"Itās not the right time yet," Ye Ziāan said with a smile. "Besides, I promised Qingtong not to disclose it for now. So, my lady, you should wait for Qingtong to tell you personally."
"Sigh, they are all growing up, and these marriage arrangements are really worrisome," Yang Chuxia sighed. "Letās not talk about Qingtong, thereās also Linyu."
She thought to herself that when they returned to the capital, she must help resolve the marriage arrangements for this young girl.
When she mentioned Linyu, Ye Ziāanās eyes flickered slightly, and Mu Shaoling, who happened to see this, also understood.
Yang Chuxia guessed that Mu Shaoling and Ye Ziāan might have other matters to discuss, so she left the study.
That evening, the cook prepared some of Liao Cityās specialty dishes, and Ye Ziāan and Mu Shaoling drank until they were thoroughly intoxicated.
Mu Shaolingās main purpose in coming to Liao City was for the herbs, so after staying with Ye Ziāan for two days, he took people into the mountains.
As for Ye Ziāan, he still focused his attention on Liu Song and the others. During this period, he intercepted Prefectural Magistrate Songās letter once, but the person whom Prefectural Magistrate Song contacted was not someone they were familiar with.
Upon further investigation, they learned that he was the leader of a small tribe in Great Qi, and this leader was loyal to the Eldest Imperial Prince. Now that the Eldest Imperial Prince was dead, the tribe leader had switched allegiances to the Second Prince, also known as Prince Le.
Ye Ziāan kept Prefectural Magistrate Songās letter and then forged a new one in the otherās handwriting to send out.
However, the tribe leader never replied.
Ye Ziāan thought that regardless of whether the response came or not, Prefectural Magistrate Songās crime of treason was undeniable.
Just as he was considering when to act against Prefectural Magistrate Song, the informant hiding in the Liu Residence also sent a message.
"Tsk tsk, truly despicable."
Ye Liu commented, "Master, Prefect Liuās crimes are even more disgusting than those greedy officials. After those greedy officials exploited the local people, at least the silver and jewels remained in Great Zhou. But Prefect Liu used money to buy his life and sent the silver to another country. Isnāt this using Great Zhouās money to fund Great Qi?"
In broader terms, using oneās countryās silver to support the development of another country is hardly different from treason.
"Indeed, an awakening," Ye Ziāan said, placing the letter down. "Have them investigate who orchestrated this affair."
The letter from the people in Ning City stated that back when Great Qiās cavalry invaded Great Zhou, the reason Prefect Liu and several major officials remained unscathed was that they bought their lives.
And this ransom was extraordinarily high and came with a hierarchy of prices.
For instance, at the level of a prefect, it cost ten thousand taels of silver, eight thousand for a son, and three thousand for a wife and daughter.
For a prefectural magistrate, it was one level lower: eight thousand for themselves, six thousand for a son, and two thousand for a wife and daughter, and so on. Just for the ransom of Prefect Liuās family, over forty thousand taels were spent.
In total, there were eight families that paid the ransom, amounting to around two hundred thousand taels of silver gained by Great Qi in Ning City.
For ordinary people, spending their money to save their own lives is a perfectly normal thing.
But as officials who live off the emperorās provisions, how can you be so cowardly? Shouldnāt you lead the city guards to resist to the end? Now, even though itās not outright surrender, itās truly contemptible.
Most importantly, the money they used to buy their lives was earned from their shops, which were operated using many conveniences provided by their positions.
These people were more adept at embezzlement and bribery compared to those in Zhejiang.
They used their power for personal gain, doing it openly and righteously, making it hard for anyone to catch them.