Jiang Li whispered to himself. He was wondering if he should take them down right now.
With the energy points he had, he could upgrade a few meches to the perfected stage and beat Long Chongzhen and the other leaders.
Swish! Jiang Li opened the Dominator Panel and prepared for the upgrade.
Am I too reckless? Jiang Li then paused and pondered, I've already taken control of the entire Quicksand Gang and City East is also the territory of the Sirius Gang. With these foundations, I can totally develop the gangs slowly, then keep saving money to make more meches and strengthen my mech army. I shouldn't be too aggressive.
While Jiang Li was thinking, people from the City Lord Mansion and the government office arrived. There were a hundred City Guards who were wearing armor and holding spears. Each of them was at the peak stage of the elementary level. Their leader was the Deputy Commander of the City Guards and a Martial Artist of perfected-stage level one, Hao Tian.
"Chiefs." Hao Tian was handsome and fierce. He said, "I'm here to pass on the City Lord's order. The four gangs aren't allowed to fight here in order to maintain safety and order in Yongan City. You should know that the Monsters have been running wild in the surrounding villages. This may be the plan of the 'Red Eyebrow Empire.' If you start fighting here, you'll weaken the power of Yongan City. When the Monsters come, we won't be able to resist them."
"Well…" Hua Tian coughed. "Since the City Lord has issued an order, we'll just put it behind us for now."
"Hm." Yu Shulan nodded.
"…"
Long Chongzhen remained silent.
"Chief Jiang." Hao Tian looked at Jiang Li.
"I don't have any opinion." Jiang Li shrugged.
"Jiang Li." At that moment, Zhang Ling walked in with a hundred patrols. He took out a "tablet" when he was a dozen meters away from Jiang Li and said, "I'm here to ask you some questions for the State Lord."
"The State Lord." Jiang Li sized Zhang Ling up. "What's wrong?"
"Chief Jiang, let me ask you, where did your men come from?" Zhang Ling pointed at the meches behind Jiang Li. "The government office has detailed information about you. You have an ordinary background and Jiang Huahong even died in Stone Village not long ago. After Jiang Huahong died, you succeeded as the leader of the Sirius Gang. Your gang became so strong in such a short period of time and you suddenly got so many powerful subordinates. Most importantly, the Monsters showed up at the same time."
"Oh." Jiang Li snickered. "Do you mean that I have something to do with the Monsters?"
"Chief Jiang, I didn't say that." Zhang Ling smiled.
"You're besmirching my reputation." Jiang Li shrugged.
"Then, please explain," Zhang Ling said.
"I have nothing to tell you," Jiang Li replied.
"Chief Jiang, you'll make it difficult for me if you don't coorporate." Zhang Ling shook his head. "By then, for the safety of Yongan City, I'll have to search the headquarters of the Sirius Gang and you must help with my investigation."
"Zhang Ling, cut the crap." Pang Kui yelled, "How would Chief have anything to do with the Monsters? You don't have any proof. Are you just making a guess?"
"It's an inference." Zhang Ling smiled.
"Inference? Then, it's just bullshit." Pang Kui smirked. "I can also make something up like this. I think you're a mixed-breed bastard your mom had with a monster. Of course, I don't have any proof. It's my 'inference.'"
"Hahaha…" Pang Kui burst into laughter.
"Hahaha…"
"Mixed-breed bastard."
"…"
Then all the members of the Sirius Gang laughed.
"…"
Zhang Ling was completely enraged.
"Are you leaving or not?" Jiang Li glanced at him.
"Jiang Li, you better pray that I won't find any evidence." Zhang Ling grunted and left.
"…"
Heavenly Eye looked at Jiang Li and left with the City Guards.
"Haha." Long Chongzhen sneered.
"…"
Hua Tian and Yu Shulan also left.
"Xu Ya, what's wrong with the City Lord Mansion and the government office?" Jiang Li asked.
"Chief, what do you mean?" Xu Ya was shocked. "The City Lord Mansion is responsible for military matters, while the government office is responsible for political matters. The City Lord Mansion has command over all the City Guards and the government office manages the political affairs in Yongan City."
"Oh, military and political affairs are separate." Jiang Li finally understood. The system of the Qian Dynasty was a bit different from what he knew.
"How strong are the City Guards?" Jiang Li asked again.
"They have three thousand official soldiers and seven thousand reserve soldiers." Xu Ya answered, "but these aren't all the City Lord Mansion has. If you ask around, you'll find out that there are many other soldiers. Basically, the official soldiers are all at the peak stage of the elementary level. And the reserve soldiers are of different levels."
"So, they have a total of ten thousand men." Jiang Li murmured.
"Hm." Xu Ya nodded. "The City Lord Mansion is strong. The four strongest gangs usually ignore the government office, but they wouldn't offend the City Lord Mansion."
"The City Lord Mansion." Jiang Li mumbled, "Who's the City Lord?"
"Dugu Huangcheng," Xu Ya replied.
"Dugu." Jiang Li was startled. He thought of "Dugu Luo" from the Chamber of Commerce of Spirit Herbs. Were they under the "City Lord Mansion?" It was possible.
Time flew and night had fallen.
Jiang Li had already moved the headquarters of the Sirius Gang to that of the Quicksand Gang and Heng Liusha's compound also became his. His new bedroom was spacious and had glamorous decorations.
During the day Jiang Li asked Hu Dong to move all the herbs the Quicksand Gang had to the Chief's compound. There were tons of them and even had quite a few inferior-class Spirit Herbs of level one.
It was fair to say that the amount of herbs Jiang Li got this time was the greatest among all.
Apart from herbs the Quicksand Gang also had jewelry and paintings that were worth a million taels of silver, and the businesses in City East as well.
Right now Jiang Li had control of the entire City East. All the gangs had to pay him every month and he was getting a huge profit from all those businesses.
After some calculation the Quicksand Gang could get a profit of a hundred thousand taels of silver every month, but Jiang Li could only get ten thousand as he had to pay the salary of the members.
He had to pay each member a salary every month. Otherwise nobody would join the gang.
"Ten thousand a month. That's too little." Jiang Li organized most of the information and massaged his eyes. "I thought after taking over such a large territory, the money I would earn every month would be enough for me to make more meches. It just isn't turning out the way I wanted. Rather than saving money slowly, it's quicker to plunder the other gangs. Let's just convert these herbs to energy points."
Jiang Li got up and came to the Chief's compound. The meches were guarding the compound so no one could get close.
"I'll convert the non-graded herbs to energy points first."
Jiang Li looked at the wooden boxes in front of him. There were three thousand non-graded herbs, twenty three inferior-class Spirit Herbs of level one and a medial-class Spirit Herb of level one.