The Guandi Temple has gone through wind and rain, and the wall curtains are covered with smoky black spots. Looking from the patio to the roof, there are pottery double-eagle orb decorations on it, gray tube tiles, plain tiles with trimmed edges, and the eaves board is carved with flowers and birds.

The decoration, although old, is still clear.

Looking at the hidden weapon of a golden needle inserted into the green bricks, the elders of the Guangzhou Beggar Clan, who had not yielded under Gang Leader Fan's martial arts power, were silent at this time. You looked at me and I looked at you, it seems that you still want to recommend someone.

Let a person who talks about the matter give an external answer to this difficult matter.

But Jiang Wen had already mastered the art of picking out three sticks of incense from the sacred table. After lighting it on the swaying candlestick, he bowed three times to the statue of Guandi, who was holding a knife to watch the spring and autumn, and inserted it into the incense burner.

As the breeze blew, the faint flames on the three incense sticks flickered, reflecting the smile on Jiang Wen's face as he slowly turned his head. Everyone stared with bated breath in amazement, not knowing where the man in front of them would aim his spear.

.

The forces in front of us have obviously been divided. On one side is Gang Leader Fan who is crossing the river. He is very skilled in martial arts but his number is small. After all, no matter how many disciples the leader of the Beggar Clan has, he cannot just cross the border with hundreds or even thousands of beggars and beg for food along the way.

The local Guandi Society in Guangzhou is the local snake that Jiang Wen wants to find on this trip. They have eyes all over the city and can provide him with the information he urgently needs.

In this way, it is obvious who to take sides - Jiang Wen also taught his three apprentices by words and deeds, letting them see how qualified people in the world can stir up trouble...

His eyes slowly scanned the pictures of "old pine in winter snow", "picture of gold and jade in books", "picture of harmony and wealth", "picture of blessing coming from heaven", "picture of meeting mountains and rivers" on the walls on both sides, and finally landed on

On Gang Leader Fan.

"Gang Leader Fan, I think you have hurt the peace by going to war just now. How about you, the leader of the gang, take the lead and speak out?"

Gang Leader Fan, who had a stubble on his face, looked at Jiang Wen meaningfully. He seemed to have sensed his intention to deflect, but he just sighed and let go of his grip. Like Jiang Wen, he took out three sticks of incense and showed great respect.

The ceremony was completed in front of Mr. Guan.

Undefendable and unstoppable, Gang Leader Fan could no longer suppress the situation. With Jiang Wen as a heavy straw, he could only avoid the edge for the time being.

After Gang Leader Fan finished burning the incense, he told everyone the reason for the incident.

Only then did Jiang Wen find out that Bingyin entered the city on the same day. He had just arrived in Guangzhou five days ago. He made a special trip to the Guandi Temple but did not find the leader of the Guandi Society, Gang Leader Wu. Instead, he met several members of the Beggar Clan.

The elders fought hard here, trying to mediate the dispute but unexpectedly intensifying the conflict. They were entangled for several days and were unable to move.

"Elders, I have indeed received a message from your Gang Leader Wu, so I came to Guangzhou day and night to discuss the merger of the two beggar gangs. This matter is related to the Holy Emperor, and I, Fan Xinghan, am absolutely telling the truth!"

Gang Leader Fan's tone was righteous and resounding, and his eyes swept across the crowd, making him appear very confident.

But as soon as he finished speaking, a beggar elder who was blind in one eye stood up and said in a bad tone.

"Then I dare to ask for advice. Gang leader Wu has been missing for only half a month, and you guys from the Xinghan Gang jumped out to stir up trouble. Don't you just see that we are leaderless and want to get a share of the pie?"

There were also people hiding in the crowd who spoke out.

"Gang leader Wu can't be contacted right now. We five sub-rudders want to choose the leader ourselves, but you don't let us choose, and you also fool us with some specious information. What are your intentions?"

"Furthermore, Gang Leader Wu's kindness has been greatly appreciated. All the beggars in Guangzhou are dissatisfied with the idea of ​​asking you to be the leader of the Guandi Society. Do you have the strength? You don't even want to lose face!"

The clothes of the local beggar gang elders were in tatters but not dirty. Their food was generally good, and their questioning voices were passionate and powerful. Their numerical advantage instantly made up for their lack of quality.

"You bastard, there have been Fan, Gao, and Li clans in the Beggar Clan since ancient times, all headed by my Fan family! Tell me what you can't do!"

Gang Leader Fan was furious when he heard this. He slapped the table and became angry again. This time he obviously used the sound of Dantian Qi Hai, which was as deafening as the sound of a copper bell.

