Qing Yao

Chapter 163 Teacher Zhao is also a hoodlum
No one dared to voice their concern: whether the uncle would betray his apprentice.

Although this possibility is very small, because betraying one's master or disciple is equivalent to betraying one's master and ancestors, and according to the gang rules, one should be stabbed three times and pierced through the heart.

But who can guarantee that Uncle won't do that?

The master and apprentice had completely opposite attitudes toward the matter of cutting off the canal. If the branch sergeant did something wrong as instructed by the young master, the first person the canal transport authorities would retaliate against would definitely be the uncle, who was in charge of the branch sergeant.

From the very beginning, all actions were announced in the name of Uncle Ye. Apart from the higher-ups in charge, the brothers below had no idea that this was Young Master's idea.

To protect himself, might the old man be blinded by greed?
No one said anything.

Zhao An knew what they were thinking, but he didn't expose them. He calmly told everyone to continue with the original plan.

"Unless the canal transport authorities come to us on their own initiative, this matter absolutely cannot be stopped!"

After saying that, Zhao An added, "As for whether my identity will be known by the canal transport authorities, don't worry. Even if they do know, it won't matter. I have my own arrangements."

After hearing this, everyone could only nod. Since the young master had said so, they couldn't say anything they shouldn't.

Zhao An planned to go back and rest for a while, and then check if anything was wrong at the prefectural school. Zhuang Yingjiu rushed over to report some news, saying that the first gang members had gotten into a fight with someone at the Xiaguan Wharf.

"A fight has broken out? Which group is so bold as to fight against our Canal Gang? Is it Blind Wang or Scholar Li?"

The "blind man" Wang mentioned by Anshun is not actually blind, but Wang Laixi, who lost one eye in a fight.

This man was a street thug in his early years, but somehow he rose to become a big shot in Yangzhou, with several thousand men working for him.

His main business was running opium dens, making him arguably the biggest opium trafficker in Yangzhou.

Li Erxiu is a true scholar who made his fortune in the business of selling young women as prostitutes. He now controls at least 40% of the brothel industry around Slender West Lake and is extremely wealthy.

Two years ago, Jiangxi suffered a drought, and many people had to sell their children and women to make a living. Li Erxiucai led a group of people to Jiangxi to buy girls and train them to be "skinny horses" (a euphemism for prostitutes). He brought back more than 900 girls by boat in one trip, which shows his wealth.

Unlike Blind Wang, whose reputation was terrible, Li Erxiucai had a good reputation among the people of Yangzhou because he was charitable and often donated money to help the poor. During the summer floods in Xiahe, Li Erxiucai spent his own money to transport thousands of bushels of grain from other places and distribute them to the people in the disaster area.

The Confucian temple in Jiangdu County was also donated by Li Erxiucai. In addition, he donated 10,000 taels of silver to purchase 1200 mu of fertile land for use as school land in Jiangdu County.

The Jiangning Provincial Administration Office specially petitioned the court for praise on behalf of Li Erxiucai, and as a result, the old master awarded him a sixth-rank official hat.

Of course, this official hat is for candidates.

Li Erxiucai could never actually become a sixth-rank official, but with his status as a candidate official, he not only made a name for himself in the underworld, but also became very close to the officials.

There are many protective umbrellas.

He also held a clear advantage over Blind Wang on the road to Yangzhou.

Both of them were capable of competing with the Canal Gang. After all, although the Canal Gang had 40,000 members in Yangzhou, only a few thousand were actually engaged in gang activities.

Anshun estimated that the conflict arose because the canal gangs' refusal to allow boats to sail affected the business of Blind Wang or Scholar Li.

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Yingjiu said that it wasn't these two good guys from Yangzhou City, but a man named Jiao Zheng who led a group to fight with the canal gang.

"Who is this Jiao Zheng?"

Zhao An had never heard of this person's name.

Anshun frowned and said, "Jiao Zheng is a salt transporter, Young Master, this man is a bit troublesome."

"Why?" Zhao An gestured for An Shun to sit down and speak.

Anshun didn't sit down, but stood there and said that Jiao Zheng had a lot of power, with four fleets of ships, each with hundreds of boats and more than a thousand men. In addition, Jiao Zheng also owned two salt fields by the sea, employing tens of thousands of salt producers.

"Our canal gang isn't afraid of Jiao Zheng on its own, but Jiao Zheng is backed by the Ma family, the head merchants."

The Ma family, which Anshun mentioned, is Ma Zhenbo, one of the eight major salt merchants. His father, Ma Riguan, was engaged in the salt business in Yangzhou during the Kangxi era, and the family's production capacity was in the tens of millions of taels. Moreover, more than ten years ago, Ma Zhenbo was awarded the rank of second-grade official by his grandfather for donating 125 million taels of silver to the Jinchuan front.

He is another official salt merchant, second only to Jiang Chun, the head merchant who was bankrupted by the old master last year.

Jiang Chun was a first-rank official.

However, the old master did not soften his hand with this first-rank official hat and the glorious history of welcoming the emperor six times.

Jiao Zheng himself was already a "tyrant," and the head merchant behind him, Ma Zhenbo, was the biggest official salt merchant. It is said that although Huang Juntai was the richest salt merchant on the surface, Ma Zhenbo was actually the richest man.

The Ma family had tens of millions of taels of silver in their coffers, but because Ma Zhenbo was a low-key person and not as "showy" as Huang Juntai, outsiders thought that Master Huang was more impressive.

The canal gang is currently fighting with the canal transport authorities. If they were to clash with Jiao Zheng and the Ma family behind him, it would certainly be detrimental to the canal gang.

Therefore, Anshun's idea was to send someone to withdraw the gang members from the dock, and then have him represent the canal gang to pay a visit to the Jiao family, trying to win Jiao Zheng's support for the canal gang's "strike" cause. If that really couldn't be done, then he would give Jiao Zheng face and let his family provide a boat.

Zhao An remained noncommittal, then looked at Ding Jiu: "What does Uncle Ding think?"

"This is a critical moment, and it's best not to create any unnecessary complications."

Ding Jiu's intentions were similar to An Shun's; both wanted to avoid conflict with the salt merchants.

The two leaders of the second and third gangs didn't want to clash with Jiao Zheng either, because they all knew how formidable this Boss Jiao was.

Zhao An seemed to be thinking about something, and asked An Shuntou how many people he could mobilize at most.

Anshun said he could mobilize about two thousand people, but because the head gang had many businesses, it was impossible to draw all the people to participate in cutting off the canal.

How many members of the Jiao family came from the dock?

Zhao An was asking about Zhuang Yingjiu, who had come to deliver the message.

There are probably around a thousand people.

Zhuang Yingjiu was just guessing; he didn't know exactly how many people from the Jiao family had come, he only knew that the dock was packed with people.

Zhao An nodded and asked An Shun, "If we fight Jiao Zheng, how many people can the Jiao family send over at most?"

"We should be able to get three to five thousand people."

Anshun was a little unsure, and even more unsure of what Shaojun was planning to do.

"Then let's fight the Jiao family. If the first gang isn't enough, we'll bring in the second and third gangs! Send the word down that all the brothers from the second and third gangs should go to the docks, and bring knives if they can."

Zhao An stood up and threw his Young Lord token in front of the leaders of the Second and Third Gangs. "Tell the brothers that everyone who goes will receive one tael of silver. No matter how many people are on the other side, beat them up. If anyone is killed or injured, the gang leader and I, as the Young Lord, will be responsible!"

After saying that, he turned to Zhuang Yingjiu and instructed her: "Go to the Ganquan County government office and ask Magistrate Ding to leave the docks alone today."

(End of this chapter)