Chapter 272 Yangzhou Events
"Young man, you are very handsome and good-looking. I wonder where you are from?" Seeing that nothing was happening in the teahouse, the shopkeeper sat down next to Li Daoxuan.

He wore loose clothes and had a smile on his round face, which made him look very kind and amiable, making people never feel bored with him.

Most people who do business are like this, harmony always brings wealth.

The shopkeeper looked at Li Daoxuan, then at the Xue sisters, and guessed in his heart that the young man in front of him might be the son of some wealthy family. It was a lucky thing for him to be able to sit in the teahouse today. If he could get some publicity from this son, the teahouse business might improve.

The shopkeeper felt warm in his heart when he thought of this, and he offered his services even more attentively.

"From the tone of the young master's voice just now, I think he is not from Yangzhou."

"As the shopkeeper said, I am indeed not from Yangzhou." Li Daoxuan nodded. He looked around the teahouse and found that although the business was not good, its location was still good and the decoration was also exquisite. It should not be as cold and desolate as it is now.

It seems that it was the trouble caused by the Happy Zen Sect that made others afraid to come in, so the business gradually declined.

"That's what I said." The shopkeeper said with a smile. "Where is the young master from?"

"From Jinling."

"So you are a distinguished guest from Jinling." The shopkeeper replied naturally, "Young Master doesn't look very old, so he must have come to Yangzhou to do some business. The Happy Zen Sect I just mentioned is only one of the evils in Yangzhou. If you want to live a stable life in Yangzhou, you have to be careful. Otherwise, if you offend someone you dare not offend, your life will be in danger."

"Oh?" Li Daoxuan became interested after hearing what the shopkeeper said.

He was still very curious about the ups and downs of the Yangzhou underworld. After all, he had watched quite a few martial arts movies from the late Qing Dynasty, most of which were about the deeds of Wong Fei-hung. Although many things had changed, there were still some similarities.

Just like the martial artists he had met, most of them were wandering around the world.

"I wonder if the shopkeeper has any instructions? Is there really someone in Yangzhou who cannot be provoked? Is it this Happy Zen Sect?"

"Of course." The shopkeeper sighed, "Young Master, if you stay in Yangzhou, you must not provoke those evil people. Among them is the Happy Zen Sect. I heard that the Happy Zen Sect secretly kidnapped many women as goods and sold them to various brothels. If you provoke the Happy Zen Sect, the girls around you will inevitably be targeted by them. So if you can avoid provoking this group of people, don't provoke them. Otherwise, if you end up like me, it will be too late to regret it."

"Why doesn't the shopkeeper report to the authorities?" Li Daoxuan asked.

"Young Master, do you think I don't want to report to the authorities? There's really nothing I can do." The shopkeeper smiled bitterly. He pointed to the sunny sky outside and slowly said, "The Happy Zen Sect has connections with the officials above, and it's hard for ordinary people to go against them. I heard that there was a family surnamed Liu who had a conflict with the Happy Zen Sect. As a result, a woman from the Liu family was abducted and her whereabouts have not been found to this day. And the scholar surnamed Liu is now crazy and goes crazy every night on this North City Street."

"This Happy Zen Sect is truly lawless." Li Daoxuan cursed. He drank all the tea, then looked at the shopkeeper and asked, "If this is really the case, why would no one dare to intervene in this matter?"

"The officials are watching, who dares to intervene?" The shopkeeper smiled bitterly and asked the waiter to bring a plate of peanuts. "To be honest, young master, the prefect of Yangzhou was originally the head of the Happy Zen sect, but he passed away a few days ago for unknown reasons, so these people have quieted down a bit."

Li Daoxuan was a little surprised to hear this.

I didn't expect that the death of the Yangzhou prefect would make the bullies in Yangzhou city settle down.

It seems that the eldest young master of the Wang family did some good things, and it was really an accidental achievement.

"Then besides this Happy Zen sect, who else can't be provoked?"

"Of course there are." The shopkeeper nodded and said, "In addition to the Happy Zen Sect, there is also the Cuihonglou in Yangzhou." "I've heard of the Cuihonglou, but it's just a place of entertainment. What else is so special about it?"

