Gu Yun: "To answer His Majesty, they are generally on the Northern Barbarian grasslands."

"Correct," Li Feng laughed. "Although that's not all — Imperial Uncle, come look at this."

Gu Yun hesitantly accepted the confidential report Li Feng threw to him; as he swept his eyes over it, his mind suddenly exploded.

The report listed in detail every single trading line the private miners sold their Ziliujin to; Gu Yun knew most of them by heart, except for the last one that read — 'Lou Lan Kingdom'.

How come Lou Lan is here?

Li Feng: "So?"

Countless thoughts raced through Gu Yun's heart, cold sweat quickly breaking out: "Your Majesty, the Black Iron Camp and Lou Lan Kingdom have been neighbors for many years. I have never been aware that there is a Ziliujin mine in Lou Lan. Please pardon my rudeness, dare I ask who had brought forth this report? What is their evidence?"

"Hey, Imperial Uncle has thought too much," Li Feng said with a smile. "I never said that you have connections with those thieves who were privately mining. There is nothing strange about you not knowing about this matter."

Gu Yun took a deep breath, indicating that he was listening carefully.

Li Feng: "It's a long story. Imperial Uncle had moved out with your troops to the Southern Frontier from September last year. When you were not here, Lou Lan Kingdom had asked the Black Iron Camp soldiers who were stationed behind for help, as they wanted to encircle and eliminate a group of bandits.

"At that time, General Qiu Wen Shan had sent out troops, later bringing back complete victory, killing hundreds of desert bandits, and rescuing a group of Tian Zhu merchants who they captured. Because these merchants had the border pass of Great Liang, General Qiu had escorted them to the West Station. Unexpectedly, they later discovered at the station that the merchants' passes were fake."

Li Feng was in an excellent mood; he deliberately stopped as he got here as if to increase curiosity. Unexpectedly, he could only see Gu Yun solemnly listening with an unusually grave expression as he looked back, there was no intention of inquiring him of what happened next either. The Emperor could not help but felt somewhat irritated.

He had no choice but to continue unhappily: "According to the law, those who forged border passes should be referred to the general protection office for investigation and be dealt with. After checking, the northwestern governor discovered that these Tian Zhu people were no merchants, they were a group of 'Gold Fighters' from the Ziliujin black market!"

'Gold Fighters' were those who risked their lives to smuggle Ziliujin.

"Coincidentally, my secret envoys had just arrived in the Western Region at that time, their feet had not yet met the ground, these gold fighters already walked themselves into the nest. According to the thieves' confession, they were originally active in the private mine outside the Southern Gate. Recently, they got their hands on a 'treasure map', showing a large number of Ziliujin mines in the Lou Lan Kingdom. Thus they had come to try their luck.