The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 94 : A Change of Heart (2)

It was when Jang So-gil had just arrived in Luoyang after fleeing from Sichuan. He was about to have his first meal in Luoyang, but for some reason, the innkeeper's demeanor was strange.

"At that time, I was in a half-beggar state. It couldn't be helped. I hadn't packed much because I had to flee in a hurry to survive, and I had used up even that on the road, so I couldn't even get proper clothes."

"It's understandable since you said you fled from the Heaven's Net. But what was strange?"

"Instead of cursing at me or shunning me for my beggar-like appearance, they were seriously trying to figure out whether I was a member of the Beggars' Sect or not. They kept contemplating whether I was a martial artist or not. Why were they doing that? I watched them for a while."

"So what was the answer that came out?"

As if dumbfounded, Jang So-gil half-closed his eyes and shook his head.

"The merchants of Luoyang were selective about their customers. They were selling things cheaply to the natives of Luoyang, but expensively to martial artists. Even an ordinary 1-wen noodle dish was 2 wen for a beggar of the Beggars' Sect, and 3 wen for a plausible martial artist. For a well-dressed person from a prestigious family, they would even charge up to 5 wen. The same went for the 3-wen bamboo leaf wine. I've even seen them sell cheap bamboo leaf wine for 20 wen. To charge prices that jumped two, three, or even more than four times depending on the person. It's absurd."

Gumen Long nodded his head.

This was a chronic problem in Luoyang.

"They say this doesn't happen in other regions. Do you know why it only happens in Luoyang?"

"Hmm. First, the martial artists' sense of money can be cited as one of the factors."

"Sense of money?"

"Most martial artists have a weak sense of money. It's partly because they have very rarely earned money with their own hands. But it's probably because the price of a meal or two seems like dust compared to the price of the elixirs they always have in their mouths."

There was a point. The price of an elixir that was even slightly good for the body started from a silver tael. Even Gumen Long himself spent a steady three hundred silver taels a year just on the elixirs he ate lightly to manage his body.

It was because Gumen Long, who had surpassed the peak stage and was called the number one in the world, had little greed for internal energy, and in the first place, he had already surpassed the limit of internal energy that could be obtained with elixirs. An ordinary sect leader of a sect, or a martial artist with a strong greed for elixirs, would easily go through hundreds of silver taels.

The reality was that more than half of the operating expenses of most sects went to the cost of elixirs.

"When a person spends a lot of money, small money becomes ridiculous. When you're trading a thousand-tael famous sword, a ten-tael clear river sword feels cheap, and it's human nature to just throw it in for free. It's not like ten silver taels come out of the ground. Even a merchant can become like that if they're not careful."

"Heo... But if most martial artists are like that, this wouldn't be a problem unique to Luoyang."

"That's right. The nature of martial artists who care about face is also not a problem unique to Luoyang."

If a martial artist of a prestigious orthodox sect were to haggle with a merchant over the price of a meal, how much face would be lost? Even if they thought it was expensive in their hearts, they had no choice but to agree and pay as they were told.

It was no different even if it was a martial artist of the Unorthodox Faction. If you get angry over small things, you yourself become a small person. If you want to play in the big leagues, you have to be magnanimous.

"So even the people of the Unorthodox Faction don't make a fuss over the price of a meal. Even if they are people of the Unorthodox Faction, they know that their sect's prestige will fall if they make a fuss over the price of a meal. So even for the sake of face, they just throw the silver taels at their faces and go."

"Hahaha. But doesn't the story change if the opponent is a group of the Black Way?"

"That's right. If it's a group of the Black Way, it becomes a completely different story. 'Ait, shipal. You're ignoring me? These guys must want to close their business today. Alright, I'll fold your waists!' The ruffians of the Black Way are the ones who would start a sword fight. When did those guys ever care about face? They are guys who spit it out if it's bitter and swallow it if it's sweet."

"That's right. That's right."

"So normally, there would be no one who would play with the price of a meal like this, even out of fear of being beaten by the Black Way guys. Because merchants also have to live. But this is Luoyang."

Luoyang.

The holy land of the Martial Alliance. The center of the martial world.

The place where the supreme of the martial world, the number one in the world, was.

"Because even the Unorthodox Faction shed blood in the Great War against the Demonic Cult, they say that the relationship between the orthodox and the unorthodox is better than it has ever been in the history of the martial world. In the past, they would start a sword fight just by making eye contact. And I heard that they would go and find each other and draw their swords even if they couldn't see each other."

"It was really like that in the past. The orthodox and the unorthodox are oil and water, so they cannot mix, and it is the principle of the world that they should not mix. They fought so tiresomely with each other, saying such things."

But he only knew after fighting the Demonic Cult. Oil and water, whatever, if you meet a landslide, you have to hold hands and mix.

Otherwise, you'll be completely buried and not a single drop will be left.

"After fighting together like that once, these days, they don't fight well unless there's a direct provocation or a conflict of interest. Well, they still fight if things go wrong."

"Even the orthodox sects fight like that, so isn't that something that can't be helped as long as people live?"

"You are right."

"Anyway, this is the situation. Not only the orthodox sect, but also the unorthodox sect can freely come and go in Luoyang."

But the Black Way was different. The Black Way were just criminals who oppressed and tormented the common people with force. They were filth that had to be cleaned up as soon as they were seen, and rats that ate away at the storehouses.

"In the end, to this alliance, the Black Way is just trash that has not been cleaned up yet. With such a treatment, how dare the groups of the Black Way set foot in Luoyang? If they don't want to die, they are bound to avoid it on their own. So the merchants call out high prices to the martial artists without fear. This is the reason why this kind of thing only happens in Luoyang."

Because Luoyang was Luoyang. Because the Martial Alliance was in Luoyang. The merchants' tricks worked.

