Before getting into the car, Elder Long made arrangements, and he said: "This time, we will all cover the Chuanzong, and if there is a situation on the road, we will turn the car sideways to block the back road and avoid the Chuanzong from being attacked on the back." If there is an enemy in the back, let's concentrate our forces on firing hidden weapons at the back to relieve the worries of the sect. If there is no one behind, we will assist the Sect, help him take cover, and shoot his enemies. ”

Everyone understood, and they got into the car and set off.

This time, Liu Jizu did not drive, but rode a horse to the front. The car was driven by the seventh sister, and she had already learned from Liu Jizu when she was on the road.

Ye Zi saw that the seventh sister could drive by herself, and she also pestered Elder Long to teach, with her intelligence, she learned it after a while, and began to take turns driving with the seventh sister.

For some reason, this mountain road is very deserted, there are very few vehicles and pedestrians on the road, and it is understandable that they live near the entrance of the mountain road, and the vehicles and pedestrians behind must have come later than them, but there are no people on the road who are abnormal.

At the beginning, Liu Jizu thought that this time, like last time, the road was sealed by the academy. But until halfway through the trail, nothing happened. He didn't dare to slack off, he still raised his heart to his throat, paid careful attention to the surroundings, and asked Laifu to go to the front to explore the way, until he reached the exit of the mountain road, and there was still nothing abnormal. Liu Jizu breathed a sigh of relief at this time, thinking to himself, is it really that he is blessed and lucky?

At the exit of the mountain road, there is a pass in Gangbuk Province, and next to it is a camp, where a large group of soldiers is guarded.

But Liu Jizu and the others went to Jiangbei Road, but they didn't have any interrogation. At that time, there happened to be a car going out of Gyeonggi Province, but Liu Jizu found that the soldiers were extremely strict about going out, and in addition to searching the car, they also had to take off their clothes and search their bodies.

Liu Jizu thought to himself, no wonder there are no pedestrians and vehicles on the road, except for worrying about the war, how many people are willing to go out after such a search out of the customs? He couldn't help but be a little worried, they had a lot of gold, silver, bows and arrows on their cars, especially those bows and arrows, and it was difficult to explain if they were searched.

But Elder Long was indifferent and didn't care about it at all, so Liu Jizu didn't care.

They went on for nearly an hour, and although there were still mountains, the terrain was gentle, and the villages on both sides were multiply.

Liu Jizu observed it and found that the people here were mostly poor in terms of clothing and complexion, and most of them were working in the fields on both sides of the road.

At noon, they arrived at the first town with a post station, which was unusually closed, which was unusual.

The business of the shops in the town was not good, and there were not many people eating and staying in the shops, so Elder Long asked Liu Jizu to buy food and supplies for mules and horses.

After Liu Jizu bought it, he quickly left according to Elder Long's instructions, and it was not until they found a hidden place in the deserted roadside woods that they stopped to repair.

Elder Long got out of the car, he looked around and at the sky, seemed to have a snack, nodded, and said, "I don't know why, the sect didn't send someone to ambush us. But anyway, it's a good thing, and we finally entered Jiangbei Province. It's still very close to the academy, I'm still not at ease, let's stay away from here as soon as possible, don't stay in the inn for the time being, it's easy to be surrounded by discovery, and it's not easy to run. ”

He asked everyone to take out the food they had bought from the town, and then tried them one by one with silver chopsticks, and he stopped after eating a little bit of everything, and did not let everyone move the chopsticks, but asked everyone to clean up the camp.

Liu Jizu asked at this time, "Why weren't we so careful when we ate before?"

Elder Long said with a smile: "The incident happened suddenly before, and the sect didn't have time to use such means to deal with us at that time, so it only used silver chopsticks to test the poison, but did not use people to try the food." It's different now, we've left the academy's sphere of influence, and we've killed so many people. The academy will use unscrupulous means to deal with us again, the use of poison is commonplace, how can we not be careful in everything! And last night's assassination was also different from the past, they still wanted to capture me and your master alive before, and it is difficult to distinguish between poisoning, but last night's assassination, they killed everyone, but I don't know what caused them to change the pursuit to assassination?"

