Lord Fan Zhongyan paid out of his own pocket to invite guests to dinner, and whoever he invited could come as he pleased, and he was not afraid of gossip behind the backs of others.

Four tables were opened in the dining room, and everyone gathered and sat down happily.

Fan Zhongyan, Bai Yutian, Wushan Daoren, Chen Xiwen, Liu Jindao, Yang Xingbiao, Ma Chuhe, and Wu Sanba sat at one table, Zhen Jinlian accompanied Dong Xiaowan, Cui Yingying and other masters and apprentices to sit at one table, and Shi Qinghua sat at two tables with the soldiers from Yanzhou Mansion.

For the first glass of wine, Fan Zhongyan, accompanied by Zhen Jinlian, toasted the other people present, the second, third, and fourth cups...... It was the other people present who saluted Fan Zhongyan and his wife. First the glass of wine is dry, and then the drink is slow, just to have fun, not to overdrink.

After lunch, Wu San took his subordinates to bid farewell to Fan Zhongyan, returned to Yanzhou, and everyone sent them out of the palace gate.

Dong Xiaowan took the doorman to bid farewell to Fan Zhongyan and returned to the White Lotus Sect, and Bai Yutian took the Wushan Dao people to send him out of the city.

At the time of parting, Shi Qinghua obeyed the entrustment of his master Feng Wanli and handed over the prescription for refining and refining Gongsan to Bai Yutian, not dishonoring his master's life.

Bai Yutian saw that Cui Yingying's eyes were watery and unwilling to leave, so in order to comfort her, he sang loudly: "A sword is all over the world, and thousands of miles of horses' hooves do not wash the dust." Not afraid of clouds to cover your eyes, only afraid of the group of magpies. ”

Hearing such a strong voice, Cui Yingying could not worry about anything, and whipped away.

Seeing Cui Yingying's figure away, Bai Yutian turned the horse's head, aimed at the south, and walked across the horse.

The Wushan Daoist stepped aside and said, "Are you really going to do it?" ”

Bai Yutian replied with a smile: "Dao Chief, what are you going to do?" ”

The people of Wushan Dao didn't like to say: "Pretend to be confused, you rely on the heroes of the rivers and lakes to eliminate the Dragon Slayer Society." ”

Bai Yutian said: "Do you think it is feasible? ”

The Wushan Daoist replied: "Feasible is feasible. I'm afraid that this martial arts alliance leader is not good, if it can't be recognized by the imperial court, whoever is the leader of this alliance will die. ”

Bai Yutian asked, "Then in your opinion, who is more suitable to be the leader of this martial arts alliance?" ”

Wushan Daoren said: "It is better to find someone who is willing to accept the appeasement of the imperial court to be the leader of this alliance." ”

Bai Yutian said: "Dao Chief, I don't think this is feasible. ”

The Wushan Daoist asked, "Why?" ”

Bai Yutian thought to himself, since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, it has emphasized literature and suppressed martial arts, and guarded the inside and outside. Due to the heavy taxation and hard life of the common people, whenever there is a natural or man-made disaster, the imperial court is not timely in providing relief, and there are peasant uprisings from time to time, and people from the rivers and lakes are sometimes involved. The imperial court believed that the forces of the rivers and lakes were one of the root causes of the troubled society, and they were extremely jealous, and never stopped suppressing or persecuting the heroes of the rivers and lakes.

So he said: "Dao Chief, if this person is willing to work with the court to suppress the forces of the rivers and lakes, won't the heroes of the rivers and lakes be unguarded in the future, and their lives are in danger?" ”

Wushan Daoren said: "But this time the martial arts alliance, if no one stands up to get close to the imperial court, so as to avoid the suspicion of the imperial court, how can trust be established between the heroes of the rivers and lakes and the imperial court." ”

Although Bai Yutian felt that what the Wushan Daoist said was not unreasonable, he couldn't let go of the worries in his heart, and said: "Dao Chief, what you said is not that the juniors are unwilling to agree, but where to find this kind of person?" Not only must he have a high reputation, but he is also willing to be close to the court, and he is not good for Lu Xunxin, and he will not do anything to harm his fellow people in the rivers and lakes, and the most important thing is that the court still trusts this person and can rest assured that this person. This kind of person, not to mention that it is difficult to find or not to find, I am afraid that it does not exist at all. ”

Wushan Daoren said: "Don't say it, as far as the mountain people know, there is really one in the world, and it is easy to find." ”

