BXBX NOVEL Chapter 83
Qin shujian fell into deep thought as he looked at the mountain scenery in front of him.
From the beginning to the end.
He was trying to test where Gu Feng’s bottom line was.
But it was a pity.
No matter how he tried to probe, the other party did not reveal anything.
This also made Qin shujian understand one thing. The Liangshan stronghold, a second-class faction, had an important status in the eyes of the chengyun Merchant House, which was connected to the thirteen constabularies of the great Zhao.
No.
Or to be more accurate.
In the mortal domain, they had a decisive position.
Qin shujian wasn’t so arrogant as to think that a group of martial entry-level six mountain bandits and a martial entry-level ten mountain bandit leader like him could really dominate the outside world.
The place where he could really claim to be the king.
In other words, it was on the small piece of land in the mortal domain.
And this ...
Or was it because there could not be anyone stronger than martial entry-level ten in the mortal domain?
Otherwise, it was still unknown whether a second-class force could maintain its current status.
However ...
Gu Feng’s visit this time had allowed Qin shujian to see some good things.
The antique calligraphy and paintings that had been piled up all this time finally had a place to be put to good use.
5,000 taels of silver had been exchanged for food. Based on the current population of the Liangshan stronghold, it was enough to last them for a long time. Even if the Liangshan stronghold continued to expand, it would still be able to last for a long time.
He thought of expanding.
Qin shujian suddenly had an idea.
—
In Zhongyi Hall.
Qin shujian immediately summoned Zheng Fang and the others.
“What did the master call us here for?” Everyone looked at each other, and Zheng Fang was the first to ask.
Qin shujian looked at the few of them and said calmly, ” how many villages are there in the messy Stone Forest and the Liangshan Marsh, and how many people are there? ”
Upon hearing this.
Zheng Fang and the others exchanged glances.
In the end, Xu Yuanming said, ” there are seven villages in the messy Stone Forest. The larger ones have a population of more than a thousand, while the smaller ones only have one to two hundred people. The estimated population is about six to seven thousand.
It was the same as the Liangshan stronghold.
In the past, chu n stronghold and other forces would also collect protection fees from nearby villages.
The way they collected the villagers was also based on the number of people they had. So, even if Xu Yuanming didn’t say that he knew the number of people in each village like the back of his hand, he could still roughly guess the number.
On the other side.
there are five villages in the Liangshan Marsh, “Wang tiezhu replied. the larger ones have a thousand people, while the smaller ones have one to two hundred people. The total population is around three thousand people.
“In the past, how much silver did these villages pay each year?” Qin shujian asked again.
Wang tiezhu did not hesitate and immediately replied, “”According to the ratio of the number of young and strong people in the village, each young and strong person will be paid one tael of silver a year.”
“The messy Stone Forest is the same.”
Upon hearing this.
Qin shujian had a rough idea.
According to what Wang tiezhu said, there were five villages in the Liangshan territory, and a total of two to three thousand people. If the old and young were excluded, the young and strong would only make up a third or a quarter of the population.
In a year, it was less than a thousand silver.
Based on the population ratio of the Liangshan stronghold in the past, they would have to consume seven to eight hundred taels of silver in a year.
This way, they could barely break even.
Qin shujian finally understood why the Liangshan stronghold had been so poor in the past.
“I’m planning to change the rules of offering now.” Qin shujian muttered to himself for a moment before he spoke slowly.
yes! Zheng Fang cupped his hands. I hope you can speak frankly, fortress head. We’ll listen!
“In the future, the ratio of the young men’s heads collected by the village will be changed to the number of households and people. Within five people, each household will take one tael of silver. After that, for every five more people, one more tael will be collected.”
Qin shujian looked at everyone’s expressions as he spoke.
After a pause, he continued. also, the Liangshan stronghold is recruiting mountain bandits from all villages. As long as they are young and strong, every family will have one young and strong man. The silver tribute will be halved. If there are three of them, the silver tribute will be waived.
If every village follows the population ratio and more than half of the young and strong men join the Liangshan stronghold, they will be exempted from paying any tribute.”
As soon as he said this.
Many people’s expressions changed slightly.
Only Zheng Fang’s expression did not change, but the hand that was stroking his beard seemed to have stopped for a moment.
...
Qin shujian ignored him and continued, ” by the same logic, if less than 30% of the young and strong men in every village join the Liangshan stronghold, every household in the village will have to pay double the silver.
If you don’t, you know what to do!”
“Don’t worry, master. We know what to do!”
The others all lowered their heads in response.
From the last sentence, they could smell a strong killing intent.
No matter who it was, they all understood what Qin shujian was planning to do.
He was clearly trying to expand the Liangshan stronghold.
Moreover ...
It was still the most direct and unyielding way to expand.
If they followed the orders of the other party, the mountain Bandit population of the Liangshan stronghold would definitely increase by two or three times in a short period of time.
For the same reason.
...
The stronger the Liangshan stronghold was, the more benefits they would receive as members of the Liangshan stronghold.
However, this was not without its hidden dangers.
“If we do that, the amount of silver we’ll be offering will be greatly reduced. It’ll be a big problem if we have more brothers,” Niu Feng said in a deep voice.
don’t worry, I know that. Don’t forget what we do. The silver from the village is not our main source of income. Qin shujian said with a faint smile.
Since he had made this decision, he must have thought about it.
Upon hearing this.
Niu Feng suddenly understood.
That’s right.
They were the forces of the forest.
There were many sources of income in the Greenwood business.
Each of them was more and faster than the protection fee.
Especially with the current strength of the Liangshan stronghold, there were probably not many who could go up against it.
In that case, it wasn’t impossible for him to extend his hand to the boundary outside of the Liangshan Marsh and messy Stone Forest.
Soon after.
Qin shujian then looked at Zheng Fang and said, ” the martial arts Hall has to do a good job of imparting cultivation techniques. Try your best to increase their strength in the short term.
At the very least, it has to be something that can be brought out and not be completely useless.”
“Don’t worry, chieftain. There won’t be any problems with the martial arts Hall.”
“Yes.”
—
At night.
In the room.
Qin shujian played with a bronze token in his hand, and the information related to the token appeared in his mind.
He was actually very interested in this token that he had obtained by accident, as well as the information about the unknown cave dwelling hidden in the token.
It was just that dealing with starter village #23012 was more important, so he didn’t pay much attention to it.
Now that he was free for the time being, Qin shujian decided to take a look to see where this so-called unknown cave abode was.
He immersed his mind into the bronze token.
A faint connection was born and gradually became solid.
At the same time.
The coordinates of a place appeared in Qin shujian’s mind.