Saving people is like fighting a fire, Jiang Liu didn't dare to delay for a moment, and got up to leave.

"Wait," Han Xiufeng grabbed him and asked, "Sixth brother, how many people did you go there last afternoon?" ”

"All the people I saw on the road shouted, how can I remember how many people there are, there should be two or three hundred."

"Where's the Tea Gang?"

"There are also two or three hundred, anyway, the alley is full of people."

"All hands-on?"

"Pretty much."

Han Xiufeng thought about it and asked, "Are any of you hurt?" ”

Jiang Liu said without thinking: "Yes, there are many, there are still more than a dozen of them lying on the dock at this time, and the bruising doctor was still busy when Yang Bantou led people to lock the big head!" ”

Han Xiufeng thought that this would be easy to do, and explained: "Sixth brother, uncle, your soldiers are divided into two ways, one goes to call other husbands, and by the way, find a Chinese to go to the Eight Provincial Hall to invite the guests to make peace; One hurried back to the dock and asked someone to carry all the injured brothers to the yamen, and accused the porter of the tea gang for not abiding by the rules, bullying the market, and injuring you. Sue a few more, and ask the lord to help you administer justice. ”

Jiang Liu reacted suddenly and exclaimed: "They died, and some of us were injured, why didn't I think of this idea!" ”

"This is a bystander who is confused by the authorities, don't waste time, hurry up."

"Oh, let's go first." Jiang Liu ran to the door, thought about it and turned back and said, "Fourth brother, the eighth master is listening to the letter at the yamen, if you think of anything else, go and tell the eighth master." ”

"Got it, let's go."

………

Seeing off the two husbands of the Sichuan Gang, Han Xiufeng put on the door panel and went upstairs with an oil lamp to sleep.

There was such a big event, although it was not about self-sufficiency, but Pan Er was still very excited, and asked puzzled while following upstairs: "Fourth brother, the county magistrate sent someone to call the pillar to go over for an autopsy in the middle of the night, you want to save the porter who made a mistake, why don't you hurry up and go to the yamen to help with it!" ”

"It's the same when you go at dawn."

"How can this be the same?" Pan Er followed up on the east house where Han Xiufeng and Zhuzi lived, took the oil lamp and said: "Although I have never entered the yamen, and I don't understand the rules of the yamen, I don't need to understand it to know that it will be difficult to wait for the county master to finish the autopsy." ”

Han Xiufeng lay down on the bed, yawned and said, "The county master will not conduct an autopsy easily, this matter is not as simple as you think." ”

"If you don't do an autopsy, what is he doing when he sends someone to call the pillar?" Pan Er was confused.

"Shouting and shouting, checking and checking, besides, the pillar is just a study, and he goes is no different from not going."

"Fourth brother, are you saying that the pillar can't give an autopsy yet?"

Han Xiufeng covered the quilt and said sideways: "It's not that it can't, but the county government now has three servants, if the eldest lord really wants to conduct an autopsy, why don't you call those two, why do you want to call the pillar." ”

"Why?"

"What do you say?"

Pan Erleng was stunned, and immediately blurted out: "I know, the county master is doing this for the two groups of people, not only to give an explanation to the dead man's side, but also to tell the people on both sides to hurry up and prepare money." If it is sentenced like this, the county lord will not care who wants the silver! ”

"Half right."

"What's the other half?"

If you don't tell him to understand, don't want to sleep this night, Han Xiufeng had to explain: "The grievances between the Sichuan Gang and the Tea Gang have been around for a long time, and they are all squatting in the docks and alleys to beg for a living, rushing to carry goods in order to make a few more money, and fighting at every turn. You do the first year of junior high school, I do the fifteenth, anyway, if anyone suffers a loss, they will come back in a few days. Calling back and forth, the whole county is restless. If there is no death, you can open one eye and close one eye, every time you report to the yamen, every time you check your injuries, you will be examined lightly. Now that there is a lot of trouble, naturally we can't be as muddy as before, but we can't judge things from our hearts. ”

Pan Er asked as if he didn't understand: "Can't both sides be offended?" ”

