The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 21 Hongmen Hanliu Tiandihui

Sichuan Suiding Prefecture is the later Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, and Dongxiang County was later renamed Xuanhan County.

This place is known as the place where many ruthless people are born in the whole of Sichuan.

This place is located at the junction of Sichuan and Shaanxi. It has high mountains and dense forests, and the people are tough. Before the Han Dynasty, it was the main settlement of the Qiang people and the Bantun barbarians. Whether it was the Qin Dynasty's eastward expedition to destroy the six kingdoms, or Liu Bang's expedition from Hanzhong to establish his rule over the world, the Qiang people made great efforts.

The White Lotus Rebellion that broke out in Sichuan and Shaanxi thirty years later was basically suppressed by the Dongxiang militia, and famous generals such as Luo Siju and Gui Han emerged, rising from commoners to become provincial governors.

During the National Revolution, Xuanhan County created the legend of forming the 33rd Red Army, and more than ten founding generals such as Wang Weizhuo appeared in the county.

So when Ou Zibu learned that He Xiwen and others came from Dongxiang County (Xuanhan County), he was overjoyed, because at that time, the three words "Dongxiang County" represented elite troops.

They have a tradition of serving in the military and fighting wars.

After both parties formally announced their names to each other, He Xiwen stopped beating around the bush and asked Ou Zibu directly what he was here for.

Ou Zibu didn't say anything. He just picked up the teapot and poured a full cup of tea. Then he pushed the teacup towards He Xiwen, and placed the teacup and the teapot back and forth, with the spout of the teapot facing the teacup.

He Xiwen narrowed his eyes. This was a very important thing. In the Hongmen, this was called a single-handed attack.

It is taken from the idea of Zhao Zilong single-handedly saving Adou, and is generally used to secretly transmit information or save people from prison.

With his hands in the defensive posture of the Hongmen, he sang: "I have traveled the world alone, enduring all the hardships to come here. I will transform into a golden dragon and meet great luck, to protect my master and ascend the throne."

There are many different opinions on the origin of the Hongmen Hanliu, but they all originated from the Zheng family in Dongning.

When Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the Hongmen abandoned the conspicuous words "Hanliu". The members who were severely damaged in the organization scattered all over the place and gradually developed many branches. They used tea arrays, secret codes, gestures, and regional and clan characteristics to determine their identities.

At this time, the Hongmen was still a very secretive organization, and not many people had contact with it.

In other words, he had a large number of peripheral followers who shouted about overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, forming a protective layer similar to that of a gang.

The dragon heads, white paper fans, red sticks and other playing methods used by Hong Kong societies in later generations were the continuous development of this protective color.

But the real core of the Hongmen, the group known as the Tiandihui, is very secretive.

It continued to appear in the public eye in later generations because of the continuous victories of the anti-Manchu revolution, especially after Senggelinqin destroyed the last Eight Banners armed forces at Baliqiao, the core of the Hongmen began to come out and carry out large-scale activities.

And now, the core person is still hiding behind the scenes.

The Hexian Ou family was not a member of the Tiandihui, but their maternal grandfather, the Jiading Chen family, was. Ou Zibu's maternal grandfather, Chen Shangchuan, was even one of the founders of the Tiandihui.

He Xiwen clapped his hands solemnly, and a group of pirate leaders immediately went out. Commands and footsteps were heard outside, and a large number of pirates blocked the room to prevent anyone from coming in.

The only ones left in the lobby were He Xiwen, Huang Zhongtong, Liang Wenying, and Yuan Kaidao. These were the core members who followed He Xiwen from Dazhou, Sichuan, all the way to Southeast Asia.

On the pirate side, only Zhou Yuanquan and Danjiaer were left. Even a big pirate like Li Guangcai had left, as he was not a member of the Hongmen.

After all the irrelevant people left, He Xiwen picked up the teacup and drank it all in one gulp.

According to the rules, drinking the Single Sword and Horse Array means that you are either willing to help rescue people or agree to let them go.

After drinking the tea in his cup, He Xiwen thought for a moment before slowly saying, "Master Ou must have come here for Wei Rikun. You are a noble man, why bother to get involved in the grudges of us Jianghu people?"

Ou Zibu gave a bitter smile and stretched out his hand to tug at the gold-woven brocade robe on his body. "People of a fallen country cannot be called noble. Apart from this dress, the Ou family of Hexian is like duckweed in the water or clouds in the sky.

One day, even if I die, I won’t know where my soul will go!"

These words made everyone in the room silent.

After a while, He Xiwen moved his lips twice, and finally couldn't help but sigh, "Mr. Ou can still wear the clothes of his homeland, and Hexian is still a place to stay.

Unlike us, trapped in the depths of the continent, we can’t even keep away the three thousand strands of worries on our heads.”

