My Word Is the Rule!

After crippling Tang Taihe, Su Xin wasn't worried in the slightest.

Actually, from the moment he saw Master Li, he knew Tang Taihe must have acted on Third Master Hu's orders. Otherwise, he would never have had the nerve to provoke him.

Knowing Tang Taihe had Third Master Hu backing him was precisely why Su Xin had crippled him without mercy. He wanted to make his hardline stance clear to Third Master Hu.

If there was something to discuss, they could talk about it openly. But if anyone tried to play dirty behind his back, then if they reached out with one hand, he'd chop it off!

After this gang war, both Su Xin's achievements and his reputation had reached their peak. Forget Third Master Hu—even if the gang leader wanted to move against him, he would have to consider how the gang's brothers would feel.

After taking Yongle District, Su Xin didn't continue the fighting. Instead, he told Huang Bingcheng to recruit openly, taking in anyone and everyone, whether they had once belonged to the Green Bamboo Gang or not.

Naturally, these new recruits couldn't receive the same treatment as Su Xin's old brothers.

They would receive only two taels of silver a month. They wouldn't be taught any cultivation methods, only a few simple, basic fighting techniques.

Any group needed different ranks to make it easier to manage, and those ranks also gave the group greater vitality.

The old hands knew the newcomers were treated worse than they were. That gave them a sense of superiority and made them value their positions all the more.

Meanwhile, the newcomers would envy the old hands' treatment and strive desperately to climb the ranks, hoping that one day they, too, could stand on equal footing with them.

Three days after Su Xin's side stopped fighting, the war between the two gangs finally came to a complete end.

The outcome was plain: the Green Bamboo Gang had suffered a crushing defeat, losing a full district and a half. Three of its senior leaders had died, two of them men loyal to Gang Leader Wei Feng.

One could say that poor Gang Leader Wei had become a commander with no troops. It was anyone's guess whether his orders could even make it beyond the main hall.

The most dazzling figure in this gang war, and the one who had gained the most, was undoubtedly Su Xin.

A junior leader had taken fewer than two hundred men and, against all odds, seized an entire Yongle District. That achievement was more than enough to earn him an immediate promotion to senior leader.

But Su Xin was simply too young. The Flying Eagle Gang's higher-ups felt awkward about letting someone so young become a senior leader and stand as their equal.

So no one brought it up—not even the gang leader. Su Xin remained a junior leader, though he now controlled an entire district and had more territory under him than most senior leaders.

His rank hadn't changed, but he still gained plenty of benefits behind the scenes.

After this battle, Su Xin's reputation among the Flying Eagle Gang's younger members was at its height. Nearly all of them looked up to him as an idol.

As a result, many young members under other junior and senior leaders came over to join Su Xin. Combined with the men he recruited in Yongle District, his ranks had swelled to more than a thousand.

The Flying Eagle Gang didn't forbid its members from changing leaders, but it hardly reflected well on the leaders losing them. The various leaders were bound to harbor some resentment.

However, Su Xin's reputation was now at its height, and the people who had left were all newly recruited youngsters, not skilled fighters. They had been dispensable to begin with, so the other leaders didn't want to stir up trouble. They grumbled in private, but none dared come out and provoke Su Xin.

The gang war had affected only a small number of people.

Ordinary folk still had to carry on with their lives. In less than three days, the vast Yongle District had returned to calm.

Three days had also been enough for Su Xin to settle his newly recruited men. Next, it was time to draw up a new set of rules.

The Green Bamboo Gang had naturally had its own rules for managing Yongle District. But now Yongle District was under Su Xin's control.

The Green Bamboo Gang had built a branch hall there. Su Xin had Huang Bingcheng replace its sign, and they could use the place as it was.

The hall was rather small, though—not even as large as the one in Happy Forest. Su Xin silently cursed the Green Bamboo Gang for being so petty.

"Old Huang, have all the big merchants in Yongle District arrived?" Su Xin asked.

"Everyone on the invitation list is here. With your reputation, they'd have to be tired of living to dare stay away."

Su Xin wanted to set new rules for Yongle District. Who were these rules for? Naturally, the district's major merchants.

A gang's most important source of income was the monthly protection money collected from merchants. So after every gang war, the new owner of the territory would meet with the shopkeepers first.

Even Happy Forest alone had more than a hundred shops. Vast Yongle District was ten times its size and had over a thousand shops. Obviously, they couldn't invite every merchant.

