Chapter 87 The Conflicts of the Lu Family of Pengcheng
Chapter 88 The Conflicts of the Lu Family of Pengcheng
This group of people did not engage in bullying or monopolistic practices. They found a shop and poured out a bag of pearls, all of the same size and perfectly round. The shopkeeper checked them one by one and gave them a fair price according to the trade.
The men from the canal gangs were not like the fishermen without any connections who could be bullied at will.
With a single shout from the dock, they can easily gather hundreds or even thousands of people, and smashing your shop is nothing to them.
Afterwards, another disciple will be asked to take the blame, and the family members will be taken care of by the brothers in the gang.
And it will be difficult for your shop's goods to be transported by the canal boats in the future.
The lean man in the lead nodded, counted out the silver coins one by one and put them away, then instructed a few of his men to buy some daily necessities.
They would take the goods back with the fleet and resell them to supplement their household income.
Upon exiting the shop, I found a young man with a sword standing across the street, a faint smile on his handsome face.
"Brother, Lu San of the Lansha Boat Gang under the Canal Gang, I wonder what your insights are?"
The lean man gestured to his companion to remain calm, as the probability of anyone in Danyang County harming them, who were operating under the banner of the Canal Gang, was extremely low.
The top of the three major gangs in the world relies on more than just the number of people.
The Canal Gang has seven altars and twenty-two branches, spanning the north and south of the Yangtze River. Each branch is as powerful as a medium-sized sect.
The current leader, Wei Bachuan, is a legendary figure. Born into a fishing family orphan, he rose from a boatman to become the top leader of the Southeast Branch.
He controlled this most prosperous branch of the gang for twenty years, firmly holding control of every key waterway in the Three Rivers and Seven Ports. His power was so great that the former gang leader became wary and wanted to promote him to the position of deputy gang leader in name only, thus weakening his influence.
But after a rainy night, the former gang leader and his cronies all died mysteriously.
Wei Bachuan, who had just taken over as deputy leader, successfully ascended to the throne, integrated the internal factions, and brought the Canal Gang to new heights.
No one mentions this shameful past anymore.
With his right hand wielding the Reverse Wave Palm and his left hand the Evil Dragon Hook, he was respectfully known as the Dragon of the Waterway by his fellow martial arts practitioners.
One man pacified the Blackwater Village on Taihu Lake, causing the thirty-six marshes to surrender at the mere sight of him.
Three moves were enough to kill a late-stage Nascent Soul Refining pirate from the South China Sea, deterring maritime forces from coveting the canal route for ten years.
Wei Bachuan, ranked twenty-seventh on the Earthly Ranking, is two places higher than Zhai Baishi!
"Loyalty and filial piety will endure forever, and the revival will bring auspicious omens."
Lu Li took out a token, shook it, and muttered a phrase.
"The phoenix's cry resounds far and wide, bringing glory to the nation through both civil and military affairs—it turns out to be the young master of the family; Lu San was blind."
The lean man's expression shifted, and he responded by clasping his hands in a salute.
"Do you have your own boat at the dock? Are you going back to Pengcheng or the prefectural city?"
Lu Li accepted the greeting calmly and said...
"Young master, we're heading back to Pengcheng. The cargo was unloaded at dawn, and we'll depart in an hour."
Lu San replied that the token and the inscription on the token proved that the visitor was indeed the direct descendant of the master's family.
"Okay, take me to your ship—find me anywhere to stay, and let me hitch a ride back."
Lu Li smiled sincerely, just as he was having a headache about how to return home, when he encountered his own boat.
"I still have a few things to buy. Young master, would you like to wait at the market, or have someone take you directly to the ship?"
Lu San calculated the time; there were still four or five large items he hadn't bought, and there wouldn't be enough time to make a round trip to the dock.
But without his own supervision, he feared his underlings would be ripped off by the merchants.
"It's alright, go about your business."
Lu Li waved his hand, in a good mood, and followed a seemingly clever young man to the dock.
"Brother Lu, which branch of the main family are you from? Judging from your aura, you're much stronger than the other young masters we often see. How come I've never heard of you before?"
A fierce-looking, burly man with a scar on his cheek approached and asked in a low voice.
The Lansha boatmen, numbering several thousand and over ten thousand, all depend on the Lu family for their livelihood.
The boatmen's business is not a high-class profession where you can lie in a mansion and wait to collect your dividends at the end of the year.
If they can't control the situation and don't know the tricks of the trade, this boat crew is no longer under the Lu family's control.
When members of the Lu family come of age, they either board ships or work at the docks. As long as they have the surname Lu, they will definitely be promoted faster than others.
But when it comes to boarding ships, fighting, intercepting smuggling, and protecting goods, they must be the first to step in.
The training models for young people in the main branch are different, but they are all cultivated to become future leaders.
"Ask so many questions, just do your own thing!"
Lu San cursed under his breath, wondering when such a young master had appeared in the master's household.
With his own cultivation at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, he felt a chill run down his spine as he stood before that thin, iron-like sword, and his heart pounded with unease.
This situation never happened even when dealing with the master of the house.
Only in front of that leader of the Grand Canal Gang would I uncontrollably feel a similar sensation.
Among the boats outside the Danyang County dock, three belonged to the Lu family; they were all mission boats that were narrow at both ends and wide in the middle.
The ship arrived fully loaded with various lacquerware, and after unloading, it was loaded with grain, causing it to sink three-tenths of an inch into the river.
Lu Li suggested arranging a place to stay anywhere, but Lu San, of course, couldn't do that. He tidied up a small compartment, about six or seven square meters in size.
There was a quilt laid out, a small table placed on it, and two small potted plants.
