Not long after he left, Li Jun and his group heard a commotion coming from the street, as if someone was causing trouble. Li Jun rode over and found that pedestrians were fleeing and a group of people were fighting.
“They’re our men.” Meng Yuan’s eyes widened. They had warned the Peace Army not to cause trouble when they left the camp, but things still went wrong. Following behind, Shu Na strode forward, separated the two men who were entangled in a fist, threw them aside, and shouted, “Stop!”
"What happened?" Meng Yuan asked.
The brawlers, who had been stopped by Schooner's shouts, all stared at the group. The Peace Army soldiers turned pale with fright when they realized it was their commander, but their opponents didn't recognize these people at all.
One of them, oblivious to the dangers, shouted, "Kids, mind your own business!"
Seeing Li Jun's expression darken, Meng Yuan slapped the man across the face: "What did you say?"
The man was intimidated by Meng Yuan's imposing manner, and covered his face, stammering, "You...you dare to hit me? I'm from the Blazing Fire Gang!"
"The Blazing Fire Gang..." Li Jun smiled. "So you're brothers from the Blazing Fire Gang. It seems my men were in the wrong. How about this, I'll apologize on their behalf, and we'll let this matter drop?"
"I see..." The mercenaries of the Blazing Fire Gang looked at each other and realized that the other party did not seem to be a tough opponent, so they became bolder.
“We’re taking this barbarian with us,” he said, pointing to a man lying on the ground.
"No, no, this deal is bad..." The man sat up, supporting himself on his limbs, and looked back at Li Jun.
"It's you back!" the two exclaimed at the same time. Li Jun immediately dismounted and went forward to help him up.
"Your syrup," Li Jun said with a smile, "has been a long time."
It turns out that this person was actually Jiang Tang, a barbarian, who was Li Jun's comrade-in-arms when he slew the dragon on Jiaolong Island. Although he was called a comrade-in-arms, he was actually Li Jun's enemy at first. However, he was later captured by the strange Confucian scholar Lei Hun with magic and had no choice but to surrender. In the fierce battle against the red dragon, he shot an arrow at a critical moment and injured the red dragon.
“Let’s make a deal. Don’t hand me over to these guys. Let me go with you,” Jiang Tang said, almost groaning.
"As you can see, he's my friend. I can't let you take him away," Li Jun said with a smile to the members of the Blazing Fire Gang. "How about this? Tomorrow I'll go to your camp to apologize to Commander Xiao Lang. I'll go with him then, how about that?"
Those mercenaries from the Blazing Fire Gang were just lowly soldiers. They appreciated Li Jun's respect for them, and although they were still reluctant to part with Jiang Tang's belongings, they had no choice but to let go.
"What happened?" After the Fire Legion left, Li Jun asked his subordinates with a sullen face as he walked away.
"Reporting to the commander, those Fire Regiment soldiers tried to rob this person in the street. We said a few words to them, and they started beating him..." a Peace Army soldier in the lead said timidly.
"What?" Li Jun turned to Jiang Tang, a suspicious look on his face.
Jiang Tang recounted what had happened. It turned out that after slaying the dragon, he and Li Jun went their separate ways. He had made quite a haul on Jiaolong Island, acquiring a bag full of diamonds and jewels. However, like many men under forty from his hometown, he didn't want to settle down as a fisherman and instead traveled to various places. This time, upon arriving in Leiming City, he was stopped by several mercenaries from the Blazing Fire Gang who demanded "special protection fees" from him. They also searched him and found the jewels he had brought from Jiaolong Island, intending to rob them all in public. He had no bow and arrows and was powerless to resist. Just then, soldiers from the Peace Army passed by. Having been indoctrinated with Li Jun's ideology of equality among all races for over six months, the Peace Army soldiers naturally wouldn't stand idly by while the Blazing Fire Gang committed their atrocities. The verbal conflict escalated into a physical confrontation.
"Hmm." Li Jun glanced at the few Peace Army soldiers and said, "You violated military discipline and caused trouble in the street. You should be dealt with according to military law, but you helped my friend and made a contribution. Since the merits and demerits cancel each other out, I will not pursue the matter."
The soldiers of the Peace Army breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled.
“This deal was a real loss,” Jiang Tang sighed. “Just because I’m a barbarian, I’m subjected to this kind of humiliation. But barbarians are human beings too…”
Li Jun's eyes suddenly lit up. He remembered something: the barbarians were natural navigators, and only the Japanese in the east could rival them at sea. His expertise in navigation would be very helpful to his ambitions.
"Syrup...no, Jiang Tang, I have something to ask you..." After returning to the military camp, Li Jun said to Jiang Tang that a bold plan had already formed in his mind along the way.
