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Vézé's troops were forced to undergo cultural training, and one of the results of the cultural training was signing autographs. Vézé seemed to have a strange fascination with autographs. All kinds of applications and supplies required autographs. Even Wei Changrong, who supported Vézé unconditionally, thought that Vézé was too distrustful of his men. However, when investigating the missing map incident, Wei Changrong suddenly realized that the layers of signatures that seemed to distrust his men were actually useful when dealing with untrustworthy people.
According to the rules and regulations, the number of users of the missing map was 15. Of these 15 people, 10 were in contact with the Nian Army, and only three were in contact with Wen Yuewei. After checking the duty and working time records, the cavalry staff officer Li Guangfei quickly became a key suspect.
Obviously, Li Guangfei didn't think he made a big mistake with the map incident, and he didn't expect it to be discovered so suddenly. Wei Changrong led the military court and called Li Guangfei in for a short interrogation, and Li Guangfei confessed. He had his eyes on the female leader of the Nian Army, Wen Yuewei. In order to have more contact with Wen Yuewei, Li Guangfei not only bragged to Wen Yuewei that he knew the Taiping Army's future strategy, but he also privately told Wen Yuewei about the upcoming battle, and taught Wen Yuewei how to participate in the pursuit to maximize the spoils of war. When Wen Yuewei acted coquettishly and asked Li Guangfei for the map, the obsessed Li Guangfei immediately gave the map to Wen Yuewei.
Wei Changrong listened to Li Guangfei's explanation, dumbfounded. Although he knew he didn't arrest the wrong person, Wei Changrong couldn't imagine why Li Guangfei would do such a thing. Wei Changrong seized the opportunity to ask Li Guangfei politely, "Do you know that the Nian Army went north after they left us?"
Li Guangfei replied in a slightly depressed manner, "I know!"
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Li Guangfei raised his head again and said in a firm tone, "Miss Wen said that as long as they go north to fight a few more battles, they won't be able to explain it to their brothers. When they're done with the battle, they'll rush back and return the map to me! "
"I …" Faced with Li Guangfei's attitude, Wei Changrong first stared at Li Guangfei, trying to find signs of lying from his face. However, after watching for a while, Wei Changrong could roughly confirm that Li Guangfei really believed Wen Yuewei's words. At the very least, Li Guangfei believed that Wen Yuewei would make a special trip back to exchange for the map. Wei Changrong held his forehead, speechless.
He had seen stupid people before, but he had never seen someone this stupid. Wei Changrong really wanted to ask Li Guangfei why he didn't take a piss and use it as a mirror. Li Guangfei was a small cavalry staff officer, and he was at least four ranks lower than the chief of staff of the cavalry. Why would Wen Yuewei, who was the second in the Nian Army, look at Li Guangfei so highly?
Fortunately, Li Guangfei didn't say something stupid like Wen Yuewei was "sincere" to Li Guangfei, so Wei Changrong could barely suppress his anger and didn't rush up and slap Li Guangfei. Even so, after the initial shock, Wei Changrong clenched his fists and took deep breaths to stop himself from pouncing on Li Guangfei.
At this point, the investigation had more or less reached a conclusion. The General Staff Headquarters held a special meeting to discuss the leak of information. Vézé frowned and looked at the generals. He could understand why some people would do something like this because they were seduced by women. As a person of the 21st century, he had seen too much of the bottom line of human stupidity. But when it really happened in the army he created, Vézé was still very angry.
Wei Changrong was the first to speak, "I don't know how you treat those traitors at home, but at least in my hometown, these people are killed without mercy!"
These murderous words caused all the generals to shiver. When Wei Changrong finished, the staff officer Ruan Xihao immediately added, "That's right, if anyone from our Guest village dares to go along with the Tu family, they must be killed!"
Everyone knew Ruan Xihao's background. In Wujia Town, where the conflict between the Guest villagers was the most intense, both sides had accumulated a blood feud that couldn't be resolved.
But the generals' reactions didn't seem to be one-sided. Lei Hu asked a question, "Why can't we give the map to the Nian Army?"
Lei Hu said, "Everyone, Li Guangfei really didn't do a good job. He shouldn't have disobeyed the rules. But we had a good relationship with the Nian Army. I remember when we were managing the land, we allowed a portion of the Nian Army to participate in the map. I think the Chief of Staff even took the lead in sharing the map with the Nian Army … "
"What are you trying to say?" Wei Changrong interrupted Lei Hu's explanation.
"I'm trying to say that what Li Guangfei did wasn't a big deal," Lei Hu replied.
There were people who supported Wei Changrong, but there were also many people who supported Lei Hu. Everyone knew the reason why Lei Hu said this was because Li Guangfei was Lei Hu's favorite subordinate and had a bright future in cavalry warfare. He was transferred to the General Staff Headquarters because of his excellent performance. If he performed well in the General Staff Headquarters, then after the next evaluation and personnel transfer, Li Guangfei would probably be promoted to a cavalry unit's commander. Although Li Guangfei did make a mistake, Lei Hu didn't want to kill a subordinate like him.
Lei Hu felt sorry for his subordinate. The other generals who didn't support the harsh punishment didn't think it was necessary to make things so cruel.
