He changed Tiwat

Old Sun sighed, his lips moved, but there was still a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

Having calmed down, Yan Fei stepped forward and said to Old Sun, "Mr. Sun, please feel free to say whatever you want to say. I guarantee you with my reputation as the number one legal consultant in Liyue Harbor and my professional ethics that we will not divulge a single word of what you say! If you need, we can also sign a confidentiality agreement."

Having handled countless lawsuits over the years, Yan Fei was used to seeing clients stammering and unwilling to tell the truth, and she knew very well how to obtain the information she wanted. She immediately took out a confidentiality agreement from her case file, made some minor alterations, signed her name, and handed it to Lao Sun.

Seeing that Yan Fei had given him such a serious guarantee, Lao Sun finally agreed to speak.

“Since Miss Yanfei has given her guarantee, then… come closer.” Old Sun lowered his voice, and the group obediently moved closer to him.

Old Sun said in a hoarse voice, "What I've heard... is worse than a fine and jail time. Using fake Mora in a transaction is blasphemy against the Rock King Emperor, and if caught, you'll be beheaded!"

"That's alarmist!" Yan Fei couldn't help but deny it.

"I know this might not be true, but... better safe than sorry. My life is more important than making money." Old Sun scratched his head, looking somewhat troubled.

Han Fulai was certainly aware that someone was exaggerating and spreading rumors, but rumors never stop with the wise; they are something that believers will always believe. Even in the modern society of China where he used to live, there were people who confidently claimed that Wi-Fi waves could cause cancer, that television towers could make people sick, and some even believed that 5G cell phone signals could spread the pneumonia virus…

After all, people will only believe what they want to believe.

Old Sun may seem a bit clever and cunning, but he's actually quite timid. Even when conspiring with Old Gao to raise fish prices, he only dared to raise it by forty mores… So, he's primarily conservative in his actions, and he'll quickly back down if he senses any risk. Just now, seeing Old Gao being investigated, he preferred to lower the fish price from two hundred and forty mores to one hundred and ninety mores, even at a loss, rather than cause trouble—that's a clear example. If he's really taken to the General Affairs Department, he'll probably confess to hiding his secret stash of money from his wife.

Han Fulai had seen through Lao Sun's character weaknesses before coming here, which is why he used this surprise attack to trick him into revealing information.

The recent hype surrounding Zhiyi by the Foolish Crowd seems to be in a similar situation.

The key to stopping the impact of rumors lies in getting to the root of the problem.

"Who started saying this? And when did it start spreading?" Han Fulai asked seriously.

Old Sun twisted his fingers, racking his brains to recall, then shook his head: "I was just chatting with Lao Gao and a few others the other day. We fishmongers often drink and play cards with fishermen and sailors, and someone brought up this matter while we were talking. I can't remember exactly who it was, but it wasn't just one person who said it. I remember one sailor saying that Sister Beidou knew about it."

"Then, has anyone said where the counterfeit money came from?" Han Fulai continued to ask.

The mere claim that using counterfeit money will get you beheaded isn't enough to scare people; this rumor must include a great deal of detail.

Just like some female martial arts practitioners who write smear essays accusing a famous male writer of having an affair with a female fan, they describe the time, city, hotel name, and even small details like the hotel room number in great detail, and even add a scene where the male writer opens his notebook to write an update afterward. The more details, the easier it is to deceive people.

Of course, the more details there are, the easier it is for rumors to be exposed. For example, the hotel room number in the essay does not exist at all, and a certain writer is a famous procrastinator and it is impossible for him to write articles after finishing his business... However, the ignorant people who are willing to believe the rumors will not bother to verify these details, and even if they know the truth, they will stubbornly deny it to the death in order to cover up their mistakes.

As Han Fulai had expected, Old Sun seemed to know some incredible top secret, and said in a mysterious low voice, "You absolutely must not spread this... I heard that after Lord Yan passed away, several forces became bolder and used gold, ores and other random things to synthesize Mora using alchemy—it looks exactly like the real Mora!"

