The Prodigal Son

Upon hearing Zheng Tingchao's words, Yu Zhou instantly understood.

That bastard!

He was more than happy to be removed from his position as Admiral of the Navy!

Given his background, even if he is removed from his position as naval commander, he will soon be reinstated.

Who knows, just as he wished, he might be transferred to the border army to make a name for himself!

He's dreaming!

"Oh?"

Qin Yu looked at Zheng Tingchao with great interest. "What is it? Tell me!"

Zheng Tingchao stiffened his neck and bluntly stated, "This humble general condoned his soldiers' profiteering from naval warships..."

"Profit?"

Qin Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he pressed further, "How do you intend to profit?"

Zheng Tingchao did not hide anything and immediately explained the whole story.

Raojin's navy had almost no battles, only occasionally clearing out pirates or escorting caravans that traded between the imperial court and the Chu Kingdom.

As a result, many of Raojin's warships were left unused.

Therefore, he set his sights on naval warships, using them to transport goods for profit.

The money received was divided into three parts.

He and his subordinates divided a portion of it.

A portion of it was used to improve the rations of the naval officers and soldiers.

Another portion was used to repair warships...

"Grand Commander, General Zheng is lying!"

Before Zheng Tingchao could finish speaking, Yu Zhou suddenly spoke up.

Zheng Tingchao's expression changed, and he immediately glared at Yu Zhou with wide eyes.

"What lie did he tell us?"

Qin Yu watched the two of them with great interest.

Yu Zhou immediately interjected, "Profiting from naval warships was not his idea! Moreover, while I and my men did receive silver, he did not..."

Before Zheng Tingchao took office, many people in the Raojin Navy were already doing this!

Zheng Tingchao was new to the navy and completely unfamiliar with its affairs. He didn't even have a confidant in the navy. If he were to cut off the navy's source of income all at once, he would not be able to win their support and might even cause a mutiny.

It was for this reason that Zheng Tingchao did not confront the naval officers and soldiers.

Later, as time went on, Zheng Tingchao himself got used to the way the naval officers and soldiers did it, and thus tacitly approved of it.

Anyway, the naval warships are just sitting there anyway, so using them to transport goods and earn some money isn't a bad thing.

Moreover, the court's focus was not on the navy.

Since the late emperor's later years, the court has repeatedly cut military spending on the navy.

In recent years, there has been no more reduction, so no further reductions have been made, but not a single new one has been added either.

But a navy is expensive to build!

Even if a naval warship is stationary, it still needs to be repaired every year, and the older the warship, the more repairs it requires.

This meant that the amount of silver allocated by the imperial court to the navy was simply not enough.

If the navy hadn't raised a lot of money through this method, at least 30% of the Raojin navy's warships would be unusable right now!

Although they did benefit from it, they also saved the imperial court a lot of military expenses!

But when it came to the money, it only went up to him; Zheng Tingchao didn't take a single penny.

To put it bluntly, given Zheng Tingchao's background, and the fact that he was forced into the position of Admiral of the Raojin Navy by the late emperor, if he ran out of money, he could simply ask His Majesty for more, and His Majesty would be too embarrassed to refuse.

After all, he was the deputy commander of the Golden Armored Imperial Guards many years ago!

If he hadn't been forced to become this wretched naval commander, he would be a great general guarding a region by now!

He might have already been granted a title!

If His Majesty were to issue an imperial edict to transfer him away from the navy, it would be better than any amount of silver!

"fart!"

Zheng Tingchao glared at Yu Zhou again. "How would you know whether I took it or not? I did take it, and quite a lot of it!"

What an idiot!

With my background, even if I take it, so what?

At worst, I'll just be temporarily dismissed!

Once a war breaks out with Bei Qi, I'm sure I'll be able to lead troops to the border!

But if he takes it, then it might be a different story!

If I take the blame for him, he'll be fine, and I'll be able to escape this predicament.

Why would he sabotage a win-win situation?

"General, I understand your good intentions, but things will be as they are!"

Yu Zhouchong and Zheng Tingchao grinned.

He's dreaming of being transferred away from the navy alone without taking me with him!

We have to endure it, we'll all endure it together in this wretched place!

If anyone's going to be transferred, we'll all be transferred together. While we're still able to fight, let's go and make our mark!

"Alright, you two stop arguing! This isn't a big deal! I didn't intend to fire you either!"

Qin Yu stopped the two, "I'm curious, you actually used your own earned silver to repair the warship?"

As he spoke, Qin Yu silently pondered in his heart.

Naval warships transporting goods for people?

In other words, it's also possible that they were helping people transport smuggled salt?

Suddenly, Qin Yu seemed to understand something.

"I'll definitely have to pay part of it myself."

Speaking of this, Zheng Tingchao was furious: "We use a lot of warships, and there are many places that need repair. The military funds allocated by the court are simply not enough! If we want to make money from warships, we will definitely have to pay a portion of the money ourselves."

"That's true!"

Qin Yu nodded in agreement, "This is indeed not a serious crime, and may even be a contribution to the court!"

"Your Excellency is wise!"

Yu Zhou quickly offered flattery, then glanced at Zheng Tingchao with a gloating look.

Qin Yu smiled calmly, then asked meaningfully, "That's all? Nothing else?"

"Yes, of course there are more!"

Zheng Tingchao clearly misunderstood Qin Yu's meaning and eagerly said, "Sometimes, private merchant caravans would hire naval warships to escort them in order to avoid being attacked by pirates..."

"General Zheng, I remember the imperial court seems to have permitted this, right?" Ruan Zhi interjected.

In order to vigorously develop maritime trade, the late emperor allowed private merchant fleets to hire naval forces to escort them.

Moreover, this is also an opportunity for the navy to train its troops.

This guy really went to great lengths to be transferred away from the navy.

Zheng Tingchao was slightly embarrassed. "Private merchant fleets pay to hire naval warships, and some of these are not recorded..."

"That's true!"

Yu Zhou immediately chimed in, "But General Zheng still hasn't received his share of the money!"

"You know nothing!"

Zheng Tingchao glared at Yu Zhou, annoyed. "Putting aside whether I got a share of the money or not, even these things are a dereliction of duty!"

"Gentlemen, you've misunderstood me!"

Qin Yu rubbed his head, looking at the two of them speechlessly.

If you investigate elsewhere, you'll find that others are doing everything they can to conceal their crimes.

They're actually afraid I won't punish them?

Seriously, is the navy really that disliked?

"So what do you mean?"

Zheng Tingchao asked, puzzled.

Qin Yu was too lazy to beat around the bush with them. "What I wanted to ask was, have any of the navy's warships ever helped transport smuggled salt?"

"Absolutely not!"

Zheng Tingchao suddenly raised his voice, "This humble general also served by the late Emperor's side. This humble general knows what can and cannot be done! This humble general has long ago given a strict order that no one in the navy is allowed to touch smuggled salt!"

Qin Yu gently shook his head: "I don't think so."