The way I understood that passage, soldiers were expecting to lose around 30% of their flour in the deal, but some bakers figured out they could take a larger c

The way I understood that passage, soldiers were expecting to lose around 30% of their flour in the deal, but some bakers figured out they could take a larger cut by adding more water. That doesn't necessarily mean the practice of taking a cut is forbidden, only that some bakers gave a worse deal than others.