"Okay, Master, I'll treat you to dinner. How about the newly opened Quanfu Restaurant? The signature 'One Rabbit, Three Eats' there is very good."
"With such an ugly name, what kind of signature dish is it?"
A happy meal.
After sending his wife home, He Lingchuan returned to the city guard station and directly called Kestrel for questioning:
"You've been in Panlong City lately, right?"
Being woken up by He Lingchuan, Kestrel's voice sounded sleepy. It is a raptor that moves during the day, so it should be sleeping at this hour! "Yes, I have been walking back and forth a few times to deliver letters."
Elsewhere, carrier pigeons and cranes are used to deliver letters. Only in Panlongcheng do they have to run errands back and forth.
"Have you seen General Red?"
"I saw it." Kestrel twisted his neck, "Do you have any verbal news to convey?"
"Where has the Red General been for the past month?"
"I came back from the northern front line half a month ago. I stayed in Panlong City for nine days and then returned to the front line."
"Is she okay?" He Lingchuan added, "Is she not injured?"
In the Panlong Secret Realm, General Hong did not show up, but turned his power into armor and lent it to him to deal with the clone of Naluotian and the real person Sanshui. But he could see that this was not within the scope of Dafanghu's permission.
No matter how powerful the Red General is, he still lives in Dafang Hu. She acted openly against Dafang Hu’s will. How could it be possible that there was no cost at all?
Back then, the Hundred-Faced Nightmare himself was swallowed by the giant red shadow without even being able to dodge the two chains.
"General Red?" Kestrel tilted his head, "She is a demigod, and she will recover quickly even if she is injured. It's not like you don't know that."
"So she's been acting like normal?"
"He's still killing people on the front lines, he's very strong."
It seemed that General Red was fine. He Lingchuan shouted, tore off the meat and fed it a few chicken legs.
…
Four days later, Baicheng Station.
On Nanfang Commercial Road, this is the closest post station to Longchuan Lake, built right next to the water dock.
More than ten years ago, banditry was rampant in Longchuan, and the place was abandoned. It was not until Panlongcheng took over Xiqiao's territory that the Baicheng Station was rebuilt.
Even so, the caravan would rather take a detour than go here, so Baicheng Station is not open for the time being.
Only today, the inn is full of guests.
They are all uninvited guests.
Dozens of small boats sailed out from the Taki River. Special plate armor was erected on the top and around the boats to protect them from arrows.
They circled half a circle before stopping at the water dock, where more than a hundred people landed.
The scouts who had been sent out earlier had returned and reported to the first two people: "There is no ambush in the nearby forest, and there are nearly a hundred people inside and outside the inn. Butcher He is sitting outside the inn."
One of them sneered: "Humph, you are so brave, I might as well shoot him to death with one arrow."
Destroying someone's wealth is like killing one's parents. When the person named He is mentioned, everyone in Takigawa becomes itchy with hatred.
"Gang Leader Xu, please be patient." Another person said, "Even if we kill him, Panlong City will send a new leader."
Everyone was on alert and moved forward with subtle emotions. As the scouts said, the road was quite peaceful and there were no ambushes.
Not long after, the willows faded and the flowers brightened, and the Baicheng Station was clearly in sight.
The tables and chairs in the inn were moved outdoors, with a beautiful view of mountains and rivers. There was a person sitting at the table waving to them with a big smile, as if they were reunited with old friends.
This guy is the butcher He who everyone talks about in Takigawa? Is he too young?
The two leaders looked at each other, ordered the bandits to spread their guard, and walked forward with more than a dozen of his followers.
Behind He Lingchuan stood only Hu Min and the door panel. The other guards were several feet away to show their sincerity, otherwise the gangsters on the opposite side would not dare to come over.
There were two leaders walking opposite, one tall and one short, one fat and one thin.
He Lingchuan knew that the tall and fat man was Tao Lin, the leader of Qianjin Village, and the other, dark and thin short man, was Xu Zeshou, the leader of the Ball Flower Gang.
"Gang Leader Tao, Gang Leader Xu, please sit down!" He Lingchuan arranged two chairs opposite him.
Tao and Xu looked at each other, stood up and sat down. The cronies behind them took a few steps forward, forming a half-circle around He Lingchuan.
These people looked at them eagerly, but He Lingchuan turned a blind eye.
As soon as I sat down, I heard a sharp and ear-piercing "Woo" sound next to me.
Tao Lin frowned, Xu Zeshou's body trembled slightly, and he almost jumped up, but finally squatted down with a horse stance.
It turned out that the cast iron kettle on the stove had boiled.
He Lingchuan took in the two people's reactions and said with a smile while holding the pot: "Oh, sorry, this is a special iron pot from Mou State. There is a reed on the lid, which will make a sound when the water is boiled."
Local people use soup bottles to boil water, and rich people use porcelain, copper, and tin. The specialty of the eastern part of Mou State is the cast iron kettle, which has a round head and a short mouth, and is simple and strong.
The products from the eastern part of Mou State do not pay much attention to novel styles and exquisite patterns.
He grabbed two teacups, with tea leaves already placed in them. As soon as the boiling water was brewed and the tea soup was swirled, the warm aroma wafted out.
But Tao and Xu remained motionless.
Who dares to drink the tea of the chief officer and soldier?
Xu Zeshou said coldly: "Why did you invite us here?"
