Claude returned to Line 131's command center with a dark expression and threw a tantrum. Vice Linesman Schnake and Siegfelde Siegfelde came to calm him down after a long while.
However, Claude immediately ordered Line 131 to ignore the reports from the logistics department regarding the missing Shiksan military expenditure worth 500,000 crowns.
Any soldier who received the report would have to seek Claude's permission before heading to the logistics department for further investigation.
That was Claude's intention to have a falling out with General Fansnik. In truth, it wasn't wise for him to interfere in this matter and it went against the traditional rules of spoils of war distribution.
If the huge military expenditure belonged to the kingdom, it would be perfectly justifiable for him to conduct the investigation as it was within his jurisdiction.
However, the missing military expenditure belonged to the enemy, Shiks, not Aueras.
As the newly appointed logistics director, General Fansnik didn't have the authority to go through so much trouble to search for it. He even suspected Line 131 of hiding the money, which led to a huge conflict between him and Claude.
According to the traditional rules of spoils of war distribution, the soldiers would have to hand over the ammunition, weapons, logistics, and supplies they seized from the enemy.
However, the loot from the enemy would basically go to the soldiers themselves, such as luxury goods enjoyed by high-ranking officers and loot from captives.
Sometimes, the expropriation of the enemy's belongings would also fall under the scope of spoils of war distribution. For example, when 1st Ranger Tribe entered the three southern prefectures of Askilin, they requisitioned an enemy noble's winery and privately divided up the precious wine in the cellar as well as the gold and silver they found. It was also a kind of reward for the soldiers who fought valiantly for victory.
Of course, in the unspoken rules of the distribution of spoils of war, it was not that the soldiers' personal belongings were directly put into their pockets.
Basically, the troops were the main unit and the spoils of war would be redistributed to ensure that every soldier would get a share.
This was also the biggest difference between an organized organization and an unorganized organization. An organized organization was the most efficient when it came to robbing, oh no, seizing the spoils of war. They would not miss any valuable spoils of war.
If Line 131 found the 500,000 crowns worth of military expenditure in Wickhamsburg, they would have to hand over 70% of it according to the rules of distribution. The remaining 30% could be distributed among the soldiers.
Even if it was only thirty percent, it was still a huge amount of wealth for all the soldiers of Tribe 131 to get their hands on.
Every soldier of Line 131 was filled with regret and heartache when they received the news. They had missed out on this huge sum of money just like that ….
But the problem was that Line 131 wasn't in Wickhamsburg. When they discovered the huge sum of money in the storehouse, they set fire to the storehouse and left in a hurry, causing the storehouse to explode and turn the huge sum of money into a huge crater. Just like that, the huge sum of money disappeared without a trace.
As the party involved, Claude's evidence showed that Line 131 had indeed neglected to search the storehouse carefully and missed out on such a huge sum of money.
Usually, such incidents weren't rare on the battlefield. One could only blame one's bad luck. Most people would only treat it as a joke if they knew about it.
Even if the military expenditure was huge, it was still the enemy's. If they got it, it would be considered a bonus. If they didn't, they could only blame themselves for being unlucky.
Nobody would be like Fansnik and treat the huge sum of Shiks' military expenditure as the property of the Stellin royal family and investigate it thoroughly to get to the bottom of the matter.
He didn't think that Claude wouldn't give a damn about the newly appointed major-general in charge of logistics. Even Fansnik got a headache from Claude.
Just as Claude had argued with him in the logistics department, what right did he have to assume that the Shiksan military budget belonged to the royal family? Why did he have to give an explanation for it? Could it be that our beloved royal family paid Shiks to attack our colonies?
Fansnik, on the other hand, emphasized that Ranger was the royal guard of the Stellin royal family, so all the glory of the army belonged to the royal family, even the spoils of war.
According to him, all spoils of war should be handed over to the royal family first before being distributed to the soldiers of Ranger.
