The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 96 : Accumulating Qi (1)

A full-fledged winter had arrived. When one breathed, white breath came out, and when one walked, white snow was stepped on. The children Jang So-gil had taken in swept the snow with brooms.

The children were now apprentice merchants of the Great Cloud Guild. They moved their bodies diligently and learned chores.

"Have you finished cleaning?"

"We'll be done in a little while, hyung."

"Take your time."

When Yang Gwan spoke, the children nodded their heads and then, shouting 'wa-', ran off. Yang Gwan, who was watching them, frowned. It was because the pain in his knee still remained.

He pulled over a chair that a gardener, who was pruning branches in the yard, had been using and sat down.

'That damn Ugly Dragon bastard.'

Even if a martial artist's knee was shattered, they healed faster than ordinary people. It was partly because their regenerative ability was excellent, but also because the martial arts of a martial artist generally broke bones or flesh cleanly. Even if they got injured fighting each other, a clean wound would heal quickly and regenerate even stronger.

But this time, it was a little different. It was because Yi Dongpyeong's methods were very dirty.

He broke, twisted, and crushed. The doctor had said that since it was a complex fracture, it was on a different level from an ordinary injury.

As he had said, if he hadn't rested all this time, he would have been limping for the rest of his life.

'Thanks to that, I've wasted a considerable amount of time.'

Ye-er had become Jang So-gil's Dharma protector and was acting like his shadow. Jin Sangran had become the general manager of the Great Cloud Guild and was rapidly expanding its power. The only one who was doing nothing and just freeloading was Yang Gwan.

He felt impatient, but such a feeling was of no help in wound regeneration.

Yang Gwan, controlling his breathing, calmly looked up at the sky.

A white hawk flew high, as if it would touch the clouds.

"Is it winter?"

Winter had several meanings.

A season with nothing to eat. A season that killed people with the cold. A season that concluded the year.

And it was a season to store up strength until the coming spring.

"Three months from now."

It was a time to curl up and gather strength.

Yang Gwan recalled Young Master Jang So-gil's story.

* * *

A private meeting with the Martial Alliance Leader. Jang So-gil spoke without hesitation.

"The model that the imperial family wants cannot be made. It was an impossible story from the beginning."

"I also think so. Politics and governance are not something that one genius does, but something that the civil and military officials create by squeezing out their time and wisdom."

"And yet, His Majesty wants such a model. Why is that? It's because he has the lighthearted thought that it would be good if it works out, and it can't be helped if it doesn't. He just throws it out there, and if it succeeds, it's my merit for giving such an order. And if it fails, it's the heart of a politician who attributes it to your lack of virtue."

"This fellow is really going all out just because we're alone."

"It can't help but be a somewhat rude story. Because I am now a person who has decided to stay in the Martial Alliance, not the imperial family. So I will speak boldly. Let's just pretend to do it."

Pretending to do it. A phrase with many meanings.

Gumen Long, stroking his beard, replied.

"The phrase 'pretending to do it' means that you will do something. What are you planning to do?"

"I'm thinking of creating a merchant guild."

"A merchant guild? What kind of merchant guild?"

"A merchant guild directly run by the Martial Alliance. Not just to the extent of collecting taxes under the name of a protection fee, but the Martial Alliance will do everything from its founding to its management."

There was a profit. They could touch a huge sum of money that would make the taxes they had received so far feel like a joke.

But the disadvantages were even greater. Gumen Long shook his head.

"It's not just bold, it's a crazy statement. Even now, the merchants cannot be controlled. It's the same for the imperial family and for us that we haven't found any solution other than to press them down with force. In such a situation..."

If the Martial Alliance were to run a merchant guild, how much would the merchants run wild?

The only means of control that martial artists knew was martial power. But even that could not be used carelessly in a place like Luoyang.

How much loss had the Martial Alliance suffered until Jang So-gil's appointment?

"Besides, money calls for power. It means that ghouls will flock."

Merchants who were skilled at handling money. Martial artists of the Unorthodox Faction and the Black Way who were used to intimidating with force. Martial artists of the orthodox sect who acted all high and mighty as if they were fair and just, but became snobs in front of money.

No one was absolutely right.

"The world is wide, and there are many who seek collusion. The human world is turbid, and life is something where you can't know what's one inch ahead. But why are you trying to bring even greater chaos to such a turbid world?"

If the Martial Alliance were to create a merchant guild directly, it would be a large merchant guild that had never existed in the history of the martial world. They would have to create a 'heaven' rank above the ranks of A, B, C, and D.

How many ghouls would flock? How much chaos would arise?

"I am a person who did not feel fear even when competing with the Heavenly Demon. But thinking of the backlash that this incident will bring, fear rushes in."

"You don't need to worry so deeply."

"Isn't it a problem that needs to be thought about deeply and worried about? Creating a merchant guild will be difficult."

"It is certainly a difficult task, but what if it's not about creating a new one?"

"Not creating a new one? What does that mean?"

"It's about taking in an existing merchant guild as a subordinate of the Martial Alliance. Absorption, merger, integration."

"Is that possible?"

Merchants pursued profit.

If they became affiliated with the Martial Alliance, what kind of profit would there be for them to follow?

"For them, the act of becoming a merchant guild affiliated with the Martial Alliance is in itself a profit. Because the Martial Alliance has the trust that it does not provide false protection."

"False protection?"

"There are many groups that only pretend to protect while receiving a protection fee. And there are also cases like the Diancang Sect in Yunnan."

They could just take the protection fee and then pretend not to know when something happened. Or they could protect them normally and then kill them if something went wrong. Merchants were always anxious even while paying a protection fee to be protected.

"But how reassuring would it be if the Martial Alliance protected them?"

"That's true. Then what are the other benefits?"

