The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1639 White Lotus?

Inside the main hall of a high-end Hui-style mansion that used a lot of wood.

The local gang leader and several of his underlings knelt on the ground. Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang stood guard at the door with knives in their hands. Lian Sheng sat in a corner, while Wang Yan sat with his feet up on a chair next to the table.

"There are three powerful families in this county: Liu, Bai, and Yang. Even the county magistrate has to consult with them on matters. Sometimes we help them with things, like leading people to gamble and smoke opium, and helping them bully men and women and seize land. The villagers in the county are stupid; they don't know anything and just think we are bad people. They still think those three powerful families are kind men and women. If Your Excellency wants to punish evil and eliminate wickedness, you have to deal with these three families."

There's another group in the county who's affiliated with the Liu family, named Liu Shanghe. Oh, I work for the Yang family. Then there's the Bai family; they have their own guards and other men, but they don't stand out in the county. It's interesting, really; the Bai family is the most benevolent. I heard the wealthy Bai family even believes in Buddhism and some Western God.

Wang Yan raised an eyebrow: "Believe in Buddhism? And God?"

This sounds a lot like the White Lotus Rebellion, which is a legitimate rebel organization, just like the Heaven and Earth Society, and has been rebelling all along. From the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, its doctrines have mixed Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Now, during this period of great change in the last century, it has also connected with the West and linked itself to God.

Amidst the grand and vigorous Taiping Rebellion, both the White Lotus Sect and the Heaven and Earth Society actively participated, resolutely implementing the rebellion program and assisting the Taiping in overthrowing the Qing dynasty.

"Yes, it is said that the eldest son of the Bai family traveled abroad and met some bishop. He is a Buddhist and after returning, he persuaded people to do good and helped his neighbors. He is much better than the Liu and Yang families."

Wang Yan nodded, basically confirming that the man surnamed Bai was a rebel. As for whether he was good or bad, in this day and age, there are hardly any good people who want to do things, especially those involved in cult organizations, who have committed just as many evil deeds.

"Go on, are there any other impressive figures?"

"Besides the officials in the county government, who else dares to claim to be powerful? There's only one: the Huoshan Martial Arts School in the county. The martial arts master's surname is Huo, and his name is Huoshan. He came from Tianjin, practices Xingyi Quan, and wields the eyebrow-level staff. He's highly skilled in martial arts."

He arrived in the county and immediately defeated the Yang gang, becoming famous overnight. The villagers all trained with him, and now he has over a hundred men under his command. No one in the county dares to mess with him. He often takes on escort duties for the three most powerful families, making a living that way. I've heard the disciples at his martial arts school are doing quite well.

The more Wang Yan listened, the more suspicious he became. Based on his preconceived notions, he concluded that the Bai family was involved, and therefore, everything in Huoshan seemed suspicious. Hearing about this martial arts escort organization with over a hundred men, he also sensed something was amiss.

After all, Huoshan is a small county, and a little over a hundred people already make up one percent of the county's population. These people practice martial arts, wielding staffs, knives, and spears; they are all strong laborers from their respective families. Especially since this kind of martial arts training means that other siblings in the family must be farming, allowing them to come out and earn a living, so each family must support at least five people. That's five percent of the population.

They had all practiced martial arts, carried out escort missions, and honed their teamwork. Even a little training was better than none. These men were soldiers the moment they picked up a weapon! They could sweep through the entire Huoshan region in a very short time.

Beyond Huoshan lies Lu'an, Shucheng, and then Hefei!

With Chaohu Lake, Dabie Mountains, and the Yangtze River, it is surrounded by mountains and water, offering both offensive and defensive advantages. The Central Plains in the north are unprotected, a vast expanse of flat land.

Furthermore, Huoshan is surrounded by mountains on all sides, making it quite well-hidden and secluded. With even deeper mountains behind it, it's easy to hide and escape – it looks exactly like a den of thieves…

What is your relationship with the Yang family?

"The younger one is a relative of the Yang family within five degrees of kinship. Because he is somewhat ruthless, I work for them. I'm evenly matched with Liu Shanghe's side, running one gambling den, one opium den, and one brothel on each side. I also lend money at exorbitant interest rates and introduce prostitutes to people from other places."

The lion's share of the profits went to the Yang family, a small portion to those ruthless bastards in the government offices, and the rest went to us poor folks. You think I'm all that powerful, but I'm really just someone else's dog.

How many people do you have under your command?

