This is obviously due to reading fewer books, opening one's mouth is just a play on words. Wang Zhenyu burst out laughing and helped him up, saying: "Mr. Long doesn't have to be so polite, from now on you don't need to call me 'Your Excellency' or anything like that, it's also okay to address me directly by name. From now on, you will be the martial arts instructor in my army and my deputy officer, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. We are family from now on."

  Looking at her husband who was in a great mood, Ye Zhiwen suddenly had a strange feeling. This bad old man, stinky old man, was he really accompanying her on this trip to clear her mind?

  After a long time at Longting, everyone continued with the original plan to go on an outing in Yongshun. This time, thanks to Tian Yingquan's arrangements, everyone fully experienced the feeling of "the cries of monkeys echoing across the strait, and light boats passing through the Wanzhong Mountains". The scenery along both banks of the Menglidong River, and the mysterious-feeling caves finally brought a smile to Ye Dajie's face. Ye Zhiwen even publicly coquettishly asked Wang Zhenyu: "Husband, let's come here for our next holiday, okay?"

  Wang Zhenyu thought to himself, "You think I'm a student on summer break or something?" But since his wife brought it up, he just went along with it and forgot about it afterwards...

  Since ancient times, Sichuan has been a land of abundance, with rich soil and a large population. However, during the late Southern Song Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty, the population was nearly wiped out due to war twice. The first time was the result of the Mongols' most efficient massacre in world history, and the second time was the result of Zhang Xianzhong's highly rampant revolution.

  Thanks to Zhang Xianzhong's great gift, Sichuan was left with only one household out of ten. In order to ensure local economic development, the Qing Dynasty, which had been upgraded from a gang with illegal rights to harm people to a group with legal rights to harm people, had to carry out the famous "Huguang filling Sichuan" in history. This also made it difficult for some northerners to distinguish between the accents of Sichuan, Hunan and Hubei provinces. Of course, southerners also find it hard to tell apart the accents of Henan and Anhui, Shandong and Shanxi.

  When the world is at peace, Shu is in chaos; when the world is in chaos, Shu is still in chaos!

  The former is determined by the regional characteristics of Sichuan people, and the latter is caused by the geographical characteristics of Sichuan.

  The so-called regional characteristics of Sichuan people are first that they can endure hardship, and the second is that they have a strong sense of justice.

  To put it simply, those who can endure hardship are mostly honest people, and when honest people get angry, that's the most terrifying.

  It was just over a year ago that the Qing dynasty's arrogant and crazy nobles finally provoked the people of Sichuan. As a result, the Railway Protection Movement that ensued eventually evolved into the Xinhai Revolution that destroyed the Qing dynasty, truly living up to the saying "the world is not yet in chaos, but Shu is first".

  The honesty of Sichuan people makes them underestimated, while the bloodthirsty explosion at the end of their oppression is terrifying. Lowly, timid, and weak; heroic, fearless, and majestic; such contradictory personalities are intertwined in the bones of Sichuan people, thereby influencing the course of Chinese history time and again.

  After Sichuan was filled with Huguang, the people of Sichuan turned around and exported two things to Huguang. One is the Divine Army, which Wang Zhenyu had already dealt with in Jingzhou and almost suffered a great loss. This Divine Army itself was formed by believers of a religion for self-protection and defense against bandits. As a result, like all armed forces in history, it developed to an extreme point and transformed from self-protection to bullying the weak, harming one side.

  The second is the Gelao Society. When people talk about the underworld during the Republic of China period, they always say that there are Hongmen in the south and Qingbang in the north, as if these were the only two gangs in China. In fact, in Sichuan, Hunan, Shaanxi, and Hubei provinces, the Gelao Society was the one that really counted, and the Gelao Society is one of Sichuan's specialties.

  Gelaohui, originating from Sichuan and Guizhou, is a secret society organization that was active in the Yangtze River Valley in modern China, with great momentum and influence. Among them, Gelaohui in Sichuan and Guizhou are also known as Paoge.

  Although the revolutionaries emphasized that the Elderly Association originated from Hongmen in their propaganda for revolutionary purposes, in fact, the true origin of the Elderly Association should be the "dìlù" in Sichuan, which means bandits in Sichuan dialect.

  It is a black society organization composed of vagrants, the earliest official record appeared in the late Yongzheng and early Qianlong periods, and it is estimated that there is not much relationship with the Hongmen. This organization has neither the great ideal of anti-Qing and pro-Ming nor the ambition to unify the rivers and lakes. Their greatest pleasure is just to occupy a dock and mix for a lifetime.

  After a century of development, relying on the Yangtze River transportation, Gelao Society has already moved out of Sichuan. Those who stayed in Sichuan called themselves Han Liu, while those who went out along the Yangtze River came into contact with Qingbang, and after friction and confrontation, they called themselves Hongbang to distinguish themselves.

  The Tiandihui thus became one of the three major secret societies in modern Chinese history along with the Qingbang and the Hongmen.

  As for celebrities from the Tiandihui, I won't list them one by one here. Even governors have emerged from it, which is not surprising.

  However, Wang Zhenyu is now very annoyed with this organization because on his own turf, the Ge Lao Hui not only exists but also thrives.

  Jingzhou war, Wang Zhenyu was in a good time, during this period, the bandits and the divine soldiers did not have enough strength to challenge the government. If it had been 1916 when the National Protection War broke out and the Northern Army suffered a disastrous defeat, it would not be about eliminating bandits but how to avoid being eliminated by bandits.

  When the Northern Army was defeated, they shamelessly abandoned their weapons in Western Hunan. The specific way of abandonment is unimportant. What's important is that after having guns and cannons, the bandits and armed forces in Western Hunan expanded like blowing up balloons. The 600-year-old bandit problem in Western Hunan developed to its historical peak, unfortunately, history has no ifs.

