Chapter 1 Just When…

Just as Dai Shijin and his party boarded the airship and set off south towards Yunzhou overnight, Dai Shize was pacing anxiously. The events had unfolded so suddenly, so unexpectedly. He and those members of the Dai clan were among those who initially disapproved of incorporating Yunzhou into Dongping. Although Ye Tao and the others had never mistreated them, the Dai family's absolute authority in Yunzhou was gone after all. Dai Shize initially just wanted to take advantage of his position to save a little money so he could retire as soon as possible and live a more comfortable life. However, once he started, he couldn't stop. Soon, he and those in the Dai family and related families who felt wronged by the incorporation into Dongping had become a group secretly seeking personal gain together.

It was perfectly normal for the Dai family to occupy many powerful positions in the Yunzhou army, and it wasn't too difficult to connect such a network. Especially when they reached the position of battalion commander or similar, each of them had the authority to write off items in the warehouse that had been stored beyond their expiration date, and then have people take those items away. As for when these supplies expired, local officials in charge of supplying the materials would provide a guiding timeframe, but the specific execution was left to the military. After all, storage conditions varied, and the storage time for things like grain, tea, salt, sugar, and various prepared medicines had a lot of flexibility. When the group led by Dai Shize included both military officers and local officials, this process became even more efficient. Originally, they were just making small gains by taking some surplus supplies and reselling them to some reliable merchants they had good relationships with. However, during the capture of Zhenzhou, and then in providing a large amount of supplies to Zhenzhou afterwards to restore its operation, a large number of opportunities arose. Of the six battalion commanders involved, only two had entered Zhenzhou with their troops to fight, while the other four were defending on the eastern front. However, during wartime, the management of supplies and money was relaxed a lot. Even the defending troops, often feigning movements, often left the original supplies carried by the troops in place when making emergency transfers, only carrying the minimum amount of supplies for travel. And whether the supplies stored in place could still be used afterwards was up to the commanding officer of the unit. These people carefully obtained a considerable amount of supplies using this method, and the troops below, because they had been engaged in more detailed combat preparation work, did not know much about these actions. The soldiers were very tired, and as long as they had food on time, the horses had fodder, and the various military supplies and provisions consumed were replenished, they would not notice these things.

But an accident still occurred. During the post-war inventory of supplies, although Suo Zheng did not notice the anomaly here, the subordinates under Suo Zheng who were much more sensitive to numbers than Suo Zheng discovered that the write-off volume of supplies in these battalions was relatively large. In fact, at the beginning, the logistics battalion did not think that there was any human factor involved, but felt that there might be something wrong with the warehouse management here. In the Yunzhou military, an atmosphere of mutual trust still occupied an absolutely dominant position. Perhaps it was because he had a guilty conscience, or perhaps it was because he didn't know how to deal with the logistics battalion's inspection of the warehouse, a battalion commander from a related family refused the inspection under the pretext of training. This caused a big problem. The officer of that logistics battalion had good intentions, but after encountering an unappreciative fellow, he returned angrily. Immediately, a second team to inspect the warehouses and storage management in this area set off. This time, in order to prevent this side from refusing the inspection, Suo Zheng casually stuffed two investigators from the Third Civil Affairs Office, who were in the logistics battalion for liaison work, into this team.

What was unexpected was that the Third Civil Affairs Office actually discovered a problem. The procedure for investigators from the Third Civil Affairs Office to conduct investigations wherever they went was very simple. In the absence of reports, they always started from two aspects: the market and consumption. Although Yunzhou was prosperous in production, the control of military equipment and the like was strict, and there was generally no problem of theft and sale. If there was, it would necessarily involve the internal affairs department of the General Command, and they would not be allowed to take risks. As for general consumer goods, limited by agricultural production, they have not yet reached the point where they can be supplied openly. Although there are many varieties, the supply volume does not exceed the demand volume too much. People from the Bureau of Commerce and the Third Civil Affairs Office all knew that the market in this area was actually somewhat falsely prosperous. Once the total amount of supplies exceeded the reasonable demand of the region too much, or was too little, there was bound to be a problem. As for consumption, it refers to abnormal spending, especially investment spending. If you embezzle money, you always have to spend part of it, right? Although it may be really difficult for the Third Civil Affairs Office to investigate after retirement, the officials at all levels in Yunzhou were too young, so young that few people could endure until that time. Seeing good industries, excellent land and houses, there is always an impulse to buy them, which is also human nature. Now, except for Ningyuan and Suiyuan, there are no big cities in Yunzhou. The transfer of huge amounts of property will inevitably be known to the local people, and there is no escape. And some people's spending far exceeds their income. Even without further investigation, the crime of "huge amount of property of unknown origin" in Yunzhou is enough for some people to suffer.

