Of course, Qing Chen could understand. After all, with Marquis Bolton's looks and his silver tongue, he was more than capable of wooing the Fifth Princess.
After the 12 barons were arrested, the entire outpost fell completely silent. In the past, there were white people holding pool parties by the airport runway, but now the pool was empty and there was no one there.
Inside the office building, an entire floor had been set aside as interrogation rooms. Qing Chen did not participate in the interrogation of the barons, but instead had the frontline team present the evidence to them and prepared a draft for Marquis Bolton.
Faced with irrefutable evidence, all 10 barons confessed. Since they were titled men, they would not be executed, and would most likely not even go to prison.
In just 20 minutes, the barons' confessions were enough to nail those officers to the spot.
After nailing the officers to their deaths, Marquis Bolton, under Qingchen's arrangement, took their confessions to the officers and turned the tables on the barons.
The amount involved in the case has also increased from 4 billion to 17.1 billion, which is a terrifying number.
The captain of the frontline squad, who had been overhearing this, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, it was a good thing that the amount exceeded expectations. If the new head steward could accurately tell the amount involved just by glancing at the accounts, wouldn't that head steward be more terrifying than these corrupt officers and barons?
Moreover, two barons were mistakenly arrested. Qing Chen checked the accounts several times before apologizing to Marquis Bolton, saying that he had made a mistake.
For Bolton, this small mistake did not overshadow Qingchen's strengths; on the contrary, it made him feel more at ease.
Only mortals make mistakes, and only mortals can serve as subordinates.
If he were to recruit a powerful figure to his ranks, his wife probably wouldn't feel comfortable with it.
The surprise interrogation lasted until 4 a.m., and even the Marquis of Bolton was exhausted.
Qing Chen was initially worried that the marquis would not cooperate, but in reality, the marquis had already entered the role of a "famous detective" and was even addicted to role-playing.
Watching those corrupt officers and barons confess one by one during his interrogation, the Marquis of Bolton was so excited he couldn't sleep!
He knew that the materials and evidence were all compiled with the help of the "head steward," and the interrogation process was also set up by the "head steward," but it was still very exciting.
At four in the morning, the Marquis came out of the interrogation room excitedly and said, "Finally, the interrogation is over. I have to go tell my wife. They're all dead. The final amount involved is 19.2 billion. These people have been making a fortune off the war for 17 years, and they even implicated a Marquis! The Marquis might be demoted to Baron, and those 10 Barons are definitely going to die! I can be promoted to Marquis Rank 3!"
Qingchen said, "Marquis, go and call the Fifth Princess... By the way, those officers, according to our previous plan, need to be killed."
The Marquis said, "Kill them, kill them all."
After the Marquis left.
Qingchen walked to the door of the temporary interrogation room and looked through the window at the Corgi officer inside.
He smiled and looked at the frontline squad: "Kill them all."
The corgi officer inside was stunned: "Don't kill me! I've told you everything I need to say. Don't listen to this guy's nonsense. He's just a toilet cleaner!"
However, the fire squad didn't give him a chance. They went in and, without using any guns, snapped the other man's neck, saving them the trouble of cleaning the room.
As Qing Chen watched the officers being executed one by one, he said to the frontline squad, "Thank you for your trouble. After the operation, everyone who knows who got the credit will be dead. You can rest easy on your honor rolls; no one will expose you."
Qing Chen doesn't care much about merit anymore. Yi's body can be bought in the name of Marquis Bolton, and he can be Marquis Bolton's shadow strategist with peace of mind, the kind who can get access to the most secrets.
“The Fifth Princess knows,” the captain replied.
Qing Chen smiled and shook his head: "She wants to add some credit for the Marquis, so naturally she won't mention me, a free citizen. At most, I'll be credited as a subordinate. Don't worry, she won't tell anyone."
At this point, those who knew about the case are either dead, or the remaining people, even if alive, will keep the secret, otherwise they will be severely punished for falsely claiming credit.
The outpost base also fell into Qing Chen's hands.
His plan only came to a complete end here.
The captain then looked at Qing Chen and extended his hand: "Let's get to know each other again. I'm Whiskey from the Fireline Squad."
