Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Ding Quan left, and Li Yuanzhao came closer, curiously asking, "Lao Fang, are these night soil workers really that powerful? What exactly does the 'golden juice trade' do?"

Fang Zheng explained, "You can think of this 'golden juice trade' as a dung factory or a fertilizer factory... Since it's already called a 'trade,' it means this line of work has reached a considerable scale, and there are even dung-selling oligarchs."

"Don't underestimate the night soil workers. After hundreds of years of development, they, like the salt workers and the Canal Gang, have their own power, their own rules, and even a master-disciple inheritance. So, they should be called the 'Dung Path' or the 'Dung Gang.' The big bosses of those 'golden juice trades' are probably also the leaders of the Dung Gang."

"The Dung Gang controls the rights to collect dung in a city or a region. These people are extremely difficult to provoke and may even disregard the government."

"Not only that, but they also extort the common people. If someone's cesspit is full and it happens to be raining, this group of people will wait for a high price, forcing the people to spend a lot of money to clean up the feces."

"It's normal for Ding Quan to be afraid of them. If they collectively go on strike, the entire city will be filled with stench in a few days, the sanitation system will be paralyzed, and even more seriously, it may spread serious diseases such as plague and malaria on a large scale."

"What do you say you would do? This problem is really a bit tricky, so we have to think of a way to solve this hidden danger."

Li Yuanzhao said with admiration, "Lao Fang, you really know a lot. So, what should we do?"

"Wait! Wait for them to take the initiative to come looking for us. Right now, everything is unclear, and it's useless for us to make wild guesses."

Fang Zheng sighed, and his thoughts drifted back to the past.

............

When he was begging in Hengjiang Prefecture, he had dealt with the Dung Gang, so as soon as Zhao Gang mentioned the night soil workers, he felt that something was wrong.

In Fang Zheng's begging team back then, there was a group that specialized in begging when others went to the latrine to defecate, and this group was extremely efficient.

Of course, they didn't ask for much, only one or two coins.

After getting the money, they would say a few auspicious words, wishing you a smooth defecation, and then give you a bamboo chip. It can be said that they indirectly started the business of paid public toilets.

It was this group of beggars who, after going back and forth, became familiar with the night soil workers, heard a lot of industry experience, and told Fang Zheng about it.

Fang Zheng was also shocked after hearing it. The profit of the night soil industry was much greater than ordinary people imagined, so he also had some thoughts.

He was already a big brother in the begging industry, and now if he wanted to break through, he had to start diversified operations!

So, he began to organize a group of beggars to carry dung, transport dung, and sell dung. At first, everything went smoothly.

Thanks to modern management methods, Fang Zheng's team was formal, the price was fair, punctual and trustworthy, and they often helped the people deal with the garbage in their homes, so they were widely praised in Hengjiang Prefecture.

Over time, they were targeted by the Dung Gang.

How could the power of night soil be allowed to be questioned by others!?

So, one day, many brothers of the Beggar Gang who were transporting dung in the city were robbed along with their carts, abducted to the outside of the city, and the Dung Gang also asked someone to bring a message to Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng was at his peak at that time, inflated to the point that he thought he could beat Qiao Feng in every aspect except for not knowing the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.

How could he bear this bad breath? He directly led a group of brothers and rushed to the outside of the city with their weapons.

The Dung Gang and the Beggar Gang confronted each other like this.

At first, Fang Zheng was still thinking of settling things peacefully, thinking of letting the other party pay some money and say some soft words.

Who knew that the Dung Gang, accustomed to being local bullies, were extremely unreasonable and madly outputted beautiful Jing dialect towards Fang Zheng, threatening him to immediately withdraw from the night soil industry.

Fang Zheng did not show weakness and also used a variety of national essence words, making the other side dry-mouthed.

The two sides fought with words, and after going back and forth, they fought, and a melee began.

Fang Zheng gave priority to having people **** back the brothers and dung carts, and before he was ready to run, he didn't know that the Dung Gang didn't talk about martial arts, and picked up dung spoons and poured dung on the Beggar Gang.

Fang Zheng was unwilling to show weakness and quickly asked people to pour it back.

The two sides started an epic battle like this!

Fang Zheng, with a feather fan and a turban, commanded calmly, asking the Beggar Gang to mix stones in the dung buckets, which caught the other side off guard.

A large wave of the Dung Gang was hit in the head and bleeding by stones with feces and urine, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced!

However, the Dung Gang learned from it and immediately reacted, and the two sides became more and more fierce.

For a time, a forest of feces and a rain of dung began to be staged outside Hengjiang City. In a short time, they could still fight back and forth, but after a long time, Fang Zheng's side couldn't stand it.

Although the beggars were also rolling in the garbage heap, they really couldn't stand fighting a dung war!

Many brothers vomited while fighting, vomiting so badly that they lost their fighting power.

On the other hand, the Dung Gang had been dealing with dung all year round, and their combat effectiveness was getting stronger and stronger.

However, Fang Zheng didn't panic and decisively sent someone to report to the government!

The government was also anxious when they heard that there was a large-scale melee outside the city, and they hurriedly sent troops to the outside of the city, only to find that there was shit everywhere, and the two sides were still happily throwing dung.

The officers and soldiers were terrified and hurriedly retreated.

Later, they sent a second wave of people, all holding strong bows and crossbows, to stop the war.

Fang Zheng immediately asked the beggars to disperse and run back to the city. After all, the beggars were beggars! Who could compete with him in terms of information and hiding traces!

The Dung Gang was dumbfounded, and many of those who ran away were caught.

After all, there were only those people who picked dung in the city, and the government knew it very well.

However, the importance of the Dung Gang was self-evident, and they were released soon after, but they were also hit hard.

Later, Fang Zheng couldn't swallow this breath, and he would find trouble with the Dung Gang every now and then, and run away after the trouble.

Anyway, he was a beggar! Who could beat him in terms of information and hiding traces!

So, the people of the Dung Gang were invited into the prison every now and then, and Fang Zheng's side was singing all the way and advancing bravely, and the market share of the night soil industry was forcibly deducted by him!

However, thinking about the epic battle at the beginning still made Fang Zheng feel lingering fear.

That battle can be regarded as the most dangerous battle since he crossed over, and the Dung Gang also left him with some psychological shadows.

Now he doesn't know what the situation of the Dung Gang in Banshanfang is, but according to Fang Zheng's experience, I'm afraid the Dung Gang has already formed a unified gang in the capital.

If that's the case, the trouble will be big.

But he is not afraid. Now that he has power, if the Dung Gang dares to cause trouble, he will lead Zhang Biao to raid the bandit leader!

In any case, if he wants to transform Banshanfang, the night soil industry must be nationalized. If the Dung Gang is in the hands of those big merchants, I'm afraid they will dare to directly stuff shit into people's mouths in a few more years!

Li Yuanzhao saw Fang Zheng in a daze and patted him: "Lao Fang, what are we going to do next?"

"Next?" Fang Zheng touched his chin and thought.

"Common prosperity, culture first... We have to find a few more scholars first, it doesn't have to be too good, as long as they can read and write, and then like this..."