During the Tang Dynasty, there was a famous "gold case".

At Ganlu Monastery in the south of the Yangtze River, the previous abbots and a few monks who were in charge of the monastery's property went to the government to sue the current abbots for damage to the public and personal gain, and stole the 300 taels of gold stored in the monastery. They said in unison that there were 300 taels of gold in the monastery passed down from generation to generation, but the current abbots said that the 300 taels of gold in the account had not been seen in kind soon after taking office.

After a trial, the government sentenced the new abbot to embezzlement property in the temple and imprisoned him in the government office.

Li Deyu, who was an inspector in Jiangsu and Zhejiang at the time, felt that there was something strange about the case after learning of it. He called the monks in the temple to ask.

The monks all said that the previous abbots had arbitrarily squandered the property in the temple, and the monks had long been indignant. However, only a few people in the temple knew where the three hundred taels of gold were stored, and the monks did not know what was right and what was wrong.

Li Deyu also asked someone to bring the new abbot over and interrogate him personally.

After the new abbot went to court, he shouted that he was wronged: "After I took office, when I checked the list of properties in the temple, I saw that the account said 300 taels of gold, which was passed down from generation to generation by the abbots. When I checked the actual goods in the warehouse, there was no trace of gold. I asked the previous abbot, who knew that he actually planted it on me and said that I had stolen the property in the temple. My lord, I am really wronged, please check it out." Li Deyu felt that the case was complicated.

After many visits, he learned that it turned out that there was some "three hundred taels of gold" stored in the temple, which was a muddled account handed over by the previous abbots out of thin air. The abbots changed from generation to generation, and their hands and feet were not clean. A few monks in charge of the property in the temple were complicit with the previous abbots, and the more confused they were, the better. They all made a lot of money. In this way, a "property" of three hundred taels of gold was passed on to the new abbot.

However, a few of the complaining monks insisted that the three hundred taels of gold was actually seen with their own eyes, passed down with their own hands, and recorded in the accounts.

Both parties in the courtroom held their own opinions, saying that they were reasonable. Li Deyu thought for a long time and finally came up with a good way to solve the case.

The next day, Li Deyu asked the officer to bring a basket of yellow mud. Then, he issued an order to bring the plaintiffs monks to court.

Several plaintiff monks had already made a secret contract, and they thought they would win the case, so they were arrogant and defiant. At this time, Li Deyu said unhurriedly: "Everyone said that the 300 taels of gold were hidden in the temple and passed down from generation to generation. So, have you all seen the 300 taels of gold with your own eyes?" Several plaintiff monks nodded again and again, and said hurriedly: "The 300 taels of gold were seen with our own eyes and passed down with our own hands."

"Okay."  Li Deyu immediately ordered the left and right, "Come here, give the yellow mud in the basket, one for each person, and give it to the plaintiffs."

The officer came up and divided a basket of yellow mud into several pieces and handed it over to the plaintiff monks. Then Li Deyu took the plaintiff monks to a row of houses in the government office and said to them, "Now, go into a house separately and pinch out the three hundred taels of gold you saw."

Hearing this, several plaintiff monks panicked and had no choice but to pinch them separately.

After about half an hour, Li Deyu ordered the officers to put the pins made by the monks in front of the hall. I saw the shapes the monks made, and they were all the same.

Li Deyu shrugged and shouted, "What else do you have to say?"

Several plaintiff monks were exposed at first sight, and they all looked like frost-beaten eggplants. Li Deyu took the opportunity to list them one by one. Several plaintiff monks had to plead guilty.

Li Deyu called the new abbot and said to him, "Your grievance has been found out for you. You go back and take good care of the property in the temple, and you can't learn from the previous abbot."

The new abbot nodded and said yes. After he returned to Ganlu Temple, he carefully took care of the things in the temple, and Ganlu Temple gradually flourished again.