Chapter 174: The Canal Gang

The men Zhao Yigong sent out to the counties where the rice riots had erupted spent a few days gathering information. The reports that came back left Zhao Yigong deeply unsettled.

Although the intelligence personnel at the Hangzhou station were of limited skill and couldn’t obtain sufficiently detailed information, his analysis of the intelligence at hand showed that the rice riots were clearly premeditated and organized. Moreover, the perpetrators were experienced and skilled, obviously veterans at this sort of thing. And from the many posters they had collected, it was clear that the riots were aimed directly at him.

Even a child knew what would happen to someone branded a “hoarder and profiteer” during a famine.

Never mind the terrifying destructive power that the starving and impoverished masses could unleash once they erupted; even those wolf-like gentry could use this to make a big issue out of it and cause him serious trouble.

Not only that, but the force behind such a large-scale disturbance was certainly no ordinary one.

Zhao Yigong shut himself in his inner study, drinking pot after pot of strong tea and smoking cigar after cigar. He had originally thought the most dangerous elements were the local Jiangnan gentry, but he never expected someone to launch such a stealthy attack without a word.

The most terrifying part was that he had no idea who the other party was. Who were they? What was their motive for going to such great lengths against him?

All of the Hangzhou station’s information channels failed to gather any particularly useful intelligence. The enemy remained hidden in the fog.

After much consideration, he sent a telegram to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau reporting the current situation, while also ordering increased security at the Phoenix Villa and the Wanbi Bookstore.

“The most important thing is to dig out the mastermind,” Zhao Yigong thought. If he couldn’t, with them in the dark and him in the open, it would be a one-way transparency, leaving him extremely passive.

Zhao Yigong now realized that the intelligence network he and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau had deployed, while having considerable breadth, could primarily collect only open-source intelligence. Indeed, there was probably no one in all of Jiangnan better informed than him at the moment. He could receive news from every major city in Jiangnan within three days, and even same-day news from Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Dengzhou-Laizhou. However, his capabilities in collecting secret intelligence were still limited.

The concept of secrecy in ancient society was very weak. Never mind ordinary gentry households; even information from government yamen could be easily obtained if one paid enough. Some so-called state secrets were already flying around as rumors in the capital before they were officially announced.

But the intelligence network he had painstakingly built was completely clueless about the mastermind behind these rice riots. This made him realize that his opponent was no ordinary enemy, but must be an organization with considerable experience in covert operations. He recalled what a group of “two-legged bookshelves” from the Grand Library had said during his training at the Foreign Intelligence Bureau: secret religious societies were rampant in the Ming Dynasty, with not only numerous members but also tight organizations.

“Could it be cultists?” Zhao Yigong muttered to himself. However, the collected posters showed no signs of any folk religious doctrine.

If this had happened in Lingao or a similar location, the Senate’s instruments of violence would operate with high efficiency. But right now, he was in territory ruled by the Ming, and the instruments of violence were not in his hands.

The first thing to do now was to find out who the opponent was. Only by knowing the enemy could he consider his next move.

One thing was certain: the opponent was targeting him, constantly fanning popular sentiment in preparation for inciting an even larger popular uprising.

Once a large-scale popular uprising broke out, not only would the foundation he had laid in Jiangnan be severely damaged, but he himself would be ruined and discredited, making it almost impossible to continue his activities in the region.

He had to take countermeasures as soon as possible. With this in mind, he summoned Zhao Tong to discuss a plan.

Although Zhao Tong had joined as a naturalized citizen through the Qiwei Escort Agency, he was a genuine man of the martial underworld. He was an escort who had specialized in “dark escorts,” which was like being a “freelancer” in the escort business, specifically protecting priceless treasures. Those who ran dark escorts were all lone wolves with unpredictable movements. They were not only highly skilled in martial arts but also bold, meticulous, and familiar with the ways of the underworld.

“I think there are people from secret societies involved in this,” Zhao Tong said after reading through the materials.

“How can you tell?” Zhao Yigong was secretly astonished. Although Zhao Tong had handled the collection of most of these materials, much of it came from other channels, and the compilation and summary were done by someone else. Yet, he had reached a conclusion similar to his own after just a quick look.

