As soon as Lao Sun finished speaking, the sick soldiers near the cellar entrance broke into an uproar.
"It can be used! Did you hear that? The green-life grain can be used!"
"Thank heavens, it didn't burn, it didn't burn!"
Hearing this, Ma Jin'an kicked an empty basket nearby.
"What are you shouting about! Everyone get back to your tents. Whoever dares to crowd the cellar entrance will get half their soup and water today!"
The sick soldiers didn't dare to truly break the rules, but each of them still craned their necks to look into the cellar, as if looking at the clay pots one more time could secure their lives a bit more.
Ma Jin'an stood at the cellar entrance.
Xu Qinghuan did not rush him, nor did she scold him. She merely turned to look at the old leather armor warehouse that was still smoking.
Half the fire had already been suppressed. Black smoke rolled up along the base of the wall, and sparks were swept under the eaves by the north wind.
They were then extinguished by the night patrol soldiers with wet linen cloths. Several military supply clerks ran back and forth with water buckets.
Tie Lanshan stood by the fire with a dark face.
"Lord Xu, where are the arsonists from the warehouse?"
Xu Qinghuan placed the broken pieces of sealing clay in her hand back onto the wooden table, her voice very steady.
"They should be coming out now."
As soon as she finished speaking, a sound of sliding tiles came from the collapsed back wall.
Everyone turned their heads in unison.
A hand covered in coal ash stretched out from a hole in the wall.
Following closely, a soot-covered figure crawled out from the back wall. Her short coarse jacket had several holes burned by sparks, and grass clippings still hung in her hair.
Jenny Huang dragged a blackened iron chain, climbing out breathlessly. As soon as she stood firm, she waved the iron chain in her hand at Xu Qinghuan.
"Miss, it's done!"
Her voice was hoarse from the smoke, yet she was exceptionally proud.
"You told me to install concealed catch nets in the smoke flue of the fake warehouse. I forged them myself, three layers of inverted teeth. Once you step in, don't even think about getting out."
Li Sheng's eyes lit up, and he immediately ran towards the back wall.
"Where are they?"
Jenny Huang threw the iron chain onto the ground with a clang.
"Two are stuck in the smoke flue interlayer. One was fast on his feet, climbed the wall and ran out, but was blocked by Centurion Xu at the alley entrance and got his leg broken with the back of a blade."
At this point, she spat a mouthful of ash towards the military supply clerks by the fire.
"And you say the medicine and grain warehouse is lost? Lost my ass! I guarded it for half the night, and you book-holding lot are the first to wail as if someone died."
The several military supply clerks shrank their necks from the scolding, no one daring to talk back.
The sick soldiers gathered at the cellar entrance fell silent for a moment, then completely exploded.
"Caught them?"
"They really caught the arsonists?"
"This isn't the warehouse burning, this is the Imperial Envoy using the warehouse to bait the thieves!"
Ma Jin'an's hand stopped at his cuff.
Xu Qinghuan glanced at him.
"Lord Ma said just now that the medicine and grain register should be stopped?"
Ma Jin'an quickly cupped his hands in a salute.
"Lord Xu misunderstood. This old man was only worried about military morale."
"Since the medicine and grain are undamaged, naturally... naturally we will follow the rules of the Commander-in-Chief and the Imperial Envoy."
Li Sheng passed by him holding a clay pot, deliberately pushing the mouth of the pot forward.
"Does Lord Ma want to take a sniff? This dish didn't burn, are you disappointed?"
Ma Jin'an's face twitched, and he didn't reply.
At this moment, the sound of armor plates clashing came from the alley entrance.
Xu Zhan dragged a man in black by his back collar with one hand, pulling him to the front of the fire scene.
The man in black's left leg hung limply. He was covered in mud and blood, and his headscarf had already been torn off.
He had no beard on his face and looked to be around thirty years old. When he was thrown to the ground, he still tried to use his shoulder to roll aside.
Xu Zhan stepped on his back.
"Ran pretty fast."
The man in black suddenly gritted his teeth, his cheeks bulging.
Lao Sun was already prepared and almost pounced on him.
With one hand holding down his chin and the other gripping the joints on both sides, he dislocated his lower jaw with a click.
A muffled sound came from the man in black's throat, and saliva mixed with black medicine dregs flowed out.
Lao Sun dug a broken wax pill out from between his teeth and threw it into a copper basin.
"Hiding poison in his teeth, almost let him become a dead end."
Curses arose from the sick soldiers.
"What a venomous dog!"
"Burning life-saving grain, and still wants to die cleanly?"
"General Xu, don't let him die, slice him to pieces!"
