Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 407 Public Trial
"Alright, we'll trust you this once." The soldiers weren't planning a rebellion; they were bound to have some illusions about the new leader. Of course, if he acted unfairly even slightly, their illusions would quickly be shattered.

The soldiers then elected several eloquent and respected representatives to present their grievances to Chen Qingzhi.

After listening attentively, Chen Qingzhi said to Wei Fang, "My lord, please invite the General of Revenue, the Commandant of Transport and Grain Transport, and the Military Advisor of the Granary to come in and speak."

"Alright." Wei Fang nodded, pointed to Wang Can and Liu Duwei, and said to Ma Canjun, "These three are it."

The three had no choice but to bite the bullet and step forward, which immediately drew a barrage of angry curses from the soldiers.

After finally calming the soldiers down, Chen Qingzhi turned to Wang Can and Military Advisor Ma and asked, "Do you admit to replacing Chen with Xin?"

“Yes, but this is standard practice in the military, and it has been like this for many years,” Military Advisor Ma quickly replied.

"Where did this practice come from?!" Chen Qingzhi retorted coldly. "According to the imperial regulations, 'military rations are replaced every three years, with old grain filling the official granaries and new grain going to the border towns!' There shouldn't be any old grain being sent to Hefei City!"

Then he looked at Commandant Liu and said, "Aren't you right?"

"Yes, yes." Commandant Liu nodded hurriedly, not wanting to get himself into trouble.

“The Hefei camp was only established two years ago. Even if there is any grain stored up, it would be at most two or three years old.” Chen Qingzhi grabbed a handful of ‘grain’ given to him by the soldiers and spread it out for the generals to see. “How could there be grain that is more than five years old?”

"This is outrageous!" Only then did the generals realize how bad Chen Mi's condition was.

Wei Fang's face was even darker than Chen Mi's. He regretted believing Wang and Ma's one-sided story without verifying it himself, and now he was completely at a disadvantage...

"What's going on?" Wang Can stared at Ma Canjun.

With no one to glare at, Ma, the military advisor, could only wipe his sweat repeatedly and say, "It might be due to improper storage, insects or rats eating it, or it might have gone moldy... These are all unavoidable."

"The soldiers were all given this kind of grain. Could it be that all the military rations in the granary have gone moldy?" Chen Qingzhi sneered and said, "Then your head as a granary officer is not enough to be chopped off, and your entire family could be exterminated!"

"No, no, no, how could they all be moldy..." Ma Canjun was so frightened that his pants were wet. He stammered, "Didn't the higher-ups say to clear out the old grain in order to welcome the new commander? I misunderstood and sent out all the old grain at once."

"Stop spouting nonsense!" Wang Can retorted angrily. "Did I know it was this kind of stale grain? Besides, I told you to mix in a little bit, not to send out all stale grain!"

"Lieutenant Liu," Chen Qingzhi said, ignoring the two men who were passing the buck, and asked the transport captain, "How much military rations are delivered each month?"

“One hundred thousand troops naturally require one hundred thousand shi of military rations,” Commandant Liu hurriedly replied.

"General Wang, how much military rations do you receive each month?" Chen Qingzhi asked Wang Can again.

“A hundred thousand troops naturally require a hundred thousand bushels of military rations,” Wang Can added.

"Did everyone receive old grain this time?" Chen Qingzhi asked the soldier representatives one last time.

"Yes, it's all old grain," the soldiers' representatives replied. "If you're lucky, you might get 20-30% new grain mixed in, but most of it doesn't have a single grain of new grain!"

"That's over 50,000 shi of aged grain in just this one month," Chen Qingzhi said coldly, glancing at Wang Can and the military advisor.
"With monthly income and expenditure at a break-even rate, how could so much stale grain have accumulated?"

"This..." The two were speechless for a moment. How could they explain this clearly?

"It's not just this month that they're issuing old rations; they've been issuing them mixed in before, but never this much!" the soldiers embellished.

"Give me an explanation now, and give everyone an answer." Chen Qingzhi stared intently at the two of them.

"..." The two were dumbfounded. Wang Can looked back at his colleagues for help. They had all received their share of the spoils, but now they were all staring at the sky and the ground, looking at their palms, but none of them were looking at him.

“It doesn’t matter if you refuse to speak. It’s easy for me to find out the truth.” Chen Qingzhi said in a deep voice, “As you all know, I established the Gouchen Division by myself. Although I have been transferred to a post outside the capital, many of my subordinates still follow me.” As he spoke, he pointed at Zu An and said, “This Zu An has a wonderful supernatural power that makes it impossible for anyone below the seven orifices to lie in front of him.”

"Are you two both highly skilled in magic?" he said, looking at the two with a cold smile.

Wang Can has become a general; he is not only a man of great supernatural powers, but also possesses unparalleled abilities.

But that Military Advisor Ma was a civil official; he didn't possess any supernatural powers whatsoever, let alone any great supernatural abilities...

Upon hearing this, both of their expressions changed. Wang Can's eyes narrowed, and he wanted to use his mental power to curse Ma Canjun.

But Ma Canjun only swayed slightly and turned pale before regaining his balance, completely unharmed.

"Don't try anything funny in front of me," Chen Qingzhi said with a smile to Wang Can.

Wang Can suddenly remembered that Chen Qingzhi was already a demigod, and couldn't help but feel dejected. Even with nine orifices, it was impossible to kill someone in front of a demigod.

"Tell me," Zu'an said, walking up to Ma Canjun and looking him straight in the eye. "Where did those old grains come from?"

“Yes…” Ma Canjun tried desperately to shut up, but he couldn’t stop himself from speaking. He answered involuntarily, “I ordered someone to exchange it with grain merchants in Hefei City.”

"What did you use to exchange it?"

"New grain," Military Advisor Ma replied, immediately causing another stir.

"Damn it! You've lost all your conscience!"

"I knew it was you who did this!"

"Why exchange new grain for old grain?" Zu'an asked again.

"Because one shi of new grain can be exchanged for two shi of old grain, thus saving half of the military rations can be used to line one's own pocket," Military Advisor Ma answered honestly.

"Good, good, good!" The soldiers clapped and cheered. Nothing was more useful than having him say it himself.

"Did half of the military rations end up in your own pocket?" Zu'an pressed.

“How could that be?” Military Advisor Ma shook his head and said, “I’m just a nobody in charge of getting things done; General Wang takes the lion’s share.”

"Don't talk nonsense!" Wang Can jumped up and down in a panic. "I told you to mix it in half at most, who told you to send out all the old grain?!"

After saying this, Wang Can turned ashen-faced. How could he have confessed without being asked? Could it be that the Ancestral Master's supernatural powers were actually effective on the nine orifices as well?
Zuan certainly didn't have that ability, but Ren Yuanyou, who was standing next to Zuan, used his Wangchuan Zhaoying, which was an active mental attack, fundamentally different from Zuan's passive skill.

If you catch someone off guard and take advantage of their unpreparedness, even the most vulnerable person can be breached.

Although it was only for a moment, it was enough to expose Wang Can's true colors...

"I didn't make them use all the old grain," Military Advisor Ma said, still feeling aggrieved. "They only used about 70% at most..."

"Seventy percent is still not enough?!" The soldiers angrily cursed again, using vulgar language from various regions to insult Ma Canjun's parents.

"We increased it to 90%..." The warehouse clerks, naturally no match for Zu An's gaze, honestly admitted, "But we didn't expect the grain to be so stale, it's inedible..."

(End of this chapter)