Outside Yangzhou City, south of the Yangtze River, east of the Grand Canal, on the great plain, there is a small town called Bihai, although it is a small town, but due to the particularity of the geographical location, there is the blessing of Yangzhou City, so it also stationed a lot of forces.

Among them, the second box army of the Yangzhou City Protector Army and the third box army of the Praetorian Guard Army were stationed on the east and west sides respectively, and a lonely crow fang in the north of the town was the helm of the Southern Beggars Gang.

The Raven Fang was not specially built by the Southern Beggars, and its predecessor was originally the Raven Temple, a dilapidated ancient temple dedicated to the general Ganning during the Three Kingdoms period. The ancestral rules of the beggar gang never purchased real estate or built a hall, so after Xie Qixian went south, he was stationed in this dilapidated temple, and over time, it became the helmsman of the southern beggar gang.

Since Nangong Jin agreed to Ge Xiaolou's invitation, he naturally followed his group of brothers to Bihai Town, and the guards guarding the town saw that it was a member of the beggar gang, so they let it pass, and this way to the north, Nangong Jin saw that this Bihai Town was also extremely prosperous, and it was not much better than Yangzhou City, if it weren't for the two big rivers blocking the expansion of the town, Nangong Jin had reason to believe that Bihai Town would develop into the next Yangzhou City.

For this reason, the Fenglin Alliance had thought of filling the Grand Canal angrily to expand Bihai Town, so as to develop and strengthen their strength, but the emperor ordered that the trialists were not allowed to develop in villages and towns outside the city, and the Fenglin Alliance also gave up this plan, if other towns were better, they could also develop if they wanted, not to mention that Wu Dayou had a good relationship with Fenglin at night, even if it was Zhao Wanli, he would also turn a blind eye, just like Jinyang Town in Suzhou, a remote area away from the city, those regular soldiers were not willing to bother to crusade, this is a thankless task, Because of these remote places, there is too little oil and water.

But Bihai Town is different, whether it is the emperor or Zhao Wanli, they are not fools, this town is the most important road connecting Suzhou, its importance can be imagined, naturally it cannot be occupied by trialists.

The trialists can't, the aborigines are still very relieved, and besides, the beggars will not make any trouble with a group of beggars asking for food.

Nangong Jin and his entourage walked all the way, walked through the most prosperous town center, then passed a small river, passed through a small wood, and saw the whole picture of the Raven Fang in the distance at a glance.

In the center of the whole plain, a magnificent ancient temple is particularly conspicuous, around the ancient temple, there are countless houses piled up with hay, these grass huts are all irregularly connected, less than three or two, more than a dozen, each two rooms are connected by a thin hemp rope, which is hung with all kinds of clothes, some are tattered coarse cloth, some are silk and satin, and even some fishing nets and animal skins, when seen from a distance, it really looks like a huge textile factory.

Nangong Jin looked at this extremely strange but full of aura scene, secretly praised in her heart, and then asked, "Brother Ge, are you picking up these clothes and preparing to wear them?" ”

Ge Xiaolou replied as he walked: "We are a group of beggars, it is enough to have one piece of clothing to wear for the rest of our lives, so much use." ”

"Why is it hanging on twine?" Nangong Jin thought to herself, could it be to block the scorching sun?

"Hey......" Ge Xiaolou sighed and explained: "The weather in the south is cloudy and rainy, and the grass hut often leaks, and we don't have a rainproof cloth, so we can only plug these clothes in the leaky place, wait until the weather is clear, and then take them out to dry, and so on, we can barely get by." ”

"If you live in a large group, why don't you all do your part to cut down trees and trees and repair some houses that are protected from the rain?" Nangong Jin was really puzzled in her heart, there are so many trees in the south, so there is no need to be so troublesome when you move your hands, is it possible that there are not one or two skilled craftsmen who can do wood work among the thousands of beggar brothers?

