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

"First, Du Zhengen, the former commander of the Forbidden Army Youya Prefecture, should be detained in the Ministry of Punishment now. I want to know his current situation and his relationship with Du Jing, the Minister of Punishment."

Tao Yuan nodded.

"Second, find someone to keep an eye on the movements of the Gu family. Who Gu Shihai meets every day and for how long must be reported 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 Mr. Gu that caused a commotion in Beijing?"

"Yes. Wang Siyun, the daughter of the shopkeeper of Heshun Buzhuang King, is missing according to Jingzhao Mansion, but I don't believe that someone in this world can disappear out of thin air." Ye Qinghuai looked stern and said, "I want to see you alive.

People, when they die, they want to see their bodies."

"I understand. If there is progress, how should the ordinary people convey the news to His Majesty?"

Ye Qinghuai originally thought that the things she mentioned were difficult to handle and what Tao Yuan would say, but he didn't expect him to respond easily.

That's a good thing. Ye Qinghuai thought: "In this way, you write down the daily findings in notes and store them here. Early the next morning, I will send someone to Huisheng to pawn them with the gold medal."

Tao Yuan was silent and said: "The common people here have a kind of colorless ink, which can show the ink color when it encounters a special potion. The common people use this ink to write. Your Majesty will bring back a bottle of potion and drop it in the water every time."

Apply two drops and then put the blank note in the water to make the words visible. This is safer to prevent changes along the way."

Ye Qinghuai was slightly startled, thinking that this was a commonly used method in their industry. She nodded and said, "It's better this way."

She thought for a while and then asked: "Is Wang Lisong your person protecting him?"

"yes."

"Do you know how he is doing now?"

"He is on his way back to the capital. The official road he took when he came back and the carriage he took will take him to the capital in about five or six days."

Tao Yuan's look and tone clearly showed that he was not worried about Wang Lisong's safety. This made Ye Qinghuai breathe a sigh of relief.

The two looked at each other in silence for a while, and then Ye Qinghuai asked: "Before Mr. Lu, were you loyal to the late emperor?"

Tao Yuan nodded: "Yes, the late emperor gave us the order directly at that time, and Eunuch Li conveyed it to us."

Li Baoquan was an eunuch who grew up with the late emperor, and he stayed with the late emperor from beginning to end. Even the history books commented that the late emperor's trust and reliance on Li Baoquan completely exceeded his relationship with the courtiers.

It now seems that Li Baoquan knew about the existence of Eagle Guard from early on. But he never revealed anything to Ye Qinghuai until Ye Qinghuai placed the gold medal in front of him.

In Ye Qinghuai's mind, the image of Li Baoquan with a low eyebrow appeared in his mind.

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

"When Mr. Lu took over Eagle Guard, was it the late emperor who came here with him?" Ye Qinghuai asked.

Tao Yuan shook his head and said: "It was already the tenth year of Shunping at that time. I heard that the late emperor could not even go to court in the morning. He must have been in poor health and could not get out of bed. At that time, the late emperor wrote a secret edict in his own hand,

Let Mr. Lu come with the gold medal and secret edict."

Tao Yuan recalled that year and added: "Mr. Lu did not know the contents of the sealed edict in advance, and even the Eagle Guards had not heard of it. The late emperor had sealed the sealed edict in wax himself, and it was not opened until he arrived here.

Mr. Lu was even more surprised than us when he saw the contents of the secret edict."

A smile appeared on his lips, and his peach blossom eyes suddenly looked charming.

Ye Qinghuai was indifferent to the charm he inadvertently released. She immediately asked the question she was most concerned about: "How many people are there in the Eagle Guard now?"

"One thousand and seventy-three people." Tao Yuan did not avoid it.

"I heard from Li Baoquan that the imperial court allocates one hundred thousand taels of silver to Eagle Guard every month. What is the money used for?"

Tao Yuan paused for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, wait a moment."

He stood up and left the room. Not long after, he came back with three thick indigo-covered books in his hands.

Tao Yuan placed the book in front of Ye Qinghuai and said, "This is the annual account book of Yingwei since the first year of Suihe."

Ye Qinghuai started reading.

Although she has never learned accounting, these account books have detailed records. The purpose of each expenditure, the payee, and the time are all written very clearly. At the end of each account book, there is a classified sum of various expenditures this year, which can be said to be clear at a glance.

Even a layman like Ye Qinghuai could see it very clearly.

Ye Qinghuai quickly turned to the end, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"This means that there is still a balance of more than 1.5 million taels in Eagle Guard's books?" Ye Qinghuai asked.

Tao Yuan nodded slightly, but his expression suddenly became sad, and said: "The last large-scale deployment of the Eagle Guard was in the ninth year of Shunping. Since then, until now, the number of tasks that the Eagle Guard has taken over can be counted on two hands. But even though

In this way, the palace's funding has never been cut off. Your Majesty should be able to see from the account books that most of the Eagle Guard's expenditures in the past three years have been focused on training new recruits. At the end of the ninth year of Junpei, there were only 335 Eagle Guards.

Now there are 1,073 people, and a total of more than 1.5 million taels of silver have been spent."

Ye Qinghuai carefully checked the account again.

Tao Yuan looked at her serious look, smiled, and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, we are different from the courtiers, we have faith. Silver is not that attractive to us."

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

There was a smile on his lips, and there was an inexplicable determination in those beautiful peach blossom eyes.

"We believe in the God of Desolation. Ill-gotten wealth will affect people's desolate souls and weaken their abilities and lifespan. Moreover, every Eagle Guard is an orphan, let alone having descendants. To us, money means life or death.

The things I brought are not of much use," Tao Yuan said.

Ye Qinghuai looked at Tao Yuan with some surprise in her eyes. She had no parents and no heirs. She had never thought that Eagle Guard had such cruel rules.

Tao Yuan spoke calmly, as if he didn't feel anything.

"These balances are recorded in the name of the inner court. If your Majesty needs it, you can take it. However," Tao Yuan changed the subject, "Your Majesty wants to use us now, and I am afraid there will not be so much balance in the future. After all, whether it is an informant or an informant,

Intelligence, weapons and equipment, disguises and medicines all use money."

Ye Qinghuai thought for a long time, and finally said: "I need you now, the money is small. Just go ahead and do it, don't let me down."

"The common people take your orders." Tao Yuan replied respectfully.

"There is one more thing," Ye Qinghuai's expression darkened and he asked, "Do you know Mr. Lu's background?"
Chapter completed!