That was the only way to show Ranger's loyalty to the royal family, as well as the royal family's love and care for Ranger.
Many things were just conflicts of interest. Claude hit the nail on the head and pointed out that all Fansnik did was to gain control over Ranger's spoils of war.
Just like the four carriages Claude handed over to logistics, he wanted all the officers of Ranger who participated in the battle of Balingana to get a share of the spoils of war.
The moment Fansnik took over Ranger, he confiscated the four carriages of luxury goods and handed them over to the royal family as a reward for his service.
He only cared about his own promotion and didn't care about the interests of Ranger's soldiers.
Fansnik was infuriated by Claude's accusation. Putting aside the huge sum of military funds, Claude shouldn't have handed over only four of the carriages to the logistics department and allowed Line 131 to split the last one among themselves. That would be a huge disrespect to the royal family.
Fansnik even brought out a copy of Line 131's account book as proof. He said that someone like Claude, who had no loyalty to the royal family, shouldn't be in the royal guard in the first place. He would ask his superiors to have Claude stripped of his rank and imprisoned for corruption until the five hundred thousand crowns were found.
The argument between the two grew more and more heated. Had it not been for Skri, the vice head of logistics, who rushed over to hold Claude back, Claude would've given the general a good beating.
Things got out of hand and in the end, both of them were called over by General Michelc and scolded harshly.
However, Claude knew that his days in Ranger wouldn't be as comfortable as before. The new head of logistics, Fansnik, had his eyes on him.
Seeing Schnake and Siegfeld leave his office, Claude's expression seemed rather playful.
His tantrum in the regimental office was all for the two of them to see, to show that he had a clear conscience.
However, Claude couldn't be sure which of the two had betrayed him. Perhaps they didn't see it as betrayal and were just taking responsibility for Line 131.
Myjack, Berklin, Moriad and Dyavid, the four most trusted subordinates of Claude, entered the office right after them. Gum stood outside the office to prevent others from getting too close.
Myjack closed the door and asked in a concerned tone, "Sir, what did the general say?"
Claude let out a long sigh. "Do you know what it means to overshadow the general?"
The four of them shook their heads inexplicably. They did not understand the meaning of this sentence.
"General Michelic's days are starting to get tough," Claude said as he stood up, "Fansnik was sent by the higher-ups to keep him in check.
Ranger was the royal guard of the Stellin royal family. The higher-ups had to be wary of General Michelic. Because of the colonial war, Ranger's reputation had soared. Now, Ranger had become the sole authority of General Michelic and had to follow his every order. This would put the royal family in an awkward position after spending so much effort on Ranger.
That's why the royal family will be sending a batch of officers over to strengthen the high-ranking officers of the army.
The reason why I was targeted by General Fansnik wasn't just because of the military expenditure, but because they saw me as General Michaelci's trusted aide.
To deal with General Michelic, we have to chop off the branches first. Unfortunately, I'm being treated as the thickest branch on the tree.
Without me, General Michelic will lose the most important support in Ranger. Everyone knows that Line 131 is the strongest and most elite force in Ranger … "" That's right, that's right, it's not like I can't do anything about it.
"That can't be. Shiks just announced that they're going to form ten standing corps to fight the colonial war to the end.
How could the royal family cut off their own wings at a time like this?
Without General Michelic, when Shiks invade again, who will they rely on to stop the enemy? "
When we attack, who will Ranger rely on to stop the enemy? "Berklin mumbled.
"You're right," Claude nodded.
"The problem now isn't that the royal family is cutting off their own wings to deal with General Michelic.
What they need to do is to put General Michelic on a pedestal.
Be it the promotion to field marshal, the conferment of the title of 3rd Earl, or the royal manor, it's to show how much they value General Michelic and also to allow the high-ranking officers they assign to take over Ranger with the general's cooperation.
