Chapter 834 - 61: Smuggling Through the Canal—A Major Case Threatening Kyushu

Since arriving in Jiangning.

He was also adhering to Gu Lin’s instructions, never deliberately doing anything, just helping people with various chores.

The reason Gu Lin wanted to do this was equally simple.

Others could use the reputation of the Gu Clan.

As the patriarch of the Gu Clan, how could he not?

These aristocratic families dominate the area.

He did not believe these people possess the character of the Gu Clan, never making mistakes locally!

Such matters cannot be completely suppressed.

Even if they could suppress things temporarily, as long as the Gu Clan members are here, people will naturally find opportunities to expose all their problems!

This is the reputation of the Gu Clan!

It is night.

Autumn rain drips gradually, the lights in the back hall of the government office are dim.

Gu Xu just finished reviewing today’s files, about to rest, when suddenly a restrained knocking was heard outside the hall, urgent yet slight, unlike the usual notice from a yamen officer.

He became alert, signaling his elderly personal servant to check it out.

Moments later, the servant led someone inside.

The visitor was drenched, wearing a bamboo hat, draped in a tattered raincoat, dressed like an ordinary fisherman or boat worker, his face full of rain and fear, immediately knelt on the floor upon entering, body shaking slightly due to cold and fear.

"Lord Gu! I... I have a secret to report!" the man’s voice trembled, head buried deeply, hands tightly clutching an oil-cloth-wrapped object.

Gu Xu’s face remained calm, signaling the servant to close the door and guard outside, then immediately looked at the man: "Stand up and speak."

"What secret would bring you here in the night, and why seek me out personally?"

The man barely stood, still dared not to raise his head, holding the oil-cloth package above his head, voice extremely low, filled with moisture and fear: "I am Li Gui, a small manager from the Chuans Gang, responsible for repair records of the Jiangning section of transport ships."

"I... truly could not bear it, and feared being implicated in the future, hence bravely seeking out Lord Gu!"

"Chuans Gang? Chen family’s transport?" Gu Xu’s eyes slightly narrowed, tone still calm, "Speak in detail."

Li Gui swallowed, rain sliding down his temples: "Lord Gu, take heed!"

"On the surface, the Chen family’s transport ships carry official grain and salt, accounts clear, not a single discrepancy."

"When officials from the Imperial Censorate come to inspect, naturally they find no problem."

"But... but the problem is not in the accounts, it’s in the ship’s bottom!"

"The ship’s bottom?" Gu Xu leaned slightly forward.

"Yes!" Li Gui seemed to find courage, speaking faster, "Every few trips the Chen family’s ships would use the excuse of old or damaged planks to dock at their own shipyard for repairs."

"The repairs are real, but each time, they make alterations in the underwater compartments of the ship’s bottom!"

He carefully unwrapped the oil cloth, not revealing account books, but scraps of old planks deliberately cut, and a small pack wrapped in oil paper emitting an unusual scent.

"Lord Gu, please look," he pointed at the plank scraps, "These seem like ordinary replaced old materials, but look closely at the wear on the dovetail joints and the water-stained patterns... these couldn’t have been caused in the same period or the same voyage!"

"This shows signs of repeated assembly and use!"

He then picked up the black block, releasing a mixed scent of spices and mildew: "I secretly scraped this off."

"It’s securely lodged in a specially designed compartment on the ship’s bottom, camouflaged with moss, undetectable during sailing unless the ship is dismantled ashore."

"This is a smuggled item from the Southern Ocean, a rare incense worth more than gold!"

"And there are others... sappanwood, pepper, and perhaps even iron used in weapons, though I’m of low status and can’t access the core, just speculating from scents and occasional scattered residues..."

While speaking, Li Gui’s body continued trembling.

He too felt helpless about this matter.

Though merely a record-keeping manager, he’d gradually encountered some of the core matters due to serving the Chen family for many years.

Logically, he shouldn’t expose such matters to the Gu Clan.

But human nature is just like this.

Before encountering such smuggling activities, Li Gui felt his life was already decent, but after witnessing the benefits, things were different.

The greed deep in his heart drove him to steal the smuggled goods.

If he had cautiously enjoyed the leftover profits secretly, perhaps things wouldn’t have escalated.

But his greed grew steadily.

Eventually, his actions were noticed.

And when the Chen family began internal investigation, he was left with only one path.

Reporting to the Gu Clan might offer a path to survive.

But if the Chen family discovered it, he would certainly die in secrecy sooner or later.

He had no choice!

Gu Lin was uninterested in Li Gui’s origins and immediately took the black block from his hands, smelling it, his brow instinctively furrowing.

Though the scent was already quite complex.

Yet he immediately detected some aroma of pepper.

What truly shocked him was something else.

If all these were indeed as Li Gui said, he could be certain that the Chen family couldn’t be the sole participant!

The interests involved were immense!

The current trade taxes of the Great Song were already differentiated based on goods.

Adding that these items were not cheap commodities.

Now being able to completely evade taxes.

The resulting profits were unimaginable, even for him as a Gu Clan member!

"Making bridges openly, smuggling under the Chencang..."

Suddenly, these eight words flashed in Gu Xu’s mind.

"Indeed, to deal with well-prepared people, one must wait for internal chaos."

His expression grew increasingly solemn.

After a brief silence, Gu Xu walked up to Li Gui, eyes sharp, asking each word deliberately:

"Are you... willing to atone for your crimes?".....

...

Autumn rain drizzled.

Chen Gui thus ran through the darkness, racing towards his dilapidated home.

In truth, he still had some money now.

After all, he’d succeeded many times recently.

But despite earning some, due to the Chen family’s control over Jiangning, he dared not spend, only managing to hide secretly stolen goods in his home’s cellar, inspecting them meticulously each day.

As he told Gu Xu.

"He was truly scared of poverty!"

Though afraid to sell, or take them out to spend, just seeing those items gave him reassurance.

But tonight, Chen Gui clearly wasn’t in the mood to check those things.

Returning home.

He ignored his wife’s eager inquiries, expressionlessly lay back on the bed, mind replaying Gu Xu’s words over and over.

In simple terms—as long as pretended nothing happened, the Gu Clan would surely protect his life, even forgive his crimes.

If anyone else had said this, Chen Gui clearly wouldn’t believe.

But this was after all the Gu Clan!

Moreover, he truly had no retreat!

"But how long must I pretend?"

"Can’t wait for those Chen fellows to truly investigate me?"

His mind was a mess, tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, mind tangled.

And under the same night sky.

Through the rain, a personal guard of the Gu Clan galloped horse, rushing out of Jiangning Prefecture.

This was, of course, Gu Xu’s order.

The news must be reported to Gu Lin immediately.

Though Gu Xu appeared calm, he knew the seriousness of the matter.

In his view, since the matter was now exposed, it must be—eliminated completely!

Currently, the Great Song focusing on transport.

With such a giant loophole in transport, it must be suppressed at all costs!...

....

(Ps: Begging for monthly tickets at the start of the month, please support generously, innumerable thanks from the fish.)