Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland

"Yeah, she's quite cute." Lu Meng complimented casually.

Before he killed the thugs from the Stone Rat Group, he tortured them briefly, and he probably knew that Huangshui Village would send swamp people out to greet them.

However, he didn't know why Lin Shi brought his daughter out.

In Lu Meng's opinion, the other party either dotes on the child too much or is really big-hearted.

Unexpectedly, Lin Shi became even more nervous when he heard Lu Meng's praise.

cute?

The swamp man calmly stood in front of his daughter and held the money bag in one hand: "Sir, these are the coins our village has issued to honor Big Al in recent years. I guarantee that they will be in full amount."

He touched his waist with his other hand: "There is another one for you, sir..."

There is indeed a small money bag there, but there is also a waist knife hanging there.

If the leader of the Stone Rat Group had malicious intentions, he would take advantage of the opponent's distraction to count the coins and suddenly draw his sword.

The bamboo raft has stopped in the middle of the water. Even if he is defeated, he can escape with his daughter due to his water nature, but the opponent has no way to advance or retreat.

Little did he know that Lin Shi's little move was noticed by Lu Meng.

He narrowed his eyes and felt a little admiration in his heart.

I haven't done anything yet, and others are about to take action... Could it be that this swamp man specially set up a killing trap today?

Given their status, it is worthy of admiration to dare to attack the Stone Rat Group.

If so, future plans will be easier to carry out.

Admiration comes from admiration, Lu Meng's face remained calm as he tapped his fingers on the bamboo raft.

Three blood spiders in the water came closer and quietly climbed onto the bottom of the boat.

While doing all this, Lu Meng took the money bag with one hand, without counting it, and just hung it around his waist.

"Sir?" Lin Shi saw this and was a little unsure of the opponent's approach.

As usual in previous years, even if the village paid enough rent and taxes, the thugs who came to collect the money would pretend to do an inventory and then angrily accuse the villagers of hiding their filial piety.

At this time, the villagers responsible for the handover need to accompany Xiaoxiao to make up for the spare coins... In fact, it is a kickback to the thugs.

At this time, you must not show all your money at the beginning, because no matter how many coins you give the first time, the other party will always want to push again until there is nothing left to squeeze out.

The fact that money is given so freely means that there is more hidden, doesn't it?

As a result, not only did this gentleman fail to count the rent and taxes, he even refused to ask for the share specially reserved for him...

Has the Stone Rat Group changed its behavior?

Or is it that this gentleman has been stationed in Shark Village for a long time and has picked up the habits there. He feels like asking for price reductions and likes to wait for others to give gifts?

Such a master is more difficult to deal with.

If he gives too little, he will feel that you are looking down on him; if he gives too much, he will suffer a loss.

Lu Meng thought for a while, took out a Kai coin from his wallet, flicked it with his fingertips, and threw it to Xiao Ying'er.

The smooth open coin traced a beautiful arc, accurately fell into her palm, and spun twice, which made the little girl's eyes brighten with surprise.

"Go back and buy preserves to eat." He said casually and looked at Lin Shi, "Go back to the village first and see the village elders."

He didn't plan to accept the money either.

It's better to think about whether there will be a gang like the Stone Rat Group in the future.

The purpose of Lumeng is to cross the swamp, which is bound to touch the core area here.

Plus now we still have to look for that Princess Seto.

With the support of the elite caravans and the growing blood spiders, Lu Meng began to feel confident that instead of sneaking in, it would be better to defeat all those factions.

When the time comes, if you want to cross the swamp, there will naturally be no obstruction, and you can directly open up the trade routes between the east and west.

In the future, his previous accumulation in the Western Continent will also help him in his activities in the East.

But if you want to change the pattern of the swamp, no one will believe it just by talking about it.

Let’s start with Huangshui Village and show some hard power.

Seeing that Lu Mengzhen did nothing after accepting the money, Lin Shi realized that this adult really didn't have any extra thoughts.

Not only was it very different from what he had expected, it was even very different from the previous leaders of the Stone Rat Group.

Does the Stone Rat Group really have such a character?

The swamp man felt even more fortunate. He quickly pulled his daughter over and said, "Hurry up and say thank you, sir!"

"Thank you, brother!" Xiao Ying'er said happily, holding the coin tightly.

Lu Meng smiled and waved his hands without saying anything else.

As for him going to Huangshui Village, this is a normal request.

In previous years, when the Stone Rat Group sent gang members to collect rent and taxes, no matter how humble a person was in the gang, the village must treat him as a distinguished guest.

A banquet organized for this purpose is sometimes more lively than the village New Year's Eve.

Therefore, thugs from the Stone Rat Group also like to come to collect protection fees, which not only makes money, but also allows them to eat and drink.

Unfortunately, these benefits are burdensome to the villages below.

Otherwise, given that the swamps have hot and rainy weather at the same time, stabilizing the natural conditions of three crops a year, the swamp dwellers would be able to feed themselves just by relying on high-yielding rice.

Uncle Hua once took the young people in the village on adventures again and again, just to deal with gang exploitation.

That is to say, the Shake Kingdom reopened its trade routes to collect grain at a high price, which alleviated the current situation in Huangshui Village.

‘Under such circumstances, the villages in the swamp have been cut off one after another...’ Lu Meng thought to himself, ‘This is worth pondering. ’

It won't be long before Ryan's side can come to their conclusion.

The swamp is known as a place of freedom from outside influence, but true freedom only belongs to a group of strong people like Big Al.

I just don’t know how they will deal with it when they meet someone stronger?

The bamboo raft swayed, and the forest leaves cast shadows.

Lu Meng looked at the receding shore and noticed something was wrong.

Among the five major factions in the swamp, the Stone Rat Group can only be considered second-rate in strength. It is only because they have the largest number of gang members and directly govern most of the swamp villages that they appear to be huge.

Other gangs run their own industries.

From there, the oil and water that can be squeezed out is actually more abundant than simply and crudely collecting taxes.

For example, the rent and taxes paid by Huangshui Village, excluding the quota from the gang, and the kickbacks can only enrich Lu Meng.

Even if you include the village banquet, two or three gangs plus small leaders would be enough to collect taxes at one time.

However, Lu Meng killed more than a dozen members of the Stone Rat Group with blood spiders in the forest.

With so many people, this bamboo raft will definitely not be able to carry them.

——They don’t plan to enter the village.

"Sir." The swamp man holding the pole interrupted his train of thought, "Speaking of which, you haven't seen me yet... My name is Lin Shi, and I was a specialist stationed in our Stone Rat Village."

"Lin Ying, brother, you can call me Ah Ying." Xiao Ying'er on the side answered abruptly.

Seeing Lin Shi's questioning expression, Lu Meng understood.

They seemed to be introducing themselves, but in fact they wanted to ask Lu Meng's name.

As a big shot in the Stone Rat Group, he didn't have to know the names of the swamp people, but when Lin Shi reported to the village elders, he always made it clear who the visitor was.

"Lu... just call me 'Beiyou'." Lu Meng said softly.

"Yes, Lord Beiyou." Lin Shi lowered his head in agreement and quietly rowed the boat.

The lord was more humble than he imagined.