Following County Captain Zhang's order, several wolf-like government servants rushed forward and slammed the iron chains on Zhang Zhao's body, making Zhang Zhao pale in shock. He had given this man gifts more than once on behalf of his elder brother. If he was not familiar with him, how could he call him "brother"? However, at this moment, when he saw County Captain Zhang turned his back and looked upright, his heart went cold.
Although he had good martial arts skills, he did not dare to resist at all. He honestly allowed the government servants to tie him up and asked Zhang County Lieutenant: "Zhang County Lieutenant, I don't know what Zhang has committed. crime?"
County Captain Zhang shouted righteously and sternly: "What crime you have committed will be known when you get to the county government office. Take him away!"
Sun Hua stepped forward and cupped his hands: "Lieutenant Zhang..."
County Lieutenant Zhang seemed to not know him at all and did not allow him to say anything. He waved his hand to interrupt him and said solemnly: "Why, are you trying to stop me from handling the case?"
Sun Hua quickly said: "Sun doesn't dare, Sun just..."
"Then get out of the way, or we will be captured together." Zhang County Lieutenant's voice was stern, his thin and dark cheeks were tense, and he really looked like a selfless person. At this time, a middle-aged scribe in regular clothes squeezed in from behind and asked: "County Lieutenant Zhang, have you caught the prisoner?"
Zhang County Lieutenant's tense face suddenly relaxed, and he hurried forward to greet him. He smiled like a peony. With a bright smile on his face, he nodded and bowed: "Prince-in-law, you see, my subordinate has already said But this is just a trivial matter, how can I use your power! Doesn’t this mean we have captured the prisoner, can we go back now?”
This middle-aged scholar is Li Changya, the son-in-law of the late emperor, and the son of Northern Zhou general Li Lun. He married the princess of Xiangguo during the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, he successively served as the minister of Sanqi, the minister of internal history, and the shepherd of Yongzhou (the whole territory of Yongzhou). .
During the third year of Renshou when he was the shepherd of Yongzhou, floods occurred in Bingzhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou and other places. More than 20 states were affected by the disaster, and hundreds of thousands of disaster-stricken refugees poured into the capital to beg for food. At that time, the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty were urgently discussing resettlement measures, and even Yang Su, Su Wei and others were assigned to the forefront of disaster relief. However, Li Changya not only failed to play the role of Yongzhou Mu in time, but at this critical moment, he led a group of literati to visit Lishan Mountain.
Afterwards, he was beaten to the end by the angry Yang Jian. Except for the consort, he was stripped of all his titles and false positions, and he was allowed to travel around. It was not until recently that Princess Xiangguo came to the palace to intercede, and she was appointed by Yang Guang. It is the history of the governor of Yongzhou (Jingzhao County, not the whole territory of Yongzhou).
In the past few years after losing power, Li Changya learned from the pain and deeply reflected on his behavior. In addition, Xiao Juan, who was also the consort, became the minister of the Ministry of War. He was extremely jealous, so after taking the position again, he changed his previous behavior. He has a lazy style of government and works down-to-earth, becoming a steady and good official with a rather selfless style.
He received a report early this morning, saying that this photo was responsible for countless murders, and that several victims crossed Xinfeng County and went directly to the state capital to report. These victims claimed that they had gone to Xinfeng County many times to file grievance complaints, but were rejected by the county magistrate because they found no evidence. Li Changya knew that this was a major case of collusion between officials and businessmen, otherwise Xinfeng County would not have blocked the news.
In this major case, all the officials in Xinfeng County were unreliable. He was worried that the county officials would tip off and allow Zhang Zhaoshi to escape, so he led a team to arrest people early in the morning and prepared to arrest the case. The case was handed over to the state government for review.
At this time, hearing what Zhang County Lieutenant said, he glanced at the locked Zhang Zhao and asked: "County Lieutenant Zhang, are you sure it's Zhang Zhao himself?"
"It's this person!" Zhang County Lieutenant nodded quickly.
Li Changya glanced at Sun Hua and Chao Tian, then looked at the lobby of the cottage's 'Juyi Hall', frowned and said, "Take Zhang Zhao away."
"Here!"
These gentlemen left as quickly as they came, leaving the Jiangnan League headquarters in a short time. Then they went to Zhang Zhao's house and took away his housekeeper and head servants. The group left in a grand manner. But when they came to Bashang to arrest people, it was like a big stone was suddenly thrown into the stagnant water that had been silent for many years, causing the residue and silt that had been silent for many years to stir.
