Our Mountain Stronghold No Longer Robs Travelers. We’ve Switched to Charging Tolls

Lin Zhi, codenamed “King of Lying Flat,” was a veteran of the grueling 996 work schedule before he transmigrated. Afterward, he gets an instant promotion and raise: he becomes the second-in-command of Blackwind Stronghold, with more than five hundred men under him, every one of them hungry enough to eat a whole ox.

The good news: he’s a boss now.

The bad news: if they don’t bring in results, the whole stronghold will be living on scraps.

The previous leader’s “business model” was robbing passersby. Lin Zhi glances at the performance report: monthly revenue of negative three hundred taels, a casualty rate of thirty percent, and customer satisfaction at zero.

What kind of robbery is this? It’s charity!

With three fires to light as the new boss, Lin Zhi’s first move is to burn the machetes.

“From today on, we’re changing our business model.”

“So, no more robbing people?”

“We’ll still rob them. We’ll just do it civilly.”

“???”

And so the most absurd stronghold in the history of the Great Zhou Dynasty is born:

No bloodshed, just cement mixers roaring away.

No murder or plunder, just a smiling toll collector: “Welcome, honored guest. I built this road, I planted these trees. If you want to pass, leave... uh, thirty copper coins as a toll. We accept banknotes, coins, and payment in kind. Sign up for a membership and enjoy ten percent off.”

The trembling merchant caravans pay up, only to discover the road is so smooth a horse could race along it, and the journey is three days faster than on the official highway.

At the post station, they’re served hotpot, barbecue, and distilled liquor. Even the salt is fine-grained and not bitter.

The security team escorts them the whole way, more professionally than any escort agency.

Three months later, Blackwind Stronghold’s revenue has multiplied a hundredfold, and caravans are lining up to beg to be “robbed.”

When news reaches the capital, the empress studies the secret report in silence.

“Is this banditry? Even the imperial highway isn’t this smooth.”