Chapter 12: Deserter? Traitor?
Hearing that it was Situ Xin who was speaking, Yin Chuan gestured to Du Yunzhang and Linlang to calm them down, and then opened the barracks door.
"Commander Situ, what happened?" Yin Chuan saw that Situ Xin looked unhappy and couldn't help but ask first.
"I'm really sorry for what happened just now. Something unexpected happened in the military camp and I had to deal with it myself. I'm sorry for treating you so badly." Situ Xin still maintained that polite tone.
"It's okay. If you have something urgent to do, just go ahead and do your thing. Would you mind telling me what happened?"
"This..." Situ Xin seemed a little hesitant. After a little thought, he continued, "It's a bit embarrassing to say it, but there are deserters in the barracks."
"Deserter?" Yin Chuan was stunned.
"Here's what happened. Our regiment has been camped here for almost a month. The barracks, supplies, and food and clothing are all managed by the logistics platoon, which is affiliated with the Third Battalion and is under the jurisdiction of Wu Ziqing. But last night, while guarding military supplies, the logistics platoon was attacked by bandits and suffered heavy losses. And just now, a soldier in the logistics platoon disappeared. After preliminary investigation, his squad leader said that someone saw him escape from the barracks. After the report was passed to me, I thought it was unusual, so I rushed to resolve the matter."
Yin Chuan nodded. "Do you suspect this deserter is involved in the bandits' raid? Perhaps he's a spy lurking in the camp?"
Situ Xin gave a thumbs-up. "Mr. Yin is amazing, you hit the nail on the head! It's understood that this man was recruited during our regiment's temporary recruitment drive from the provincial capital, and he even volunteered to be assigned to the logistics platoon. And as luck would have it, he immediately fled after the bandits robbed the camp. How could this not arouse suspicion?"
"How did you handle this matter, Deputy Commander?"
"Since this is from the Third Battalion, the people in charge of him are naturally implicated. I had the logistics platoon leader, Lu Jiyu, arrested. The Third Battalion Commander, Wu Ziqing, who just came out of your place, has also been detained and temporarily suspended."
Yin Chuan thought to himself, wow, I just analyzed that the undercurrent in the military camp might surge at any time, but I didn’t expect it to be realized so quickly.
"Deputy Captain, you are really swift and decisive. You handle such matters with decisiveness and without hesitation." Yin Chuan praised.
"Ah, Mr. Yin, you're joking. In fact, if Wu Ziqing didn't have some connections in our Beiyang military, I could have directly dismissed him as battalion commander."
"But I'm worried, aren't you afraid that other battalion-level officers will have doubts about your decision?"
Situ Xin frowned at first, then pretended to be relaxed and replied: "Mr. Yin, don't worry. Although I am currently only a deputy commander of this regiment, I am still very confident in my prestige in the army. However... if we want to maintain morale, it still depends on your ability to quickly uncover the truth behind the murder of Captain Shen."
"Don't worry about that. We'll do our best to get to the bottom of this case. Next... could you please bring Lu Jiyu, the man you ordered arrested, here? I have something to ask him."
Situ Xin didn't expect Yin Chuan to question Lu Jiyu. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Lu Jiyu? Are you sure? Didn't you just ask me to call you Duan Da Ge?"
"I've changed my mind. Please bring this logistics platoon leader, Lu Jiyu, here first."
Situ Xin pondered for a moment, then said, "Okay, I'll be there later."
When Yin Chuan returned to the barracks, Du Yunzhang asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Why did you change your mind again? Didn't you just want to find Duan Da Ge?"
Yin Chuan narrowed his eyes mysteriously. "I suddenly have a feeling that the scene where Chen Hui was beheaded might be related to the structure of the barracks. So, this logistics platoon leader Lu Jiyu might know something. I'm afraid Situ Xin will have him court-martialed in a moment. If we want to ask anything else, it will be useless to a dead man."
Linlang showed a surprised expression. "So, you already have some ideas? About the method of this locked room murder case?"
"It's just a vague idea, not yet fully formed, so I need to ask Platoon Leader Lu for clarification."
Du Yunzhang then asked, "Do you think that deserter is really an insider who infiltrated the military camp through bandits? Could he be related to Shen Hui's death?"
"From what Situ Xin said, it's most likely true. But as for its connection to the locked room murder case... it's hard to say at the moment. Military affairs are so complex these days, with seemingly unrelated incidents potentially leading to Shen Hui's murder."