Xu Zhan looked down at the man in black, his tone devoid of any extra emotion.
"Whether you want to die depends on whether the Imperial Envoy allows it."
Xu Qinghuan walked up to the man in black. She didn't crouate down, only instructing Li Sheng.
"Search him."
Li Sheng rolled up his sleeves. First, he pulled out a sheepskin fire oil bladder from behind the man in black's waist, then drew a short knife from his boot tube.
Then he lifted his lapel and felt out several pieces of hard, dry sealing clay from an inner pocket.
Half a seal mark remained on the sealing clay.
Li Sheng held it up to the light, squinting to identify it.
"This seal... Water Transport Warehouse sealing clay?"
Tie Lanshan stepped forward, took the sealing clay, looked at it for two breaths, and his face darkened.
"The mud color used by the North Warehouse of the Capital Environs, mixed with fine sand, can't be wrong."
Li Sheng felt around for a long time again and shook out a small copper plaque from a close-fitting small bag on the man in black.
That copper plaque was only the size of a thumb, its edges worn smooth.
The front didn't have the He Residence engraved on it, nor the Ma family, but the back was pressed with fine patterns that could only be seen when close to the firelight.
Xu Qinghuan originally just glanced at it, but when those patterns caught her eye, her hand stopped.
Tie Lanshan saw it too.
He reached out and took the copper plaque, turned it over to the back, and his chest heaved a bit heavier.
"Exemption from Inspection Pattern."
Li Sheng didn't understand.
"What Exemption from Inspection Pattern?"
Tie Lanshan didn't answer him immediately. He just handed the copper plaque to Xu Qinghuan, lowering his voice.
"Capital Environs waterways, the secret pattern on the Water Transport Office's exemption from inspection plaque."
"The main plaque uses a large copper plaque, hung on the cabin door of official ships. This kind of small plaque is used for identity verification by accompanying personnel."
Lao Sun's face turned pale upon hearing this.
"The arsonists are people from the Capital Environs waterways?"
Jenny Huang grabbed the iron chain, walked up to the man in black, and stepped on the back of his hand.
"How did the matters in Zhenbei City get dragged to the Capital Environs waterways? Can the dogs raised by He Minghu also get plaques from the capital?"
Ma Jin'an hurriedly spoke up.
"Manager Huang, speak cautiously. This matter hasn't been tried yet. Perhaps it's a plaque stolen by the thieves."
Xu Qinghuan turned her head.
"Lord Ma is really thinking of ways out for him."
Ma Jin'an immediately became anxious.
Because he truly didn't know about the events of tonight.
"Lord Xu, this old man is only speaking according to the logic of the case."
"The logic of the case?"
Xu Qinghuan took that small copper plaque, rubbed off the ash on it with her fingertip, revealing the pattern.
"Fire oil bladder, Water Transport Warehouse sealing clay, exemption from inspection secret pattern."
"With these three things gathered together, Lord Ma still wants to handle it as an ordinary arson case?"
Tie Lanshan waved his hand.
"Idle personnel step back, sick soldiers return to your tents. Military supply clerks stay behind, officers of the rank of General and above follow this Commander-in-Chief back to the side hall."
The military law officer immediately led people to clear the area.
Although the sick soldiers were unwilling, the green-life grain was still there, and the arsonists had also been caught.
Muttering curses, they still retreated to their tents.
Ma Jin'an cupped his hands to take his leave.
"Commander-in-Chief, it's late in the night. This old man will go back first to organize the documents, and come to discuss tomorrow..."
Tie Lanshan didn't look at him.
"Lord Ma is also tired, go back. The General's Office will naturally record the events of tonight."
Ma Jin'an felt as if he had been granted a great amnesty. He turned and walked very quickly, not even caring that his hem swept across the muddy water on the ground.
Jenny Huang watched his retreating back, muttering in a low voice.
"Runs really fast. It's not like the fire burned his ancestral graves."
Xu Qinghuan didn't reply, only letting Xu Zhan take the man in black away.
"Don't let him die. Examine his hands and feet thoroughly, and tear open the seams of his clothes too."
Xu Zhan nodded and dragged the person away.
...
When the lamps were relit in the General's Office, a burnt smell still lingered from the fire scene outside.
The medicine and grain register was spread open on the table. Cinnabar, inkpad, and copper weighing weights were lined up in a row. Next to them lay that small copper plaque and the Water Transport Warehouse sealing clay.
After Tie Lanshan sat down, he didn't move for a long time.
Li Sheng couldn't hold back.
"Commander, the people from the capital's waterways came to burn our medicinal grain warehouse."
