The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 133 : Re-contracting (1)

The current Martial Alliance was operating in a rather inefficient structure. Reorganizing the organizational structure was a necessary task.

Jang So-gil, moving his brush on a large piece of paper, grumbled.

"Damn it, some are A-class martial artists and some are first-class martial artists. The monthly salary of an A-class martial artist is fifteen taels, but the monthly salary of a first-class martial artist is ten taels and four 'seom' of rice?"

Since the rank system was not unified, the titles and monthly salary standards of those who stood guard and those who performed military duties were all different.

That wasn't all. Within the Martial Alliance, there were various units and battalions with different affiliations. Since there was no system to manage all the martial artists and scholars belonging to the Martial Alliance headquarters and those belonging to each sect or noble family, the monthly salary of martial artists of the same rank differed by up to two times.

"It's serious, very serious. It's rather amazing that it has been running somehow until now."

After the war with the Demonic Cult ended, the Nine Sects One Alliance and the Five Great Noble Families no longer felt the need to maintain the alliance called the Martial Alliance. So the smart ones did not think of reorganizing the organization that had become a mess during the war, but rather created a structure that was even more of a mess and easier to embezzle money from.

It didn't matter if the Martial Alliance was ruined in the process. In order to get back the secret manuals of the martial arts library, it was rather better for the Martial Alliance to disappear.

"But the Martial Alliance..."

Jang So-gil bit his molars.

If there were really no enemies in the martial world and a peaceful era continued, it wouldn't matter if the Martial Alliance didn't exist.

But the power of the Demonic Cult had not disappeared. They had just changed their strategy.

In this situation, if the central point, the Martial Alliance, disappeared and the Demonic Cult moved again, they might suffer even greater damage than before.

He had to make the Martial Alliance normal and gather strength to prepare for war.

It was a difficult and arduous task. It was also a task that not just anyone could do.

So he himself had to do it.

"But really, I don't understand."

It was a task that not just anyone could do, but it was also a task that no one wanted to do.

He himself didn't know why he felt he had to do this.

Because to Jang So-gil, the peace of the martial world was something he didn't care about.

The chaos that would be caused by the Demonic Cult?

A merchant with outstanding ability could earn much more money in chaos than in peace.

A chaotic era was more profitable than a peaceful era. A wartime was more profitable than a peacetime.

A merchant who maintained his composure and calmness in an era ruled by chaos and madness could rake in money with a rake.

Jang So-gil's ability was much more outstanding than before, and it was still developing.

It was only natural since he was accumulating a lot of experience at a young age.

If the Great War against the Demonic Cult happened one more time, he was confident that he could become the greatest merchant in the world.

If he wanted to pursue his personal glory, he could pursue it as much as he wanted, and he could even become like Lü Buwei, who was said to have made an emperor with money.

The reason Jang So-gil had entered the Martial Alliance was solely to learn martial arts, to become stronger, and to cut down the Sichuan Tang Clan with his own hands.

Reviving the dying Martial Alliance was not a task that he had to take on.

But he, who had been like that, had now changed his mind and was seriously using his ability for the Martial Alliance.

Why?

"..."

Jang So-gil, feeling a sense of duty that even he himself could not understand, slowly wrote down the plan for reorganizing the Martial Alliance on the paper.

It was only when he met Master Zhongli later that Jang So-gil learned that this incomprehensible sense of duty was called 'heroism'.

If the current Jang So-gil had known, he would have blushed and denied it, with his heart full of such feelings.

The brush danced splendidly on the paper.

It was the summer of the 21st year of Emperor Yongle.

* * *

There were many eyes and ears in the office of the Martial Alliance Leader. There were two servants who took care of chores, and there was another messenger who brought news from the outside.

In addition, there was a servant in charge of tea and refreshments. If you added the singers who sang songs or played instruments, there were always five people in the office.

Today, even those people were all cleared out, and the Alliance Leader and Jang So-gil had a private meeting.

Gumen Long, personally serving tea, said.

"The conclusion is that we have to overhaul everything, is that what you're saying?"

"Not everything. Realistically, it's impossible to re-select all the martial artists of the Martial Alliance and to replace all the scholars and servants."

"That's right. Because we can't re-select all these people. Then?"

"First, I'm going to mix them."

The battalions that the elders of the Martial Alliance each possessed. The martial artists and scholars who worked at the Martial Alliance headquarters. The personnel dispatched to the outside.

And so on, and so on.

"I'll overhaul the entire complex structure and reorganize it with a single standard. The advantage of this is that it will be easier to control, and the cronies that the sects or noble families have planted in key positions to make things easy for themselves will lose their power."

"I see. Since they won't be able to place them as they please, it will be difficult for them to obtain the information they want."

"After that, we'll filter them out and start changing the suspicious people. It's difficult to change them all at once, but it's not an impossible task if we weed them out one by one. We can finish it before the end of this year."

Although it was not a particularly miraculous method, it was a rational method.

Jang So-gil calmly took a sip of the Longjing tea and savored its fragrance. He let out a sigh that smelled of tea and continued.

"Since it's a matter of managing people, we can't use any clever tricks or schemes. If we hurry, it will only cause problems."

"Hah, are you trying to teach me the art of personnel management?"

"There's no need for that. I think I know your art of personnel management now."

Jang So-gil narrowed his eyes and squinted. This old man, who was like a cunning snake, was not a pure martial artist. He also had enough competence as a politician or a bureaucrat.

