Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1335 621: I Decide

The Thousand Tael House has gambling halls, theaters, tea houses, bars, and also song and dance halls.

The City of Sinners has nothing, not even a market; private trading in the City of Sinners is a serious crime.

According to Liao Zihui's introduction, the City of Sinners has only three types of buildings: residences, outhouses, and workshops.

The Three-Headed People eat and sleep in their residences, relieve themselves in outhouses, and work in workshops. This is the entirety of their lives.

Li Banfeng said, "Do the people from your Defense Agency also live in such residences?"

Liao Zihui shook his head, "Our people live underground, and important materials are stored underground too, mainly to avoid the Heavenly Light,

Brother Li, the people have been selected, we should almost head to the station."

Li Banfeng looked at Liao Zihui, frowned, and said, "That's only twenty thousand!"

Liao Zihui nodded, "It's twenty thousand, the approval from above was for twenty thousand, we'll talk about the rest on the train."

Li Banfeng stopped the spread of Inner State fungus in Huan Country and obtained a special medicine, curing most patients. With this merit, the Outside Provinces spared no expense in rewarding him, initially allocating him twenty thousand Three-Headed People, and granting Li Qi the right to free trade at Three-Head Fork.

This free trade right is no small matter. Previously, the Four Great Families couldn't even enter Three-Head Fork at will; going there required Defense Agency approval, and wanting to do business there involved very complicated application procedures.

At first, Li Banfeng didn't quite understand what was so good about Three-Head Fork and why they wanted to do business there.

Only after asking Ma Wu did Li Banfeng learn that there are plenty of good things here. Due to years of erosion by Heavenly Light, the place abounds with mysterious treasures; finding a few stones on the mountain and grinding them into powder can serve as a medicinal primer for accumulating Taoist Fate.

Moreover, all industrial products at Three-Head Fork are very cheap, mainly because there's ample labor there.

In addition to these two rewards, Li Banfeng also received a promotion. He is now a whole level above Shen Jingye, half a rank above Guan Zhengyang.

By rights, with a change in rank, the position should be adjusted, but Li Banfeng refused to adjust his position, insisting on staying with the Dark Star Bureau.

Actually, the position wasn't something Li Banfeng cared too much about; what he cared about were the Three-Headed People. Though twenty thousand were approved from the above, indeed delivered, Liao Zihui still owed him here.

"Shen Jingye has returned, what about the Three-Headed People you promised me?"

Liao Zihui said, "The Three-Headed People in the City of Sinners all have identities, each registered on file. You want me to allocate ten thousand for you, how could I dare to do that?"

Li Banfeng frowned, "Are you messing with me?"

Liao Zihui shook his head repeatedly, "Director Li, you're speaking distantly. I've been in Puluo State for so many years; my word is my bond. How could I speak without recognizing my words?

I dare not give the city's Three-Headed People, but there are plenty outside the city. I've selected these ten thousand, and this trip will deliver them to you all at once!"

This attitude seems decent enough.

Li Banfeng was worried there might be another trick and asked first, "What's the difference between the Three-Headed People inside and outside the city?"

"In terms of appearance and physique, there's not much difference, it's just the Three-Headed People outside the city barely have enough to eat, always enduring hunger, therefore appear more frail than city folks."

"You mean, people outside the city are even worse off than those inside?"

"Indeed!" Liao Zihui nodded repeatedly, "Just ask around at Upper Three Forks, how hard is it to get a full meal? How many people would give up their lives for just one meal?"

"How many Three-Headed People are there outside the city?"

"No one knows for sure, some say there's thirty to fifty thousand, others say it's sixty to seventy thousand, and there's even talk of around a million. They have no identities, no homes, unwilling to enter the City of Sinners, nor able to leave Three-Head Forks, consigned to live and die of their own accord in this place."

Li Banfeng suspected they might not be unable to leave, wondering if Three-Head Fork has special exits: "I heard that many poor people come to Three-Head Fork every year to do Body Cultivation, do they all need to go through the Defense Agency to get a Guide Token?"

Liao Zihui shook his head, "If they had money to get a Guide Token, they wouldn't need to become Body Cultivators. The way they generally come is by sneaking on freight trains,

Three-Head Fork does not produce coal, there are freight trains transporting coal in every day; just by giving two Ocean Dollars to the coal guard, they can manage to sneak people onto the car while loading coal."

Li Banfeng had also gone through sneaking on coal cars, and not just once.

Liao Zihui continued, "Every day, many goods leave Three-Head Forks, so getting people out of Three-Head Forks isn't that hard, but no matter how brave the freight guard, they wouldn't dare smuggle out Three-Headed People. If discovered, they'd not only lose their jobs but face prison time. So, brother, delivering these ten thousand Three-Headed People to you carries no small risk."

Before long, Deputy Envoy General Tang Huanjie boarded the train and said to Liao Zihui, "Chief Envoy, the cargo is loaded."

Liao Zihui gave the order to start the train, and thirty thousand Three-Headed People, along with Li Banfeng, arrived at Greenwater City.

As before, Liao Zihui arranged for the steam car to continuously transport the Three-Headed People to Sheqiao Village. Upon reaching the village, Liao Zihui completed his task and returned to the Defense Agency with his people.

This time, with so many Three-Headed People coming, all aspects of preparation needed to be made in advance, but fortunately, there were people to meet them. Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying brought their people over; on the Qiu Qiu City side, Juanzi also brought her people over.

Juanzi comes from the City of Sinners, and amongst the arriving Three-Headed People, she knew quite a few.

She led the crowd to thank Li Qi, and the Three-Headed People all knelt on the ground, wanting to kowtow to Li Banfeng, whose eyebrows instantly shot up.