"You should be able to tell from the distribution of rewards that the higher-ups are purposely exaggerating General Michelic's merits and suppressing the contributions of the other soldiers. That way, they'll create a rift between General Michelic and the rest of the army.
"They want the soldiers to think that General Michelic took all the credit for the entire war because that would reduce his prestige among the soldiers and incite their dissatisfaction. They don't want General Michelic to always be in charge of Ranger.
"As for Shiks' announcement of forming ten standing corps to fight the colonial war to the end, it's still far too early.
"You all know how long it takes to form a corps and train the soldiers to be equipped with the basics of combat. It's impossible to do that without at least a year and a half.
"According to the intelligence we received from the ministry of the army, Shiks has indeed started to recruit soldiers to form a standing corps. However, progress has been slow and they've only managed to form one and a half corps so far.
The formation of a corps isn't something that can be done just by recruiting new soldiers. They also need to provide all sorts of resources and recruit training, as well as train a large number of officers to fill in the gaps in command.
It's impossible for Shiks to form ten standing corps without at least two to three years.
On top of that, they still had to transport the ten standing corps to Nubissia by sea and prepare even more resources to meet the needs of the ten corps.
So, the higher-ups estimate that Shiks won't be able to start another colonial war in Nubissia in the next three to four years.
Three to four years is a long time and nobody knows if anything unexpected will happen during that time. Perhaps the kingdom's economy will take a turn for the better and they'll be able to send other corps to take charge of the colonial war.
That's why the higher-ups are worried that General Michelic will turn Ranger into his personal army in the next three to four years and send high-ranking officers to take over command of Ranger in order to prevent that.
After all, the Stellin royal family had invested a lot in Ranger. They were the royal guards. They couldn't trust Ranger's loyalty to the royal family with Michaelch's loyalty.
"The main reason General Fansnik has his eyes on me is because of the position I'm in.
Perhaps he's also thinking of using the Shiksan military budget to get a reward from the royal family.
"It's said that our king, Stellin X, has been bedridden for nearly three years and doesn't have much time left. No matter which prince ascends the throne, General Fansnik will be able to use the five hundred thousand crowns worth of military budget to get him an important position in the new royal court.
As long as he gives the budget to any prince, he'll be able to give that prince a huge stake in the fight for the throne. "
"That's our wealth! Why should we let that bullshit General Fansnik use it to get a reward from the higher-ups?!"
Moriad pleaded angrily, "Boss, why don't I bring two men with me to deal with General Fansnik's dirty work?
We can just fabricate evidence that it was done by Shiksan spies and pin the blame on Shiks. I'm sure they won't be able to defend themselves then. "
Claude shook his head. "Don't be crazy. Don't you know that General Fansnik's surname is Tang Stellin?
He's from a branch family of the royal family. If we really do something to him, the higher-ups won't let it go easily. They'll turn Ranger upside down.
I'm sure I'll be the first suspect since I had a huge argument with him.
However, it's true that we can't let him keep pestering us like this. We have to find a source for the military budget so that he won't suspect us.
Maude and Dyvid, find some time to go to the place where the military budget was buried and find some coins. Give half of it to Myjack.
Myjack, give the coins to my sister Angelina and have her make it look like the explosion and fire melted the coins.
I'll order Tribe 131 to head to Wickhamsburg tomorrow to excavate the ruins. Didn't General Fansnik want me to give him an explanation? When the time comes, we'll hand over the remains of the coins. That way, everyone will know that the huge military budget was indeed gone because of the explosion. "
"But Boss, what do you want us to do with the other half of the coins?" Dyavid asked.
"Hehe …" Claude chuckled. "You have to secretly scatter the coins in the ruins and let the soldiers find one or two occasionally. Then, it'll cause an explosion and scatter the coins all over the ruins.
That way, even if some of the soldiers hand it in, most will keep it for themselves.
Even if the amount of coins found is small, they'll only suspect the soldiers who dug up the ruins. That way, the rest of the money will be safe. "