Qing Chen shook hands with him and looked at the others curiously, "So the rest of you are... Gin? Gin berries?"
The captain shook his head: "This is Whiskey Number 2, that's Whiskey Number 3... These are code names given by the Fifth Princess. She has quite a few people like us under her command."
Qing Chen asked in confusion, "What is the Fifth Princess in charge of? People say she is a wealthy and idle person, but how can a wealthy and idle person have so many experts under her and be responsible for handling government affairs? So, this doesn't match the rumors."
Whiskey smiled and said, "You'll find out later. I think you'll have a chance to meet Her Highness the Princess. She's a very capable person. She had planned to visit Marquis Bolton at the outpost, but something came up and she went to Blackwater City instead."
Qing Chen thought to himself, "A member of the royal family, Blackwater City... Could this Fifth Princess be the Fate Master that Zhong Yu once fought?"
Could this fortune teller foresee his own fate?
Whiskey said to Qingchen, "I'm going to arrange for people to guard the barons and also to suppress their slave army. I'm off."
At this moment, Marquis Bolton strode back: "It's terrible! Another group of nobles has just finished resting and is about to arrive here from Blackwater. We've killed all the officers here, so who's going to do the work? There won't be anyone to coordinate with them."
Qing Chen said, "Your Excellency Marquis, you can command personally."
Marquis Bolton was dumbfounded: "I can't handle these things, I still have to go play in the Superconducting World."
Qing Chen thought for a moment: "Tonight we killed so many people and solved such a big case. It's the perfect time for the Marquis to change his public image. You should personally take charge of the internal affairs of the outpost."
"I can't fix it!" Marquis Bolton exclaimed in frustration.
Qing Chen finally spoke up, "How about this: you play Superconducting World in your office, and I'll use the voice changer on my phone to issue commands in your voice. That way, from the outside, it will still look like you, the Marquis, are managing internal affairs. Is that alright?"
"Great, absolutely great!" Marquis Bolton couldn't wait to hand over the mess to Qingchen: "Come on, let's get the voice changer working. You still have a lot to deal with."
At this moment, the only person Marquis Bolton could rely on was Qing Chen, and he trusted only Qing Chen.
Half an hour later, Qing Chen sat in his office looking at the coordination letters and the list of soldiers. He picked up the intercom and said, "James, go to the landing pad of the No. 27 airship and guide the Cod from Blackwater City to land. Their coordination letter lists 517 slave soldiers. I need you to turn on the work recorder to check the number of soldiers. I will check if they are receiving salaries without working."
"William, go to helipad 89 and guide the Victory from Blackwater City to land. Remember to drive the fuel truck there; they've applied for refueling. Make sure to record the fuel reserves when you leave and return to the depot. I need to know how much you've used."
"Francisco, take the work recorder and re-inventory the inventory. I need to know how much stuff is left in the supply depot."
"From now on, all airships stopping at Outpost No. 9 must respond within half an hour!"
As these instructions were relayed, the soldiers at the outpost sprang into action without the slightest disorder.
In fact, these instructions are all very common and nothing special.
The only unusual thing is that these decisions used to be handled by more than twenty officers, but now they are made by the 'Marquis of Bolton' alone, and the efficiency is much higher than before.
The Marquis of Bolton seemed to have suddenly come to his senses and turned over a new leaf, transforming himself into a capable administrator.
Chapter 847, The Giants Attack!
The outpost, which used to be bustling, has become peaceful and quiet.
No one swims on the airport runway anymore.
The female slaves that the minor nobles secretly brought along no longer dared to openly bring off the airship.
Now all of that is gone, because no one dares to provoke the Marquis of Bolton.
At this moment, the nobles of Blackwater City finally arrived.
The minor nobles of Blackwater City had long heard that the place was rather chaotic, and they even brought expensive watches as gifts when they arrived.
Some of the young nobles who were visiting for the first time were repeatedly warned by their seniors: once you arrive at Outpost No. 9, you won't get any ammunition without giving gifts, and you might not even get enough to eat.
When everyone arrived, they discovered that this place was completely different from what they had heard.
