Chapter 49: The 'Grassroots Troupe' Finally Opens (Part 1)

There were skilled cultivators among the manor guards in the hall, and they reacted immediately, slashing their palms forward to meet the attack.

But the figure circled around and dodged, and several arms suddenly stretched out from a black mass following at their feet, grabbing the manor guards' legs.

Immediately after, the figure circled back to the front, opened their mouth, and sprayed a mouthful of blood onto the manor guard's face.

The manor guard's eyes went blank, their skin and flesh turning into gold and stone starting from the face, and they turned to charge at their own companions.

At the same time, dozens of gold-and-stone monsters charged into the hall, slaughtering the manor guards.

In a short while, corpses were everywhere.

This surprise attack had gone more smoothly than anyone could have imagined.

Zhang Gui looked around, gazing at the deathly pale Song Huawen, who wore a look of utter astonishment.

"Is that it?"

"The Bing-Shao and Bing-Zhong grades went off to drink flower wine and celebrate the New Year with your young master Yangzi."

"How many Ding-Shang grades are even left?"

"How did they all die without me feeling a thing?"

"Did they drink fake wine?"

Corpses littered the ground, blood flowing everywhere.

As he spoke, he looked at the few Rong family manor guards who had been turned from enemies into friends by the 'Bing Zhu' ability, and performed a deep breathing motion.

Wisps of blood-Qi emerged from the manor guards' seven orifices, surging into Zhang Gui's mouth.

Their upright shells collapsed onto the ground, pitch-black fungi growing from their seven orifices, their lives extinguished.

Being possessed by 'Bing Zhu' wouldn't normally kill them, but it was different when combined with 'Black God Stands on Earth'.

Soon, the remaining corpses also sprouted terrifying fungi, merging into the fungal carpet beneath Zhang Gui's feet.

Song Huawen felt a chill run through his entire body.

Things had reached this point; playing the coward was useless.

He could only steel his nerves, look at Zhang Gui, and carefully distinguish that familiar voice. Gritting his teeth and stamping his foot, he asked tremblingly:

"Is this Lord Zhang Gui of the Pingyang Zhang family before me?"

"Hahaha, Song Gong has sharp ears." Zhang Gui laughed loudly, his half-metallic head—with its giant mouth, fangs, and round black eyes—shifting back into the appearance of a normal person.

"As for what's going on now, with Song Gong's brain, you must have guessed it."

"The ten thousand young, strong men in this manor, along with the wealth, all have to change locations."

"If you cooperate, then everyone will be safe and sound."

"If you make trouble, I'll have no choice but to kill everyone and destroy the bodies."

"Then, it'll be a bit more troublesome to have my subordinates drive the young men to relocate."

"In any case, we are definitely leaving today."

"Song Weng, you've worked for the Shuanghu Rong family your whole life, and you have loyalty and righteousness, but..."

"Lord Gui, my only granddaughter is right here, so how could I not follow your orders?"

"But why go to such lengths!"

The four words "why go to such lengths" were filled with confusion as they came from Song Huawen's mouth.

Although the 'Ming Song' now had the appearance of troubled times, the imperial court's prestige still remained.

More importantly, Siyang Commandery City was a vital town of the Southern Kingdom, exceptionally prosperous.

Although the common people didn't live easily, they were far from starvation and cold, and they feared the law and kept to the rules.

The Pingyang Zhang family was a great local clan; they would absolutely not rebel.

Even if they snatched these ten thousand young slave laborers, what use would it be?

People aren't gold or silver; you can't just recast them so no one recognizes them.

Ten thousand people standing on the ground would cover the mountains and plains; selling them off as a whole would inevitably reveal the truth, and selling them piecemeal would take forever.

Every day, the food and drink required would have to be sent by the cartload; after a long time, even an immortal couldn't hide it.

Therefore, no matter how capable Old Song was, he couldn't figure it out.

Zhang Gui chuckled upon hearing this, saying mysteriously:

"Whether it's necessary or not, I can't say right now."

"In any case, think about it: at my age and with my ability, why would I act as a head clerk to come and do business with the Rong family?"

"How about this, I'll reveal a bit of the wind; as long as everyone listens, there is absolutely no danger to your lives."

"In the future, there might even be greater prospects."

"Alright, our time is tight, we can't waste it."