"The easiness of the Martial Alliance."

"...What?"

"I'll be honest. In the eyes of a merchant, the Martial Alliance is a feast. The one who manages the money is a mess, and because they look down on commerce while wasting money on face-saving, they have no intention of learning. If you're determined to fleece them, you can fleece them as much as you want. If I had the backing of a plausible noble family, I could suck this Martial Alliance dry without leaving a single drop of blood in three years."

Gumen Long looked at Jang So-gil with a dumbfounded expression. Jang So-gil's face was not one that was telling a lie or throwing a joke. It was an expression that even felt a little bit of pity.

It must be pity for Gumen Long, who had led such a Martial Alliance until now.

"Since it's easy to fleece, if the Martial Alliance creates a directly managed merchant guild, many blood-sucking insects will be attracted from here and there. Even if they are such guys, if we absorb and merge them, they will become a merchant guild of the Martial Alliance. So expanding the power is not something the Alliance Leader needs to worry about."

"I-isn't that obvious? The fact that such guys are attracted is in itself a problem, so do I look like I'm worried about expanding the power now!"

"But Alliance Leader, you don't have to worry about them being attracted either."

He's really playing with people.

Without even hiding his agitated heart, Gumen Long's face turned red.

"Why is that? Blood-sucking insects that will suck the marrow of the Martial Alliance will stick to us. Why don't I have to worry?"

"It's a simple story. The blood-sucking insects will suck the blood of the Martial Alliance and fill their bellies. But..."

Jang So-gil, with a 'seuk-', drew his finger down from top to bottom.

"If you cut open that belly, the blood is bound to be vomited out. If you find the corruption and cut open the belly in the name of a fine, you can make them vomit out several times the blood they sucked."

"...!"

A proposal from a perspective he had never imagined.

A thunderbolt struck Gumen Long's head. He pointed at Jang So-gil with a trembling hand.

"Are you saying... you're going to deliberately make those guys embezzle?"

"There's no need to deliberately induce them. If you leave them alone, those guys will embezzle. There are fewer who won't."

Chuckling, Jang So-gil made a gesture of pulling a fishing rod.

"Alliance Leader, have you ever been fishing?"

"I enjoy it quite a bit."

"When you fish, don't you sprinkle bait?"

"That's right. If you sprinkle bait, the fish will gather."

"That's normal fishing, but in the far south, in Hainan, they use a method that goes one step further. It's a method called 'aquaculture'."

Aquaculture refers to gathering seafood such as fish or seaweed and creating an environment where they can grow well to breed them. If you provide appropriate food and a safe place, their numbers will increase explosively.

"If you make it like that, you don't have to go through the trouble of fishing from then on. Since the fish are gathered so densely, you just have to scoop them up with a net and eat them. My proposal is the same."

Merchants will embezzle even if you leave them alone. Then let's create an environment where it's easy to embezzle, and use the net called 'inspector' to catch the guys who have gathered in droves.

Gumen Long slapped his knee.

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant."

"Of course, among them, there will be merchants who are truly upright and conscientious."

Just as a pearl is hidden in the mud.

Of course, there were conscientious people among the merchants.

"They should be treated preciously, and we can manage by cutting out the rotten ones first. Who will do that? I will do it. I will confirm with my own eyes, cut out, sear, and suture. I will nurture those who are skilled and conscientious."

Gumen Long, stroking his neck, raised the corners of his mouth.

A directly managed merchant guild originally had more losses than gains. If it could not be managed properly, it was a hundred times better not to start.

But the Martial Alliance could do it. It was because there was a sharp blade called Jang So-gil.

This was a method that the imperial family could never follow. As long as the imperial family could not obtain Jang So-gil, they could not imitate it.

Then would the imperial family go to unreasonable lengths to take Jang So-gil? That was also not easy.

'Even if the emperor wants to have Jang So-gil. The civil and military officials will not agree.'

No matter how much he was the emperor, he valued justification. Even if the civil and military officials recognized Jang So-gil's ability, they would not recognize Jang So-gil's appointment.

Jang So-gil's proposal was truly a 'golden insect'. A proposal of a person crazy about money, who valued money the most.

To have such a person in the imperial family was impossible.

'Scholar, farmer, artisan, merchant. It can't be helped.'

It was human nature to divide even the principles of all things in the world into ranks. People also divided people into ranks.

A scholar who could become an official was the best, a farmer who made the most important rice was the second. An artisan who made tools that enriched life was the third. A merchant who did not make anything and lorded it over with the things that farmers and artisans had made was the last.

Merchants were lower than slaves.

To those who looked at the world from such a perspective, Jang So-gil's actions of creating a merchant guild and encouraging the embezzlement of merchants would become a strong justification to block his appointment.

A strong justification that would make it difficult for even the emperor to act easily.

"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."

The profit to be gained from operating a merchant guild was too attractive.

Since this method could also cut off the emperor's interest in Jang So-gil, it was even more attractive.

"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."

A golden plaque flew over. It was a symbol of the Alliance Leader's full support and trust.

Jang So-gil, who had received and stored the plaque, bent his waist.

"Thank you."

This was the full story of what had happened that day.

* * *

Yang Gwan opened his eyes.

His lord had decided what he had to do.

"Accumulating Qi."

The blood-sucking insects that would gather to suck the lifeblood of the Martial Alliance were not ordinary blood-sucking insects. Among them, there would be merchants, but there might be more martial artists.

The three months' time was a time to wait until their flesh was plump, and at the same time, a time to build up the strength to surpass them.

So that no one could touch his lord.

So that he could collect from any enemy.

He had to increase his strength.

That night.

For the three months of closed-door training, Yang Gwan and Jang So-gil disappeared from Luoyang.

(End of Chapter)