Sun Hua glared at Chao Tian, Shen Faxing and others with a livid look, suppressed the anger in his chest, and said in a cold voice: "Council Leader Chao, Leader Shen, we are all Ba Masters who live on water. We have always dealt with our own affairs ourselves. This The government also acquiesced. But now that you have attracted people from the government, aren't you afraid of becoming the public enemy of Bashang?"
Any gang with a certain scale in Bashang has the shadow of the government behind it: big gangs have big backers, while small gangs have small local officials and officials as their backers. And among these people, a "hidden rule" circle is formed. They provide sailing convenience for the gangs they protect, but generally do not get involved directly, but this does not mean that when others touch his territory, he will also Will not take action.
Blocking people's financial path is like killing their parents, and officials, big and small, are beasts in the "food chain". Each has its own sphere of influence. If someone crosses the boundary, it will immediately upset the balance and trigger strong turmoil. Therefore, official forces generally only provide convenience for the Bashang gang to pass through customs and gain benefits from it. As for the fights between gangs and fights within gangs, they will not intervene at all.
If a gang leader directly intervenes in the gang war, it is tantamount to challenging the protective umbrella behind the other party; if the other party's backstage also jumps out to challenge, then these Ba Shang gangs are the natural pawns and the natural "cannon fodder" .
Because of this, gang wars in Bashang generally do not involve government forces, otherwise it will be of no benefit to anyone. Anyone who breaks this rule will be everyone's public enemy.
However, during the internal fighting in the Jiangnan League, Chao Tian and others reported to the army and even crossed Xinfeng County directly. This made Sun Hua not surprised or angry?
Chao Tian might have to eat like this in the future, so how could he take this "blame", and how dare he be the public enemy of Bashang. After hearing this, he immediately roared: "Sun, don't you dare to spit on others! Deputy Leader Zhang I, Chao Tian, know nothing about why I was arrested, so why do you insist that it was me who attracted the official? If I had this ability, I would have been the leader of the Jiangnan Alliance, so why would I need to hand over the power in my hands?"
As soon as Sun Hua said those words, he regretted it. His words were indeed a bit arrogant. Chao Tian had been in charge of Cao Fist for many years. When Zhang Zhongjian did not take care of things, he was actually the leader of the alliance in name only. Although At the beginning of the year, he was forced to hand over the power of Cao Fist, but the "military power" of the Jiangnan League was still in his hands. If he could get in touch with Li Changya or other high-ranking officials, he could take it down with violent means without being disappointed. The power of the Jiangnan League completely eliminated the Zhang brothers' influence.
If Chao Tian wants to "conspire", even if Zhang Zhongjian comes back to take charge of the overall situation, it will actually have no effect. Therefore, if he wants to "conspire", he might as well support Zhang Zhao to the throne. ", and cut off the confidants of the Zhang brothers step by step, so that the Jiangnan League can become their own.
This approach is safe and does not attract hostility from other gangs, which is far better than involving official forces.
But if it wasn’t Chao Tian, then who could it be? Is Shen Faxing?
Sun Hua pondered for a long time, and suddenly a turmoil arose in his heart. He thought that when he proposed to use the acting alliance leader, Chao Tian and Fan Hu were opposed, while Shen Faxing and Lu Yanjin who agreed supported Chao Tian as the acting alliance leader.
In this way, the four of them joined forces to attack the Zhang brothers!
Rather than Chao Tian alone.
Jiangnan League is about to change.
"Something has happened, something big has happened!" At this time, a Jiangnan League Caoquan member rushed in again: "Thirteen gangs including Weishui Tang, Jing Shui Tang, Xiaozhouhui and so on have announced their unconditional merger into the Xuanwu Gang, and the leaders will take up their posts. The stewards of the Xuanwu Gang, and all their Caoding, Caoquan, and ships will be handed over to the Xuanwu Gang and will be uniformly managed by the Xuanwu Gang."
Sun Hua's heart sank again when he heard this. These small gangs live in the cracks of the big gangs. The big gangs usually don't bother to pay attention to them, but after the merger of many gangs, the Xuanwu Gang is a powerful gang in terms of numbers alone. If they complete the integration, the new Xuanwu Gang will surely unleash great power and be a big threat to the Taihe Hui and the Jiangnan League.
More importantly, what confidence does the Xuanwu Gang have to make everyone "surrender" unconditionally? Why did everyone hand over power so simply?
Why?
What role do the very unusual Chao Tian, Shen Faxing and others play in this?
