Martial Arts Crossover: My master tricked Huang Rong into becoming my wife!

Old Xu realized what was happening, and looked surprised. He said...

"You...you're twisting the facts! You're deceiving the government!"

"That's called legitimate tax avoidance," Chen Yanzhou corrected. "Besides, the goods our Beggars' Sect transports are for disaster relief or to feed our brothers. How could the government have the nerve to collect taxes from beggars?"

Old Xu was speechless, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

Although it sounds unconventional, upon closer inspection, the law is completely blank regarding the commercial activities of beggar groups. Who would have thought that a group of beggars would start a logistics and transportation business?

"There's also the issue of the travel permit."

Chen Yanzhou continued, "We Beggars' Sect disciples roam the world, without household registration or travel permits. Logically, refugees shouldn't be allowed to freely travel across states and counties. But we have ordination certificates… oh no, we have the sect's token. This thing is useful in the martial world, but what about with the government?"

Old Xu sighed, sat down helplessly, and lamented.

"What's going on in your little head?"

However, he changed the subject and said, "The government does have a headache when it comes to refugees. If they travel in groups of three or five, there is a high probability that they will become bandits and need to be suppressed. If they are alone, they are just beggars and no one will care. If your Beggars' Clan transports goods in groups, you will definitely be targeted by the government."

"So, we need to put on a layer of skin."

Chen Yanzhou chuckled, "Grandpa Xu, you have beautiful handwriting. Could you teach me how to write those... official documents that look very formal, very impressive, and stamped with a big red seal?"

Old Xu's hand trembled, and he almost pulled his beard off.

"You're trying to forge official documents?! That's a capital offense!"

"Who said it was forged?" Chen Yanzhou looked innocent. "I mean, could we submit a memorial to the government under the name of the 'Beggar Clan Xiangyang Branch' and apply for the title of 'charitable transport'? We could say that we're helping the court by transporting supplies and resettling refugees. Once the government stamps that seal, wouldn't we be transporting goods on imperial orders?"

Old Xu was stunned. He stared at Chen Yanzhou for a long time, his expression slowly changing from shock to complexity, and finally turning into a long sigh.

"A genius... truly a genius."

Old Xu shook his head and said with a wry smile, "If you had been born in a peaceful era, with your ambition, you could probably have become the Minister of Revenue. What a pity, what a pity."

"It's no pity." Chen Yanzhou put away the draft paper. "Grandpa Xu, how this memorial is written still depends on your polishing. It has to be written with tears in our eyes, it has to be written with concern for the country and the people, it has to be written so that when that prefect sees it, he feels that not stamping it would be a disservice to our ancestors."

Old Xu remained silent for a moment, then slowly got up, walked to the broken bookshelf, and pulled out a worn-out pen and half a stick of ink.

"Grind the ink."

Chen Yanzhou was overjoyed and immediately jumped up, running over excitedly to pour water and grind ink.

As Old Xu wrote, he cursed Chen Yanzhou for his wicked intentions, but the language he used became increasingly ornate and impassioned.

Chen Yanzhou watched with great interest, occasionally interjecting, "That line is excellent! 'At this critical juncture of life and death,' it sounds so grand! And this line, 'Willing to share the court's burdens, without taking a single penny,' brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

"Hmph, not taking a single penny?" Old Xu glanced at him sideways. "You're probably plotting how to double the shipping fee, aren't you?"

"How could that be?" Chen Yanzhou said righteously. "This is a service fee, you understand?"

After much effort, a lengthy and moving petition entitled "Petition to Establish a Charity Transport Office" was finally completed.

Chen Yanzhou held the still-wet Xuan paper as if it were a priceless treasure.

"Grandpa Xu, you're like Zhuge Liang of our Beggars' Sect!"

"Get out! Get out!" Old Xu waved his sleeves to shoo them away, but a hint of undisguised smugness lingered on his face. "Take what you need and get out of here. Don't get in my way. And remember, if anything happens, don't implicate me."

"Yes, sir!"

Chen Yanzhou carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket, bowed deeply to Old Man Xu, and then ran out of the house.

Chen Yanzhou ran back to the Beggars' Sect stronghold with lightning speed.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the council hall, they heard Lu Youjiao's powerful voice coming from inside.

"Li Sheng, Yu Zhaoxing! You two set off immediately to deliver my orders. Notify the elders to come to Xiangyang at once!"

