Chapter 326: Chapter 193: Night Talk on Cooperation

After the gang meeting concluded, the Celestial Break Gang launched a major operation the very next day.

Manpower was arranged for the two new divisions.

All personnel and properties throughout West City were registered, with certain important estates being repossessed and reallocated.

Abandoned buildings were repaired and cleaned up, and the streets were swept.

Idlers and loiterers were cleared out.

And so on!

It could be said that all of West City was undergoing a "great cleanup."

This situation was quickly reported by the spies of the six families.

However, upon hearing of these actions, the six families paid them no mind, as they were all engaged in similar activities.

While the Celestial Break Gang was extremely busy, Cheng Zongyang’s people were just as occupied.

After selecting a few people recommended by Li Lu, he sent them out to gather intelligence.

He needed to use the intelligence they gathered to formulate a new plan of attack.

’The outcome of taking down one family is different from taking down six!’

After Li Yihuo met with Zhou Zhendong, the latter began to coordinate with him on establishing all the commercial shops in West City while also quickly getting a handle on the personnel situation.

To this end, Li Yihuo had to take some men and seek out some of his old subordinates.

When the An Family met with disaster, he had disbanded his entire caravan crew, letting them find their own way in the world.

Some of them had remained in the County Town and never left.

In order to find truly capable men, and after requesting Cheng Zongyang’s permission, Li Yihuo tracked down five of his former aides who were still living in the County Town.

Although they had once been part of the An Family’s enterprise, they were outsiders by blood, all of them former shopkeepers.

These six individuals’ expertise covered five business categories: clothiers, grain shops, money shops, restaurants, and mountain goods. Although the skills for clothiers and money shops weren’t immediately useful, they had no problem handling other matters.

With the help of these familiar hands and with Cheng Zongyang’s permission, Li Yihuo reassigned personnel from the Cheng Family’s original staff and also recruited members from the Celestial Break Gang who had business experience.

With these arrangements, he assembled the core teams for a restaurant, a grain shop, a general store, and a mountain goods shop in just three or four days, all ready to open at a moment’s notice.

To that end, Li Yihuo also prepared to post notices for purchasing mountain goods, giving the people of West City a new source of income or allowing them to barter for grain.

As a result, some of the common people began venturing into Tianduan Mountain to search for useful items.

Although the great fire from before had burned many things, it had been extinguished in time by heavy rains.

However, the Outer Mountain had suffered heavy losses. Even though more than half a year had passed, it had not recovered much.

Finding usable mountain goods was not easy, but at least it gave the city’s common folk a way to make a living.

Cheng Zongyang did not interfere with any of this, leaving it all for Li Yihuo to handle.

At the same time, to ensure the Commerce Association had sufficient operating capital, he took out the ten thousand taels of silver he had been keeping in reserve.

Of course, he kept this money at his home, telling Li Yihuo to retrieve it whenever it was needed.

Now that Li Lu and the Celestial Break Gang were busy, they wouldn’t be paying attention to his affairs, so Cheng Zongyang no longer needed to be so cautious.

After the banquet that day, the entire County Town had fallen into a state of tense peace, with each party keeping to themselves.

Cheng Zongyang guessed what they were waiting for. ’Whether or not they can uncover my secrets will depend on their luck.’

The only ones who knew the Cheng Family’s true background were the former villagers of Golden Bridge Village.

Of the original Golden Bridge Village residents, aside from the Jin Family who had fled to the County Town, the Li and Chen Families had all gone south.

As for whether any members of the Jin Family were still in the County Town, he had once had Li Lu search for them, but to no avail.

Back then, nearly all the Jin Family men had been killed. The remaining old, weak, women, and children would have likely found it difficult to survive in the city.

Even if they were alive, they had probably fled as refugees long ago.

Whether the people from the six families could uncover his past truly depended on luck.

Cheng Zongyang was also well aware that the moment they learned his true background would be the moment all pretenses were dropped.

However, he wasn’t concerned. His main base of operations was not in the County Town. Even if his forces here were completely wiped out, he could regroup and make a comeback at any time.

’Besides, I can’t fail!’

「May fifth, late in the evening.」

Cheng Zongyang slipped out of his house, dressed in night clothes, and moved alone through Northwest City Street, heading toward the He Family estate on North East Street.

North City was the territory of the He and Lu Families.

The He Family was located on North East Street, adjacent to the Xu Family’s territory on Northeast City Street.

The Lu Family was located on Northwest City Street, adjacent to the Cheng Family and the Celestial Break Gang.

Although West City was supposedly divided between the Cheng Family and the Celestial Break Gang, in reality, it was not.

The Cheng Family was short-staffed, so members of the Celestial Break Gang would be distributed between North Street and South Street.

For this visit, Cheng Zongyang had already sent a secret message. He wasn’t paying a formal visit but was instead arranging a private meeting.

The fact that He Shujun had deliberately left last that day and said those words to him meant that she had her own agenda.

Visiting a few days later was partly because he had been busy, but also to wait for the situation to calm down a bit before checking things out. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

He passed through Northwest City Street, using the cover of night, and arrived at North East Street with great speed. He finally stopped at the back gate of a large estate.

He took out his watch and checked the time. It was almost midnight.

The appointed time was midnight.

About a quarter of an hour later, the back gate opened.

Cheng Zongyang was surprised to find that the person opening the gate was none other than He Shujun.

Seeing Cheng Zongyang, He Shujun said with a calm expression, "Young Master Cheng, why not pay a formal visit through the front door?"

Cheng Zongyang stepped inside and said, "If I had paid a formal visit, you’re the one who would probably be in trouble later."

He Shujun chuckled lightly, unconcerned by Cheng Zongyang’s attitude. As she closed the gate, she added, "No one will come to the back courtyard for the next hour."