A series of questions suddenly came to Sun Hua's mind like dark clouds.
Just when Sun Hua's heart was in turmoil, a member of the Taihe Association ran in with a flying fist and said to Sun Hua: "Master, Zhang County Lieutenant just asked a famous government official to deliver a message."
Sun Hua asked: "What message?"
"He said..." Cao Quan glanced at the four deputy leaders of the Jiangnan League present, and then said: "He said that deputy leader Zhang was targeted by people above, and he is dead this time. If the leader wants Baochang's daughter, if you don't want Taihe to be implicated, you'd better go to the county government to go through the divorce procedures now and sever the relationship with Deputy Leader Zhang, otherwise it will be too late!"
"Oh?" Sun Hua stood up in shock and asked, "Really!"
"That's true!" Cao Quan nodded fiercely.
"Let's go!" As soon as Sun Hua heard this, he no longer cared about the Jiangnan League's mess, and hurriedly led the people away without even saying hello.
After a while, the Jiangnan League main hall became deserted.
Chao Tian looked around and ordered in a deep voice to the attendants: "Close the door and don't allow any outsiders to come in. At the same time, summon all the stewards to come to the meeting hall to discuss matters."
Soon, the stewards came after hearing the news.
Chao Tian gave a brief summary of what was happening in Ba Shang. Just when he was about to tell his own and Shen Faxing's and others' opinions, Zhang Han, the eldest elder who was loyal to the Zhang family, intervened: "Four leaders, what will happen after the merger?" The Xuanwu Gang is certainly a threat, but it will take Wang Nianzu a long time to digest it, and the Taihe Society and other big gangs will not sit back and watch it grow, so it is not too late to discuss it later. I think the top priority is to try to get Deputy Zhang The leader rescued us."
"good!"
"What the Great Elder said is absolutely true."
As soon as Zhang Han said this, the Zhang brothers and their close friends all agreed. A big man even said loudly: "The top priority is to rescue Deputy Leader Zhang and go to the government to inquire and take care of things. I don't know what else to discuss here?"
Chao Tian shouted sternly: "Deputy leader Zhang was taken away by Li Changshi himself. Is this a trivial matter? How can it be found out in a short time? If he really has a felony, how can we take him away from Daxing City?" Rescue him? At this moment, we should discuss the survival of thousands of brothers and tens of thousands of family members of our Jiangnan League!"
Shen Faxing glanced at everyone and said slowly: "We all know who the leader is and why he is wanted by the government. At the same time, we ourselves have done many illegal things. If Deputy Leader Zhang reports what we have done over the years Confessing everything one by one, it would be difficult for the government to ignore it. As for us leaders, there is definitely no way out, and our brothers will inevitably be imprisoned. Why did Leader Sun leave in a hurry? It was County Captain Zhang who said that Deputy Leader Zhang must die. , so he was anxious to help his daughter make peace with her and cut ties with Deputy Leader Zhang as soon as possible."
These words made the shouting stewards all fall silent in fear.
"Under the thunder of the government, our Jiangnan League is just a small ant and cannot resist it. If the government pursues them one by one, we will all die, and our families will not be spared." Fan Hu added , and then said: "Seeing that the big ship of our Jiangnan League is about to sink, shouldn't we discuss everyone's future? Now in terms of seniority and status in the gang, leader Chao is the most respected, so we unanimously decided to recommend him As the acting alliance leader, he will be responsible for the affairs of the Jiangnan Alliance."
Zhang Han shouted: "Wait a minute!"
Chao Tian's face darkened, and he asked in a cold voice: "Boss of life and death, what do you, Zhang Han, want to do?"
"I would also like to ask, what do the four deputy alliance leaders want to do?" Zhang Hanhan smiled coldly and said to everyone: "Everything is just speculation by the deputy alliance leaders. The truth needs to be further investigated. How can we arbitrarily activate the system of acting alliance leader before the truth comes out?"
Shen Faxing glanced at Zhang Han lightly and said, "This matter is related to everyone's life and death. If we don't use the acting alliance leader, who will be responsible for taking care of everything? You? Can you do it?"
"Can Caokou not know what's going on here? Aren't you in charge of Caokou?" Zhang Han asked Shen Faxing angrily: "You use 60% of our income every year. Now shouldn't you go to the capital and ask those questions?" Caokou?"
