Taiping Inn

For Li Xuandu, Qin Su, Zhang Haishi, Lu Yanbing and others are not friends, but relatives, while Zhou Shuning, Zhang Baizhou, Pei Yu, Shen Changsheng and others are juniors. There are not many pure friends who are not involved in interests. Among friends, Hu Liang is the first choice. He was a friend of Li Xuandu before he became famous, and a friend in need after Li Xuandu lost power.

Because of the extremely long life span of people in the rivers and lakes, and because of the swords and shadows, and the uncertainty of the future, many people get married very late, or simply do not get married.

Imagine that it is rare for people to live to 70 years old, and most people only live to about 50 years old. So at the age of 25, half of their lives have passed. Therefore, it is reasonable to get married and have children before the age of 20, and call yourself an old man after the age of 40. If you have children later, you may leave before your children grow up.

But it is common for people in the martial arts world to live to over 80 years old unless they die in an accident. It is a bit too hasty to decide on the next 70 years of life in their teens. Therefore, people in the martial arts world get married late, mostly after the age of 20, or even until around 30. Li Xuandu and Qin Su are examples, and Hu Liang is already over 30, but still single, which is also common.

Li Xuandu is now engaged to Qin Su. If it weren't for various changes that caused the wedding date to be postponed again and again, he would have a family and a career now, so Li Xuandu would also consider the lifelong event for this old brother.

There are three candidates that Li Xuandu prefers. The first one is the ugly slave of Tianle Sect, who has a friendship with Hu Liang and is of equal status. The second one is his own junior sister Lu Yanbing. They are well-matched and close relatives. Li Xuandu and Hu Liang are each other's brothers-in-law. The third one is Shen Shuangmei, who is capable and straightforward.

However, Li Xuandu had not yet asked Hu Liang for his opinion. When he saw Shen Shuangmei, he remembered this.

It was just that they had not seen each other for a long time, so Li Xuandu could not act as a matchmaker right away. He had to exchange a few pleasantries first and ask about Shen Shuangmei's recent situation.

Shen Shuangmei answered one by one.

Although the situation in the imperial capital had changed, it did not have much impact on the heads of the police. No matter who was in charge of the cabinet, they still had to rely on them to solve the case, and solving the case required experience, not just changing people in the world.

Shen Shuangmei asked: "Mr. Li, are you here to buy some servants?"

Li Xuandu shook his head and said: "Just look around. After seeing the human market, we still have to go to the grain market."

Lu Yanbing was a little helpless. She should have expected that Li Xuandu would not have the leisure to wander around. After all, he came to understand the situation.

Li Xuandu asked, "By the way, why is Miss Shen here?"

Shen Shuangmei hesitated for a moment and said, "I have official business to attend to. This is not the place to talk. Can we go somewhere else..."

Li Xuandu had nothing to do now, so he nodded and said, "Okay."

The three of them left the city, found a restaurant, and asked for a private room.

Shen Shuangmei then talked about her affairs.

She recently took over a case in which the daughter of the Left Deputy Censor of the Censorate disappeared. The so-called Three Law Departments refer to the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Censorate. The Censorate is the yamen in charge of the censors. Although ordinary censors are nothing, the Left Censor of the Censorate is a second-rank official, and the Left Deputy Censor assists the affairs of the court, and is a third-rank official. The Right Censor and the Right Deputy Censor are additional titles for the governor-general and the governor-general. The Supervision and Arrest Department is originally affiliated with the Three Law Departments, and it involves a third-rank official, so it naturally attaches great importance to this case.

Shen Shuangmei has been a husband for many years. She is known as the goddess detective. After investigating the boudoir of this official lady, she found some clues and discovered that this imperial censor's daughter was actually involved with the Beggars' Gang in the city.

Where there are people, there is the Jianghu. In addition to the major sects, there are many gangs in the Jianghu. These gangs have no unified master and do various kinds of livelihoods. For example, the Cao Gang supported by the Qian family is one of them. The members are mainly millions of Cao workers. In each big city, there are similar gangs, that is, the Beggars' Gang.

As the name suggests, the members of the Beggars' Gang are mainly beggars, and the gang leader is also called the "Beggar King". Beggars and kings are two completely different identities, but at this moment they are combined together, which is really ridiculous and ironic.

The Beggar King is considered a half-official figure, and the government relies on them for many things. The Yin-Yang Sect believes that everything in the world is divided into Yin and Yang, so it is the same for the government. As the saying goes, the imperial power does not go to the countryside. If the government wants to govern the lower classes, it has two thighs. One is the gentry, who are the yang, and the other is the beggars, who are the yin. The combination of yin and yang is the means for the government to govern the lower classes.

What the Beggars do on weekdays is not just begging. There are a large number of middle-aged men in the Beggars' Gang. In addition to begging on weekdays, they also do all kinds of side jobs that ordinary people are unwilling to do, such as guarding the charity house, watching the streets, collecting unclaimed corpses, filling the number of people for weddings and funerals, and even setting up ghost markets, selling all kinds of stolen goods from tombs and looting, etc. Foreign robbers, thieves and other low-class people who want to do business in and out of the city also have to go to the local Beggars' Gang to pay homage to the mountain and seek protection.

Many human traffickers also have a relationship with the Beggars' Gang. To put it bluntly, human traffickers are just middlemen, and the "source of goods" is the Beggars' Gang. Many maids and servants sold by wealthy families are also sold to the Beggars' Gang by human traffickers, and then sold by the Beggars' Gang.

