Ruozhou is located in the middle of Xiahe County, adjacent to the three cities of Quzhou, Hanzhou and Tuzhou.
Among them, Hanzhou is a long and narrow area, almost covering the southeast, south and southwest sides of Ruozhou, and it strangles the north-south trade route of Dahua.
It is precisely because of this that the Salt Gang established a branch here.
Moreover, Hanzhou has always been the largest of the twelve branches, with eight branches under it. The annual silver handed over to Danyang City every year is more than 200,000 taels.
Song Hongfeng is one of Zhang Suiguang's two cronies in the Salt Gang. In the eyes of many people in the gang, he is even more important than Li Xuexi.
At dawn this morning, he received a secret report.
That was the chess piece he placed in the Hanzhou government office, and he kept an eye on the goings-on in the government office for him.
Hanzhou is an important road between north and south, and all forces are intertwined. Even with the strength of the Salt Gang, they cannot control the overall situation.
"Have the guards at the city gate been replaced?" After reading the secret letter, Song Hongfeng couldn't sit still. "According to the city defense laws promulgated by the military department, the city guards in the prefecture are replaced every June. Hanzhou Yamen suddenly replaced the city gate guards. Bing, this is so abnormal, could it be related to the Wulin Alliance in Ruozhou?"
After much thought, Song Hongfeng decided to go to Ruozhou in person to report to Zhang Suiguang.
... ...
Today is December 12th, the first day of the Ruozhou Martial Arts Conference.
This alliance is a rare martial arts event in decades, and the Xu family has made detailed arrangements in advance.
The site is right in front of the Xu Mansion. Xu Xigong personally supervised the construction. It is a circular school field with a diameter of 240 feet, based on pebbles, supplemented by fine sand, and filled with lime water.
There is a half-foot-high square platform in the center of the school grounds. The ground is drawn on the platform as a boundary, defining a martial arts school circle that is twenty-four feet in diameter. Important figures from various sects and candidates who have already decided to join the martial arts school were seated on the stage and outside the circle.
The space on the stage is really small, and those who don't have seats have to stand off the stage.
Before the alliance had even begun, the campus was already crowded with people. They were divided into twelve pieces by the ropes that had been set up, totaling at least fifty thousand people.
There is always a respect for the strong in the martial arts world, so they are not dissatisfied with not being able to gain a place on the stage, but there are many people who are eager to get involved, and it seems that they all want to wait for the qualification selection for the San Sect martial arts school in a while. CUHK shows its talents.
If you can stand out in the martial arts school selection, you can join the final selection of the martial arts leader. Even if you fail to become the leader of the martial arts league in the end, you will definitely become famous all over the world after this battle.
With this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, who wouldn’t want to give it a try?
Even if you don't go up to show off your skills, just being down here and watching these top masters compete is a great blessing in your life, and it will be more or less helpful to your own martial arts path.
Therefore, almost all Jianghu people who have some ideals and are able to escape come here.
Crowded...
The crowd is buzzing...
As for what Xu Xiaoyi said on stage, these people didn't seem to care at all.
"Boom~~~!"
As soon as the gong rang, many people rushed out from various areas. They found the Xu family members on duty between the pillars and ropes, and signed up one by one to determine the order of playing.
These people still need to go through a preliminary election. Only those who can defeat the Xu family members on the stage can be selected for the martial arts school of the scattered sect.
Standing in the front row of the stage were a hundred members of the Xu family dressed in white. They were all selected by Xu Xiaoyi to screen the martial arts school contestants.
The person on the far left stood up in response to the sound of the gong, jumped onto the square platform, and stood in the circle of the martial arts school.
His opponent was a fat-faced man who wielded a mace.
"Start!" the deacon of the martial arts school gave the order, and the fat-faced man rushed towards the mediocre-looking Xu family member in front of him with a mace in hand.
He went as fast as he retreated, and the man in white only made one move and kicked him to the ground.