"Which factions are involved? Mr. Sun, could you tell us about them?" Han Fulai asked, his face full of curiosity, dutifully playing the role of the straight man.

He knew that, just as the fools did when they were trying to create hype for Zhiyi, there couldn't be only one story, and there couldn't be only one kind of rumor. There would inevitably be multiple versions to suit the psychology of people with different personalities.

"On one side is our Liyue's old rival, Zhidong. You know, the Northern Bank has no good intentions! Maybe their vaults are full of counterfeit money!"

"Damn Winter's Bandits! No wonder you won't take the Winter's Mora from them." Han Fulai roughly understood why Old Sun had a dispute with the Winter's Bandits a couple of days ago.

"On the other side is Fontaine. Let me tell you, I've met quite a few crazy Fontaineese businessmen who are always thinking about developing strange and wonderful machines. Some people say that the fake Mora was made using their machines!"

"How could they do something like this? What kind of country is Fontaine ruled by law? It's far inferior to Liyue!" Yanfei chimed in.

"And..." Old Sun looked around, and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he stretched out a finger and pointed to the top of his head, "You tell me, the money we could never accumulate in dozens of lifetimes... how can we, the ones who earn money, possibly beat those who create it, right?"

"Oh...you mean Ning..." Shen He looked like he understood immediately.

"Shh! Shh!" Old Sun quickly told Shen He to shut up.

"So how many people know about this now?" Han Fulai asked again.

"It's hard to say... Actually, people like Lao Gao who are carefree don't really care about these things... But for me, it's better to be cautious. You know, I don't know how to distinguish between real and fake Mora, but Liyue Coins are equivalent to Mora, so using Liyue Coins can't go wrong," Lao Sun said with a wry smile.

In fact, Liyue coins are linked to the value of Mora. If Mora's credit is compromised, your use of Liyue coins will also be affected... Of course, Han Fulai didn't say this out loud.

"I've told you everything you wanted to know, so keep it a secret! Be careful when you buy things!" Old Sun reiterated one last time.

"Thank you for the reminder, we will definitely be careful."

Han Fulai and Yan Fei exchanged a glance, both of their eyes filled with deep worry.

Chapter Forty-Seven: Counterfeit Money and the Shadow of War

They left Old Sun's fish stall and stopped at a discreet cargo container storage area on the dock.

Han Fulai and Yan Fei began to discuss the current situation. Shen He, carrying the fish he had just bought, stood guard with a "keep away" look on his face to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

"Yanfei, there's something I need to tell you beforehand. The reason I came to see you is because of this counterfeit money." Han Fulai said, taking out the bag of counterfeit Mora that Bai Shu had given him from his satchel and handing it to Yanfei.

This scene of secretly handing over money is quite like a clandestine transaction.

Yan Fei took the Mora bag, poured out some Mora, and examined it carefully in her palm.

"Could this be... counterfeit money?" Yan Fei's tone was full of doubt.

Han Fulai simply nodded in silence.

Yan Fei thought for a moment, then waved her hand and summoned her ancestral dragon-head scale, bestowed upon her by the Rock King Emperor, from the Eye of God.

She had two main hobbies: reading and appraising valuable items. She was extremely confident in her eye for quality. But even with her years of experience honing her appraisal skills, she couldn't tell the difference between the Mora in her hand and a normal Mora. In such situations, she could only turn to the treasures left behind by the "Ancestor of All Immortals."

She placed the fake Mora on one side of the scale, and then took out some of her own Mora and placed it on the other side. Sure enough, the scale tilted towards the real Mora.

"Seriously, such a thing really happened...?" Yan Fei could hardly believe her eyes.

"Take a look with your elemental vision activated," Han Fulai suggested at the opportune moment.

Yan Feiyi activated her elemental vision, and this time she had a point of comparison. She finally saw the difference between the real Mora and the fake Mora.

"I initially thought Old Sun was just spreading rumors, but I didn't expect... unless you're a holder of the Eye of God, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the truth. What should I do?... I could add an appraisal service, but it seems like I'd be exhausted... No, no..."

