Cao Gang is a peculiar organization in Chinese history, if you look at it from a historical point of view, this civil organization with river workers and coolie porters as the main body should be the earliest trade union established in Chinese history, there are written records, this organization probably appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, the first was a group of river workers outside Bianliang City's mutual aid organization, and then because of the developed industrial and commercial system of the Song Dynasty and continued to grow, and finally formed a well-organized, internally united, orderly behemoth, They are huge and almost ubiquitous, and have had a huge impact on Chinese history, according to the records of historians, Han Shizhong fought the Jin army, Yue Fei's troops entered the 'Dong' Tinghu and even the Song 'Meng' Xiangyang offensive and defensive battles, and there was an active figure of this trade union behind it.

However, with the rolling forward of the wheel of history, this kind of organization has risen and fallen with the prosperity and succession of successive dynasties, sometimes with great power, sometimes with vanishing, but there is no doubt that they have never withdrawn from the stage of Chinese history, let alone been completely eliminated, when the government and regulations were strict, the officials could not find their figures, but they can clearly feel that they are omnipresent and even omnipotent.

Later generations of jurists gave this large unofficial syndicate a formal scientific name: the triad.

In the context of Chinese history, underground organizations similar to the Cao Gang emerged one after another, either affiliated with trade unions in a certain industry, or independent armed forces entrenched on their own, or church groups dressed in religious clothing, which influenced each other, 'intertwined' with each other, and developed a unique internal culture in the evolution of hundreds of thousands of years.

As far as the title of the leader is concerned, the big leader within the Cao Gang is called the "Chief Helmsman" - this title comes from the special black language of the Cao Gang, because the daily production and life of the gang members are mostly carried out on the ship, and as we all know, the responsibility to grasp the direction of a ship lies with the helmsman, so most of the sailors who generally hold the helmsman position are majestic and qualified, and can be trusted by everyone. The heads of the offices of the Cao Gang stationed in various places were honored as the "helmsmen", and the presidents who held the highest power in the entire gang were given the honorific title of "the chief helmsman".

However, this is not the case with other trade gangs, such as the White Lotus Cult, which has always been known throughout the country for its rich rebellion against the 'spirit' gods, and has a long history of huge power, and because of the repeated political attacks, the internal organization is extremely tight. In this organization, its leader is called "Lord of Incense" - a name derived from the unique religious sacrifice of the White Lotus Cult. Although the White Lotus Sect has complex factions, the gods in the organization are complex, the northern faction believes in the childless mother, and the southern faction worships Maitreya Buddha, but after all, it can still be seen as a church organization, religion is the general program throughout the activities of the entire group, so its internal class differentiation also revolves around this supreme program, the most intuitive phenomenon is that in front of the gods, how many pillars of incense can be burned during the worship and prayer symbolizes the hierarchical order of religious theocracy: the average parishioner can only pour one incense when prostrating, and the leader of a slightly higher level can burn two incense, By analogy, large parishes are known as "incense masters" because they can burn more incense and decide to give someone the power to increase the amount of incense, which means that they hold the divine power to govern their own people.

In addition to the "incense master", these religious sects also have different names such as "altar master", "venerable", "protector" and so on to describe various leaders with different responsibilities, such as: some are full-time and specific sacrifices, so they are the altar masters; Some are noble and are called Venerables; Some are responsible for administering ceremonies, punishing traitors, and even leading armed struggles, and are called "Dharma Protectors" or "Messengers of Light".