Despite the cramped cabin, this was the best treatment on the ship. Even Lu San, the fleet manager, was crammed into the cargo pile with other people.
For every extra foot of space a boat has, the profit per round trip can increase by dozens of silver dollars, without ever considering the living conditions of the boatmen.
Lu Li had no complaints. He would return by water and arrive in Pengcheng in less than ten days.
So what if sleeping is a little difficult? Can it be more arduous than riding a horse and traversing mountains and valleys?
During the day, they practiced swordsmanship in their compartments, and at night they slept soundly, with three meals a day delivered to them.
It was a rare treat to get out, so I stood on the deck for a short while to get some fresh air before returning to my room.
Over the course of a few days, everyone on the ship learned that a young master from the main family had also been on the return journey; he was taciturn and very patient.
After the boat rocked violently as it turned into the Lansha River, Lu Li, in the next cabin, put down the book in his hand and seemed to sense something: "From here on, we're in Yuzhang territory. We're finally safe."
The following day, the fleet stopped in Yichun, and some of the grain was to be delivered to the grain stores in the city as agreed.
"This should be my first time in Yichun. I can explore the whole county when I have time in the future. It's not worth coming here if you're not going to challenge strong people. It's also nice to see different landscapes."
Lu Li sighed; his progress in the Xiabu Sword Technique was slower than he had anticipated.
The biggest reason is that the climate has entered the depths of winter, and the cold wind is biting.
To comprehend the completely opposing Summer Sword Technique during such a season is truly asking the impossible.
The floating island world they traversed was in the height of summer, and it was only through the combination of other factors that they were able to successively comprehend the seasonal sword techniques.
"If only I had mastered the six sword techniques of winter back then, or even the six sword techniques of spring—the winter winds are about to thaw and hibernating insects will begin to stir, which would also match the seventy-two pentads."
Since the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword Technique cannot be improved in the short term, Lu Li can only return to cultivation if he wants to increase his strength.
To outsiders, it appears that he has only been at the Foundation Establishment stage for less than a month.
In fact, after half a year in the Floating Island world and a month in the Qingcheng world, he was not far from the limit of the early stage of Foundation Establishment.
This was mainly thanks to the Tian Shu Hall in Qingcheng Mountain, where his cultivation in the few days before leaving was equivalent to several months of practice in the outside world.
"The passes are difficult to pass, and the bottlenecks are hard to break through, especially for someone like me with poor aptitude. Even with the help of breakthrough pills, I still have to try many times before I have a chance. I have to thank the Xia Clan Sword Technique for honing my sword intent and strengthening my internal energy. At the critical moment, the four techniques combined their power, and this sword intent helped me break through. How could I not succeed?"
Lu Li estimated that his sword intent was still three-tenths lacking, and he only regretted that the idiot Silver Fish Envoy of the Thieves' Office, otherwise he would still be in Wu County at this moment.
Perhaps I can challenge a few talented individuals from the southeast, or observe a few duels among the top-ranked individuals, so that my sword intent can reach the required level.
But this person, for some unknown reason, insisted on imprisoning the four and confiscating their weapons, which was unacceptable to him.
The Nebula Compass will be activated in a couple of days. If this thing is exposed, the consequences will be more serious than killing all the officers of the Thieves' Bureau present.
"Perhaps, we could seek help from renowned masters within the county—"
"So it was Brother Li. Brother Lu told me, but I never imagined it was any of my brothers."
A warm greeting from behind interrupted Lu Li's thoughts.
Turning around, I saw Lu San and a calm and capable young man walking towards me from the direction of the dock.
"It's Fifth Brother, long time no see."
Lu Li searched through his memories and finally found the corresponding face among the faces at the family New Year's Eve gathering: Lu Xiangsheng from the second branch of the family.
The Lu family of Pengcheng rose to prominence in just a few generations, yet they mastered the rules of aristocratic families and clearly distinguished between the main and collateral branches.
The current patriarch is still alive, and all five sons of the family are direct descendants, enjoying superior treatment.
But the old master is over a hundred years old. Once he passes away, the eldest son of the main branch will become the main lineage, while the other four branches will become minor lineages, not much better than the collateral branches.
Not only will they have to move out of their ancestral home and find their own place to live, but they will also no longer be entitled to the clan's annual dividends.
How much you can earn depends entirely on your own efforts and also on your position.
All the sons and daughters of the family are working very hard, hoping to climb to a high position as much as possible in the next few years, and Lu Xiangsheng is one of them.
If I remember correctly, Lu Li was one of the cousins who laughed the most when he failed to temper his body, showing that he was dull-witted back then.
"Long time no see! If I saw you outside, I wouldn't even recognize you—why isn't Li Di at the academy? You went to Danyang County and then came back by boat? Could it be that studying at Bailu Academy was too boring and you went out to find some fun? Haha!"
Lu Xiangsheng chuckled twice. The figure standing with his hands behind his back was almost mistaken for a strange expert passing by the dock if one didn't look closely.
The deep pool and towering peaks resemble a straight, long sword standing there, their presence almost matching that of the masters in the city.
Given the opportunity to go to Bailu Academy, who would want to come to the dock? It took me seven whole years to go from a laborer carrying loads to a dock manager.
He was a prominent figure in Yichun City, looking very imposing, and every year he would bring home hundreds of gold coins as dividends.
However, his path in martial arts was cut off when he came to the dock at the age of eighteen.
The Lu family was large and powerful, but they didn't have the ability to get every direct descendant of the Lu family to join the Bailu Academy.
They are only Pengcheng Lu, not Yuzhang Luo, much less Wujun Lu.
If it weren't for the heavy losses suffered by the Fifth Branch in that bloody battle, with many dying, the precious spot at Bailu Academy would not have fallen into Lu Li's hands.
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