Chapter 1641: A New Wave Rises

Sun Tian never thought that one day his life would undergo such a big change.

He was just chatting at the city gate with his boss as usual when he ran into a group of outsiders. In a daze, the boss died. To survive, they could only kill the boss's boss and follow Wang Yan, this new boss.

Afterward, Wang Yan instructed him to gather the brothers and weapons when they saw fireworks. Following that, while he was still confused, Wang Yan led them to exterminate the Bai family, suppressed the Yang and Liu families, settled the government, and became the biggest mountain head in Huoshan County.

Then he received fifty taels of silver and thirty mu of excellent farmland. When he brought the land deed home, he would never forget the shock on his parents' and brothers' faces. That was the first time he held his head high at home; his sister-in-law never spoke loudly to him again, and he became the pillar of the family.

He made up his mind to do things well for the Master, as the Master did not treat his subordinates thinly. Although the Master was cruel and ruthless, he never stinted on praise and rewards for doing things well; working under him was very fair.

The martial arts school was expanding, so he went to find people with good bodies he was familiar with. The Master taught people martial arts, and he gritted his teeth and persisted, striving to be the best. The Master taught people how to make road books and investigative reports, and he almost hung his head from the beam and pricked his thigh with an awl to study, learning very seriously. In the assessment, he was even better than the Second Master and Third Master, winning first place.

After practicing martial arts for a few days and drinking tonic for a few days, the Master sent out an escort team to transport the county's products, and he took the initiative to be the first manager to lead the team out.

After returning successfully, under the Master's leadership, they summarized the gains of the trip, then practiced martial arts and used tonic to strengthen their bodies, and after resting for ten days, he, who had become stronger, led the team out again. This time he went to Liu'an to take business, and after grabbing the business with a cheap price, he began to try to stand firm in Liu'an.

He was very uneasy because his martial arts were not high. This kind of thing of standing up and grabbing business could not avoid knives and guns. It was the Master who encouraged him and explained the truth to him.

The Master said that the affairs of Huoshan County were no longer a secret in Liu'an and Shucheng, and the White Lotus Sect had even moved to the bright side without suppressing them, so even if they were given a few more guts, they wouldn't want to have trouble with the people from Huoshan. He also told him to be tough and not fear anyone; only in this way could he make others hesitate.

He faithfully executed the things the Master explained, and sure enough, he stood firm in Liu'an, had a place, and with Qian Boyuan's introduction, took more business, extending his tentacles to the distance. He also used the various news collected along the way to purchase some goods and sell them by the way, plus some gains along the way, which could be considered a balance of payments.

After all, they were in constant expansion; no amount of money was enough to spend. The balance of payments was because the expansion was not fast.

The young men who could be mobilized in Huoshan County were ultimately limited, and various production had to be carried out locally, and the old lair in the mountains had to be built, so as they stood firm in Liu'an, they also began to absorb external young men. Part of them supplemented manpower to increase the construction intensity of Huoshan, and part of them were arranged in the escort agency, accepted training and drank tonic to strengthen the team, expand the tentacles, and expand the radiation range.

As the first to follow, ranked fourth in the entire force, Sun Tian's status rose with the expansion of the force. However, he still often went on escorts because he had to arrange various matters in other cities.

Just when he led the team again and went to Nanyang in person, he was robbed of his goods when passing through Xinyang, and he was also caught and asked for ransom...

In a village at the foot of Tongbai Mountain, Sun Tian was locked in a broken house. Although he had been locked up for ten days, he was not worried because many people had run back to report the news. He believed that at this time, the Master he was loyal to should have already organized manpower to come and rescue him.

He had been doing business for several months, and the lines operated by the former Huoshan Martial Arts School were all smooth and could be settled with a little money along the way. This was the first time he had been robbed of goods and kidnapped.

According to his understanding of his Master, this matter would certainly have to establish prestige and kill out the style. Not to mention that this was related to opening the line to Guanzhong, which was a strategic development and absolutely could not allow problems to appear...

Just as Sun Tian was full of confidence and welcomed another night, the silence of the relatively quiet village was broken by a painful scream. Immediately following, there was a burst of shouting and killing...

Lasting for two quarters of an hour, the shouting and killing weakened, only occasionally with a few loud shouts and a few shrill screams.

"Master, the person is locked in here."

"Open the door."

"Yes, yes, yes, Master, this will open the door, this will open the door..."