"Who is maliciously slandering me! Do you dare to come and swear a vicious oath in front of Mr. Guan? There is no embarrassment or jealousy on your part!"

This time Gang Leader Fan used his identity to speak out, which seemed to suffocate the opponents.

Historical data shows that professional beggars who relied on begging as a means of living first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period. "Zuo Zhuan: The Twenty-Three Years of Duke Xi" records that Chong'er, a prince of the Jin Dynasty, "begged for food in the wild, and the barbarians attacked him. The prince was angry.

Want to whip him".

There are thousands of sects of the Beggar Clan in the world, but when talking about their historical origins, we have to mention the three sects of the Beggar Clan that have separate surnames - Fan Jiamen, Gao Jiamen, and Li Jiamen.

Fan Xinghan's surname is Fan, but not all Fan family members are surnamed Fan. Just like the Gao family family is affiliated with the legendary beggar number one scholar Gao Wenju, and the Li family family has Li Niangniang, the concubine of Song Zhenzong, as its ancestor.

The Fan family he mentioned originated from the legend that Confucius traveled around the world and survived by begging when the food supply was cut off in Chen State. Confucius survived with the help of ancestor Fan Dan. The Confucian disciples were very grateful to Fan Dan.

Ancestor’s generosity in saving lives.

Later, Fan Dan's family property declined and he had to go to the streets to beg for food. Later, when a beggar appeared begging for food, he claimed to be a disciple of the Fan family and came to pay for his ancestor Fan Dan.

These stories are often mentioned later in cross talk allegro, but in fact Fan Dan was from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and he was not close to Confucius at all. However, it was later spread by word of mouth among the people, and Fan Dan actually became the creditor of the sage Confucius.

But no matter what, this period of history is recognized by beggars from south to north, and they respect the Fan family. Gradually, a group of people with common beliefs and rules for asking for money and food has been formed. It has lasted to this generation, which happens to be

Fan Xinghan is the leader.

"Humph, what about the Fan family? Then how can you prove that you are not here to take advantage of the situation? Do you dare to swear a vicious oath that you will not scaremonger the merger of the two factions unless you find Gang Leader Wu!"

The beggar elder who was blind in one eye stood up, immediately lit the incense and handed it out. He placed seemingly equal conditions in front of Fan Xinghan and looked at Gang Leader Fan provocatively.

It can be seen that the reason why the local Beggar Clan in Guangzhou is insecure and has a bad attitude is because of the insecurity caused by the uneven strength between the two sides. Now they are facing the Xinghan Clan, which is united but under unified leadership, and is on the verge of falling apart.

The Guandi Society in Guangzhou was already unable to resist, so it became so extreme and xenophobic.

Fan Xinghan seemed to be angered by the other party's behavior over the past few days. He immediately made an oath without thinking too much, agreeing to bring up the matter after finding Gang Leader Wu. At that time, Guangzhou Guandi would give him another explanation. His words were obviously

Full of confidence.

"Master, why do I think Gang Leader Fan has been deceived?"

Ningdie, who was watching the show, carefully poked her master and said in a low voice.

Jiang Wen happily explained to his apprentice: "Of course he was fooled. Now Gang Leader Wu is neither alive nor dead. Fan Xinghan wants to prove his innocence. It's not that easy. The Guangzhou Beggar Gang just wants to use expedient measures to delay time.

"

Hong Wending also looked at the master with a sudden realization: "I understand. They used Gang Leader Fan's reputation as a threat to force him to agree to this condition. When Gang Leader Fan came back, he faced the leader of the gang who had been selected and twisted them into a rope.

The Guandi Society will have no choice but to return without success..."

Jiang Wen also noticed that Gang Leader Fan felt helpless staying here these past few days.

From the moment this man walked into the hall with the slogan of annexation, he got involved in this farce. But as soon as he left, it meant that the small Xinghan Gang would withdraw from the competition and would only

Leaving behind the excuse of taking advantage of the situation, we fell into a situation where both people and money were lost.

Jiang Wen nodded: "Well, the idioms are used well, much better than the slanderous guy at the door."

Seeing that the two sides were at odds again, Jiang Wen, who had watched the show for a long time, quickly came out to mediate.

"Everyone on both sides, since Gang Leader Fan has spoken out, you have to sit down and talk slowly, and then come up with the information about Gang Leader Wu before he disappeared. The sooner the leader is found, the less Guan Di will be."

Due to civil strife, the Xinghan Gang was exempted from suspicion for a day, right?"

