Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 532: The Opportunist

"Of course it will work, just believe in me; as long as I am here, our town will be able to get through this drought," Tian Peng said, thumping his chest confidently.

His solemn and confident demeanor was indeed convincing, especially since he naturally had an extraordinary presence.

Though born in the countryside, he lacked the appearance of a rustic villager; it seemed that with a change of clothes, he could easily pass for a noble or even an Immortal.

Initially skeptical, the few who heard Tian Peng were persuaded and nodded in agreement, "Since Zhu has said so, then we will work with you. We believe that with you here, the canal will surely be dug well."

No sooner said than done, yet when they arrived, they had not brought hoes with them.

In fact, every household had one; they simply hadn’t expected to need them and hadn’t brought any along.

Their homes were in the town, some distance away, and it was too late to go back for the tools.

Luckily, there was a farm nearby, and Tian Peng rented their hoes and sledgehammers for the day with some grain.

They began digging a channel on that side. The channel had to be neither too shallow nor too short, otherwise, the rushing river water could widen it, potentially turning it into a part of the river itself.

Three men were indeed too few. Tian Peng had originally hoped to finish the channel in one day, but when dusk came, it was only as deep as a shin.

"I never expected that digging just one channel would take so much time," Tian Peng said, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking at the freshly dug channel.

The channel was wide enough for two men side by side and as long as fifteen men laid head to foot. To have achieved this much was certainly not easy.

As evening approached, Tian Peng led the men back to his own home, where the grain had already been divided up. Following Li Wu’s earlier suggestion, Tian Peng distributed the grain evenly among them.

"When you go back, you can tell your neighbors that if they need grain, they can come here to work with their hoes or sledgehammers tomorrow, and I’ll give them grain, and it will be on the same day!"

Having actually received the grain, they naturally believed Tian Peng was telling the truth and quickly promised, "Zhu, rest assured, we will definitely spread the word to our neighbors."

"Good," Tian Peng said, knowing now they wouldn’t lie—having received the grain, those who had originally been dubious would surely be convinced upon seeing their haul.

Indeed, the next day Li Wu, Wang San, and the others brought along more than ten people, each with a sledgehammer in hand.

"Zhu, after I went back, I told them that working for you meant real grain and not just paid monthly, but every day. Once they saw the grain, they all came over," Li Wu explained.

Tian Peng nodded and addressed the newcomers, "Since you’re here, work hard and don’t slack off. I’ll be watching everyone, and if anyone is found slacking, I’ll make sure they’ve come for nothing today."

When the group was small, a soft approach could be used, but not with a larger crowd.

If he continued to play the sentiment card with more people, it would make them think he lacked authority—a principle Tian Peng understood well from his time commanding many Immortal Generals.

His voice was loud and his tone firm, and coupled with his stature, he was undeniably an excellent deterrent.

Hearing Tian Peng speak in such a manner, the men quickly responded, "We will work hard following Zhu!"

"That’s the spirit. Don’t let me catch you slacking off," Tian Peng added.

With so many additional hands, the canal digging progressed much faster; by noon, they had finished the previous day’s remaining work, and then they started on the new section of the canal.

This was a massive project, and by evening, they had excavated less than one-tenth of it.

Tian Peng had anticipated this, working was one thing, but when it came to distributing grain, Tian Peng realized something was amiss.

It seemed like every worker had a large number of family members, some even reaching over a dozen.

Tian Peng, looking at those who were collecting the grain, asked aloud, "Does your family truly have that many members?"

The questioned person’s body shook, and then he hemmed and hawed, "Yes, yes, my family is indeed large. There’s no helping it, although we have many mouths to feed, we still have to work. We can’t just sit around and wait for death."

"Yes, what you said makes sense," Tian Peng said with a smile, eyeing the man carefully.

Then, more and more people came to work for him, but the number of those who reported having large families also increased, and Tian Peng gradually became aware of the problem.

He called Li Wu over, "Do you know all of these people who have come?"

"I know some, but not others. There are so many people coming, and some of them weren’t even recruited by me. Others did the recruiting, and gradually, I didn’t know them anymore. What’s up, Zhu, are they not taking their work seriously?"

"Let’s put the quality of work aside," said Tian Peng. "I suspect that there are people here who are committing fraud."

"Ah?" Li Wu, though meticulous, was overwhelmed by the sheer number of newcomers. "Could you please elaborate, Zhu?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Look." Everyone who came to work had to register. Tian Peng handed the list over to Li Wu.

"These few, their families have reached fifteen members. That’s practically a large clan. I suspect they’ve counted everyone listed on their family register."

"That really is an issue," Li Wu said. "So, what do you suggest we do, Zhu?"

Tian Peng had his own plans, but he wanted to cultivate Li Wu as one of his own, so he withheld his ideas and instead invited Li Wu to propose a solution. "You help me think of a method."

"Me? Think?" Li Wu paused, thoughtfully considering in his mind and came up with an idea.

"Otherwise, just like at the beginning, give everyone the same amount; or since the main task is to dig soil for the canal, let them place the soil each person digs up in a specific area, and distribute the grain based on the amount dug up. That way they won’t be lazy."

Tian Peng nodded in satisfaction, Li Wu’s idea was not much different from his own; it seemed he truly was a talent capable of being molded.

"Alright, let’s do it your way."

By evening, Tian Peng gathered all the workers in one place and then announced, "I have something to declare. I am not the government, and I have no need to concern myself with your household matters. Therefore, the grain will be distributed based on your labor from now on."

After these words, the burly men holding hammers looked at each other, not understanding what it meant.

"It means, from now on, the soil you dig out for the canal must be placed in a specific location. I will distribute the grain according to this soil. Those who work more will receive more grain, and those who work less will receive less. This is fair for both you and me."

This was indeed fair, but for those who had initially inflated their family sizes, it was not good news.

"Zhu, why change the rules when things are already going well? If you change the rules now, we won’t work anymore."

"The canal is nearly finished anyway. At most, I’ll just work a few more days without you guys," Tian Peng said with a cold laugh.