Inside the hall, two middle-aged beggars carrying eight cloth bags on their backs were clasping their hands in a gesture of respect, accepting their orders, and turning to leave.

"Wait!"

Chen Yanzhou stepped across the threshold, his voice booming even before he could catch his breath.

Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing paused and turned to look at the little child who was only waist-high to them.

If anyone else dared to barge into the council hall at this time, they would have been beaten out with sticks long ago, but this is the leader's last disciple, who would dare to be disrespectful?

Upon seeing that it was Chen Yanzhou, Lu Youjiao's brows relaxed: "Yanzhou? What's wrong?"

"Grandpa Lu, are you telling us to close down before our Beggars' Sect even opens for business?"

After catching his breath, Chen Yanzhou walked to the table and poured himself a bowl of water.

"Our 'business' is just starting out, we haven't even heard a sound yet. If we invite those gentlemen over now and things go well, that's fine. But if we mess it up, or if we don't make any money in the first few days, do you think those elders will give you a good look? They'll all be spitting on us, and the whole thing will fall apart before it even gets started."

Lu Youjiao was taken aback and touched the stubble on his chin.

He was straightforward and didn't think things through too much. He just felt that since it was a major plan approved by the gang leader, the entire gang should work together.

"So, what do you mean?"

"Let's set an example first." Chen Yanzhou put down his bowl. "We'll try it out in Xiangyang for a month. Once the roads are cleared, the money's coming in, and everyone's got food on their hands, then you can slam the account books on the table, and who'll dare say a word against it?"

Lu Youjiao's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh: "That's it! You're the one with the most clever ideas. They don't act until they see the benefit; these old fogies are really hard to deal with."

He turned to Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing: "Pass the word: a month from now, on the fifteenth of August, the Beggars' Clan headquarters will hold a grand meeting! Then, we'll let our results speak for themselves!"

"yes!"

Li Sheng and his companion exchanged a glance, respectfully accepted the order, and turned to leave.

After all the irrelevant people left, only Lu Youjiao and Chen Yanzhou, one old and one young, remained in the council hall.

Lu Youjiao leaned closer, his face full of anticipation: "Yanzhou, have you come up with another brilliant idea?"

"That's natural."

Chen Yanzhou chuckled, took out the neatly folded sheet of Xuan paper from his pocket, carefully unfolded it, and laid it on the table.

"This is Grandpa Xu's 'Memorial Requesting the Establishment of a Charity Transport Office,' written with painstaking effort. Just look at the calligraphy, the words—absolutely superb!"

Although Lu Youjiao could read a few characters, he still found these formal official documents daunting. He squinted at them for a long time, only to find that the pages full of archaic phrases were giving him a headache.

"Stop beating around the bush, just tell me, what's this thing used for?"

"This is our talisman." Chen Yanzhou pointed at the paper with his finger. "With this, we are no longer a bunch of beggars who gather to cause trouble, but 'righteous people' who assist the court in transporting supplies and settling refugees. When we transport goods for merchants, that's called 'righteous transport,' and the government can't arrest us. They even have to reward us."

Lu Youjiao was stunned, and after a long while, he managed to stammer, "This... can the government believe it?"

"They have no choice but to believe it. There are refugees everywhere outside Xiangyang City right now, and the prefect is so worried he's going bald. If we help him solve the refugees' food problem and don't even ask him for money, such a good thing is hard to find, he'll be too busy stamping the document to even know it."

Lu Youjiao nodded, acknowledging the statement. However, his brows were furrowed, clearly indicating that he still had concerns.

"Yanzhou, although the official matter has been resolved, there's a more practical problem. Why would those big merchants entrust their goods to us? In Xiangyang City, Weixin Escort Agency and Zhenyuan Escort Agency are decades-old established brands. Can they really trust a bunch of beggars like us?"

This is a very real problem.

In this world of martial arts, escorting goods relies on hard power. The reputation of a real escort agency is earned through real battles, while the Beggars' Clan, though numerous, is seen by outsiders as a rabble.

Chen Yanzhou had anticipated this question. He calmly pulled over a broken stool, sat down, and crossed his legs.

"Grandpa Lu, you only know one side of the story, not the other."

"Comparing ourselves to security escort agencies is like throwing an egg against a rock; we definitely won't succeed. But why should we compete with them? We're pursuing differentiated competition."

"What...what transformation?" Lu Youjiao looked completely bewildered.