Another thing is to act as thugs. Most beggars are homeless, so if they are killed in a fight, there is no future trouble, and the pension is very meager. Therefore, every fight is the time for them to open their business.

But the disciples of the sect often don't care about these, and the Beggars' Sect dare not easily provoke these lawless disciples of the sect, especially those with great reputations such as Yin Yang Sect, Zaoge Sect, and Wudao Sect. After all, these people rely on their own strength, so Even the imperial court did not take it seriously, and even many noble families had suffered from their evil deeds. However, the disciples of the sect will not provoke the Beggars' Sect on their own initiative, and they will generally not interfere with the river.

The beggar king has absolute power to kill and kill the beggars. He enjoys the worship of the beggars. He not only wears and eats wealth, calls slaves and maids, but also has many wives and concubines, almost the same as a gentry and wealthy family.

Li Xuandu was not surprised by this. Although he had not lived in the city for much time and had never contacted these characters, he had heard of them.

This kind of thing is not only found in the Central Plains, but also in the Anxi Great Qin Kingdom, there are also people similar to the beggar king. The Earth Master has recorded it in his Journey to the West. The Earth Master believes that although this kind of person is still fighting The name of beggar is actually an underground gang. He is in charge of black transactions in the city and is well aware of all kinds of information. His power has touched all aspects, from high-ranking officials to popular among ordinary people. His typical position and weight cannot be underestimated.

The Earth Master even visited a beggar king through his great duke friend. In the words of Anxi Daqin, this beggar king is an immortal species and is born with a very long life span, and his cultivation will follow. With the increase of lifespan, it is undoubtedly a complete monster in the Central Plains. The immortal seed that the Earth Master was not very old, and it was probably equivalent to the Grand Master of the Heavenly Realm in the Central Plains.

The people from the Beggars' Sect in the Central Plains almost never walk in the world, but are spread all over the major towns and are not affiliated with each other. In other words, the Beggars' Sect in Jinling Prefecture and the Beggars' Sect in the Imperial Capital are both Beggars' Sects, but they have nothing to do with it. The power of the Beggars' Gang is closely related to the local government. The government became stronger and stronger, and the Beggars' Sect became weaker. The more inaction the government is, the easier it is for the Beggars' Sect to grow. Qin Qing was a kind father in front of Qin Su, and he was also gentle when he got along with Li Xuandu. But in the eyes of others, Qin Qing and Li Xuandu's father-in-law and son-in-law were similar, both evil stars. Qin Qing rectified Liaodong, in addition to attacking Beyond the aristocratic families and sects, the Beggars' Sect is no exception. It is said that the Beggars' Sect in Chaoyang Prefecture has completely collapsed. The beggar king was beheaded and the house was searched. No one of the murders was left. The rest of the members were all sent to Liaozhou to reclaim military camps. In this life Whether they can return to Chaoyang Mansion alive depends on their luck.

Because of this, Li Xuan was not surprised by Shen Shuangmei's statement. The imperial capital was not Liaodong, nor was there any iron-fisted figure who said that Qin Qing was the only one who said that. As the largest city in the world, the Beggars' Sect here must be powerful and deep. The Beggar King or the underground emperor must not be an ordinary person. However, this beggar king was very low-key and never involved in the great affairs of the temple between Confucianism and Taoism and the emperor and empress, so he never appeared in Li Xuandu's sight.

I think this beggar king also understands very well that the dispute between Confucianism and Taoism is getting worse and worse, and the great priest and great master are not spared. Song Zheng and Situ Xuance, who were once known as the two stars, were both dead. Who would dare to be an irrelevant person? It's easy to get involved in this matter? Can you dislike your life for a long time?

This matter involves the Beggars' Sect, which involves a lot of things. Shen Shuangmei knows that she can't investigate it hard, so she can only investigate it slowly in secret. After several investigations, there was progress. This case was actually related to the case of several other women missing. This kind of case is mostly inseparable from the Paihuazi, so she appeared in the market today. Although there is no abortion in the market, the two sides, as half of the peers, still have some intersections.

After listening to Shen Shuangmei's narration, Li Xuandu turned to Lu Yanbing and asked, "Bingyan, do you know this Beggars' Sect?"

"I know." Lu Yanbing replied, "When I was working in the imperial capital, their white paper fans would give me gifts every three festivals and two birthdays."

"Three festivals and two birthdays" is originally a Confucian saying, which is the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, the birthday of a saint, and the birthday of a teacher. Later, he entered the officialdom, and the "three festivals" remained unchanged, and the "two birthdays" became the birthday of the chief official and his wife. These five filial piety are indispensable in a year.

Li Xuan knew this statement and couldn't help but quip: "I dare to ask the Lord, who is your wife?"

Lu Yanbing said, "I don't have a wife, but I am filial to my master, so I changed that 'birthday' to the master's birthday."

Li Xuan laughed in silence.

There are such people in the officialdom who travel thousands of miles to take over their parents, father-in-law or mother-in-law to the office, which is not a three-day lifespan, but this "life" means that you have to do several more times a year.

Li Xuandu asked again, "Where is the beggar king?"

Lu Yanbing looked a little solemn and said, "I have never seen him before, I only know that this person's name is Feng Yuanshi."