"This whole thing doesn't make sense. There are only about three hundred pounds of Green Life Grain. Is it really worth such a massive move?"
Xu Qinghuan pushed the copper plate under the lamplight.
"It is."
The room fell silent.
Xu Qinghuan pointed to the medicinal grain ledger.
"If the Green Life Grain were only going to save a few hundred wounded soldiers, no one would bother sending death squads all the way from the capital."
She then pointed to the copper weights.
"But once it is entered into the ledger and weighed, it will be jointly managed by three parties. Starting tomorrow, it officially becomes military medicinal grain."
Tie Lanshan looked up.
Xu Qinghuan continued.
"Zhenbei City used to survive on the old grain routes. Water transport, warehouse transfers, inspection-exempt tokens, and spoilage accounts, every link in that chain could take a bite out of the profits."
"The border army lacked vegetables, and the wounded soldiers suffered from festering wounds; they had no choice but to accept their fate."
"But once dehydrated vegetables become the standard, they can be produced in Jiangnan, transported by escort agencies, and moved over land."
"The northern border's logistics will gain an entirely new route."
Hearing this, Li Sheng's teacup paused in mid-air.
"So what they fear isn't a few bags of vegetables."
"They fear a chunk of meat being cut from their ledgers."
Xu Qinghuan flipped the copper plate over, its hidden patterns revealing fine lines under the light.
"Someone doesn't want the northern border to break free from the old grain routes. Burning the warehouse is just the surface; what they truly want to burn away is the step where the medicinal grain enters the military supply ledger."
Tie Lanshan pressed his palm onto the desk, the wooden surface letting out a soft thud.
"Someone in the capital has reached out their hand."
Xu Qinghuan picked up a pen and paper, wrote down the words "Exempt from Inspection," and next to it wrote "Waterway Warehouse Clay Seals."
The tip of her pen paused for a moment before she added two more words.
Shang Manor.
Li Sheng gasped, swallowing back the words that had just reached his lips.
Tie Lanshan stared at those two words, his face tightening.
"Lord Xu, how did you trace this back to the Shang Manor?"
Xu Qinghuan did not explain much.
"The capital's waterways won't be very peaceful lately. My eldest brother, Xu Wuyou, is handling matters there. If he touches the military grain spoilage accounts, that hand in the capital will definitely panic."
Tie Lanshan stared at the paper.
"Military grain spoilage?"
"Zhenbei City's shortage of pay and rations isn't just a problem isolated to the northern border."
Xu Qinghuan put down her pen.
"Someone is embezzling military grain on the road, someone is selling inferior iron in the city, and someone is colluding with the Helyan people."
"Now they want to burn even a single jar of vegetables, which means this network is already feeling the pain."
Li Sheng slammed the table.
"Good that they feel it! Only when they hurt will they show their heads!"
Tie Lanshan stood up, took the Commander-in-Chief's official seal from its box, and ordered his personal guards to bring over the wooden box for military orders.
"Lord Xu, the medicinal grain warehouse can no longer be treated as an ordinary storehouse."
Xu Qinghuan nodded.
"Please give your orders, Commander."
Tie Lanshan picked up his brush to write the military order, his strokes heavy and decisive.
"From this day forward, the Jiangning medicinal grain is classified as a crucial wartime military supply. A squad from the Imperial Envoy's Office, a squad of personal guards from the Commander's Office, and the medical camp unit under Lao Sun will jointly guard it."
"Opening the warehouse requires three signatures; withdrawing items requires double ledgers. Weighing must be done with copper weights, and sealing must use cinnabar ink."
"Those who take items privately will be beheaded. Those who destroy items will be beheaded. Those who spread rumors to hinder distribution will be dealt with by military law."
When he finished writing, he raised his hand and stamped the seal.
Tie Lanshan handed the military order to Xu Qinghuan.
"Lord Xu, issue this order to the three camps tonight. Before dawn, have it posted at the wounded soldiers' camp, the military supply warehouse, and the north gate's barbican."
Xu Qinghuan took the military order, but before she could speak, a personal guard suddenly rushed in from outside, dropping to one knee at the threshold.
"Commander, Imperial Envoy, an urgent report from the north gate!"
Tie Lanshan turned around.
"Speak."
The guard offered a bamboo tube with both hands.
"A member of the Xu family arrived on a fast boat via the capital's waterways. The messenger was gravely injured and had only half a breath left when he entered the city."
"He said... it must be delivered to the Imperial Envoy at all costs."
Xu Qinghuan reached out and took the bamboo tube. The moment her fingertips touched the seal, a blood-stained slip of paper slid out from inside.