  Wang Zhenyu was very lucky, relying on the 4,000-strong Tiger Troop to wipe out the bandits and the Divine Army that had been entrenched in western Hunan for 600 years. Moreover, it was the other party who took the initiative to request their elimination, making Wang Zhenyu feel embarrassed if he didn't comply. In this action, the bandits were the most miserable, with those who didn't die either becoming laborers or changing their ways. The Divine Army also had nowhere to go, having lost their qualification for organization and armament. Otherwise, Wang Zhenyu, the Demon King, wouldn't mind launching a general slaughter of Taoism and Buddhism, as he could still settle accounts with the Ox-Headed Horse-Faced Guardians and wouldn't find it too terrifying to be sent to Avīci Hell.

  Under the threat of absolute force, most people choose survival over wealth and glory. Those who still want to pursue the latter are eliminated by Wang Zhenyu without hesitation. Wang Zhenyu's attitude is very clear: wealth and glory can only be given by me.

  Xiangxi Development Company and Xianzhi County's political reform turned the merchant group into their own iron-clad allies and most steadfast supporters.

  And thus the Phoenix came to be, with the troops based on the army suddenly becoming his own subordinates. Looking at the whole Xiangxi, there were almost no opponents left, except for the Ge Lao Hui.

  Long Tingjiu has been in Xiangxi for a long time and naturally has dealings with the Heilongjiang Association. In this regard, he is an authority. Therefore, Wang Zhenyu also humbly sought his advice on related matters, and Long Tingjiu, being new to the organization, was also forthcoming with information.

  After listening to Long Tingjiu's introduction, Wang Zhenyu, who had been worried about the power of the Ge Lao Hui, finally breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that the Ge Lao Hui in Xiangxi was not a monolithic entity, but rather divided into many factions, mostly relying on docks for food. Among them, there were two well-known families in the Xiangxi area, both located in Sangzhi County, one was the He family and the other was the Gu family. In fact, they were just one family, because the eldest daughter of the He family had married into the Gu family as a daughter-in-law.

  Is that the home of General He? Isn't he the general from a later generation? Wang Zhenyu immediately became interested and calculated with his fingers, estimating that the general was only 14 or 15 years old now. Shen Congwen had mentioned in his book that this general used to be a groom under the command of Wang Zhenya, the garrison commander of Changde Town, but in reality, his background was not ordinary at all.

  He's family head is He Shidao, and the head of the Gu family is He Shidao's nephew Gu Hu, who married He Shidao's eldest daughter He Ying, so the two families are actually one.

  For this valley tiger, Long Tingjiu is a well-known figure. He is tall and strong, likes to socialize, keeps his promises, values loyalty, and is the big brother of the "Gang of Heroes". In the mountains and rivers of Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian border, streets and docks, he has friends everywhere, and has great influence in western Hunan.

  "Light stick party? This name is really light stick!" Wang Zhenyu teased.

  After some thought, Wang Zhenyu asked again: "What is the main business of these gangs?"

  "On the surface, they are all buying bitter labor, tea, salt, opium, tung oil and other miscellaneous goods. They are responsible for transporting them." Long Tingjiu also paused slightly before continuing: "In fact, their main business is smuggling private salt."

  Wang Zhenyu nodded, in fact, the problem of private salt has existed throughout history, until later generations, salt was a state monopoly. Even to maximize profits, relevant departments did not hesitate to concoct lies that eating non-iodized official salt would lead to goiter. Although the lie cannot withstand scrutiny (how did Chinese people avoid goiter for thousands of years before the founding of New China?), lovable people actually believed it and paid for it. The final result? Excessive iodine levels and certain individuals getting rich.

  For salt and tobacco, Wang Zhenyu's original plan was to operate a monopoly, after all, the profit margins of these two industries are not high, but once they are monopolized, the profits will be very high. Especially for salt, although people may not consume much in a month, everyone needs it, and once the market expands, the profits will be in the billions. The best proof is China's current tax revenue, with annual salt taxes reaching an astonishing 400 million yuan, equal to customs duties (which shows how low customs duties are), accounting for 40% of total tax revenue.

  With this in mind, when Wang Zhenyu allocated the business of Xiangxi Development Company, he did not give the operation rights of salt and tobacco to Hong Shang for exclusive operation, but kept them in his own hands. As for opium, it was unavoidable to hand it over, because Liu Qishan had already become the largest opium dealer in Xiangxi. If you didn't continue to use him, you could only eliminate him and start again, which would be too costly, and offending Hong Shang wouldn't be worth it.

  The profit of tobacco is still invisible now, but the income from salt can be seen at present.

  He Shidao, Gu Hu and others were doing something, even if Long Ting didn't say it, Wang Zhenyu was crystal clear. Because the story of making revolution with two kitchen knives had existed in his childhood memories for a long time. A certain marshal started following his father to smuggle private salt from the age of 11, which eventually developed into a revolution, but I guess it's not about class consciousness, and was even cracked down by the Zhengfu Salt Department. Then after careful analysis, actually Zhengfu didn't have its own strength yet, so they made trouble. Decades later, a group of literati, based on the need to serve politics, said that this private salt smuggling anti-official movement was a revolution, which is really too TM capable.

  Wang Zhenyu made up his mind. If the He and Gu families could follow him and control the entire Xiangxi gang, he would give them the salt monopoly in return. Such a great temptation, no one can resist.

  Thinking of this, Wang Zhenyu asked Long Tingjiu to take his visiting card and invite the two of them to dinner. Oh, bring a company of soldiers with him, just in case they refuse to come, then force them to...