Ouyang Chelian and his party of six people who walked out of the door of the mansion were directly splashed with a basin of cold water by the scene in front of them, and the previous passion was extinguished as if the valve had been turned off.

"It's Mr. Ouyang Chelian, our door master is invited!"

Standing outside the door, more than a dozen middle-aged men dressed in gray and black short clothes, dressed in a timely and capable manner, with expressionless faces blocked in front of Ouyang Chelian's rented house, as if they had been waiting quietly for a long time, and when Ouyang Chelian and them stepped out of the door, they were stopped.

"Who are you?"

Ouyang Chelian saw the battle in front of him, and a bad feeling appeared in his heart.

"Fan Ping'an of the Internal Security Department of Xiahongmen, on the order of my Hongmen master, I have invited a few gentlemen to go to the Yamen of the Admiral's Mansion to talk about it."

The sturdy man with a smile on his face introduced Ouyang Chelian and them very politely.

Just after the introduction, Fan Ping'an glanced at the few people in front of him with his spare eyes, frowned slightly, and then asked in an unquestioning tone: "Mr. Tang Fenghua, shouldn't there be two other gentlemen who should also be in Mr. Ouyang's mansion?" Why didn't you go with Mr. Ouyang? ”

"Y-you're spying on us?"

Ouyang Chelian and his party, who thought that the party was secret, looked at this seemingly friendly Hongmen man with frightened eyes, and said in shame.

Fan Ping'an didn't refute, it was a tacit acquiescence in disguise, and the smiling face was still reluctantly chasing the three disappeared faces: "I believe that Mr. Tang and the three of them are still in the mansion, and I also ask Mr. Ouyang to invite the three gentlemen out, otherwise it will be difficult to explain to our master when I go back next." ”

After experiencing all kinds of mistakes and summarizing, Hongmen internal guards are now working all over the territory of Dayuan Island, but whenever there is a disturbance, they can quickly respond and report to the Hongmen internal security headquarters.

Literati scholars like Ouyang Chelian and others from the Ming Dynasty don't seem to be much of a threat, but they have always been the focus of internal guards, and today's gathering has been under the close surveillance of internal guards from the beginning.

The information reported in advance finally came to Li Tianyang's hands, and finally there was today's scene, Li Tianyang wanted to meet these guests' invitations.

"What if we don't want to go?"

Ouyang Chelian calmed down and replied inwardly.

"Don't you Hongmen talk about respecting and protecting the personal freedom of citizens? We didn't break the law when we gathered, so you can't go back on your word! ”

Among the scholars, there are people who are sharp-minded and skillful, and at the same time they refuse.

"Hehe, it seems that you gentlemen are already aware of the laws issued by our Hongmen, so may I ask you, gentlemen, who of you is the legal citizen of our Hongmen?"

In the face of questioning, Fan Ping'an also asked a question with confidence, which immediately made Ouyang Chelian and them speechless.

The "Hongmen Charter" has a clear explanation and evidence for the term Hongmen citizens, and this group of Ming literati who only came to study naturally could not make the intention of joining Hongmen when they set foot on the territory of Hongmen, but only received an identity certificate at the government office.

"Please rest assured, Mr. Ouyang, our sect master is just inviting you to chat and drink tea, anyway, sir, didn't you just go to our door master to theorize?"

Fan Ping'an was not overly coercive, but after refuting the other party's questioning, he continued to persuade with good words.

Looking at the more than ten sturdy men blocking their way at the door, Ouyang Chelian knew that whether they wanted to or not, they were already difficult to ride a tiger, just like Fan Ping'an reminded him just now, anyway, he and the others were united just now to ask Li Tianyang, a traitor, for an explanation, why should they retreat now!

"Okay, let's go with you!!"

Ouyang Chelian, as the master and leader, resolutely gave a reply that Fan Ping'an hoped for. Then he called the attendants around him and ordered: "Go and invite Mr. Tang Fenghua and them to come out, and say that the master of Hongmen Li Sect invites us to drink tea!" ”

Not long after, Ouyang Chelian and his group of ten people boarded the open-top carriage brought by Fan Ping'an and them, and walked leisurely towards the city.

It's just that what Ouyang Chelian doesn't know is that the same scene has happened in Keelung Town, Bengang and other places, just because Keelung Town is more open, and there are the most Ming scholars who come to study abroad, and now Li Tianyang, the leader of Hongmen, is also working in Keelung, so the movement here is relatively greater.

The Yamen of the Admiral's Mansion, Li Tianyang has long been accustomed to working here, and the Yamen of the Admiral's Mansion was originally built with a subsidy from the Fujian Governor's Yamen, although it is not a magnificent building, but it was built by Li Tianyang at the beginning, which is enough for many departments in Keelung Town to work in it.

Moreover, now the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Hongmen is delicate, and the important ministers of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Chongzhen also know that Hongmen is not subservient, but they do not have the strength to strangle Hongmen for the time being, but they have to hope that Hongmen can contain the development of the Qing Dynasty, Daxi and other forces, and buy time for themselves.

And on the Hongmen side, although outside the Northeast Pass, he proved his strength with the corpses of the Qing people, but the war with the Qing Dynasty was originally a matter of injuring 10,000 enemies and losing 8,000 themselves, and Hongmen wanted to recover his vitality, and it was not something that could be done in a day or two.

The Ming Dynasty had a lot of money, even if it lost half of the country in the early stage, but relying on the land and population in the south of the Yangtze River, the Ming Dynasty court was still able to recover quickly, expand the army, and hoard materials.

However, Hongmen is similar to the situation of the Qing Dynasty, the actual area occupied on the territory is not much, and its population is their shortcoming, after losing nearly 100,000 soldiers outside the Northeast Pass, just to make up for the lack of these troops, Hongmen will take at least two or three years.

And this, we have to rely more on the fresh blood sent by the Ming Dynasty, otherwise with the population base of Hongmen itself, it is not wise to recruit soldiers of this scale, which will not only increase the pressure on the Hongmen government, but also bring a great burden to the people, which is really unwise.

Therefore, in this delicate situation, the relationship between Hongmen and the Ming Dynasty was not only guarded, but also tacitly maintained the current peaceful situation.

"Welcome all people of insight to come to my Hongmen to study, the official Li Tianyang should have invited you to get together, but there are a lot of chores and I really can't spare time, until today I invited you to come, there is rudeness, please also invite you Haihan."

The Yamen of the Admiral's Mansion, the meeting hall that Li Tianyang often used to hold meetings with members of the Hongmen, is now overcrowded, in addition to the ten scholars brought back by Fan Ping'an, there are also study tours "invited" by other local internal guards.

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