At the bitter conclusion, Gumen Long stroked his beard.

"I myself have been aware of that problem from before, but I didn't know that the inspector had analyzed it in such detail. Were you very interested in that side?"

"Because what you eat, what you wear, and where you live are directly related to taxes."

"Directly related to taxes?"

"Where you live. The house prices in Luoyang have a sense of being measured quite expensively thanks to the protection of the Luoyang government office and the Martial Alliance. But since they are expensive, there are not many transactions, so it's convenient from the perspective of managing taxes. What you wear. Clothes are originally important for trends and climate, so there are parts that are difficult for me to know. But what you eat is different."

"How is it different?"

"What you eat is easy to evade taxes on. I'll explain it step by step. In the case of food and liquor, taxes are levied based on the supply. For example, if an inn purchases 50 bottles of bamboo leaf wine. The tax is paid not when this wine is sold to a customer, but at the time of purchase by the inn. It means that the tax is levied on the premise that all the purchased goods will be sold from the beginning. Let's assume that the tax on 50 bottles of bamboo leaf wine is roughly half a silver tael."

Jang So-gil lightly fluttered his robe and wrote 'half a tael' in the air.

"The tax on 50 bottles of bamboo leaf wine is half a silver tael. But as I said before, merchants charge several times the original price if the customer is a martial artist. Even if they sell 50 bottles, they will get more profit than when they normally sell 100 bottles. In this case, how much tax should they pay?"

"It would still be half a silver tael. Since the tax was already paid at the time of receiving the supply of bamboo leaf wine, there is no need to pay more tax no matter how much it is sold for."

"That's right. That empty part becomes the amount of tax evasion. It's a problem that arises because the supply price is fixed, but the price the customer pays is not fixed."

"Then wouldn't it be possible to specify the price at which the consumer buys the bamboo leaf wine from this side?"

"That's not an easy task. The central plains are so wide that the price of goods is bound to be different in each region. It takes an enormous amount of manpower to set that standard. And the stability of prices is originally not the job of the Martial Alliance, but something the country should do. But the current imperial family is..."

Jang So-gil swallowed the rest of his words.

Gumen Long sighed. It was a sigh full of feelings that pierced his lungs.

"An overwhelming manpower shortage. There's no room to do such trivial things. That's why this is actually something the imperial family has asked me directly. They told me to find a way to suppress the corruption of the merchants who charge different prices, so that Luoyang can be used as a reference."

The things happening in the restaurant industry of Luoyang were a problem limited to Luoyang because they were possible due to the protection of the Martial Alliance.

But there were merchants who committed tax evasion by attaching various reasons to the unique resources and specialty products that existed in each region, such as the silk of Sichuan, the iron ore of Yunnan, and the liquor of Jiangnan. Such actions were becoming a problem throughout the central plains.

In short, the problem was with the country that could not crack down on this. The reason Jang So-gil had swallowed his words was because saying such a truth was in itself an act of disloyalty.

Gumen Long closed his eyes without a word and organized his thoughts.

"Inspector Jang So-gil."

"Yes. Please give your order."

"Just because the imperial family asks, we don't necessarily have to do it. I don't care about other places, but if I order you, can you organize Luoyang?"

"It's possible."

"Tell me the method."

"The first method is a thorough on-site investigation."

On-site investigation. Actually going out and investigating.

Jang So-gil tapped the White Azure Divine Sword hanging from his waist.

"Collect the testimony of the victims and thoroughly investigate the scene without any leaks to expose the corruption. It's a method of imposing a huge fine to make an example of one to warn a hundred."

"Basic."

"That's right. It's the most basic method."

"But I have rarely seen a case where making an example of one to warn a hundred works. I think it will continue to be the same this time."

It was a valid opinion. Jang So-gil immediately nodded his head.

"Of course, that's true. That's how merchants are. They are a tribe who live on their own pride, thinking that the one who got caught was incompetent, but I am different."

"Did you look in the mirror this morning?"

"I'm fine because I'm actually handsome."

"You are truly a merchant among merchants."

"I don't know what to do with myself when you praise me like that."

"...Then the first method is a stopgap measure, and what is the second?"

"It's the display of prices. Even if the country can't set an exact price, if each store writes down the price of their own store, the customer can know the regular price."

Gumen Long slapped his knee.

"A brilliant idea. If they write down the name and price of the food and stick it on the wall, we can prevent them from charging different prices depending on the person."

"But this method is also not perfect. If they leave the price blank and just say they'll charge the market price, there's no answer."

"Market price?"

"It refers to the price at which a product is traded in the market, but in reality, it means that the price changes from time to time. In the case of things like liquor or seafood, the price can jump around due to supply problems, so it's a part that needs to be taken into consideration."

"I see. That's right."

"If the imperial family is going to use Luoyang as a model to reorganize the system in the future, this is realistically the best policy."

"That's true. Because it's a method that they can also follow. Then what is the third method?"

"I didn't say there was a third method."

"Usually, an inspector leaves what he really wants to do for last. I know there's a third one. Speak."

"The Alliance Leader has come to know me too well. Alright, this is the last method."

Jang So-gil, who had grinned, untied his bundle of stories, and an absurd story came out.

Dumbfounded, Gumen Long's eyes widened, and his mouth gradually opened. Still, Jang So-gil continued his story.

After a long time, when Jang So-gil had finished speaking, Gumen Long burst into a loud laugh, shedding tears.

"What a madman. I'm sure the imperial family will allow it."

"What about you, Alliance Leader? Will you allow it?"

"Well, morally, I don't think I should allow it. But there's also the merit you've established so far. And since it seems interesting to me, I'll allow it. Do as you wish."

Permission was granted.

Jang So-gil bowed his head deeply.

"Thank you."

(End of Chapter)