Liu Jizu frowned, only then did he know that after having a powerful enemy, he had to be careful everywhere when he went out. He came out this time and learned too many things from Elder Long, and his experience in the rivers and lakes increased greatly. If you rely on yourself to explore and accumulate these experience and knowledge in the rivers and lakes, I don't know how many years it will take, and it is very likely that the experience has not accumulated enough, and it will already be dead!

Therefore, while waiting for dinner, he wanted to learn more from Elder Long, so he took the opportunity to ask, "Last time you said that Henan Province is the sphere of influence of the academy, how is this sphere of influence divided? I heard Master say that there are many sects in each province, why have I been out for so long, and I haven't seen a single sect except for the academy?

Elder Long was still very happy about Liu Jizu's studiousness, and while brushing his beard, he said: "This sphere of influence is drawn by each sect itself, and it is mostly gradually divided according to the location and influence of the sect, I will tell you about it in combination with our incident this time. The three sects have the largest sphere of influence, and they all have two provinces, the sphere of influence of the Rakuchi Academy is Gyeonggi-do and Namam Province, the sphere of influence of Wuwei Valley is Gangbuk-do and Gangnam-do, and the sphere of influence of Zhigeseong is Gangseo-do and Yeongnam-do.

The rest of the Dao will no longer have the whole Dao to divide the sphere of influence, and the sects in those places do not have the strength to control a Dao, and it is very difficult for them to control a state or even a county. Moreover, the three sects did not allow them to develop too much, thus threatening themselves. There have been several incidents in history in which a sect was exterminated by the three sects, all of which were caused by the rapid growth of a sect or organization, threatening the three sects. Once this happens, the three sects will unite to eradicate it.

The rumor that I didn't tell you when I told you about the Seven Divine Soldiers before is about this. When I was on a mission in the south, I heard that the two divine weapons of the Academy and the Wuwei Valley were not at all caused by the great disaster of Zhige City, that is, the Academy and Wuwei Valley were invited by Zhige City to help eliminate an organization that had risen in Lingnan Dao, and those two divine weapons were one of the rewards paid by Zhige City, and I am more inclined to believe this statement.

Back to the point, although the three sects have divided such a large sphere of influence, there are many sects in the rivers and lakes, and so many people want to eat this mouthful, even in their own sphere of influence, it is impossible for the three sects to control all of them, and they can't control them, so they took the lead in setting the rules.

It's not that it's your sphere of influence, so you don't allow other sects to come over and make money, the rules just stipulate that within the sphere of influence of a certain sect, without the permission of this sect, you are not allowed to open a sect within that range, and other things can be done. For example, if a dart game belonging to the forces of other sects complies with the rules of the rivers and lakes, it is possible to dart or even set up points within the influence of the academy to make money, and in return, the academy can also set up a stronghold within the influence of the corresponding sect to receive tasks.

Let's take the academy as an analogy to say in detail, that is, all the Jianghu sects in Gyeonggi Province and Henan Province have to listen to the academy. In fact, these sects in Gyeonggi Province and Nam Province were founded by disciples of the seowon or people close to the seowon, and they have always been in the same nostril as the seowon. It's okay for others to open a dart game and set up a semicolon or something on the territory of the academy, but it's impossible to start a sect. When that happens, they'll attack them in groups, unless you're better than them.

By the way, let's talk about why we avoid Henan Road, where there are three large sects and more than a dozen small and medium-sized sects. If we go to Henan Road, as long as the academy releases a few pigeons, we will be more than lucky. On the contrary, because Gyeonggi Province is located near the capital city, the control is strict, and it is the location of the academy, so the academy does not allow the existence of other large rivers and lakes. Therefore, there are only some small and medium-sized sects with average strength, and the strength of the people from these small and medium-sized sects is very average, in case there is a strong one, and the academy knows about it, it will immediately take measures to absorb or suppress it.

You have also seen the four evils and the people invited by the Four Evils family, it is at that level, and it will not have much effect on the disciples of the academy like us, so if the sect wants to hunt down and kill us in Gyeonggi Province, it can only mobilize its own disciples. But the disciples with foreign surnames in the academy are all outside to earn money for the academy, and there are not many in the sect, and now that they know the true face of the academy, it is estimated that there are even fewer. And most of those disciples with the six surnames in the sect have limited combat effectiveness, and the sect master does not have or cannot arrange enough manpower, so we have a chance to escape, I think this is the fundamental reason why we can successfully escape from Gyeonggi Province.

