"The ship sank? Just fish it out. Tang Yi said nonchalantly.

Wu Tiancheng was so anxious that he was sweating, pulled Tang Yi to the side, and said in a low voice: "Master, someone did it on purpose. ”

"Oh?" Tang Yi realized that something was wrong. Hurriedly walked out of the blacksmith workshop, changed into clean clothes, and rushed to the docks. Wu Tiancheng followed closely behind and kept introducing the situation.

It turned out that in the morning, suddenly two big boats sailed along the canal to the dock outside Taicang, and the back boat went around to the side of the previous one, and the two boats were side by side, like two door gods, blocking the channel.

The soldiers in charge of patrolling hurried over to inquire about the situation, but they didn't know that many men in black jumped out of the deck, scolding the soldiers, but they wouldn't get out of the way.

As soon as he saw that the other party was deliberately making trouble, he hurriedly reported Lei Qi, who was inspecting the waterway, and when he heard that someone was making trouble, he immediately summoned people to come, and many people joined along the way, and the team expanded to more than 100 people. At the same time, someone told Wu Tiancheng and asked him to find Tang Yi.

By the time Lei Qi arrived at the scene of the incident, the other party had already gone ashore in a small boat, and two or three hundred people, armed with knives, guns and sticks, were standing on both sides of the canal. There are even people on the ship who pong and sink the ship, these two are big ships, if they sink, the other ships will not think of passing.

Since the canal was opened, hundreds of ships passed by every day, and the tax money received cramps, and when he saw that someone dared to cut off the way of wealth, Lei Qihuo hit it upward, and his hair stood on end.

"Who are you? Dare to run to Yantietang to make trouble, is there any royal law? ”

Lei Qi scolded, and walked out of the other party a guy in his forties, thin and thin, his eyes were golden and shining, he grabbed the few beards on his chin, and smiled contemptuously: "Wang Fa? How much is it worth? If you have the ability, please come out and let the brothers see! ”

After he finished speaking, the thugs behind him laughed, not to mention how rampant!

Lei Qi's face sank, suppressed his anger, and sneered: "Friend, you are deliberately provoking trouble, right? Since the opening of Yantietang, we have not offended anyone, and we do our duty. However, please also remember, honestly, it doesn't mean that we are easy to bully! ”

As soon as these words came out, the soldiers behind Lei Qi brushed their weapons together, and the two sides were tense.

"Yo! The temper is not small! The thin guy looked Lei Qi up and down, didn't care, and said, "Master Luo is just deliberately provoking trouble, what else can you do?" ”

Lei Qi sneered for a while, "Then don't blame me for being unkind, and finally ask you, would you like to get out?" ”

"The grandson is willing!"

"Okay, on!"

As soon as Lei Qi beckoned, the soldiers behind him rushed up with a roar, their eyes were red, just that crazy energy, scared the thin guys, they were all thugs, what kind of life are they playing? How did he know that Tang Yili ignored the public opinion and left a hundred percent of the shares to all the workers.

Business is getting better and better, everyone has bonuses, dividends, and only a few dollars of silver per month, but this is enough for the big guy to treat the canal as their own industry. Not to mention a bunch of guys who jumped out of thin air, even if the officers and soldiers want to snatch the salt and iron pond, they dare to fight hard!

Lei Qi didn't know where to find an iron drill weighing more than ten catties, dancing like flying, and smashed down three or four people when he went up.

"Which grandson is coming to die!"

The thin guy retreated into the crowd, and his brow furrowed when he saw the people in Yantietang so brave and crazy. He looked back at the big man next to him.

"Master Tiger, I'm afraid I'm going to make a move."

"Hmm!"

The big man shook his shoulders and threw his cloak aside, revealing a cowhide vest, the muscles of his body were swollen, his arms were thick, and his blood vessels were as dense as a sleeping dragon, which was daunting.

The big man rushed up with his bare hands to meet Lei Qi, and at this time Lei Qi had already put down five or six, and he was like a rainbow. Seeing the big man rushing over, he didn't care, but raised the iron drill and slammed it down.

A stunned scene appeared, the big man did not dodge or dodge, but raised his right arm, stunned to hit the iron drill with his flesh and blood!

Crazy?

Everyone was stupid, and with a bang, it seemed to hit the leather, Lei Qi only felt that his arm was numb, and the iron drill was almost thrown out. And the big man only took a half step back, leaving a shallow red mark on his arm.

The layman looks at the excitement, only when the big man resists the attack, in fact, the insider knows that no matter how hard he practiced, he would only break his muscles and bones if he fought hard with his arm. Dahan used rolling thunder to hit the iron drill from the side to block the iron drill. But even so, the strong hard work is also terrifying.

