Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 588 Master Zhang is both tall and strong
Looking at Xia Lin's eyes, Hu Ye suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

How to describe it? This young man is fine when he doesn't smile or speak, but when he lowers his head slightly but rolls his eyes upward to look at people, he gives people a chilling feeling.

You have to understand that Master Hu is a man who has been through thick and thin. Over the years, as a bandit, he has seen all kinds of people, but this look in his eyes made Master Hu feel a tremor in his heart.

"Then I wonder what brilliant ideas you have?"

“I will contribute 5,000 taels as the initial contribution, and Brother Hu will contribute 5,000 taels as the final contribution. We will ask the county magistrate to solicit donations from the wealthy merchants and common people in the county. Brother Hu’s 5,000 taels will be returned in full, and the remaining amount will be split 20/80 between Brother Hu and the county magistrate.”

"Two?" A cold smile appeared on Master Hu's lips. "Isn't that a bit too few?"

"Secondly, it's the county magistrate's." Xu Shiji suddenly added.

"Oh? Hahahaha..." Master Hu slapped the table and exclaimed in admiration, "Excellent, excellent, this is indeed a superb method."

“Of course, that’s the way to apply for World Heritage status.” Xia Lin tapped the bowl on the table with his chopsticks. “As for my five thousand taels, consider it my pledge to Brother Hu. Brother Hu, don’t worry about it. My brother’s annual income is more than that. If we are always harassed by bandits, it would be a loss.”

With just one sentence, Master Hu suddenly became alert. In other words, they already knew his identity, but were still willing to cooperate with him.

Interesting, this young man is interesting.

"However, I am a little curious, Brother Zhang, aren't you worried that even if you put in five thousand taels, there won't be a ripple?"

"How could that be? A big fish emerging from the water can't be without ripples." Xia Lin took out a five-thousand-tael silver note from his pocket: "This is a big fish."

Xia Lin placed the silver notes on the table and pushed them in front of Master Hu, but Master Hu did not take them. He just looked at the silver notes and laughed: "Oh my, Brother Zhang is no ordinary person. Someone of your stature, did you come to this small place just to do business?"

"Haha, Brother Hu, you doubt me." Xia Lin exclaimed, his tone carrying a hint of being a fool for his own good. "To tell you the truth, Brother Hu, the three of us were originally Wang Shichong's men in Luoyang. But after Wang Shichong was defeated and retreated to Xuzhou, the court used the pretext of suppressing Buddhism to seize most of our assets. Originally, we thought we could still survive in the Central Plains with our family fortune, but who knew that the Tang Dynasty would also start to have designs on us these days? It seems that we can only develop here."

"Is Jiangnan not good?" Master Hu continued to probe: "The wealth of Jiangnan is far greater than here."

At this moment, Xia Lin stretched his neck forward, tilted his head and squinted his eyes, and said, "Then I would like to ask Brother Hu, is the magistrate of this place easier to deal with, or is Xia Daosheng of Jiangnan Road easier to deal with? I'm not trying to boost his ego, but someone with my brother's abilities could make Xia Daosheng chew up even bone fragments and swallow them."

"Yes, Xia Daosheng." Master Hu sighed. It was a pity that he still had the Jiangnan Circuit above him. Otherwise, with his two thousand men in this wretched place, he could easily be considered a local tyrant. In the wretched north, three or five hundred men would dare to occupy a city and declare themselves kings.

Hearing them say that, Old Master Hu actually began to believe them somewhat.

"So, does that mean the three brothers are going to stay here?"

"Not necessarily, we'll have to see if they'll let us stay here."

"Hahaha." Master Hu waved his hand: "We're all brothers, how can we be so formal? Tomorrow, I'll go and ask the magistrate for instructions. We still need to bring up the bandit suppression."

Xia Lin cupped his hands and smiled, "That would be best, of course."

After that, they stopped talking about anything serious and just kept probing each other. In fact, Master Hu knew that they were the three villains, and at the same time, he also knew that they knew he was a bandit, but everyone was pretending to be confused. After all, Xia Lin's words had enlightened Master Hu.

Suppressing bandits—there's a huge profit to be made there.

Local merchants and people raised funds to suppress the bandits. They could raise at least 50,000 taels of silver, which was more than he could earn in a year of hard work robbing and looting. Since there was money to be shared, did it matter who the bandits were?
"Daosheng, I don't quite understand. Aren't we supposed to deal with him? Why are we still giving him ideas to make money?"

"Brother Xu." Xia Lin got up and poured Xu Shiji a cup of tea. "The reason why it's called 'collecting money' is precisely because of this collection. As for proposing this 20/80 split, can the county magistrate really do it?"

"Probably yes, but he's just getting a share without contributing anything."

“Okay, he might be willing. But are the other wealthy merchants in the county willing? Is the county magistrate’s superior willing? That bandit leader Hu probably doesn’t understand what will happen if he takes all 80% for himself.”

"You mean... you're going to use this 80% cut of the profits to divide them?"

"I have no such intention. Even if I gave him everything, how much would he get?" Xia Lin leaned back, swinging his feet. "I want to show him what professional flattery is. I want him to thank me when he's about to die."

