Chapter 13: The Righteous Village (Part 1)

  The night fell slowly, and the entire town of Zhifang also closed its gates early due to the martial law decree received by the county magistrate from Wuchang Prefecture in the afternoon. The streets that should have been bustling with travelers and bird-walkers were now empty, and all the doors were tightly shut. Except for the night watchmen and the patrol officers, there was hardly any noise on the streets. Even the usual hubbub of the brothels and casinos was much reduced, with fewer touts and madams shouting out their wares. Perhaps only the opium dens remained unaffected by the current chaotic situation in the province...

  The old men in the town felt uneasy, but it didn't affect anyone's mood. At this moment, the Yizhuang village five miles south of the paper mill town was filled with curses and laughter, shouts and cheers, under the illumination of nearly a hundred giant lanterns, like a small city. As night fell, the arrival of tax collectors made the scene even more lively. Perhaps for Kui Sheng, who used to be a bandit, and his Yizhuang village, the night was just the beginning of their daily harvest...

  "Master Kuai is wise, since brothers followed you and were recruited by the imperial court, a position of a battalion commander was promised. Now we are in this paper mill town border, whoever sees us must give us three points of face, no matter if it's the county official or anyone else, even if they bring a box of silver to bribe us, it's still our word that counts, haha, it's so satisfying... much more comfortable than hiding in the mountains and forests every day..."

  In comparison to the lively atmosphere of the outer courtyards, the main hall of the Yi Zhuang - Zhongyi Hall was much more subdued. Inside the hall, apart from the robust man sitting on a tiger skin at the center, there were only eight other men and several maids dressed in red silk uniforms. One of the maids had tears welling up in her eyes, but her face was frozen in a stiff smile as she was being hugged by a scar-faced man who was flattering Qi Sheng. The man's hands were also indecently exploring the maid's clothing, and he was laughing loudly and brazenly.

  In the great hall, several others also knew his temperament and saw nothing unusual, either drinking water or talking in low voices with each other, as if they hadn't seen anything!

  These eight men were the Eight Great Golden Guards under Kui Xing, and in this Jiangxia territory, their notorious names were not much lower than that of Kui Xing. If one were to discuss their cruelty, it's likely that a few of them surpassed even him.

  Kui Ye, Kui Sheng was a tall and sturdy middle-aged man. Over the years of struggling, he had been through wind and rain, facing either the pursuit of government troops or the hostility of other horse bandits. Sometimes, he even had to fight against the local landlord's family guards. Such experiences had long made his originally slender figure robust. Seeing that in the grand hall, before he could speak, a man who was holding a small servant girl in his arms and teasing her took the lead in flattering him. However, Kui Sheng's expression did not show any sign of pleasure, but instead, he subtly furrowed his brow.

  "All of you, go downstairs! Don't forget to close the door!"

  Inside the temple, several maidservants went out. The little maid who was originally held in the arms of the man with a scar on his face suddenly had some spirit on her desperate face. She struggled and broke free from the man's embrace. Her clothes were disheveled, revealing a large patch of snow-white skin on her chest, as if the apron in front of her chest had been untied by the scar-faced man, who was now holding it in his hand and smelling the fragrance on it.

  "Yes, sir..."

  Several little maids hurried out of the grand hall, but before leaving, they still exchanged a cup of water for each of the people present, and then closed the door.

  "The accounting department has already counted this month's income... let everyone take a look and then... is there anything else to say?"

  He put down the teacup in his hand, and a cold smile hung on Kui Sheng's face. He picked up an account book placed next to him and threw it at a man who was eating pastries from the table next to him with a loud "whoosh".

  That man hadn't taken it seriously at first, but when he casually flipped open the account book that Kui Sheng had thrown over and glanced through it briefly, his expression suddenly became strange. He seemed uncertain, quickly flipping through it from cover to cover before handing it to another person beside him, then lowered his head in silence.

  "How's it going, Second Brother? You've been with me for the longest time, have you figured out anything?"

  Kui Sheng let out a cold hum, and his face grew even colder with laughter.

  "This..."

  “....”