The owners of small taverns and the like naturally weren't qualified to attend.

Those Su Xin had invited were major merchants who controlled dozens of shops and earned over ten thousand taels a month. There were barely more than a hundred of them in Yongle District.

Su Xin walked into the branch hall. More than a hundred people filled the main chamber, making it feel rather cramped.

When they saw Su Xin enter, everyone hurriedly clasped their hands in greeting. "Boss Su."

They didn't dare offend this rising star of the Flying Eagle Gang.

Merchants believed that harmony brought prosperity. If their interests weren't at stake, why would they provoke members of those vicious gangs?

Su Xin sat in the seat of honor and spoke in a ringing voice. "Everyone, I'm sure you know why I've called you here today.

"I don't like beating around the bush. This place used to be under the Green Bamboo Gang's control, but now it's under mine. Naturally, the monthly protection money will have to change."

Happy Forest's model couldn't be copied, and Su Xin had no intention of reforming Yongle District.

But if he wasn't going to reform anything, how could he increase his income? He would naturally have to find a way to raise the protection fees.

The moment Su Xin mentioned the fees, the shopkeepers below frowned.

After all, those fees were like flesh being carved from their bodies. Who would be happy about that?

Of course, they had prepared themselves before coming. This wasn't the first time they'd seen something like it.

Whenever a gang war changed who controlled a territory, the protection fees inevitably went up a little. They were used to it by now.

"The Green Bamboo Gang charged each of you thirty taels. From now on, it'll be fifty taels per person."

At those words, the shopkeepers below immediately darkened their faces.

Boss Su looked young and harmless, but his appetite was frighteningly large.

One shopkeeper jumped to his feet and shouted, "Boss Su, you can't just make outrageous demands like that! You've nearly doubled the fees in one go. Isn't that going too far?"

For the owners of small hotels, fifty taels of silver really would be a heavy burden.

But to merchants like them, whose monthly net profits alone exceeded a hundred thousand taels, it was nothing.

What they opposed was the system.

You've come along and raised the fees from thirty taels to fifty. Tomorrow, someone else might raise them to a hundred.

After enough back-and-forth, who knew if the fees might climb to a thousand or even ten thousand taels? Even wealthy merchants like them couldn't accept that kind of exponential increase.

Su Xin gazed calmly at the shopkeeper, who was getting worked up. "It seems this gentleman is a little agitated. That's not good. Interrupting people is very rude. Li Qing, go over and help him come to his senses."

Li Qing immediately stepped forward, grabbed the shopkeeper by the head, and slapped him again and again. The man shrieked in pain.

With Li Qing's strength, just a few slaps left the shopkeeper's mouth full of blood and his body on the verge of death.

Aside from the shopkeeper's groans, there wasn't another sound in the hall.

Su Xin's display had frightened the major merchants into silence. They didn't even dare breathe too loudly.

Boss Su was far too ruthless. He'd laid such a heavy hand on someone on the very first day they met, all because the man had interrupted him.

Su Xin rose and looked down at the crowd. "I hope you understand. I called you here today not to discuss raising the protection fees, but to give you an order!"

"I don't care what rules the Green Bamboo Gang had. Yongle District is now under my control, and you'll follow my rules."

"The old protection fees were collected per person. That's changed. Now they'll be collected per shop."

At that, the major merchants' faces grew even darker. This was a nasty cut.

Among the nearly hundred major merchants present, some ran highly profitable businesses such as gambling dens and brothels, where a single establishment could sustain an entire operation. Others dealt in goods such as cloth and grain.

There was almost one such shop on every street. Some merchants had more than a dozen shops under them. Under Su Xin's new rule, each would have to pay more than a dozen fees.

Although the crowd was dissatisfied, they didn't dare say anything.

They had seen Su Xin's ruthlessness. The first man to speak up had been made an example of, and now he was lying on the ground, half dead.

Looking at the crowd below, Su Xin said calmly, "You don't need to look so bitter, as if you've suffered some great injustice.

"The Green Bamboo Gang charged less, but its members still took plenty of liberties at your expense, didn't they?

"Now that I'm in charge of Yongle District, any member who dares harass a shop will be punished according to the gang rules!

"And if street thugs give you trouble, you can send for my men to deal with them."

The major merchants below looked at Su Xin in confusion. If he could really guarantee that, then the higher fees might actually be worth paying.