"I heard that the bayberry wine from Qianjinzhai and the pearls from Guihua Gang are both hot commodities outside. I personally like the bayberry wine from Qianjinzhai and use it every time I entertain guests."
Needless to say, the wine of Qianjinzhai has been praised all the way from Yuheng City to Baishawan. The water pond where the Guanhua Gang is entrenched produces pearl mussels. As long as they are raised well, pearls as big as longan can be produced, but unfortunately there are not many.
There is a black and white pearl in the old palace. It has a natural Tai Chi pattern, and it was also sold by the Ball Flower Gang.
He Lingchuan then added: "It can be seen that both gang leaders are experts in business. Then, I would like to negotiate a good deal with you."
Tao and Xu looked at each other again without saying a word, wanting to see what medicine he was selling in his gourd.
He Lingchuan took a box from underneath and placed it on the table.
He knew that the two of them did not dare to open the box, so he did this step for him.
The box slowly opened, and they saw two oval tokens lying on the brocade mat.
He Lingchuan took out his Grand Commander's Order and shook it twice, letting them see that the three tokens were made of the same material.
"Yuheng City wants to hire two gang leaders to be the guards on our Longchuan Trade Road."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "What to do?" Xu Zeshou was stunned, thinking that he had not removed his ears for too long and was hearing hallucinations. Tao Lin also frowned.
"Chief of Guards?"
"Not bad." He Lingchuan asked someone to take out the map of Longchuan, flatten it out, and draw two circles on it.
When the two gang leaders saw it, they realized that what he was encircling was the territory of his gang on the trade road, commonly known as the hunting ground.
In order to avoid conflicts, the medium and large-scale gangs in Takigawa have long divided the entire southern road, and small gangs can only make ends meet in the cracks.
The meeting place chosen by He Lingchuan, Baicheng Station, is the territory of Qianjin Village.
Of course, this kind of division of forces has never been officially recognized by the government. He Lingchuan outlined it very directly: "This is the looting scope of Qianjin Village, and this belongs to the Qiuhua Gang, right?"
"..." Facing the official family, the two of them didn't want to answer such an embarrassing question.
He Lingchuan put the two tokens into two circles respectively: "From now on, your gang no longer has to plunder, just set up checkpoints to collect tolls."
Wha, what?
The two gang leaders considered themselves well-informed, but they were still shocked by these words.
The cronies behind them also looked at each other in disbelief.
Everyone was thinking quickly, trying their best to digest the news. Xu Zeshou asked tentatively: "What does Commander He mean, from now on, let us hold the official badge and collect passage money from passing caravans?"
"Gang Leader Xu summarized the essence, but this is not called road money, this is called road tax."
The two of them were speechless.
Isn’t the so-called road tax the toll that various countries officially collect from caravans?
Water bandits often curse when they drink in private. How is this different from what they do? Because they have no official background, they dare to accept this money and call it robbery.
Is Commander He planning to recruit them and let them collect tolls for Yuheng City?
Is this recruitment?
Is this a security recruitment?
Whimsical!
"The current situation on the trade road is that the gang brothers are licking their swords and the passing caravans are on tenterhooks. My Yuheng City army patrolling back and forth is also time-consuming and laborious, and everyone is not happy." He Lingchuan took a sip of tea and said, "We must know how to do it.
Counting costs, all the road tax I collected was used for fighting, and there wasn’t much left in the treasury. Sometimes I had to pay it back; you guys play cat and mouse games with me every day, and you can’t make a lot of money, and your expenses are still less than
It used to be high. With this calculation, no one will make any money."
"Actually, isn't it all about money in the final analysis? How about this, you will collect the road tax, and we don't have to fight and kill each other. How good would it be to be harmonious and make money?"
When Tao Lin heard this, he finally couldn't help but said: "Why should we collect money for the official? How much does Yuheng City plan to give us?"
In the past, the old country of Xiqiao also tried to recruit people, and they did so several times, but the conditions they offered were extremely stingy. At most, Tao Lin was willing to be a minor official in the county, and so many of his subordinates had to be dispersed and resettled.
throughout.
The water bandits didn't read much, but they weren't stupid. This obviously meant breaking them up into parts and weakening the team, so of course they didn't agree.
Seeing that history was about to repeat itself, the two bandit leaders remained calm, while a few of their cronies behind them couldn't help but laugh.
Still want to play this trick? I’ll see through your tricks long ago!
Throwing out a small shrimp, you want to catch a giant whale? It's a pretty good idea.
He Lingchuan pretended not to see their contempt: "The tax collection standards are based on the official standards. There is no need to charge more or less, but the money collected -"
He paused for a moment, then saw that everyone was paying attention, and then continued: "It's all yours."
All, all? Others couldn't believe their ears. Xu Zeshou's heart skipped a beat, and he exchanged glances with Tao Lin.
He looked calm on the surface, with his hands folded in front of his chest, as if he were negotiating: "How much money can I charge for passing by? There are so many brothers who need to eat..."
He Lingchuan interrupted him: "How much? Do you know how nice it is to pay taxes on the road?"
"Everyone knows that murder and arson can make money quickly. But it's okay to do this business once or twice. The more times you do it, the risk goes up and the benefits go down. Not to mention that the gang's pension is getting heavier and heavier, and sometimes the money recovered from the robbery is
Isn’t it enough to spread out?”
Speaking of this, the two bandit leaders turned pale.