Chapter 32: The Power Chart (Part 2)
Just before Song Qing crossed over, the two families in the east and north of the city had a fight. Sun Manxiang from the north side often hired some military households to help with the fight because he was next to the Wei's residence. With many of his men being former mountain bandits, they almost always managed to suppress the east side. However, this time the east side had contacted Su Xiaoyi from the south and together they defeated the north side thoroughly. If not for the fact that many troops were stationed in Xuzhou Wei on that side, things might have gotten even bigger. In the end, it was settled with Sun Manxiang paying compensation.
In the east and north of the city, this time in the big war, Sun Manxiang and Liao Hong were both famous people, so naturally no one paid too much attention. The ones who stood out were Su Xiaoyi from the south of the city. For years, the south of the city had been in a chaotic situation with various shops standing together but not belonging to each other, and the strength of the big shots was about the same, so there was never anyone who could suppress the heroes. Until two years ago, Su Xiaoyi suddenly rose up, and the Jianghu figures in the south of the city finally had their own representative.
This Su Xiao Yi is an outsider, and it's said that he came from Jiangnan. People from there are supposed to be gentle as jade, with calm personalities, but this person is completely the opposite, with a personality like raging fire, daring and ruthless. After arriving in Xuzhou, relying on his seven or eight brothers for support, he quickly expanded his territory, his reputation and influence steadily growing. This time, when he went out to help with the gang fight, he reached the peak of his life. It's said that after winning the fight and returning to the south of the city, many shops voluntarily surrendered to him, paying him money every month.
Most of the Xu Zhou Garrison is in the north of the city, and there is also a part in the west. Adding to that are the 5,000 people from the Left Garrison of Xu Zhou. The west side is actually like half a military camp. There are relatively few civilians, which is why those lawless areas appear. If you compare the Jianghu forces alone, the west side is actually the weakest.
However, due to the existence of military households, they will not be bullied by others from the three sides, and they can balance each other. After all, no matter how powerful the Jianghu figures are, they do not dare to provoke the imperial court's military guards, at least not openly opposing them. This is also the reason why Sun Manxiang can stand firm in the east and south of the city, and in the west, although there have been no top-notch figures appearing in recent years, they have not been bullied either. Song Qing actually understands that no matter how well one mixes in Jianghu, it's still not as important as getting promoted within the Wei Suo.
Although this principle is correct, if he wants to promote himself in the Wei Suo and let his father Song Hu promote, it all depends on money. Without money, even if you have military achievements, it's useless. And if you want to make money, being a black-hearted person is the best way. He also wanted to do some business, but doing business requires capital, not to mention that if you don't mix well in this circle, the better your business is, the more painful it will be to suffer losses. These two things are actually complementary and indispensable to each other.
As for the west of Xuzhou City, the most famous one is not some Jianghu figure, but Zhou Xu, a legendary local tyrant. Although it's said that he also made his fortune by fighting and killing, those were things of the past. By this generation, the Zhou family had already cleaned up their act, and with the previous generation producing a jinshi, they could now barely be considered a scholarly family, a family of officials and scholars, and not on the same level as the other three old men, who actually didn't have much to do with each other.
This Mr. Zhou's family also has a lot of business, but they are all warehouses and butcher shops, after all, as a scholar-official family, they have to consider their reputation, and they can't do too many shady businesses. However, there are rumors in the village that the Zhou family's real source of income is hidden in the countryside, where they have a special estate, and every year, some women and children who were kidnapped or sold into slavery would be brought there. The Zhou family naturally denies these allegations, but more and more people claim to have witnessed it with their own eyes. It's hard to say what's true and what's not, but one thing is certain: the Zhou family's wealth and power are growing by the day, which is something that can't be achieved just through their legitimate businesses outside.
Song Qing and his family lived near the west of the city. If we consider the closeness of their relationships, they should have dealt with Zhou Jin first. However, this Zhou official was the most difficult to deal with. The Zhou family had been in Xuzhou for four generations, and each generation produced talented and capable people, making them more prosperous than the previous one. Compared to the other three families, they were much stronger. Moreover, the relationship between the Zhou family and the Wei family was very good, with a deep friendship that had developed over several generations. Almost everyone spoke highly of him, and in many matters, both sides cooperated closely, making it impossible to make a move against them for now.
Moreover, there are many ruthless and cunning people in the human trafficking business. Even if there was no relationship with Wei Suo, Song Qing would not choose to confront him. At least for now, he wouldn't take the initiative to look for trouble. His gaze had already shifted towards the southern part of the city, or rather, the area where the south and west sides of the city intersected. There were many lawless areas similar to Wu Laohei's there. If he could make a move, his strength would increase greatly, and it wouldn't be a problem to support dozens more people.
There's another reason to prepare for this place, locally there are several big households because of mutual fire and the situation is quite big, some were killed on the spot, the killer is currently being wanted by the government, so many plots of land are currently in a vacuum state, that is, this half month's thing, if you can get these plots of land, it will not be a problem to eat several successes, all the money earned will be his own, and he can also do his own business in these places, this is the real big scene.
The only worry is that Su Xiao-yi from the south of the city has also set his sights on it, ready to snatch up both the land and the shop. This is actually quite reasonable, as we are all just trying to make a living in this chaotic world. When this place had an owner, I still had to be mindful of it; now that it's unclaimed territory, it's just a matter of who has the greater skill.
Su Xiao Yi's situation, Song Qing specially found Ding Kui to ask in detail. This man has seven or eight old brothers under his command, all of whom came with him from Jiangnan, and none of them have the gentle temperament of people from Jiangnan. They are also different from the heroic spirit of Jiangbei or even the north, but rather have a bit more of the ferocity of the Fujian people. In short, they are not easy to mess with. This guy has been on the run for over two years and has four or five dozen capable fighters in addition to his seven or eight core members. The rest, totaling around three or four hundred people, can be mobilized at any time.
In comparison, Song Qing was much weaker. Even if he added up all the people who could fight under his command, there were only about 40 of them. Even if he borrowed some from his father Song Hu, he would have at most around 100 men. This was a ratio of one to three or even one to four. Therefore, he had the idea of letting Ding Kui join forces with him as well. This future philosopher also had a considerable reputation in the military household, and while Song Qing was famous only within his own thousand-household unit, Ding Kui had connections with people in other places and could bring over many helping hands to assist and cheer him on.
