Chapter Thirty-Four: Observation

  As a thinker, Ding Kui thought too much, until he accepted the errand and walked halfway with Song Qing, only to suddenly realize that he still didn't know the purpose of this trip. After asking, he fell into deep thought again, and after a while, he sighed and said: "After all, following you can eat meat, if it were me, I could take down 30% of Wu Laohei's faction, and for this life, I would be content, where would I still want to swallow other places? It seems that people are really different, our military households are all serving the land, making people stupid. People like you are really rare, otherwise there wouldn't be so many people suffering!"

  Ding Kui said this, and Song Qing also expressed that temporarily, the people of Xuzhou are very bold and love to make trouble, but the military households who should be the most troublesome are actually very honest. Of course, it's not ruled out that some high-ranking officials, including the commander-in-chief, were also from military households, but after all, they are still a minority. Most ordinary military households would rather help the adults take care of the farm than take up their knives and go out to fight for their future, or even just to get enough food and drink. This is indeed a very difficult phenomenon to understand.

  It's better this way, convenient for himself to do things. Song Qing didn't want to fight with others outside and have a group of people in the Wei Su causing trouble for him. Now there is a father-son duo from the Xue family who has already given him a headache. It's said that these two are stirring up something again, but they haven't gotten any confirmation yet, and they don't take them seriously either. So for now, he can't bother with that side of things. After this matter is settled, he must think of a way to help his father advance and promote the official position, then he won't have to worry about the Xue family anymore.

  All the way thinking, unknowingly arrived at the intersection of Chengxi and Chennan. If Xu Zhou City still has some memories of Song Qing's predecessor, this place is completely a strange area. Compared to Wu Laohei's place, this is actually a real mixed fish and dragon, it's just a miscellaneous pot that can hold anything.

  This is a separate area, or it can be said that no one has deliberately opened up, because Song Qing can see small pieces of wasteland and grasslands in the surrounding areas. If you don't look inside, this place is actually no different from any wilderness outside the city. However, once you cast your gaze towards the interior, you'll discover that this is probably the largest leisure and entertainment venue for the lower-class people within and outside Xuzhou City, where everywhere is filled with ordinary-looking but flushed-faced gamblers shouting and cheering.

  Where there are casinos, there will naturally be facilities such as wine shops, tea houses and restaurants. Various small dens and secret doors will not be scarce either, forming an entire industrial chain. Song Qing even saw yamen runners and military officers from the guards, who also had a good number of them strolling around here, probably because they thought that consumption venues in various parts of the city were too expensive, so they came to this side to enjoy the service. If one could take down a piece of land here, the income would definitely be much greater than Wu Laohei's side, and the connection with all parties would also be much closer.

  This place must be taken down!

  Song Qing had always been thinking about how to build relationships with the military officers inside Wei Suo, and the officials in the state city were also very important. However, he had not found a way to do so before. But if he could get some shops here, the relationship between the two sides would naturally become closer. At that time, spending more silver would definitely make some of these people his own, and when his father was promoted in the future, these people would be a great force. This made him even more determined, and this time he must succeed and not fail.

  "Hey, Qing Ge, over there are the remaining shops that have been vacated. If I'm not mistaken, there should be nine of them." Ding Kui pointed to the front and said: "Among the nine shops, the first two are gambling dens, and the rest are wine houses and restaurants that rely on the gambling dens for a living. However, there are also many capable men inside. At that time, it was because of a conflict between the two gambling dens that they gathered people to fight, resulting in loss of life. The owners of several shops took their money and ran away, and since the officials were always here, no new people came in. Now that the officials have just left, it's said that Su Xiao Yi has already started sending people over, and locals also want to take over one or two shops. In short, they're all not easy to deal with!"

  Following Ding Kui's finger, Song Qingchao looked over and saw nearly twenty houses standing in a row, with a small road in the middle, which should be the original distribution line of the two forces. Although these shops are not in the most central location, they can also be considered to be in a bustling area, and business should be good. However, at this moment, no one has opened for business, and there are only some idle men wandering around, as well as several men who are clearly not of good character, sitting on the ground with nothing to do, seemingly waiting for the reception of new forces.

  You should know that this is not the inner city, the inner city has only a million or so people, and it's already been divided up by the shops inside. This side is outside the city, and in theory, people from all over Xuzhou County and Wei Suo could come here to consume, as well as traveling merchants, wandering heroes, and big thieves who have no tomorrow. Such a good place, as long as it can be operated, will definitely not make little money, and it's normal for people to fight for it. My own "territory" is not close to here, but I still came over to grab a piece of the action.

  "Go, go take a look first!" Song Qing's foot had just stepped out when he suddenly found his sleeve being pulled back. He turned his head to see that it was Ding Kui and asked in surprise: "What's wrong? Isn't it convenient to go over now?"

  "Look over there, Brother Qing!" This time, Ding Kui didn't use his hand to point, but rather slightly nodded his chin towards the several men in green robes who had suddenly appeared in front of the shop. "Those are all Su Xiao Yi's people. The brothers under his command all wear green robes and carry short knives. It's said that they also have iron rulers hidden in their sleeves."

  Song Qing furrowed his brow, thinking to himself that Su Xiao-yi was indeed not an easy opponent. People who walked the path of the grasslands were most afraid of becoming established, and if they swarmed like a beehive, it would be easier to deal with them. However, if they formed on a large scale, it might not be so easy to provoke them. Although he hadn't seen how they fought against others yet, judging from their almost uniform clothing, Su Xiao-yi was probably not just thinking of being a local tyrant, but rather aiming for the path of a regional strongman. This time, it wouldn't be as easy to succeed.

  There's another thing, Su Xiaoyi's reputation is definitely louder than his own. After all, she has risen for two years and basically unified the south of the city. With the big battle a few days ago, her name was even brought to the top. Although he can also be said to be daring to fight and kill, most of them are still at the level of the guards, but these city characters don't interact much, and their intimidation here is not enough. He has been wandering around for half a day without being recognized by anyone, but Ding Kui is considered a semi-familiar face, and several idle men have already come to greet him.

  However, this piece of land was a must-win for Song Qing, so he didn't think about it anymore. After Su Xiao Yi's people left, he led Ding Kui over and rushed straight to the several burly men squatting at the entrance of the store, walked up close, cupped his hands in all directions, and said loudly: "I am Song Qing, please ask the person in charge to come out and talk!"

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