With eyes fixed on him from both sides, Cripple Liu lived up to his reckless, blunt reputation and spoke right up: "Chief, we've been collecting the road toll for over a month now!"
"That's right, and the money was already distributed. Didn't you get your share?"
Under the agreement between Qianjin Stronghold and Yuheng City, twenty percent of the road tolls collected from the official highway had to be handed over, while eighty percent was kept for themselves. Tao Lin had handed out the silver according to customary bandit rules: more work, more pay; less work, less pay.
A man like Cripple Liu had no chance of working out on the highway and could only stay in the stronghold doing odd chores, so he naturally received less.
"I got it. The toll money wasn't much, but it was still one and a half taels of silver." It was enough to fill his belly. Then Cripple Liu shifted the conversation. "But you folks handed out dividends, and twice at that, didn't you?"
If this were Yuheng City, who in the military camp would dare address He Lingchuan directly as "you"? Anyone speaking to him would have respectfully used "Commander He" or "Lord Commander."
Bandit dens, however, had no truck with so many rules and formalities.
Tao Lin's reply was equally plain: "You didn't go out on the road, so there's no share for you."
Cripple Liu glanced left and right, as though drawing courage from the crowd around him, before lifting his chin. "If there's no share for me, why is my name on the roster?"
Tao Lin was taken aback. "What roster? Where is there a roster?"
Other bandits chimed in one after another:
"The notice boards in the seven or eight villages and towns around Rong Village and Dabaoyan, plus those inside and outside Yuheng City—the night before last, they posted the dividend rosters for both rounds for Qianjin Stronghold and the Globe Amaranth Gang!"
"We counted them! Two hundred and eighty-six people in our stronghold are eligible for dividends!"
"It's two hundred and sixty-seven! Can't you read or count?"
"Not only Cripple Liu, but even Caihua Xu from under the Five Willows is on the list!"
A roar went through the crowd. "Really? Even Caihua Xu? I didn't notice!"
Everyone chuckled slyly. Caihua Xu was a woman whose name sounded like a man's, running an unlicensed brothel trade near the outskirts of the stronghold. Because she had caught an occupational disease, everyone mockingly nicknamed her "Cauliflower."
For someone like that to make it onto the dividend roster was an absolute farce.
"And that brat Wang the Second's family had last year—what was his name, Wang Ying...?"
"Wang Yingcai!"
"Right, right, Wang Yingcai! Such a tiny toddler!" Even a baby like that was on the dividend list?
Everyone lived in Longchuan, sharing not only villages, trades, and kinship, but also neighborhoods.
The clamor of voices felt ready to blow Tao Lin's head apart, yet a chill shot straight to his heart.
The dividend rosters had actually been posted!
Put up in broad daylight for the public to see?
This was a disaster!
Cripple Liu was still staring at him eagerly. "Chief, you submitted this roster, didn't you? Since my name is on it, I want my dividend!"
Tao Lin's confidant barked from the side, "Did you guard the checkpoints? How dare you come asking for silver! There's nothing for you!"
The inner circle knew full well that the dividend payout—several hundred taels—had been handed over by the authorities to Chief Tao four days ago, and Chief Tao had already distributed it yesterday!
It had gone into the pockets of the core river bandits of Qianjin Stronghold.
Yet none of those core members' names were on the roster Tao Lin had submitted to Yuheng City.
Tao Lin was no fool. There was no way he would hand over the real names of all his men to Yuheng City. If the authorities ever turned against them later, wouldn't they be able to round them up in one fell swoop?
So he had filled the dividend roster with local villagers and idle hangers-on living near the stronghold, padding the list to twice the actual headcount!
The reason was simple: Tao Lin wanted to pocket more for his own men, so he added an extra hundred names to inflate the numbers. After all, the subsidy came from Yuheng City's coffers.
Cripple Liu stiffened his neck. "The notice clearly says that anyone on the dividend list gets two taels of silver in hand!"
He certainly hadn't guarded the highway, but if his name was on the official list, those two taels were his by right!
Fourteen or fifteen more men stepped out from the crowd, lining up behind Cripple Liu and joining in: "My name is on the list too! Chief, I have a share as well!"
They had arrived long ago, merely waiting for someone to take the lead before banding together to demand the silver.
Tao Lin's confidant was about to curse again when Tao Lin shoved him aside with a kick. "Piss off!"
What was the point of adding fuel to the fire now?
He genuinely had not expected Yuheng City to make the dividend rosters public for all to see!
Who had ever done such a thing before? Who!
It made no damn sense!
Yet he was indeed the one who had submitted those names. Now that the people on the list were here demanding their money, what was he supposed to do?
He had outsmarted himself!
Seeing Tao Lin stand there dazed and silent, Cripple Liu glanced around and pressed again: "Chief, are you giving us the money or not? Give us a straight answer!"
"Yeah, are you paying or not?"
"Our names are on the list! How could you not pay us?"
"If you aren't going to pay, why did you put our names down in the first place?"
"Are you setting us up to be scapegoats later?"
The word "scapegoats" sent a shiver through Tao Lin's heart. He shouted at once:
"What are you shouting for! Did I say I wouldn't pay?"
The commotion ceased instantly, and smiles broke out across every face. "The chief is truly a man of honor!"
"Tomor—er, the dividends will be handed out in three days!" Tao Lin felt his heart bleed as he forced the words out.
Only then did the crowd leave in high spirits.
Watching their departing backs, the confidant asked worriedly, "Chief, isn't the dividend silver already...?"
Already gone.
"Should we collect it back from the brothers?"
"Collect what!" No matter how much it pained him, Tao Lin knew that spilt water could not be gathered again. Money distributed to bandits could never be taken back.
This extra "dividend" would have to come out of his own pocket!
Several hundred taels amounted to tens of thousands of copper coins, and he would have to fork it over for nothing to a lame groom, widows, backdoor whores, and a baby not even a year old!
This time, that commander surnamed He had truly screwed him over!
And this wasn't just a one-time payout; there would be a next time, and a time after that. The authorities would evidently post a public notice every single round.
He could no longer use random locals to falsely claim the money.
To make matters worse, He Lingchuan had already informed him that Yuheng City kept household registries for the residents of Longchuan, and had even had someone bring them over for Tao Lin to "verify." A cold sweat had broken out across Tao Lin's back when he saw them, because seven or eight out of ten entries matched reality. He had no idea how the other side had quietly gathered that information.
Under such circumstances, fabricating names out of thin air to submit to Yuheng City would no longer work. A quick comparison would expose the lie, which would only lead to humiliation.
Could he simply forgo the dividend altogether?
The moment that thought surfaced, Tao Lin struck it down.
What kind of joke was that? Tell the river bandits to turn down free silver falling from the sky? Did he want to lose his seat as chief?
That left only one option: he would have to submit real names.
Tao Lin collected himself, then summoned someone. "Go find out how the Globe Amaranth Gang is handling this!"
Yuheng City's venomous scheme wouldn't be aimed at him alone; the Globe Amaranth Gang had surely fallen into the trap as well.
In less than half a day, the scout returned with word:
Xu Zeshou, chief of the Globe Amaranth Gang, had not yet distributed the dividend money when the public roster went up. Once it appeared, he decided to split the sum evenly, giving a share to both the people on the roster and the actual core fighters.
That matched Tao Lin's impression of Xu Zeshou: a petty penny-pincher and a miser through and through.
Chapter 866