Like a Fish in Water

Wei Yuefu got the land. Still, it had to be said: Xu Cheng'an was truly crooked, marking it up by at least fifty percent. Even so, Wei Yuefu bought it, as the site was genuinely good and Xu Cheng'an handled all the paperwork, guaranteeing it to be fully legal, compliant, and free of future trouble. More importantly, this was forced spending—the man had made it glaringly obvious that he was going to fleece him. If you refused to pay, things would be rough down the line. When it was time to bow one's head, one simply bowed. Wei Yuefu was hardly an upright, incorruptible soul; what he did was run with the same pack of rats and snakes. He had already committed the deeds. Deceiving others was one thing, but what good would lying to himself do? Yet he had no choice either. The best Wei Yuefu could do was refrain from harming the common people... Xu Cheng'an might be greedy and lustful, but once given money and women, he truly got things done. Otherwise, if he were like Six Doors—taking money without doing the work—who would dare approach him over time? Six Doors could get away with it because they possessed the requisite authority; if you didn't pay, they made your life miserable. Xu Cheng'an lacked so many special privileges, so he had to find other ways to amass wealth. Next came recruiting troops and building the camp. The former he handled himself, while for the latter, Wei Yuefu went to Xu Cheng'an and slipped him a little gratuity to recommend several master artisans. These so-called master artisans were essentially skilled craftsmen who also served as contractors and foremen. Following a "harmonious" negotiation, they agreed to construct the camp for Wei Yuefu at rock-bottom prices. The sum was not only far from profitable, it did not even cover the costs. Yet not only did they happily take on the job, they even offered to throw in a bit extra on their own coin. Hearing this, Wei Yuefu began questioning reality. Beyond wanting to curry favor with him, surely they couldn't still be turning a profit...? Regardless, it had little bearing on Wei Yuefu; he simply ordered them to finish as quickly as possible. Patting their chests, they assured Wei Yuefu that they would have everything settled within seven days at most. Evidently, the master artisans Xu Cheng'an recommended were no strangers to this sort of work. Next came military recruitment, which was merely a matter of posting notices and spreading the word. This was hardly difficult. Among the former colleagues who had traveled from Dingyuan City to Qingchuan Prefecture, many had gone to various counties and towns as bronze badge constable chiefs. With their help, word spread remarkably fast. This was especially true since Wei Yuefu offered settling-in allowances. Most ordinary recruitment drives only offered military pay... at least on paper, though reality was another matter entirely. Mainly, Wei Yuefu did not need many men, and spots were limited. Yet offering settling-in allowances also drew unwanted attention. Xu Cheng'an had a nose for money like a hyena; he came straight to Wei's door, declaring that this was far too wasteful. Why give settling-in allowances to a bunch of mud-legged peasants? Hand it to him instead, and he would arrange men for Wei Yuefu! However many men Wei Yuefu wanted, he would allocate that many. Wei Yuefu turned him down, citing that peasants were easy to manage, while military ruffians were prickly troublemakers he feared he couldn't keep in line. Naturally, he left room to maneuver, saying that if Xu Cheng'an could guarantee they would obey or allow replacements whenever they misbehaved, then Wei Yuefu would pay. Faced with that, Xu Cheng'an had no choice but to drop it. He truly could not guarantee either condition. Soldiers were men, not dogs; he had no way of training them into absolute obedience. In the end, he could only depart in frustration, though before leaving he recommended armor and weapons to Wei Yuefu. Most importantly, provisions: the grain he sold was priced at least forty percent below market rates. Clearly, it hadn't come from legitimate channels—nine times out of ten, it was grain allocated by the Great Jing Dynasty that he had intercepted. Xu Cheng'an likely hadn't intercepted it firsthand either, but rather received it after it had been skimmed through multiple hands. Military payroll was probably in the same boat. As for raking in wealth... that had to wait. How could one rake in money without people under hand? During this period, he also inquired into how Xu Cheng'an and the other company commanders amassed their wealth. He could only conclude their methods were far too inefficient. Every single one was squabbling, and not one of them had ever thought to make the cake bigger. Thus, Wei Yuefu did not care in the slightest about