The wind and snow in the north are flying, the sun is shining in the south, tens of thousands of people are densely gathered on the big hat gang in Shiwan, Foshan, and the Fengning Temple that was built in the Ming Dynasty here is even more overcrowded. Fengning Temple by Kangxi, Jiaqing rebuilt many times, the scale is quite large, the temple is located in the Taodu Shiwan in the former downtown "Lianfeng day market" next to the city, according to the Lianzigang mountain to sit north to the south and build, the main building is composed of the mountain gate, the bell and drum tower, the front hall, the middle hall, the incense pavilion and the apse, along the longitudinal axis from south to north, and gradually rise, magnificent, majestic and magnificent.

From Shiwan Fengning Temple to Damaogang and all the main roads leading to Foshan are guarded by men armed with knives and guns, and there are more inside and outside Fengning Temple. The people gathered here are old and young, there are men and women, all gather near Fengning Temple, everyone has a solemn expression, the incense bell of Fengning Temple has also stopped, and the solemn atmosphere makes people feel depressed.

A man holding an apricot yellow flag rode his horse from the bottom of the mountain to the front of the Fengning Temple Mountain, and kept shouting while galloping: "Get out of the way!" Get out of the way! Military Emergency! ”

The men guarding the passage quickly moved out of the way, and the gathered crowd automatically moved out of the way, but their eyes followed the apricot yellow flag, and the crowd whispered from time to time, "I don't know if it's good news or bad news." "We're fed up, why don't we just go to the provincial capital, what are we waiting for here?" "We are waiting for the order of the King of the West!" "Why did the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom order us?" "The King of the West can give us money, food, and weapons! The king of the west kills the Qing demon Xinghan! King Xi can give us a good life! Haven't you heard that people in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian are living a good life? ”

The man with the flag rode his horse straight into the mountain gate, and only then did he turn over and dismount in front of the main hall square, and ran directly into the main hall with the command flag in hand. Dozens of people gathered in the main hall, including rough men, monks and laymen, gentry and wealthy people, and women and girls.

The man walked up to the hall and bowed down and said loudly: "The 5,000 Qing troops have rushed to Foshan County, and the 3,000 Qing troops have arrived in Dongguan County. Dongguan He Xiang couldn't bear it, and he had already erected a flag in Shilong Town! ”

In the middle of the crowd in the main hall, a rough man stepped forward and said sharply: "What?!" He Liu, he has already started an incident? ”

A monk beside him, Heshi, pronounced a Buddha horn and said: "Lord He Xiang is very anxious, and the Qing army is advancing, he will definitely not be able to bear it." Chief Chen, since the brothers in Dongguan have already started an incident, Foshan should also respond to the incident. ”

This rough man is Chen Kai, the chief helmsman of the Guangdong Heaven and Earth Association, but the monk is Kuang Neng, a senior monk of Fengning Temple. The Heaven and Earth Association has a long history in Guangdong, and the congregation has three religions and nine streams, monks and laymen, and as soon as this statement came out, all the heads of the Heaven and Earth Association in the hall echoed Kuang Neng's words.

A middle-aged man with clear eyebrows beside Chen Kai waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet. followed Langsheng and said: "The brothers listen to Li's words. The person who spoke was Li Wenmao, a native of Heshan County, Guangdong, and a Cantonese opera singer. Everywhere he went, he was respected by local Cantonese opera singers and the masses. Li Wenmao's Cantonese opera troupe is all very skilled, and he also opened Cantonese opera troupes in Guangzhou, Foshan and other places to teach apprentices. More than a month ago, the Qionghua Hall was seized by the government. Many of Li Wenmao's disciples were arrested.

Hear Li Wenmao's words. Everyone quieted down, only to hear Li Wenmao say: "Previously, His Royal Highness the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent Tong Tang Master to contact the uprising, and all of us present at that time were blood alliances, and now Tong Tang Master has not returned in Guangzhou, we have made an appointment to obey the orders of the West King, if we rush into trouble." I'm afraid that it will mess up the big things of the King of the West. ”

Gan Xian, a leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, said loudly: "Mr. Li, how long do we have to endure it?" The Qing army has arrived in Foshan, and the swords and guns are all on the neck, do you really want me to be killed when I am necked? "Gan was born as a butcher in the market. His voice was quite loud, and as soon as he spoke, the hall was filled with his echoes.

