Munitions Empire

In order to prevent his team of officials from quickly becoming corrupt and degenerate, Tang Mo racked his brains. The special agency was only part of it, with a series of methods including self-audit, self-investigation, self-correction, and self-purification making the officials of the Great Tang Empire much harder to deal with than those of other countries.

Nevertheless, the corruption and degeneration of officials remain inevitable. This is the dark side of human nature, more blinding than sunlight.

This time, Liu San's investigation was just about drunk driving, and fortunately, Zhang Shi, the one investigated, had no other crimes, so it seemed there was no issue.

Just a few days ago, a similar incident had occurred in Linshui: an investigator from the Ministry of Internal Affairs was ordered to investigate a corruption case of a certain official.

The plan was to take the official for assistance with the investigation, but just as several cars from the Ministry of Internal Affairs parked in the yard, the investigated official leaped from the upper floor, falling to his death in front of the investigators' cars.

This incident spiraled out of control: as per regulations, it was immediately reported to the Emperor of the Great Tang Empire, who was furious, directly ordering a thorough investigation by the relevant departments.

As a result, many things could no longer be concealed, and the situation became increasingly unmanageable. The list of people involved was revealed, with surprisingly over a hundred individuals implicated in bribery and corruption.

Initially, the Great Tang Empire launched an anti-corruption storm internally, with related officials successively falling from grace, some sentenced, and others executed.

This escalated to the point where even an old minister, who had followed Tang Mo since the Brunas Era, was reprimanded face-to-face by His Majesty The Emperor.

Subsequently, several influential local businessmen in Linshui were arrested. At first, everyone thought it wasn't a big deal, just a few scapegoats, perhaps paying a fine to settle it.

However, they quickly realized that the situation was not so simple. Despite their efforts, the key figures from these wealthy families could not be saved from captivity.

Then the execution department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs moved to clean up these influential families, implicating everyone from old to young, sparing no one.

The ruthlessness of the Great Tang Empire in this regard once again exceeded people's expectations, and it was only then that everyone recalled that the Great Tang Empire maintained a zero-tolerance stance on collusion between officials and businessmen, as well as corruption.

Several businessmen who fled abroad barely had time to rejoice at their cleverness before the iron-blood revenge of the Great Tang Empire pursued them relentlessly.

Within half a month, a businessman who had fled to Suthers was mysteriously beaten to death on the street right in front of his own home.

A member of the Elf Nobility who returned home to escape this fate even petitioned Yangmu Yi for help, but to no avail: he was poisoned in his home, and while Yangmu Yi was sending an appeal telegram to the Great Tang Empire, news of the poisoning reached him, infuriating him so much that he almost smashed the telegraph machine.

When the last businessman who had corrupted officials of the Great Tang Empire was found hanging dead from a beam in his own house, the matter finally came to a close.

During those days, people were truly anxious, fearing they would be inexplicably killed by field agents of the Great Tang Empire's intelligence department in some inexplicable place.

After Liu San sent the report concerning Zhang Shi back to his superior department's archive, he returned to his office. As an investigator, he was always busy and mostly unwelcome.

However, those familiar with them knew very well that this group targeted actions, not individuals. Their job was to ensure that officials did not abuse their power, oppress the people, or cause harm to civilians.

As nervous as the officials were around them, the civilians felt equally reassured at their sight. Observing a nation improving day by day, Liu San felt his work was meaningful.

Due to the short timeframe, this generation's names reflected much of their era. At that time, those who named them were not very educated, so their names appeared odd.

Many were named after numbers, and some had their names changed by teachers at school, making them relatively more pleasant.

Yet, some adamantly believed that names given by parents and elders should not be changed lightly, thus keeping them until today.

So, among the middle-level officials of the Great Tang Empire, the names of middle-aged people were generally not quite pleasant. The names of young people were somewhat better, with most having been changed in school.

For example, Liu San's partner Zhao Hai sounds decent... but Zhao Hai was born and raised in Four Waters City and attended college in Tongcheng, so when had he ever seen the sea? Hence, the sea in his name was likely given by a school teacher.

"What's for dinner tonight?" Liu San tugged at his collar and asked Zhao Hai, who was organizing files and archiving today's work, having never seen the sea.

"Tonight? Boss, I have something to do tonight." The young man shyly scratched his head, his face full of stories.

"Oh ho! Is there a 'situation'?" Having finished Zhang Shi's investigation, Liu San was in a good mood, grinning as he looked at his apprentice, "Tell me, are you off to Wang Chang'an or Four Seasons Aroma?"

Both those restaurants were relatively fancy places in Four Waters City, not cheap for a meal, so usually, people were reluctant to go.

However, if taking a girl to strengthen their relationship, that's another story. After all, as civil servants in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they enjoyed housing benefits provided by the Great Tang Empire, and spending half a month's salary to indulge once wasn't a hard pill to swallow.

"The way you're talking, if I went to Wang Chang'an, wouldn't you have to investigate me?" Zhao Hai giggled foolishly, unable to hide his happiness.

"Is it the girl from last time?" Liu San's gossiping heart burned brightly.

"Yes, she finally agreed to come out with me for a walk, so I'm not having dinner with you," Zhao Hai awkwardly delivered a blow to 38-year-old bachelor Liu San.

It hurt, it really hurt! Liu San feigned a look of heartbreak, pointing a finger at Zhao Hai, "I never expected you, with your bold eyebrows and bright eyes, to betray me too! Sigh..."

Liu Hai didn't respond, as nearly everyone in the department knew that Liu San actually had someone in his heart—a nurse from Four Waters Hospital.

Two years ago, she was unexpectedly killed in action while training in Fengjiang with battlefield medicine, when Liu San and she were planning to marry that year. Since then, Liu San hadn't sought another partner, remaining single to this day.

Although he never brought it up again and often pretended to be indifferent, everyone knew he hadn't moved on.

The office fell silent for a long time... Then, a barely audible intake of breath came from Liu San.