Han Xiufeng groaned: "The county magistrate of the broken family is ordered to destroy the door and order Yin, the county lord is not afraid of offending them, even if the county lord does not dare to offend them, there are still mansions and platforms in the city." Rather, this matter not only involves errands, but also miscellaneous taxes, persuasion and even public security. In short, if it is easy to do, the Sichuan Gang Tea Gang will not become more and more fierce. ”

"Fourth brother, I don't understand, why can't they make a good living, they have to fight to divide the superior." Pan Er thought for a while, and then asked: "Why don't I come to the city, I only knew that there were South Gang and West Gang on the dock before, but this time I came to know that there is also the Sichuan Gang Tea Gang, what is going on with these two gangs?" ”

"The South Gang and the West Gang are old yellow calendars, you should listen to what the old people say." Han Xiufeng smiled and patiently explained: "Earlier, there was no South Gang and West Gang, only Seven Sects, you should always know the Seven Gates of Ba County." ”

"I know," Pan Er said, "Chaotianmen, Jinzimen, Chuqimen, Taipingmen, Dongshuimen, Qianguomen and Linjiangmen, I have been to three of the seven gates of the county." ”

"Well, for these seven gates, the earliest appointed husband head to lead the porter who begged for a living on these seven gate docks, and asked the husband to register the names of the porters who begged for life on their respective docks, firstly, to prevent slur, and secondly, to facilitate errands. But they only take care of the docks, and they can't control the porters of the various shops in the city. It is said that from that time on, the porters of Qimen did not deal with the porters in the city, but at that time, Ba County was not as prosperous as it is now, there were not so many merchant goods, and there were not so many porters, and the city was quite peaceful. ”

"And then?"

"Later, the head of the seven men only knew how to make money and not take care of things, Ba County became more and more prosperous, more and more passengers and goods came to Ba County, and there were more and more porters, even if the head of the seven men wanted to manage it, he couldn't manage it." Han Xiufeng paused, and then said, "You haven't entered those guild halls in the city, but you must have walked through the door. All of them were built at the expense of merchants from the six provinces of Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangnan, Guangdong, and Fujian. ”

"I know, fourth brother, it seems that there are more people from other provinces in the city than locals!"

The west road connects Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces through the Jialing River, and the south road connects Huguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces through the Sichuan River (the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Chongqing to Yichang section). So the merchants and porters in the city were roughly divided into two groups, one from the west and the other from the south. ”

Han Xiufeng simply sat up and continued: "The merchants from the west are willing to hire porters from the west, and the merchants from the south are willing to hire porters from the south. The reason is simple, it is to prevent the porter from stealing. Stealing things from self-supporting fellow villagers, after all, is not easy to start, and even if you do steal, it is easy to trace. In this way, the porters in the city are divided into the western and southern gangs you just mentioned. ”

Pan Er asked: "Later, why did a Sichuan Gang and a Tea Gang pop up again?" ”

"The reason is also simple, most of the big deals in the city are merchants from other provinces, the trade is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more goods to be transported, and the porters from other provinces are too busy to help, so they hire locals to help with their backs, and there are more and more local porters. Doing the same job, but the money you make is not as much as that of others, and if you are replaced, you are not convinced, and the local porter gradually set up his own door and became the current Sichuan Gang. ”

"Where's the Tea Gang?"

"The tea gang is the porter who carried the goods to the tooth shop earlier, also called the porter, most of them call themselves Hunan Chaling people, in fact, there are also people from Hunan Youxian and Jiangxi Yongxin near Chaling, they came the earliest, it is said that the Kangxi Dynasty came.

Han Xiufeng licked his lips and continued: "They are well-known in the city, and they are powerful and capable of fighting. Some of the ancestors came during the Kangxi Dynasty and have lived in Ba County for several generations, but more are new. Every year during the Spring Festival and the busy farming, he returns to his hometown, and the rest of the time he invites his father, brothers, sons and nephews to come here as porters. It is precisely because they are connected by flesh and blood and share weal and woe, so they are more united, and it is a call to fight with the Sichuan Gang. ”