Chen Kai frowned and said: "The Tong Hall Master told us before, if we can't break through Guangzhou with a thunderous blow, after a long delay, the foreign devils will definitely send troops to intervene." Now that we are waiting for money, food, and weapons, we are not yet complete, and we are afraid that we will be destroyed in a hurry. ”

Gan Xian shouted: "Then there is no danger of destruction if you wait here now?!" ”

The senior monk Kuang Neng said: "Chief Helmsman Chen, originally made an appointment with His Royal Highness the King of the West Haode is Li Kaifang Li Shangshu attacked the eastern prefecture of Guangdong to contain the Qing army, and we just launched an uprising to besiege Guangzhou Mansion, but now more than a month has passed, and the Qing army has no sign of eastward transfer, and the poor monk guesses that there must be some variables that make Li Shangshu's soldiers and horses unable to go south, and we should make another plan as soon as possible." ”

Chen Kai walked around irritablely, he was a little undecided, Tong Qiangsheng took someone to Guangzhou to inquire about the news more than ten days ago. Since the Hunan soldiers entered Guangdong, the government arrested day by day, the news of Foshan was cut off, although the congregation of heaven and earth also got the news and turned the whole into zero to hide, but there will still be unfortunate people who have been caught, and now there is already a bloody storm in the city of Guangzhou, Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, is not merciless, and would rather kill a hundred by mistake than let go of one. And the Qing army in Guangzhou continued to drive out, arranging the strongholds of the Heaven and Earth Society everywhere, and gradually wanted to choke the life gate of the Heaven and Earth Society.

Although Chen Kai is the chief helmsman of the Guangdong Tiandihui, he is righteous and cool, but his temperament is quite upright, and he also lacks the talent to adapt, and in history he led the Tiandihui Righteous Army to rise up, and besieged Guangzhou for half a year. When the attack could not be carried out for a long time, Chen Kai failed to give up the siege in time, and went north to Jiangxi to make peace with the Taiping army, which led to a counterattack by the Qing army, and the Tiandihui rebel army was forced to withdraw from the siege.

Seeing that Chen Kai was indecided, everyone expressed their opinions, and began to quarrel between disagreements, and even more if they disagreed, they had to do something. There have always been many gang uprisings in the rivers and lakes, but the biggest reason for the success of the broken is that the gang members and other rivers and lakes have heavy habits, although they emphasize righteousness, but lack discipline and unified command, quarrels and hands are commonplace, many times it is who is powerful to listen to whom, not to listen to the correct opinion.

Fortunately, the quarrel between the heads of the Heaven and Earth Congregation did not last long, and a big man guarding outside the hall suddenly said loudly: "Qiqi Chief Helmsman Chen, the Tong Hall Master of the Heavenly Kingdom has returned!" ”

The palace was quiet all of a sudden, and the envoy Tong Qiangsheng Tong Hall Master sent by the King of the West had a lot of weight in their eyes, not to mention that the King of the West, the god of war of the Heavenly Kingdom, fought all the way from Changsha to Tianjing, and later fought Suzhou and Hangzhou, went down to Ningbo, and thousands of warships went to Xiamen to meet the righteous deeds of the Xiaodao Society congregation, all of which made the people in the north and south of the river give a thumbs up to the King of the West. The support and help of the Western King to the rebel army is unparalleled in the Heavenly Kingdom. At the same time, Tong Qiangsheng's Bai Zetang also had a lot of contact with the major gangs, and everyone admired Bai Zetang's strict behavior and well-informed, and whenever there was anything difficult to find Bai Zetang, they would always help solve it, and they would never shirk it, because both the King of the West and Bai Zetang had a very high status in the hearts of these Jianghu characters.

When Tong Qiangsheng first arrived in Guangdong, he thought that it would take some trouble to reach an agreement with the Heaven and Earth Society, but he didn't expect that the people of the Heaven and Earth Society had a great impression of Xiwang and Bai Zetang, and they were also extremely willing to obey Xiwang's orders. Later, Tong Qiangsheng found out. This is inseparable from some of the little things that Xiwang arranged to do in the past, and at the same time, the righteous act of the rescue of Xiamen made the reputation of Xiwang Renyi spread, and the seemingly risky move at that time has now been greatly rewarded.