  The account book had been passed around among the crowd in the hall, and finally returned to Kui Sheng's hands. However, when faced with Kui Sheng's questioning, no one dared to speak up, because they all discovered that this time, the usually calm Kui Sheng was truly angry!

  "Lao Er's third team handed over 6,238 taels of silver, 120 bolts of cloth, 30 rifles and three fine horses this month, which is six-tenths less than last month..."

  "The four teams of Hu Tou submitted 6,180 taels of silver, 115 rolls of cloth, 30 rifles and 4 good horses this month, which is less than half of last month..."

  "Wu Zhi's five teams handed over 5,831 taels of silver, 120 bolts of cloth, 25 rifles and 2 good horses this month, which is six-tenths less than last month..."

  "You poisoned the old tiger's five teams this month, handing over 6,310 taels of silver, 85 rolls of cloth, 20 quick guns, and 0 good horses, which is less than half of last month..."

  "Also, your six teams of mud loaches have submitted 5780 taels of silver, 100 rolls of cloth, 25 quick guns and 2 good horses this month, which is less than last month by six tenths..."

  "Hum, you Wang San have also played a small trick on me. This month's tribute is 7,280 taels of silver, 130 bolts of cloth, 30 guns, and 5 fine horses, which is four and a half tenths less than last month..."

  "Xiao Yan is a newcomer, so it's okay if he's a bit short-handed... but, Dao Ba... I assigned the richest villages of the Lu family to you, take a look at what kind of results you brought me: 8430 taels of silver, 120 bolts of cloth, 50 rifles, and 5 fine horses. Compared to last month, it's less than seven-tenths! Dao Ba, can you explain the reason?"

  Kui Sheng's face was filled with a chill, and recently he had also heard rumors from his subordinates. It seemed that some people felt that their own strength was sufficient, their wings were hard, and they began to take an interest in the tiger skin under his buttocks. Especially since many people were spreading rumors that he had secretly taken all of the Zhao family's silver reserves, which had been stored for hundreds of years, causing the atmosphere at the Yi Zhuang to become strange recently...

  The scar on his face was the same as the one who had previously teased Xiaobi. Kui Sheng's dissatisfaction with him over the past few days was not just a little, among the hundreds of brothers in this righteous village, who didn't know that the small servants in the village were his private property? Among the eight powerful men under him, except for this former old dragon head (Kui Sheng's father-in-law)'s adopted son, who else dared to be presumptuous in front of him.

  He treated him quite well, as one of the eight powerful men under his command, he was the only one with a cavalry of over 300 people. The wealthy and prestigious area near the paper mill, more than 70% of which was given to him. However, he not only led the way in changing the rule of handing over 70%, but also secretly recruited his subordinates on a large scale. Now, there are probably five or six hundred people following him, posing a threat to his own position!

  For these increasingly arrogant horse thieves, he knew that for them, strength was the key to others' allegiance. So, for these subordinates who were clearly wavering between him and Scarface, although he would have liked to take them all out and execute them one by one, he had to wait until after he dealt with Scarface.

  "How come there's still no news from one eye? Didn't Knife Scar secretly take care of it?"

  His face grew colder, and his eyes locked onto the scar-faced man. A few months ago, during a conflict with another group of horse bandits in Jiangxia, his only confidant, who was also the leader of the original eighth squad he had sent to monitor Scarface, had unexpectedly lost his life. With no other choice, he had found a few clever young men, including one who had infiltrated Scarface's ranks, and they had all performed well over this period of time. Although only one small team had been poached from Scarface, there had never been any mistakes, and many useful messages had come from Scarface's side.

  He didn't think it was necessary to personally take action, and he also knew that the 8th team's actions were a bit too much. So, when it came to putting his own men into the team, he maintained a permissive attitude. However, this doesn't mean he won't find fault with him in the future. First, he secretly contacted Ma Jiahezi, and then swallowed up Xiao Huangzhuang, which was personally assigned to him by Scar. It's not impossible that Scar couldn't bear to get rid of one of his eyes, otherwise, how could it be that until now, he still hasn't returned to report back to him?