The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 106 : A Windfall (2)

There is a village called Zhongmou a little away from Kaifeng. It is a small village whose only claim to fame is the record in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that Cao Cao, who had failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo, was caught here while fleeing. It has no particular specialty products, nor has any great person ever come from here.

Even in a place like this, there is a corner where money can be made. Zhongmou is a village directly connected to the waterway of the Yellow River. So it had the potential to become a center of distribution.

But the reason why it was only considered a possibility was because the public order here was not properly secured.

The most famous sect nearby was the Beggars' Sect, and other than that, there were no renowned sects or noble families.

So if one had to say, it could be said to be the sphere of influence of the Beggars' Sect. But originally, the Beggars' Sect had no influence on such businesses.

So, with only its potential, Zhongmou was just a quiet country village whose only advantage was that the water was clean for a place connected to the Yellow River.

"But what business do you have in this village?"

Yang Gwan asked, bewildered. This time, they were not in stealth clothes, but both were properly dressed. It was because after they had continuously robbed places here and there using the secret passages, the spies hired by the merchants had all disappeared cleanly, perhaps judging that it was meaningless.

Jang So-gil, flapping his silver marten overcoat, was facing the river wind. 'Hmm', after appreciating the waterway of the Yellow River for a long time, he replied leisurely. He had been busy for a few days, but now there were no spies, and his body was warm. He had regained his composure.

"This vicinity is the territory of the Beggars' Sect, but the Beggars' Sect originally doesn't know how to do business. But among those in the Beggars' Sect, one man was not like that. He had more than enough influence, insight, and business acumen."

"Who is that? Are you talking about Sect Leader Hong?"

"Of course not. I'm talking about Po Chungryang."

The man who had plotted to become the sect leader by uniting the One-Knot and Two-Knots of the Beggars' Sect, Po Chungryang. He had been the most threatening and powerful enemy since Jang So-gil had set out into the martial world.

Thinking of him naturally brought to mind the Ugly Dragon, Yi Dongpyeong. His knee ached. As Yang Gwan frowned, Jang So-gil smiled.

"I'm saying this because he's a dead man, but that fellow was quite a character. It seems that fellow had a plan to properly transform this Zhongmou into a trading city. It's not a bad thing. This place has a very good location."

If one had to say, Kaifeng had a much better location. The public order was good, the docking facilities were good, and the other facilities were much better. Not only the waterways, but the land routes were also better maintained in Kaifeng.

Well, since Kaifeng was a big city and this place was a very small village, there was no comparison.

"Then isn't there no advantage?"

"But the land price is cheap."

"Ah..."

"Kaifeng is called the city of beggars, so it tends to be looked down upon. But the land there would be ranked within the top ten even if you searched the whole world. It's a very prime piece of land."

"Uh, then aren't the beggars also surprisingly rich?"

"What land would a beggar have? After all, the landowners are all high-ranking officials or local powerful families. Anyway, this village called Zhongmou is close to Kaifeng, so you can use some of Kaifeng's facilities, but the land price is not even one-thousandth of Kaifeng's. The bigger the piece of land, the better it is for the warehouse rental business and the escort agency business that takes charge of protection during transportation."

The warehouse rental business, which receives money for storing goods. The escort business, which makes money by sending escorts to protect. The shipbuilding business, which maintains and repairs broken ships. And the inn, which is responsible for the meals and lodging of the large floating population.

"In my opinion, if you hold these four, you can rake in money with a rake. In a year, you'll be able to earn fifty times the money you invested."

"I-I see. Then is our Great Cloud Guild doing those four things? Young Lady Jin is already doing a lot of work, but if we increase the work more than this, she'll collapse from overwork."

"For her, it would be a great relief. Coincidentally, four merchant guilds have settled here three months ago. They are brand-new merchant guilds created while requesting the protection of the Martial Alliance."

"Did they recognize the value of this village? They are all very quick with their calculations."

