The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 85 : To Huashan (3)

Come to think of it, to Jang So-gil, Huashan could be called enemy territory.

Information gathering activities in enemy territory were the most important and yet the most difficult task. It was better to hurry in securing a local informant.

'Not bad.'

This waiter was a rather promising person. Thinking that Huashan would now become a mess because of Jang So-gil, he was trying to secure travel expenses to leave this place altogether.

Quick wits and situational judgment were good talents. Just the fact that he knew his information would be worth money now made him a useful talent.

But to think that as soon as this happened, he would try to sell off the information of his surroundings that he had been getting along with until now. Although he had grasped that he was a simple employee who had no deep relationship with the Maejin Mun, which had been evading taxes as a ghost sect, he was not a person who could be trusted.

Since he was not a person to be kept close and used, a line of simply trading with each other would be the best.

After calmly deciding so, Jang So-gil stared into the waiter's eyes.

"It's my humble opinion, but if it's a big shot that the Inspector-nim would be looking for around here, I have a place in mind. It's the Jangchun Store."

"Jangchun Store, Jangchun Store."

Jang So-gil, who had repeated it several times as if to check the feel of the name, nodded his head.

It was a name that he, who knew all the reasonably large merchant guilds, the first-class merchant guilds, had not memorized. Was it a local-oriented store?

"Keep talking."

"The Jangchun Store does a surprisingly large number of things. This chair in our inn, it was ordered from a furniture store run by the Jangchun Store. And the beef in the knife-cut noodles you had today, right? That was also bought from a butcher shop run by the Jangchun Store. The same goes for the quail eggs, and even the transportation is done by the Jangchun Store."

Jang So-gil's left eye half-closed. It was an expression of having heard a strange story.

"A butcher shop, a furniture store, hunting, and even a transportation business. All of that is done by a single store called Jangchun?"

"There are several stores. But the owners of those places have just put their names up and are just keeping their seats. Anyone who does business around here knows that the real manager of those stores is the owner of the Jangchun Store."

"It's not an intermediate distribution business, but they manage all of it directly."

"It's not just stores. They also have a ranch, they do beekeeping, and they also farm. Perhaps because the Jangchun Store has its hands in so many places, our cook always insists on using Jangchun's products. As a result, in this area, even if another store other than the ones run by Jangchun opens, it doesn't last long. The house in front and the house next door all use Jangchun's products."

The more he heard, the more suspicious it was.

As Jang So-gil was scratching his chin, Ye-er tapped Jang So-gil's shoulder. Her large, round eyes blinked.

"Is it strange?"

"I suppose so. They're recklessly expanding their businesses in an octopus-like fashion, even though they're unrelated to each other... Ah. Do you know what an octopus is?"

"I know. The one with many legs."

"I'm glad you know. Anyway, it's called octopus-like expansion management when you start several businesses like the legs of an octopus, and if one of them succeeds, you use that profit to grow the other businesses. While repeating that, you keep increasing the fields you have your hands in."

There were several evils to octopus-like expansion. But it would take an unnecessarily long time to explain it in a way that Ye-er could understand. And since Jang So-gil had not come to the Western Great Mountain for that reason, there was no need to explain it separately.

Jang So-gil had come to catch those who were evading taxes by abusing the tax exemption privilege of the Daoist sects.

The ghost sects of Daoism, which had declared their opening and were doing other things, would profit as much as they didn't have to pay taxes, no matter what they did. An ordinary store that did not have the tax exemption privilege would not have the competitiveness to stand against the Jangchun Store, which was putting its many legs in all sorts of places like an octopus.

Then what about the competition between the same ghost sects?

If you wanted to do business in Huashan, you couldn't compete without the tax exemption privilege. Probably, other stores besides the Jangchun Store were also all ghost sects of the secular disciples.

But the Jangchun Store, from what he had heard, seemed to be extending its feet to hunting, farming, beekeeping, a butcher shop, a furniture store, and several other fields.

Even though they were recklessly starting businesses that required such different abilities, all of their businesses were succeeding to the point where all the nearby stores only used their products, and even if other stores opened, they couldn't last long?

"First, there's a possibility that the owner of the Jangchun Store is a great genius who is well-versed in all fields of commerce. For example, a person like me. But this is of course a low probability story."

"Then how?"

"There's a way you can do it too. If it were you, how would you make all your businesses succeed?"

Ye-er knew nothing about commerce. But she knew one way to make a business succeed.

Just as her father had done. The method of the Nan Yue Beast Palace was always only one.

She clenched her fist.

"By hitting."

Jang So-gil twisted the corners of his mouth.

"That's right. You can do it with force."

Expand the territory of the store by crushing it with force.

Make them buy only their own products by crushing them with force.

Most of the things that martial artists get involved in end up with force like this.

"Even if it's the holy land of Daoism, Huashan, if money is involved, it becomes like the Black Way. I've decided. Next, let's go to the Jangchun Store. Waiter, thank you for your cooperation in providing information."

"Don't mention it."

"Just in case, I'd like to know your name."

"My name is Kang Yu."

"Kang Yu. I wish you a good journey."

"I also wish that the great person will achieve his great cause."

Jang So-gil threw ten silver taels to Kang Yu. Kang Yu bowed his head and then left Huashan.

He was a rather wise person until the end.

* * *

It was the time when the sun was at its highest. Just as the people of the Jangchun Store were getting hungry and thinking they should have lunch, the main door of the store was suddenly thrown open.

What was visible was a handsome, but unlucky-faced young man. He slowly lowered the leg that had kicked the door and then showed the jade plaque and said.

