Chapter 435: The Salt Craftsmens Decision

Xing Honglang laughed. “Don’t be afraid. Keep moving forward. That fortress is ours.”“What?” The salt craftsmen jumped in fright. “It’s yours? This… just selling a bit of smuggled salt, was it necessary to go this big?”

Xing Honglang grinned, not bothering to explain, and continued leading the way.

Around the fortress, cleanup after the battle was still underway. Several bodies were being carried out from within the fortress. One corpse had its eyeballs bulged out.

Xing Honglang frowned, asking the sentinel on the watchtower, “What happened while I was away?”

The sentinel smiled and replied, “Boss Xing, you’re back! Not long ago, Bu Zhan Ni’s Fifth Team, Old Zhang Fei, attacked our fortress. These dead men are all his men.”

Xing Honglang nodded.

Hearing this, the salt craftsmen were secretly awed. Bandits actually attacked this place? That can’t be right? When bandits come, it’s usually thousands or tens of thousands! And they got defeated by salt smugglers? This Boss Xing is too terrifying.

In their eyes, Xing Honglang’s image began to take on a frightening quality…

Just then, the fortress gate opened. Gao Chuwu leaped out with a swish and spread his arms wide towards Xing Honglang. “Honglang!”

Xing Honglang also opened her arms wide. “Chuwu!”

The two collided with a thump, embracing fiercely.

The salt craftsmen: “!!!”

The terrifying image of Boss Xing, the formidable salt lord, fractured into countless pieces, impossible to piece back together.

“You must be the salt craftsmen? Hurry and pull the salt carts inside,” Old Nan Feng called out with a laugh from a distance. “Don’t stare at those two, it makes them uncomfortable.”

The salt craftsmen thought: Embracing unashamedly right at the fortress gate? Not a shred of them looking “uncomfortable with people watching.”

But they kept that remark to themselves, putting their heads down and working obediently.

The many salt carts were pushed into the fortress. Guided by the militia, they reached the warehouse area. The salt craftsmen lifted the salt bags down from the carts and moved them to designated spots in the warehouse. As they worked, their eyes scanned the interior anxiously. It was shocking to see: mountains upon mountains of grain were piled here. Truly a hill made of food.

Zao Ying shouted to Gao Chuwu, “Hey! Stop clinging to your woman for so long! Get some real work done! Your wife promised these salt craftsmen fifty catties of flour as payment. Arrange for someone to hand it out to them. They’re waiting eagerly!”

Only then did Gao Chuwu release Xing Honglang. With a happy grin, he turned to a soldier behind him. “Go! Arrange a team. Help them distribute the grain.”

The soldier hurried off.

A short while later, a unit of soldiers arrived in the warehouse area. They scooped flour from grain sacks, weighed out fifty catties, bagged it, and handed one bag to each salt craftsman.

Fifty catties of flour was no light weight. Carrying it home would take considerable effort. But would the salt craftsmen complain about the weight? They feared it might be too little.

Each one howled with excitement.

An old salt craftsman, probably in his fifties, clutched his flour bag and wept with emotion. “Working for the officials, how long would it take to earn this much flour? I’ve decided. I’m not going back to the village. I’ll work for Boss Xing! I’ll go make salt at the Nitrifying Pond too. I’ll become a salt craftsman for her!”

The salt craftsmen who had previous doubts now had no reservations. They planned to return home, gather their wives, children, and elderly parents, sneak out of the salt village… and never go back. Hiding by the Nitrifying Pond and making salt for the smugglers seemed like the far brighter future.

Tears still trickling down his face, the old salt craftsman suddenly spotted a middle-aged monk passing by outside. The monk’s face looked strangely familiar. The old craftsman suddenly remembered someone, a shock going through him. He dashed out and seized the monk’s robe.

The monk turned around. “Amitabha! Kindly manage the situation! Kindly manage the situation! What are you grabbing this poor monk for, benefactor?”

The old salt craftsman trembled all over. “Are you… He Ping, the He Ping of Puzhou? The… the man-eating salt lord of twenty years ago? I sold smuggled salt to you, Master. Do you remember me? South Jie Pond Village, Zhao Xiaobei… Back then, an official tried to kill me! You killed thirteen officials… you saved my life!”

The monk chuckled, shaking his head. Pressing his palms together, he said, “Benefactor, you’ve mistaken me for someone else. This poor monk’s Dharma name is Master Zhan Sheng. I am a guest monk at Pujiao Temple. How could I be some man-eating salt lord? Look at this poor monk’s robe! I am a monk. I do not shed blood.”

The old salt craftsman: “Huh? You’re not? My apologies. I mistook you.”

Master Zhan Sheng smiled, nodding benevolently.

The old salt craftsman: “Ah, a master this gentle and kind couldn’t possibly be He Ping. It was my mistake.”

The little monk and the porters nearby wiped cold sweat, thinking: No, no, you weren’t wrong. It’s just that this one isn’t seeing blood right now.

Xing Honglan secretly gave orders to the militia. The militia deliberately did not restrain the salt craftsmen, letting them wander around the fortress freely.

The salt craftsmen walked over to one area: hundreds of warhorses were peacefully munching on fodder.

They turned and looked another way: over a hundred firearm soldiers were cleaning and maintaining their pieces.

Turning again, they saw: hundreds of elderly and weak, women and children, were busy cooking.

Walking to the river’s edge, they observed: hundreds of workers, down by the water’s edge, constructing a wooden dock.

This place was astonishing.

Did it look like a smuggler’s den? Not at all! It was more like official soldiers setting up camp – only organized far more efficiently and effectively than any official camp ever was.

Officials only knew how to oppress porters, flaunting airs and ordering them about like cattle. But the smuggler soldiers in this fortress? They all looked agreeable, constantly lending a hand to the common citizens, helping out with small tasks.

They even said polite things: “No need for formalities. Our own parents are common citizens. We are all soldiers who are the children of common citizens.”

Listen to that! How pleasant-sounding! Totally different from the stuff those curs spat out from the officials’ mouths.

After their tour, the salt craftsmen were even surer: sticking with Boss Xing was absolutely right. This was where a good life could be had.

A group of them gathered together, discussed for a moment, and finally sent a leader forward to speak to Xing Honglang: “Boss Xing, we discussed just now. We’ve decided we all want to work for you from now on.”

Xing Honglang smiled. “A most welcome decision!”

The salt craftsman continued, “We’ve been thinking. If we carry the fifty catties of flour back to the salt village… there’s a strong chance we wouldn’t be able to get it out again. The officials would probably extort ninety percent of it. So we want to ask if we can leave this fifty catties stored right here for now. Once we go back to the villages, bring out our families… then we’d humbly request Boss Xing use some money to bribe the guards… letting us slip away. From then on, we’ll go dig ponds and evaporate salt by the Nitrifying Pond.”

Xing Honglang: “Fine! A gentleman’s word is his bond. The matter is settled. I’ll send a cavalry unit escorting you back to your villages. Then I’ll have Iron Bird Flies spend the money to bribe the garrison soldiers. You’ll all escape with complete freedom! Work to make salt for me from now on, and I promise I won’t treat you poorly.”