Chapter 393: Chapter 222: Dark Web; Amount of Treasure

"Why wouldn’t it be easy to get things done?" Cheng Zongyang neither refuted his idea nor rushed to agree.

His way of teaching was to guide them according to their natural inclinations, letting them discover the correct answers on their own. This way, the lesson would be more profound and clear.

Cheng Zongliang scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "Zhaodi always says that men and women shouldn’t touch, and she won’t let me hold her hand, so..."

Cheng Zongyang froze, his expression darkening instantly.

Zhou Zhennan and Zhou Zhenqi, standing off to the side, watched him and snickered.

"So you were just bragging! And here you were, saying you’d held her hand," Zhou Zhenqi said, laughing as he called him out.

"I... well, I have fiancées!" Cheng Zongliang retorted, not to be outdone. He held up two fingers at Zhou Zhenqi, stressing each word, "Two of them! And you have none!"

Instantly, Zhou Zhennan and Zhou Zhenqi were left speechless. They rolled their eyes and ignored him.

Cheng Zongyang snorted, glaring at Cheng Zongliang. "Why don’t you tell us what *else* you’ve been up to?"

Cheng Zongliang flinched and didn’t dare make another peep.

’I forgot where I was.’

Cheng Zongyang took a deep breath before speaking. "The method you just described isn’t bad. There’s logic to it. What about you two?"

Just then, Zhou Zhennan spoke up. "My idea is similar to Zongliang’s, but with a few differences."

"Go on," Cheng Zongyang said, shifting his position to listen at his leisure.

"After training, we send them into various factions to become handmaidens, concubines, or even principal wives. This would give us control in many more places. If handled well, it might even be possible to control an entire family or faction this way."

Cheng Zongyang didn’t refute his idea either. What he wanted was for them to voice their own opinions.

This method might go against the female agents’ will, but that would depend on the execution. Still, it was an excellent approach.

"That’s a good method as well. While it would present many problems, it’s certainly a viable option. Zhenqi, what about you?"

Receiving this affirmation, Zhou Zhennan smiled and looked over at his cousin.

But Zhou Zhenqi, as if determined to say something shocking, declared, "Brothels! We have the women open brothels, or we infiltrate existing ones. A place like that would be incredibly convenient for gathering intelligence."

This made Cheng Zongyang frown. But he didn’t rush to object, instead asking, "How do you know about brothels? As far as I know, you’ve never even been to the County Town, have you?"

Zhou Zhenqi gave a sly grin. "There are a lot of people in the village. Some of the older men talk about it in their free time after work. They say they’ve seen all sorts of people go to brothels—not just peddlers and laborers, but high-ranking officials and nobles, too. Even some old men go. As long as he’s a man, he wants to go. So, if we opened a brothel like that, once the wine starts flowing and a little pillow talk gets going, is there anything we couldn’t find out?"

"Yeah, that could work!" Cheng Zongliang said excitedly. He had also heard the villagers chatting about brothels before.

Besides, with two fiancées of his own, he naturally understood a thing or two about the matters between men and women, even though he was only twelve.

"Exactly, exactly," Zhou Zhennan chimed in, nodding in agreement. ’What man doesn’t have a taste for that kind of thing?’

Though he’d never been to a brothel himself, he had heard of them and seen them.

He’d gone with his father to the County Town a few times and had seen the brothels there.

Cheng Zongyang sighed.

’Men are all the same,’ he thought. ’Their interests are universal.’

’Although I’d like to go too, I’m repulsed by the idea of forcing women to do such things.’

"While the method is effective, we cannot force anyone."

Cheng Zongyang could only say, "We need people to work for us, but we can’t force them into it unless they do so willingly. And what woman would willingly do something like that?

"Also, do you think the women in brothels are happy to receive those male clients? No. They’re forced.

"After three years of drought, how many people had to resort to this just to survive? If they had any better way to make a living, they wouldn’t choose to debase themselves like this."

The three boys fell silent.

Cheng Zongyang continued, "A brothel is, admittedly, a good method that can also earn money. But we cannot force innocent women into prostitution. We can, however, try to find women who have done it before, or find those who volunteer. We will not use coercion."

At this, Zhou Zhenqi’s spirits lifted. He smiled and said, "That’s a good idea, too."

Cheng Zongyang then said, "All three of you have made excellent points. So let me ask you: are you willing to take responsibility for this intelligence network, and to study and prepare for the task?"

The three exchanged a look, then nodded in unison. "We are!"