Xu Cheng'an taking a fifty-percent cut of the total. When the time came to hand it over, Xu might not even dare accept it. Of course, if the man actually took it, that would mean he was insatiably greedy, and Wei Yuefu would find a way to eliminate him. Wei Yuefu's greatest talent was not fighting and killing, but expanding the cake to build an interest group and bind everyone together. When the time came, this interest group would serve as his shield out front: he would take the profits, while the group bore the brunt of any fallout. Naturally, he did not relish this approach either; after all, it was a hassle for him. Unfortunately, martial artists pursuing martial arts lacked decisive power, so he still had to rely on methods like these. As days went by, beyond recruiting men and purchasing horses, Wei Yuefu also kept an eye on Shen Qianjun's movements. It could only be said that he was fortunate to have extricated himself early. With Shen Qianjun reappointed as Patrol Envoy, the first to suffer was the prefectural capital's Six Doors. Every Bronze Badge and Iron Ruler in the prefectural capital's Six Doors fell under his investigation, and several lost their posts. Then Shen seized the opportunity to recruit a batch of capable, discerning individuals. Shen Qianjun had learned from his previous failures; this time, he acted faster and struck harder. The atmosphere in Six Doors improved to a degree, but... that was the extent of it. His conduct offended many people. If not for Xia Miaozheng's backing, Shen Qianjun would have faced endless trouble, yet he still found himself heavily targeted. The internal strife was exceptionally fierce. In contrast, Wei Yuefu was like a fish in water. Once he finished recruiting men, he brought all the company commanders along with Xu Cheng'an, who served as Commandant, into a series of money-making schemes. He even leveraged Xu Cheng'an's connections to pull the prefectural government in as well, forming an immensely vast web of interests. Take provisions and fodder: on the pretext of military supply turnover, Wei Yuefu resold aged grain to workshops not involved in ordinary civilian retail, such as distilleries and sauce makers. Then he bought a small amount of expensive fresh grain from the market to balance the books. Next, he wrote off massive deficits under various pretexts such as spoilage, rot, and transport losses to river perils. When dealing with inspections from above, all he had to do was present those few bags of newly bought grain as samples of a full stock. Still... under the present circumstances, likely no one would ever come inspect; Wei Yuefu was merely taking precautions. If worst came to worst, a "fire dragon" could burn the granary down—that would serve as an explanation just as well. As for the modest expense of buying new grain, it had long been folded into various fabricated miscellaneous fees for warehouse transfers and sunning the grain. Reporting an inflated amount upward and dispensing a discounted amount downward, he scraped out yet another layer of price difference out of thin air. Then there was anti-smuggling arbitrage: under the banner of purging the local area, he asked Xu Cheng'an for the authority to assist in smuggling crackdowns, while requesting intelligence from the chief clerk of the Windwhisper Bureau. This naturally required two payments of respect. He then targeted illicit salt and tea traffickers specifically. Once caught, instead of handing them over to the authorities, he had them pay a deposit far below the official forfeiture rate before returning their goods. If they were willing to pay regular escort fees, he could even provide protection to guarantee they would not be caught during their runs. Lastly was the financialization of tax farming. Collecting taxes in remote towns and villages was a difficult task that gave the prefectural government severe headaches. Through his ties with the prefectural government, Wei Yuefu contracted their annual tax collection at a discount, paying the yamen a lump sum upfront before going out to collect it himself. He dispatched soldiers to accompany the tax collection, which proved exceedingly efficient and netted an extra thirty to fifty percent in practice. If prominent clans and wealthy families made excuses about tight liquidity, he lent money directly through the entire interest group. Not only were the monthly interest rates handsome, but the collateral often consisted of shops or merchandise. If they failed to repay upon maturity, he seized the shops to satisfy the debt. There were plenty more methods like these, allowing everyone—whether in the prefectural government, Six Doors, or the military camp—to earn far more than ever before. They didn't even have to worry; they could simply lie back and take their share of the money.