"And even more coincidentally, the items that those four merchant guilds handle are warehouse rental, escort agency, shipbuilding, and inn, respectively. Aigoo, by a strange coincidence, the fellow who created the merchant guild is on the death list, so he's a Three-Knot whose name I knew separately, or the child of that Three-Knot."

Since he had explained this much, Yang Gwan could also understand immediately.

"Don't tell me those guys are the dregs of Po Chungryang?"

"Sect Leader Hong had dissuaded me so much when I said I would clean them all up. Tsk, in the end, it seems he couldn't overcome his affection and didn't clean up enough. I heard that he only killed the top fifteen from the death list I handed over."

"Then it's a matter that cannot be overlooked."

The fellow who had heard the business plan under Po Chungryang had poked his head into the business after Po Chungryang's death. The fellow who should have originally died had appeared in the form of a parasite on the Martial Alliance. It was not something that could be looked upon favorably.

"Then today's work will be a little rougher than usual."

"I suppose so. I might have to use some force."

The true face of the Beggars' Sect was in its numbers.

A One-Knot with one knot on his belt commanded twenty White-Robed Knots with no knots on their belts. A Two-Knot commanded five such One-Knots. So one Two-Knot could command one hundred and five people.

A Three-Knot commanded five such Two-Knots, so the number of beggars that one Three-Knot could immediately mobilize was five hundred White-Robed Knots alone. Twenty-five One-Knots. Five Two-Knots.

But there were four such Three-Knots here.

The maximum number of people that could be mobilized was well over two thousand.

"I don't think all two thousand will come, but it will still be a fight against a large number. What do you think?"

"It seems they are full of thoughts of resisting already. I can hear rough breathing from here and there."

Yang Gwan's ears twitched slightly. The number of people gathered for the surprise attack was over four hundred. It was not something that could be done by controlling one's breathing and being quiet.

The breathing of the beggars hidden all over the village was rough. The sound of their hearts beating relentlessly, perhaps from being nervous thinking about the upcoming fight, was annoyingly loud. The rustling sound of their weapons touching was like a thunderclap. To think they were so ready to have a proper fight.

"It's like a black village. They must be determined to do it."

"I think so too. This is strange."

Originally, Jang So-gil's plan was not to fight so openly.

Jang So-gil had the 'dog meat book'. It was the shame book of the Beggars' Sect, which he had first written and which Po Chungryang had expanded several times.

And the four who had put their names up as the owners of the merchant guilds were all people whose weaknesses were written in the dog meat book.

Po Chungryang was suspicious and did not trust others easily. He was also a coward who was only satisfied when he had a hold on the weaknesses of those who would carry out his plans.

It was time to benefit from that coward. He had intended to threaten them with the dog meat book and roll them around like puppet leaders, but to think they would fight to the death like this?

"Strange, very strange."

It's not like these guys know I have the dog meat book, so why are they acting so hostile? Is there some kind of backing?

Jang So-gil, who had been thinking for a moment, soon gave up his thoughts out of annoyance.

In the past, his body was weak, so his head had suffered. But not now. He had a body that would not make his head suffer.

Jang So-gil strode forward and drew the White Azure Divine Sword.

"I have no intention of wasting time racking my brain over these small fries. Let's quickly clean them up and have a good long talk while twisting their joints."

"That's a welcome statement. I will follow your words."

Grinning, Yang Gwan spun his spear.

* * *

The Two-Knot with the sword collapsed helplessly. It was because Jang So-gil's foot had accurately kicked his solar plexus.

"S-sorcery..."

"Every guy I meet says the same thing, so it's not even fun anymore."

It had started snowing at some point.

The Soul-Stealing Ice Art in winter was too strong. Just by approaching Jang So-gil, one's stamina was drained. The hands and feet froze rapidly, and the limbs did not listen.

