The Caobang in the early Ming Dynasty was just established.
But at this time, Caobang was an out-and-out behemoth.
If placed in the world of martial arts, Caobang is definitely the top force in the world.
How could it be tolerated that there were martial artists in the martial arts world who could make a name for themselves by relying on the Cao Gang?
Then, the merchant ship on which Pig's Feet was traveling was directly penetrated by a water ghost and sank in a section of the canal not far from home.
Except for Pig's Foot, who managed to escape with his life, all the people on the boat, including his father, died in the water.
Pigfoot was so distraught that he finally escaped from the chase and returned home covered with scars, only to find that his home was in ruins.
After some inquiring, I learned that there was a fire at home not long ago, and no one in the family, including the servants, survived.
Pig's feet almost collapsed, and he naturally knew that it was Caobang's work.
However, he never expected that the Cao Gang would be so ruthless and kill everyone. Aren't they afraid of being investigated by the government?
Zhujiao did not believe in evil, so he went directly to the local government to report the case, claiming that the Cao Gang had wiped out his entire family, and begged the government to provide justice.
This report was outrageous and directly shocked the local government and all local powerful people.
If it hadn't been for that night, a yamen agent who had received favors from his family quietly came to the door and asked him to run away immediately, otherwise something unexpected would have happened.
The pig's feet, which had become a frightened bird, ran away without saying a word, thus avoiding a possible fatal disaster.
According to the yamen servant, the power of the Cao Gang was quite astonishing, and it had a close relationship with the Caoyun Yamen. It also had considerable interests with the government officials of the towns along the canal.
It can be said that many government offices are Caobang's own people, including the county where his hometown is.
Later, he felt lucky when he heard that the next day, a county official sent someone to the inn where he was temporarily staying to pick up someone.
As a young man from a wealthy family, he naturally heard about the methods inside the yamen.
Whenever you enter the yamen, you can either take money to lead the person out immediately, or wait for the skin to peel off. This is still the best result.
Many innocent people entered the yamen prison and came out with corpses.
The audience was quite shocked by this passage.
In particular, this chapter is called ‘Many Wronged Souls in the Prosperous Age’!
For a time, all the listeners with a little social experience could not hold back their desire to express their feelings to their companions.
"This story is very realistic. It makes me feel creepy when I hear it!"
"Who says it isn't? This kind of thing doesn't happen in novels. It's just that people haven't spoken about it. After all, it's still very risky!"
"Yes, the powerful regard the common people as nothing. Aren't those local tycoons and Jianghu gangs with certain strength just like birds?"
"If you offend them, you won't get any good fruit."
"Yes, it can range from losing money and eliminating disasters at the least, to ruining families and people at the worst. How can ordinary people like us withstand it?"
"I dare to write 'overwhelming mountains and seas'. The Cao Gang is not a force only found in novels. If it attracts the attention of the real Cao Gang, it is no joke!"
"You may not know that the power of the Cao Gang in our dynasty should be much stronger than that of the pre-Ming Dynasty. After all, it has been operating for hundreds of years from the founding of the country to the present!"
"Wouldn't it be a pity if such a wonderful novel was suddenly interrupted because of the fear of retaliation for 'The Mountains and Seas'?"
"Oh, when it comes to the novel Pig's Feet, it's really impulsive!"
"My own father was reprimanded as if he were a grandson. It's just that he has no ability. Pig's Feet has strong martial arts, how can he hold it back?"
"Indeed, Zhujiao is just a young man who has just gone out to practice. How did he know that Caobang acted so ruthlessly and decisively?"
"I don't know what the plot will be like. I hope it's not an ordinary revenge story, otherwise it will be too disappointing for me!"
"Definitely not. With the 'overwhelming' writing style, the following plots will only be more exciting!"
"Hey, I'm very interested in the plot of pig's trotters practicing martial arts. Such descriptions make my heart and blood surge with excitement!"
"'Pai Shan Da Hai' himself must be a warrior, and his strength is quite strong. Otherwise, how could he write the martial arts training plot in such a detailed and exciting way?"
"If I didn't know what kind of martial arts pig's feet are practiced in the novel, I would have followed the plot description in the novel and practiced with them. It would be great if I could practice martial arts!"