Yan Fei's mind worked quickly; she had already begun thinking about how to popularize the method of identifying genuine and fake Mora. However, no matter what she thought about, there was no other way except to have the holders of the Eye of God act as "human authentication machines." Although her Dragon Head Scale was a very useful treasure, it was a treasure that could only be used because of her Xie Zhi's divine beast bloodline. If it were given to someone else, it would only be used as an ordinary balance scale.

"Actually, there's another way to identify fake Mora, but it's not very useful..."

Han Fulai explained to Yan Fei that fake Mora could not be used as an alchemical catalyst, and Yan Fei came to the same conclusion as him—whether real or fake Mora was used as currency in alchemy, this identification method naturally became meaningless.

Han Fulai had actually considered how to easily and effectively authenticate the Mora, and the only solution he could think of for the time being was to use a "human counterfeit detector." The problem was, most holders of the Eye of God were outstanding individuals; who would willingly become a "human counterfeit detector"?

Of course, if Han Fulai asked, Shen He would probably agree to help him without hesitation—but Han Fulai was reluctant to let Shen He do such a thing.

The daily trading volume of Mora in Liyue Harbor reaches tens of billions. Even Shen He can't keep his Elemental Sight open all day to check the money. After all, people aren't machines, and it's tiring to use Elemental Sight for a long time!

Moreover, without knowing the extent of the counterfeit currency's spread, no one can say for sure how long the counterfeit currency identification process will take.

"Those who manufacture counterfeit money and spread rumors have grand ambitions..." Han Fulai's tone was quite serious.

The other party first spread an unknown amount of counterfeit currency in the market, and then spread rumors, with the intention of disrupting Liyue's financial order.

The power of this move is beginning to show.

If Seven Stars keeps the counterfeit currency a secret and allows it to circulate, the truth will eventually come out, and it will cause a crisis of Mora's credit sooner or later. However, if they announce the existence of counterfeit currency in the market from the beginning, it will inevitably cause chaos in the financial market, which will be a great blow to Seven Stars' credit and the prosperity of Liyue Harbor.

Everyone knows Liyue is home to Teyvat's only mint, and now these counterfeit coins, indistinguishable to the naked eye, have suddenly appeared. Given the current situation, it's easy to believe they were made by Qixing herself, given their poor quality. In fact, as Old Sun just mentioned, some people say the counterfeit coins were made by Ningguang…

Even if the Liyue Seven Stars were to use all their resources to carry out counterfeit currency identification, the lack of effective identification methods outside of elemental vision would result in low efficiency and extremely high labor costs.

It could be said that the other party is forcing Liyue to "guard against thieves for a thousand days"! Even if they know that there is no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days, the Liyue Seven Stars probably have no choice but to continue to guard against them.

Unless Liyue can find a way to solve the problem of counterfeit currency, a trading port full of counterfeit currency can only gradually decline.

Furthermore, considering that currency takes time to circulate, the other side probably started planning to use counterfeit currency to disrupt Liyue a long time ago.

Not checking for counterfeit money would lead to disaster, but checking for it would consume a huge amount of Liyue's resources... This is a strategy where he wins either way.

If Han Fulai's prediction is correct, the resources to develop a counterfeit Mora that can be mistaken for the real thing, the ability to lay out such a meticulous plan, and the seasoned approach focused on the economic field all point to Liyue's old rival—Pantaronne.

Judging from the previous Qingxupu incident, Pantalone's intentions are probably not limited to simply impacting Liyue's economy.

...What Uncle Tian said about "the rich wanting to shake the foundations of the world" is not untrue.

Han Fulai was well-versed in history and was very clear about the role of "counterfeit money"—its role in the history of war.

Napoleon the Great was a master at using counterfeit currency to confuse his enemies. When he invaded Russia, he printed dozens of truckloads of counterfeit rubles beforehand. Tolstoy mentioned in "War and Peace" that Napoleon's counterfeit rubles flooded the market, rendering Moscow's paper money worthless. Russians rushed to buy gold, essentially reverting to an era of metal currency and even barter.

