Although the sand ship I hired when I came was registered in Tongzhou and the owner was from Tongzhou, the ship did not return to Tongzhou very often.

The reason why I was hired in Tongzhou was because the ship had been sailing on the sea for more than a year and had to be repaired. The owner received an order from the Merchant Shipping Hall to transport cotton and local cloth from Tongzhou to Shandong to Shandong for sale. He simply asked the ship to go to Tongzhou first. After all, repairing in Tongzhou is cheaper than repairing in Shanghai, and after repairing, the cargo can be transported to Shandong. In another twenty or thirty days, the owner of the cargo can purchase all the cotton and local cloth. The boss of the ship had to rush back to Tongzhou to repair the ship, and it was impossible to wait in Shanghai.

Because of this, Pan Errang had settled in the inn by the dock with more than 20 old Tai Yongying brothers who came together, and went into the city with Lu Daming, Liang Liu and Chen Hu. He originally planned to go to the Merchant Shipping Hall to ask, but he never thought that he would not only meet dozens of township heroes when he arrived at the city gate, but also found that the yamen offered rewards to arrest criminals and even posted dozens of captive documents.

"Where are so many fugitives? I was in Taizhou for so many years, and I didn't have so many reward notices that I saw!" Lu Daming felt unbelievable and couldn't help looking at the village man who was sitting in a teahouse not far away drinking tea and smoking opium.

"Shopkeeper Pan, I don't think there were so many fugitives before the fall of Yangzhou." Liang Liu also felt strange.

"Shanghai is a big wharf, so there will naturally be no shortage of thieves in the rivers and oceans." Pan Er did not want to be mistaken for being fugitives by the soldiers and the village heroes, so he led the three of them to the city.

The city is more prosperous than outside the city, with shops everywhere and people on the streets, but most of the accents are from Fujian and Guangdong.

Chen Hu was illiterate. Seeing that there was a large mansion ahead, many men wearing number clothes were hurried in and out, he asked curiously: "Shopkeeper Pan, what kind of yamen is this? Where did so many yamen come from in Shanghai?"

Pan Er looked up and turned around and smiled, "This is not a yamen, this is a Fujian guild hall. The big doors just now were not yamen, but all of them were guild halls."

"Correspondence?"

"It's the place where foreign merchants settle here. Shanghai is worthy of being a big wharf. Even there are more guild halls than Taizhou and more than our hometown in Ba County. But it is incomparable to Beijing. There are only so many guild halls in Beijing."

"Is there a guild hall in your hometown?" Lu Daming couldn't help asking.

"How can I know this?"

"Do you want to ask someone?"

After coming out for so long, Pan Er missed homesome and couldn't help but smile and said, "It's okay to ask."

Mr. Han is very good, but after finishing his errand, Mr. Han has to return to his hometown in Sichuan from Shanghai. Lu Daming learned from his mistakes and did not dare to trust outsiders like before. He made up his mind to follow Pan Er in the future. He stopped and looked around. Seeing a fortune teller in front of him, he immediately ran over and took out a few copper coins to help Pan Er find out.

The fortune teller took the copper plate, looked up at the four of them, and murmured in a Zhejiang accent: "Several guest officials, there are many guild halls in the city and outside the city. I only know about the Sanshan guild hall, Chubei guild hall, Merchant Ship guild hall, Huzhou guild hall, Jiangxi guild hall, Zhejiang Yan guild hall, Fujian guild hall, Xing'an Quanzhang guild hall, Guangdong Jiayingzhou Public Institution... but I have never heard of the Sichuan guild hall, let alone I have never heard of it, and I have not even seen many Sichuan people."

Sichuan people are not willing to go far, and it is expected that Shanghai does not have a Sichuan Guild Hall. Pan Er bowed and smiled and said, "We just ask casually, thank you."

"This guest official, I see your Yin Tang getting black..."

"I don't have time to ask you to see the photos today. Let the seal hall be black first. I'll come and ask you to calculate it after I finish my work." Pan Er, a scammer in the world, has seen many people in the capital. Before the fortune teller finishes his words, he leads Lu Daming and others to continue walking forward.

I asked a few times along the way, and just figured out how to go to the Merchant Shipping Hall, a scream suddenly came from the front, and then people on the whole street hid.

Pan Er didn't want to cause trouble. As soon as he pulled Lu Daming and the other two into the teahouse on the left, he saw more than a dozen beaten and swollen village warriors running for this side. The people who chased them with machetes and sticks were actually village warriors wearing numbers clothes. They chased and scolded each other while scolding them, all with a southern accent, and they couldn't understand a word.

The teahouse staff was worried about being affected by the fish in the pond. While busy coming to the door, they said anxiously: "I will give in to the guests."