Compared with the above two, the real rampant, robbery, theft for the purpose of illegal armed groups appear to be chaotic, internal complex and chaotic "chaos" is difficult to count, after all, its general activity trajectory, these people are collectively called the green forest, named Wang Mang New Dynasty era of a famous rebel army, meaning probably "resistance", "for the heavens" or "kill the unjust, take ill-gotten gains", its "spirit" core is the civil justice in the form of unofficial violence, and according to the geographical division, Liaodong, ' Meng'gu and other places are called "horse thieves", and the leader is called "shopkeeper"; North China is known as the "general", and the leader is called the "scoop handle"; Shaanxi, Gansu and even northern Sichuan and Xinjiang are called "swordsmen", and the leader is called "grain head". Judging from the law of its activities, whether it is "shopkeeper" or "scoop handle", "grain head" or even other titles, the general meaning is "responsible for finding jobs for the members of the organization". The purpose of the group is to seek wealth, so most of the names of these leaders are closely related to economic activities in the form of 'naked' and 'naked'.

Niu Qianyu is the chief helmsman of this generation of Cao Gang, as expected by the officials of the Ministry of Rites, his appearance is tall and burly, his skin is dark, he looks fierce and rough, he walks with a tiger and a tiger's style, and his actions are powerful. In the military operations of the Battle of Shandong at the beginning of the year, he led the Cao Gang to carry out large-scale activities in the Lianghuai area, and successfully rebelled against a large number of former Qing officials for the Lin and Han Empires, so that the forces of the empire were bloodless and directly forced Jiangsu, and its influence was so high and the merit was so great that even His Royal Highness the King of Han could not ignore it, but even better than the imperial officials, his every move, every word, can always reach the heavens, and it is very likely to have a major impact on the current turbulent situation in the south of the Yangtze River, so he must not be negligent because he is a "civil righteous man".

This time, he went to Beijing to celebrate the birthday of the prince of the Han Dynasty, and the gifts he carried were also very different from those of other officials and masters, and the most others brought were nothing more than thousand-year-old ginseng, human-shaped He Shou Wu, the night pearl of the South China Sea or the coral treasure tree, and other garbage, but he brought a whole inland river fleet, and the gift list was impressively marked: 100,000 stone of 'fine' rice, 1.5 million stone of brown rice, 6,000 jars of rice wine, 50,000 pieces of cloth, 100,000 barrels of tung oil, 300,000 jin of salt, 2 million jin of 'fine' iron, 1.2 million stone of wheat cake, and 5 million stone of bean dregs.

When Niu Qianyu arrived in Beijing, the follow-up ships still continued to drive out from Shandong, Anhui and even Jiangxi, Jiangsu and other places, passing through the Yangtze River, gathering from Chaohu Lake, and then converging in Lianghuai, going north along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and heading straight to Beijing.

Although the Ministry of Rites is one of the important political officials, and the officials of the Ministry are also well-informed people, they have never seen a friend celebrate their birthday with this congratulatory method, and such a big gesture is really amazing. They really can't imagine that just a gang of Cao, a group of river workers and mud 'legs', have such a wealth of money, which is beyond everyone's imagination.

When Niu Qianyu arrived in Beijing, the entire reception work had been taken over by the "Han Dynasty Ordnance and Grain Statistics Ya'men", and the most awe-inspiring figure in the empire, Major General Wang Shirong, personally went out for thirty miles to greet these heroes and grandly took them to Beijing.

A few years ago, when he defected to Beijing, he was still a handsome young man with a lupine scarf, and his mouth was like a river of dialectics, and he was almost dusty, but now he is a half-old man with a hungry yellow face, a skeletal shape, and black and white hair. This time, Lin Feng was sent to be responsible for receiving Niu Qianyu, naturally there was a big reason, in addition to the political mission behind him, but also because Wang Shirong had some 'friendship' with Niu Qianyu in the past.

At that time, Wang Shirong was very famous in Jiangnan, and there were a lot of friends on Jianghu Road, and he was one of the few people in Shilin who could "eat both ways", and the rudder of the Cao Gang was set up in Yangzhou, and Niu Qianyu could be regarded as the leading figure on Jiangnan Road.

