"Boss, this isn't looking good!"
Liu San felt immense pressure. The merchants and shopkeepers around him, who had been fawning over him moments ago, now looked at him differently. Under the beautiful prospect Gu Sheng had painted, the White Horse Gang and the gangs controlling the bandits and roaming bandits outside the city had already become obstacles in the eyes of most people.
The Yangzhou salt merchants were famous throughout the land. With the business climate thriving, most of those present had industries of their own, and none lacked vision or experience.
Even Hong Zhenjie, who had never been good at management, could see that if Gu Sheng's plan to reorganize and relocate the city districts was realized,
Yicheng would inevitably become a transit hub for the surrounding regions and one of Yangzhou's economic centers. This was an enormous piece of the pie, an irresistible temptation.
But Gu Sheng had just analyzed everything in detail and explained Yicheng's situation clearly. Other matters, such as relocating businesses and exchanging shops, could be discussed. Even the various gangs' territories within the city were open for negotiation.
But there was one issue that had to be resolved: the bandit problem in Yicheng. Along every major road outside Yicheng, there were hundreds of thousands of bandits and roaming bandits gathered around the city.
These men produced nothing. They wantonly robbed and wrecked the villages and towns around Yicheng, collected annual fees, and plundered wealth and women. Like locusts, they continued to grow stronger, clinging to Yicheng's huge body and sucking it dry, leaving Yicheng weaker and weaker.
Yet behind them stood the support of the major gangs. The so-called thousands of core disciples in those gangs were mostly selected from these desperate men who dared to risk their lives.
Moreover, these gangs knew how