Chapter 444 [Development of Downline]

Xue Wei and the others were having dinner while watching the show brought by these bandits, and they almost laughed out loud.

After dinner, after cleaning up the cooking utensils, it's time to set up camp and rest.

However, Guan Yue did not order anyone to set up the tent immediately. Instead, he asked his men, "Have these people been searched?"

Guan Cheng, a veteran escort from Yuelai Escort Agency, stepped forward and replied, "Boss, all the things we found are here."

Guan Cheng spread out the package containing things, which contained daggers, darts and other hidden weapons, as well as scattered silver and copper coins. All the valuable things were in the package, and he took away all the valuables.

Guan Yue nodded: "That's quite interesting. I think their lair is worth a visit."

"Let's confiscate all these things!"

Zhang Tongban, the "teacher" who was bullied, had just gotten a quarter of an hour's break when he heard the conversation between Guan Yue and Guan Cheng.

He had been a swindler and had met many people, but this was the first time he encountered a well-mannered scholar who had a group of bandit-like subordinates.

Just now, during a break in teaching, Zhang Tongban came up with a way to escape. Now he felt more confident and couldn't help but complain, "Master Xue, you are an official of the imperial court after all. How can you rob us ordinary people?"

Guan Yue snorted coldly, "Ordinary people? You commit murder, arson, robbery, and all sorts of evil. Where else can ordinary people be like you?"

Zou Hu, who was not concentrating on his endorsement and had been distracted, was close to Guan Yue and the others. Upon hearing this, he stiffened his neck and said confidently, "We worked so hard to get that!"

Anyway, Zhang Tongban had just discussed with him secretly and came up with a way to escape, and Zhang Tongban said that no matter how arrogant the county magistrate was, he would not dare to kill them.

Zhang Tongban was sure that Xue Wei would not dare to take their lives. After all, if he killed them, there would be hundreds of villages, large and small, on the road. When they heard the news, they would definitely feel insecure and then unite to kill Xue Wei, the person who broke the balance.

"Oh, don't be angry." Xue Wei told Guan Yue not to worry: "We officials must be reasonable and enforce the law with compassion."

He came to the copper coin and said, "Didn't you hear it just now? Everything we looted will be confiscated. We didn't just embezzle it."

"Look, we need money to maintain public order here. Travel expenses are a sum of money, weapons are a sum of money, and confiscating your illegal gains is all for the benefit of the people."

"If it weren't for you guys breaking the law and burning, killing, and looting, we wouldn't have this maintenance expenditure, so it's reasonable for you to repay the debt now."

Xue Wei said slowly, "And if I had spent the money I spent on maintaining stability elsewhere, reclaiming wasteland and growing crops, I would have earned more money after such a long time. Even if I hadn't, I could have supported a few more farmers."

"But the money spent on you didn't generate any return. This money not earned is called opportunity cost, and you are responsible for paying it back."

The bandits were stunned by what Xue Wei said. It made sense, but there was also something strange about it.

Zhang Tongban wanted to refute, but he couldn't figure out how this scholar could be more experienced than him.

"These two villages should be quite large." Cheng Jiayu stretched lazily. "That's great. We don't have to camp in the wild today. We have a village to stay in."

The bandits, whose underwear had been almost stripped off, all looked sad when they heard this. Who the hell is the bandit? It’s not enough to strip them all, they also have to go to their lair to plunder.

After hearing what Guan Yue and Cheng Jiayu said, Xue Wei politely said to the bandits, "Then we will stay in your village tonight. Please lead the way."

Zou Hu & Zhang Tongban: Can they say no?

Qiu Fang asked, "Between Menghu Village and Jinyin Village, which of these two places is Xue Da going to settle down?"

"Menghu Village is only three or four miles away, and Jinyinzhai is more than 20 miles away."

Xue Wei: "Which village has the best accommodation conditions?"

"Tiger Manor!"

"Gold and Silver Village!"

Zou Hu and Zhang Tongban said the name of each other's village almost at the same time.

After saying that, the two of them glared at each other.

Guan Yue shrugged: "What's there to worry about? We'll go to Menghu Village tonight and Jinyin Village tomorrow."

Xue Wei: "Little sister, you're right. Let's do it this way."

Qiu Fang: "What should we do with these poisoned wounded who can't walk?"

"Let those who are not injured carry it." Guan Yue waved the whip and called the bandits to action: "Come on. Don't waste time on the road..."

"Anyway, I'm not walking with my mouth!"

The poisoned bandits looked even uglier after hearing this!

I want to die!

But I can't bear to die.

*

On the way to Menghuzhuang, Zhang Tongban started to negotiate with Xue Wei, "Ahem... Lord Xue, if you can let our brothers go..."

"I, Zhang Tongban, know a lot of people. I'll go and greet the villages on the road behind us so that you, my brothers, can take up your posts in Jingshui more quickly."

Zhang Tongban was very confident that he could take up his post in the Northwest without any obstacles. Xue Wei would definitely agree to this condition, which would save time and effort.

Sure enough, Xue Wei looked very satisfied when he heard this.

"Oh~ You have connections with so many villages."

Zhang Tongban nodded. He and Zou Hu had discussed this while they were endorsing the book. Theirs was one of the best villages along the way, and if they worked together to persuade the other villages to give him some respect and not mess with a lunatic like Xue Wei, they might be able to pull it off. "Zou Hu and I both have good relationships with people."

Xue Wei showed a mysterious smile and said to Guan Yue, "That's really great."

Guan Yue nodded, with the same satisfied expression as Xue Wei on her face: "This will also make it easier to develop downlines."

"Develop? Develop downline?"

Zhang Tongban, who was often praised for his smart brain, looked confused and felt that he seemed to not understand what the two people were saying.

Xue Wei wore a gentle smile on his face. "According to the laws of our dynasty, swindlers like you who have ruined families should be whipped. We are giving you twenty strokes of the cane a day for your labor reform, which is a bargain because we can't kill you."

Guan Yue, who was beside Xue Wei, waved the whip in his hand towards Zhang Tongban and gave him a friendly smile.

Zhang Tongban felt a chill on his neck and immediately avoided Guan Yue's gaze.

"Tomorrow, notify the other villages along this road and ask them to come and rob our team. Say we have few people but a lot of money. But since you and Zou Hu had a falling out, you need to find someone else to cooperate with."

Xue Wei warned: "Remember, the more bandits that come, the better."

"This will make it easier for all of them to receive our labor reform and ideological education and become part of our labor reform team."

"The more new recruits you bring in, the more we can not only reduce your sentence and save you from the daily beatings, but we can also give you generous rewards, such as food and drink."