"Old Wan, you didn't know about something this major?"
Another merchant spoke up. "I heard that Lord Li of Li Commerce Company has already been elected president of the Yicheng branch of the Yangzhou Salt Merchants Association, and is preparing to..."
This man was quite well-informed and rather eloquent. He vividly described the benefits of forming militia units. Of course, the version he spoke of was the plan Gu Sheng had given Lord Li before heading into the wilderness, which seemed rather unimpressive compared with the major undertaking now being prepared.
"That's a good thing!"
The small merchants voiced their support one after another. Their businesses were small, and they truly lacked the means to support large numbers of guards. Whenever they traveled elsewhere to do business, they could only band together and hire escort agencies. Even then, it could hardly be considered safe.
If militia units could truly be established to guarantee the safety of the trade routes around Yicheng, the ones who would benefit most would instead be small merchants like them.
"Third Master Liu!"
At that moment, Brother Liu Shui, known as Yicheng's "Timely Rain," also came over and greeted Liu San with great familiarity.
"Brother Liu Shui!"
Liu San replied courteously. On the surface, nothing seemed unusual, but in reality, he and Liu Shui had already exchanged news in secret.
"Brother Liu San, the White Horse Gang has well-informed sources. Have you found out what kind of person this Teng Qinghu from Teng Village is?"
A group of people had also followed Liu Shui. Most of them belonged to small gangs made up of street toughs and hoodlums. Their information was even more limited; they only knew that something major seemed to be happening in Yicheng. Now that they had seen Liu San, someone wanted to