"Since you've chosen to cooperate, arrange for your subordinates to quickly get those ten thousand slaves ready."

"I'll give you one hour to get everything ready."

"After that, for every quarter-hour delayed, I will randomly select ten managers and kill them."

"As for those who aren't willing to listen to you, I'll slaughter their entire families right now."

In his past life, Zhang Gui had experienced the baptism of pyramid schemes and online scams.

He understood a few tricks of rhetoric.

He knew that to deceive people, one had to weave half a story and let them deceive themselves.

As long as you provide enough mental pressure, leave no time for thinking, and don't let people communicate and remind each other, you could deceive even an immortal.

Therefore, his words were vague; other than the intimidation, the rest was as good as saying nothing.

And if he hadn't killed anyone before, these words wouldn't have carried any weight.

But now, they were heavier than a thousand catties.

Song Wenhua thought of his granddaughter, couldn't help but shiver, steadied his breath, and looked at his subordinates, saying loudly:

"Everyone has seen Lord Zhang Gui's methods of killing, and you've heard his orders."

"I'll ask first: is there anyone who is unwilling to follow these orders and would rather take their family to their deaths?"

"Let's start with Liu Tan, in the main seat at the leftmost table."

"I'll only wait three breaths; if you don't answer Song Gong, then go die!" Zhang Gui added gloomily.

Liu Tan, in the main seat at the left table, was a middle-aged thin man with a goatee. Hearing this, he cursed inwardly, but stammered out loud:

"I, I am willing."

If the manor had been broken by mountain bandits, perhaps he wouldn't have submitted even in death.

But now, they were shifting from the imperial merchant Shuanghu Rong family to the Pingyang Zhang family, which had produced Zhang Siwei, who had governed the world.

And there was the promise from the head of the Zhang family; not only would they keep their lives, but there were new prospects.

Why bother throwing their lives away?

With someone taking the lead, the rest was simple.

Soon, everyone agreed.

And this was the reason why, although the Rong family was rich and powerful, they were still looked down upon by the great clans.

If it were a true prestigious family, the managers under them would all be family servants raised for generations.

No matter what, it would be impossible for them to all betray just because of a threat.

And Zhang Gui wouldn't have been able to continue his plan so smoothly.

After he led a group of people out of the Dazheng Hall door.

Song Wenhua began to order his subordinates in an orderly fashion: who should go to the counter first to roll out the silver pumpkins weighing over ten thousand catties for Zhang Gui to inspect;

who should go to gather the managers' relatives onto carriages;

who should go to summon the slaves to move the medicinal herbs, grain, fruit tree seeds, cloth, rice, and flour from the warehouses onto ox carts;

who should go get rain capes to distribute to everyone...

And he specifically ordered them to only say that the master had suddenly sent an order for everyone to relocate, and to claim ignorance of everything else.

Zhang Gui ordered the Stone Corpse soldiers like Sang Gui and Zaxi Dun to act together with the Rong family managers, and to seize anyone who showed signs of trouble.

Before long, the entire Wangbei Manor became busy.

A mass relocation of over ten thousand people on a rainy night, giving only one hour to prepare, was actually quite excessive.

Zhang Gui's demand was actually just to scare the Rong family managers, to keep them on their toes so they wouldn't delay things.

But unexpectedly, in just seven quarter-hours, under Song Wenhua's coordination and arrangement, the task was actually completed.

Without wearing a rain cape, Zhang Gui transformed into a golden man and walked in the rain, watching the endless line of carriages and ox carts drive out of the manor gate, unable to help but sigh:

"Song Gong truly has great methods."

"When people exceed ten thousand, they cover the mountains and plains; how could they be so easy to manage?"

"Yet you, in less than an hour, had ten thousand young men fully prepared to travel through the rain and night, and set off."

"Truly the talent of a great official!"

Song Wenhua smiled bitterly:

"Lord Gui, you flatter me."

"The reason we could set off so smoothly is mainly because the slaves sent by the 'Benevolent People Society' were trained to be obedient."

"Twenty gold for those with skills, ten gold even for those who only know how to farm."

"Let alone traveling through the rain at night, even if you told them to walk through a mountain of knives, I'm afraid no one would utter a sound."

"This is what's called 'one penny, one penny's worth of goods'."

Zhang Gui laughed loudly, "A good 'one penny, one penny's worth of goods', it's certainly cheap for me."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 50 =====