In fact, Xu Hang was not surprised at all to get this answer.
The chief of staff is pro-Japanese, while Duan Yelin is irreconcilable with the Japanese invaders. Now that the cabinet is wavering, the chief of staff certainly wants to eliminate dissidents. Anyway, Duan Yelin is not on good terms with the Japanese, so it is most appropriate to assassinate him on Japanese territory.
“You failed this time. I’m afraid the Chief of Staff will lose trust in you.”
“I can’t tell that you are feeling sorry for me.”
Xu Hang waved his hand, signaling Cong Lin to leave. Before Cong Lin went out, he turned around and looked at Xu Hang with a half-smile, saying, “I hope you won’t regret letting me go today. If I get the chance, I won’t show mercy. Young Master Xu, you can’t always take advantage of situations like this.”
Xu Hang remained motionless, waiting for the person to walk away before commenting expressionlessly, “You are still too young.”
————
After the matter of the governor was settled, the Military Control Commissioner still did not leave Hezhou City and even took over the governor’s power and responsibilities, showing a tendency to compete with Duan Yelin.
These are what Xu Hang saw from Duan Yelin.
After noon, Duan Yelin threw a document to the ground in a rage and cursed, “Yuan Sen, this old guy, is crazy about making money!”
Xu Hang picked it up and noticed it was a proposal for repairing the sewers and temporary military warehouses in Hezhou City. However, unlike usual, the funding didn’t come from the cabinet but rather from charitable contributions made by wealthy businessmen.
This plan was initially devised by Duan Yelin, and workers had already been arranged for the first phase of the project. However, it has now been taken over by Yuan Sen.
“Let him do it if he wants to. It’s fine as long as he can do it well.” Said Xu Hang.
Duan Yelin sat down and took a sip of cold water. “If he could actually ‘get it done,’ would I be this furious? Don’t I know him well enough? I can only imagine how much of the public fundraiser money will end up in his own pocket! He’ll take the money and disappear, leaving the people of Hezhou City to deal with the aftermath!”
Xu Hang flipped through the document, his eyes shifting as he spoke: “Regardless of whether the money comes from the cabinet or elsewhere, this project still belongs to the government. If anything goes wrong, they’ll be the ones held accountable, right?”
“Yes. But Yuan Sen is experienced—handling inspectors sent by the higher-ups is nothing difficult for him.”
“Then what if something happens that’s too big to overlook?” Xu Hang fixed Duan Yelin with a sharp gaze. Sensing that he had a plan, Duan Yelin grew serious and asked, “Can you tell me more?”
Xu Hang put the document on the table: “Do you remember that there was a medical hall opposite Heming Medical Hall? Do you know how it went bankrupt?”
“I have never known that.”
“The former head of that medical hall was a generous man. Besides the monthly allowance, he would give red envelopes to each physician and medicine boys every month. Over time, everyone grew accustomed to it. But after he left and a new head took over, the red envelopes stopped. Feeling the loss of that extra money, the staff began cutting corners—sometimes shorting medicine by a penny, other times being careless when diagnosing a pulse. Slowly, the medical hall’s reputation crumbled.”
After Xu Hang finished speaking, he gave Duan Yelin a meaningful look. “No matter who funds the project, it’s the workers who carry it out. A thousand-mile dam can collapse from a single ant hole. Since we can’t bring it down from the top, we should cut off its fuel from the bottom.”
Duan Yelin stroked his chin, his eyes lit up as he listened, and finally touched the back of Xu Hang’s hand: “It seems that there are some things that I don’t consider as carefully as you do.”
They did what they said. From that day on, Duan Yelin asked Qiao Song to pay each worker who worked in the first phase an extra dollar per day. The workers were so happy and grateful, the money stopped coming until twenty days later when the entire project was handed over to the Military Control Commissioner.
Human greed has always been like a snake swallowing an elephant. It has been like this since ancient times.
Feeling shortchanged, the workers became incredibly lazy in their tasks. Everyone looked for ways to do less work. As a result, the project not only progressed slowly, but what was completed appeared fine on the surface, while the interior was in complete disarray.
The Military Control Commissioner didn’t care about such a small matter. He just wanted to save face and acted as a hands-off manager. After a few months, everything was completed.
Coincidentally, on the day of its completion, Hezhou City was hit by a heavy rainstorm in early summer, which lasted for five consecutive days. The newly built sewers and warehouses should have been the most solid, but unexpectedly, the dilapidated temples in Hezhou City survived, while this new project that was said to have cost a lot of money collapsed directly!
When the rain stopped, everyone looked over and saw that the bricks and stones were scattered everywhere. An expert picked them up and examined them, and to his astonishment, he discovered that the bricks and stones were actually hollow!
Good news seldom spreads far, but bad news travels quickly and widely. Before long, the people of Hezhou grew more and more resentful.
Duan Yelin was waiting for this. As soon as the project was damaged, he sent a telegram to the cabinet. The next day, an inspector rushed down by train. After an on-site inspection, he found that it was impossible to hide the damage, so he had to report it truthfully.
As for how much manpower and resources the Military Control Commissioner wasted in covering up the lie, it remains unclear. What is known, however, is that the cabinet was shocked and issued a letter of criticism, ordering the Military Control Commissioner to bear the losses himself and assigning Duan Yelin full responsibility for handling the matter.
After more than a month, things finally developed in the direction Duan Yelin expected.
At the Military Control Commissioner’s headquarters, Yuan Sen angrily slammed the phone down: “Check everything! What’s going on?”
The subordinate, with sweat on his forehead, answered carefully, “We arrested a few workers and beat them up a few times without stopping. They all admitted that they were deliberately slacking off…”
Yuan Sen was livid: “Bullsh*t! It’s one thing if a single worker is lazy, but if all the workers are lazy, what then? Do they look down on me?”
“No, no, they said that Commander Duan gave them a lot of extra money, and… and you, the Military Control Commissioner, didn’t give them any, so they…”
“Duan, Ye, Lin!” Yuan Sen kicked over the chair fiercely to vent his anger. His facial muscles were ferocious, and his veins were throbbing, just like a man-eating lion’s.
The subordinates hurriedly advised, “Military Control Commissioner, calm down! Let’s discuss it slowly, we will definitely be able to turn things around!”
“Go! Go check! Laozi wants to know what Duan Yelin’s weakness is!”
“Yes! I’ll go right away!”
“Wait a minute!” Yuan Sen’s eyes gleamed with malice. “By the way, let’s head to the nearby hills and take care of something. Those bandits in the deep mountains and old forests have been quiet for too long. Since our commander of Hezhou City is so capable, he should go out and do something truly significant.”
The subordinates knew, “I understand.”
Yuan Sen opened the wine cabinet, took out a bottle of red wine, and gulped it down wastefully, but the anger in his heart did not subside at all.
Duan Yelin, he dared to let him lose most of his family wealth, so he will make him bleed a lot!
It would be best if he could sacrifice his life as well.
