Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 307 Rats and Flies

"The rat has appeared! Everyone, pay attention!" A young undercover police officer huddled in the corner and turned to whisper to his colleagues who were lying in ambush in the alley.

Candlelight nodded, squatting in the shadows of the street corner and said calmly, "Don't alert the enemy. Let's just continue pretending to be looking for work... This guy obviously came empty-handed. He's probably looking for a buyer."

A secret detective in the alley adjusted the felt hat on his head, looked into the candlelight, and quietly left. Three streets away, Officer Max and others who were pretending to be on patrol were waiting for them to pass on the message.

"Rat Catching" was the temporary code name for this arrest operation. With the overt cover of the police department's operation and the diversion of attention, the undercover police officers took less than three days to lock on to the target who frequently appeared in civilian areas. Four or five people took turns to monitor and stake out the target every day, and finally found out the opponent's movement trajectory.

The other party seemed to be very clear about the police department's daily patrol frequency and fixed routes, and very accurately chose the time when the airborne police left the street patrol to show up and take action.

So, Candlelight and other undercover police officers put on worn-out coats and pretended to be odd-job laborers, mixing with the locals who were squatting on the streets to pick up work in the city, blocking the main streets in the civilian areas. As long as they found a "rats" appearing or passing by, they would have no way to escape their surveillance.

The "rat" wandered around the main street for a few laps, then went into a shop at the corner of the street. On the main street of the civilian area of Grizzlie Castle, there were several shops run by local chambers of commerce, whose main business was the purchase and sale of grain, salt and sugar.

Not long after, "Mouse" came out of the store with a middle-aged man who looked like a clerk and hurried back to his residence which was only a street away. Behind the clerk were two donkey carts pulled out from the backyard of the store, which were obviously going to transport some goods.

"Damn it! He's really smuggling food..." Candlelight clenched his fists and cursed in a low voice through gritted teeth, "How did he get so much food? Food in the territory market is clearly limited and can only be purchased with a resident ID card..."

He suddenly thought of something, his eyes widened and he angrily said, "Damn it, could it be that someone from the warehouse department stole the goods? What a jerk! He simply doesn't take the laws issued by the lord seriously!"

A young spy behind him couldn't help but whisper, "Boss! What are you waiting for? Let's arrest him immediately!"

Candle took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and waved his hand, saying, "No rush. He can't do this dirty work alone. If we want to catch him red-handed, we have to wait patiently for all the rats in this nest to emerge..."

He had already arranged for someone to notify Officer Max's patrol team in advance, and all major intersections in the civilian area would be blocked later. Now he and others only needed to keep a close eye on the "rats" to complete the transaction, and then track them to catch the speculators who secretly purchased grain.

Sure enough, not long after, "Mouse" and the waiter appeared from the corner of the street pulling two fully loaded donkey carts. They chose remote alleys and side roads to arrive at the side door of the shop on the main street. A bald middle-aged man with a big belly was waiting there early. When he saw the donkey carts approaching, he looked around vigilantly for a while, then slowly approached the carts, lifted the cloth bag and checked it.

Then he smiled with satisfaction, took out a small bag of coins from his pocket and handed it to the "mouse".

"Do it!" Zhuhuo decisively gave the order to carry out the arrest. Four or five undercover police officers rushed out from the street corners at the same time and pounced on the target who was standing there, scaring them so much that they stood there at a loss.

Candlelight took the lead and kicked the stunned "rat" over, then pressed his back to the ground, and dozens of silver and copper coins fell out of the purse in his hand, which was not even warm yet.

"You're under arrest!"

...Yurio used the magic brain communication device specially approved by the lord to the police department to report to Harvey the case of the people in the territory secretly hoarding food and transporting it to Grizzly Castle to sell it secretly to local merchants.

Looking at the long and eloquent report sent to him by the senior superintendent, Harvey put down the quill pen in his hand and sighed lightly. The two laws of limiting the purchase of grain in the pioneering territory and strictly prohibiting private sales had actually been repeatedly preached and announced to the public many times. He didn't expect that there would still be people who would choose to take risks for such a small amount of money.

