A full-fledged winter had arrived. When one breathed, white breath ca out, and when one walked, white snow was stepped on. The children Jang So-gil had taken in swept the snow with brooms.
The children were now apprentice rchants of the Great Cloud Guild. They moved their bodies diligently and learned chores.
"Have you finished cleaning?"
"We'll be done in a little while, hyung."
"Take your ti."
When Yang Gwan spoke, the children nodded their heads and then, shouting 'wa-', ran off. Yang Gwan, who was watching them, frowned. It was because the pain in his knee still remained.
He pulled over a chair that a gardener, who was pruning branches in the yard, had been using and sat down.
'That damn Ugly Dragon bastard.'
Even if a martial artist's knee was shattered, they healed faster than ordinary people. It was partly because their regenerative ability was excellent, but also because the martial arts of a martial artist generally broke bones or flesh cleanly. Even if they got injured fighting each other, a clean wound would heal quickly and regenerate even stronger.
But this ti, it was a little different. It was because Yi Dongpyeong's thods were very dirty.
He broke, twisted, and crushed. The doctor had said that since it was a complex fracture, it was on a different level from an ordinary injury.
As he had said, if he hadn't rested all this ti, he would have been limping for the rest of his life.
'Thanks to that, I've wasted a considerable amount of ti.'
Ye-er had beco Jang So-gil's Dharma protector and was acting like his shadow. Jin Sangran had beco the general manager of the Great Cloud Guild and was rapidly expanding its power. The only one who was doing nothing and just freeloading was Yang Gwan.
He felt impatient, but such a feeling was of no help in wound regeneration.
Yang Gwan, controlling his breathing, calmly looked up at the sky.
A white hawk flew high, as if it would touch the clouds.
"Is it winter?"
Winter had several anings.
A season with nothing to eat. A season that killed people with the cold. A season that concluded the year.
And it was a season to store up strength until the coming spring.
"Three months from now."
It was a ti to curl up and gather strength.
Yang Gwan recalled Young Master Jang So-gil's story.
* * *
A private eting with the Martial Alliance Leader. Jang So-gil spoke without hesitation.
"The model that the imperial family wants cannot be made. It was an impossible story from the beginning."
"I also think so. Politics and governance are not sothing that one genius does, but sothing that the civil and military officials create by squeezing out their ti and wisdom."
"And yet, His Majesty wants such a model. Why is that? It's because he has the lighthearted thought that it would be good if it works out, and it can't be helped if it doesn't. He just throws it out there, and if it succeeds, it's my rit for giving such an order. And if it fails, it's the heart of a politician who attributes it to your lack of virtue."
"This fellow is really going all out just because we're alone."
"It can't help but be a sowhat rude story. Because I am now a person who has decided to stay in the Martial Alliance, not the imperial family. So I will speak boldly. Let's just pretend to do it."
Pretending to do it. A phrase with many anings.
Gun Long, stroking his beard, replied.
"The phrase 'pretending to do it' ans that you will do sothing. What are you planning to do?"
"I'm thinking of creating a rchant guild."
"A rchant guild? What kind of rchant guild?"
"A rchant guild directly run by the Martial Alliance. Not just to the extent of collecting taxes under the na of a protection fee, but the Martial Alliance will do everything from its founding to its managent."
There was a profit. They could touch a huge sum of money that would make the taxes they had received so far feel like a joke.
But the disadvantages were even greater. Gun Long shook his head.
"It's not just bold, it's a crazy statent. Even now, the rchants cannot be controlled. It's the sa for the imperial family and for us that we haven't found any solution other than to press them down with force. In such a situation..."
If the Martial Alliance were to run a rchant guild, how much would the rchants run wild?
The only ans of control that martial artists knew was martial power. But even that could not be used carelessly in a place like Luoyang.
How much loss had the Martial Alliance suffered until Jang So-gil's appointnt?