Welcoming Niu Qianyu and his entourage directly into the ya' door, Wang Shirong smiled at Niu Qianyu and said, "Brother Qianyu, I haven't seen you for a few years, my brother is still beautiful, it's really gratifying!" ”

"Brother has won the prize!" Niu Qianyu arched his hand, he is a cheerful person, he doesn't like to go around, and he goes straight to the road, "I have already sent a letter to my brother last time, and this time my brother went north with a large amount of military baggage, and one is to ...... His Royal Highness the King of Han" He arched his hand towards Zhongnanhai, which symbolizes 'sex', "...... A little bit of my Cao Gang's pure heart, and the second is also to pay tribute to the Han on behalf of those Jiangnan merchants!! He looked at Wang Shirong seriously, "I don't know if His Royal Highness the King of Han is generous?!" ”

"My lord is graceful, and the greatness of the instrument can be measured, who in this world is not my big man?! How can there be such a thing as 'Na Bu Na'?! - Dude is joking?! Wang Shirong smiled, and at this time, the servant had already put on the tea, so he gave way, "The north is not as good as the south of the Yangtze River, the tea is poor, brother-please!" ”

Niu Qianyu was very impatient, this time he was entrusted by Yangzhou salt merchants and chambers of commerce in Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei and other places, and went north to negotiate with the Lin Han Empire to take refuge in the service.

"Brother Ji Yun!" Niu Qianyu's face sank, and he arched his hand, "Your brother also knows that his brother is a rough man, and he has always begged for food in the fire and water, and he can't compare to you scholars, you come to me with a real sentence - after the brother has served the king, he has been loyal to him, and he has contacted him back and forth, and pulled these merchants together for the Han Dynasty, and gathered so much silver and two rice grains, which is to prepare for the Han Wangshi to treat the military, this work is not difficult to say, and it is not easy to say, your brother should not give us a false - what is the king's plan on the other?!" ”

Wang Shirong restrained his smile, bowed to Niu Qianyu seriously, and said seriously, "Brother is too worried, you and my brother, are you still using such a posture?" The younger brother is guaranteeing this time, and I attach great importance to this matter, and specially instructed me to receive it well, and not to be negligent," he stretched out his index finger and pointed to his epaulettes, "Do you know what this is?!" ”

"What?!" Niu Qianyu was stunned and didn't understand what Wang Shirong meant.

"Brother is a major general of the Great Han! ——Now there are only more than ten generals in the Han Dynasty, except for the younger brother, all of them are heroes who lead hundreds of thousands of troops and sit on one side," Wang Shirong smiled reservedly and said proudly, "Do you think that the King of Han sent his brother just to accompany you to drink wine and tea?!" ”

Niu Qianyu was stunned for a while, laughed dumbly, glanced at Wang Shirong strangely, and said in a strange tone, "It turned out to be 'General Wang', it was really disrespectful, disrespectful - it was really disrespectful!" ……”

Wang Shirong sighed, "Don't be like this, brother, little brother doesn't mean that!" He waved his hand, and the servants standing next to him retreated, Niu Qianyu was slightly stunned, and then dismissed his entourage. Wang Shirong leaned forward and whispered, "Brother, the matter of Jiangnan merchants taking a stake in the Han Royal Money Village is not the intention of the Han King, but this matter is widely implicated, and it cannot be done in a moment!" ”

Niu Qianyu shook his head and said, "The King of Han is incomparably powerful, although his brother is in Jiangnan, he also knows that His Royal Highness is a good man who stands up to the sky, this lord cut off Kangxi's head, slapped Geldan's ass, and gave orders to the princes of the world, we really can't think of who the king is afraid of?!" ，”

"This time, that time! ......" Wang Shirong smiled bitterly, for a while, he really didn't know what to say. He changed his respectful tone, "Brother Qianyu, the younger brother told you clearly, this Han Qian Zhuang is really the treasury of the imperial court, although it is also the main respect for the Han King, but the Jin merchants, Hui merchants and the central government are capable, when it opened, the original principal was only more than 10 million silver, but now it is only a year, it has swelled to more than 26 million - not only the northern merchants dividends, even the imperial court's incorruptible silver has to come out of it, you swaggered this time to bring millions of stone things to Beijing, do you think, Won't they know you're here for a piece of the pie?! He shook his head and sighed, "Look at this Beijing city, which one looks like a fool?!" ”