When Ge Xiaolou heard this, he stopped and glanced back at Nangong Jin, his slightly puzzled eyes seemed to be looking at an idiot.

"I said Lu Shaoxia, it's your first time going down the mountain, right? Why don't you even know the rules of our beggar gang? Ge Xiaolou now believes that this young man must be a disciple of a certain hidden sect, why is he not clear about the rules of the beggar gang that everyone knows in the world?

Looking at Nangong Jin's confused appearance, Ge Xiaolou shook his head, and then explained: "Beggar disciples, heaven and earth are used as beds, no houses, no ancestral halls, no worship of generals, no sages, no money, no dart, no rural farmers, and no handicrafts, this is the "eight rules", the only rule in this life: 'Only begging to make a living. ’”

"But that Raven Temple looks like it's newly renovated!" When Nangong Jin heard the first two sentences, she wanted to ask, didn't she say that she would not repair the ancestral hall, and what was this glorious Falling Crow Temple?

"That's not a good thing we did, it was Deputy City Lord Wu who was kind and paid for the renovation himself." Ge Xiaolou explained casually.

Nangong Jin listened to the "eight irregularities" of this beggar gang, and she really didn't feel good in her heart, a beggar, forced by life to be a beggar. It was a path that the poor and dilapidated people were forced to choose because their lives could not be sustained, especially during natural disasters and wars. Now there are no fires and floods, although wars are common, but it is only a game between trialists, and it has not affected the whole people, since the beggars have gathered so many people, and there is such a free land, they should naturally plant fields and plant seedlings, self-sufficient, why should they stretch out a hand to ask others for food and drink?

Is the food you begging for sweeter than the food you grow? Or have they given up hope of a stable life, accustomed to a life of begging?

In the eyes of normal people, who wants to reach out and beg for help if they can be self-reliant?

So many people have gathered in vain, there is a territory and manpower, and if you don't work hard, you have become the biggest moth in the three southern cities, it's really ridiculous to think about it!

Nangong Jin couldn't help but look down on the beggars a lot.

The status quo of the beggars is indeed somewhat deformed, but this is inseparable from the evolution of the deformity of the whole society, and the culprit of this evolution is the trialists.

What they have changed is not only the pattern of the eight major cities, but also the whole body, and no force can be left alone, and the rapid expansion and division of the beggar gang is closely related to this.

The "Eight Unrulines" was originally formulated by the first gang leader, and its starting point and purpose were all kind, just to not trouble others, at that time they had no land and no people, just to beg for food. But now it's different, the "eight irregularities" have become a shield for the beggars to reach out for food, three cities and three places, which restaurant inn did not prepare meals for them? The poor beggar has been transformed into an urban moth that collects rent every day, but this rent is just a meal of delicacies from the mountains and seas.

Pretending to be a beggar, enjoying the life of a rich man, and suffering from laziness to the point where he would rather break his clothes and plug holes than work together to build a home, the beggar gang is no longer the beggar gang in the minds of the trialists.

Raven Fang is the extremely absurd but extremely real existence of the beggar gang.

……

Nangong Jin thought about it all the way, the more she thought about it, the more ridiculous she felt, and she felt uncomfortable for a while, and she just wanted to turn around and leave this "land of termites", but before she knew it, she was already in it.

In front of them, there were beggar disciples in tattered clothes but fat and strong, lying in the sun by the grass hut, their expressions were extremely enjoyable, their expressions were extremely lazy, like a corpse, living without any burden and responsibility.

Yes, who wants to work hard when they can eat and drink while lying down?

Nangong Jin didn't want to watch it anymore, and he didn't want to sneak into this beggar gang, he was aimless, and promised Ge Xiaolou just to leave the sad place in Yangzhou. But now it seems that this is not a place for people to stay, and if you stay for a long time, lazy diseases are easy to be infected.