"Besides, money calls for power. It ans that ghouls will flock."
rchants who were skilled at handling money. Martial artists of the Unorthodox Faction and the Black Way who were used to intimidating with force. Martial artists of the orthodox sect who acted all high and mighty as if they were fair and just, but beca snobs in front of money.
No one was absolutely right.
"The world is wide, and there are many who seek collusion. The human world is turbid, and life is sothing where you can't know what's one inch ahead. But why are you trying to bring even greater chaos to such a turbid world?"
If the Martial Alliance were to create a rchant guild directly, it would be a large rchant guild that had never existed in the history of the martial world. They would have to create a 'heaven' rank above the ranks of A, B, C, and D.
How many ghouls would flock? How much chaos would arise?
"I am a person who did not feel fear even when competing with the Heavenly Demon. But thinking of the backlash that this incident will bring, fear rushes in."
"You don't need to worry so deeply."
"Isn't it a problem that needs to be thought about deeply and worried about? Creating a rchant guild will be difficult."
"It is certainly a difficult task, but what if it's not about creating a new one?"
"Not creating a new one? What does that an?"
"It's about taking in an existing rchant guild as a subordinate of the Martial Alliance. Absorption, rger, integration."
"Is that possible?"
rchants pursued profit.
If they beca affiliated with the Martial Alliance, what kind of profit would there be for them to follow?
"For them, the act of becoming a rchant guild affiliated with the Martial Alliance is in itself a profit. Because the Martial Alliance has the trust that it does not provide false protection."
"False protection?"
"There are many groups that only pretend to protect while receiving a protection fee. And there are also cases like the Diancang Sect in Yunnan."
They could just take the protection fee and then pretend not to know when sothing happened. Or they could protect them normally and then kill them if sothing went wrong. rchants were always anxious even while paying a protection fee to be protected.
"But how reassuring would it be if the Martial Alliance protected them?"
"That's true. Then what are the other benefits?"
"The easiness of the Martial Alliance."
"...What?"
"I'll be honest. In the eyes of a rchant, the Martial Alliance is a feast. The one who manages the money is a ss, and because they look down on comrce while wasting money on face-saving, they have no intention of learning. If you're determined to fleece them, you can fleece them as much as you want. If I had the backing of a plausible noble family, I could suck this Martial Alliance dry without leaving a single drop of blood in three years."
Gun Long looked at Jang So-gil with a dumbfounded expression. Jang So-gil's face was not one that was telling a lie or throwing a joke. It was an expression that even felt a little bit of pity.
It must be pity for Gun Long, who had led such a Martial Alliance until now.
"Since it's easy to fleece, if the Martial Alliance creates a directly managed rchant guild, many blood-sucking insects will be attracted from here and there. Even if they are such guys, if we absorb and rge them, they will beco a rchant guild of the Martial Alliance. So expanding the power is not sothing the Alliance Leader needs to worry about."
"I-isn't that obvious? The fact that such guys are attracted is in itself a problem, so do I look like I'm worried about expanding the power now!"
"But Alliance Leader, you don't have to worry about them being attracted either."
He's really playing with people.
Without even hiding his agitated heart, Gun Long's face turned red.
"Why is that? Blood-sucking insects that will suck the marrow of the Martial Alliance will stick to us. Why don't I have to worry?"
"It's a simple story. The blood-sucking insects will suck the blood of the Martial Alliance and fill their bellies. But..."
Jang So-gil, with a 'seuk-', drew his finger down from top to bottom.
"If you cut open that belly, the blood is bound to be vomited out. If you find the corruption and cut open the belly in the na of a fine, you can make them vomit out several tis the blood they sucked."
"...!"
A proposal from a perspective he had never imagined.
A thunderbolt struck Gun Long's head. He pointed at Jang So-gil with a trembling hand.
"Are you saying... you're going to deliberately make those guys embezzle?"
"There's no need to deliberately induce them. If you leave them alone, those guys will embezzle. There are fewer who won't."
Chuckling, Jang So-gil made a gesture of pulling a fishing rod.
