This twist and turn above the court, Guan Zhuofan, who was far away in Shanghai, had no way of knowing. These days, he was busy worrying about the two things of fundraising and donation, until he had eyebrows, he took a breath, fulfilled his promise, and went to Songjiang to meet Hu Xueyan's high hall.

A few days ago, the gentry of Hangzhou donated 100,000 taels to help Xuanjun, Guan Zhuofan said that he was going to "meet the old lady", Hu Xueyan originally thought it was just a kind word, but he didn't expect that he really wanted to do what he said, and he couldn't help but be greatly moved. Guan Zhuofan was accompanied by Hu Xueyan, took Tulin and a team of personal soldiers, took two official boats, and arrived in Songjiang at noon. The prefect Jia Yiqian invited a meal to a well-known four-gill perch, and in the afternoon, he came to a courtyard next to Yunjian Yixue to kowtow to Mrs. Hu, and Hu Xueyan returned the gift on his behalf.

There were eight people who escaped from Hangzhou, and the most important were three: the old lady, his wife, Mrs. Hu, and one of his daughters. When Guan Zhuofan was eating tea in the living room, he chatted with Hu Xueyan and learned that they were able to escape from Changmao's hands, and it turned out that they relied on Liliang of the Songjiang Cao Gang-

The Cao Gang, that is, the Green Gang, together with the Hongmen and the White Lotus Sect, is known as the three secret sects, the so-called "Red Flower Green Leaf White Lotus Root". Contrary to people's imagination, the Cao Gang did not have the purpose of "opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty", and even in a strict sense, it was not even a secret society at all - the Cao Gang was established from the first day of the establishment of the fourth year of Yongzheng, in order to transport the grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital for the imperial court, and was ordered to receive one hundred and twenty-eight and a half gang bows, and set up seventy-two "half docks" along the way, which was basically equivalent to "forming an association by order".

The Cao Gang originated in Hangzhou, so the shili in Hangzhou is very large, and the Cao Gang has contacts with both black and white. It has a little to do with the Taiping Army. After the city of Hangzhou was broken. Hu Xueyan's house. It was only by the secret mediation of the Cao Gang that they were able to avoid major disturbances, and not long ago, the Songjiang Cao Gang saw a loophole and rushed eight people from his house to the river in the middle of the night, and took two large boats to relax the river. It's a complete escape. It's just that Mrs. Hu and Mrs. Luoshi can't see each other, so Hu Xueyan has to run between Shanghai and Songjiang.

"Your friends of the Cao Gang are really righteous," Guan Zhuofan looked at Hu Xueyan and said, "It must be that Brother Xueyan is doing well on weekdays." ”

Hu Xueyan listened to Guan Zhuofan's tone and knew that he had some doubts, so he said calmly: "Yixuan, I won't tell you, although I am not 'helping', but the friends of the Songjiang Cao Gang give face." They all call me 'Master Outside the Door'. ”

"That's a funny title."

"Yes. There's an allusion to this—"

Among the three people Weng, Qian, and Pan who are respected as the "Three Ancestors of the Cao Gang", Weng Yan and Qian Jian passed away at the beginning of the Cao Gang's creation, so the Cao Gang was actually strengthened by Pan Qing. When Pan Qing passed away, one of his "half disciples" Wang Peiyu, guarding the tomb all day long, mourning, helping the people to thank him for his loyalty, and named him the "Dharma Protector Master". In the future, for those who are not in the gang, but have a deep relationship with the Cao Gang, the Cao Gang will be called "Little Master", which is a very respectful expression.

"How do you call it a 'half-disciple'?"

"One foot in the door, one foot outside the door." Hu Xueyan replied, "Although I have helped them a lot, I am completely outside the threshold, so I am called the master outside the door." ”

From this, we talked about the situation of the Songjiang Cao Gang. Hu Xueyan told Guan Zhuofan that Songjiang is a big taxpayer who pays grain, so the Songjiang Cao Gang is also a big gang among the Cao Gang, and when it was extremely prosperous in the past, there were more than 900 grain ships. However, in the past few years, the grain has been changed to sea transportation, and the income of the Cao Gang has been cut off, and the situation has naturally deteriorated, and it has long lost its former prosperity.

"And what do they do for a living?"

"There is always a lot of life to be done on the water, and there are also a lot of people walking on land. In recent years, the situation in Shanghai has been good, so there are many Qinggang disciples in Shanghai Huachang and Yangchang, and the dozens of grain ships I parked at the Shanghai wharf rely on them to take care of them -- not only the wharf, but also the 36 lines, there are their people in the 36 lines. ”

"Oh......" Guan Zhuofan nodded, weighed it in his heart, and said quietly, "Brother Xueyan, your friends are so righteous, if it is convenient, I would like to see it." ”

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In the afternoon, there were three people who came to see Guan Zhuofan from the Cao Gang. One of them is surnamed Qi, in his sixties, and is regarded as the old lady of Songjiang's gang, and the other two are his eldest disciples and younger disciples, one is called Chi Wu, who is in his forties, Hu Xueyan calls him "fifth brother", and the other is in his early thirties, called Xu Mingshan, and Hu Xueyan calls him "Xiao Xu".

