Chapter 1642

Sun Tian had never imagined that one day his life would undergo such a massive change.

It was just his daily routine of chatting with the boss at the city gate when they ran into a group of outsiders. In the confusion, the boss was killed. To survive, they had no choice but to kill the boss's boss and follow Wang Yan, the new boss.

Afterward, Wang Yan instructed him to gather the brothers and bring their weapons upon seeing fireworks. Immediately following that, while he was still bewildered, Wang Yan led them to wipe out the Bai family, suppressed the Yang and Liu families, settled the government, and became the biggest power in Huoshan County.

Then he was allocated fifty taels of silver and thirty mu of prime farmland. When he brought the land deed home, he would never forget the shock on the faces of his parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law. 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 work hard for the Master, as the Master treated his subordinates well. Although the Master was cruel and ruthless, he never stinted on praise or rewards for a job well done, and working under him was very fair.

When the martial arts hall wanted to expand recruitment, he went to find acquaintances with good physiques. The Master taught them martial arts, and he gritted his teeth and persisted, striving to be the best. The Master taught them how to write travel logs and investigation reports, and he studied so hard he almost hung his hair from the ceiling; he learned very seriously and even performed better than the Second and Third Masters in the assessments, winning first place.

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

After returning successfully, under the Master's leadership, they summarized the gains of the trip. Then, after practicing martial arts, taking medicine to strengthen his body, and resting for ten days, he led a team out again, having become even stronger. This time he went to Liu'an to take on business. After snatching business by offering cheap prices, he began trying to gain a foothold in Liu'an.

He was very anxious because his martial arts skills were not high. Such matters of establishing one's reputation and snatching business inevitably involved knives, guns, and bloodshed. It was the Master who encouraged him and explained the principles to him.

The Master said that the situation in Huoshan County was no secret in Liu'an or Shucheng, and even the White Lotus Sect had moved into the open without being able to suppress them. Even if others were given several times the courage, they wouldn't want to make things difficult for people from Huoshan. He also told him to have a tough attitude and fear no one; only in this way could others be deterred.

He loyally executed the tasks the Master entrusted to him and successfully gained a foothold in Liu'an, securing a place for himself. Furthermore, under Qian Boyuan's introduction, he took on more business, extending their reach further. He also utilized various information collected during previous escorts to purchase some goods to sell on the side, and combined with some gains along the way, he managed to break even.

After all, they were in a state of constant expansion, and no amount of money was ever enough; breaking even was only because the expansion wasn't fast enough.

The number of young, strong men available in Huoshan County was ultimately limited, as local production had to continue and the mountain base had to be built. Therefore, as they gained a foothold in Liu'an, they began to absorb external young men. Some were used to supplement manpower and increase the construction of Huoshan, while others were arranged into the escort agency. After receiving training and drinking tonics, they strengthened the team, extended their reach, and expanded their range of influence.

As the earliest follower and the fourth-ranked person in the entire force, Sun Tian's status rose with the expansion of the power. However, he still frequently went on escorts because he had to arrange various matters in other cities.

Just as he was leading a team again, personally heading to Nanyang, he passed through Xinyang and had his goods hijacked by a group of people, and he himself was captured and held for ransom...

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

Having done business for several months, they had previously followed the routes established by the old Huoshan Martial Arts Hall, where everything could be settled along the way with a little money and good negotiation. This was the first time they had been hijacked and kidnapped.

Based on his understanding of his Master, this matter would definitely be used to establish their authority; they had to kill to show their might. Moreover, this concerned opening up the route to Guanzhong, which was a strategic development that absolutely could not be allowed to have problems...

Just as Sun Tian was welcoming another night full of confidence, the silence of the relatively quiet village was broken by a painful scream. Immediately following that, a burst of battle cries erupted...

The battle cries lasted for about half an hour before fading away, with only a few loud shouts and miserable screams heard from time to time.

"Master, the people are locked in here."

"Open the door."

"Yes, yes, yes, Master, opening the door right now, opening the door right now..."

The simple dialogue and the trembling flattery born of the desire to survive were self-evident.

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

"Master~" This cry of his was truly enough to make those who heard it sad and those who saw it shed tears.

Wang Yan had people untie everyone in the room and waved his hand with a smile: "You have all suffered. I won't say too much nonsense; once this matter is settled, there will be no shortage of benefits for you. Alright, eat and drink, rest well, and let's see which deity had the nerve to come and find trouble with us."

Everyone arrived in the courtyard, where subordinates brought a chair for Wang Yan and dragged over two men, one sturdy and one thin.

Wang Yan fiddled with his pipe to press the tobacco, glanced at the two, and said indifferently: "You have at least three things to say."

The thin man kneeling on the ground tentatively spoke: "The hijacked goods were all split by the Weiyuan and Changtu escort agencies in Xinyang City, as well as the Zhou and Wang families. They held a grudge because you set up an escort agency in Xinyang to snatch business, so they instigated us to hijack the goods and kidnap people for extortion. Master, every debt has its debtor; it was all their mischief. We were just the ones doing the work below. Master, please just let us go like a fart..."

Wang Yan shook his head in regret because he hadn't waited for him to say "That's not this sentence" or "That's not this sentence either." His three things were simple: where the goods were, who instigated it, and where the people were. The first was to save his own losses, and the latter two were for retaliation and expanding his gains. This thin man was sensible and confessed everything clearly.

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

"Why do you care when they come to find trouble? It's not like they have to tell you in advance, right? Chop them both, rest a bit, set off for Xinyang City, and wipe them all out today."

Sun Tian was stunned for a moment and quickly said: "Master, please think twice. These families all have many people, and it's in the city. If the commotion gets too big, I'm afraid it won't be easy to explain to the government."