"Let me put it this way," Chen Yanzhou put it in simpler terms, "How much does a security escort agency charge for a single trip? It's astronomical! Ordinary merchants, unless they're transporting gold and silver jewelry, simply can't afford it. What about us? We're cheap! Not only are we cheap, but we also offer large quantities to satisfy all your cravings."

"Furthermore, how many escort agencies are there in Xiangyang City? At most, no more than five. How many escorts can there be? Two hundred at most. Right now, the war in the north is intense, and the flow of supplies is huge. With just those few escort agencies, they couldn't possibly transport all the supplies even if they worked themselves to death. This is a seller's market. We're here to fill the gap, not to steal our jobs."

Chen Yanzhou paused, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

"The most important point is that escort agencies rely on force to deter others when they are on a mission. If they encounter bandits or highwaymen, they either fight or pay a toll. But our Beggars' Sect is different."

He held up four fingers.

"We have four major regions, east, west, south, and north, with disciples all over the world. We know every mountain bandit, river pirate, and even the stray dogs on the roadside! When we transport goods, we don't need to fight. Just hang up a tattered Beggars' Sect flag, and which outlaw won't give us some face? What's that called? That's called connections!"

"Furthermore, we can do intermodal transport. The Xiangyang branch can transport the goods to the border, where the brothers at the Henan branch can take over and pass them down. It's like a relay race, one station after another. We don't have to travel long distances and exhaust ourselves, and we can ensure that the goods stay within our own territory, which is very safe!"

Lu Youjiao was dumbfounded.

He had lived most of his life and only knew that the Beggars' Sect disciples were spread all over the world to gather information and pass on military intelligence. He never thought that this huge network of interpersonal relationships could actually become a huge logistics network!

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

Lu Youjiao suddenly stood up, his face flushed with excitement, and paced back and forth in the room.

"If we can really mobilize all the brothers from the four major regions, east, west, south, and north, just like you say, then our Beggars' Sect... what will our Beggars' Sect ever have to worry about money for? This is practically making money off the spot!"

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

Escort agencies operate on a one-man-one-woman basis, while we have a massive army.

Even a large number of ants can kill an elephant, let alone hundreds of thousands of Beggar Clan disciples!

"This is something we can do! We absolutely must do it!"

Lu Youjiao grabbed the "Memorial Requesting the Establishment of a Righteous Transport Office" from the table and carefully tucked it into his pocket, as if he were carrying tens of thousands of taels of silver.

"I'm going to the prefect's office right now! That old prefect has given us no end of trouble; I'm going to teach him a lesson today!"

"Wait, Grandpa Lu."

Chen Yanzhou called out to Lu Youjiao, who was about to rush out.

"There's something else. When you get to the yamen, don't just keep saying nice things. You need to adopt a more authoritative stance, saying that the gang leader has taken pity on the common people and specifically ordered us to do this. If the prefect doesn't appreciate it, then show a little 'strength,' for example, if he doesn't let us transport them, then we won't care about those three thousand refugees outside the city. If something goes wrong then..."

Lu Youjiao paused, turned around, grinned at Chen Yanzhou, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Don't worry, although your grandpa Lu isn't as cunning as you, I've been in the underworld for so many years, I still have some tricks up my sleeve to scare people. Just wait for the good news!"

After saying that, Lu Youjiao strode out of the council hall, his back view showing a hint of the heroic spirit of someone going to a meeting alone.

Chen Yanzhou looked at the empty doorway and let out a long sigh of relief.

The first step has been taken.

Once the government stamps the document, "Beggar Gang Logistics" is officially established.

Next, we need to figure out the specific operational details.

For example, how do we set rules for these beggars who are used to being free and undisciplined? How do we prevent anyone from lining their own pockets? Also, we need to design a uniform, right? We can't really have a group of people wearing tattered, worn-out clothes to transport silk and porcelain for others; that image is too gruesome to bear.

We need to come up with a slogan.

Chen Yanzhou stroked his chin and muttered to himself.

"'Beggars' Gang Logistics, Mission Accomplished'? No, too cliché. 'Rain or shine, the Beggars' Gang awaits you'? Sounds too much like pimping. 'For safe goods, the Beggars' Gang guarantees safety'? Hmm, that's more interesting, catchy."

Just as I was pondering this, my stomach let out another rumble.

The sweet potato porridge I just ate has long been digested.

Chen Yanzhou gave a wry smile and rubbed his shrunken belly.

"Starting a business is tough and involves many battles. Let's go check if there's any leftover rice crust in the kitchen first."

After saying that, he left the council hall.