Chapter 179: Taking Over

But the result was that the lookouts neither recognized the night raiders, nor raised an alarm, nor tried to stop them — they simply let them come and go.

Zhao Jin had done this because he wanted a covert force in his hands, but if you thought about it carefully, the scouts under Liu Yong were all young men from Xuzhou city; they worked for Liu Yong, so they knew they were working for Zhao Jin — how covert was that?

It was precisely this mindset that prevented the two sides from coordinating, allowing the night raiders to escape. Thinking of this, Zhao Jin couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Early the next morning, Zhao Jin adjusted the guard positions for the household troops. Seventy percent still surrounded the distillery, while thirty percent were stationed on the surrounding necessary routes, and at night they were to stay concealed in the dark. Zhao Jin also instructed Liu Yong that next time those lookouts encountered such a situation, they should not fear exposing themselves — they must raise an alarm, must come out to intercept. If exposed, they would simply transfer to the household troops. One must not be too rigid in doing things.

After an early breakfast, Liu Yong sent his men into the city to gather information everywhere. Chen Sheng went to the prefectural magistrate's yamen. What he needed to do was similar to Liu Yong's task. The twenty men who raided the distillery last night could not have appeared out of thin air, nor could they be residents of the city. If such a force existed, it would certainly have been used in the earliest phase when the distillery's defenses were at their slackest, not now.

These twenty men would need a place to stay, and they had gone out late at night. Chances were they would leave early this morning. Such abnormal behavior would certainly be noticed by someone. Tracing their movements would allow a deeper investigation.

Compared to his companions' tense vigilance, Zhao Jin was very relaxed, because the enemy likely had no more means left to sabotage the distillery. Fragrance Distillery had no internal loopholes to exploit; the only option was a direct frontal assault. But every conceivable frontal assault method had already failed. To sabotage the distillery, they would probably have to muster a large force and attack with absolute superiority. Yet within Xuzhou city, only the government troops could accomplish that. As for digging tunnels or setting up catapults — those were like a winter swimming champion: purely theoretical possibilities.

So the enemy's only remaining opportunity was to exploit a gap on this side, but with Fragrance Distillery being so cautious and meticulous, there were no gaps.

Optimistic in speculation, but pessimistic in preparation. Zhao Jin once again readjusted Fragrance Distillery's defenses. This time he specifically had Dong Bingfeng invite a Battalion Commander under the Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander. This Battalion Commander had started as a Company Commander in the Xuzhou Guard and was considered an old connection of the Dong family. Although he had never fought a major battle, he had considerable expertise in suppressing bandits and defending against raiders, with rich experience in guarding fortifications. For such defensive works, the most critical thing was not preventing a frontal assault, but preventing infiltration.

Seeing Zhao Jin's arrangements, this Battalion Commander gave a rather interesting assessment: "As long as you can maintain this system, it's pretty unlikely anyone could fight their way in. It's just far too troublesome and fussy."

For the sake of absolute security, some redundant arrangements were unavoidable — layer after layer encircling the place. Getting such an assessment was not surprising.

By afternoon, Chen Sheng and Liu Yong brought back news. The Shunfeng Inn west of the city had taken in twenty-one guests the previous afternoon. Their travel permits had been issued from Shanyang County in Huai'an Prefecture, and their accents were from that area as well. Moreover, they spent very freely — the twenty-one of them rented out three entire private courtyards.

For such generous guests, from the innkeeper to the waiters, everyone would normally be eager to serve them attentively. Yet these men were extremely cold, even giving extra tips to make the waiters stay far away. Silver was the master; the innkeeper and waiters were happy to save themselves the trouble.

The inn had someone on duty around the clock. Late at night, however, someone heard movement from the three courtyards at the back, and the inn's dog started barking as well. But having been instructed beforehand, no one went over to meddle. Not long after, there was more movement, and the dog barked nonstop again.

By now, everyone at the inn understood perfectly well: this group was not on the straight and narrow. People sneaking out in the dead of night concealing their movements were certainly no law-abiding commoners.

But no one wanted to stir up trouble. For one thing, the silver was ample. For another, these twenty men looked none too easy to provoke — meddling might bring future trouble. Fortunately, early that morning, these men settled their bill and left, allowing the inn a sigh of relief. Yet that relief did not last long; soon someone came knocking to ask questions.

Once this information was known, no deduction or guesswork was needed — everyone could be certain that last night's deed was done by these people.

The travel permits and accents, far from clarifying anything, instead left everyone somewhat baffled, even more unable to figure out the origins of the distillery's enemy.

The forces in Huai'an Prefecture were far too tangled and diverse. There were canal men who lived off the Grand Canal, water bandits from Hongze Lake, salt smugglers connected to the Huai salt of Haizhou, and even sea lords and pirates from the ocean — and those were just the ones with known backgrounds, to say nothing of the hundreds and thousands of outlaw bands and desperadoes in Huai'an Prefecture.

To supply the salt pans with enough fuel to boil salt, three-quarters or more of Huai'an Prefecture was forbidden from cultivation, left as barren flats for reeds to grow. Salt-boiling used these weeds and reeds as fuel. The vast barren flats left the common people with no livelihood, forcing large numbers of them to turn to banditry. Moreover, with the barren flats and grasslands so expansive, hiding was extremely easy. Outlaws from Xuzhou, Fengyang, Huai'an, and Yangzhou — even from Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong — all took refuge here.

Canal laborers, salt smugglers, water bandits, pirates, grass brigands — with so many outlaws, whenever an outsider wanted something done, as long as they spent the silver, there was no shortage of desperadoes willing to serve.

