The undercurrent in the south and north of the Yangtze River is surging, brewing a fierce storm, will it sweep the southeast half of the wall with a devastating momentum, or will it be just the beginning of another troubled era to throw away the immeasurable head and immeasurable blood? No one knows the answer, and perhaps not even the mastermind of the conspiracy.

In Yangzhou, which is in the eye of the storm, the sky is full of clouds, the ground is blowing strongly, and the bustling canal wharf has become empty, and there is no longer the scene of merchants and passengers weaving and cargo ships flowing endlessly.

In the hall of a large mansion in the west of the city, the light was almost pitch black, and in the middle of it sat a tall, thin and half-aged man in his fifties sitting on the Taishi chair.

He wore a purple straight jacket, a dark scarf on his head, and a silk silk tie around his waist, which was no different from the rich merchants and squires common in and out of Yangzhou City.

But no one would recognize him as an ordinary squire, for his pointed hooked nose, razor-thin lips, and fierce expression were all portrayals of the cruelty and ferocity of his heart, and his falcon-like eyes were half-closed, and when they were opened, they were full of fierce light, like thunder and lightning.

If Huo Chonglou, the secretary of the Dongchang Sect, who often deals with the White Lotus Sect, suddenly saw this person, he would definitely jump up in surprise, because he was the top ten elders of the White Lotus Demon Sect, who had been killing people for 20 years, and the imperial court had offered a heavy reward to arrest Duan Haiping, the "Blood Sea Wanderer" who was still at large!

Duan Haiping put down the first few chairs, and the people sitting there were either dressed as businessmen, or like a bookkeeper, and there were also people dressed up as coolies, there was no doubt that they were all incense masters, masters, and Dharma transmission brothers of the White Lotus Sect.

"Brothers from all walks of life, are you ready?" Duan Haiping asked unhurriedly.

The man who looked like a fisherman clenched his fists with both hands: "Please rest assured Elder Duan, there is no problem with the Taihu Lake rudder." ”

The little old man dressed as a bookkeeper also bowed down and said: "The brothers in Zhenjiang have already distributed the weapons, just wait for Yangzhou to rise up, and immediately attack the mansion!" ”

The middle-aged man dressed as a merchant said: "The Gao Zuo envoy has arrived in Nanjing, and once it is launched, he will personally preside over the overall situation; The master of Qingyang Hall Lei led the elite brothers to lie in Zhangjiagou, just waiting for Yangzhou to launch, then dug up Qingshui Lake, washed away the canal, and blocked the north and south! ”

"Good!" Duan Haiping laughed strangely: "With Gao Zuo's envoy presiding over the uprising, it will definitely succeed!" All the brothers must work hard to overthrow the puppet dynasty and revive the great cause of our holy religion! ”

The White Lotus Sect worships Han Lin'er, the former leader of the sect and the Emperor of the Dragon and Phoenix Dynasty, as orthodox, and regards Zhu Yuanzhang as a usurper, so he calls Zhu Ming a puppet dynasty.

All the incense masters and senior brothers raised their hands in front of their chests in unison, making the shape of a lotus bloom, and praised in unison: "The mud comes from the chaos of Qi, and the white lotus is in full bloom!" ”

Duan Haiping twitched a few times, her face was faintly sickly red because of excitement and excitement, and her eyes were also bloodshot.

He would not consider whether the uprising would lead to the erosion of the situation in half of the south of the Yangtze River, how many lives would be lost, and whether the blow to the imperial court would make the Mobei Tatars and the Dongying Wokou take advantage of the situation, and he even faintly looked forward to the scene of a river of blood flowing and corpses piling up.

Stretching out his scarlet tongue and licking his lips that were a little dry by the north wind, Duan Haiping looked at the direction of the Caoyun Chief Soldier's camp in the distance to the east: "Haven't you moved yet?" Hehe, I have to work harder......"

In a dilapidated house to the east of Xichun Terrace, a number of coolies gathered together, their black and yellow faces full of anxiety about the uncertain fate of the future and resentment against the unreasonable government.

Brother Pi, who was five short in stature, was surrounded by the workers, and everyone's eyes were on his face - except for the chief businessman, deputy first, and the head of the meeting, Brother Pi was the most respected and trusted person in this group of workers.

For the poor Caogong brothers, Brother Pi will shush the cold and ask for warmth, if there are any minor illnesses and disasters, and there is no money to ask for a lot of money to sit in the hall, Brother Pi can use herbs with Fu Shui to treat, but he has also cured many people, as for the extortion of the government officials and the fraud of the ship owner, Brother Pi even stood up to protect the interests of everyone.

Now, a large number of general merchants under the chief of the Cao Gang, Tian Qiye, have been arrested into the barracks by Uncle Chen, the chief military officer of the Cao Gang, and the entire Cao Gang has more than 100,000 people without a leader.

At this time, Brother Pi became the backbone of the workers, and the brothers talked about the difficulties of making a living and the difficulty of making money, complained about the domineering and unreasonable government of the government, and begged him to come up with an idea for everyone.

"The government, it's too much! Five taels of silver, we can't save it after a year of hard work, how can we let us make up for him? This is absolutely unacceptable! Brother Pi said indignantly, waving his arms from time to time to strengthen his tone.

Of course, all the cao workers nodded yes, their annual income is about twenty taels, but this is all the money from hard work, and after spending the life of the family, they often can't even save two taels of silver all year round, and now the government actually wants to compensate each person for five taels of silver, isn't this forcing people to hang themselves?

But what do you really want to do against the government? Someone hesitated and asked: "If we really fight with the government, will we, will we say that we are rebelling?" ”

Yes? When the honest workers heard the word rebellion, they were all a little frightened, and they would rather be peaceful dogs than chaotic people, and as long as ordinary people survived, no one was willing to rebel with their lives -- except, of course, those who were brainwashed by cults.

"No, no, no," the sly look on Brother Pi's face flashed, and he soon became honest and steady, and said earnestly:

"How can we rebel? The reason why there is a stir now is because the Caoyun General Military Officer Pingjiang Bo Chen Wang Mo Chen does not know the situation, and is deceived by the corrupt officials, let's go to the outside of the gate to petition and complain, I think the court will not be inconsiderate of our bitter haha. ”

It's a petition to make a statement, hearing this, the honest and honest Cao workers breathed a sigh of relief, they honestly pulled fiber, worked hard to transport goods, and never left a son behind for the imperial court to pay taxes for the grain, and the annual Cao Yin and Cao grain are pulled from Jiangnan to the Jingshitai warehouse step by step, I believe that the court will not embarrass such a good people!

So, under the instruction of Brother Pi, the Cao workers asked the old gentleman who wrote the letter to write a petition on his behalf, and bit his finger to press the bloody handprint, and then took the petition with hope, and flocked to the barracks where Chen Wangmo, the chief military officer of Caoyun, was stationed.

At the same time, the two brothers Zhang Jingxiu and Zhang Maoxiu on the second floor of the street saw this scene, and they were so anxious that the beads of sweat on their heads flowed straight down, and Zhang Maoxiu jumped to his feet and was anxious: "Qin Lin, why haven't Qin Lin and the little sister brought Caoyin back?" It's all burning eyebrows! ”

(To be continued)