"Wow~~~" The audience immediately exploded.
Everyone knew that the Xu family was the number one family in the martial arts world and would never be weak in strength, but no one could have imagined that a random member of the Xu family could have such skill.
Although the fat-faced man's steps were frivolous and he obviously had no internal skills, he danced with the mace in a decent manner and looked like he had several years of experience.
And "one inch long, one inch strong", he held an eight-foot weapon in his hand, but the Xu family man used his hands as swords and his feet as weapons. Even at such a disadvantage, he was able to defeat the enemy with one move, which is evident from his martial arts skills.
With the victory or defeat decided, the two palace servants quickly walked up to the square platform, helped the fat-faced man up, and carried him down.
"Next!" the martial arts school deacon shouted coldly.
With this demonstration, those who were hoping for luck immediately retreated, and several abstentions occurred one after another.
The second person to take the stage was a white-haired old man. He was originally ranked sixth. Seeing that the four people in front of him fled, a look of contempt appeared on his face.
“Cangzhou’s level of travel is so good, I’ll learn some tricks!”
Obviously, this old man's martial arts is not weak. As soon as the competition started, he made a sudden attack. A pair of awls stabbed in his hand, forcing the white-clothed disciple of the Xu family to retreat.
"Wow, master! This is a master!"
"Sports level? Since when did Cangzhou have such an unprecedented master!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, this Mr. You's martial arts skills are probably not much better than those of the heads of the thirteen sects, right?"
"Drink, Cangzhou Yousheng's name will be resounding throughout the martial arts world after today!"
After witnessing the old man's skills, various discussions broke out in the audience, but they were all undoubtedly complimentary.
After the two people exchanged more than a hundred moves on the stage, the noise in the audience suddenly stopped - You Shui was hit twice in the chest by the man in white, unable to stabilize his body and fell to the ground, and his upper body had already left the circle of the martial arts school. boundaries.
According to the rules, he lost.
You Shui quickly stood up and stared at the man in white in front of him.
He could feel that the opponent held back his palm twice before striking out, and it was obvious that he had no intention of hurting anyone.
"The Xu family in Ruozhou has many talents. I have finally seen it. I lost this battle. May I ask which of the young masters of the Xu family this young hero is?"
Among the second generation of the Xu family, Xu Suye, Xu Sumo, and Xu Suyan were all well-known in the world, and it would not be a shame to lose to them. It's a pity that he knows no one in the Xu family.
"Old sir, that's ridiculous. This junior is an outside disciple of the Xu family. In terms of martial arts, he really doesn't rank among the masters, so he doesn't dare to state his name." The young man in white held a salute with both hands and replied softly.
Not an elite member of the Xu family!
The young man in front of them who everyone in the audience thought was "super skilled" was actually not one of the young masters of the Xu family, but an outer disciple!
"Wow~~~" The noises came and went like waves.
"There are so many young talents in the Xu family?"
"No wonder the twelve major sects originally wanted to leave the small sects in the martial arts world and focus on their own martial arts schools and directly select the martial arts leader. Now it seems that the background of the big sects has a natural advantage. We, the small sects in the martial arts world, have natural advantages. Compared with them, Pi and Lone Ranger are really far behind!"
If you know one leaf, you can know its appearance.
An outside disciple of the Xu family has such strong martial arts skills, let alone a direct disciple? What's more, the three masters of the Xu family?
The other sects may not be as good as the Xu family, but they are not far behind.
Looking at the unfamiliar young and old people sitting on the stage, the tens of thousands of people in the audience felt a sense of awe.
This is the reverence of the weak for the strong.
Although they have never competed, they can think of the gap between themselves and these people. Just like the sky and the earth, clouds and mud, they are separated by hundreds of thousands of miles.
The noise gradually subsided, and 99% of the people had given up on the idea of trying.
They all saw the martial arts at the top level. How many of these tens of thousands of people dare to pat their chests and say that they are better than him?