Soon, two soldiers escorted an officer with his hands tied behind his back into the barracks. Situ Xin followed shortly after. He said to Yin Chuan, "Mr. Yin, I've brought Lu Jiyu to you. Ask him any questions you have." Then, turning away, he said, "Lu Jiyu, cooperate with Mr. Yin and answer his questions. If this helps solve the case, perhaps you'll receive a lighter sentence."
Lu Jiyu nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, I will tell you everything I know."
After that, Situ Xin led the two soldiers out of the barracks. Yin Chuan waited for them to leave and pointed to the stool in front of him, "Platoon Leader Lu, sit down."
Lu Jiyu, who was still tied up, grinned, "How can a criminal have a seat?"
Yin Chuan smiled and said, "I heard from the deputy commander that you didn't commit any serious crime. It's just that you didn't recognize the bandit's accomplice and didn't discipline the troops strictly."
"But because of me, the regiment suffered a great loss. Looking at the deputy commander's furious expression, even if he killed me, it wouldn't suffice. And our Battalion Commander Wu was also implicated by me..."
"But...looking at him, compared to the death of Captain Shen, the fact that the deserter from the Third Battalion was the traitor seemed to have made him even more angry."
His words made Lu Jiyu at a loss as to how to respond, and he was speechless and could not say anything.
"Okay, enough about that. We called in Platoon Leader Lu just to ask if your platoon is responsible for arranging the deployment of the entire regiment?"
Although Lu Jiyu didn't understand why Yin Chuan asked this, he still answered honestly: "For the regiment's garrison and building barracks, it is a skill that every soldier must master. Each barracks is built by everyone working together. Our logistics platoon is only responsible for arranging the layout of the garrison barracks and distributing barracks materials."
"What about the barracks for the senior officers? Could it be that the officers themselves built them? Or perhaps their personal guards built them?"
"For the commanders at the regimental and battalion level, our platoon will have to build the barracks." Lu Jiyu looked around the area. "This barracks was built by the brothers in our platoon. The layout is basically the same as the barracks of Commander Shen next door. Some are for the commanders to sleep in, and some, like this one, are used for the commanders to hold meetings."
"How many barracks like this have you built?" Linlang asked.
"Well... Captain Shen has one room, Deputy Captain Situ has one room, this is the meeting room, and there's one for Staff Officer Han and each of the three battalion commanders."
"Staff Officer Han? He has another one?" Yin Chuan was a little surprised.
"Don't underestimate Staff Officer Han. His position in our regiment is second only to the deputy commander. Generally speaking, staff officers in the military only provide military advice to the commander, but sometimes they also have considerable power, such as our regimental-level staff officer Han Chi."
"From what you said, does this Chief of Staff Han have some more powerful background?" Linlang asked.
"That... I'm not sure."
Yin Chuan seemed to sense a sense of helplessness in Lu Jiyu's tone. It seemed that even though Situ Xin had ordered him to tell him everything, he still had reservations about what happened to Chief of Staff Han.
"Well, let's not talk about Staff Officer Han anymore and continue with what we were talking about. Did your logistics platoon build these barracks specifically at the request of these officers? Or is this how you generally build them?"
"Commanders are always concerned with managing their troops and winning battles. Why would they worry about such trivial matters?" Lu Jiyu said this, then suddenly changed the subject. "However... this time when we set up camp near Chenjia Village, Staff Officer Han personally inquired about the construction of the barracks."
"Oh? Is that true?" Yin Chuan's eyes lit up. "Did he interfere with the construction of Captain Shen's barracks?"
Lu Jiyu shook his head. "No, he just conveyed Captain Shen's request, asking us to build the captain's barracks according to the specifications of ordinary military barracks, without thickening the walls."
"Thicken the tent walls?"
"Yes, because the weather is cold now, the commander's barracks usually have an extra layer of wooden boards, mainly for warmth."
"Then why did Captain Shen make such a request?"
"Then I don't know. We'll just do whatever the commander tells us to do."
Is this true? Yin Chuan thought, no wonder when he entered the Chenhui barracks earlier, he felt it was almost as cold as outside.
In a flash, Yin Chuan seemed to have a completely new understanding of the scene of Shen Hui's murder. Perhaps... would the murderer use such an incredible method?
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