Historically, Hitler also devised the infamous "Operation Bernhard" to weaken the economic power of the Allied powers. The Third Reich established the "Bank of England" specifically to produce the pound sterling, the world's currency at the time. These counterfeit pounds were almost indistinguishable from genuine ones, and could even pass through Swiss bank checks to be deposited. German spies distributed these counterfeit coins extensively in Britain, and by the end of World War II, one-third of the pounds in circulation were counterfeit!

History has taught Han Fulai that once counterfeiting undermines the opponent's economy, war will inevitably follow!

Perhaps the shadow of war has already begun to loom over Liyue...

Chapter Forty-Eight: I want you to investigate Ye Lan

Of course, the possibility that "counterfeit money is preparation for war" is ultimately just a possibility, and Han Fulai doesn't plan to tell Yan Fei for the time being.

Yanfei was, after all, just a legal expert, and not one of the immortals who had signed a pact with the Emperor to protect Liyue. There was no need to drag her into this kind of thing. In Han Fulai's eyes, Yanfei was less of a half-immortal and more of a kind and gentle girl, someone he, as a civil servant, should protect, the people of Liyue.

Yan Fei certainly couldn't think that far ahead; in her view, the current situation was already troublesome enough.

Although she couldn't think of any effective way to deal with counterfeit money for the time being, there was still one breakthrough—rumors.

Since counterfeit money and rumors spread together, catching the spreaders of rumors might be the key to curbing the spread of counterfeit money. Just as those who make poison usually also make antidotes, those who make counterfeit money should also be able to identify it.

“I’m thinking about the rumors right now… Even the dock area of ​​Liyue Harbor has been affected, so the spread of these rumors is probably quite extensive.” Yanfei said worriedly, “I noticed a couple of days ago that there have been more disputes between Liyue and merchants from other places recently, and now it seems that they are probably all affected by these rumors.”

As Yanfei said, the entire dock area was affected, demonstrating the immense power of this rumor. As Teyvat's largest trading port, Liyue's dock area is practically a "Seven Kingdoms Expo." Many out-of-town merchants, such as Ivanovich, the ore merchant from Winterfall; Klosso, the spy in the Jadeite case; and Pharah, the Mondstadt merchant they just met, all prioritize the dock area for both business and shopping.

Logically, this area should be the region with the widest circulation of Mora, where merchants from all seven nations trade using Mora. If Liyue Coins were to be promoted systematically, the dock area would be the most difficult area to promote, since most businesses at the docks rely on Mora, and most foreigners do not have the habit of using Liyue Coins.

The fact that businessmen like Lao Sun are now willing to forgo substantial profits to use Liyue Coins shows that the impact of this rumor has been quite profound, even affecting the dock area.

Following this line of thought, many details appear quite incongruous.

“There’s something that I find strange…” Han Fulai said thoughtfully.

"You mean the basis for the spread of rumors, right?" Yan Fei immediately grasped the key point. As a seasoned legal consultant, Yan Fei had seen many tragedies caused by the spread of rumors. However, in most cases, rumors still need at least three parts truth to be embellished into seven parts falsehood.

“Yes.” Han Fulai nodded in agreement.

Even if you start with just one picture and make up the rest, you still need to have a picture. For example, if the foolish crowd is trying to promote Zhiyi by saying he repaid evil with good, then Zhiyi himself must have actually helped his neighbor.

This advanced version of "putting aside the facts" is something Liyue cannot yet catch up with in the modern society of the internet age.

While this rumor is sensational, it's currently just casual conversation and hasn't yet become mainstream. It might be enough to scare a timid person like Lao Sun, but according to Yan Fei, many merchants have already started accepting only Liyue Coins.

Most merchants in Liyue are quite shrewd. Rumors that could affect business, such as "there is a lot of counterfeit money in Liyue Harbor" or "if you are caught using counterfeit money, you will go to jail/beheaded," should not be believed.

