Six charcoal braziers burned in Cold Pine Pass's council hall, yet frost still clung to the doors and windows.
Before dawn, Qian Renxue had already ordered three sets of records brought in: Cold Pine Pass's new military accounts, the tax registers from the eastern trade route, and the transport ledger left by an old Heaven Dou relay station. She had once overseen grain shipments to the northern frontier as Xue Qinghe. She knew where the hardest parts of the old accounts to alter were hidden.
Every shipment that bypassed the main storehouse had to be weighed at the relay station below the mountain. The quantities recorded inside the pass could be changed, but the station's weight taxes determined how much the drivers and merchants received. Few were willing to erase entries for an officer without getting anything in return.
The two former relay guards Hu Liena had brought back also recognized the heavy wagon with the broken rim.
"Three nights ago, it carried twelve long wooden crates. The cargo was declared as old armor, but the crates were heavy when they hit the ground. We could hear crossbow limbs knocking together inside."
Xie Yue pushed a freight receipt to the center of the table. The recipient field read "Luo Residence Winter Supplies," followed by only half of a private seal.
Luo Jun, Cold Pine Pass's deputy commander, sat on the right side of the council table. He was in his forties, broad through the shoulders and back. Hearing his own surname did not make him rise; he merely frowned at the two former guards.
"You think a torn receipt is enough to convict a deputy commander? Hundreds of families on the northern line bear the name Luo."
"That's why I asked you to hear the rest," Qian Renxue said.
She