Zhou Tao was willing to pay such a heavy price to eliminate Hong Xing, and Yu Feng, while surprised, also understood his helplessness and anger.
"Mr. Zhou, the person I'm looking for is Yang Jian's brothers. When the casino was raided, my brother-in-law and his three brothers narrowly escaped. They have been taking refuge at my construction site since then and only recently returned to Yang Jian's template factory."
"Yang Jian's brothers? You mean those two, Biao Biao and Liang Liang? Weren't they also arrested? And without Yang Jian leading them, they wouldn't be able to achieve anything and couldn't possibly deal with Hong Xing."
Zhou Tao knew a little about Yang Jian's situation.
"It's not those two. Yang Jian has several brothers from Hancheng who are quite skilled. Yang Jian's ability to establish himself in Xunsi River and deal with local bosses is largely thanks to his brothers.
Also, do you remember the incident at the Cultural Palace? Four people took down over forty people. It was his brothers who did that. Including later smashing Baoguo's business and smashing Xu Zheng's arcade, they cooperated with Yang Jian on those cases."
Yu Feng was an old friend of Zhou Tao's and wasn't worried about him betraying Yang Jian's brothers.
Zhou Tao's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "No wonder Yang Jian could open such a large business in Hancheng. So he had such a capable team. Let's talk to them quickly. With their abilities, it shouldn't be difficult to take down Hong Xing.
Or, I can give them shares in the sand excavation business and support them to become a force capable of countering Hong Xing, thus protecting the interests of both our families."
"Alright, I'll have my brother-in-law sound them out first. If they're interested, we can approach them personally to recruit them."
"Then hurry up. I can't wait another day. Baoguo is illegally mining tens of thousands of cubic meters of sand from my sandpit every day, and I can only watch helplessly. You can't understand how frustrating this is."
"Then I'll have my brother-in-law go to Xinqiao this afternoon."
Yu Feng was also quite anxious, as the ready-mix concrete station issue was pressing.
Entrusted by Yu Feng, Xiao Zeng rushed to Yang Li Village after lunch.
After narrowly escaping from the Xunsi River casino, he and A Feng and two others hid at Dong Sheng Company's construction site in Hancheng for over two months.
It was only when they felt the heat had died down that they returned to Xinhe together. He went back to work at the Fengqi Hotel, while A Feng and the other two stayed at the template factory.
Upon meeting A Feng, Xiao Zeng conveyed Yu Feng's intentions.
However, A Feng refused without hesitation. "Xiao Zeng, we are still under intense scrutiny by the police, so we can't get involved in any of that fighting.
Besides, we're not short of money. We're shareholders in Brother Jian's trading company, which is a legitimate business. With Lu Hao's support, this company has a very bright future. We're essentially earning passively."
Xiao Zeng, unable to complete the task assigned by Yu Feng, was a bit reluctant. "Brother Feng, please reconsider. Sand excavation is highly profitable. You can earn millions a year. I don't have the ability, otherwise, I'd be willing to take the risk."
A Nan said from the side, "Xiao Zeng, don't try to persuade us. To be honest with you, unless Brother Jian tells us to act, we won't work for anyone else. Now that Brother Jian is not here, we need to guard his industries and ensure they are not disturbed by outsiders."
"Can you contact Brother Jian?"
"We can't contact him for now, but that's not important. We just hope that when he returns, he'll be a rich man and won't have to start from scratch."
"Alright then. If you hear from Brother Jian, please let me know."
Xiao Zeng returned empty-handed. Yu's family's predicament would have to be solved by other means.
After seeing Xiao Zeng off, A Feng called Jing Yongli over. Jing Yongli was now a very busy man. With Lu Hao's support, the cold storage and processing plants were successively under construction. The factory buildings had been completed, and equipment was being installed. They would be operational before the end of the year.
The arrival of A Feng and his group gave him even more confidence. When undertaking major projects in rural areas, there were too many external interferences. With Yang Jian being a wanted man, some local thugs began to stir, wanting to profit from the projects.
Therefore, Jing Yongli rushed over from the construction site as soon as he received A Feng's call.
"Brother Feng, what do you need me for?"
"Yongli, Xiao Zeng came to us earlier to help Yu Feng, but we refused. The three of us have just discussed it. We can't just sit around idly anymore. Can you arrange some work for us?"
A Feng and his two companions had been there for almost a week, doing nothing and not daring to wander around, feeling extremely bored.
"Brother Feng, actually there is something that requires your involvement, but I was afraid it might be inconvenient for you."
"Tell me, what's inconvenient."
"There are two things. First, our trading company has started supplying rice and aquatic products to Hanhua Warehousing. The grain is still in the acquisition phase. Once the equipment is installed, we will officially produce Xinqiao brand rice.
During the acquisition process, some middlemen tried to pass off inferior quality grain as good. We refused, and they threatened us. Yesterday, they even brought people to the factory to cause trouble. If we hadn't called the police and the officers hadn't arrived so quickly, it would have escalated into a fight."
A Feng stood up abruptly upon hearing this. "What! Why didn't you tell us about this? These people are looking for death! Do they think that because Brother Jian isn't coming back, they can do whatever they want? Tell me who they are, and I'll deal with them right now."
Jing Yongli quickly held him back. "Don't get agitated. Let me finish. There are also people interfering with the acquisition of aquatic products. Yang Li Village has a total of five hundred mu of fish ponds, which are quite scattered. Because they are far from the town center, there is no professional farming, nor are there fishmongers to buy them. Farmers used to sell their fish during the New Year in town, and the prices were very low due to the abundance.
We signed acquisition contracts with the farmers, agreeing to buy all common carp weighing over two catties at their doorstep, at a price slightly higher than the local market price.
This was supposed to be a beneficial act for the farmers and a win-win situation. Unexpectedly, Xu Zheng interfered, wanting to sign a general supply agreement for aquatic products with us. This means he would supply the aquatic products we send to supermarkets, essentially charging a protection fee of fifty cents per catty. This is common in other places, especially in lake areas."
"Damn it, with Brother Jian in trouble, all these insignificant people are starting to bully us. When the tiger doesn't show its fangs, they all treat Brother Jian like a sick cat. Yongli, don't worry, we'll handle these matters. Let's see how formidable Xu Zheng really is."
A Feng was thoroughly enraged. He hadn't expected the countryside to be so complicated. Gangsters and hooligans were truly everywhere. No wonder rural economic development was so slow; it was these village ruffians and local tyrants who were profiting from it.
Jing Yongli continued, "Brother Feng, there's one more thing that will make you even angrier. I hope you won't act impulsively."
"Okay, I won't be impulsive. Tell me."
"This morning, Sister Hui called me and said that Wu Laizi might be back. He sent people to demand a letter of understanding from Sister Hui, offering to compensate her with fifty thousand yuan. Sister Hui is worried that Wu Laizi will cause trouble again and is very anxious, not knowing what to do."