Yet those willing to rein in their horses at the edge of the cliff were, after all, only a minority. Most corrupt officials chose to follow one road into the black, and some even wanted to turn their spears around and strike back.
Naturally, Franz had anticipated all of this, which was why the Austrian Empire Inspection Commission's enforcement units had always been equipped with military weapons.
No matter how formidable the mercenaries, they could not snatch anyone from the hands of the Austrian Empire Inspection Commission's enforcement units. Besides, during Christmas, most real civilians stayed home or celebrated in taverns.
There were not many people wandering the streets, so identifying them was not difficult.
Yet this purge produced some circumstances Franz had never anticipated. The largest United Power Department Store in all of Europe had actually reported a loss in Vienna the previous week.
Franz did not even need to think to know there was a major problem. This was not an era of low margins and high volume; the gross profit margins on United Power Department Store goods routinely exceeded 100%.
If they could lose money even like this, Franz might as well go farm the land.
The investigation results were somewhat surprising. Several senior executives truly knew nothing at all, while the finance and accounting departments had not tampered with the books either.
The executives were all mediocrities, and the finance and accounting staff were all aristocrats by birth. They were very satisfied with their current incomes, and their fear of Franz kept them from daring to pull any tricks.
The suppliers were Franz's people as well, and no problems were found there either.
But after comparing the records, the real culprits were quickly identified: several warehouse administrators and sales clerks. Their method was simple—add a zero