"Practicing martial arts is a very hard job. Training in winter and winter is no joke. There is also a large supply of medicinal materials and meat. Of course, if you are successful in martial arts, you will be really good!"
"You may not know, but I have a friend who runs a martial arts gym. According to him, the novel about pig's trotters practicing martial arts is not fictional and is quite real!"
"According to him, the strength of Novel Pig's Trotter can be regarded as a general expert in the martial arts world. He is also very interested in the martial arts training experience of Novel Pig's Trotter, saying that it contains a lot of skills!"
"Is it true? I read that the pig's trotters exercise pattern in the novel is very ordinary. There is nothing surprising about it!"
"I also asked my friend who runs a martial arts gym this way. He said that when it comes to basic training, the training methods of each martial arts school are similar, and some of the powerful ones look quite ordinary!"
"It's a bit exaggerated. If you really want to say that, wouldn't the pig's feet in the novel be quite powerful?"
"It's really powerful. Otherwise, how could he defeat a Cao gang thug who was assigned to the helm with one person?"
"..."
Not only the listeners in the restaurants and tea shops were talking about this plot of the novel, and they kept expressing various sighs. Even the powerful people were quite shocked.
Of course, they didn't think this plot in the novel was too cruel, it wasn't the case at all.
As many ordinary listeners said, how could the powerful see the life and death of ordinary people in their eyes, let alone be shocked in their hearts.
The main reason why I felt uneasy was because I felt incredible about how powerful the Cao Gang was in the novel.
According to the novel, the governments of the towns along the canal basically have in-depth intersections of interests with the Cao Gang, which is no joke.
In other words, through the secret support of the government in the towns along the canal, Caobang has partial control of the canal, which is actually almost the same as the government.
This is something that the imperial court, that is, the dignitaries, dislike very much. Once it happens, they will either put it out immediately, or they will become one of the profit distributors in this circle.
In addition, I was shocked by Caobang's ruthless determination in the novel.
Damn it, just because of the issue of face, directly wiping out a powerful merchant family is going too far.
What makes them dare to be so unscrupulous?
Since the family in the novel Pig's Foot is a family of quite powerful merchants, they naturally have a good network of connections.
How is it possible to say that there is no official backing?
No matter what era it is in, once a merchant's house develops to a certain level, if it wants to go further, it will need the support of government resources, otherwise it will wait to be carved up by other merchant forces.
Such things are quite ordinary in the eyes of the powerful.
However, they instinctively dislike the Cao Gang's gangster style in the novel.
No one likes the use of force at every turn and ruthless tactics such as destroying families and destroying families.
Is it true that in the novel, if the Cao Gang confronts powerful people like them, they will not hesitate to suppress them with force?
How can a so-called wealthy family compare to the wealthy and powerful Cao Gang in terms of pure personal force?
If you accidentally encounter a sneak attack, you may be destroyed directly.
How could the powerful and powerful people not be disturbed at the mere thought of such a possibility?
You must know that the warriors in the world of Red Mansion are comparable to those in the world of Dragon and Snake. They all practice Qi and Blood martial arts, and the top masters are quite powerful.
Because there are immortals living in this world, the martial arts ceiling is much higher than in the world of Dragon and Snake.
Although there are not many strong men like Wang Chao in Daqian, they are not too rare. There are even stronger warriors.
It can be said that it is not a myth that a top strong person can defeat an army.
However, the dynasty has its own means to suppress or even eliminate them. In addition, there are sects, religions, and sects such as Buddhism and Taoism to restrain them, so they do not dare to force themselves forward randomly.
The martial arts ceiling in the world of Red Mansion is extremely high, and the warriors below are naturally very powerful.
The nobles knew this well, and were naturally quite wary of the forces that had many powerful warriors. The Caobang in the novel was definitely among the best.
Naturally, from the plot of the novel, I thought of Caobang in reality.
With an inquiring mind, the powerful people wanted to find out whether the Caobang in reality was also so arrogant and overbearing?
Thinking about the previous court battles, many dignitaries who heard the plot of the novel couldn't help but trembled: It's really possible!
The battle that affected most of the court had just ended not long ago, and some powerful people were still involved. How could it be forgotten so quickly?
