Chapter 91: The Three Great Gangs

"Brother Meng, I checked the grain storehouse ledgers and discovered that that corrupt official Lv Dazhi, disregarding the lives of the refugees, actually sold the grain in the storehouse to these three major grain merchants, allowing them to drive up grain prices and reap huge profits."

Meng Qingshan was filled with righteous indignation. When they entered the city, they had seen the refugees outside the city walls crying out for food. With grain clearly available inside the city, Lv Dazhi, as the local official, did not think of helping the common people but only thought of taking the opportunity to get rich. Such a corrupt official truly deserved to be hacked into ten thousand pieces; just cutting off his head would be letting him die too easily.

"The three major grain merchants?" Meng Yifan pondered whether he should take men to rob the three major grain merchants right now; only when the grain was in his own hands would he feel at ease.

"Yifan, do not act rashly. I have inquired clearly: behind these three major grain merchants are the Three Great Gangs, which are the Crocodile Gang, the Axe Gang, and the Wuyou Gang."

"The casinos in Luolong County are all controlled by the Crocodile Gang, the Axe Gang controls the opium dens, and the Wuyou Gang controls the brothels."

"These Three Great Gangs have been entrenched in Luolong County for decades. They have many gang members and are very powerful; it is said that the leaders of each are all Third-grade Experts."

"The County Magistrate of Luolong County is replaced every five years. There have been magistrates who wanted to eradicate these Three Great Gangs that commit all kinds of evil, but the government forces suffered heavy losses and were beaten until they were utterly disgraced."

"In the end, the old magistrates could only turn a blind eye and let these Three Great Gangs grow and develop within Luolong County. Now they have even begun to control the grain industry of Luolong County, and even the County Magistrate Lv Dazhi has to collude with them."

"A saying has long circulated in Luolong County: on the surface, Luolong County is managed by the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty, but in reality, it is the Three Great Gangs who call the shots."

Meng Dayong spoke out the intelligence he had gathered, and Meng Qingshan and the others were all filled with worry upon hearing it.

Meng Yifan frowned. He had not expected the situation inside Luolong County to be so complex, with the Three Great Gangs present; if one added the Wanxiang Tower and the Assassin Hall, there were five major forces in total.

If Meng Yifan wanted to completely control Luolong County, it would be inevitable for him to come into conflict with these five major forces.

With Meng Yifan's current strength, if he were to go to war with one gang alone, he could barely manage to win, but he feared that those three gangs would act in concert and go to war with him together, which would be troublesome.

The high-end combat power on Meng Yifan's side consisted only of him and Meng Dayong, while the Three Great Gangs had three Third-grade Experts. If a real fight broke out, Meng Yifan and his men would be at an absolute disadvantage.

"Ignore them for now. Our primary task is to recruit troops and expand our strength as quickly as possible," Meng Yifan said.

Meng Dayong nodded in agreement. He was truly worried that his son, being young and impetuous, would not distinguish between what was urgent and what was not and would go directly to cause trouble for the Three Great Gangs. By then, even if they could barely manage to wipe out the Three Great Gangs, the villagers of Qinghe Village would likely be dead or injured.

Another twenty minutes passed, and the silver treasury was also counted. A total of only twenty-five thousand taels of cash silver was found, along with five thousand taels in Silver Notes. For the entire Luolong County, this amount of silver was pitifully small.

However, Meng Yifan also searched out thirty thousand taels in Silver Notes from the county office, five bottles of Qi Replenishing Pill, ten bottles of Condensing Qi Pill, two bottles of First Grade Breakthrough Pill, and one bottle of Second Grade Breakthrough Pill. These Pills were enough for Meng Dayong and the others to cultivate for a period of time.

"Father, I plan to recruit one thousand men from the Refugee Camp, and you will be responsible for training them into regular soldiers," Meng Yifan said.

Meng Dayong hesitated. When he served in the Divine Machine Battalion in the past, he was only a Ten-Man Commander who had managed ten people; he had never managed one thousand. One had to know that managing ten people and managing one thousand were completely different in difficulty.

"Yifan, I can manage at most one hundred people; I really cannot manage one thousand," Meng Dayong said with some difficulty.

"Father, managing people is not that complicated. I will give you ten young and strong men including Meng Yitong; each of them will manage one hundred people, and you will be responsible for the overall command. That way, your task will be much easier."

Although Meng Yifan was just a common soldier on Earth, he had seen plenty of things; management is a science. It sounds very complicated, but in reality, it is just that.

Combining kindness with severity, rewarding and punishing clearly, and leading by example would make the soldiers convinced and obedient.

Meng Dayong was still hesitant, so Meng Yifan persuaded him: "Father, do not hesitate any longer. Among our group, you are the only one who has served in the army and knows how to train soldiers. At this time, we can only rely on you."

Meng Dayong thought about it and realized it was true, so he gritted his teeth and accepted the task of training the troops.

Meng Yifan led his men to the Labor Camp. There were over three thousand people here, all strong and sturdy laborers; as long as they were trained well, they would all be good soldiers.

"Listen to me, all of you. We are preparing to recruit soldiers from among you. Those who become soldiers will be provided with three full meals a day and ten taels of silver per month. If you have family members outside the city, you can also bring them into the city, and we will be responsible for arranging their housing."

Meng Yifan sank his Qi into his dantian and said in a loud voice, and everyone in the Labor Camp heard him clearly.

"Three full meals a day? And ten taels of silver per month? That's great, I want to be a soldier."

"In this Labor Camp, we work ourselves to death and can only get three steamed buns a day; we can't even get full. I want to be a soldier too."

"We can bring our family members into the city? This is truly great! Official, this little one wants to be a soldier."

"Don't get excited. This group of people is rebelling against the officials; the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty will sooner or later send troops to encircle and suppress them. If you become their soldiers now, you are boarding a pirate ship. When the great army arrives, you will all have your heads cut off."

"I can't worry about that much. Let's just eat a few days of full meals first; otherwise, we'll all starve to death. I'm going to be a soldier."

There was much discussion in the Labor Camp. The vast majority of people wanted to be soldiers, but there were also some who were hesitant and did not want to be rebels.

Meng Yifan was sharp-eared and quick-eyed; he heard all the discussions and understood everyone's thoughts. But in this end-of-the-world era, as long as there was grain, he wouldn't worry about not being able to recruit people.

"I am only recruiting one thousand people. Those who want to be soldiers, step forward," Meng Yifan said loudly.

Among the more than three thousand two hundred laborers, over two thousand five hundred stepped forward. The actions of the Luolong County government had already broken their hearts. Now, in order to survive, they were willing even if it meant becoming rebels.

"Very good. These two thousand five hundred people, follow us out of the city to run. The first one thousand to finish ten laps will be my soldiers."

Under normal circumstances, recruiting soldiers requires detailed registration of each person's identity information, investigation of their family situation, and then individual assessment of their physical fitness. Only after passing all of these can one become a new recruit.

Meng Yifan did not have that much time, so he used long-distance running—the simplest and most effective method—to screen for the one thousand people with the best physical constitutions.