The proof of that was Jang So-gil himself.

"Like a cunning snake..."

Gumen Long's shoulders shook, and in the end, he couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

"Keolkeol. Were you that angry?"

"Rather than being angry... Aish, damn it. Yes. I'm angry. You got me good."

It was not because of anything else that he was furious. It was because of what had happened when Gumen Long had ordered the extermination of the Four Black Alliance.

The Alliance Leader had said. Exterminate the Four Black Alliance, and if you can't, I will treat you as a treasure of the world.

The answer was already decided. As the inspector of the Martial Alliance, a famous person of the martial world, he would expose the evil deeds of the Four Black Alliance, make them a public enemy, and exterminate them with the power of everyone. It was a flow that was driving Jang So-gil to that one correct answer.

But in fact, Jang So-gil had one more option.

"There was also the method of negotiating by holding on to the contract."

Whatever the Alliance Leader said, Jang So-gil could have refused. Because it was ridiculously different from the initial contract conditions.

Exterminating the Four Black Alliance was a matter unrelated to the contract as an inspector. Jang So-gil's job was, to the last, the inspection and collection of tax evasion and embezzlement.

So in fact, this was a matter close to an extra-curricular request. There was no reason he had to do it as it was.

But why did Jang So-gil follow that order?

Gumen Long's angry momentum was so overwhelming that even Jang So-gil, who had not known fear, had been intimidated.

But in fact, it was because his heart had been moved by Gumen Long's anger. His heart had pounded, and he had even been slightly moved.

A warrior dies for his lord. A scholar gives his life for someone who recognizes him.

Didn't even a mere stray dog die for the person who had picked it up?

Since Director Jang, there had been no one who had acknowledged his existence so much, so it would have been stranger if he hadn't been moved.

"When a person is off guard, of all things..."

In any case, Jang So-gil had not been able to refute it at that time. Whether it was a gambling board or a negotiation board, what's done is done. Once you've left that place, it's no use saying anything.

So things had flowed like this. Jang So-gil had taken the position of the number two person in the Martial Alliance and had even taken charge of internal affairs.

What Gumen Long had requested at their first meeting had come to fruition.

"How is it? It's fun to try managing the household of the Martial Alliance, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes. It's fun. It's damn fun."

"I knew it. I thought you'd be good at internal affairs too. Keolkeolkeol."

Gumen Long's laughing beard was not to his liking. The way he was leisurely drinking tea, as if to show off, was even more unpleasant.

Jang So-gil, with his eyes blazing, spat out his words sharply.

"Hmph, why did the person who said he knew it would happen just leave the Martial Alliance in this state?"

"Well, since I didn't know anything about internal affairs, I didn't know where or how to touch it. But there's a more fundamental reason. Do you want to hear it?"

"There's no need to hear it. Well, isn't it because you didn't want to get your hands dirty as a person of the orthodox sect?"

"No. That's completely wrong."

"Then what is it?"

"Because I love the martial world."

"What?"

Love, love.

It was a word that had very little to do with Jang So-gil.

As Jang So-gil tilted his head as if he had misheard, Gumen Long crossed his arms and turned his gaze out the window, looking down at the well-decorated manor.

"To me, the martial world was a dream and a hope. It was a beautiful world full of heroism and affection. Even after becoming the Alliance Leader, I believed that the way of the martial world was still alive and that heroism and righteousness were breathing in the hearts of the martial artists of the world. So no matter what happened in the alliance, I thought that the Nine Sects One Alliance and the Five Great Noble Families were all moving for the sake of heroism. So I didn't take any action. Until bankruptcy was right around the corner."

The martial world he loved did not exist. Even though he knew the reality, he did not want to admit it.

Heroism was dead, and the way of the martial world had fallen to the ground.

It was a heartbreaking matter.

Hearing the honest story of the supreme ruler, Jang So-gil replied refreshingly.

"For a person of your age, what kind of thought, that even children wouldn't have, were you having?"

The corner of Gumen Long's eye, which was looking at the manor with a sorrowful eye, twitched.

"It's very angry that it's hard to deny. You, have you been talking a bit rudely lately?"

"Now that I'm the de facto number two person in the Martial Alliance, I can talk a little rudely to the supreme ruler. Ah, if you don't like it, you can fire me."

"Ugh, you hateful fellow. It would be nice if your personality was as good as your ability."

"A person with good ability and a good personality? The world is so wide, so there must be someone like that somewhere. If there isn't, then just fire me and use someone like Zhuge Xian."

"Yekki. Don't say such a thing even as a joke. I know that fellow's heart is rotten."

"I'm glad you know."

"Because I knew, I was using Military Advisor Sima in an important position."

As expected, an outstanding eye. Sima Hui was a much better military advisor than Zhuge Xian.

"Although Brother Hui is hot-tempered and petty, he's not a cowardly or rotten person. Although he may be a little lacking as a staff officer, you saw the person very well."

"That's right. That's right. Although he's no good as a staff officer who comes up with schemes or as a fluent speaker in charge of diplomacy. Since he's outstanding as a military advisor and as a martial arts scholar, he's a very interesting fellow to have by your side."

"Ah, speaking of a martial arts scholar, what are you going to do from now on?"

"What do you mean?"

"The contract."

A single contract was placed on the table.

It was the contract that Jang So-gil had written when he had first come to the Martial Alliance.

"It's about time to change the contract conditions."

(End of Chapter)