All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

However, when he saw that there were still several hundred people at the bottom of the city wall who did not seem to be cheering, he immediately guessed that these people must be the villagers from Bailu Plain, and that they were the leaders of this group. If their anger was not quelled, there would obviously be no way to end the situation.

He immediately looked into the city and saw Tian Fuxian leading a dozen or so people stumbling toward him in the distance. They were the villagers that Tian Fuxian had arrested yesterday.

County Chief Shi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly raised his hand again, shouting down to the crowd.

"Fellow villagers of Bailu Plain, what happened yesterday was a misunderstanding. I will personally arrange for people to escort you out of the city after you leave, and the grain collected yesterday will be returned to you intact. Please rest assured!"

County Chief Shi's words left the villagers of Bailuyuan looking at each other in bewilderment, and finally all of them looked at Bai Jiaxuan, who was leading the way.

Bai Jiaxuan looked up at County Chief Shi, then glanced at the cheering crowd behind him, and immediately knew that this operation was about to come to an end.

Chinese peasants have always been one of the easiest groups to satisfy. As long as the government can give them even a little bit of a way to make a living, they will not rebel.

This promise from County Chief Shi clearly satisfied everyone!

Bai Jiaxuan then waved his hand, signaling everyone to retreat!

Finally, the massive agricultural trade movement was a complete success.

Bai Jiaxuan led several hundred men of all ages from Bailuyuan back several miles and stood by the roadside to wait.

Sure enough, not long after, a dozen or so donkey carts and horse-drawn carriages loaded with grain drove toward them, carrying Lu Zilin and his nineteen men.

The dozen or so men were still in a daze. From being tricked by Tian Fuxian yesterday, to being whipped, and then spending a night in fear, they were bewildered to be released and put back in their carts with the untouched grain on them. This left everyone dumbfounded.

It wasn't until everyone saw Bai Jiaxuan and his group that they finally burst into tears.

Upon seeing the untouched grain and the unharmed people, the hundreds of people of Bailu Plain cheered in unison. They drove the grain carts, surrounding Bai Jiaxuan, and headed towards Bailu Plain.

At this moment, Bai Jiaxuan's reputation reached its peak, and he was shining brightly in everyone's eyes.

However, only Bai Jiaxuan, who was riding on horseback, knew that if he were an ordinary person, after doing all this, he would probably be close to death.

Those lords in the county are probably already plotting how to skin them alive.

Even if they were skinned alive, the other party probably wouldn't dare to turn against them immediately; they would still need to make some preparations.

Bai Jiaxuan was also secretly planning his next move.

Time is running out; I need to get ready to leave!

At this moment, Lu San was nowhere to be seen among the hundreds of people. He had quietly gone to find someone, as Bai Jiaxuan had instructed.

After returning to Bailu Plain, Bai Jiaxuan distributed the grain to everyone and then stopped publicizing the matter. He then began to grind the collected Chinese medicinal herbs and finally mixed them according to the proportions.

He would occasionally take some time to visit the Sanguan Temple next to Bailuyuan and stay there for half a day, but he never mentioned it to anyone.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Bai Jiaxuan saw that the aftermath of the last agricultural handover campaign was gradually calming down, and he guessed that the time for the group of old men in the county town to make their move against him was getting closer and closer.

That day, Bai Jiaxuan quietly told a few of his uncles about his upcoming trip. Although they were somewhat surprised, they did not try to dissuade him.

Bai Jiaxuan, along with Lu San, had Shi Tou drive a carriage to take the two of them.

Just as the carriage left Bailu Plain, a monk boarded it along the way. The four of them got into the carriage and headed directly to Chang'an City instead of Zishui County.

In the afternoon, the group arrived at the city of Xi'an. The three of them got off the carriage. Bai Jiaxuan, Lu San, and a monk each carried a 20-kilogram burlap sack, which was filled with medicinal powder prepared by Bai Jiaxuan.

Bai Jiaxuan told Shi Tou to stay overnight at an inn outside Xi'an before returning home, and gave him two silver dollars so he could have a good meal.

Bai Jiaxuan then led Lu San and the monk into Xi'an, leaving Shi Tou looking on with envy.

Bai Jiaxuan's destination this time is Shanghai. The reason for going to Shanghai is...

There were two reasons: first, to sell medicine; and second, to see if they could buy some weapons.

Actually, there was another reason. Last year, when he was in Zishui County, he overheard a merchant bragging in a teahouse that he had seen Huo Yuanjia fight with foreigners in Shanghai a few years ago. Huo Yuanjia was a master of martial arts and brought glory to the Chinese people. Huo Yuanjia's Jingwu School was the number one martial arts school in Shanghai!

When Bai Jiaxuan heard about the Jingwu School and Huo Yuanjia, his first thought was, "Is this yet another world that merges?"

Regardless of whether it's a merged world or not, since I've come to this world, it would be a shame not to visit Shanghai!

