Tang Qingyuan was summoned to Fengri City early in the morning, and when he returned it was already the second half of the night, with frost on his face.
This was the first time Tang Qingyuan had been specifically called over to be reprimanded, and it was also the first time Households Officer Jiang Cheng had lost his temper at him like this.
Just thinking about it made him furious; he'd actually been reported by someone below him!
And worse, they'd joined forces with dozens of nobles to co-sign a petition to the Thousand Households Station!
What's a petition? Exactly what it sounds like! A letter meant for complaining!
For the first time, Tang Qingyuan realized that terms like "unprincipled," "ambitious but incompetent," and "foolish and incapable" could be pinned on himself, all because he didn't take the Jia Flag's side in the conflict between the Black Banner Battalion and Jia Flag.
Or, put another way, Tang Qingyuan had been targeted by Li Bing.
To have one's own subordinate run to the boss and file a complaint—it was practically a joke. But Tang Qingyuan couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
Just being unable to manage his own subordinates was enough to make Jiang Cheng look down on him to rock-bottom.
If he couldn't even control his own men, what business did he have being an official?
If it weren't directly involving the Black Banner Battalion this time, Tang Qingyuan probably wouldn't be able to recover from that joint petition.
That morning, he was urgently summoned to Fengri City Thousand Households Station and got scolded by Jiang Cheng right to his face. The main issue was his lack of control over his subordinates; as for the allegations about the Black Banner Battalion mentioned in the petition, Jiang Cheng only made a few inquiries and didn't dwell on them.
No mention of the Black Banner Battalion meant Jiang Cheng wanted Tang Qingyuan to figure it out on his own.
It also meant that, in Jiang's eyes, the fate of the Black Banner Battalion hadn't been decided yet.
Should he throw the Black Banner Battalion to Li Bing to be stepped on? Sacrifice Shen Hao to smooth things over with the other side?
Tang Qingyuan shook his head in refusal. He might dread Li Bing's web of connections, but to ruin the Black Banner Battalion and Shen Hao, whom he built up himself, would be far more humiliating and destroy his authority.
A Senior Sixth Grade Hundred Households Officer actively trying to reconcile with a mere seventh-rank official? Tang Qingyuan couldn't bring himself to do it—he had his pride as well.
So, the paths in front of Tang Qingyuan were actually few; that's why Jiang Cheng wanted him to figure it out himself.
If he was really an idiot, Jiang Cheng wouldn't mind swapping him out for someone else to oversee Li City.
The next day, Tang Qingyuan entered the Public Office with a dark face and summoned Shen Hao over.
He cut right to the chase: "How much have you got on that Jia Flag case?"
Shen Hao quickly bent and replied, "Reporting to you, sir: the main suspect has been identified as Zhang Kui, the new Deputy Chief Officer of Yunyang. He has both motive and ability. Also, Zhang Kui's son is Zhang Hu, a Small Banner Officer in Jia Flag Team B. Previously, Zhang Hu's Jia Flag Team B was in charge of investigating the 'Yunyang Smuggling of Forbidden Materials Case.'
Additionally, we haven't launched a formal investigation yet, opting to quietly dig deep into Zhang Kui's background. We plan to move in only once we have solid proof, to avoid alerting the suspects."
Tang Qingyuan frowned for a moment, then shook his head: "Caution is fine, but you can't be too timid. When you need to take risks, you take them—don't count on luck. This case is the first since our Garrison, and now the Black Banner Battalion under Fengri City Thousand Households Station, was set up. I believe you've got what it takes to handle it beautifully.
But you need to hurry.
Earlier, your heavy borrowing of Jia Flag files from the Records Room already put Li Bing on alert. You think he's just sending people to give you trouble at the training ground? He's already joined forces with dozens of nobles to file a petition with Fengri City Thousand Households Station. If I hadn't covered for you with Commander Jiang, you'd be behind bars by now—are you aware?"
Dozens of nobles? Filing a petition to the Thousand Households Station?!
Shen Hao instinctively shivered. Only now did he realize he really had underestimated that bunch of "gentlemen soldiers;" he thought he could crush them but forgot they had a power network that broke Li City's usual rules.
"Your subordinate is terrified. Thank you, sir, for shielding me."
As for Tang Qingyuan saying, "I covered for you," Shen Hao didn't dare fully believe it, but he was sure Tang Qingyuan was supporting him; otherwise he'd already have been stripped of everything, right?
Tang Qingyuan waved his hand. He wasn't after gratitude—the point was to make Shen Hao understand just how urgent things were.
"I can shield you from the heat once, but there won't be a second time. You should know how much weight a joint petition from dozens of nobles carries. If this case doesn't turn into an airtight conviction and deliver the expected results, neither of us will come out unscathed—understand?"
"Understood, sir! I will not let you down!"
At this stage, there was no good option. Both Tang Qingyuan and Shen Hao had underestimated Li Bing's fierce counterattack and paid a price for it. Now, they'd forced themselves onto a tightrope: either they succeeded or they fell.
"If you need anything now, just say it; I'll help you however I can."
"Sir, there's no major difficulty with the investigation for now, but due to manpower issues, we can't spare anyone to tail Li Bing and other key figures. Plus, their cultivation isn't low, so ordinary surveillance is easily noticed. I'd like to ask you to help lock down all the Jia Flag leadership—make sure none of them leave Li City for at least ten days."
"That's not a problem. My Personal Guard are capable; keeping an eye on Li Bing and the others won't be too hard. But restricting their movement is trickier. Once or twice, we can make up an excuse, but if it drags on, people will catch on. You'd better pick up the pace."
...
After leaving Tang Qingyuan's Public Office, Shen Hao immediately summoned Wang Jian and sent him back to Yunyang again, demanding to see all of Zhang Kui's financial records within three days.
For this, Shen Hao granted Wang Jian special authority to "act at his discretion." That meant Wang Jian could use investigative measures beyond normal law enforcement if he deemed it necessary in Yunyang.
Shen Hao himself acted as though nothing was wrong and carried on with his routine duties.
Two days later, Wang Jian returned dusty and exhausted, but he didn't disappoint Shen Hao—he brought a critical piece of information: Zhang Kui's brother-in-law ran a rice shop in Yunyang, and last year on October 8th, the shop sent a batch of "Yulin Rice" worth five hundred thousand taels of silver coins to Li City. It ended up in the warehouse of a Li City consignment rice shop, which turned out to be nothing but a shell company on Government Office registry.
"I had a friend check into the rice shop run by Zhang Kui's brother-in-law: it's just a tiny storefront selling ordinary rice and grains, no sign of any 'Spiritual Food.' That batch of Yulin Rice worth five hundred thousand taels must have been cooked up on the books to disguise the flow of money in the Money Shop.
In Li City, it's even more blatant. The consignment rice shop that supposedly received the fake Spiritual Food is just an empty shell. No real storefront, only registered at the Government Office, with a guy named Wu Sanhe as the registrant.
Later I asked a family acquaintance to pull some strings and finally got to see the Li City Government Office residency records. Guess who Wu Sanhe is?"
"Heh, Li Family's, right?"
"That's right! Wu Sanhe is the steward for Li Bing's main household."