Wherever there was oppression, there was resistance. That saying was true everywhere.
Under Sha Yuandong's management, which part of Yongle District suffered the worst oppression? Naturally, it was the merchants.
Merchants chased profit; money was everything to them. Taking a man's money was like killing his parents. Now Sha Yuandong was practically wiping out their entire families.
Sha Yuandong had fewer than a hundred men directly under him. They had all served under Sha Feiying, learning martial arts and guarding the gang's halls.
They hadn't held any real power before. Though their monthly pay was higher than that of the gang members under the other lieutenants, they hadn't enjoyed the same sort of under-the-table earnings.
And compared with the War Hall disciples who actually fought when the gang went to war, their pay was far lower. At most, they received two taels of silver a month.
So when they were reassigned to Sha Yuandong, they immediately began extorting people without restraint. Their methods were so ruthless that even the old hands in the Flying Eagle Gang were ashamed of them.
They were the gang leader's own men, so they were naturally bolder than the other gang members and weren't afraid of punishment. After Sha Yuandong openly shielded them once, they became even more brazen.
Among the hundreds of taverns in all of Changning Prefecture, Yongle District's Dongsheng Restaurant ranked in the top ten. Its owner, Boss Fang, was also one of the men these thugs extorted most ruthlessly.
Dongsheng Restaurant usually catered to officials, nobles, and wealthy merchants. Every dish was a delicacy, and even the wine was fine, aged liquor that cost at least ten taels a jar. It was just the sort of place Sha Yuandong's pack of hungry wolves had set their sights on from the start.