Bai Yutian asked, "Who?" ”

Wushan Daoren replied with a smile: "Jiang clarified the old man Jiang." ”

Bai Yutian was very surprised and said, "You said that I am master!" How is this possible. ”

Wushan Daoist said: "Do you dare to say that your master's reputation in the Jianghu martial arts is not high? Do you dare to say that your master cares about fame and fortune? Do you dare to say that your master has done something to harm fellow Taoists? ”

Bai Yutian didn't dare to say it.

thought to himself: "As the son of the Sword Demon, he can travel the rivers and lakes freely, which should be thanks to the three words 'Pure Yang Gate'." The old man has not taken half a step out of Kuanglu Mountain for twenty years, saying that he is good at all, unless that person is cheap. When the martial arts people in the rivers and lakes mentioned his name, there was nothing disrespectful, and they should have never done anything to harm their fellow people in the rivers and lakes. But to say that his master is willing to get close to the court and can get the trust of the court, it is a bit mysterious to say, and he will not believe it. ”

Wushan Daoist glanced at Bai Yutian and said: "Boy, your father committed suicide by jumping off a cliff back then, and he didn't see anyone alive or dead, no one guessed that he was not dead, but was rescued by someone." The court intends to suppress your father, and the Dragon Slayer Club also wants your father to die, but it has not been investigated in the future, do you know the reason. ”

Bai Yutian asked, "What is the reason?" ”

Wushan Daoist said: "It's because Lu Yijian and those people guessed that it was Jiang Qingqing who rescued your father." ”

Bai Yutian asked, "Does my master have any dealings with Lu Yijian?" ”

Wushan Daoren said: "As far as the mountain people know, they not only have contacts, but also have a very good relationship. It is also because of this relationship that Lu Yijian and the others are willing to let your father go, thinking that even if your father is alive, he will not take revenge on them in the future. ”

Bai Yutian was a little confused when he heard this, and asked, "What the hell is going on?" ”

Wushan Daoren said: "When the imperial court wanted to eradicate your father, the first person to find was your master Jiang Qingqing. It's just that your master thinks that although your father is a little arrogant, he has no evil deeds or ambitions, and Yu Da Song is harmless, not only did not agree to this, but also advised Lu Yijian and them not to do this. The imperial court was determined to eradicate your father, and Lu Yijian and the others were forced to be scoundrels and found the Dragon Slayer Society to do this, which led to today's evil results. ”

Bai Yutian grabbed the reins of the horse, got off the horse, waited for the Wushan Dao people to jump off the horse, walked together, and asked: "But Dao Chief, even so, you can't say that my master is willing to get close to the official government, and can still get the trust of the imperial court?" ”

The Five Mountains Daoist said, "Have you ever heard of the Sword Immortal Cultivating Heart Martial Arts? ”

Bai Yutian replied: "I heard some from the wise Venerable Master Li Yiru's predecessors, as well as the Huanghe Yijian Gu seniors, they said that the Xiuxin Wu seniors used to be my master's wife, and my second uncle Jiang Yulang was still their son, but is this really the case?" ”

Wushan Daoist said: "This matter is true, and there is no half-truth. ”

Bai Yutian was a little puzzled and asked: "But my master is in the south of the Yangtze River, and he rarely sets foot in the Central Plains, and his cultivation of the heart and martial arts is in Bashu, and he doesn't leave home, how did these two meet, and they have become husband and wife?" ”

Wushan Daoist said: "After my visits over the years, your master and Xiuxinwu have known each other, all because of a peasant uprising. ”

Bai Yutian asked, "What peasant uprising?" ”

Wushan Taoist said: "More than 40 years ago, a peasant uprising of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun broke out in Shudi. ”

Shu is located in the southwest of China, surrounded by mountains, passes, and dangerous terrain, known as the "country of abundance".

From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, it has been controlled by local separatist forces, and has established separatist regimes such as the former Shu and the Later Shu, and these separatist forces have done their best to loot and plunder the people. When the Huangchao rebel army approached Chang'an, Tang Xizong led a large number of bureaucrats to flee to Shu, and then the well-dressed clans of the Tang Dynasty avoided chaos here.

Until the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the clans, heroes, and landlords of Shu frantically annexed land, which was more prominent than that of the Central Plains. There are many tenants in the Sichuan Gorge, and the small civil servants are tenants, making them slaves, families or dozens of households, and all rents are collected and the tenants are inherited.