Having said all that, the two sides actually went through a round of substantial negotiations, and both sides figured out the other's bottom line, so they sat down honestly.

Fan Xinghan's purpose is very simple. Naturally, he wants to recruit these leaderless beggars in Guangzhou and expand the power of the Xinghan Gang to the south. What the Guangzhou Guandi Association needs is time to choose a authoritative leader to lead the conversation.

Only in this way can we take advantage of the local area and prevent it from being disintegrated by beggars from outside.

"Gang Leader Wu came to see me in the temple half a month ago. At the same time, he told me to control the beggars under him and not cause trouble at the 'Golden Basin Washing Ceremony' held by the old hero Luo. I followed the order."

"I once sent a beggar under me to investigate. For more than ten days, no carriages or horses were seen at Gang Leader Wu's house. The swill was also different from the past. He must have been away from the house for a long time and lived elsewhere."

"By the way, I remembered that Gang Leader Wu loved to eat the fragrant meat at the entrance of the Capital God's Temple. The shopkeeper of that shop once told me during a chat that Gang Leader Wu once asked him to buy wine and buy meat for a feast on Guichou day and night.

After a pause, we headed northwest."

"Northwest? Did you hear it right? The gang leader asked me about the news about Nanhai Temple that day. Why should I go to the south? I thought I was going there to go to sea? But my beggar didn't receive any news.

ah……"

Several local beggar leaders chatted and discussed, and soon figured out the movements of leader Wu of Guandihui before he disappeared. Although these beggars, ranked at the bottom of the three religions and nine sects, were inconspicuous, they were so pervasive when it came to inquiring about the news.

People were frightened when they heard about it.

No matter how professional the other spies were, they probably didn't have the ability to judge the specific time of Wu Gang Leader's absence based on the fact that there were two leftovers, bitter bamboo shoots and bee pupae, in the swill at Gang Leader Wu's house, right?

Jiang Wen secretly sighed that he had indeed found the right person for this trip. With the help of these professionals, it would be easy to find the hiding place of Southern Shaolin, and even find out how many hairs the monks had lost.

"Dear beggars, it is possible that your gang leader disappeared in the Nanhai Temple. Did he encounter misfortune while out at sea? I wonder if you can tell me the name of your gang leader so that our Wuyi faction can help to find out."

He had to do a complete show, and Jiang Wen immediately showed his eagerness for justice and wanted to make some contribution to their efforts to find the gang leader.

"The gang leader is so blessed that everything will be fine."

An old beggar with gray hair said slowly: "Thank you very much, Master Jiang, for your kindness. The gang leader's name is Wu Liuqi. He is currently the Commander-in-Chief of the Seals, Zuo Dudu, stationed in the town of Raoping."

As soon as he said this, Jiang Wen immediately smiled and used the standard method to cover up his inner surprise. He looked at Fan Xinghan again and found the helplessness on his expression.

"It turns out to be General Wu! I've heard of his name for a long time, but I didn't expect that he has such a connection with you. If you think about it this way, wouldn't it mean that they are all generals who went on a guerrilla attack? I really envy others!"

Jiang Wen praised him with a smile, which made the beggar elders in front of him laugh very happily, and the eyes he looked at Jiang Wen became much kinder.

"Master Jiang, don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense!"

A group of people laughed heartily in an instant, as if they were not the ones who had been causing internal strife before.

Wu Liuqi, in Jin Yong's novel, is an undercover agent of the Tiandi Society in the Qing court. In the book, he was a disciple of the Beggar Clan at first, but later he made a mistake and was expelled. After switching to the Qing Dynasty, he made great achievements and then repented. Finally, he abandoned the secret and joined the Ming Dynasty again.

Meeting, due to his martial arts and character, he was appointed by Chen Jinnan as the Hongqi Incense Master of Hongshun Hall.

But the problem is that this is not the Jianghu of Jin Yong, but the paradoxical Jianghu of Ming and Qing Dynasties!

In real history, Wu Liuqi used to beg for food because of his addiction to drinking and gambling. He first surrendered to the Southern Ming Dynasty and became the general soldier. However, in the first month of the seventh year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1650), the rebel general Shang Kexi of the Ming Dynasty led the Qing army to conquer eastern Guangdong. Wu Liuqi

He was the first to welcome the surrender, and acted as a guide to attract nearby towns.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In the twelfth year of Shunzhi (1655), Wu Liuqi even made suggestions to the court to strengthen coastal defense. The next year, the Qing court announced the "sea ban" policy. Wu Liuqi
To be continued...