Although their origins could not be traced, it was not a total loss. It gave Zhao Jin and his group at least a basic understanding of the enemy's strength. Anyone who could spend money to hire so many desperadoes was certainly no simple figure.

The investigation itself yielded only this much, but it did serve as a reminder to Zhao Jin and his group. From that day on, an unwritten rule took hold among the inns of Xuzhou city: if any inn received out-of-town merchants whose movements were suspicious, or whose numbers exceeded three, the relevant men of the underworld had to be invited to take a look and see if there was a problem. Otherwise, the inn would be in trouble.

This rule was not limited to places like inns. Even stalls and shops near the city gates had an obligation to keep watch on people. In some matters, even if Zhao Jin did not give the order, plenty of people would take the initiative to curry favor and ingratiate themselves.

Both inside and out, everything grew tighter and tighter. Zhao Jin and his companions also set a rotation for standing watch. Perhaps sensing that the distillery offered no opening, the following days were all very quiet, with no attacks or harassment.

The news that Blackface Yan had taken the initiative to seek out Zhao Jin and beg forgiveness quickly spread. Despite all sorts of speculation among outsiders, the fact that Blackface Yan was alive and well spoke for itself.

Aside from the utterly disgraced Cloud Mountain Temple, everyone else said Blackface Yan knew what was prudent. With Zhao Jin's current momentum in the city blazing like the midday sun, to stubbornly resist was to court death.

Even more people, however, praised Zhao Jin for his magnanimity — to even forgive a man who had once schemed to murder him. Such conduct resembled that of many great figures of antiquity. Judging by this, such a man was surely destined for greatness.

What Zhao Jin wanted was not praise; he wanted tangible benefits. Blackface Yan had indeed been prepared all along. The first suggestion he gave Zhao Jin was not about Balipu, where he had just been staying, but rather Yan Family Village, five li outside Xuzhou's south gate.

Yan Family Village had just over seventy households in total, a few hundred people, who made their living by farming. Most of the village's farmland belonged to Blackface Yan; they were all his tenant farmers.

The land around Xuzhou was barren, and the farmland of villages close to the city was limited. By all rights, the villagers should have lived in bitter hardship, but in reality it was otherwise. This Yan Family Village was Blackface Yan's distribution point for salt. When the smuggled salt arrived, the village's able-bodied men transported it to the surrounding hamlets. A third of the area south of the city also consumed the salt that came from this village.

Close to the city and near the official road, such a village was in fact a prime location, coveted by countless officials, gentry, and powerful families. The reason Blackface Yan could hold onto this place was not by his own ability, but because Cloud Mountain Temple backed him from behind.

The names on the title deeds were all Blackface Yan's, but the actual owner was Cloud Mountain Temple. After Blackface Yan was driven out of the city by Zhao Jin, the people from Cloud Mountain Temple took over Yan Family Village.

When Blackface Yan fled from Balipu, he had the title deeds with him. He cleanly and neatly presented them to Zhao Jin. Zhao Jin did not stand on ceremony either. He invited Scribe Ye from the Revenue Office to transfer these deeds into his own name, then called on two bailiffs from the yamen and a few thugs from Chen Ergou's crew to accompany them, and sent them to Yan Family Village.

The purpose of going to Yan Family Village was simple: to tell the villagers that this village now belonged to Master Zhao Jin. They were to sort out the accounts clearly and not hide or underreport anything. If anything was discovered, the authorities would not let them off.

The bailiffs and thugs were all local snakes who knew perfectly well the inside story of Yan Family Village. They went trembling with fear, afraid they might not return. But who dared disobey Zhao Jin's order? They could only steel themselves and go. Fortunately, when they delivered the message, although a few sturdy fellows looked grim, no one gave them any trouble, and they returned safe and sound.

The very next day after their visit, the two village heads of Yan Family Village came into the city to pay their respects to Master Zhao with the utmost deference. Blackface Yan received them. Inevitably, rules were laid down, and the previous business was sorted out.

As soon as these village heads left, Li Shun, the second manager of Cloud Mountain Trading, requested an audience. The moment Li Shun saw Zhao Jin, his face was full of bitter smiles. After taking a seat, he complained, "Young Master Zhao, you are far too unconcerned with the rules. We agreed on Balipu — how could you just take Yan Family Village outright? That place is a fine den; many of the temple's businesses pass through there. Everyone at the temple, from top to bottom, is seething with indignation. They all want to fight it out with you, Young Master Zhao!"

Zhao Jin understood the meaning of the underworld slang "den" — it referred to a place suitable for storing stolen goods, smuggled salt, and fugitives. Such a location typically needed to be convenient for transport yet also have a degree of concealment. Yan Family Village, outside the city, indeed had a certain "darkness under the lamp" quality to it.

"What do you mean, 'take'? This Yan Family Village is my, Zhao's, land and property. The title deeds have all been notarized at the yamen. If your temple has any doubts, you may come to the yamen to file a complaint and seek redress. Let the Prefect pass clear judgment. Whatever the court rules, I, Zhao, will have absolutely no second word to say," Zhao Jin said with a smile.

Although Cloud Mountain Temple exercised actual control, Zhao Jin held the title deeds and land contracts. If it went to the yamen, he would not be in the wrong in the slightest. Moreover, Cloud Mountain Temple's actual control relied on force — but this advantage was something Zhao Jin did not take seriously at all. Five li outside the city gate, just half a shichen's journey, his household troops could be deployed at any time. Who was supposed to be afraid of whom?