"Oh, sorry." Pan Er didn't dare to watch the fun anymore. He looked back and found that there was an empty table, so he simply walked over and sat down.

There were many outsiders like them who were hiding in the teahouse, and they all asked the shopkeeper and the tea shoppers at the next table to find out what was going on.

"This matter is a long story." A local old peddler put down his tea bowl and said worriedly: "In February, didn't Changmao occupy Jiangning? All the soldiers in Shanghai were transferred to beat Changmao. The 'Shuangguan' was worried that Changmao was invading, and the slutty criminals were worried that the slutty criminals would cause trouble. In desperation, he recruited the township warriors and held a group training."

"But why did the Xiangyong fight with the Xiangyong? They gathered armies to fight in broad daylight. Is there any other way to the king?" asked a businessman who seemed to have a sound in Shandong.

"Shouldn't this village be a young and strong man in the hometown? But it's better to be a 'shuangguan'. He is from Guangdong, so he only believes in Guangdong. Not only did he select four or five hundred Guangdong refugees as personal soldiers, he also ordered Li Shaoxi, director of Guangdong Jiayingzhou Public Office, to train Guangdong people and Li Xianyun, director of Xing'an Quanzhang Association, to train porters and boatmen in Fujian."

The old peddler knocked on the table and said with a heartache: "Our local gentry went to the Dao Bureau to make suggestions more than once. Recruiting foreigners is not only unhelpful, but will cause trouble. Locals will definitely do their best to protect the country and protect the people, but they will not listen to it, so they believe in their fellow villagers."

"The people in Fujian and Guangdong are fierce, violate the laws and regulations, and act recklessly; Zhejiang people are full of tricks, while Jiangbei people are timid and afraid of things. If you think about it carefully, we are still reliable." A local tea customer agreed deeply.

"You haven't told me how those rural heroes fight outside?" Pan Er couldn't help asking.

"Isn't Changmao not invading Shanghai? The court is worried that the local people can't afford the food and wages of the village warriors, so it ordered the group training to be lifted out and the village warriors were dismissed. Think about it, those Guangdong and Fujianese finally had a good life without doing anything and had money to take, who would want to endure hardships again? Although the layoffs were lifted out, they were still wearing number clothes and gathered to fight every few days, because they could fight for nothing."

"Don't the yamen care?"

"Didn't you just say that even the personal soldiers of "Shuangguan" are from Guangdong, and the unscathed township heroes in the county government are from Fujian. Those who work as workers are from the same group as those outside. It would be good if they don't fight with them, and they can still expect them to take care of them?"

The old peddler looked around and said in a daze: "These outsiders are either congregations of the gang or congregations of the gang. They listened to the 'shuangguan' and the county magistrate on the surface, but in fact, they only listened to the directors of their respective guilds in secret. They fought for nothing because of anything else, but because they were all because of snatching territory, buying and selling, and making a living."

Pan Er didn't expect Shanghai to be in chaos, so he thought about it and asked again: "Old sir, you just said 'sweet official', who is this 'sweet official'?"

Before the old scholar could speak, a businessman said with some disdain: "It is the current Su Song Tai Bing Preparation and Jiang Customs Supervisor Wu Jianzhang Wu Daotai."

"Why did Wu Daotai become a Shuang official?" Pan Er asked.

"This guy must have just come to Shanghai."

“That’s right.”

"No wonder, Wu Daotai, a native of Guangdong, was from a poor family in his early years and made a living by selling chickens. With his nickname A Shuang, don't Guangdong people like to give people a fancy name, so they got the nickname of "selling chickens". Later, he did business with foreigners and worked as a partner in foreign companies. He was well-behaved and diligent, versatile, good at judging foreigners' wishes, and even learned to speak foreigners' words. He was highly valued by foreigners. The business became bigger and bigger and bigger, and he became a big businessman."

Pan Er thought to himself that these people dared to discuss Taotai in public. It turned out that Wu Daotai was not an official who entered the imperial examination, but a businessman who made a fortune by flattering foreigners. He couldn't help but ask, "How did he become an official?"

"It's just that he can't make a donation for him. He doesn't have to spend money. But although he's not doing business now, the official has become bigger. No one dares to call him "selling chickens in person" anymore. Even foreigners have changed his name to him "smooth official."

Under the rule of Susong Taidao, Shanghai County was in the same city as the county government. In other words, Shanghai's big and small things were decided by "selling chickens" who made a fortune by currying against foreigners! Pan Er realized why Shanghai was so chaotic, because there was an official who only cursed against foreigners. He didn't know what to say, but there were shouts of beating and killing outside.

The guy looked through the gap in the door panel, then turned around and said, "The county government has sent troops. This fight should not be long. Dear guests, you can go out after having some tea."
Chapter completed!