[I am an inspector of the Martial Alliance. I won't talk long, I'm here to investigate tax evasion. If you are quiet, I will know that you are cooperating. If you want to resist, try it.]

Although it was a desirable declaration of war that contained both his self-introduction and purpose, it was incomparably arrogant and insolent. What kind of bastard was this?

Inside the store, there were over twenty able-bodied men. Since they were all ruffians who had spat some saliva somewhere, their builds were burly and their impressions were also very dirty. The guts of the young man who spat out arrogant words in front of such people and walked past them as if nothing had happened were amazing.

As he was watching, dumbfounded, the young man strode over, kicked the general manager without a word, and then drew his sword. He struck a spot on the floor as it was.

[You would probably install a secret safe around here and hide the ledger.]

A ghost, he was a ghost. The floor split, and a safe made of iron was visible.

It was a secretly hidden place, how did he know? In front of the general manager who was glaring, wondering which bastard had leaked the information, the young man clicked his tongue.

[There's no need to catch the wrong guys. The things that bad guys do are all the same, as if they were stamped from a mold. Do you think you guys would be any different?]

Since it was a safe made of iron, it would not be easy to open. The general manager braced himself to swallow the key if necessary.

But the inspector nonchalantly swung his sword, split the iron safe, and took out the ledger.

Since 'cutting iron' was an easy-to-understand stage of achievement in martial arts, as soon as he saw that scene, he could tell that the opponent was a master beyond his expectations. The faces of the Jangchun Store employees turned pale.

But the owner of the Jangchun Store, Jang Hyeon-ik, was a rather foolish person.

Although they said it was the stage of cutting iron because he had cut an iron safe, did that young man cut the iron with his own martial arts level? Jang Hyeon-ik believed that it was the power of the divine weapon, the White Azure Divine Sword.

He had to show the young brat, who was acting arrogant, believing in the power of a divine weapon, a taste of the Four Directions Sword he had learned at the Huashan Sect in his younger days. Just as Jang Hyeon-ik was about to grab his greatsword made of steel and jump in, his business partner and wife, Son Chun, stopped him.

"Honey, can't you stop?"

"But wife, look at that person. Look at what that person is doing."

Jang So-gil was sitting on the seat of honor as if he were the owner of this store and was looking through the ledger. He had taken out the highest quality tobacco and short pipe sold at the store as if they were his own, put it in his mouth, and was even leisurely brewing tea.

For Jang Hyeon-ik, his blood could not help but boil and rush to his head.

"Heuheung. He's touched a lot of things. If there were two more guys like this, I could easily fill my quota."

The reason the Jangchun Store had become such a large store was that three-tenths was due to Jang Hyeon-ik's swordsmanship and the power of the ruffians he employed, and the remaining seven-tenths was thanks to his wise wife, Son Chun. He had believed her even if she said she was making meju with red beans. But why on earth was she stopping him now?

"Dear wife, I can't stand it. That arrogant and insolent fellow, just!"

"Stop it. If the family is harmed because of that, what will you do about the aftermath?"

"Do you think I would be beaten by a fellow like that? Me, this Jang Hyeon-ik?"

"Fighting with ruffians can't be the same as fighting with the Martial Alliance. Get a grip, honey!"

Although he had straightened his shoulders and showed off his manliness, it was certainly true.

Jang Hyeon-ik was the most skilled person in this area. But that person had come from the Martial Alliance. He was an inspector from the strongest faction in the current world. Fighting with ruffians to have a local fight and fighting with a person who had come from the Martial Alliance were completely different things.

Even if he acted high and mighty, it became a natural thing if that person did it. Because it was the nature of the martial world that the strong could act strong.

But as mentioned before. Jang Hyeon-ik was a foolish person.

"You bastards! Do you even have balls! Don't just stand there, attack!"

"Wa, waaa!"

Hearing the leader's command, the ruffians, who had belatedly come to their senses, took their weapons and ran.

Although it was a foolish choice, Jang Hyeon-ik himself had a reasonable reason.

Anyway, wasn't that fellow alone? The little girl of a different race who was just standing there next to him could not be seen as a fighting force. She was probably a servant or a slave he was dragging around for his personal hobby.

Then he just had to deal with that one fellow somehow. The winner is justice. Even if he was an inspector of the Martial Alliance, if he was buried somewhere in Huashan and the mouths were kept shut, how would the Martial Alliance know?

It was an era where such an unreasonable thing was accepted.

Thus, the answer he came up with was to kill and destroy the evidence. It was a common and obvious choice that the ruffians of the Unorthodox Faction and the Black Way often made.

There was no way Jang So-gil would not know that. He did not even give a glance to the ruffians and, while flipping through the ledger, said quietly.

"Dharma Protector Ye."

"Yes. I'll hit."

Ye-er reached out her hand and lifted the desk. The desk, which she had lifted as lightly as if it were a feather pillow, struck the head of the one who had come first. The desk, which shattered magnificently, proved her tremendous strength.

"Kkeuak!"

The one who was hit fell forward. Ye-er grabbed that fellow's leg and then swung her wrist back and forth as if dusting off dirt.

The shoulder of the swinging man hit the chest of a fellow ruffian who was running. The one who was hit could not even let out a single scream and flew away.

A person did not look like a person. They flew like wooden dolls that little children played with, they broke, they were thrown, and they fell.

What kind of monstrous strength was this!

"That's what you get for underestimating a child."

Jang So-gil grinned, looking at Jang Hyeon-ik, who was stuck in the ceiling and dangling.

(End of Chapter)