All three of them wore long robes, and their expressions were slightly restrained. Although the Cao Gang, which has more than 10,000 people, is calling for wind and rain on the rivers and lakes, they are still ordinary people in terms of identity, so they entered the house and kowtowed to Guan Zhuofan first, and Guan Zhuofan actually took it without doubt, and when they kowtowed, they personally helped the "old lady Qi" up.

Hu Xueyan is an old man, and when he saw this on the side, he muttered a little in his heart: This is not like Guan Zhuofan's personality, nor is it a pattern of friends meeting each other, Guan Zhuofan wants to see them, most of them have other meanings in it.

Old Lady Qi has been in poor health in recent years, and she is no longer in charge of affairs, and the mundane affairs in the gang are all handed over to these two disciples. According to the rules of the Green Gang, the eldest disciple is the disciple of the "Open Mountain Gate", and the younger disciple is the disciple of the "Closing the Mountain Gate", and these two disciples have a particularly important status among all the disciples. The eldest disciple You Wu is in charge of the Songjiang helm, while the younger disciple Xu Mingshan is usually in Shanghai, in addition to the affairs of Shanghai, he is also in charge of the "Military Department" and the "Criminal Department" in the gang, in other words, he is responsible for the use of force.

Their thinking is different from Hu Xueyan's. Although Guan Zhuofan is only a seven-grade county, after the First World War in Shanghai, his reputation is as great as thunder, and he is the person who really holds the seal of military power. Such a person, willing to meet them today, is a great face in itself, if he can get close to his big pier from this, it will be even more unexpected, so after kowtowing, he stood aside and listened to the instructions.

"Everyone, please sit down and have tea," Guan Zhuofan politely conceded, "It was the courtesy of the official just now, and there was no way to do it." If you talk about personal gifts, you are good friends of Brother Xueyan, and Brother Xueyan and I are also good friends, so we are all good friends. I don't mean anything else, I just admire the prestige of Old Man Qi, see it, talk about it, you don't have to be polite. ”

Saying "nothing else" is, of course, against your will. He heard Hu Xueyan talk about the situation of the Cao Gang, and his heart moved at that time: This liliang certainly needs to be controlled, but if it is used properly, it may be of unexpected help to himself. However, judging from his experience in reading history, if they get too close to this kind of gang, they will often get carried away, so they deliberately put on an official posture first, so that they can have a sense of awe in their hearts and understand the division between each other.

Old lady Qi finally sat down, but Chi Wu and Xu Mingshan refused to sit no matter what, they were only willing to stand and serve.

"Old lady Qi, I've been fighting for the past two years, and the life of the Cao Gang can still go on?"

"There is a question from the old man Laoguan, but he can't afford this title." Old lady Qi's etiquette is very thorough, "Don't hide it from Master Guan, now that the road is cut off, life is not very easy." It's just that you can eat and eat, don't stop eating, we Cao Gang, now we can't compare with Yu Fuhua's Sand Boat Gang. But I'm also getting older, and whatever I do, it's all left to these two unsuccessful disciples. ”

Mrs. Qi is very talkative, and from this point on, she talked about Cao Yun, sea transportation, Cao boats, and sand boats, and told many anecdotes and allusions, and Guan Zhuofan listened very carefully.

His two disciples, Guan Zhuofan, also secretly examined it. Chi Wu has a dark complexion and rough skin, and at first glance he is a character who has been rolling on the water for many years, and he can't help but be "grassroots" in his conversation. Xu Mingshan is very outfielded, and his words and deeds are very decent. However, these two people, with God in their eyes, are undoubtedly fierce characters.

Guan Zhuofan saw that the time was almost up, looked at Hu Xueyan, and said with a smile: "Brother Xueyan, I still have official business, I can't stay for a long time, I want to borrow your place today to hold a table." I'll leave Thurin here, with you, and accompany the three old ladies for me. ”

"Make," Hu Xueyan guessed that he was deliberately trying to avoid it, and said with a smile, "It's all left to me and Tu Shou." ”

"Tulin, wait a minute, you have to give me a few more glasses of old lady Qi," Guan Zhuofan admonished, "and these two, you also have to ask for more advice." ”

After explaining this sentence, he said goodbye to the three Cao Gang with a smile, and was sent off by Hu Xueyan's housekeeper, followed by his own soldiers, and went to the dock to take a boat back to Shanghai.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the pier under the Xiuye Bridge, he unexpectedly bumped into Zhang Shun who was getting off a boat.

"Master, I came to look for you, and I'm glad I met you." Zhang Shun's face was full of excitement, "The grace from the capital has arrived!" ”

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(Four more offers, please look at the pocket, there are no tickets?) ）

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(Group: 311570852)

*(To be continued......)