"Alliance Leader, have you ever been fishing?"
"I enjoy it quite a bit."
"When you fish, don't you sprinkle bait?"
"That's right. If you sprinkle bait, the fish will gather."
"That's normal fishing, but in the far south, in Hainan, they use a thod that goes one step further. It's a thod called 'aquaculture'."
Aquaculture refers to gathering seafood such as fish or seaweed and creating an environnt where they can grow well to breed them. If you provide appropriate food and a safe place, their numbers will increase explosively.
"If you make it like that, you don't have to go through the trouble of fishing from then on. Since the fish are gathered so densely, you just have to scoop them up with a net and eat them. My proposal is the sa."
rchants will embezzle even if you leave them alone. Then let's create an environnt where it's easy to embezzle, and use the net called 'inspector' to catch the guys who have gathered in droves.
Gun Long slapped his knee.
"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant."
"Of course, among them, there will be rchants who are truly upright and conscientious."
Just as a pearl is hidden in the mud.
Of course, there were conscientious people among the rchants.
"They should be treated preciously, and we can manage by cutting out the rotten ones first. Who will do that? I will do it. I will confirm with my own eyes, cut out, sear, and suture. I will nurture those who are skilled and conscientious."
Gun Long, stroking his neck, raised the corners of his mouth.
A directly managed rchant guild originally had more losses than gains. If it could not be managed properly, it was a hundred tis better not to start.
But the Martial Alliance could do it. It was because there was a sharp blade called Jang So-gil.
This was a thod that the imperial family could never follow. As long as the imperial family could not obtain Jang So-gil, they could not imitate it.
Then would the imperial family go to unreasonable lengths to take Jang So-gil? That was also not easy.
'Even if the emperor wants to have Jang So-gil. The civil and military officials will not agree.'
No matter how much he was the emperor, he valued justification. Even if the civil and military officials recognized Jang So-gil's ability, they would not recognize Jang So-gil's appointnt.
Jang So-gil's proposal was truly a 'golden insect'. A proposal of a person crazy about money, who valued money the most.
To have such a person in the imperial family was impossible.
'Scholar, farr, artisan, rchant. It can't be helped.'
It was human nature to divide even the principles of all things in the world into ranks. People also divided people into ranks.
A scholar who could beco an official was the best, a farr who made the most important rice was the second. An artisan who made tools that enriched life was the third. A rchant who did not make anything and lorded it over with the things that farrs and artisans had made was the last.
rchants were lower than slaves.
To those who looked at the world from such a perspective, Jang So-gil's actions of creating a rchant guild and encouraging the embezzlent of rchants would beco a strong justification to block his appointnt.
A strong justification that would make it difficult for even the emperor to act easily.
"What a madman. I'm sure the imperial family will allow it."
"What about you, Alliance Leader? Will you allow it?"
"Well, morally, I don't think I should allow it."
The profit to be gained from operating a rchant guild was too attractive.
Since this thod could also cut off the emperor's interest in Jang So-gil, it was even more attractive.
"There's also the rit you've established so far. And since it seems interesting to , I'll allow it. Do as you wish."
A golden plaque flew over. It was a symbol of the Alliance Leader's full support and trust.
Jang So-gil, who had received and stored the plaque, bent his waist.
"Thank you."
This was the full story of what had happened that day.
* * *
Yang Gwan opened his eyes.
His lord had decided what he had to do.
"Accumulating Qi."
The blood-sucking insects that would gather to suck the lifeblood of the Martial Alliance were not ordinary blood-sucking insects. Among them, there would be rchants, but there might be more martial artists.
The three months' ti was a ti to wait until their flesh was plump, and at the sa ti, a ti to build up the strength to surpass them.
So that no one could touch his lord.
So that he could collect from any enemy.
He had to increase his strength.
That night.
For the three months of closed-door training, Yang Gwan and Jang So-gil disappeared from Luoyang.
(End of Chapter)
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