"You, you think too much and too little at the same time. You only think about explaining to the government if the commotion is big, but you don't think that we are bandits sneaking into the city. We commit a major crime and run away after leaving the city; the government can't catch anyone, so what explanation is needed? It's nothing more than greasing the palms of those above when we annex their industries later; everyone understands it without saying it.

Otherwise, do you think they would have the guts to find trouble with us? There's a war in the south, and right now everyone is heading toward Hubei to fight. How would they dare to truly force us into rebellion? If we start another group of rebels here in the Henan-Anhui region, do they still want the official hats on their heads?"

Sun Tian suddenly realized the key point, 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 some military formations; if nothing else, they could at least follow orders. If such a force were to cause chaos and drag in the common people outside the city, it would be a disaster in an instant...

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

The people in the city were terrified, thinking the rebels had broken in, only to find out later that it was a targeted retaliation against 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 arrived? In front of these rebel armies, they wouldn't care about officials, merchants, or commoners; the common people would be dragged in as soldiers, and the wealthy would have their homes raided...

Early the next morning, a group of people still stained with blood left the city laughing and joking, as if the guards at the city gate hadn't seen them at all. And after these bandits left, some news finally began to spread.

Over a hundred people died in one night, and the killing turned the place into a river of blood. The reason was that the Shunfeng Escort Agency had taken on a shipment for a group of strongmen, and the goods had been swallowed up by several escort agencies and wealthy families in the city. The strongmen group, in a fit of rage, had traveled a long way to retaliate.

No one believed it.

Everyone knew it was the work of the Shunfeng Escort Agency, because the people from Shunfeng didn't even bother to act; they went straight to take over the estates of those families. Whoever benefits is the mastermind; this was obvious.

It was also because of this that business for the Shunfeng Escort Agency near Xinyang exploded. Because their prices were fair and they didn't bully people; on the contrary, they were willing to commit a major crime 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 deliver their goods.

As for other escort agencies lowering their prices, that was no longer Shunfeng's concern.

Taking advantage of this incident, the Shunfeng Escort Agency enhanced its reputation in this area, gained more business to make money, and purposefully expanded its power and collected information through the escort business.

The number of people grew day by day, and business got better day by day, especially since there was a war going on now, which actually made the escort business even better. Even if the north hadn't been affected yet, taking advantage of the chaotic situation, all sorts of monsters and demons were jumping out to make 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.

Wuchang had been breached by the Taiping Army.

As an important water and land hub, the fall of Wuchang was a significant loss in itself. At the same time, it 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 such wealth. Especially the Taiping Army, which was sweeping through and fighting to sustain the war, naturally wanted this wealth even more...

"Big Brother, our business has been incredibly good lately, all because of refugees." Zhao Erhu laughed, "We've recruited more men, and the pay isn't high."

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

"I'm just thinking that if we earn more silver, we can have more brothers and live better lives."

"We don't have many good days left. If we don't fight this year, we'll have to clash with the Taiping Army next year. We've spread ourselves too thin, and I have to take care of everything everywhere; I'm stretched too thin. Third Brother is still lacking quite a bit, so you'll have to take charge on your own."

Before Zhao Erhu could speak, Jiang Wuyang was already unhappy: "Big Brother, I'll be fifteen soon too."

"Your body hasn't fully grown yet. If you want to go out, you'll have to wait another two years and see. Practice well; although you can't block bullets, you can at least react faster and dodge more flexibly. When the fighting really starts, knives and guns have no eyes, and bullets have even less. Whether you can survive depends on how tough your life is."

Zhao Erhu asked: "Do we really have to fight?"

"If we want great wealth and status, then we must fight. We are insignificant here; we have to let both the Taiping Army and the Qing Court know that we aren't to be trifled with. Only then can we maneuver between them and pull chestnuts from the fire! Alright, get back to work and practice your martial arts."

Wang Yan didn't say anything more to the two and went out to watch his disciples practice martial arts. Outside the city, Wang Yan had openly built a row of houses as dormitories and cleared out a drill ground. He lived there now, specifically to teach his subordinates martial arts and learning.

The area outside the drill ground was also very lively, with commoners watching the excitement and some refugees camping outside. After a period of development, Huoshan was no longer what it used to be; the population had increased, commerce was prosperous, and even the number of outsiders had grown, which was why there were refugees. They had heard of the stability here and came to seek refuge.

But having too many outsiders wasn't entirely safe; there were always some ill-intentioned people mixed in.

With a light rain falling from the sky, Wang Yan held an umbrella and led his subordinates to check the hygiene conditions of the refugees and also to recruit usable hands into the team.

Not all refugees were illiterate; there were some who could read and calculate. Even if they were illiterate, there were some with good physiques among the large numbers. They were all usable people.

Wang Yan didn't oppose the refugees coming; he wasn't afraid that there would be too many refugees to take care of and that they would raid his granary; on the contrary, he was afraid that too few would come and that he wouldn't have enough to grow his power.

Death, flight, and injury affected hundreds of millions of people, but for rebellion and war? A few hundred thousand were enough. The path to redemption lay among these refugees who were driven away and treated like pigs and dogs.

He kindly cared about the situation of the refugees, asking where they came from and what kind of encounters they had, harvesting trust one after another...

Just as he was winning people's hearts, he suddenly turned his head to the side.

He saw a dark gun barrel protruding from the gap of a nearby shack, accompanied by the smoke of burning gunpowder.

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

And within a few dozen meters of him, there were also a dozen malicious gazes fixed on him.

The next instant, three gunshots rang out suddenly.

Wang Yan let out a faint, imperceptible sigh; why was he always being assassinated...

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