After Emperor Chengzu seized the world, he was very afraid of the major sects in the rivers and lakes, and after moving the capital to Beijing, he set the rules that there should be no martial arts sects in the capital. Because of this, the four major families and the eight major sects have not set up a branch in the capital, and at most a few people are stationed as offices in Beijing, and these people are generally to inquire about the news and facilitate reception, and they are not martial arts masters.

In this context, Sihetang stood out, somewhat similar to gangsters, with industries under their hands, and a bit of gangsterism, which attracted some low-level martial arts people. In this way, it gradually controlled the four major mouths of the capital.

The so-called four mouths, namely prostitution, gambling, plates, and darts. These four mouths correspond to the Qinglong Hall, the Vermilion Bird Hall, the White Tiger Hall, and the Xuanwu Hall.

The White Tiger Hall where Qi Xiaowei is located is in charge of the handicap, that is, the business of collecting protection fees in the capital.

The White Tiger Hall is located in a large compound in the northwest corner of the capital, which looks very ordinary from the outside, with two stone lions standing on the side of the gate.

I came to the White Tiger Hall with Qi Xiaowei, and two ladylike men came up, Sister Qi, you can come back, there are rumors in several other halls, saying that you were assassinated by a night owl, and you have ......

Qi Xiaowei asked, what have you done?

The man on the left waved his hand and said don't talk about this, sister, it's a happy thing for you to come back, and the two of us will relieve you tonight.

I muttered in my heart, these two men will not be Qi Xiaowei's face, two sissies and little fresh meat, Qi Xiaowei is not an old cow eating tender grass, haha, thinking of this, I couldn't help laughing. The man looked at me with hostility in his eyes, sister, who is this guy, why is he so rude?

Qi Xiaowei frowned, waved her hand and said, Get out of the way, don't you see that I have friends? The two of them walked out with a look of grievance and resentment. Qi Xiaowei glanced at me a little embarrassed, and said that the little brother smiled. In the past few days, you have to get acquainted with our Sihetang, don't you want to make a name for yourself, and when the time is ripe, let my sister help you. You live here today.

I'm vigilant in my heart, this Qi Xiaowei has a heavy taste, so she won't have any intentions on me.

She saw my concerns and said with a smile, don't worry, I will let you arrange in the guest room, although my sister's reputation is not very good, but you are my savior, I will treat you differently. Not long after, she was informed that she was going to the main hall for discussion, and she explained a few words and left.

There is a little maid to send fragrant tea, the best red dates and wolfberry Pu'er, and it tastes unique in winter. I looked at the hall of the White Tiger Hall, the tables and stools of yellow flowers, the screens of golden silk nanmu with Shu brocade, which looked very simple, but in my professional eyes, it was priceless.

Not long after, a middle-aged man walked in, looked at me and asked, are you Jiang Xiaobai?

Seeing this, the little maid hurriedly saluted and saw Deputy Hall Master Li.

It turned out to be the deputy hall master of the White Tiger Hall, and I saw that he was thin, with a soft complexion, and a sickly look, but there was a glint in his eyes, and he said that this person should not be underestimated. I got up and said, it was Jiang Xiaobai below, and I had seen Hall Master Li.

I removed the sub-word of the deputy hall master, his face softened slightly, and asked, I am Li Laohu, and the hall master Qi asked me to arrange a meal for you. Do you know martial arts?

I nodded, a little.

A true qi overflowed from him and surrounded me, and I knew he was going to test my martial arts. I turned off the true qi of the stars, and the dantian and the meridians of the various paths were empty, with only a slight fluctuation of the true yuan. Li Laohu was really angry and walked around me, and shook his head in a little disappointment.

Have you ever seen red?

Seeing red is also a jargon, which means killing.

I replied, "I've killed some."

Li Laohu looked me up and down, as if he was doubting what I said. This kind of old Jianghu has poisonous eyes, in their eyes, those who have killed and those who have not killed people, and the temperament revealed on their bodies is completely different, which I only noticed from Zhang Youqian recently.

Li Laohu said again, if you want to join our Sihetang, you have to accept the name, do you have to think about it?

Sihetang has a gangster background, and the entry does not pay attention to the all-round development of morality, intelligence, physical and aesthetics, and there are all kinds of people of all kinds, and they are not like the six doors, they have to do political trials and background checks, and in order to simplify the procedure, they are generally constrained by casting names.

At that time, Lin Chongna submitted his name, and he also had to go to the side of the road to kill a person and lift someone up the mountain.

I nodded, I understand this truth, so I asked, please show me the way, do you want to kill the officials or kill the people?

Li Laohu said no need, you saved the life of the Qi hall master, and with her as a guarantor, you will be exempted from this procedure.

I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart, and I really didn't know what to do if they really let me go out and kill someone. In fact, on the night of the Songhe Tower, Zhang Youqian and I killed a lot of people, but they were all from the Sihetang.

Qi Xiaowei is my guarantor for entering the court, that is to say, my future is tied to her. If something goes wrong in the future, one will prosper and one will lose. Thinking of this, I felt some guilt in my heart, but thinking of the task given to me by Lu Zhongyuan, I had to endure it.

