novelraw Chapter 68 : This and That (4)
Chapter 68 : This and That (4)
This was a death list.
The names of those who had fattened their bellies by sucking on the sweet honey obtained through corruption, abuse of power, and collusion, and the worker bees who made that honey, were densely written.
The dregs of the Beggars' Sect who had colluded with the Unorthodox Faction and the Black Way.
The death list briefly stated the reason why the people whose names were written had to die.
Most of the cases were money-related crimes, but there were also rare cases of those who enjoyed violence and domination itself, that is, those who had a strong disposition of the Black Way and the Unorthodox Faction from the beginning, those with the disposition of a natural ruffian.
"They're listed in order of the severity of their crimes."
"Yes. But even the one at the very end is a guy who lends money at high interest to poor farmers and seizes their land, so his crime is not small."
"A beggar working as a loan shark, it's the end of the world."
Sima Hui clicked his tongue and silently agreed, and Jang So-gil, while smiling, ground his teeth. It was said that even a skilled gambler would not bet on the harvest. It meant that farming was something that could not be controlled by human power because its success and failure depended on the heavens.
"It's a really dog-like thing to do. A farmer's income for a year is concentrated in one period. Even if the harvest is successful, whether it will be a satisfactory income for the year is in the realm of gambling, but anyway, since the income is concentrated at that time, they are short of money at other times. So they have no choice but to take out a loan with their land and future harvest as collateral."
"Those bastards must have been aiming for that."
No matter how high an interest rate they presented, the farmers had no choice but to sign the contract, crying and eating mustard. Because if they didn't, they would starve to death. If you were to choose between dying now and dying later, wouldn't anyone choose to die later?
Using that situation, they gather the nearby merchants and collude, repeating the act of not lending money unless it's at a high interest rate.
"If they pay the interest diligently, it's a good thing because they can earn a high profit just by sitting still, and if they can't, it's a good thing because they can confiscate the land and property. The Beggars' Sect takes the lead in blocking information, and the groups of the Black Way and the Unorthodox Faction collect the money, so it will be difficult for the government office to protect and help the common people."
The principles of the martial world had fallen to the ground.
Even Sima Hui couldn't help but lament, and after letting out a groan, he clenched his fist.
"It was a contract with a clear agreement from both sides, and it's true that they actually lent the money. It's also true that they survived the season with that. So they can't be punished by law. Above all..."
"I know, I know. A branch leader is strictly an official."
The forces of the Beggars' Sect that were currently a problem were the Three-Knot and Two-Knot Beggars. Not all Three-Knot Beggars were like that, but most of the Three-Knot Beggars were composed of officials appointed by the imperial family, called branch leaders.
The job of a branch leader was the control and management of beggars. They had such powerful authority that they even held the power of life and death over the beggars.
"Right now, even the common people who are not beggars are being harmed by them, so if we fight with the law, we can win. But since a branch leader is also an official, there is no end if you try to deal with them with the law. They will destroy the evidence and mobilize their connections and power to protect themselves. Then, as the days go by, the matter will become vague. So."
"I know that too."
Jang So-gil grinned. They were those like the dregs of the Black Way, the Unorthodox Faction, and the orthodox sect who used the law as a weapon to protect themselves. The reason they were tricky to deal with was because it was difficult to respond with the law.
"So you're telling me to solve it with power."
"That's right. Destroy them all."
The strong are respected.
It was the logic of power that the Black Way and the Unorthodox Faction liked.
"Anyway, I was planning to use this opportunity as a stage for real combat to polish myself. So I have no hesitation in using power. I will destroy them all."
Jang So-gil's eyes flashed menacingly. Sima Hui nodded his head.
Come to think of it, this fellow. When he first met him, he was a complete scoundrel who had a sassiness and insolence that seemed out of this world, and a bizarre level of insight, and would ram into anything.
That complete scoundrel had been pretending to be a little quiet lately, but he couldn't hide his true nature.
"Yes. I'm going to run wild properly for the first time in a while."
"If you've decided so, there's no need for me to say much."
A complete scoundrel was going to act like a complete scoundrel. How reassuring was that?
Sima Hui let out a sigh of relief.
"Then I can finally rest a little."
"Huh? What do you mean, rest, Brother?"
He had just returned after finishing his arduous life in Yunnan. But what did he mean, rest?
He was truly a fellow who couldn't stand to see a person rest.
Sima Hui's brow furrowed.
"There should be no more work for me to do. What on earth is there?"
"What do you mean, there's nothing? We have to do public relations, public relations."
"Public relations? What does that mean?"
"I asked my general manager. I asked him if he knew what I had been doing in Yunnan. And he said, didn't you go to maintain public order in Yunnan?"
"Hmm, what about it?"
"What do you mean, what about it? My general manager is not an ordinary person. He's a pretty open-minded kid who actively tries to obtain and utilize rumors from here and there. For a kid like that to just talk about maintaining public order in Yunnan means that the information has hardly been spread."
"Isn't that obvious? There's the distance between Yunnan and Luoyang, and what we did was generally..."
"Ehei, ehei. This person won't do, won't do. Don't you know what this means?"
"I don't know at all."
Tsk, tsk, Jang So-gil clicked his tongue. That appearance was so unpleasant and annoying that Sima Hui gripped his fan tightly. Seeing the clear handprint engraved on the iron handle of the fan, Jang So-gil clicked his tongue even more strongly.