Wang Yan picked at his ears out of boredom; the journey had been quite dusty, and his ears were full of dirt.

"They don't have many men, only about thirty. If they recruit some more, they can have fifty or sixty. In addition, the Yang family has seven or eight guards, and the male tenants also have more than a hundred men to command. However, in all these years, apart from fighting two battles with the Liu family, they have never been able to muster all their men."

The gang leader Yang Sanshui was completely honest and didn't dare to speak carelessly; Wang Yan was far too ruthless. Although he was still unharmed, Wang Yan acted decisively and swiftly. Even when Jiang Wuyang pulled out a knife to bleed someone, Wang Yan didn't hesitate, stabbing him in the thigh with a single blow…

In this small county, being able to gather a few dozen people is considered a big shot. A united group of a few dozen people versus a group of hundreds with differing intentions—the group of a few dozen naturally carries more weight. Moreover, even if you directly command a few dozen people, your indirect rule can still extend to hundreds.

The government's three shifts of yamen runners, numbering only a few dozen, were in charge of all matters, big and small, throughout the county. Even if they were just low-ranking, officially employed yamen runners, they were still considered important figures in the county; at the very least, they were well-known, and there wasn't a single person in the county they didn't recognize. Generally, no one would dare to antagonize them…

"Would you like to earn more?"

"Of course I wanted to, but there was nothing I could do. I don't know anything about other things, so I can only work hard for the big shots to earn a meager living."

Wang Yan remained noncommittal, looking at the other thugs with bruised and swollen faces: "What about you guys? Do you want to earn more money?"

"Of course we want to, sir, but if even our Third Master can't do it, then we certainly can't," the rogue who was at the city gate earlier said.

Wang Yan gave Zhao Erhu a look, and the latter was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was going on.

So Zhao Erhu walked up behind the thug and slit his throat with his knife.

Uh……

The thug's pupils contracted as he stared at Wang Yan in disbelief, clutching his neck. However, Erhu's cut was deep, and blood gushed from between his fingers, refusing to stop.

The thugs around him scattered in panic, watching as the man fell to the ground, blood staining the ground, and gradually fell silent.

Wang Yan looked at the new petty thug: "You tell me, do you want to earn more money?"

"Huh? Me?" The little hooligan catfish stared wide-eyed and subconsciously took two steps back.

Jiang Wuyang kicked him in the back: "Just say it, stop dawdling!"

The thug was kicked to the ground, his hands landing squarely on the pool of blood. Startled, he jumped to his feet, then met Wang Yan's smiling eyes. He immediately knelt down again without even blinking. Truly iron knees, he could kneel for a long time.

"Sir, I'm eager to earn money! I dream of earning money!"

After a two-second silence, and not hearing the thug say anything more, Wang Yan seemed quite disgusted: "Look at you, is making money such a difficult thing? Why are you acting like you're dying? Who forced you? Hmm?"

"No, no, sir, no one forced me. I just love making money!"

Wang Yan turned his head: "You three, speak up!" "Master, I also love making money!"

"Yes, whatever you say we should do to make money, that's how we'll make money!"

"Look at him, this kid looks the most shifty, but he's the least clever. You all need to learn from this."

The thugs nodded in agreement, and then Wang Yan nodded, "Then what are you all standing there for? Hurry up and send our Third Master on his way!"

what?
Compared to the petty thugs, the gang leader Yang Sanshui reacted fiercely, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing repeatedly: "Sir, don't kill me, don't kill me! I can earn money too, I can earn money too!"

Wang Yan frowned, picked at his ear, and glanced at the four thugs kneeling on the ground: "Didn't you hear Third Master's urgency? What are you waiting for? How about Third Master escorts you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Sanshui, whose forehead was already bleeding from the banging, stopped what he was doing. Without hesitation, he got up, stepped over the corpse on the ground, grabbed the nearby thug by the eyes, and punched the thug hard in the neck.

"Ah!" the thug screamed.

In an instant, the remaining three thugs reacted and pounced on their leader, pinning him to the ground and relentlessly punching him.

Yang Sanshui possessed some strength, but once his men got close and stacked him like a human pyramid, he lost all his power. His desperate struggles didn't last long before he truly died. However, he also took with him the thug whose eyes he had gouged out; it was he who had bitten through the thug's throat and killed him...

The three surviving thugs, covered in blood, knelt respectfully on the ground, not daring to raise their heads, look at anyone, or speak. They even held their breath, despite their chests heaving rapidly.

"Get up," Wang Yan waved his hand.

