Chapter 583: The Storm Rises
As you step out of the Jiangnan Road, you can see stretches of mountains and forests as far as the eye can see. There is relatively little trade on this road, and most of the trade relies on sea transportation from Quanzhou, so the areas along the way are relatively poor.

It is said that beautiful flowers cannot grow in barren land, and even if there are, they are poisonous.

The same is true here.

Most of the caravans on the road are equipped with bodyguards. This scene is relatively rare in other places, even in the war-torn area of ​​Central Plains. You can imagine how high the risk is along the way.

“The Exiled Land is indeed the Exiled Land.”

Xia Lin and his two companions spent ten taels of silver to let the caravan take them for a distance. They sat in the horse-drawn carriage, hugging their knees and chatting, and from time to time they would joke with the bodyguards on both sides.

The profession of bodyguard is actually a standard person of the underworld. Just like the Fuwei Escort Agency in “Swordsman”, it is essentially a sect. The means of fighting and killing are only used to deal with small bandits. If they really encounter big horse thieves or mountain bandits, they still have to rely on the escort agency’s social connections in the underworld.

“This area is far from the government. Strictly speaking, it is governed by two relatively large bandit gangs.” Xu Shiji pointed to the surrounding mountains and forests while holding a map and said, “There is a river ahead. The two bandit gangs have been dividing and governing the area based on the river for some time.”

“We will go to pay respect to the mountain gate later.” The second brother was very single at the moment: “Don’t let them cause trouble for us.”

Xia Lin leaned against the box and followed the ups and downs of the road. “Don’t count on it. We were targeted the moment we came in. The escorts of these caravans have accomplices from the surrounding bandits. Some of the escort agencies are even run by them. Someone will definitely come to kidnap Lord Mao tonight.”

“Why? Why did you tie me up?” Xu Shiji laughed. He felt that it was too speechless. “Why is it me?”

“You are showing off, you are showing off your wealth.” Xia Lin used a dogtail grass to pick his ears. “We will reach Yao County in one hour. Once we get there, they will start to think about taking action.”

The second brother didn’t say anything at this moment. He just silently tightened the spear in his hand, with his eyes half closed like a killing god.

Xu Shiji laughed happily: “If others didn’t know, they would really think you have worked in this field and know everything about it.”

Xia Lin raised his head and said, “You’ve seen pigs run even if you haven’t eaten pork. You should know that since the rebellion of the King of Lingnan, I have also been in charge of Lingnan Road. I must know the ins and outs here. But sometimes there is really no way.”

In such a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, the three of them arrived at the final destination of this trip, Yao County, Guizhou, Lingnan Road.

Logically speaking, the county town should be a place to rely on, right? In fact, it is quite the opposite. This place is the backyard of those big gangs. The plot of Let the Bullets Fly is not exactly the same here, but it is almost 70% similar.

Because the emperor is far away, the county magistrate’s words are not heard here at all, and if there are any unusual movements, the county magistrate may be beheaded tomorrow just after he said he wanted to suppress the bandits today.

Hey, someone will say, a county magistrate was killed by someone, doesn’t the court care?

I want to manage it, but how? This place is nearly 4,000 miles away from the Jinling court. In addition, the information here is blocked and the mobility of people is very small. Moreover, it is also a smoky place in Lingnan. What if they die of acclimatization? So when you come here, you have to coil up like a dragon and lie down like a tiger.

When we arrived at Yao County, we found that this place had a completely different style from the county towns in Jiangnan Road. It seemed a bit ancient and isolated. Many people wearing local ethnic costumes were doing business on the streets, and the few acres of land in the county town were quite bustling.

Xia Lin and the other two jumped off the car, said goodbye to the escort and went into the county town. It was the first time for all three of them to come to this southwestern area, so everything they saw was new to them.

However, the second brother was obviously a little irritable. Because the humidity and temperature were high in this place, the second brother was afraid of the heat and was covered in sweat in a short while.

“Let’s find a place to rest our feet. This place is so hot that I’m dying.”

“Okay, let’s take a break.” Xia Lin looked around for a while and found a place that looked like a restaurant: “Let’s go there.”

They had heard along the way that Yao County was a place where few people came a few years ago. However, with the busy business of the salt and horse caravans in recent years, this small county with a population of only 8,000 people has gradually prospered.

Some people gradually opened inns, restaurants, gambling houses and even semi-registered brothels here to cater to the merchants who came and went.

But to be honest, everyone in this place seems to be a bad person, it feels like I’m in the Golden Triangle instead of Guizhou.

The three of them sat down and ordered a bowl of the local special sour rice porridge. The second brother was thirsty and drank the rice porridge in one gulp, but the next moment the rice porridge sprayed out of his nostrils and mouth.

“Damn, what a smell!”

Xu Shiji clapped his thigh and laughed at his embarrassed look, while Xia Lin also hid far away with the bowl in his hand and said, “This stuff is fermented from rice soup, it’s very sour, and you have to eat it with condiments. Just thinking about you taking a bite like this gives me chills.”