Simple dialogue, the trembling flattery for the sake of survival was self-evident.

After a clattering sound of chains being pulled away, the old wooden door was opened, and Sun Tian, whose hands and feet were bound by ropes and whose face still had some bruises, finally relaxed.

"Master~" This sound of his was truly heartbreaking to hear and tear-jerking to see.

Wang Yan had people untie everyone in the house and waved his hand with a smile: "You have all suffered. I won't say much more; when this matter subsides, there will be no shortage of your benefits. Alright, eat something, drink something, and rest well. Let's also see which god had the guts to find trouble for us."

Everyone arrived in the courtyard, and the subordinates moved a chair for Wang Yan, and then brought over two men, one strong and one thin.

Wang Yan fiddled with his pipe and pressed the tobacco, glanced at the two, and said faintly: "You have at least three sentences to say."

The thin man kneeling on the ground tentatively opened his mouth: "The robbed goods were all divided by the Weiyuan and Changtu escort agencies in Xinyang City, as well as the Zhou and Wang households. Because you set up an escort agency in Xinyang and grabbed their business, they held a grudge and instigated us to rob goods and kidnap people for extortion. Master, grievances have their heads and debts have their owners; it was all their bad doing. We were just doing things below. Master, just treat us like a fart and let us go..."

Wang Yan shook his head regretfully because he didn't wait for him to say 'not this sentence' or 'not this sentence either'. His three sentences were very simple: where the goods were, who instigated it, and where the people were. The first sentence was to save his own losses, and the latter two were for retaliation and expanding his own gains. This thin man was a sensible one and explained everything clearly.

Sun Tian added from the side: "Master, I know these people. When we opened the escort agency in Xinyang, they didn't say a word, but now they are looking for trouble."

"Why do you care when they look for trouble? They can't tell you in advance, right? Cut them down, rest, and set off for Xinyang City. Today, we will wipe them all out."

Sun Tian was stunned and hurriedly said: "Master, think three times. These families are not small, and they are in the city. If the movement is too big, I am afraid it will be hard to explain to the government."

"You, you think too much and think too little. You only think about explaining to the government if the movement is big, but you don't think that we are bandits lurking into the city. We will run away after committing a big case, so what explanation do we need to give to the government? At most, when we swallow their industries later, we will grease the palms, and everyone will know it in their hearts.

Otherwise, do you think they have the guts to find trouble for us? The war is raging in the south, and now they are all aiming to fight in Hubei. How dare they really force us to rebel? If another rebel force rises in this Henan-Anhui area, do they still want the official hats on their heads?"

Sun Tian suddenly realized the key, which was that Wang Yan and his group truly had the ability to rebel. After all, by now, Wang Yan had gathered hundreds of people, all of whom had practiced martial arts and learned military coordination. Not to mention anything else, they could still follow orders. If such a force were to riot, rolling up the common people outside the city, it would be a disaster in an instant...

Thus, on that very day, even before it was dark, Wang Yan arrogantly led over a hundred subordinates into the city and launched a fatal attack on those who had caused trouble.

People in the city were scared to death, thinking that the rebels had broken in, and only later did they know that it was a retaliatory attack aimed at those few families.

But at the same time, they were even more worried. After all, this group of people had easily entered the city to kill, so what would they do when the Taiping Army really came? In front of these rebel armies, they didn't care about officials, merchants, or commoners; the common people were all rolled into soldiers, and the wealthy were all raided...

Early the next morning, a group of people still stained with blood went out of the city happily, and the guards at the city gate seemed not to have seen them. After these bandits left, some news finally began to spread.

Over a hundred people died in one night, and the blood flowed like a river. The reason was that the Shunfeng Escort Agency took a shipment of goods for a group of strong men, and several escort agencies and wealthy households in the city jointly swallowed the goods. The strong men's group was furious and came from afar to retaliate.

No one believed it.

Everyone knew that it was done by the Shunfeng Escort Agency, because the people from the Shunfeng Escort Agency didn't even want to act, and went directly to take over the inheritance of those families. Whoever benefits is the mastermind; this is an obvious thing.

It was also because of this that the Shunfeng Escort Agency's business in the Xinyang area became explosive. Because their prices were fair, they didn't bully people, and instead, they were willing to commit a big case for the sake of the goods to solve the problem—this attitude was simply impeccable. Cargo owners were naturally willing to find a reliable escort agency to send their goods.