Wait! Harvey slapped his head and turned to Reiner beside him and asked, "What's the monthly food quota that residents of the territory can buy with their ID?"

Reiner was silent for a moment, then pulled out his work manual, flipped through it, and replied, "Sir, if calculated per capita, it's more than enough to feed the people. After all, only wheat, flour, salt, sugar, tobacco, and alcohol are subject to purchase restrictions. Bread, dairy products, meat, and other foods that are difficult to store for long periods of time are available for sale..."

Harvey narrowed his eyes and said angrily, "Then tell me, how did they manage to save hundreds of pounds of hulled wheat and secretly transport it to Grizzlie Castle to sell while ensuring they didn't starve?"

He slammed the table in anger, and lashed out at Reiner and Asdalen, a rare outburst of anger. "A nest of rats has been born in my territory's warehouse!"

Reiner slammed the workbook shut, then knelt down and bowed to Harvey without saying a word. He didn't understand how these people could save so much food from their daily rations and sell it privately, but since the lord had blamed him, it must be that he had been negligent in his work, and it would never be wrong to kneel down and apologize first.

Asdalen was much calmer. Although he was only responsible for assisting Reiner as the manager of the city hall, the lord was furious at the moment, so he knelt on one knee to apologize, then stood up and walked to the magic brain communicator, quickly copied down the interrogation results sent by Inspector Yurio, and handed them to Harvey with a bow.

"Sir, please calm down... This was indeed an oversight on our part, but it's not a problem with the territory's storage area..." The Chief Advisor glanced at Reiner, who was kneeling on the ground in a daze, and whispered in his colleague's defense, "Daily access and patrols of the storage area are handled by the Alchemy Beasts. The municipal officials in charge are among the earliest veterans to join the territory, die-hard followers trained by Reiner himself. They would never steal from the warehouse for such a small amount of money."

Harvey looked at Reiner who was kneeling tremblingly, and his anger subsided by half. Then he began to carefully read the case interrogation report sent by Yurio again.

It turns out the problem wasn't with the nasty rats in the territory's storage area, but rather with the Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for animal husbandry...

What made Harvey laugh and cry even more was that what he thought was a crime of smuggling grain was actually because of the old wheat that had been harvested two years ago and stored in the warehouse. After the bumper harvest in the new year, he ordered it to be used as livestock feed. Although the wilderness was dry and cold, the shelled wheat had been stored in the warehouse for a long time and was inevitably slightly damp. At a time when food was not in short supply, this batch of old grain was perfect to use as livestock feed.

But some of the people in the Ministry of Agriculture, accustomed to hardship, disagreed. This was large, plump, readily available grain! Feeding it to livestock would be a waste! Even if it got damp and moldy, it was still hundreds of times better than the potato tubers, rhizomes, and wild vegetable bark dug from the soil during famines.

So several people in the territory made a secret plan and secretly saved some of the old wheat that was crushed and mixed with grass every day. After accumulating it for a while, they sent an accomplice who moved from the southern border to transport this batch of damp wheat mixed with a lot of grass residue and sawdust under the pretext of returning to Grizzly Territory to visit relatives. It was a pleasant surprise to be able to exchange it for some money.

After figuring out the whole story, Harvey couldn't help but hold his forehead with his hand. He raised his hand to signal Asdalen to pull Reiner up from the ground. He said speechlessly, "It doesn't look like a serious crime... But since the territory's laws have provisions, and this is the first case of its kind, it's natural to impose a severe sentence. This will set a negative example and warn other people not to take such risks!"

Even a thousand-mile dam can be breached by an ant hole. Since there are perfect territorial laws, Harvey believes that it is necessary to use the method of killing the chicken to scare the monkey. Otherwise, these "little flies" who originally had no bad intentions will sooner or later evolve into "big rats" who specifically take advantage of loopholes to harm his interests.

(End of this chapter)