I have traveled through time, who am I afraid of?

Chapter 1197 Key in Hand, Arriving at the Cave Entrance

Xun Zheng tried his best to suppress his excitement and led a few subordinates to carry out the orders of Crown Prince Xiao Jingye.

Only Crown Prince Xiao Jingye, Prince Yu Xiao Jingyu, and Leng Rongyue remained in front of the stone house.

The courtyard where this stone house is located is usually only inhabited by Feng Jiu and his two henchmen, one fat and one thin, as well as a few women who hang out with them here.

Everyone had been stored in the space, and Leng Rongyue and Xiao Jingyu had searched the entire courtyard.

Just as they expected, how could a few people like Feng Jiu, who were guarding such a gold mine every day, not embezzle from their own posts!

They not only embezzled from their own posts, but they also secretly kept quite a lot of those golden items!

To be honest, Feng Jiu was just a nobody with no official position. He wasn't even Deng Chusheng's legitimate brother-in-law. He just used his sister's connections to get a job, serving as a vicious dog for Deng Chusheng and his superiors, guarding this secret gold mine for them.

This lackey had no less than ten thousand taels of gold hidden in his house alone!

The stone houses where Feng Jiu lived could be seen from top to bottom at a glance.

There is no secret room.

As for the hidden compartment...

This stone house is built with stones from this mountain. The interior walls are not whitewashed; they are just irregularly arranged stones. There are no hidden compartments.

Feng Jiu and the other two simply dug a large, square pit under the bed in the room.

Move the bed aside, lift the wooden planks, and a large pit will be revealed.

The largest pit was in Feng Jiu's house. Inside the pit was a large wooden box filled with all sorts of gold—gold bars, gold bricks, gold ingots, and irregularly shaped gold nuggets. The box was almost full!

This huge box of gold must contain at least ten thousand taels.

The two henchmen who followed Feng Jiu, one fat and one thin, also stole quite a bit—over a thousand taels of gold were found in their house.

Looking at the large and small boxes of gold, and thinking about the large amount of gold in Jiang Ciche and Xiao Jingyi's secret room, Leng Rongyue couldn't help but recall a jingle from a certain modern dynasty: "Big officials hoard, small officials steal, and even henchmen have big pockets!"

That's really true!

With gold mines right in front of them and gold at their fingertips, how could the lackeys and henchmen of these greedy men not reach out their greedy claws to the gold?

They never imagined that no matter how much they embezzled or stole, or how many pockets they had, they would ultimately lose nothing from this ill-gotten wealth, including their own lives!

As for what they can be spared, all they will be burdened with is a crime that even their nine generations of relatives cannot bear!

Having found the gold that the group had been hiding, Leng Rongyue immediately put it into her spatial storage without saying a word.

After Leng Rongyue and Xiao Jingyu had searched the entire courtyard where the stone house was located and confirmed that nothing had been missed, the two returned to the gate of the stone house and stood with Crown Prince Xiao Jingye.

The three looked at the valley that had regained its vitality and couldn't help but smile knowingly.

At this moment, Xun Zheng walked up to the three of them and bowed.

Crown Prince Xiao Jingye smiled and nodded, "Xun Zheng, well done!"

Next, let's work together to clean up this gold mine and the entire Dongchang Prefecture, restoring a clear blue sky to Dongchang Prefecture!

"Yes, Your Majesty, I obey!"

Xun Zheng responded, his voice resounding.

Xun Zheng was still very excited at this moment.

At the same time, I'm also glad that I endured and persevered, just so I could witness this day.

Despite enduring immense suffering and humiliation here, I never gave up my beliefs.

Now, I have finally waited for this day!

"Xun Zheng, how much gold in this mine hasn't been transported away yet?"

Crown Prince Xiao Jingye asked.

"There shouldn't be many left. We just transported away four truckloads of smelted and formed metal not long ago."

What remained was mostly unrefined gold dust.

Xun Zheng replied.

Crown Prince Xiao Jingye nodded in agreement. "Commander Xun, take a few reliable men to search the residences of the people on that list, and then arrange for someone to lead us to the place where the gold is stored!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Xun Zheng responded and turned to leave.

Soon, Xiao Jingye and the other two saw Xun Zheng lead his men to the row of adobe houses, while Du Feng walked over quickly.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness Prince Yu, Princess, Commander Xun has ordered me to guide you three esteemed guests."

However, the stone cave that I wanted to take you to see has an iron gate with a large lock. The key should be with Feng Jiu..."

Before Du Feng could finish speaking, a loud rustling sound rang out not far away.

Du Feng turned his head to look in the direction of the sound and saw Leng Rongyue shaking a large bunch of keys of different sizes on her slender index finger.

Leng Rongyue threw the bunch of keys to Du Feng, who caught them instinctively. Upon closer inspection, he recognized them as the same bunch of keys that Feng Jiu usually wore on his waist.

What's there to be confused about? The key has long been in the hands of this Princess Chengxian!

Composing himself, Du Feng gripped the bunch of keys and said only, "This way, gentlemen," before turning and leading the three, including Crown Prince Xiao Jingye, to the stone cave.

Crown Prince Xiao Jingye, along with Leng Rongyue and Xiao Jingyu, followed Du Feng toward the stone cave behind the stone house.

As Du Feng walked, he pointed to a hole sealed by an iron fence a hundred paces ahead and said, “Look, gentlemen, that stone cave is where the gold is stored!”

Every so often, a few horse-drawn carriages would come up into the mountains and stop on the flat ground outside the valley.

The laborers here, under the watchful eyes of the guards, would carry the smelted gold to that location, load it onto carts, and then have it transported out of the mountains by others!

As they were talking, the group stopped at the cave entrance.