Section 3
"What kind of business are you talking about?" Jiang Tang could hardly believe his ears.
“I know you’re good at business. Could you join my Peace Army and become my treasurer?” Li Jun had to repeat himself again.
"So, in this deal, you're handing over all your money to me to manage?" Jiang Tang's eyes gleamed with greed. If anyone else had seen that, they would have clutched their own pockets tightly to prevent their money from flowing out.
"That's right. Not only will we entrust all our money to you for safekeeping, but you can also use this money to do business, as long as you can pay our salaries in a timely manner and complete our logistical support."
Jiang Tang's eyes darted around, scrutinizing Li Jun from head to toe for a while. "Something's not right. This deal doesn't seem to be doing you any good..."
Suppressing the urge to laugh, Li Jun knew this was a crucial moment. Whether he could make full use of this money-grubbing man depended on this instant. So he said, "No, I also have my share of money. But I don't have a single person here as good at business as you."
"So, what price are you offering for this deal? And what do you want me to agree to?" Jiang Tang still seemed unconvinced, revealing the suspicious nature of the Yi people.
“It’s very simple. Your salary is the same as mine. You have the authority to decide on all expenditures of the Peace Army. You can use all the money in the way you think is most effective. The only rule is that you cannot embezzle. If you do, I’ll kill you!” Li Jun threatened deliberately.
"Deal! This deal is done!" After thinking for a moment, Jiang Tang excitedly made the decision, but then added, "Let me make it clear, I only handle the money. I'm not going to do anything like fighting a war. I don't offer buy-one-get-one-free deals."
Li Jun finally smiled, a smile that sent chills down Jiang Tang's spine, as if he had fallen into a trap. Determined to seize the initiative, he said, "Give me all your funds, and also, assign me several dozen men as my bodyguards..."
“No need for so many…” Li Jun chuckled, then took out a small bag of gold coins from his pocket and tossed it to Jiang Tang.
"Is this my salary? This is a good deal, I can even get an advance on my salary..." Jiang Tang was muttering when Li Jun interrupted him: "This is all the assets of our Peace Army. You must make good use of it. Oh, right, next month's salary is also in here, it will cost about a thousand gold coins."
"What! There are only thirty gold coins here..." The poor barbarian let out a pig-like scream, only then realizing that he had taken over a bankrupt treasury. "How am I supposed to pay their salaries?"
"That's your problem now. You're a government official now, and everyone's watching you."
"I quit! I quit! This business is a losing proposition!" Jiang Tang cried, looking at Li Jun with a mournful face. Li Jun drew the flying chain short sword from his waist, testing its sharpness while looking at him with a half-smile.
“Uh…it’s alright, I have another way…” Having already experienced Li Jun’s methods on Jiaolong Island, Jiang Tang had to change his mind. Since he had taken over this messy finances, he had no choice but to inject funds. “I have some gems here, sigh, my lovely gems…if the business goes well, two of them can be exchanged for a month’s salary, but!” His face changed from mournful to stern. “You idlers, get to work and do some business, otherwise, without income, we’ll all starve to death.”
"Don't worry about that." Li Jun smiled slightly. "Actually, next month's salary will be delivered from Leiming City soon. You don't need to sell your precious gems."
Before he finished speaking, a soldier came in to report that Yu Sheng had brought some things. Li Jun knew that it was money sent by Hua Feng, so he accepted it. Before seeing Yu Sheng off, he whispered a few words in his ear. Yu Sheng's face changed drastically. He stared at Li Jun, who smiled coldly and said that he had made up his mind. Yu Sheng then quickly left the camp.
"This deal isn't bad, 1,500 gold coins. It's a bit low, but at least it's a good start." Jiang Tang quickly got into character, finished calculating the amount of gold coins in the box, and started making an account book. Li Jun then left the tent and summoned all the officers.
“I invited everyone here for two reasons,” he said, his expression still relaxed. “First, I have appointed Jiang Tang, a barbarian, as the financial officer of our army, responsible for the income and expenditure of salaries. If you have any questions about this, you can ask him.”
While busy calculating the roster, Jiang Tang looked up and nodded to everyone, causing them to laugh. However, they were quickly taken aback by Li Jun's second statement.
"The second thing is that we immediately raise an army and wipe out the Blazing Fire Mercenary Group to avenge Xiao Lang's insult to Shuna half a day ago!"
The brief shock quickly turned into excitement. Although everyone knew they were facing a mercenary group of eight thousand men, far outnumbering them, the constant fighting and training over the past six months had made the Peace Army dare to despise any opponent. Moreover, they hadn't fought a single battle in the twenty-odd days since entering Chen Kingdom, and they were all itching to get back to fighting.