"I am responsible for keeping the mouth clean. The 60% of the income you mentioned was indeed handled by me, but this was all negotiated by the alliance leader. And I will only pay one by one according to the amount written on the note. Just send it over." Shen Faxing said coldly: "Do you think I usually come into contact with the superior Caokou family? Let me tell you, all I interact with are dogs from the Caokou family. Money, and in order to deal with these watchdogs, I have to provide money myself. I either give them money or gifts, or treat them to big fish and meat. After eating, I also pay to treat them to the most beautiful and expensive things. girl."
When this matter was brought up, Shen Faxing became even more angry. He glanced at Zhang Han and said, "Do you think Caokou's dog is easy to talk to? Do you think I, the deputy leader who is in charge of Caokou, is easy to do? That's not the case at all. That's the truth. It's not that I am looking down on you, but for someone like you who bullies the weak and is always talking shit, even if you bring several carts of property to your door, other people's dogs may not pretend to be you."
Thinking of the time he had contact with the servants of the Yue Kingdom two years ago, Shen Faxing felt ashamed now.
This is not to say that Yang Su's slaves are not easy to talk to, nor is it to say that the Yang Su family's slaves are domineering. If so, it would be easier to handle. The key is that the Yang Su family's slaves are very easy to talk to and very kind. At the same time, no one is an ordinary person, and almost everyone is. A man of great literary talent and well-informed knowledge, he could talk about astronomy, geography, politics and military affairs, and the world situation casually. However, he, a son of the Shen family in Wuzhou and the deputy leader of the Jiangnan League, could not even brag when facing those domestic slaves. Come horizontally (Note).
"You..." Zhang Han was stunned and furious when he heard Shen Faxing say that he was bullying others and spouting shit.
"What are you talking about? Could it be that what I told you is a lie?" Shen Faxing said coldly: "Last year, the alliance leader wanted you to be my deputy and share my power, so he asked me to take you to meet the Yuan family's children. You face Yuan Min When you are, you are just like a dog, no, saying you are a dog is an insult to a dog."
Ever since he joined the Jiangnan League and planned a tragedy, Shen Faxing no longer thinks he is a good person, but no matter what he does, he will not be domineering in his den, so he particularly hates things that are like a tiger in the den and a rat outside.
Now that he was ready to break up, Shen Faxing no longer aggrieved himself for the sake of the overall situation as before. All the things he wanted to say but couldn't say in the past came out at this time.
Chao Tian glanced at Shen Faxing in surprise. He didn't expect that this guy would be so vicious in hurting others after he risked his life. He "coughed" twice and said: "Now we have reached a critical moment of life and death. The timing coincides with the system of using the acting alliance leader. I will vote for myself. Fellow alliance leaders, what are your opinions?"
"I surrender to Alliance Leader Chao!"
"I surrender to Alliance Leader Chao!"
"I surrender to Alliance Leader Chao!"
Shen Faxing, Fan Hu, and Lu Yan expressed their stance without hesitation.
"Deputy leader Zhang is not here. Even if he is here and votes against it, it is only one vote. Now that I have four votes, I will be the acting leader." Chao Tian said calmly: "Before Bashang is stabilized, the Jiangnan League I have the final say on all matters big and small. You can object to my opinion, but it will be invalid."
Zhang Han stood up abruptly and said loudly to the officials on the left and right: "Everyone, the alliance leader is not here, and deputy alliance leader Zhang has been sued. However, instead of finding a way to save people, the four alliance leaders have used the system of acting alliance leaders without authorization, and now they are recommending it together. Leader Chao is the acting leader, they clearly have evil intentions, if they are brothers, please stand up, we will not accept our fate!"
Chao Tian clasped his hands on his chest, looked at Zhang Han with interest, and then at the stewards with different expressions, smiling and saying nothing.
The lobby was quiet for a moment, and then three big men stood in the middle, stood next to Zhang Han, and said loudly: "Everyone, the leader and deputy leader have treated us well. Now the four leaders are plotting evil, and we will not accept our fate!"
As soon as these words came out, thirteen more people stood with them. These people included elders, senior stewards, junior stewards, and 'captains'. Although the number was not very large, they all held real power and held positions in the gang. An important and indispensable figure.
An elder looked at the four silent deputy leaders, and then at the angry Zhang Han and others. He hesitated, stood up and advised Zhang Han: "Elder Zhang, we should be in the same boat at this time. , we must not start internal strife, why not sit down and listen carefully to the opinions of the four leaders?"
"Bah!" Zhang Han said angrily: "Can't you see the wolfish ambitions of the four of them? Now that the leader and deputy leader Zhang are not here, what qualifications do they have to decide the affairs of the Jiangnan League? If they want to discuss it, let it go They have negotiated, but whatever they negotiated is invalid in front of me, Mr. Zhang.”