Nangong Jin didn't say hello, turned around and was about to leave, but at this time, Ge Xiaolou suddenly knelt on the ground, faced a grass hut and said respectfully: "Disciple Ge Xiaolou, meet Master." ”

There was no door to the grass house, and an old beggar who was sleeping on the grass pile heard this, then got up and walked out, squinted at Nangong Jin who was facing away from him, and asked, "Who is this person?" ”

Ge Xiaolou hurriedly got up and leaned into the ear of the old beggar, and explained in a low voice for a long time, but Nangong Jin was not ready to leave at this time, he wanted to see what kind of shameless person this group of beggar gang leaders were!

Ge Xiaolou explained, the old beggar smiled in an instant, he had lived for so long and had not made a big contribution to the beggar gang, and he was only four bags of disciples, if he could use the light of this apprentice to recommend this person to the elders, then it was not impossible for the master and apprentice to be promoted to five bags of disciples at the same time.

Thinking that he might have to get along with his apprentice at the same level in the future, the old beggar quickly changed his appearance, only to see him holding Ge Xiaolou's hand, and said with a smile on his face: "Xiaolou, this matter is done well, I will follow you and get rid of it." ”

"Hey...... What did the master say, your kindness to Xiaolou, Xiaolou will never dare to forget it in his life......" Ge Xiaolou held the palm of the old beggar and patted the back of his hand, not hiding the smug smile on his face at all, the master and apprentice laughed non-stop, Nangong Jin really couldn't listen to it, and couldn't help coughing lightly, and the two of them looked at each other and walked towards Nangong Jin.

Recommending outsiders is a good thing to get promoted and make a fortune, naturally without the help of his group of brothers, Ge Xiaolou quickly dismissed them, stood aside with the old beggar, and welcomed Nangong Jin to the Luocrow Temple.

At sunset, the three of them went through many obstacles, and finally went to the side hall of the Luo Crow Temple, the main hall is a place of worship, although Xie Qixian is bold, he does not dare to alarm the gods, the side hall does not matter, and there is a lot of pride, and it naturally becomes the place of discussion of the eight elders of the Southern Beggars Gang.

The three of them walked to the door of the side hall, and made clear to the guards, and the guards immediately entered the hall to report, and soon came out to say that the helper had given permission, Ge Xiaolou and the apprentices thanked each other, and led Nangong Jin into the side hall.

Entering the hall, Nangong Jin first carefully looked around, this temple is extremely wide, the position of the original worship of the god will be clay statue in the hall, all of them have been destroyed, leaving only a trace of damage, from the south main gate of the hall to the north of the hall, there are three golden pillars of the gods on the left and right, on the high platform in the center in front, is a turf seat, on the wall behind the seat, there is a portrait of the ancestor of the beggar gang, next to both sides of the golden pillar, there are also eight seats, but the back is full of tattered porcelain and knives, guns and sticks, The whole costume looks so out of place in the majestic side hall.

Next to the seat on the high platform, an old beggar with gray hair sat cross-legged with his back to the temple door, and four beggar elders next to him were also cross-kneeling, and the middle-aged beggar closest to the three saw the visitor, and immediately got up and asked, "Which one is Lu Duoqing?" ”

Hearing this, Nangong Jin stood up, arched his hand slightly, and said, "It's down there." ”

The middle-aged beggar nodded, and turned to Ge Xiaolou and the others, "You two can go to Li Wu to apprentice." ”

Li Wu is a famous six-bag disciple of the Southern Beggars Gang, and this command also means that Ge Xiaolou and the others are directly prosperous with five bags, and they can study the internal skills of the Beggar Gang.

"Elder Xie......" The two said thank you in unison, and happily withdrew from the temple gate.

After the side hall was cleaned, the other three elders who were practicing cross-kneeled immediately got up and sat down in their places, but the middle-aged beggar suddenly had a gloomy face, glared at Nangong Jin and asked, "Say, which family sent you to spy?" ”

(End of chapter)