When the investigators conducted such a casual investigation, they immediately found something wrong. They immediately conducted in-depth investigations, collected evidence, and then quickly linked the investigation of the transfer of ownership of the first batch of industries with the problem of the write-off of those supplies. Then, they obtained the help of some people on the spot, found the merchants who helped Dai Shize and others to sell the stolen goods, and obtained first-hand confessions. They knew that the matter was serious and did not dare to neglect it. They handed the evidence to a FedEx employee, stuffed it into a batch of goods before the departure, and sent it directly to Ningyuan. Shortly after, they were detained by a small team of personal soldiers gathered by Dai Shize and the group members. Whether it was the officer of the logistics battalion or the officials of the Third Civil Affairs Office, they were not afraid of anything that was about to happen.

Dai Shize and others were panicked. They knew that no matter what they did, no matter how busy Suo Zheng and Chen Kai were, they would always know that a few people were missing, and they also knew what those missing people were doing. At that time, if they investigate a little, will they be afraid of not digging them out? However, at this moment, they probably couldn't bury all the evidence again. FedEx and DHL always send special items for the things entrusted by the departments under the Jinglue Mansion. Unless there is an order from the Jinglue Mansion, no one is allowed to open the items for inspection. Moreover, given FedEx's logistics efficiency in Yunzhou, this thing has probably arrived in Ningyuan long ago, and they can't stop it. As for other aspects of the evidence, the properties such as real estate and businesses are obvious, and no one can avoid them. And what about those merchants who sell stolen goods? Is it too late to have them retract their confessions? Is it too late to send them all to see King Yama?

"Uncle, let's rebel." Qiao Xiaxia was a member of the Qiao family, which was very close to the Dai family, and was also a battalion commander of a garrison battalion. But the words he spoke made his own deputy turn his head away, not wanting to say anything.

"Rebel? What are we going to rebel with?" Dai Nuo snorted and said angrily, "We've been hiding this whole thing from above and below. Only we know about it. What are we going to say to the people below? Say that we embezzled supplies and sold them off. Now that it's been exposed, everyone should rebel with us... How many people do you think will listen to us?" Dai Nuo was the battalion commander of the Combat Infantry Battalion. He had gone through the Guiyuan Battle, and the unit had just been reorganized. He knew best that the soldiers of Yunzhou admired and were loyal to Ye Tao and others. Now he only regretted how he got involved in this matter. Originally, at his age of forty-two, commanding a Combat Infantry Battalion was not considered a young success story, but it was also decent. Although it couldn't be said that his future was unlimited, it would be stable to enter the General Command in a year or two to work as a clerk until retirement. But at the beginning, he was dissatisfied that Yu Fuzhong, a Dai family retainer, had actually turned over and become one of the top generals under the Yunzhou Jinglue Mansion, becoming a member of the command center, and was dragged into this kind of thing. Now, he was extremely discouraged. "Don't say whether the army will rebel with us, even if they do... how do we fight those main battle troops? ...Six battalions, only two main battle battalions. And my battalion and Xiao Buping's battalion have just been reorganized, how do we fight?"

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy again. Dai Shize paced back and forth, and finally sighed, "Those who want to escape, escape. Those who want to ask for a fluke, let's wait and see how the Jinglue Mansion will deal with us."

"General, an airship has landed in the north of the city." A personal soldier rushed in to report.

"Here it comes..." These two words appeared in everyone's minds.

Although an airship only carried a few people, Dai Shijin, Chen Kai, and four guards entered the small city of Yaning in this way. When Dai Shijin and his party slowly came to Dai Shize's mansion and saw that seven or eight people involved in the case were actually kneeling in front of the door to greet them, Dai Shijin shook his head slightly.

"Shize..." Dai Shijin wanted to say something, but finally stopped. He turned to the two personal soldier captains standing on the side, who were somewhat at a loss. "Ah Hai, Xiao Lu, are you two still soldiers of my Dai family?" Dai Shijin asked somberly.

"Lord..." Seeing that Dai Shijin actually remembered their names, the two personal soldier captains hurriedly knelt down as well. "We... we..."

"Okay, I understand. Since you are still soldiers of my Dai family, then take these people down." Dai Shijin sighed and ordered.