Infighting

Longchuan originally had fifty or sixty bandit gangs, large and small. While they were farmers when working the fields and fishermen on the water, could they still be called bandits if they only farmed and fished? How would that make them any different from ordinary, law-abiding subjects? Now that Yuheng City had tightened control over the Longchuan trade route, the loot plundered by the water bandits had drastically dwindled, yet their operational costs remained steep. Once revenue could no longer cover costs, who would still want to keep running a loss-making business? "Yuheng City has swept through the outer perimeters of Longchuan several more times. By now, twelve or thirteen gangs—including the Lujia Gang—have disbanded. Their members either got absorbed by other gangs or left Longchuan on their own. What's more, the atmosphere inside Longchuan has grown tense lately. When I came out, over two hundred men were facing off. No idea if they've come to blows yet." Just as many mouths were waiting to divide the loot, but the profits had shrunk. What was there to do? Involute. The cutthroat rat race had begun. Even bandits knew the drill: either downsize or fight it out. In short, self-destructive friction. He Lingchuan smiled. "Tell me about those Xiji puppet troops." The remnants of the Xiji forces, shattered by General Red and Xiao Maoliang, had fled into Longchuan. They styled themselves the "Xiji Army," but Yuheng City dubbed them the "puppet troops." "I was just about to get to that. The two gangs looking to scrap are the Xiji puppet troops and the Globe Amaranth Gang." Skinny took a sip of wine. "The Xiji puppet troops originally had several factions, but now they've all banded together into one gang." He Lingchuan understood. "Without official standing, scratching out a living on that turf wasn't going to be easy." "Exactly. They were government soldiers before, and some had even campaigned into Longchuan to hunt water bandits. Then, a few months back, they turned around and joined the trade themselves. You can imagine the bad blood between the two sides. Things were far from smooth when the puppet troops first entered Longchuan; dozens had their throats slit in the dead of night. Later, they latched onto the Jintao people, finally securing a patron to stand toe-to-toe with the other bandits. "Three months ago, during that bandit assault on the city, it was the Xiji puppet troops who helped rally the other gangs. They claimed the Jintao people were paying top dollar for their services, providing grain, weapons, and armor, and that Yuheng City was newly established, packed with wealthy merchants, and had an army barely in its infancy—an easy target. They said everyone could ride in like the wind, pillage to their hearts' content, and come away with pots of gold." "Those Xiji puppet troops are mediocre at fighting, but they're not half bad at conning people." He Lingchuan knew the Jintao people had likely heard Commander Xiao was transferred away and replaced by an obscure newcomer, so they wanted to give him a rough welcome; meanwhile, the bandits wanted a slice of the fat. The two sides hit it off immediately. "Tell me about it," Skinny chuckled. "Instead, they crashed straight into an iron plate, and countless died. Once back in Longchuan, the major bandit gangs turned on the Xiji puppet troops, demanding compensation." "They didn't pay?" "Of course not. The puppet troops had taken heavy casualties themselves. After bickering for a few days, tempers flared, and full-blown infighting broke out." Skinny shook his head. "I hadn't been there long at the time, and I really didn't expect the Xiji puppet troops to come out on top. Several gangs were shattered completely." "Not surprising. They have a patron behind them." "True enough." Skinny cracked open a salted peanut. "Right now, Longchuan is roughly divided into three factions. "The first is the traditional local gangs that have existed for over twenty years, led by Qianjin Stronghold. "The second is the outsider Xiji puppet troops, who have the closest collusion with the Jintao Kingdom. "The third is the small and mid-sized gangs, who've always wavered in between, siding with whoever appears stronger—like the Globe Amaranth Gang." He Lingchuan raised his cup to toast him. "Excellent. As expected of you—laying out such a tangled mess of internal affairs with perfect clarity." Of the undercover agents Yuheng City had dispatched into Longchuan, two had rushed back before their covers were blown. Only two remained undercover, one of whom was Skinny. The fellow was a born espionage talent. With Skinny laying out the factions like this, He Lingchuan had a clear picture of Longchuan's internal power balance, which would help him formulate subsequent plans. "Chief, you're as sharp as ever." Skinny waved at the thin, dark-skinned grill cook. "I also confirmed one more thing: over a month ago, the Jintao Kingdom sent someone to the Xiji puppet troops. The moment he arrived, he took the top seat and demanded their absolute obedience. The string of ambushes targeting patrols along the southern trade route was orchestrated by him." "His name?" "Fu Shanlie." He Lingchuan's hand holding the cup paused slightly. So the murderer of Miao Mingming and the others was indeed Fu Shanyue's old man? This was truly bad news; it proved Beijia wanted to stick its hand in here as well. "How is his cultivation?" "Quite formidable. As soon as he arrived, he executed a bandit leader to establish his authority." He Lingchuan instructed, "Steer clear of him so you don't get on his radar. He looks human, but he's actually a monster whose hearing, sight, and sense of smell are exceptionally keen." Skinny looked surprised. "What kind of monster is he?" "The ambushed guards had four puncture wounds on their necks; every drop of blood in their bodies had been drained," He Lingchuan whispered. "I suspect it's a ba. I've already reported it to Panlong City." "Understood." As the grill cook walked over, Skinny held up five fingers. "Hey, lad, grill me five more skewers of big kidneys!" Since someone else was footing the bill today, he picked the most expensive item on the menu. Once the cook acknowledged the order, Skinny continued, "Chief, your counterattack against the bandits was right on time. Otherwise, we'd be in serious trouble right now." "How so?" "When Fu Shanlie first led ambushes against the Yuheng City patrols, the first few succeeded without a hitch, causing quite a stir across Longchuan." The entanglements between the Longchuan water bandits and government troops went back a long way, but it had always been taken for granted that soldiers suppressed bandits; bandits actively hunting down soldiers was utterly unheard of. "With that trick alone, the Xiji puppet troops earned newfound respect among the bandits." He Lingchuan sneered. "And the ones attacking the patrols later weren't just the puppet troops." "Right, the other gangs followed suit." Skinny let out a long sigh. "If you hadn't led the Yuheng City army in such a fierce counterattack, the southern trade route would have been in catastrophic trouble!" No matter how rampant the banditry had been before, it was merchants and travelers who suffered the brunt of the raids. If it escalated to bandits slaughtering patrols with impunity, where would it end? He Lingchuan had spared no cost to strike back precisely to nip this toxic trend in the bud. "And now?" "Now that the Yuheng City army has answered with iron and blood, the bandit dens are in turmoil, with wave after wave of outrage directed at the Xiji puppet troops." Skinny stripped meat off another skewer. "Everyone's saying that their reckless provocation of the soldiers brought down the Yuheng Army's furious retaliation across all of Longchuan, dragging everyone down with them." It was clearly the Xiji puppet troops' fault, yet every bandit gang in Longchuan was forced to swallow the bitter pill. Naturally, people weren't going to take it lying down. He Lingchuan pondered for a good while before saying, "Qianjin Stronghold and the Xiji puppet troops are both recruiting, right?" "Yes. Quite a few gangs have disbanded recently, and they're cherry-picking the best." "As plundering along the Longchuan trade route becomes harder and harder, the infighting among the water bandits will only grow fiercer." Involution wasn't an invention unique to his original world.