Chapter 122: Chen Pi A Si's Four Massacres of Huang Kui

Zhang Yueshan had lived a long time, so naturally he knew far more about the affairs of those years than anyone else.

Even Chen Pi A Si, who was now in his nineties, could not compare on this point.

Hearing Zhang Yueshan say that Chen Pi A Si had been searching for someone, Yin Nanfeng could not help but ask about the details.

Zhang Yueshan then said: "In those years, the water bandits of the Two Lakes region were also called water locusts, meaning they came and went like locusts, without a trace of wind."

"The Yangtze water locusts mostly came from the various lakes in the Yangtze's tributaries."

"Whenever war broke out, the armed water bandits would flee into the Yangtze; with too many men and too few boats, they often killed each other in their struggles."

"This Huang Kui water locust band was quite famous along the Yangtze, having originally come from Dongting Lake."

"I heard that the man in charge was originally a Daoist Priest, lodging at the Huang Kui Monastery."

"So after these Daoist Priests came out to become water bandits, they called themselves Huang Kui."

Yin Nanfeng nodded; she had not expected a band of water bandits to have so many tricks.

It seemed the Xia Kingdom in those years was just like this, always producing many stories around its rivers and lakes.

Such places were also naturally suited to producing a few men of the wilds.

Once asked by Yin Nanfeng, Zhang Yueshan seemed to have his thoughts pulled back to those years as well.

He continued: "The water locusts on the Yangtze were generally divided into two kinds. One was the boat bandits; besides robbing merchant ships in ordinary times, their main income came from smuggling and salt trafficking, and occasionally robbing merchant ships."

"The other kind was the land bandits, who would board ships from the shore, rob the crew and passengers, and then be received by accomplices on the river."

"The former kind of water locust had a huge organization with strict rules; the latter was cruel and cunning."

"It was amid these brutal struggles that the Huang Kuibang slowly became the number one gang in Hanchang."

"And that Huang Kui Old Ancestor, it is said, had some real ability."

"Because he had so many men under him, at the height of his tax-exempt status there were seventy-eight flags; whose flag each one belonged to was truly hard to tell!"

"Chen Pi A Si wanted to use this flag to track down that murderous gunner."

Yin Nanfeng understood; although Chen Pi was young.

He had, after all, slowly made his way by killing people; without some cunning, he would have died eight hundred times over long ago.

Thinking of the gunner's act of plucking the flower drum, Zhang Lin did not explain.

Yin Nanfeng asked curiously: "What is this plucking the flower drum for?"

Zhang Yueshan said: "Have you heard of passing the flower with the drum?"

"This is a tradition of the Huang Kuibang. When the drum sounds begin, and when the drum stops, the number of boatmen's heads taken is the count; whoever has the most can take up the position of gunner."

Yin Nanfeng's brows rose the moment she heard this.

Because the situation was not quite right—when the gunner plucked the flower drum, he was already the gunner.

It meant he was not plucking the flower drum this time to compete for the gunner's position.

Rather, someone was challenging him!

Generally, in a big gang like the Huang Kuibang, the gunner's position was very hard to change.

So although the tradition of plucking the flower drum still existed, it would never be lightly invoked.

But now that the gunner had been forced to pluck the flower drum once, it could only mean the gang's boss had a grievance against him.

Without a boss backing him, which underling would dare challenge the gunner?

Both Zhang Yueshan and Yin Nanfeng were men of the jianghu; from just one plucking of the flower drum, they had already seen the problem of the Huang Kuibang's lack of unity.

At this point Zhang Lin Has Already reached the part where Chen Pi discovered a suspicious person at the dock.

Chen Pi followed this man all the way to a stall selling hútāngfěn.

"Chen Pi saw the man sit down at the stall and order a bowl of hútāngfěn, and did not want to startle the snake in the grass."

"So he took off his clothes, jumped into the river, and tried to slowly approach the stall."

"After listening for a long time, Chen Pi A Si finally confirmed this was a man of the Huang Kuibang."

"That night, he killed ten men, but not one of them told him whose flag it was!"

"When Chen Pi A Si was washing the blood off his body by the river, he fell into rage once again."

"He kept muttering to himself: A loss, a loss—killed ten men for the sake of killing one, what a wretched piece of business."

"From this point on, it also marked the beginning of Chen Pi A Si's road of the Four Massacres of Huang Kui!"

The audience, upon hearing of the Four Massacres of Huang Kui, were all stirred to life one by one.

They sighed in unison—Chen Pi A Si truly had guts!

Chun Shen had only ordered him to kill one, yet because he had to find the right gunner, he had no choice but to kill one after another of the Huang Kuibang.

And now, he had even come up with a Four Massacres of Huang Kui.

It was quite possible that, because of Chen Pi's hundred coins per kill, the water locusts on the Yangtze would fall into great chaos.

Everyone was looking forward to seeing what Chen Pi A Si, with his reckless and fearless nature, would make of the Huang Kuibang.

At this point Zhang Lin continued: "When Chen Pi A Si was washing his clothes, the men of the Huang Kuibang had also gathered over the matter of his killings."

"The boss of the Huang Kuibang, and the military advisor—everyone called the military advisor Mr. Banduo."

"It is said this man was cunning beyond measure, a character even more formidable than the Huang Kui boss himself."

"Looking at the ten corpses lined up neatly by the river, the Huang Kui boss went straight to the gunner and asked what was going on."

"The gunner, his conscience guilty, immediately said it had nothing to do with him."