You can't even give a gift. You flick your wrist and the watch lands on the wrist of a soldier at the outpost, and he flicks his wrist and it lands back on you, saying, "No, no, no."
It's not just about refusing gifts.
Earlier, the veterans also mentioned that the canteen at Outpost No. 9 was particularly bad, with no oil or fat at all.
Roosevelt's Kingdom stipulated that during wartime, a nobleman's daily food allowance was $900, a citizen's was $220, a free man's was $90, and a slave's was $45.
However, the former Outpost No. 9 never followed this standard; you couldn't see any meat at all, so bring your own supplies when you come.
Now that everyone has arrived, they've discovered that the food in the canteen here is incredibly luxurious, better than any of the outposts they've ever visited. There's no one cheating at all.
The minor nobles of Blackwater City were somewhat confused. Could it be that what their senior had said... was all a lie?
That's not all. Before they arrived, the minor nobles of Blackwater City had heard that Outpost 9 was very inefficient.
But they had only been on the ground for half an hour when the people responsible for transporting supplies out of the warehouse arrived, the people responsible for military equipment and ammunition arrived, and the people responsible for refueling arrived.
Soon, medical personnel from the outpost arrived, recorded the blood types of all soldiers of the rank of Free Citizen and above, and replenished the blood bank with blood donated in advance.
Under the remote control of the Marquis's office, the entire Outpost No. 9 was transformed back into a sophisticated machine, ready for war at any moment.
The nobles looked at the metal storm on the city wall, which had just been maintained by the mechanics, and the drones in the sky, which were surprisingly orderly, and felt a sense of security.
Outpost No. 9 has been revitalized.
The marquis's office, which had previously been completely unnoticed, suddenly became mysterious and had an incredibly strong presence.
Soon, at 8 a.m., news spread that 10 barons were involved in a shocking corruption case, including the execution of 27 officers at the outpost.
The minor nobles of Blackwater City finally learned what had happened.
The Marquess of Bolton is no longer the "Foolish Marquess".
Under the fifth princess's new round of public opinion campaign, the Marquis of Bolton changed his image and became a ruthless person who "had long planned to deal with the corruption here, so he pretended to be stupid and went undercover for three years".
This case was finally solved thanks to the Marquis of Bolton's wisdom and courage, who finally found all the evidence.
The nobles with connections in the central capital all heard that the case was closed at 4 a.m., the person was executed at 4:10 a.m., and the capital's envoys set off at 6 a.m.
The envoy came with King Roosevelt's commendation edict and secret order to award the Marquess of Bolton a medal, and also to take all ten barons with him.
It is said that the envoy's airship also carried a reporter who was going to conduct an exclusive interview with the Marquis of Bolton.
Over the years, the kingdom has become increasingly corrupt and decadent. Roosevelt XVIII was determined to create an anti-corruption hero and to reform a group of nobles and officials before embarking on an expedition to the Eastern Continent.
Lord Bolton has won big this round.
The news report focused on Marquis Bolton, followed by the team's coordinated efforts, but Qing Chen was nowhere to be seen throughout.
He seemed to have truly become the Marquess of Bolton's shadow advisor, the kind who would never see the light of day.
...
...
When Marquis Bolton emerged from the Superconducting World, Qing Chen was sitting at his desk with his eyes closed, resting.
Bolton said somewhat embarrassedly, "My wife said that you might have to be put in a difficult position this time. If they want to highlight me, you can't be included. Otherwise, there's no way to explain why someone who just arrived at the outpost would appear on the list of merits. My wife has a sensitive position; she has political enemies who will try to dig deeper into this matter."
Qing Chen looked somewhat dejected, but after a few minutes of adjustment, he smiled and replied, "It's alright. As long as your status rises, will I lack merit?"
“That’s for sure,” Bolton chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably be exiled here for the rest of my life. Once this war is over, I can return to the central capital and reunite with my wife. I’ll take you with me then, and you can be my head steward. I promise you, before we return to the central capital, I’ll make you a baron. My wife promised me that too… By the way, she’ll be here in a few days, and I’ll recommend you to her then.”
This made Qing Chen somewhat worried, because he had never dealt with a fortune teller before, and he was unsure what the fortune teller could see in him.
This is crucial.