Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 29: Military Corruption
Yan Yi's order came suddenly, more than half an hour earlier than the usual meal time in the military camp, so the cook had to prepare in a hurry.

The hot meals were quickly prepared, packed into several large wooden barrels, and carried to the training ground by several firemen.

Perhaps due to Yan Yi's presence, the meal was more varied than usual. Besides rice and vegetables, there were also wheat cakes, a little meat sauce, and a "light as water" mutton bone soup.

A soldier holding a ceramic bowl lined up in front of the food table.

After eating, they did not take the food back to the barracks or kitchen as usual. Instead, they spread reed mats on the training ground and ate while sitting or squatting. From time to time, they cast surprised glances at Yan Yi who was also queuing for food.

Yan Yi took advantage of the meal and sat down in a crowded place, which made the soldiers around him stand up in panic.

"No need to be so polite, everyone sit down."

His strict and gentle demeanor gradually relaxed the soldiers around him.

The food tasted average. The vegetables were simply boiled in water and flavored with ginger and garlic. The braised pork tasted good, but the portion was too small.

Yan Yi took a few bites of food and started chatting with a soldier next to him.

"Water shield, sunflower, bamboo shoots." The soldier introduced several vegetarian dishes that were commonly eaten recently, muttering, "There are too few lamb bones, and there is not much meat flavor. It's not as delicious as water shield soup."

The soldiers around him all laughed, and Yan Yi also laughed and said, "I'll treat you to whole lamb soup tomorrow."

The soldiers were very happy, their eyes full of anticipation.

Yan Yi asked casually, "Did any surplus rice get distributed last month?" Seeing the soldiers nod in agreement, he asked again, "How much was distributed?"

"Everyone received one dou of rice and two dou of husks," a soldier replied.

"Did we always have this much rice for every meal?"

"Not so much."

"how many?"

The soldier sensed the change in Yan Yi's tone and nervously reached out his hand to gesture in the pottery bowl.

Yan Yi looked at the pottery bowl, his eyes showing a hint of coldness.

Si Qing came over and whispered beside him, "I've inquired and found out that they used a total of 35 hu of rice, but usually less than 25 hu."

Wei Kuan was sitting next to Yan Yi. When he heard what Si Qing said, he realized something. The smile on his face gradually disappeared and his expression became serious.

Yan Yi turned to look at him and asked, "Have you got the military registration book?"

"It should be here soon." Wei Kuan said nervously.

The atmosphere around them became somewhat solemn. Everyone buried their heads in their food, and the only sounds left were those of chewing and swallowing.

After a cup of tea, a Zhonglang official in a crown and robe came hurriedly, followed by two soldiers carrying a wooden box.

"I'm Zhang Huan, your subordinate, and I'm here to greet you, Young Lord." Zhang Huan wiped the sweat from his forehead and bowed. "Here are the military rosters for the three Qus. Please have a look, Young Lord."

Yan Yi nodded, ordered someone to bring a desk, sat in front of it, took out volumes of military registration books and began to look through them.

There is no problem with the number of households in the military registration book, which is consistent with the number of soldiers brought by Wei Kuan.

Wei breathed a sigh of relief. He had also heard about Wang Mai being beheaded the day before, and was afraid that there would be some problems with the military registration book that would implicate him.

Originally, he had behaved very casually due to their old relationship, but now he became a little restrained.

Just when I thought everything was fine, I suddenly heard Yan Yi say, "Let everyone line up. I have something to ask you."

Wei Kuan's nerves, which had just relaxed, tensed up again. He was confused and shouted at the soldiers around him to come over and line up.

Yan Yi unfolded a scroll of bamboo slips and glanced at a name at the top of the list: "Who is Gao Xu? Ask him to come over."

Wei Kuan called out Gao Xu's name, and a soldier in his twenties hurried out of the ranks and ran towards him. Yan Yi observed him and asked, "Where do you live? How many people are there in your family? Tell me your father's name."

Gao Xu was stunned for a moment before answering, "My father's name is Gao Zhong. There are six of us in my family. We live in Chengpingli, Yubuting."

Yan Yi checked the register and found that they were consistent. He nodded and asked him to leave. He then looked at the second row and shouted, "Zhao Ping!"

Another soldier stepped forward and, when asked by Yan Yi, reported the situation at home.

He asked more than ten people in this way, and the information they gave was consistent with the register. When the thirteenth person was called, a thin man with a sallow face walked over timidly.

Yan Yi asked him to report his household registration information, and the man trembled and said, "I...I can't remember it."

"Can't remember?" Yan Yi glanced at him coldly. "You should know your father's name, right? Could it be that he popped out from a crack in the rock?"

Wei Kuan, who was standing by, had already realized something and his palms were sweating.

Si Qing walked up to the man, grabbed his collar, and shouted, "Hurry up and tell me!"

The man looked extremely nervous, and said in a trembling voice, "My father's surname is Han and his given name is Mingzhong."

Yan Yi said expressionlessly, "Why is it written on the household registration that it's Han Yang?"

"My name used to be Han Yang, but I changed it later." The man swallowed.

Yan Yi was too lazy to ask any more questions and gave Si Qing a look.

Si Qing drew his sword, put it on the man's neck, and pretended to chop him.

The man trembled all over and fell to his knees, saying in fear, "Young Master, spare my life. I was assigned to impersonate Han Zhen."

"Who ordered you to do this?" Yan Yi asked in a deep voice.

The man avoided his gaze, glanced at the soldiers, and whispered, "Captain Gao You."

Wei Kuan knew that if he didn't do something, he would end up in a terrible situation. He strode towards the queue, kicked down a man in black leather armor, and dragged him to the table.

"Young Master, this person is Gao You."

Gao You knelt on the ground and said in fear, "Young Master, please spare my life. I was also instructed by someone to do such a foolish thing."

Yan Yi laughed in anger. "Very good, so you were also ordered by someone. Tell me, who ordered you? Tell me everything!"

Gao You said with a mournful face, "I was ordered by Captain Yan Bao of Fenwei to find a soldier from the Xingwu Camp to impersonate Han Zhen. Han Zhen had actually died during the attack on Wucheng. Captain Yan forbade me to report this, and only ordered me to deliver Han Zhen's share of money and food regularly."

The whole place suddenly fell into deathly silence, and many people showed panic on their faces.

The matter was very clear. Yan Bao instructed Gao You to falsely claim the reward money and military rations. Seeing that Yan Yi was about to lead the troops, he hastily arranged for someone to replace him in order to deal with the situation.

Yan Yi's face was extremely gloomy. Although he knew that there were many cases of people falsely claiming military rations in Yan Baihu's army, he did not expect that such a phenomenon would exist even in Yan Baihu's personal guard camp, and it was done by Yan's children.

When he'd observed Wei Kuan training his soldiers, he'd noticed something was amiss. Some of the soldiers were unsteady in their steps, their movements were weak, and their coordination with the others was awkward. They didn't look like elite soldiers at all.

After checking, I didn't find that there was really a problem.

There must be more than one case like Han Zhen. From what he just saw, there are probably dozens of people who are fakes.

If even Yan Baihu's personal guard battalion is like this, then the situation for other troops will only be more serious.

Yan's army is so corrupt!

At this moment, a cavalryman came on horseback and reported, "Young Master, Xu Sheng and Zhao Cuo are here and are asking for an audience outside the camp gate."

(End of this chapter)