Dominating Martial King
Chapter 289 - 289 205 Shaking East State Please Subscribe

289: Chapter 205: Shaking East State (Please Subscribe) 289: Chapter 205: Shaking East State (Please Subscribe) The Sheen family had two estates located on the south side of West Mountain Town, by the riverfront.

Around noon, towering flames engulfed both estates.

Chu Xisheng did not employ his own gang members, instead coercing the forces of all local tyrants and influential families to attack the Sheen estates.

Everyone understood his intentions very well.

This was a declaration of allegiance; once they crossed swords with the Sheen family and blood was shed, they would be enemies with no turning back, and they would have no choice but to loyally protect West Mountain Hall.

The young West Mountain Hall Master had a mind that was too sinister, too ruthless, wicked to the core.

They were extremely reluctant, but with seven hundred gang members and four hundred Red Robed practitioners supervising the battle, wielding a total of one thousand one hundred battle blades at their backs, they had no choice but to act.

Initially, the people of the Sheen estates couldn’t believe it.

Chu Xisheng was audacious to this extent, daring to strike against their Sheen family?

However, when Chu Xisheng’s commanded militias stormed the two estates, they put up little resistance.

Easily overrun, some were captured, while others fled toward Xiushui City.

After losing three Sixth Grade and fifteen Seventh Rank practitioners at Wen Family Castle, without any masters to guard them, these estates were extremely vulnerable, thus lacking the strength to oppose West Mountain Hall.

Commander Sheen Zhou himself had not been seen at all, and no troops from the county government had come to their aid.

This made many local tyrants let their guard down and gradually lose their fear.

Chu Xisheng burned down the Sheen family manors, yet Commander Sheen Zhou didn’t even dare to show his face.

The power dynamics within West Mountain Town had shifted, and it was clear for all to see.

Chu Xisheng felt a secret regret; he had actually wanted to force that man out of Xiushui City.

But Commander Sheen proved to be much more enduring than he had anticipated.

Another regret for Chu Xisheng was that the spoils from these two estates weren’t substantial.

There were only eight granaries, with a rough estimate of two hundred thousand dan of grain, over two thousand taels of silver, and various goods worth ten thousand taels, adding up to about thirty thousand taels when appraised for the price of the weaponry.

After all, the Sheen family’s main house was not in West Mountain; these were merely two of his family’s seven estates.

However, when Chu Xisheng returned to West Mountain Town, there were convoys of carriages steadily bringing large quantities of gold and silver as well as rice into his Chu Mansion, causing piles of gold, silver, and grain to accumulate into mountains.

All the local influential families dared not delay— they not only paid this year’s taxes in full but also the 30 percent penalty that Chu Xisheng had imposed without any short, along with a generous gift each as a mark of respect to West Mountain Hall.

The convoys formed a long line within and outside of the town, blocking all four gates of the town, creating a situation where nearly no one could pass through.

The Chu Mansion even had Li Shenshan’s men whip all of Sheen family’s captives and those who had partaken in beating their accountant in public on the streets by the mansion, till they were covered in blood and their conditions were pitiful.

This caused the passing coachmen, pedestrians, and those influential figures coming to visit Chu Xisheng to tremble in fear, their faces turning pale.

This West Mountain Hall Master’s retaliation was exceptionally cruel, seemingly trampling the Sheen family’s dignity into the mud.

It was not until the evening that the queues of carriages inside and outside West Mountain Town slowly dispersed.

By then, Chu Xisheng had amassed gold and silver totaling over one million and fifty thousand taels, as well as eight hundred ninety thousand dan of grain, along with the weaponry and goods he had seized, adding up to about 300,000 taels in total.

That very night, Chu Xisheng promptly sent the 500,000 dan of spring taxes and 312,000 in head tax to the county government.

He also repaid the nineteen thousand taels of Demon Silver he owed.

Chu Xisheng had borrowed the silver on terms of returning thirteen for nine lent; he borrowed thirty-eight thousand taels, actually received thirty-four thousand, and had to repay over forty-nine thousand.

He also took the opportunity to liquidate part of the seized goods through the Coastal Zhou Family and the Lu Family’s firm.

These were items that could be sold quickly, including weapons West Mountain Hall did not need, valued at about nineteen thousand taels in Demon Silver.

The rest were not easy to deal with, and Chu Xisheng could only store them in the warehouse for slow sale over time.

As for the rice, since Xiushui County had a bumper harvest at the end of last year, only Taishan County within the entire East State had been affected by floods, and the rest had good yields, making the grains difficult to sell.

Chu Xisheng had no choice but to ask Lu Pingyuan to oversee the construction of five granaries to store this rice.

In the evening, Lu Pingyuan presented the accounts to Chu Xisheng and the many altar masters of West Mountain Hall.

After all debts, taxes, and compensations for the wounded and dead were deducted, they had a total take-home of three hundred sixty thousand taels of silver.

Chu Xisheng immediately took half of the silver and distributed it among the brothers, then gave one-tenth of it to the four hundred Red Robed Martial Cultivators under Qingyun’s command, which elicited thunderous cheers within and around the hall.

Not only the West Mountain Hall gang members were shouting praises of the Hall Master’s righteousness, but Qingyun’s Red Robed Martial Cultivators were also overjoyed.

Although they received less, the risk was minor; merely following Chu Xisheng on his rounds allowed them to share in the spoils, amounting to an unexpected bounty of eighty to ninety silver taels.

Of the remaining one hundred forty thousand taels, Chu Xisheng personally took over forty thousand, and the rest was placed in the Tangkou’s (division or branch of the gang) accounts.

This was not his possession alone but the money of everyone within the Tangkou, belonging to all the brothers.

While some less scrupulous might hoard the wealth for themselves, Chu Xisheng acted openly and generously, leaving no room for criticism from his fellow gang members.

Additionally, some goods and food could not be immediately liquidated, so those were not accounted for.

These too were assets of the Tangkou, to be sold from the warehouses gradually.

Additionally, there were three hundred Magic Artifact Level long spears, six hundred Magic Artifact Level long and short swords, three hundred Magic Artifact Level shields, three hundred sets of Magic Artifact Level leather armor, three hundred stone longbows, three hundred Military Heavy Crossbows, and forty Four-Arm Crossbows.