"Oh?" Xu Shiji's eyes lit up: "You really know how to play games. I'd like to see how you handle this."

"Twenty days, just twenty days." Xia Lin snapped his fingers, then pulled out the remaining money from his pocket: "Here's about seventy thousand taels. Seventy thousand taels, twenty days. I'll make them fight to the death, until they're dead. Then I'll make them pay me back with interest, seven out of eighty-five back."

"Hahahaha...you..."

From that day on, Xia Linke began operating her business there seriously, and within just a few days, she had gradually established herself in the county. Yes, just a few days.

He first devised a plan for Master Hu's payment scheme, and then became an unofficial advisor to the county magistrate. He did everything perfectly, even confusing Master Hu, who almost considered Xia Lin his confidant.

Of course, with such outstanding abilities, he was naturally given important responsibilities. The plan to suppress the bandits was formulated in less than seven days. With Xia Lin's help, the county magistrate and Master Hu even extorted nearly 100,000 taels of silver from the common people, merchants, traveling merchants, and local gentry.

Once the greed in people's hearts is exposed, it is very difficult to fill it back up. But the problem is that if such a big hole has been dug, something has to be used to fill it.

That day, Master Hu invited Xia Lin to dinner, and it was just the two of them.

Master Hu had spread all the silver he had acquired in the room. Xia Lin was almost dazzled by the scene when he entered, but after a brief moment of stunned silence, he still smiled and cupped his hands to Master Hu, saying, "Congratulations, Brother Hu, this is quite a sum of money."

"Who says otherwise?" Master Hu sighed softly as he looked at the pile of gold and silver treasures on the ground.

"Brother Hu, what's wrong? You still look reluctant."

Master Hu sighed deeply, "I'm not afraid Brother Zhang will laugh at me, but I've lived most of my life and this is the first time I've seen so much money. I'm afraid I can't handle it."

"That's easy." Xia Lin's eyes darted around twice. "I have a plan."

"Please speak, my dear brother." Master Hu quickly sat down next to Xia Lin: "Tell me quickly so that your brother can hear it."

Xia Lin stretched out his foot and rummaged through the treasure on the ground, then glanced at Master Hu: "I heard that the other side of the river is Boss Sun's territory."

"Really, my brother means... that I should go and wipe out Old Sun?"

"Hey! How can you say that? Wouldn't that result in both sides suffering heavy losses?" Xia Lin said with a reproachful look. "Brother Hu, why don't you go and talk to that Boss Sun on the other side and ask him to attack the county town?"

"This……"

"Don't worry, in the next few days, Brother Hu will first set up a local militia and recruit able-bodied men in the county. He'll spend the money to hire people," Xia Lin said ominously. "Then, when it's almost ready, he'll contact Boss Sun to come and attack the county town."

"Yes, but that old Sun is no pushover; he's bound to ask for an exorbitant amount."

“Talk? Brother Hu, I’m not trying to criticize you. If your troops are weak and your horses aren’t strong enough, then you can just talk. But if your troops are strong and your horses are strong, why should that guy surnamed Sun talk to you? Just give him some face and give him some compensation. If he refuses, then take advantage of his attack on the county town and wipe him out.”

Upon hearing this, Boss Hu's expression changed drastically. He quickly shook his head and said, "Brother, you don't know, I and that old Sun are under the same person. I can't tell you who that person is. But..."

“Brother,” Xia Lin exclaimed, “Can’t you see it now? No matter who’s above you, to put it bluntly, those high-ranking officials see us as no different from pigs and dogs. Now that you’re so strong, even if you take care of that Sun guy and dominate this river all by yourself, the people above won’t say anything.”

"Brother, please stop talking. Let me think it over."

"Then I shall take my leave." Xia Lin stood up and cupped his hands in greeting. "I hope you will make a quick decision, brother. Only if you take this step will my chamber of commerce have a future. That Sun fellow has no ability whatsoever. Why should he be able to take such a large piece of the pie from you?"

"Brother has something on his mind. It's getting late, so you should go and rest first."

After seeing Xia Lin off, Master Hu tossed and turned in his room, unable to fall asleep. Looking at the dazzling gold and silver jewelry, and thinking that he had to give up half of it just to put on a show with Old Sun, he was unwilling.

He was a bandit by trade, and bandits have their own ways of thinking; double-crossing is nothing new to him. Besides, just as his brother Zhang said, once the local militia is established, he'll be able to muster a force of five thousand men, while that guy surnamed Sun only has a handful.

At most 1,500 people will die.

They used to be evenly matched, but now Old Sun is not the same.

After a whole night of this agonizing anxiety, the next morning, Mr. Hu got up very early, sporting huge dark circles under his eyes, and quietly went to Xia Lin's residence. After hesitating for a while, he finally knocked on his door.

Xia Lin was still a bit dazed, but when he saw Master Hu, he immediately understood most of it.

"Brother Hu, please come in."

Xu Shiji, who was already practicing the Five Animal Frolics in the courtyard, saw Master Hu follow Xia Lin into the room and immediately smiled.

"With that kind of ability, wouldn't my third brother treat him like a dog?"

(End of this chapter)