As for why you said you didn't see any Jianghu sects, this is normal, because you came from Shanxi Road and walked the official road. Do you know what official morality is?"

Of course, Liu Jizu knows, "The official road is the road built or governed by the imperial court, right?"

Elder Long clapped his hands when he heard this, "Ah, don't you understand everything, why do you still ask? Is it precisely because there is the jurisdiction of the imperial court and the official government, how can the Jianghu sect raise its banner in a grand manner, and it will not give the imperial court and the official government face."

And when you came from Shanxi Road, the Great Zhou Dynasty was just beginning to be chaotic, and the situation may get worse later, don't you see that even the post station is closed here? But didn't it change when you came, and the official road was still under the normal jurisdiction of the government at that time, and the most obvious sign of the government's jurisdiction over the official road was the post station.

You may not have enough understanding of the importance of the Great Zhou Station, but in fact this station is very important. It is located next to the official road, generally a post for a hundred miles, and has many functions. In addition to serving past officials and soldiers, transmitting important information, and facilitating business travelers, it is also an important tool for the state to manage local areas.

With these post stations, the imperial court will know what is happening in various places, and it can also deter those who are traitors around the official road. You have not been walking the rivers and lakes for a long time, you may not know that there are generally official roads with post stations, although I dare not say that it is absolutely peaceful, but there are many fewer bandits and bandits on the road, especially in places closer to the city.

These seemingly inconspicuous post stations always show the rule and authority of the imperial court and the government. But the bastard King of Chu, in order to block the way, save expenses, and concentrate troops, actually canceled these post stations. As soon as the post station is gone, these roads will no longer be safe, and they will soon be full of bandits and bandits. And once the government doesn't care, the Jianghu sect will come out. When those dart games or carriages and horses go these ways again, they may not hide their identities, but play their own banners.

Of course, the purpose of playing the flag is different, some are to tell those bandits and bandits, don't come to provoke me, Lao Tzu has power, it's not easy to provoke, this is generally a master or a big background when the dart game goes to the field. Some of them tell those bandits and bandits that they are all Jianghu people, and they can deal with them through the methods of Jianghu people. Some just tell each other that we are our own people and don't get hurt by mistake. ”

Liu Jizu scratched his head, how did the bandits and bandits become their own people? He didn't understand, "I understand the first type you said, but I don't understand the second and third types, can you say it in more detail?"

Elder Long smiled and said, "It seems that your master doesn't teach much in this regard! I guess you didn't even understand what the rivers and lakes were, so you crashed in, let me tell you in detail."

In fact, in addition to official roads, cities, villages and towns, there are also very large regional governments that cannot be managed. For example, roads and rivers that are not official roads, but also barren mountains and mountains, desert wastelands, Daze lakes, and even islands, these places are often haunted by Jianghu people, and their mountain gates are mostly built in these places. Although those places are not unknown to anyone, they are generally kept at a distance from the government.

And each sect has a large group of people to feed, just like ordinary people, they also have to eat, drink and lazar, so they have to make a living. For example, scholars rely on officials, farmers rely on farming, workers rely on labor, and businessmen rely on business, so what do Jianghu people rely on to make a living?"

Liu Jizu touched his head, "Do you rely on martial arts?"

Elder Long nodded and shook his head, "That's right or not, I told you earlier that walking the rivers and lakes doesn't all rely on martial arts. Of course, martial arts is one of the most important skills of Jianghu people, and it is also the most important reliance, but not all those who know martial arts are Jianghu people. Like your ancestor's family, men generally know martial arts, but except for your ancestor, none of them are from the rivers and lakes.

A long time ago, the Jianghu people were somewhat similar to the scholars, and some of them actually came from some scholars. Such scholars possessed certain special skills that they relied on to earn a living, but they deliberately stayed away from the court and the government. On the contrary, the other scholars were attached to the court and the government and made a living from it. Far away from the court and the government, these rivers and lakes and scholars were represented by the Three Ancestral Sects, and slowly formed the rivers and lakes.

Of course, this situation changed later, and many Jianghu people and Jianghu sects also began to deal with the court government in order to obtain huge benefits. This is a bigger deal, and some people even say that the current Great Zhou Dynasty was established by the academy. Otherwise, how could the academy get so many benefits in this dynasty, directly occupying the territory of almost a county, and the imperial court doesn't care, this is not normal for a Jianghu sect!"