“You are right, little brother. This soup can stimulate the appetite and is perfect for drinking when the weather is hot and irritable. The right way to drink it is in small sips. You are like a cow chewing a peony.” Several people were laughing and making noises, but there was someone next to them who kept looking at them. There was a very purposeful look in his eyes, and it could be seen that this was the bandits’ spies in the city.

“You two did it on purpose!” The second brother wiped his face clean and cursed with a smile: “Assholes!”

After Xia Lin and Xu Shiji had dealt with their second brother, they sat down and started to eat and drink. They were all hungry from the journey, so they didn’t talk much during the meal and just ate and drank.

When they were halfway through their meal, a few people suddenly walked in from outside. After scanning the store, they immediately locked onto Xia Lin and the other two. The leader walked up to their table, bent over, and whispered, “Three of you, be careful. Someone is watching you.”

The second brother raised his head and looked at the man and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Oh, I am a humble man from the Jiaolong Gang of Guangfu. The Jiaolong Gang wants to take over this area and build a trade route with Guangfu, so the gang steward ordered me to remind the merchants to be careful of bandits.”

Seeing this man’s gentle appearance, the second brother became interested: “Oh? Jiaolong Gang, I haven’t heard of it. Where did you come from?”

Seeing that the second brother was rude, the man didn’t say anything, but put down a bamboo nameplate and said, “The location of the Jiaolong Gang is on it. If you encounter any trouble, you can go and find it. Naturally, someone will help you settle the problem.”

He left after saying this, but one could clearly sense the presence of the bandits in the inn. The murderous intent in their eyes seemed capable of killing the members of the Jiaolong Gang.

“Jiaolong Gang? Interesting.” Xia Lin picked up the nameplate and flipped it over: “Are you all here?”

“Oh?” Xu Shiji heard his mumbling and asked curiously, “Third brother, what’s this? Do you know?”

“More than knowing.” Xia Lin laughed loudly: “Look at this sign, there is a dragon on the front, what is on the back?”

“The hexagrams of Qian and Kun represent heaven and earth. The hexagrams of Qian and Kun represent heaven and earth.”

“Yes, the Tiandihui.” Xia Lin clapped his hands on the table and laughed loudly, then lowered his voice and said, “This is what I organized in Guangzhou!”

Even though the Jiaolong Gang didn’t know about it, the Tiandihui was still very famous in the underworld. It was said to be a gang that suddenly emerged in the past few years, and first made its fortune in Guangzhou. Because they acted upright and chivalrously, people would seek their help for matters that the government could not handle.

As time went on, a large number of peddlers, low-level professionals, and others joined the Tiandihui, and they quietly took control of the underground world of Guangzhou. Their gang rules were very strict, and they enforced all thirty-six rules very strictly. This was a very rare gang in recent years, and even in the past two years, even the government would actively seek cooperation with them to complete the jurisdiction of a region.

“It’s you?” The second brother obviously didn’t believe it: “That’s the Tiandihui, you haven’t even been to the underworld.”

Xia Lin raised his head and laughed: “Second brother, you underestimated me, it’s really me.”

At this moment, Xu Shiji nodded: “I do believe that the things that Third Brother does are always strange and interesting. They always make people happy.”

However, from this simple little bamboo sign, we can tell that the Tiandihui is probably already very strong and they are also slowly expanding their sphere of influence, even extending from Cantonese to here. They should be fighting against the local bullies at the moment, so they would do such an obvious act of sabotage.

The local tyrants are indeed terrifying, but we must know that the forces behind the Tiandihui are essentially the forces of Cen Wenben and Xia Lin. Cen Wenben has been in Guangzhou for many years, and although he cannot completely solve the problems of Guangzhou as a whole, for the sake of policy continuity, he must have trained a large number of his own people. So strictly speaking, Guangzhou, as the core of Lingnan Road, still has a huge radiation effect on the entire Lingnan.

As a branch of the Tiandihui, the Jiaolong Gang probably came here with a mission. After all, they can easily reach places that the government cannot reach.

After finishing his meal, Xia Lin held the bamboo sign in his hand, thought for a moment, and said, “Why don’t we go take a look at the Jiaolong Gang? It’s still early.”

“Let’s go. I’d like to see some of them.” Xu Shiji said with a smile, “See if they can recognize you as their boss.”

Xia Lin waved his hand: “I guess I can’t recognize it.”

The three of them came to the location of the Jiaolong Gang together. They didn’t expect that their base was quite grand. There were guards in blue standing at the door, and outside was a busy street, even more busy than the main street they had just visited.

“Hey, this place is interesting.” Xu Shiji looked back and said, “It’s just across the street, but the two sides are clearly separated.”

“I guess this is the territory under the jurisdiction of the Jiaolong Gang. We should be heading to the gang’s territory.”

After Xia Lin looked around, he came to the gate of the Jiaolong Gang, bowed to the two gatekeepers, showed the bamboo sign and said, “Please pass the message.”

(End of this chapter)