This kind of side households, that is, tenant households, account for more than 70 percent of the total number of households in the region, and in some remote areas reach 80 to 90 percent, and they have been fixed to the landlord's land for generations, and have a strong personal attachment to the landlord like a slave. In addition to paying rent to the wealthy landlords, they also had to bear heavy taxes or forced labor from the government, and the exploitation was harsher and poorer than in other areas. In order to survive, they had a strong desire to overthrow the oppression and rule of the landlords.

After the Song Dynasty destroyed Houshu, not only did the soldiers plunder on a large scale, but the imperial court also transported the gold, silver, jewelry, copper coins and silk cloth stored in the treasury of Houshu to the capital city of Kaifeng, known as the 'Rijin Gang'. For this reason, a large number of people were forcibly requisitioned, and it took more than ten years to transport them by land and water, which further increased the burden on the people.

In the Chengdu area, there are many people and little land, and the farmers' cooperatives are not enough to give, and they are mostly engaged in side businesses such as textiles and tea picking.

In order to monopolize the cloth trade, the Song court set up a 'Bomaiwu' in Shudi, prohibiting individual farmers and small traders from buying and selling freely. The powerful landlords took advantage of the opportunity to speculate, selling cheaply and expensively, extorting the common people and profiting from it. As a result, the people are becoming more and more impoverished, losing their family and land, many small traders are forced to lose their jobs, and the cottage industry is also severely damaged. This was not enough, the Northern Song Dynasty court also classified tea as a monopoly, buying tea at a low price and selling rice at a high price to tea farmers, so that the majority of tea farmers went bankrupt and cut off their livelihood.

In the fourth year of the Chunhua period of Song Taizong, the Shu area suffered another great drought, resulting in a great famine, high prices, and starvation. Under the coercion of natural and man-made disasters, the peasants rose up in order to survive in the end, and an uprising broke out. Among them, Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun were the two largest uprisings, not only putting forward the slogan of 'equal wealth and poverty', but also establishing the Dashu regime for a while. The landlords of Shu were purged one by one, or died in the ravines, or were brutalized in the suburbs, or suppressed, or expelled. Or become a prisoner.

Bai Yutian said: "Dao Chief, this peasant uprising, why is it related to my master and them? ”

Wushan Daoren said: "If turmoil breaks out, the imperial court must suppress it." Although your master is in the rivers and lakes, he doesn't know the hardships of the people of Shu, so he went for the justice of loyalty to the Great Song Dynasty in his heart, and for a show of his skills. ”

Bai Yutian asked, "Why did you get involved with my master's cultivation of the heart and martial arts?" ”

Wushan Taoist said: "After your master arrived in Shudi, through what he saw and heard with his own eyes, he knew that the poor people in Shu rose up to fight because life was worse than death. In an instant, his conscience found that not only did he not dare to attack the 'Shu mob', but also saved a few people from time to time, showing the kind side of people's hearts. Once he came to the rescue of someone, he happened to encounter Xiuxinwu. The two got along, and one accidentally sparked a spark of love and became lovers of life and death. ”

Bai Yutian said: "Cultivating the heart martial arts is not the so-called mob? ”

Wushan Taoist said: "A woman from a family, who is like a bamboo shoot, is still a believer in the Pure Land Sect, how can she go on a killing spree. ”

Bai Yutian asked, "What about later?" ”

Wushan Daoren said: "What is later. In order to find a way to survive for those who were rescued, Xiu Xinwu transferred them out of Shu and stepped on the yellow earth where we are now standing. In order to thank her for the good of cultivating the mind and martial arts, those people followed her to believe in the Pure Land Sect. Later, in order to no longer be oppressed, he respected the cultivation of the heart and martial arts, and established the White Lotus Society, which is now the White Lotus Sect. ”

Bai Yutian asked, "Isn't it very good, why did my master fall out with Xiuxin Wu?" ”

Wushan Daoren said: "There is no problem with the original starting point of the White Lotus Society, but as more and more people join, there will be a mixture of fish and dragons, and it is inevitable that some scum will appear in the name of seeking wealth. Your master, Jiang Qingqing, gradually discovered that the White Lotus Society was harmful to the Jiangshan Society of the Great Song Dynasty, so he asked Xiu Xinwu to dissolve the White Lotus Society, but he did not get Xiu Xinwu's approval. Annoyed and angry for a while, he returned to Jiangnan in a fit of anger. After he was angry, when he rushed to Xiu Xinwu's side again, Xiu Xinwu had been assassinated by Zhao Mingxiu. ”