Even a possessor of profound internal energy like the Firm Dragon had been unable to move his body, so there was no way a member of the Beggars' Sect, whose internal energy was shallow enough to be in the top ranks of all sects, could endure. They just collapsed one by one even if Jang So-gil did nothing.

The White-Robed Knots with weak martial arts would faint just by making eye contact and passing by. The One-Knots would be seized with fear and their teeth would chatter, and then, terrified, they would roll their eyes back.

Only a Two-Knot would not faint just from the momentum. But since their limbs did not move well, it was the same that a fight could not be established. If they gritted their teeth and endured, Jang So-gil would approach and kick their solar plexus, or Yang Gwan would strike the back of their neck.

Before the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed, the over four hundred members of the Beggars' Sect had been taken care of. Yang Gwan found a fellow who was still sane among them and dragged him over.

"This fellow is the most intact."

"Did he dig up some ginseng on the back mountain? For a member of the Beggars' Sect, his internal energy is decent."

"The fact that there are traces of him having learned something systematically, it seems there is some story."

"Is there anyone in the world without a story? Anyway, that's that..."

Looking at his belt, he was a Two-Knot. A beggar of an age where he had become quite worldly from his long life as a beggar and was starting to have other thoughts, a beggar who knew all there was to know.

If he endured torture and kept his integrity and loyalty now, refusing to spill information, all that would be left would be a knee that ached tearfully every time it rained and a broken dantian. Rather than suffering the worst injury from which he could never recover, it was better to quickly spill the information and pretend not to know.

The Two-Knot, feeling Jang So-gil's gaze, quickly opened his mouth.

"Other leaders also cooperated, but the ringleader is Leader Mun."

"Leader Mun. The Three-Knot who was going to do the warehouse rental business. It seems that fellow is acting as the leader."

As if he had known, Jang So-gil nodded his head.

Warehouse, escort agency, shipbuilding, inn. Among these four major businesses, warehouse rental had the highest efficiency compared to the investment. The land price might be high at first, but other than a few guards, there was no other money to be spent, and due to the nature of the rental business, it was not affected by the season or time. And yet, the profit was decent, so it was a business worthy of a leader.

"Yes. Do you know why that fellow, Leader Mun, has caused such a mess? Is there some kind of backing?"

"Originally, a high-ranking person among the Four-Knots was said to be his backer, but I heard that he got caught up in the rampage of Byeokryeokja and died, so now there is no reliable backer."

"Then what did he trust to rush in?"

"W-well, I'll be honest."

"Honesty and integrity are the virtues that a merchant likes the most. Yes, spill it all out."

"It seems Leader Mun has gone crazy for money."

"Crazy for money?"

"Do you know that the bounty on the Ghost King-nim's head is over five thousand taels?"

Jang So-gil blinked his eyes. It was news he was hearing for the first time, which was rare.

"What does that mean?"

"The Ghost King-nim's name has been put on the extermination list of the Four Black Alliance."

The Four Black Alliance was an alliance that could be called the Martial Alliance of the Black Way. It was said that in the past, when its power was strong, there were times when it showed a ferocity greater than the Martial Alliance.

As a result, it had been severely beaten when Gumen Long had set out on a heroic journey before the Great War against the Demonic Cult, so now it did not have the same prestige as back then.

But even if a rich man goes bankrupt, he can last for three years. The best alliance of the Black Way was still holding its head high.

"I'm a current Martial Alliance inspector, and I'm on the extermination list? Has the Four Black Alliance gone crazy?"

"W-well, according to the rumors, the merchants who had their souls shaken by the Ghost King-nim pooled their money and forcibly put you on the list."

"If the bounty is five thousand taels, considering the bribe given to the Four Black Alliance to put me on the extermination list, it means they spent almost seven thousand taels."

You bastards. They should have just paid their taxes with that money.

It was when Jang So-gil was grinding his teeth.

A group of men were running towards them, cutting through the snowstorm.

(End of Chapter)