He took me to a small house in the west wing of the courtyard, where a young fat man was knocking on the abacus, and when he saw Li Laohu, he quickly got up, and was about to give a salute, Li Laohu waved his hand and said: Shan Mu, this is Jiang Xiaobai, the master of Qi Tang, help him do the admission procedures, and follow you in the future.

The young fat man named Shan Mu nodded and said yes again and again. Li Laohu explained a few words and left.

He didn't measure my true strength, and when he heard Qi Xiaowei say that I saved her, he probably had his own plan in his heart, thinking that I was the same as those two sissies, and Qi Xiaowei was ready to take it back as a face.

Shan Mu was also enthusiastic, went through the relevant procedures for me, and after filling out a number of forms, notices, confidentiality agreements, and confirmation letters of hall rules, I signed Jiang Xiaobai's name, of course, the information left was the true information of the flower thief that the fifth senior brother told me.

Shan Mu said, Hall Master Li arranged for you to me, from now on, you will be a member of our White Tiger Hall, and I will cover you if something happens in the future.

Shan Mu should have been the eldest brother for the first time, and he chattered all afternoon long, telling me about the various rules of the Sihe Hall and the White Tiger Hall, even including the discord between the four inner halls, as well as the gestures and avoidances of the brothers in the other halls.

It turns out that the first big gang in the capital is not monolithic, and the four inner halls and the eight outer halls are fighting fiercely.

Among the four halls, Qinglongtang controls Qinglou and Suzaku Tang controls the casino, and these two industries can be described as making money every day. In particular, Suzaku Tang controls nearly two-thirds of the casinos in the capital, some of which are self-operated, and some of which are affiliated with them to collect money.

The White Tiger Hall and the Xuanwu Hall were not so lucky.

Xuanwutang is in charge of the bodyguard business, and he also has a Zhenyuan dart bureau under his own door, but none of the four major dart bureaus in the capital is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and among the dart bureaus, there are many masters, so the oil and water are the least.

As for the White Tiger Hall, it was even more difficult.

Collecting protection money is a very difficult task.

First, there are many ruffians and hooligans in the capital, and these people eat, drink, and chew fruits, which is a big expense;

Second, collecting protection money is also a kind of technical work, and it is necessary to pay attention to both strategy and tactics as well as methods and methods. Many old shopkeepers have figured out various routines and tricks in the long-term battle of wits and courage, so as to pay less and be exempted from paying protection fees;

Third, the pricing of protection fees is also very cumbersome. If you want more, if you close down other people's stores, you will cut off your future financial resources, and if you have less, you may not be able to afford those little brothers. Some people may ask, then why don't you want to find a way to take the other party's shop over by skill? But for the ruffians of Baihutang, it is not necessary to run a shop hard, and it is not necessary to make money or not, where is it comfortable to swagger and collect protection money?

Fourth, the huge amount of accounts receivable is a grim situation faced by Baihutang. Many protection fees cannot be collected, or the protection fees collected are not handed over truthfully, which makes Baihutang's monthly accounts receivable snowball.

Sometimes, the income of the White Tiger Hall is even lower than that of the smuggling, temple incense money, begging for food, etc., and some people even propose to drive the White Tiger Hall to the Outer Eight Halls. However, Sihetang started by collecting protection fees, which is also the core and most primitive business of Sihetang, and Zhao Jiuye has not touched Baihutang.

Shan Mu Dao, we have one hall master, two deputy hall masters, and six incense masters in the White Tiger Hall. The hall master presides over the work of the whole hall, and the incense master means the person who is qualified to offer incense in the White Tiger Hall.

I asked what we were, standing at the door, so called the doorman?

Shan Mu has no good airway, we are the master of halogen.

Before my arrival, Shan Mu was in charge of the bookkeeping of the White Tiger Hall, and also hung up the bookkeeper of a street in Zhushikou. The book was originally a minor official of the Hanlin Academy, and he also used this position in the Sihetang, which means that he was responsible for the protection fee of this street in Zhushikou.

Shan Mu came to the door and saw the two girly men in the yard, muttering under the tree, their eyes glancing at us from time to time, not knowing what bad water they were holding. He asked rather cryptically, what ......is the relationship between you and the Qi Hall Master?

I guess he thought I had an ambiguous relationship with Qi Xiaowei, so he said, it's just a friend.

Shan Mu then said, then you want those two people, the one with bangs on the left is called Liu Li, and the one with braids on the right is called Liu Qi.

I said in my heart that these two men had better not run into the muzzle of my gun, or they would be worse off than dead.

Shan Mu asked again, do you know martial arts?

I said yes.

As soon as he heard it, he was excited, this is the New Year soon, you get up early tomorrow, and I will take you to collect the New Year's customs fee.

So, I stayed in the White Tiger Hall, which has a very large courtyard with a total of seven entrances, the first and second entrances are office spaces, the third entrance is the guest rooms and the public quarters of the hall, and the back four entrances are the warehouse, the garden and the private residence of the hall owner.

Shan Mu arranged me next door, and that night, the people sent out by the White Tiger Hall returned to the hall one after another, and Shan Mu and the other two pawn books began to keep accounts, collecting the protection money paid by all the people.

Not surprisingly, 3,000 taels should have been collected on this day, and less than 700 taels were actually recovered.