After saying that, He Xiwen touched the braid again and grabbed it hard. With a swish sound, the long braid of the yin-yang hairstyle was pulled off directly, and a big bald head appeared in Ou Zibu's eyes.

Seeing He Xiwen do this, Huang Zhongtong and others also took off their braids. It turned out that they were all wigs. All of them had bald heads.

Ou Zibu was greatly surprised. These people were willing to shave their heads and wear wigs in an era when people could only keep their hair and not their heads. This showed how dissatisfied they were with the Qing Dynasty.

"How many of Mr. Chen's descendants still remember their ancestors' aspirations?" He Xiwen continued. This question was actually the Achilles' heel of the Hongmen Tiandihui. When our ancestors joined the organization, they truly intended to preserve the flame for the future.

The famous line "Red flags fluttering, heroes recruited, the overseas emperor, come back to restore the Ming Dynasty" is a clear example.

This overseas does not refer to the South Seas or the West, but the sea where the people jumped into the sea at Yashan, because the grandfather of Emperor Hongwu, who expelled the Mongols and restored the Han Dynasty, was a survivor of the Battle of Yashan.

This was the faint hope that our ancestors, who refused to surrender, hoped for in despair, that another Hongwu emperor would appear.

However, although our ancestors had such expectations, as the Qing Dynasty's superb ruling methods were different from those of the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty, basically everyone, including the descendants of the Hongmen, chose to survive.

This is understandable. Not everyone has to blindly sacrifice themselves in the endless darkness.

But for the Hongmen, the will of their ancestors is even more of a shackle on their integration into the new life.

Therefore, among these people, most of the descendants of the Hongmen no longer pass these secrets to the next generation, or they know the secret but treat it as if it does not exist.

For example, Chen Shangchuan's son, Chen Dading, Ou Zibu's uncle, chose to forget and even hoped to return to his hometown in Gaozhou to retire.

The same was true of Ou Zibu's predecessor. The only reason he knew these secrets was because his martial arts were inherited from the Ming Dynasty survivors of the Tiandihui. When he was learning martial arts from a disciple, he was forced to drink realgar chicken blood wine and join the society.

Therefore, Ou Zibu sighed, "Even if our ancestors were heroes, our descendants may not necessarily be heroes.

There are only a few members of the Jiading Chen family who still remember their ancestors' wishes and understand the meaning of the four words "expel the Tartars."

At this point, Ou Zibu changed the subject and said, "But I am willing to fight for it even if it means my death!"

This is the voice of the heart, and it is also what Ou Zibu is betting on. He is betting that He Xiwen’s ancestor is also the founder of Hongmen Hanliu.

He made the right bet.

Hearing what Ou Zibu said, He Xiwen stood up excitedly. After sighing twice, he quickly picked up the teapot and teacups and arranged them into a plum blossom formation, which is the same shape as the five-tube in mahjong.

After the teacups are placed, pick up the kettle and fill the middle cup among the five cups directly.

This is the eighteenth formation in the Hongmen Tea Formation, known as the Anti-Qing Formation, and is used to express ambitions.

So, Ou Zibu quickly picked up the kettle and filled the upper left and lower left empty cups with tea. Then he and Chen Guangyao each drank a cup and finished them in one gulp.

Then he picked up the cup in the middle that was filled with tea, poured out the tea inside, and then filled the cups around it with tea, leaving only the middle one empty.

This is the seventeenth formation, the Restoration Formation.

Throwing away the tea in the middle of the anti-Qing camp means overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.

The anti-Qing formation is full in the middle and empty around it, representing Yin.

The Fuming Formation is full on all sides and empty in the middle, representing Yang.

It fits the meaning of the rotation of yin and yang and the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty.

He Xiwen picked up the full cup on his right and drank it all. The chiefs behind him sang loudly, "We swear to spread the news of treachery and loyalty, and we are all brothers in the world."

Ou Zibu and Chen Guangyao bowed and replied: "Loyal and righteous people will be given dukedoms, while treacherous ministers will be killed."

This is the general oath taken by the Hongmen.

After finishing singing, Ou Zibu took a sword and pierced the middle finger and two index fingers of his right hand. Then he put the three fingers together and smeared the blood on his face.

"I, Ou Zibu, swear to Mazu that my heart and my resolve will remain unchanged. If I change my mind, I will be struck by thunder and buried in the belly of a fish!"

People at that time still believed in oaths, especially oaths sworn to Mazu.

No, even in later generations, fishermen on the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, except for very little debris and garbage, must keep their words as long as they swear by Mazu.

So He Xiwen excitedly shook hands with Ou Zibu and said happily, "Brother, follow me to the back hall, and we will have a good chat."

(End of this chapter)