end of the ninth year of Shunping, there were only 335 Eagle Guards, and now there are 1,073 people, and a total of more than 1.5 million taels of silver has been spent. ”

Ye Qianhuai carefully reconciled the accounts again.

Tao Yuan looked at her serious appearance, smiled, and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, we are different from courtiers, we have faith." Silver doesn't have that much appeal to us. ”

Ye Tianhuai raised his head from the account book and looked at Tao Yuan.

The corners of his mouth were smiling, and there was an inexplicable firmness in those good-looking peach blossom eyes.

"We believe in the god of the wilderness, and ill-gotten wealth will affect people's desolate spirits, weakening people's abilities and longevity. Besides, every Eagle Guard is an orphan, and there can be no offspring. For us, silver is something that is not brought with us in life and not brought with us in death, and it is of little use. Tao Yuandao.

Ye Tianhuai looked at Tao Yuan, a little surprised in his eyes. With no parents and no children, she never thought that Eagle Guard would have such cruel rules.

Tao Yuan said calmly, and didn't seem to feel anything.

These balances were recorded in the name of the Inner Court. Your Majesty needs it, and you can take it. However," Tao Yuan changed his words, "Your Majesty is going to use us now, and I'm afraid there won't be so much balance in the future." After all, whether it is an informant or intelligence, weapons and machines, disguises and medicines, all use silver. ”

Ye Qian pondered for a long time, and finally said: "I need you now, the silver is a small matter." Just let it go, don't let me down. ”

"The grass people take the order." Tao Yuan replied respectfully.

"There is another matter," Ye Tianhuai's expression sank, and he asked, "Do you know Mr. Lu's details?" ”

(End of chapter)