"Thank you, sir." The three of them stood up in unison.

"You three, call over anyone who disobeys and deal with them. Those who obey will prosper, those who resist will perish. After that, find everyone you can contact. I need to get to know them. From now on, we'll be doing big things and making a fortune together. Brothers, you need to get to know each other and be of one mind. Understand?"

"understand!"

"Alright, change into clean clothes and call over the people you can't handle."

Wang Yan waved his hand, and the three of them changed into Yang Sanshui's clean clothes inside the house. Each of them received ten taels of silver. They first went to find the people from the gambling den in the front yard and brought them back. They were killed in a few words. Then they continued to use Yang Sanshui's name to summon people to their deaths.

In a proper workplace, this would be considered a killing during a meeting...

All three were gone, leaving only corpses, blood, and Wang Yan and the others eating the cooked food bought by the hooligans in the courtyard, seemingly unconcerned about the vomit from the corpses.

"Brother, all three of them have gone out. I'm really worried about our safety," Zhao Erhu said, gnawing on a pig's trotter. "Don't you think they might send people to surround us?"

Jiang Wuyang nodded repeatedly and muttered, "Yeah, big brother, why don't we hide for a while and come back when we're sure there's no danger?"

The two men were stunned by Wang Yan's ruthlessness and decisiveness. They had previously said they couldn't handle the trouble in the big city and would have to run away. Little did they expect that upon arriving in Huoshan, he would immediately start killing. They had thought they would have to settle down in the mountains first…

“You two are so impatient. You need to learn to put yourselves in their shoes. Imagine you were them, and you got ten taels of silver. Would you follow the Yang family or us? Putting aside the fact that they used to follow the wealthy Yang family, what about the fact that they killed Yang Sanshui? If word got out, would they have any chance of survival? They can't beat us. Do you think they have any other choice?”

Wang Yan was also gnawing on a pig's trotter, and it has to be said that the braised pig's trotter was really just so-so. But it was still meat, and it was still fragrant.

"You must understand that people are never content and always greedy. As long as there is something for everyone to gain, everyone will be fine. Take you and me, for example. Why are you following me?"

Uh... I believed your nonsense...

Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang exchanged a glance, speechless.

Wang Yan shook his head with disdain: "We all want to live a good life, that's our common goal. Now is the time to lay the foundation. You've all heard it, Huoshan County does have something."

"We have excellent farmland, fish in the river (we can pan for gold), plenty of medicinal herbs, and rare tea—these are top-quality teas. Add to that the shops in the county, and if we take over Huoshan, good days are just around the corner."

"But with just this few people of ours..."

Wang Yan interrupted Zhao Erhu: "We have six people now, and dozens more later. Once we've got Yang Sanshui's business up and running, we'll have even more people."

"What about that Yang tycoon? Can he just watch us grow bigger? What if he takes us to the authorities..."

“Then kill the officials! Our goal is to become bandits in the mountains. If we’re afraid of this and that and hesitant, how can we succeed? Second brother, if you don’t understand, just think about it slowly and observe carefully. Don’t keep asking questions. Just do what I tell you to do.”

That's just how it is when you're young; you're always asking questions like a curious baby. But actually, it's not so bad. Otherwise, it would be much more annoying to have no one to tell you anything and make you guess...

As Wang Yan said, the three thugs weren't brainless; they knew they had no choice but to go down a dead-end path. Their best option was to firmly believe that Wang Yan, this sudden and powerful figure, could stabilize the situation and lead them to make a fortune. Anyone else would meet a tragic end.

Therefore, they have no choice but to make progress.

The three discussed the matter carefully and gathered all the difficult people in the courtyard behind the gambling den. There were debt collectors, kidnappers, and opium dealers; in short, they were all ruthless people who were in charge of various affairs and were usually highly regarded.

By the next day, there were more than ten corpses in the yard. Fortunately, it was only early spring, and although it was getting warmer, the corpse decomposition was still under control, just some bloody smells mixed with the stench of excrement and urine.

The three men gathered the remaining petty thugs who were just looking for a living. Right there in the courtyard, next to the dozen or so corpses, Wang Yan introduced himself to each of them with a smile, chatting about his current life and his future dreams.

The meeting lasted all day, during which Wang Yan met with thirty-two people. It wasn't until late afternoon that the bodies in the courtyard were cleaned up and buried outside the city.

Meanwhile, the news that a ruthless person had arrived in Huoshan could no longer be kept secret and spread...

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