Thus, Bai Jiaxuan made this trip to Shanghai!

As for the monk who got on the bus with him this time, he was the first underling he had taken in, and also the first fierce general he was preparing to build into a bandit army!

Chapter 12

The monk who came with them was originally named Zheng Mang, nicknamed Mang'er. He was originally from the western part of Guanzhong. When he was young, his father sent him to learn carpentry from a carpenter named Wang in a nearby town.

Zheng Mang stayed at his master's house for five years. In his youth, Zheng Mang was handsome and exceptionally intelligent.

Of the two fellow apprentices who studied with him, he was the last to arrive, but he was the one who mastered the skills the most. In less than three years of apprenticeship, he was able to independently craft carriages and horse fittings.

At that time, the master had a young daughter named Wang Cuier. The two were young men and women, and their passion was like dry wood meeting a raging fire. They fell in love in no time.

Cui'er was Zheng Mang's ideal woman, whom he cherished dearly. He had always planned to confess this to his master, even willing to become a live-in son-in-law.

But before he could say that, his affair with Cui'er was discovered by his second senior brother. Seeing Cui'er, whom he had always been unable to have, sitting in Zheng Mang's lap, his second senior brother was filled with jealousy. So he unintentionally revealed to his master that Cui'er was promiscuous.

In a fit of anger, the master betrothed Cui'er to someone else. Cui'er's marriage was the most painful thing for Zheng Mang, but the die was cast, and Zheng Mang suppressed his anger.

But the matter didn't end there. After Cui'er got married, her second senior brother went to her husband's family and spread rumors about Cui'er's premarital affair on the day of her wedding.

Cui'er's husband didn't see any blood on their wedding night, so he completely believed the rumors. As a result, Cui'er, who had been married for a short time, was tortured to death by her in-laws.

Cui'er was tortured to death, but her husband's family was still not satisfied. They wrapped Cui'er's emaciated body in a tattered straw mat and carried it back to the Wang family.

The Wang family also felt ashamed of the matter, so they rolled up the straw mat and threw it into the mass grave.

Poor Cui'er, before she even had a chance to experience the joys of life, became a delicious meal for wild dogs.

Zheng Mang ran to the mass grave in the middle of the night, but only found half of Cui'er's arm. With tears in his eyes, he dug a grave for Cui'er and buried her.

He cut his finger and wrote "Tomb of my beloved wife Wang Cuier" on a wooden board!

It rained heavily that night, and the words written in blood were quickly washed away, but the words seemed to be engraved in his heart.

Standing before Cui'er's grave, Zheng Mang vowed to kill his enemies and avenge Cui'er.

Cui'er's former husband's family soon found their son a new wife, and this time the groom's family was very generous in holding a huge wedding banquet, even hiring a troupe of opera performers for seven days.

On the night of the groom's wedding, Zheng Mang hid under the newlyweds' bed with a sickle. After the newlyweds finished drinking the nuptial wine and blew out the candles, he crawled out from under the bed.

He originally planned to wait until the newlyweds had made love before making his move, at which point the groom would be at his most exhausted.

But the hatred in his heart made him eager to raise the scythe in his hand. He wanted to make sure that the two adulterers would not even be able to experience their last bit of pleasure.

As the sickle swung, the red wedding tent became even more vibrant. Zheng Mang then took out a flint and lit the tent curtains, disappearing into the night by the light.

Later, he personally killed his second senior brother, thus truly avenging Cui'er.

However, this also exposed him, and the authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. He had no choice but to flee his hometown, become a monk, and settle down at the Sanguan Temple near Bailuyuan.

Being a monk these days isn't easy either. Because of the county's oppression, he hasn't been able to beg for alms for the past few months. Zheng Mang was one of the first to respond to the previous campaign to hand over the land to farmers and has been involved ever since.

It was around that time that Bai Jiaxuan noticed Zheng Mang, the fake monk who had many scenes in the original novel and later became a bandit leader. He was a man who dared to love and hate.

Bai Jiaxuan took a liking to the monk at first sight and later asked Lu San to make contact, which led to this trip to Shanghai.

Taking Lu San and Zheng Mang to Shanghai this time was naturally intended to broaden their horizons.

Zheng Mang's decision to follow Bai Jiaxuan was after careful consideration. Bai Jiaxuan's boldness during the previous agricultural handover campaign had impressed him. Zheng Mang asked himself honestly if he were to handle the matter himself, he certainly wouldn't have had such courage.

Moreover, this fake monk was just going through the motions, with no future. When Lu San went to find him, he bluntly told him that his boss had taken a liking to him and was willing to give him a job.

As for what kind of work it is, Lu San doesn't know, but if Zheng Mang is willing to do it, he can wait at the designated time and place and go out with his employer to see what it's like.

After thinking it over, Zheng Mang finally agreed, which led to this trip to Shanghai.