Niu Qianyu's face turned red, patted the table lightly, and said slightly angrily, "So what? - We are both ministers of the Han Dynasty and serve the king, and if he can eat in the north, we in the south can't eat it?! He sneered, "Didn't they forget, the king is still our Fujian clan!" ”

"Don't, don't, don't!!" Wang Shirong hurriedly made a silent gesture and said with a smile, "Actually, this matter is not difficult to understand, the younger brother came this time to follow the king's will and make a 'handover' for the elder brother!" ”

"What 'handover' generation?!" Niu Qianyu was stunned, and then realized that Wang Shirong was passing on the message of the King of Han on behalf of him, so he hurriedly stood up and changed his respectful expression, "Don't dare, don't dare, how can the grass people be virtuous, and ask His Royal Highness to give us a 'handover' generation!" ”

"Dude, listen up!" Wang Shirong smiled slightly, "What the King of Han means is that today's Jiangnan merchants are well aware of the righteousness and serve the imperial court, and my Han official mansion has been registered-whoever has contributed how much grain and how much military baggage has been paid, there will be no ambiguity...... "He stretched out his hand and gently patted the gift slip worth 10,000 gold, "Your brother can rest assured!" ”

"That's, that's!!" Niu Qianyu bowed and said, "The King of Han is generous and loyal, and the grass people are inexhaustible!" ”

"As for the matter of the 'Great Han Money Village', the King of Han has other arrangements!" Wang Shirong whispered, "King Han is going to open another money village after our army swept Jiangnan, called 'Dahan Jiangnan Money Village', all preparations, imitating the example of the Han Royal Money Village, in addition to the circle of minting coins, now the Han Money Village has it, and this money village also has it!" ......" he smiled at Niu Qianyu, "Dude understands, right?!" ”

Niu Qianyu looked incredulous, and said in amazement, "This ...... That...... What about this 'Dahan Jiangnan Money Village'...... The grass people thought that they were afraid that they would clash with Dahan Qianzhuang?! ”

"No, no!" Wang Shirong waved his hand, "After the Dingding, my lord will naturally ascend the throne as the emperor, and will issue a holy decree to order the two families to take the Yangtze River as the boundary - the affairs of Jiangbei will be done by Dahan Qianzhuang; And the affairs of Jiangnan will be 'handed over' to the righteous people in Jiangnan!! ”！

Niu Qianyu suddenly realized, opened his mouth and smiled, "This matter is very good, very good!" ”

"But!!" Wang Shirong cut off his smile, "Whoever is qualified to participate in Jiangnan Qianzhuang has to speak loyally......" He patted the gift list disdainfully, shook his head and said, "My lord is rich in the world, originally these things would never be happy, but Jiangnan has been poisoned for a long time, and I am afraid that the people will not be right, for the sake of long-term peace and stability, we Dahan want to find a group of people who are loyal to Dahan to do things!" - Dude, do you understand?! ”

Niu Qianyu was slightly startled, and then smiled bitterly, "That's natural," he pointed to the gift list, "Actually, this little gadget is just a gift from the merchants to the little prince...... That one...... That is for rewarding people," he wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, "If my Han Dynasty King Division marches into the south of the Yangtze River, I will naturally not dare to be short of military funds!" ”

"That's for the best!" Wang Shirong nodded, "Brother, you also know that the old men of Dahan Qianzhuang are all from the ministers of the dragon, and now they have benefited, but they are all out of the fire and water - so please also ask Brother Qianyu to explain to those Jiangnan righteous people that they want to enjoy dividends before they make an inch, and no matter where they go, there is no such reason!" He patted Niu Qianyu on the shoulder, "But if you make a great contribution, then others won't gossip!" ”