This was the first time since the establishment of Vézé's army that something related to the outside world had happened. Moreover, the target was an ally, the Nian Army. Even now that the Nian Army had separated from the Taiping army, the General Staff Headquarters still didn't see the Nian Army as an enemy. When Vézé's army returned to the south of the Huaihe River, the north of the Huaihe River would be handed over to the Nian Army. With such a local force holding back the Qing Army's military power, it was far more effective than Vézé constantly sending troops to the unfamiliar Huaibei region to fight. From this perspective, Li Guangfei's actions weren't particularly remarkable.
The former Minister of Logistics, Lin Asheng's position was quite representative. "Just punish Li Guangfei. Of course, we can't steal our own things and give them to others. But we still have to deal with the Nian Army in the future. If they find out that we killed Li Guangfei, what will the Nian Army think of us? "
"What will the Nian Army think of us?" Wei Changrong glared at him. "The Nian Army did this to us. Do we still need to care about what the Nian Army thinks of us? Don't tell me that the Nian Army has never thought about what we will think of the Nian Army after what they did to us? "
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Lei Hu hurriedly said, "Calm down, calm down! It's better to let Li Guangfei go to the Nian Army and get the map back. What do you guys think? "
"Haha!" Wei Changrong simply laughed coldly. "Lei Junshuai, aren't you being too protective of your own people? Oh, if Li Guangfei knows that he was wrong and doesn't dare to come back. Then he can run away. If he dares to come back, it means that he is still willing to follow us. Then we can put this matter aside. What if Li Guangfei came back because Wen Yuewei has already erased the old map, so she sent him back to steal the new one? Or maybe she wants Li Guangfei to fight his way into our Taiping army and act as a spy for her? "
Lei Hu's expression changed. He said in a low voice, "Wei Junshuai, are you sure you want to kill Li Guangfei?"
Wei Changrong replied, "I don't want to kill Li Guangfei alone. I want to kill all traitors!"
In this era, traitors were treated the same. That was, to be dragged out and killed. Even if there was a justifiable reason that could be accepted by the entire era, traitors would be expelled immediately. Therefore, regarding Li Guangfei's theft of the map, Lei Hu and the others tried their best to define Li Guangfei's behavior as "being seduced by a woman" and "being too kind to his allies". Wei Changrong and Ruan Xihao, on the other hand, defined Li Guangfei as a "traitor".
Vézé had been watching everyone arguing, but he didn't say a word. This was because after the founding of the new China, with the popularization of the law, the social attitude of "taking facts as the basis and the law as the criterion" was gradually established. No matter what the criminal suspect's psychology was, the only way to determine whether he or she was guilty was still to see what he or she had done.
In the past, Vézé only had a very intuitive feeling about this. Many wrongful cases in reality, as well as many bizarre cases in movies and TV dramas, made Vézé gradually accept the concept of the modern judicial system. But when it came to internal affairs, Vézé found that although there were two distinct factions in his system, neither faction could satisfy Vézé.
If he had to describe it, both sides were trying to kill each other. Wei Changrong insisted on killing Li Guangfei because "traitors cannot be forgiven". Others' view was that "Li Guangfei may not be a traitor". As for what Li Guangfei's crime of stealing the map was, no one argued about it.
Vézé could only wait for everyone to continue arguing, hoping that someone would understand. But after a while, everyone was arguing more and more fiercely. Vézé could only pat the table, indicating that he was going to speak.
"Chief of Staff, if we kill Li Guangfei because of this, it's too heavy a punishment!" Lei Hu immediately tried to persuade Vézé.
Vézé said helplessly, "Let's not talk about how to deal with Li Guangfei first. Let's talk about something else first. There are witnesses, material evidence, and confessions. Don't you think that someone is framing Li Guangfei? "
Hearing this question, everyone looked at each other, and no one dared to say anything for a while. Wei Changrong submitted all kinds of evidence, including Li Guangfei's confession, which was very complete. So it seemed that there was no need to discuss it.
"Since you don't think there's a problem, let's talk about the Military Law Bureau first. According to the military law, after such a thing happens, the criminal should be put in prison! "Vézé said.
"Put in prison?" Lei Hu asked.
"Yes, put in prison! How can we let such a criminal move around freely? "Vézé asked.
"Then …" Lei Hu wanted to protect Li Guangfei the most. When he heard the word "put in prison", he was particularly conflicted. He had been trying to convince everyone that Li Guangfei had made a mistake, not a crime. But if he was put in prison, it would be a problem. Li Guangfei had committed a crime!
But Vézé's statement was so straightforward that Lei Hu couldn't object. Although Lei Hu wanted to protect Li Guangfei, he didn't have the guts to go further. Seeing that Vézé kept staring at him, Lei Hu finally nodded. "Then put him in prison!"
"Very good!" Vézé said after seeing Lei Hu's attitude, "Everyone, the Military Law Bureau is in charge of military affairs, and the Military Law Bureau is in charge of military crimes. In the future, if someone violates the military law, he will be put in prison first! Does anyone have any objections? "
Wei Changrong, Ruan Xihao, and the others firmly supported Vézé's view, and Lei Hu just said that he agreed to put Li Guangfei in prison. The rest of them couldn't find any reason to object, so they finally reached a consensus and agreed that the Military Law Bureau had the power to put a criminal in prison.
"Everyone! I said that we should take notes in future meetings. If someone can't remember something, it'll be bad. This time, let's record the Military Law Bureau first! "Vézé put forward his opinion.
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