Chapter 27: If the Magistrate Can Do It, Why Can't I?

Training soldiers is expensive. Extremely expensive.

Li Gui had only managed to scrape together enough grain and meat to train his men by plundering the surrounding mountain strongholds, and he relied on the steel blade in his hand to force those bandits to train dutifully. However, Liang Wanshen could not do such things, so he had to use money—vastly more money than Li Gui—to achieve the same result. Naturally, he was unwilling to pay out of his own pocket, so he reached out to Magistrate Ding for funds.

Magistrate Ding was unwilling to provide the money, but he had no choice, so he set his sights on the common people of the entire county. This "anti-bandit levy" had already been collected once, and now, a second round was being demanded immediately! The reason was simple: the last campaign had failed! Since everyone who went had been killed, weren't pensions required? Since the previous funds were exhausted, another collection was obviously necessary!

"Anti-bandit operations are for the benefit of all merchants and commoners," they argued. "You don't have to go to the front lines yourselves, so what is a little money? Look at the new recruits training every day! This money is being used exclusively for these soldiers; it is earmarked!" Once the troops were trained and the bandits wiped out, everyone could rest easy without fearing the criminals. With such a righteous justification, anyone who dared to refuse payment was clearly an accomplice to the bandits and would be punished without mercy.

With the Magistrate's order, the clerks and runners immediately fanned out across every village to begin their tax collection tour. The landed gentry and wealthy merchants were, of course, exempt, but the ordinary shopkeepers, craftsmen, and farmers could not escape. Everyone had their share to pay; the wealthier merchants paid more, and the poorer farmers paid less. Already struggling to survive, many were driven to the brink by this forced apportionment.

Zhu Fu was one of them. Although he ran a tavern outside the West Gate, his profits were meager. Furthermore, he had many friends in the martial world who would frequently come by to "borrow" a meal. Since they were brothers, loyalty came first, and he felt ashamed to ask them for money for food and drink. In the past, he could manage by relying on his daily savings. But this year, first came the chaos caused by Li Gui, then a group of officials arrived from above to investigate, which even caused trouble for his mentor, Li Yun, and led to a complete turnover of the staff in the yamen. He had to spend money to curry favor with the new head of the guards and the runners just to build connections.

To avoid trouble, he had to spend money to avert disaster, paying off the men who came to "investigate" and offering gifts to all the new "deities" he needed to appease. Most of his savings were wiped out in an instant. Then, the new Magistrate demanded the anti-bandit levy, setting a painful quota for him as a "wealthy" household. He had barely managed to scrape through that ordeal when, just as things seemed to be improving and his mentor Li Yun was reinstated as the head guard, the second round of levies arrived.

He tried to seek help from Li Yun, but even Li Yun could not intervene. The order came from the Magistrate himself, and the quota was set at the same level as the first payment. "If you could pay that much last time but pay less this time, it shows dissatisfaction with the yamen and suspicion of colluding with bandits!"

After returning from Li Yun’s residence, Zhu Fu looked at the dismal business in his tavern, let out a long sigh, and simply locked the doors, hanging up a "Closed" sign. He prepared two small dishes and a pot of wine, drinking by himself. After finishing the pot, the alcohol went to his head, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He had painstakingly operated this tavern for over a decade, finally accumulating a small nest egg, only to be reduced to a pauper again because of this damn anti-bandit levy.

Did he not know whose pockets that money would end up in? If even thirty percent of it went toward training soldiers, he would chop off his own head and use it as a ball! Moreover, once he considered that Li Gui might actually be backed by Old Master Liu, he guessed that this second campaign would likely end in failure, and a third levy would surely follow. He could borrow money to survive this time, but what about the next? What about the fourth or fifth time?

"This godforsaken world! It truly leaves no path for a good man to survive!"

Zhu Fu shook the wine pot, poured the dregs into his mouth, then smashed it violently against the floor until it shattered into pieces. He kicked the table over, stood up unsteadily, pointed at the sky, and cursed, "Damn those thieves! Since I cannot be a good man, I might as well head up to the mountain and become a bandit myself!"

No sooner said than done. Fueled by the alcohol, Zhu Fu grabbed a single-edged blade, left the tavern, locked the door tight, and staggered off in the direction of Yushan Mountain.

***

Ever since he had wiped out the various strongholds and unified Yishui, the name of Yushan Stronghold had spread, with the most obvious result being an increasing number of people coming to join the mountain. It is no exaggeration to say that Li Gui was now the boss of the Yishui underworld; wherever he went, people had to show him some respect. With this reputation, Li Gui finally possessed the standing where people would surrender and pledge their loyalty upon meeting him.

The mountain was reasonably well-stocked with grain, pigs, and sheep, but sitting around eating through their supplies would lead to exhaustion eventually. Although Li Gui had no intention of developing this place as a proper base, seeing the stronghold take shape step by step brought him a sense of satisfaction. If he could keep it, he was certainly willing. He knew nothing of management and was too lazy to bother with such things. If he had to exhaust himself to expand the stronghold, he would rather kick it aside to avoid being unhappy. Since he had come to the world of *Water Margin*, he had to eat meat in large chunks, drink wine from large bowls, and live freely and happily—that was the only way to make his life worthwhile!

As for ways to make money, he knew nothing of science or commercial techniques, and he was too lazy to engage in research himself. Even his desire to recruit refugees to farm their own land was thwarted because, living on the mountain, there was no fertile soil for farmers to use. After much thought, Li Gui could only come up with one way to create a stable income: set up checkpoints and collect taxes!

If the yamen could do it, why couldn't he? He could not engage in trade, but since so many emperors in the past had relied on taxes to fund their armies and wars, why couldn't Li Gui? He would do exactly what the officials did! However, the government had all sorts of exorbitant taxes and levies, which he would not copy; he would simply fix the tax rate and not collect a single cent more! If any of his subordinates dared to collect an extra penny, he would kill them on the spot.

Since he had already wiped out all the surrounding strongholds and there were no other bandits, he could issue a small, tax-paid banner to every merchant caravan that paid the tax. This would allow them to travel anywhere in the county safely and without obstruction. Just like that "Great Lord Chai," who relied on his many friends in the martial world to distribute his own banners everywhere; when others saw his banner, whether out of respect or fear of retaliation, they dared not rob him, which earned him a great reputation.

For merchants, paying a ten percent tax was high, but compared to the random, exorbitant levies and the unpredictable mountain bandits, it was nothing. As long as they made a few more trips, they would earn back every cent.

Without delay, Li Gui had the newly arrived refugees begin building the stronghold, aiming to turn the dilapidated mountain into an impregnable fortress. Simultaneously, he organized men to cut down trees and build roads at a wide spot down the mountain, preparing to set up a checkpoint. The felled trees were not transported up the mountain; instead, they were used to build several guard posts right there for the tax collectors, providing shelter from the wind and rain and a place to sound the alarm should an enemy approach.

Just as the stronghold was bustling with intense construction, Zhu Fu arrived.