"Cuihonglou is a famous building in Yangzhou. Among the Eight Beauties of Yangzhou, four are from Cuihonglou. It is not true that they should not be provoked. After all, no one wants to have a bad reputation when doing business. It's just that Cuihonglou has a deep foundation, and those who usually go there to cause trouble never come back, so it has become an evil in Yangzhou. But I heard that Cuihonglou is related to the Huanxi Zen Sect, and there has never been any conflict between the two families. Maybe the girls captured by the Huanxi Zen Sect were sold to Cuihonglou." The shopkeeper sighed.

When he saw his second brother serving the peanuts, he hurriedly asked Li Daoxuan and the Xue sisters to try them.

"The other two villains are the Water Dragon Society and the Tianmeng Trading Company in Yangzhou."

"Water Dragon Society? Tianmeng Trading Company?" Li Daoxuan was puzzled.

"The Water Dragon Society is considered a big gang in Yangzhou. I heard that they mainly target boatmen and fishermen for profit, and they are considered the tyrants of Yangzhou. The people of Yangzhou dare not provoke them, and they dare not provoke the Yangzhou government either. If you meet someone from the Water Dragon Society, you can give them some money to get rid of them."

"I see, thank you for telling me about this, boss." Upon hearing this, Li Daoxuan finally understood what the Water Dragon Society was. It was nothing more than a gang that bullied the weak and feared the strong, and specialized in oppressing the lower classes of people and then trying to curry favor with the government.

He thought of the Tianmeng Chamber of Commerce again, and asked the shopkeeper, "Whose Chamber of Commerce is this?"

"Young Master, do you know the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants?"

"The Eight Great Merchants? I have heard of them, but I don't know the details." Li Daoxuan replied. He really didn't know much about the Eight Great Merchants of Shanxi that the shopkeeper mentioned. Master Li seldom talked to him about this business, so he only knew about the Zigong salt merchant.

"These eight big families are the Cao family of Taigu, the Qiao family of Qixian, the Hou family of Jiexiu, the Chang family of Yuci, the Kang family of Linfen, the Qu family of Qixian, the Fan family of Jiexiu, and the Kong family of Taigu. The Tianmeng Chamber of Commerce is the chamber of commerce owned by these eight big families. It is used for business transactions in the south. The Kong family has good ethics, so few people can provoke them." The shopkeeper explained slowly, and Li Daoxuan understood something.

But these Eight Major Shanxi Merchants were, after all, merchants. How could the Chamber of Commerce they owned be so arrogant and domineering that they could become one of the evil forces in Yangzhou?

"What are the origins of these eight major Shanxi merchants?" Li Daoxuan asked curiously.

"Young Master, you don't know their origins?" The shopkeeper was quite surprised, but seeing the indifferent expression on the young master's face, he wondered who this young master was. Then, looking at the streets outside, he whispered to Li Daoxuan, "Young Master, don't you know that the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants are imperial merchants? When this dynasty was founded, these eight great merchants provided great help, so the late emperor bestowed the title of imperial merchants on these eight families, and they were called the Eight Great Merchants."

"I see. No wonder the Tianmeng Chamber of Commerce can occupy a place in Yangzhou. With such a background, no one dares to provoke it." Li Daoxuan understood the backgrounds of these eight families and had a clear understanding of the power of the Tianmeng Chamber of Commerce.

With such power, the Tianmeng Chamber of Commerce is indeed not afraid of other evil forces.

As he mentioned a few of them, he seemed to have thought of something.

"Boss, do you know if there is a person named Qiao Zhiyong in the Qiao family?"

"Qiao Zhiyong, Mr. Qiao?" The shopkeeper was a little surprised to hear the name, and didn't understand what Li Daoxuan wanted to ask. "Now the Qiao family is headed by this old man, what can I do for you, young master?"

"It's nothing." Li Daoxuan shook his head. The reason he asked this question was just out of curiosity. After all, he had seen the Qiao Family Courtyard and was quite interested in the story of the Qiao family.

I didn't expect there really was such a person as Qiao Zhiyong. It seems that the TV series was also well-researched.

(End of this chapter)