As for the price cuts of other escort agencies, that was not Shunfeng's business.

Taking advantage of this incident, the Shunfeng Escort Agency improved its reputation in this area, gained more business to earn money, and expanded its power with a purpose, collecting information.

The number of people increased day by day, and the business became better day by day, especially now that there was a war, the escort business was even better. Even if the north had not been affected, taking advantage of the chaotic situation, all the monsters and ghosts jumped out to earn money...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a piece of news exploded, throwing both sides of the Yangtze River into chaos.

Jiangning fell.

As an important water and land hub, the fall of Wuchang was a very significant loss in itself. At the same time, this also marked that both sides of the Yangtze River had become a war zone. Both sides were fertile lands, and no one would give up these riches. Especially the Taiping Army, which rolled up and fought to support the war, naturally wanted these riches even more...

"Big Brother, our business has been doing great recently; they are all refugees." Zhao Erhu laughed loudly, "We have recruited more people, and the money we give is not much."

"Once the war starts, the least valuable thing is human life." Wang Yan shook his head. "Second, they are all poor brothers; why are you gloating?"

"I'm just thinking that after earning more silver, we can have more brothers and live a better life."

"Our good days won't last long either. If we don't fight this year, we will have to bump into the Taiping Army next year. The stall is spread too big, and every place needs to be taken care of. I am unable to attend to everything, and Third is still far behind; you have to be able to stand on your own."

Zhao Erhu hadn't spoken yet, but Jiang Wuyang was unhappy first: "Big Brother, I will be fifteen soon."

"Your body hasn't grown up yet. If you want to go out, you have to wait two years to see. Practice well; although you can't block bullets, you can react faster and dodge more flexibly. When the war really starts, knives and guns have no eyes, and bullets have even less eyes. Whether you can survive depends on whose life is hard."

Zhao Erhu said: "Do we have to fight?"

"If you want to be rich and noble, then you have to fight. We are irrelevant here; we must let the Taiping Army and the Qing court know that we are not to be trifled with, so that we can survive in the cracks and pull chestnuts from the fire! Alright, do what you need to do, practice what you need to practice."

Wang Yan didn't say much more to the two and went out to watch the disciples practice martial arts. Outside the city, Wang Yan openly built a row of houses as dormitories and circled out a drill ground. He also lived here now, specifically teaching his subordinates to practice martial arts and study.

Outside the drill ground, it was also very lively, with common people watching the fun, and some refugees camping outside. After a period of development, today's Huoshan could no longer be spoken of in the same breath; the population had increased, commerce was prosperous, and even the floating population had increased, which was why there were refugees. They had heard of the stability here and came to seek refuge.

But having many outsiders was not too safe; there were always some people with bad intentions mixed in.

It was drizzling, and Wang Yan held an umbrella and led his subordinates to check the hygiene of the refugees, and also to recruit available people into the team.

Not all refugees were illiterate; there were also those who could write and calculate. Even if they were illiterate, there were many with good bodies when there were many people. They were all usable people.

Wang Yan did not oppose refugees coming; he was not afraid that there would be too many refugees to take care of and they would blow up his granary, but rather afraid that there would be too few to strengthen himself.

Death, escape, and injury affected hundreds of millions of people, but rebelling and fighting? Hundreds of thousands of people were enough. The way of redemption lies in these refugees who are driven and regarded as pigs and dogs...

Just as he was buying people's hearts, he suddenly turned his head to look.

I saw a black gun barrel protruding from the gap in a shack not far away, accompanied by the smoke of gunpowder burning.

That wasn't all; in several other shacks nearby, there were two more gun barrels.

And at a position dozens of meters away from him, there were also a dozen malicious gazes staring at him.

The next instant, three gunshots rang out suddenly.

Wang Yan sighed slightly, imperceptibly. Why was he always being assassinated...

?? Daily thanks to the big brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support! ===== CHAPTER 1643 =====

Qian Boyuan left, carrying expensive tea leaves and a broken heart...

Huoshan County returned to its former peace and tranquility. After the funds were recovered, Wang Yan once again expanded the recruitment of young, strong men for the martial arts hall. With more manpower, naturally, the intensity of external expansion had to be increased, and trouble naturally found its way to them...

?? Daily thanks for the strong support from the great brothers who tip, cast monthly votes, recommendation votes, and silently read the book!