Dahan glanced at Lei Qi contemptuously and said disdainfully: "Do you still dare to do it?" ”

"How dare you! I'll stone you to death! ”

Lei Qi's eyes were red, and he was going to fight hard. No matter how much he knows that he is not the opponent of the big man, he can't be cowardly. At this time, due to the blocking of the shipping route, several ships have gathered to and fro, and everyone is watching, and it is not a man to take a step back!

"Kill!"

"Slow (stop)!"

The explosion came, everyone followed the reputation, it was Tang Yi and Wu Tiancheng who came, seeing Tang Yi coming, everyone breathed a sigh of relief for no reason, as if they had the backbone, and the two sides automatically separated.

Lei Qi's face turned red, and he said in a low voice: "Little Xianggong, it's all Lei Qi's incompetence. ”

"Don't say it."

Tang Yi's face was solemn, and when he was far away, he noticed that hundreds of people, all wearing black shorts, were like axe gangs, and they definitely didn't come out casually.

"Friends on the other side, I think you must have a plan when you come to Yantietang to make trouble, you might as well make it clear, what's the point of fighting in such a mess!"

The thin guy chuckled: "I'm not old, but I have some knowledge." Tiger master, talk to them little one? ”

Dahan nodded, this guy came to the person again, squinted his eyes, looked Tang Yi up and down for a long time, and suddenly smiled: "You are the famous Tang prodigy, right?" ”

Tang Yi was noncommittal, and listened to this guy continue: "My surname is Luo, my name is Luo You, and he is a Jianghu person, and he can't be compared with Tang Prodigy." But Luo wants to say, every line has which line of rules, Tang prodigy scholarly door, why bother wading into troubled waters? As long as you don't interfere, your penny will not be short, wouldn't it be better? ”

"What a big breath!" Tang Yi chuckled and said, "You keep talking about the rules, may I ask which one's rules?" You are a Jianghu person, and you dare to set rules for me? ”

Luo You shook his head and said in an old-fashioned manner: "In the end, it is a young man, and he is vigorous." Although Luo is a Jianghu person, he is not a Jianghu person you can afford to mess with. Tang Prodigy, how about we make it clear? ”

"It's long overdue."

"Well, to tell you the truth, it's the people of Caokou below!"

Bandits? Anyone else calls themselves that?

Tang Yi was stunned for a moment, and then understood, what he said was "Caokou", the so-called Caokou is the predecessor of the Cao Gang, as we all know, the grain production center of the Ming Dynasty was in the south of the Yangtze River, and it was necessary to rely on the Grand Canal to transport the grain to the north to supply the capital and the consumption of the soldiers on the nine sides.

Around the Grand Canal, various gang organizations have been formed, and Caokou is one of them.

The officials in charge of the transportation of the water will take advantage of the opportunity to exploit the grain from the people, and use the name of "floating income" to scrape a few more knives. But the people were not reconciled, so they took refuge in the prestigious gentry or the famous students, and handed over the grain to them, so that they could deal with the officials of Caoyun.

The original Caokou was similar to the charge d'affaires, but it was actually a game between the local government and the imperial court, but later Caokou gradually grew and evolved into the Cao Gang, who controlled the people, controlled the Caofu, and did not allow outsiders to come in, and became a parasite lying on the canal to suck blood.

After figuring out this, Tang Yi finally came to his senses, these people coveted the interests of the salt and iron pond, and they were looking for awkwardness!

Luo You saw Tang Yi's brows frowning slightly, and said with a smile: "Tang Prodigy, don't say anything else, the brother in Caokou ate hard food, and a drop of sweat fell into eight petals. The salt and iron pond is good, the freight is only half of the Grand Canal, and those who have shares can also be reduced, so that the big guys will run to the salt and iron pond, and there will be fewer people walking the Grand Canal, and the brothers will have nothing to eat, so they will have to set up camp with you. ”

"You talk nonsense!" Wu Tiancheng wanted to refute, but Tang Yi stopped him with a wave of his hand, reasoning with these people was pure waste of spitting, and smiled at Luo You: "Don't go around in circles, just say it, what do you want me to do?" ”

"Happy!"

Luo You smiled, "Tang Shentong is an understanding person, I only need three conditions, from now on, the brothers at Yantietang Wharf will join us Caokou, they are our brothers, and Luo will not treat them badly; Second, take out the shares of the canal ticket number 30%, with the help of Caokou, the ticket number can be opened to the whole world; Thirdly, the tax on the salt and iron pond should be adjusted to the same level as that of the canal. ”

After Luo You finished speaking, he stared at Tang Yi and said with a smile: "How is it?" The requirements below are not high, as long as Tang Prodigy agrees, let's get rich together, wouldn't it be better! If you don't agree, you will offend tens of thousands of brothers in Caokou, if it makes a fuss and affects Caokou's luck, you are afraid you can't afford it! ”