Tong Qiangsheng walked up to the hall with several attendants, and one of his arms fell on his neck. Apparently wounded. Seeing this, Chen Kai and the others hurriedly asked, and Tong Qiangsheng said lightly: "The Qing Demon is wantonly searching for righteous soldiers in Guangzhou City. We, Bai Zetang, have also lost some manpower. Fortunately, he retreated in time, and there was no major problem, but Tong fought with the Qing Demon Eagle Dog a few times on the way to Foshan, and was slightly injured. ”

Everyone saw that although he said it easily, the Qing army had already set up blockages and defenses step by step on the way from Guangzhou to Foshan, and the number of battles that Tong Qiangsheng said must have been quite tragic.

Tong Qiangsheng didn't talk nonsense. He took out a letter directly from his bosom and said: "His Royal Highness the King of the West has sent a handwritten letter, please read it together." ”

Chen Kai and others hurriedly took it open and looked at it, only to see that the letter read: "Heroes of the Heaven and Earth Society: Now that the typhoon and rain in Fujian are disturbing, the soldiers and horses of Li Kaifang's troops in Fujian are short of food and grass. It may be difficult to converge south on time. If the persecution of the Qing demon in Guangdong is very urgent, you can ignore the previous strategy, and start the incident as soon as possible in order to protect yourself. All the rebel armies should unite and move together, only to support half a year, and our army can enter Guangdong to respond, everything should be adapted, everything should be preserved by themselves, and the opportunity to ......"

Li Wenmao was born in the opera troupe and was more literate, he was the first to read the letter at a glance and ten lines, and then let out a long breath and said: "It seems that Chief Helmsman Chen should discuss how to start an incident as soon as possible." ”

The senior monk Kuang Neng also said: "Yes, the West Palace Army cannot go south for the time being, His Royal Highness the West King is asking us to start a matter to protect ourselves, so as not to be broken by the Qing Demon one by one." Master Chen, we should immediately agree on the uprising. ”

Tong Qiangsheng said in surprise when he heard this: "Don't you have a plan for an uprising?" ”

Senior monk Kuang Neng said: "The original strategy has not worked, the Qing demon has cut off the traffic in Dongguan, Yantang, Shenghe, Foshan and other places, and the contact between the various strongholds is inconvenient. ”

Chen Kai also finished reading the letter at this time, and said after a while: "Since this is the case, we will start the matter first, and the incense masters will immediately order their subordinates, cut their braids and wrap their heads, play the banner, prepare the equipment, and attack Foshan City first!" ”

Although Chen Kai is indecisive, it does not mean that he does not have the talent to rule, he has been the head of the Heaven and Earth Society for a long time, and he has his own way of distributing errands. At that moment, the congregation of heaven and earth immediately received the order, turned around and left the temple, and went to order the congregation.

Then the senior monk Kuang Neng said: "Chief helmsman, the rebels everywhere should immediately send people to contact and raise things together, so as to boost the momentum, and at the same time, it can also make it difficult for the Qing Demon Guards to be attacked." ”

Chen Kai nodded and said: "That's right, Brother Ganxian, you lead a hundred brothers to contact Yantang, Shenghe, Dongguan and other places in disguise, and after we take Foshan, the rebels from all over the country will immediately gather outside the provincial capital and attack the provincial capital!" ”

Gan Xian was about to receive the order, but Tong Qiangsheng interjected: "Chief Helmsman Chen, leave the matter of contact to us Bai Zetang, we have carrier pigeons everywhere to contact, and the Qing Demon is guarded everywhere, it is too dangerous to send people to contact in the past, it is better to use carrier pigeons." ”

Chen Kai nodded and said, "In that case, I would like to ask Brother Li to write the letter and add the seal letter of my Heaven and Earth Society, so that the Tong Hall Master can contact the scattered brothers in various places to do things together!" ”

On the same day, Chen Kai revolted in Foshan Fengning Temple, Li Wenmao, Chen Xianliang, Gan Xian and other tens of thousands of people responded, the rebel army was easy to wear, wrapped in a red scarf on the head, and respected the king of heaven as the co-master, and was ordered by the king of the west. Chen Kai is the deputy prime minister of the autumn official in the west hall, Li Wenmao, Chen Xianliang, Gan Xian and others are the inspectors and other military positions, the senior monk Kuang Neng is the military advisor, with Mengqinggang as the main camp, Dawugang as the deputy camp, Fengning Temple as the base camp, gathering 70,000 or 80,000 uprisings to attack Foshan. (To be continued......)