A Rotten Situation

The thunderous "show of force" at the Governor's Office that night was like a red-hot boulder dropped into the seemingly calm but long-rotten stagnant pool of Hewenham Territory.

Yet Count Boles knew very well that a moment's intimidation was far from enough to wash away long-standing corruption.

Those deeply rooted local strongmen and parasitic officials would never meekly submit because of a single reprimand.

They were skilled at obeying in public while defying in private, deceiving superiors and concealing the truth from those below. They had countless ways to delay, distort, or even sabotage the investigation. After a brief silence, a more hidden counterattack was inevitable.

Therefore, Boles did not remain in the relatively comfortable and safe Governor's Office, waiting for the people below to deliver reports that were certain to have been embellished.

After preliminarily sorting through the most shocking files, and using them as a pretext to swiftly remove and detain several low-level Tax Collectors and Military Farm Officials with notorious records and overwhelming public resentment—striking the mountain to shake the tiger, and obtaining some truthful confessions in the process—he made a decision that left every accompanying official and local faction dumbstruck.

He would personally go to the front line and conduct on-site land surveys!

He no longer trusted any documents or maps submitted by the local authorities. He would personally lead the clerks and surveyors he had brought from the Royal Capital, who had already passed an initial test, along with a squad of elite personal guards, forming a lean roving investigation team.

They would leave the capital city and go deep into the countryside and wilds of Hewenham Territory, especially the worst-affected western and northern border regions, walking village by village, measuring field by field!

He wanted to see with his own eyes what shocking truths