"Good." Cheng Zongyang beamed. "Excellent. You’ll be doing this for the future of our family. I’ll begin training you soon. I will also write down all the relevant knowledge for you to study. Once you’ve memorized everything, there will be a test. But you cannot tell anyone about this, except your parents."

"Yes, sir!" the three replied in unison.

"Oh, right." To spark their interest and enthusiasm, Cheng Zongyang added, "Once you’ve finished learning all this, you’ll each get to choose a name for yourselves. This will signify that you will each be responsible for a department in the future."

As expected, the three boys immediately grew excited and started asking about the requirements.

To avoid a name as ridiculous as the Celestial Break Gang, Cheng Zongyang said, "One name for the male agents and one for the female agents. They should have a good meaning and also sound pleasant. But there’s no rush. You can decide on the names when you’ve finished your studies."

"Okay!"

"No problem!"

"Sounds good!"

The three agreed excitedly.

Seeing that the matter of the intelligence network had been settled, Cheng Zongyang sent the three of them away.

Next, Cheng Zongyang began to think about how to compile all the relevant knowledge.

He could write a fair bit himself. In his previous life, he had consumed plenty of movies and novels. He could just recall those, write them down, and then ask Luo Dingran and the others for their input later.

When dealing with spies, the basic rules revolved around a "carrot and stick" approach and strict enforcement. The difficult part was organizing everything and codifying it into a set of regulations.

A complete intelligence network needed more than just positions; it required a comprehensive system for promotions, rewards and punishments, logistics, and more. None of this was particularly difficult for him.

He didn’t expect to finish writing it all in just two or three days. The whole process would take at least a month or two.

Cheng Zongyang set those thoughts aside for the moment. He wasn’t in a rush. He went back to his room, lay on his bed, and let his consciousness enter the Wilderness World.

’By now, the supplies should have been fully inventoried.’

As he appeared at the entrance of the market hut, he heard a Soul Slave’s voice.

"Steward, that’s two thousand taels counted."

Then, Cheng Zongyang saw Luo Dingran making a record.

The solar-powered lamp at the entrance illuminated the area as brightly as day, making it easy to work through the night.

"My Lord."

Seeing Cheng Zongyang suddenly appear, everyone stopped what they were doing and bowed to greet him.

"It’s alright, carry on," Cheng Zongyang said with a wave of his hand, then walked over to Luo Dingran’s side. "How’s the count coming along?"

Luo Dingran handed the ledger in his hand to Cheng Zongyang. "My Lord, we’re almost done with the inventory. This is the last of the silver; there’s not much left to count."

Cheng Zongyang nodded slightly and looked down at the ledger.

——

Jewelry: Seven hundred thirty-two catties

——

Seeing the first entry, Cheng Zongyang was stunned. He looked at Luo Dingran. "You’re actually measuring the Jewelry by the catty?" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Luo Dingran gave a wry smile. "My Lord, there’s no way for us to appraise it, so we can only weigh it for now. I’ve never dealt in the jewelry business, so I have no idea of its value."

Cheng Zongyang figured as much and continued reading down the list.

——

Gold: Twenty-five baskets, totaling fifty thousand taels

Silver: Seventy-two baskets...

——

The count for the silver wasn’t even finished, but he could no longer suppress the excitement pounding in his heart.

’Fifty thousand taels of Gold!!’

"Is this amount correct?" Cheng Zongyang’s eyes were wide with disbelief.

Luo Dingran smiled and nodded. "We counted it three times to be sure. Our baskets are small, so they don’t hold much. Based on the rotten wooden chests you sent in, it seems each one held one hundred ingots, which would be an amount of five thousand taels per chest. That’s a total of ten chests of Gold.

"As for the silver, judging by the filled bamboo baskets and the amount left over, there should be around two hundred thousand taels in total."

"Hahaha..." Cheng Zongyang couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

"I can’t believe I got rich overnight! The Huangfu Family is really something else, sending me such a grand gift!"

With this, the area of the Wilderness World could be expanded by another two hundred kilometers.

But the Gold could be used to expand his item inventory.

These days, he wasn’t as excited about the items that spawned in his inventory; he was far more interested in the special items that appeared when he expanded it!

The last few expansions had yielded plenty of good things. Now, with these fifty thousand taels, he could unlock the seventh and eighth inventory slots.

As for the ninth slot, that would require one hundred thousand taels.

He could earn the money for the ninth and tenth slots slowly, once the family’s businesses were established. Then again, maybe he could find the rest in the Huangfu Family’s other Treasure Caves and reach the required amount that way.