Of the three, apart from Bai Jiaxuan, the other two had almost never traveled far. Although Zheng Mang's hometown was more than 200 miles away, he had only arrived here by wandering aimlessly when he fled. If you asked him to distinguish between east, west, south, and north, neither of them could tell.

To get to Shanghai, the three of them would first have to take a horse-drawn carriage, then a ship, and finally a train. The journey would be over a thousand kilometers and would probably take about ten days.

Bai Jiaxuan didn't have much money on him; it was all the family's savings. If they used it sparingly, it would cover the travel expenses for the three of them.

However, he didn't need to worry. The medicine powder the three of them carried could be sold for a high price in any major city.

Zheng Mang's monk attire was a bit of an eyesore, so Bai Jiaxuan changed his clothes. With his bald head, Bai Jiaxuan's buzz cut, and Lu San's own messy haircut, the three of them were also carrying a burlap sack. No matter how you looked at them, they were an eyesore.

However, the novelty of their first trip away from home eased their nervousness. It was the first time for both of them to be so far from home, and they saw many new and interesting things that they had never seen before.

Aside from feeling reserved, all I felt on the way was excitement and unease.

Bai Jiaxuan was quite familiar with this era and acted as their guide. The three of them traveled through wind and dust, and finally boarded the train to Shanghai on the eighth day.

By the time the Qing Dynasty collapsed, there were already nearly 10,000 kilometers of railways in the country, with railway lines covering many major cities.

These days, taking a train is indeed a rare thing for ordinary people. This is mainly because there is not much population movement in this era, and most people do not need to travel far. Those who do travel far are either doing business or have special status.

However, even business people are divided into different classes. The carriages are divided into three classes, or actually four classes. The special class carriages are only open to high-ranking officials or foreigners. The first class carriages are for the rich and powerful, and they have Western food and wine, luxurious double rooms, etc.

Second-class and third-class carriages didn't offer such good treatment. Second-class carriages had four people in a small compartment, which was at least relatively clean and had seats. However, third-class carriages were even worse than the old green trains of later generations, and were extremely crowded, like a can of food.

Another drawback of third-class carriages is that there are no seat assignments on the tickets. In other words, whoever grabs a seat gets to sit there. The only advantage is that it's cheaper, but that's relative to other carriages.

The different carriages offered different accommodations, and the prices varied accordingly. Most poor people opted for third-class carriages, while some small business owners or minor officials on business trips would choose second-class carriages.

Bai Jiaxuan didn't have much money, but he wouldn't choose to buy a third-class ticket. After all, it was a day and a night journey. He originally thought of finding a nearby pharmacy to buy some medicine powder, but Lu San took out a small bag from his pocket, which contained some copper coins and silver dollars. This was all his possessions.

Bai Jiaxuan shook his head with a wry smile, said he would return the money to him, and then took the money bag and bought three second-class train tickets.

It was Lu San and Zheng Mang's first time taking a train. Looking at the bustling crowd of passengers at the train station, they were as nervous as two children going on a long journey, following closely behind Bai Jiaxuan.

It was common to see passengers in suits at the station. These young people were clearly well-educated in the West and came from wealthy families. There were also some wealthy gentlemen wearing brand-new silk robes, carrying top hats, and accompanied by a large group of servants. Their demeanor was that of rich men from the old society.

Occasionally, Westerners would appear, dressed in various styles, but their demeanor was far more arrogant than that of the Chinese, dazzling the two men. This was the first time they had ever seen Westerners, and they even saw a Western woman wearing a skirt with half her chest exposed. Their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Chapter XIII

In this era of clash between the old and the new, many people and events can only be seen in this era. At the beginning of the Republic of China, the old and the new blended together, creating a strange and indescribable harmony.

Bai Jiaxuan smiled without saying a word, and led the two onto the train, finding their carriage—a very small carriage with four seats.

Bai Jiaxuan quickly asked the two to sit down, and then asked them to put down the burlap sack. There was a window next to the seats, and the two were very excited, looking out the window.

The three of them stayed in the carriage for a full half hour without seeing a fourth passenger. Bai Jiaxuan didn't know the time either, but he guessed the train was about to depart when the rumble of a train starting up could be heard outside.

Just as I was wondering if the fourth passenger would board, the carriage door was pushed open and a young man walked into the carriage.

The young man looked to be in his early twenties, with fair skin, and looked like a rich young master, unlike Bai Jiaxuan and his two companions who had dark skin and looked like farmers.

The young man was wearing a jacket from the late Qing Dynasty, with a queue down his back and a small leather suitcase in his hand. When he came in and saw Bai Jiaxuan and the other two, he frowned, but quickly sat down by himself. He didn't talk to them, but sat alone in his chair, looking out the window.

When Lu San and Zheng Mang saw the stranger, they became a little reserved and looked away, then started chatting with Bai Jiaxuan.