Xu Qi 'an started with the weight of the tax silver escorted by his second uncle and calculated that 150,000 taels of silver weighed 9,375 jin. He also asked about the journey from the city gate to Guangnan Street, which was 30 miles. On the way, they passed through four busy cities, and the horse's foot was limited. He pointed out that Guangnan Street was 30 miles away from the south gate. With the speed of a horse, it would have to pass through four busy markets along the way. It would be impossible to reach Guangnan Street at 15:00, so he realized that there was a problem with the time.
Xu Qi 'an first analyzed the time when Second Uncle entered the city, the weight of the tax, the distance traveled by the horse, the distance traveled, and the number of downtown areas. He pointed out that under normal circumstances, the horse escorted by Second Uncle could not reach Guangnan Street within the stipulated time, so the time was wrong. Then he suggested that the goods being escorted were not silver at all. Although some commoners saw the horses rushing into the river and the white silver rolling into the water, what they saw was not necessarily true.
Xu Qi 'an looked for clues from the dossier. First, he pointed out that 150,000 taels of silver weighed 9,375 pounds. It was a 30-mile journey from the city gate to Guangnan Street. On the way, it passed through four downtown areas. The horse's journey was limited. According to this journey and the downtown situation, it was impossible to reach Guangnan Street at 15:00. Then, based on the fact that the tax money was indeed transported to Guangnan Street and that the commoners had witnessed the silver entering the water, he pointed out that the money being escorted was not silver at all, thus deducing the truth of the case.
Xu Qi 'an deduced from the dossier and some details. First of all, he mentioned that his second uncle was escorting 150,000 taels of tax silver, weighing 9,375 jin. It was a 30-mile journey from the city gate to Guangnan Street. On the way, they passed through four downtown areas. The distance of the inferior horse was limited. According to this situation, it was impossible to enter the city at 2.45 am and reach Guangnan Street at 1.15 am. There was a loophole in the time. Moreover, he had deduced that the money being escorted was not silver at all, and thus concluded that the robbery of the tax money was not done by demons but man-made.
According to the confession of the guards at the city gate, Xu Qi 'an's second uncle entered the city at a quarter to nine and escorted the team to Guangnan Street at a quarter to nine. During this period, the horse had to carry 9,375 catties of silver (150,000 taels of silver). After traveling for 30 miles and four downtown areas, it was impossible to travel by foot. Therefore, the time was wrong. He also suggested that the escort was not silver at all, and thus inferred that it was not done by demons.
Xu Qi 'an didn't have much confidence in turning the tables in the missing tax money case. He just felt that this was the only way he could think of to save himself. He had to give it a try. It could be considered a dying struggle. After all, he had no access to the three major elements of modern criminal investigation methods: crime scene investigation, surveillance, and autopsy. He could only rely on the case file to restore the crime scene and try to find an opportunity to solve the case from this angle, so his chances were really not high.
Initially, Xu Qi 'an was unwilling to die like this. He wanted to solve the case and save himself. He knew very well that modern criminal investigation methods were difficult to use in ancient times. He could only rely on files. In the process of reading the file, his heart sank when he saw the confession of the demon, but he still forced himself to get rid of the negative emotions and calm his mind to make deductions.
Xu Qi 'an used the experience he learned from the police academy in his previous life to solve the tax case.
Xu Qi 'an was involved in the tax case because his second uncle, Xu Pingzhi, was responsible for escorting the tax money. As Xu Pingzhi's nephew, Xu Qi' an was implicated in the robbery. He was interrogated and tortured by the Jingzhao government yamen. At first, he was determined to be an irrelevant person who had nothing to do with the case. Later, he was given important clues through his own reasoning.
Xu Qi 'an first detected the problem with the tax money through the journey of the tax money and the weight of the silver. Then he told him his reasoning process. For example, he would think about whether there were any clues in the case because he believed that there was no perfect crime in the world. Other than coincidence, any man-made case could find clues. Of course, if Second Uncle Xu could provide a more complete confession, such as the details of wearing a hand guard, Xu Qi 'an could analyze the truth of the case faster.
Xu Qi 'an was bullied by Zhou Li when he took his sister out shopping to catch butterflies. When he tried to stop her, he was beaten up and brought back to the Yamen. The county magistrate failed to stop him and was arrested by the Ministry of Justice. He had sent Arrester Wang to invite Cai Wei, and after learning about the inside story of the tax case, he went to the Directorate of Celestials to teach Song Qing how to refine Na, and exchanged it for the black gold knife and many magic tools that the supervisor had refined. He had even discussed with his family about dealing with Assistant Minister Zhou.