"Old Sun just stated that he couldn't distinguish between the real and fake Mora, which is why he chose the conservative strategy of not accepting Mora... If he can't even tell the real from the fake Mora, why should he believe that a fake Mora exists?"

Although Han Fulai was speaking to Yan Fei, he knew that Yan Fei probably didn't have an answer to this question either.

However, to his surprise, Yan Fei gave an answer.

“I suspect… someone is using an authoritative name to spread rumors.” Yan Fei’s tone was quite certain. “Mr. Han, did you notice? Old Sun mentioned earlier that a sailor said ‘Big Sister Beidou’ knows about this. Beidou has a great reputation in the underworld and is familiar with Ningguang. The person spreading the rumor used Beidou’s reputation as a guarantee, so naturally some people believed it.”

“…It is indeed very possible!” Han Fulai’s eyes lit up; this was indeed a classic technique.

For example, if you write a nonsensical sentence on Weibo and then add the name of a famous person like "Napoleon" at the end, many people will rush to forward it and shout things like "inferiority complex" and "reflection" to show their superiority.

Who among those doing business at the docks doesn't know the formidable reputation of Big Sister Beidou? Moreover, Big Sister Beidou has a close relationship with Ningguang, so if someone says in Big Sister Beidou's name that "Ningguang is about to issue a new policy to crack down on counterfeit currency," people will easily believe it.

Moreover, Beidou set sail after the Battle of Bacha and is not currently in Liyue Harbor, which conveniently provides an opportunity for those spreading rumors.

In theory, if the rumors are spread under the guise of BeiDou, then bringing BeiDou back to personally refute the rumors is the most effective means.

"It's a pity we can't find Captain Beidou now..." Han Fulai thought, and sighed softly.

"Actually, you don't necessarily have to look for Beidou." Yanfei suddenly smiled. "It's not just the dock area; even Xingxi, the owner of Xingxingzhai in Feiyunpo, has started accepting orders only for Liyue Coins these days. I think merchants in different areas must have heard different versions of the rumors. And merchants not only compete with each other, but they also learn from each other..."

"In my opinion, many businessmen are refusing to accept Mora not only because they are influenced by rumors, but also because they are following the trend. If we can find the source of this trend, we might be able to find the source of the rumors. Mr. Han, you came to me because you value my connections, right?"

"Ha, it seems my thoughts can't be hidden from Miss Yanfei," Han Fulai said with a smile.

He initially wanted to ask Yan Fei for help because he valued her connections and wanted to commission her to investigate businessmen involved in counterfeit currency.

"Hehe, leave this to me. I can always find out what's going on in Liyue Harbor if I want to!" Yanfei proudly puffed out her small chest.

"With Miss Yanfei's assurance, I feel truly at ease." Han Fulai smiled. "By the way, Miss Yanfei, do you know Yelan?"

“Ye Lan, I do know her…” Yan Fei was a little surprised that Han Fulai would suddenly bring up this name, but she still told him what she could, “Ye Lan is an employee of the General Affairs Department. She helped me deal with a tough guy who was falsifying accounts, and I even treated her to a meal. However… when talking to her, I always feel like my thoughts will be easily seen through… Hmm, Mr. Han, I’m reminding you, don’t stand against her.”

Unfortunately, it seems I've already found myself on the opposite side of her; she's even unwilling to invite me for tea now… Han Fulai twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Now that we know her, things will be much easier."

As Han Fulai spoke, he suddenly lowered his head and bowed deeply to Yan Fei.

"Although it will be a bit difficult... I would like to ask you to help me investigate Ye Lan. I want to know what she has been doing these past few days!"

Chapter Forty-Nine: Testing the Waters

Upon hearing Han Fulai's request, Yan Fei's first reaction was to refuse.

Three months ago, Ye Lan asked me to investigate you, and now you're asking me to investigate Ye Lan instead. What's going on between you two?

I'm a legal consultant! Not some private investigator like Inazuma! Why do you all want me to stalk and investigate other people?!

"I...I want to know why." Yan Fei hesitated for a moment, but finally asked Han Fulai what the reason was.