I Slay Gods and Demons in the Deceit Night
Chapter 295 - 209: Yue Family’s Old Ancestor! Various Tactics!_3

Chapter 295: Chapter 209: Yue Family’s Old Ancestor! Various Tactics!_3

"With this, the Liu Family had borrowed their courage, and they wouldn’t need to pay them anymore; the swallowed grains and money could be considered as their payment for the Liu Family’s work,"

At this point, Chief Clerk Yang said solemnly, "And what the several members of the Liu Family wanted was the materials for the city expansion."

Lin Yan listened quietly and said, "According to what you say, since the time I had those people killed initially, there haven’t been any overt skimming of materials."

"So they changed their method, instead of directly taking the inventory items into their own hands like before,"

Chief Clerk Yang said, "The materials handed over now have the right quantities, but once they pass through our hands and spread out to different sectors, then manipulations could be made."

Lin Yan, touching the Zhao Ye saber in his hand, roughly understood Chief Clerk Yang’s meaning.

This city expansion, for many people, was a feast.

The main meat on the feast was accounted as ten pigs!

Previously, those involved were located in the City Guard Mansion, major families, and various governmental offices.

Each person kept a pig for their own household.

In the end, only a few pigs were left for Linjiang Station.

If General Flag Envoy Han Zheng and Flag Commander Wu Chang of Linjiang Station were both greedy, then each would take another pig.

In the end, for this "feast", only three or four pigs remained.

"They are indeed much cleverer..."

Lin Yan chuckled and said, "Is this after killing the pigs, now it’s time to divide them?"

The current method of the parties involved was to hand over these ten pigs to Linjiang Station for verification.

After Linjiang Station confirmed the number of pigs, ensuring there was no error,

Then at the ten butchers’ spots, each butcher would take a pig leg during the slaughtering.

By the time it got to the various stoves, each chef also hid away a pig leg.

Finally, when the food was ready, dish after dish was prepared to be served.

And those serving the dishes secretly took a few slices from each plate of meat.

In the end, calculated down, were there really ten pigs served?

"For them, something that could’ve been eaten in one bite now requires much extra effort, making it very troublesome, so they still truly hate you,"

Chief Clerk Yang sighed, "But for the Observatory, finding evidence has also become extremely troublesome..."

Lin Yan was flipping through a dossier.

It recorded how many hidden agents placed in various trades were mobilized earlier, but they only found some trivial signs, unable to track down a complete clue.

Only when Zhao Ye people were used on the inner city side, were there news.

Thus followed the incidents where officials like Yuan Zhuzi, Meng Lu, Zou Jin, Zheng Liu, went to meet but ended up ambushed.

"In the southeast district, this servant named Zhou An and these minor clerks were in charge of skimming materials and hiding them elsewhere,"

Chief Clerk Yang said, "In the end, handed over to the merchant houses under their own powers’ command, covertly transported to the inner city... Mostly they were transported to other cities, converted into Silver Taels, or materials needed for work."

Lin Yan picked up a ledger, glanced at it, and said, "Looking from the ledger, it seems not a big problem, rather impressive indeed."

"They dare not be too greedy, taking one in a thousand from each part as loss, which seems fair and reasonable."

"And the person registering and making the ledgers, turning a blind eye here and there, thus no issues arise."

Chief Clerk Yang chuckled, "Moving through many hands, peeling off layer by layer, turns out to be quite substantial."

Lin Yan obviously understood the key point.

The ones handling were not the direct high-level members from each core family of the inner city.

So, once the incident occurred, all these people were disposable.

If they found out in advance, they would kill to silence them.

Even if they couldn’t kill to silence them, and in the end, they were caught by the City Guard Mansion or the Observatory, those major clans in the inner city could completely dissociate themselves from it.

At worst, they would abandon those collateral family members who had been involved.

As for the direct family members, based on the current evidence, indeed, none of them were truly involved.

"The Commander had ordered the Observatory to closely monitor the entire city. It hadn’t been long before they had such a countermeasure."

Lin Yan said with a smile, "These guys really have good brains, none of them are simple..."

"The most complicated is the Yue family."

Just then, Xu Qing from the Outer South Bureau came from outside and said, "According to the evidence held by the Observatory, the Yue family were not involved."

"Indeed not..." Chief Clerk Yang paused and said, "Among the six major families in the inner city, the Yue family has always maintained the most upright family conduct. Their non-participation is quite expected, right?"

"But the Yue family has already tied up more than thirty family members, along with nearly a hundred servants involved, and delivered them to the prison of the City Guard Mansion."

Xu Qing reached out to take out a note and passed it over, saying, "The method of embezzlement by the Yue family this time was more secretive. If their old ancestor hadn’t initiated an audit... it really would have been difficult to detect."

Lin Yan glanced at it and couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

The methods of the Yue family were indeed different.

Other factions quietly hid the "meat."

In every dish, they took a few slices without anyone noticing.

But with over a hundred tables and many dishes,

ultimately, they ended up with a lot.

But the Yue family, quite differently,

They did not embezzle the materials but swapped them.

For example, in the material list sent from Li City, there was a specially fired type of brickstone, made of a special material, as hard as metal.

But the Yue family took the "Diamond Bricks" from Li City and replaced them with ordinary stone bricks from Coastal City.

In the list sent from Li City, there was only the quantity of "brickstones," so, upon comparison, it was basically impossible to find a problem.

It was also recorded that a direct family member of the Yue family had bribed several senior officials from Li City responsible for checking the material list.

They didn’t need their help to embezzle or skimp on the materials, just to remove the words "Diamond Bricks."

"What is the Yue family up to?" Lin Yan raised his eyebrows.

"I heard that the old ancestor of the Yue family wants to rectify the family’s conduct and set people straight," Xu Qing said with a smile.

"From this, it seems that among the six major families of the inner city, only the Yue family deals with matters most rightfully!" Lin Yan’s expression lifted as he said this.

"But the Commander believes that the Yue family used us as a knife," Xu Qing said, "The Yue family plans to kill with a borrowed knife, letting us from the Observatory strike at the other families..."

"We from the Observatory, having not discovered this kind of embezzlement through material swapping, can be considered derelict in our duties."

Lin Yan said calmly, "Since they have taught us and also helped out... since the Yue family has already handed over all the involved individuals to the City Guard Mansion, let this matter pass! As for the rest..."

Xu Qing continued, "Following the lead of swapping materials for embezzlement, we have already discovered some people."

Lin Yan pondered for a moment, then spoke up.

"Who is the highest-ranking person involved in this case?"

"The Liu family patriarch!"