"Let's go!" Zhang Han waved his hand and led the crowd away.
The four deputy leaders remained silent, as if they were waiting for something.
The persuading elder thought for a moment, grabbed a steward who was about to leave, and asked him to sit down together.
. . . . .
In full view of everyone, Zhang Han and others strode away without hesitation. Just as they were about to walk out of the courtyard door directly in front, the courtyard door closed with a "bang". Zhang Han and others were stunned and shouted twice, Suddenly, many green-clothed warriors holding horizontal swords jumped out from the trees, and two rows of archers stood out from the flower beds on both sides.
Zhang Han suddenly turned around, pointed his halberd and walked to the entrance of the main hall. Chao Tian and other four deputy leaders shouted in shock and anger: "You dare?"
"When I killed people, you were still wearing crotchless pants! What are you afraid of?" Chao Tian and others seemed to be sending them off for the last time. At this time, as soon as Chao Tian finished speaking, he turned around again Go and throw the back to Zhang Han and others.
Behind the four deputy leaders, arrows were fired out at Zhang Han and others. Amidst the sound of "pop", some people screamed and fell to the ground.
Zhang Han, who had been hit by five arrows, was covered in blood. He staggered a few steps towards the main hall and was caught up by two warriors in green clothes. Two horizontal knives stabbed him into the waist, one on the left and the other on the right. Zhang Han was twisted at the waist and cut in half.
"Bang!" The heavy door of the main hall slammed shut, blocking out the desperate and angry screams.
Chao Tian stood in front of the main seat in the main hall. He suddenly turned around and said to the frightened elders, stewards, and captains: "Whoever else objects, just come forward."
After a while, when no one made a sound, he said again: "Since no one objects, let's discuss the matter."
"The alliance leader has provoked a great person. The decision of the four of us, as well as the subsequent decisions and arrangements, although we are not worthy of the alliance leader, we are definitely worthy of you, your family, and all the brothers!" Shen Faxing said in a deep voice: " Because we are against the alliance leader, killing Zhang Han and others is equivalent to saving all of us."
"On behalf of the alliance leader, I don't know who the alliance leader has offended?" A steward under Chao Tian stood up and asked.
"The leader of the alliance has provoked one or two prime ministers. And the person who led the troops to capture Zhang Zhao was the consort Li Changya! Now the leader of the Taihe Society, Sun Hua, is also trying to find a way to distance himself from Zhang Zhao. . And as generals of the alliance leader, if we still follow him at this time and have not taken any action, we will definitely die." Chao Tian sighed and said bitterly to everyone: "The four of us don't want to rebel, let alone do it for power. , Money rebellion, but the four of us are afraid of death and don’t want you to die, so we have to rebel and dare not not rebel. Only by rebelling, we and thousands of poor and homeless families who have finally lived a good life will be , just now there is a way out."
boom!
The voice of these words was not high, but in everyone's ears, it was like a thunderbolt from the blue. Everyone was stunned and their minds went blank.
"Don't be afraid, everyone!" Chao Tian has been with the Zhang family for two generations. After all, he has something in his heart that is hard to let go. He originally thought that his heart was as hard as iron, but when he officially told everyone his decision to rebel, a heartbeat My heart seemed to have been hollowed out.
He sat slumped on the steps and said in a lost voice: "The Zhang family may all die, but if you obey the arrangements, none of us will have to die, and neither will our brothers who are suffering."
. . . . . . . . . .
[Note: I am not bragging, but the servants of the Yang Su family are so awesome. After many famous scribes from the south of the Yangtze River arrived at Yang Su's mansion, they were only qualified to dance with Yang Su's servants and recite poems. You can imagine Yang Su's high vision; how difficult, how precious, and how sensational is it to get Yang Su's praise?
The reason why Yang Xuangan dared to rebel was not a simple risk, but the political legacy and personal connections left by his father, which gave him the confidence and strength to change the dynasty. It was this kind of strength and connections that made Yang Xuangan ready to take action when Yang Guang was on his way to the army after he eliminated Tuyuhun.
It's just that he didn't take action in the end, but waited until the current situation was turbulent. However, the first person to rebel on a large scale often became the meritorious service of others to gain promotions and the stepping stone for others to accumulate fame and strength. His role was to help later generations shake the foundation of the empire and let later generations see clearly the nature of the old dynasty, which was strong on the outside and hard on the inside. 】
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