I just didn't expect that there were so many courtiers who had interests intersecting with the Cao Gang.
In addition, what they are more concerned about right now is the force of the Cao Gang itself.
It just so happened that in order to compete for the share of private salt in Huaiyang land, the Caobang and Huaiyang salt merchants fought fiercely, revealing a lot of their true strength.
The private salt dealers under the Huaiyang salt merchants, as well as the private armed forces they recruited themselves, are no joke. There are quite a lot of masters among them, and there is no shortage of desperadoes, who are quite ferocious.
Otherwise, why would they have the courage to target the Yangzhou Salt Patrol Censor?
However, such a powerful private force was defeated in a direct confrontation with the Cao Gang and suffered heavy casualties. In the end, it had to surrender its huge private interests. This shows the tyranny of the Cao Gang's martial arts.
As for tyrannical private force, the powerful people who heard the plot of the novel were quite afraid of it at this time.
If they had a conflict of interest with the Caobang, wouldn't their lives be in danger?
Even if you offend the current generation, at worst, you will resign and return to your hometown or be transferred to a remote place, and your life will generally not be in danger. But offending a mere gangster force is even more dangerous, which is simply ridiculous.
In short, some powerful people who have no interest entanglement with the Caobang have a bad impression of the Caobang.
The "shattering" novel is still very attractive. Not only some powerful people like it, but even today when they have free time, they don't forget to listen to it.
If the emperor wanted to hear stories, he would naturally have the eunuchs in the palace to help him. There was no need to ask for the help of so-called storytellers from outside.
In the Ming Palace, Xiang Daiquan naturally stood aside and listened.
Naturally, he knew who "Passing Mountains and Seas" was, and he truly admired Jia Rong's writing ability.
Even with his knowledge and experience, every time he hears the plot of the novel, he can't help but be immersed in it, it's quite exciting.
What's even more exaggerated is that the "overwhelming" novel has a very obvious feature, which is that it is grounded and closely connected with the real situation.
The first novel "The Biography of Chen Shimei" severely exposed some of the unspoken rules of the imperial examination. Jin Jin sent royal spies to secretly investigate because of this, and Jin Jin lost his temper.
The reality is more cruel than the novel. As in the novel, it is very difficult for a poor family member like Chen Shimei to stand out in the imperial examination. This is something that is difficult to accept today.
A lot of thought has been put into the recent imperial examinations and a lot of adjustments have been made, with the purpose of providing a better path for students from poor families to advance.
But as far as Dai Quan knew, the effect was not very good.
In fact, if a child from a poor family does not enter an academy to study, his knowledge and abilities will be much inferior to those of the academy students, unless he encounters that kind of genius.
In the imperial examination competition, they were naturally unable to compete with those academy students who had undergone special training.
According to what Jia Rong said when he was having a drink and chatting with him one time, if we really want to give children from poor families more opportunities, we must give full play to the role of official schools in various places and compete with academies in various places for the best students.
He thought it made sense, but he had never mentioned it before.
People who are emperors actually don't have much patience.
What I like to see the most is good things that can produce results quickly, rather than so-called "ten-year plans" that take ten or even decades to see results.
To put it bluntly, it is hard to say whether the emperor will live long enough to see the results.
Of course, that novel made today's public aware of the famous names and methods in the imperial examination. Deliberate precautions still have some effect, at least it will not give the opportunity to those who are just trying to get ahead.
He intentionally or unintentionally suppressed well-known academies in various places, and also became disgusted with Donglin Academy in the south, which liked to discuss government affairs.
The second novel "Treasure Bowl" gives today a clear understanding of people's livelihood and the needs and thoughts of the people at the bottom.
Especially when Xiaomin wants to turn over through hard work, he has a very clear understanding of the hardships he will encounter.
He also has a lot of understanding of the local powerful people and the style and methods of local government agencies.
Combined with the analysis of the information collected through various channels of royal spies, general affairs offices, and secret service agencies, we naturally have a vague general idea of the underlying situation of the Daqian Dynasty.
This is already not easy. In fact, in addition to the founding emperor, there are several emperors who know something about the bottom, and it is quite good to have a vague concept...
The weather suddenly turned cold. I slept for almost a day and just didn't want to get up.