"Eing, what did we do in Yunnan? We punished the crazy Diancang Sect, saved Yunnan, which was about to be in a mess with the Sichuan dog bastards, the defeated dogs of the Yuan Dynasty, and other miscellaneous things all mixed up, and made it a better place to live than before. Is this an ordinary thing? It's a big deal and a great achievement that even His Majesty the Emperor would praise."
"Yes, yes. So?"
"We worked so hard and did a good thing, but what's the use if no one acknowledges it! It's only meaningful if the dog next door knows, the cat in the back knows, and the tiger on the front mountain knows! Why don't the common people know what even His Majesty knows!"
"Don't you know the saying that a gentleman does not do good deeds hoping that others will acknowledge them?"
"Brother, you and I are done for in terms of becoming gentlemen. If we were to become one, it would be a 'gentleman on the beam'."
A gentleman on the beam, meaning a gentleman on the crossbeam, was a very high-class word for a thief.
Sima Hui's face turned red.
"Th-this fellow...!"
"The Martial Alliance did this. They did that. We have to make it widely known to the public so that the common people will think, 'Ah, I'm paying my taxes properly.' With the taxes I paid, they're doing this and that, and the Martial Alliance is working day and night for the stability and peace of the world! When they think that, they'll think, 'Wow, the Martial Alliance is doing a great job. Should I pay a lot more taxes?' and the tax revenue will rise and the satisfaction level will rise."
"..."
"And praise makes even a bear dance. When the common people praise, the warriors belonging to the Martial Alliance will also work with pride. You have to have pride to become a good group. It's a chance to raise the morale of the entire Martial Alliance for free, why don't you use it?"
"That's..."
"Even a small shop, if they get a big contract, the people gather for a company dinner and a party. Why do you think they do that? It's to boast that we got a big contract, that we're this great."
Listening to it, it seemed to make sense...
"And in the first place, the group called the Martial Alliance itself is a failure! They don't even know the basics of business!"
"Th-the basics of business?"
"If you do something wrong, you cover up the wrong thing! If you do something well, you exaggerate the good thing several times over and talk about it!"
"...!"
"It might sound like a scam, but that's what business is."
"It doesn't just sound like a scam, it is a scam."
"I've never seen such a frustrating person. Alright, I'll give you an example. Let's say you're selling a flawed jade. Do you leave the flaw as it is? A wound from being dropped is a flaw, but a wound with a story is a decoration."
"A wound from being dropped is a flaw, but if it has a story, it's a decoration?"
"It was a long time ago. A worker dropped a box, and the white jade inside broke."
White jade was quite expensive, more expensive than the life of a manual laborer.
Sima Hui's nose twitched.
"The worker must have been in big trouble."
"It was big trouble. Now the worker's head would fly, and the worker's house was about to be ruined."
"That's right."
"But luckily, Master Zhongli happened to be passing by at that moment."
"The Three Good Masters? What did he do?"
"He comforted the sobbing worker and said this. 'Ah, it was such a beautiful jade. I was so mesmerized by its beauty for a moment that I dropped it.'"
"Heo..."
It was a lie. The person who had broken the jade was the worker, and Master Zhongli had not even seen the jade inside the box.
"No one knows what the jade looked like before it was broken. But after Master Zhongli said that, how would the completely broken jade look?"
"A jade so beautiful that even Master Zhongli was surprised..."
"There is no way to know the beautiful original appearance of the broken jade now. But because of Master Zhongli's words, the imagination about the beautiful jade is added. Above all, you want to have it. A jade so beautiful that even Master Zhongli's hand trembled, you want to have it. So a passing merchant heard that story and bought the fragments of the broken jade for twenty times the price. The broken jade, which was useless, became twenty times the price with just one word."
"But isn't that a scam!"
"A scam? What kind of scam is this? One worker's life was saved, and a new precious object that would not have originally existed, the Zhongli White Jade, was born in the world. The merchant who bought it for just twenty times the price of an ordinary jade had hit the jackpot. Now, they say they won't sell it even if someone offers a hundred times the price."
Sima Hui slapped his knee.
It was an anecdote that could be interpreted in various ways.
"This is the power of words. The power of words cannot be ignored. What the Martial Alliance needs now is an organization that can turn a flaw into a decoration. An organization that can ignore and cover up the minor mistakes of the Martial Alliance, and exaggerate the achievements of the Martial Alliance several times over and inform the common people."
"If you were to name it..."
"A unit that does the work of public relations. The units directly under the Alliance Leader, except for the secret information unit, the Fengya Unit, are said to have the name of a dragon. Since words are like a sword, how about the Sword Dragon Unit?"
It was a very good idea. The name was also very good. How could he say something that was so to the Alliance Leader's taste?
If the Alliance Leader had heard it, he would have immediately clapped his hands, embraced that complete scoundrel, and been delighted.
"Heo..."
Sima Hui unconsciously nodded his head.
Then, seeing the smiling Jang So-gil, he suddenly asked back.
"Then who will manage that Sword Dragon Unit?"
"Of course, you have to do it, Brother."
"..."
"I'm the type to run around outside a lot, hahaha."
"No. No. I'm also quite outside."
"Right now, the only person the Alliance Leader trusts in the world is you, Brother Hui. You have to do it."
"No! No! So-!"
"Seeing that you nodded your head, you've acknowledged it, right? I'll go and report to the Alliance Leader right away."
"No-! Don't!"
(End of Chapter)