“This kind of method is their specialty, these secret religious sects,” Zhao Tong said concisely. “Also, Master, don’t forget, this is Hangzhou.”

“What about Hangzhou?”

“Master, have you forgotten the temples by the Gongchen Bridge?”

“Oh!” Zhao Yigong had a sudden realization. How could he have forgotten that! “The Luo Sect.”

The Gongchen Bridge area outside the North New Gate of Hangzhou was the starting point of the Grand Canal and had always been a mooring place for the grain transport barges. It was said that during the late Ming Dynasty, three men—Qian and Weng from Miyun, and Pan from Songjiang—came to live in Hangzhou and jointly promoted the Luo Religion. They each built a nunnery in that area, enshrining Buddhist statues, practicing vegetarianism, and chanting sutras. Thus, they became known as the Qian Nunnery, Weng Nunnery, and Pan Nunnery.

Because the area was close to where the grain barges moored, the canal boatmen often stayed there. Over time, they converted to the religion, and the nunneries became the property of the boatmen. As more boatmen moved in, the number of Luo Sect temples gradually increased. According to a memorial from the Qing Dynasty Zhejiang governor Li Wei to the Yongzheng Emperor, most of the boatmen of the Zhejiang Canal Gang were followers of the Luo Religion. Even though it had begun to decline by then, there were still over thirty temples, and at its peak, it was said to have as many as seventy-two. The boatmen would save money each year to support the temples. When they returned empty in the winter, they would stay there without paying for lodging. They also had people in Huai’an, Tianjin, Tongzhou, and the capital to take care of matters like legal expenses. Thus, it quickly formed into a guild for the canal boatmen.

Considering that he, Shen Tingyang, and the Fu She were scheming to “abolish canal transport in favor of sea transport,” and that his China Merchants Bureau had just taken on the northern shipment of military provisions for Guan-Ning, it was no wonder the Canal Gang would see him as a thorn in their side. Zhao Tong’s speculation was very reasonable.

Having a potential suspect made things easier. At least he knew what kind of methods to use against them.

“This is good,” he couldn’t help but say.

Zhao Tong looked at Master Zhao in astonishment. To be targeted by the Luo Sect and still say “this is good,” had the chief gone mad? Although Zhao Tong knew the capabilities of the Senate, this was Hangzhou under Ming rule, not Guangzhou where Australian gunboats patrolled the Pearl River and could reach the White Swan Pool at any time.

Ever since the second patriarch of the Luo Sect, Duan Jinan, led his disciples to Mount Tiantai in the fourth year of the Wanli era to preach his teachings, gathering three thousand followers and ultimately being suppressed by local officials, the various branches of the Luo Sect had kept a low profile. Unlike the White Lotus Sect, they had not launched multiple rebellions against the court, but they were still a force to be reckoned with in the underworld. The branch followed by the canal boatmen, in particular, though the least religious in nature, was immensely powerful along the banks of the Grand Canal.

“Can you find out the details?”

“I’ll get on it right away,” Zhao Tong promised readily. He was well-connected in the underworld and could find out a lot of information through his various contacts.

After Zhao Tong left, Zhao Yigong considered the matter and decided to inform both Shen Tingyang and the Fu She: someone was secretly working against the China Merchants Bureau.

If the Canal Gang was truly behind this, he had no intention of facing them alone. He had to drag these two parties into it. No matter how powerful the Canal Gang was, it was still a “vibrant social organization” and would not dare to openly “vie for power.” The safety of the Hangzhou station could be temporarily secured, and he could then slowly gather his forces to deal with them.

Taking a step back, if things really spiraled out of control, to the point where the Canal Gang rose in rebellion and the Hangzhou station was completely destroyed, it wouldn’t be a total loss. It would be a golden opportunity for the Senate to directly intervene in Jiangnan and subsequently control the north-south shipping routes.

However, the news Zhao Tong brought back a few days later surprised him again: there was no news within the Canal Gang of any plan to deal with Zhao Yigong!

The Canal Gang was just a boatmen’s guild. Although it was a large organization, it was not very tightly structured. There was no overall leader, nor did it have branch halls everywhere like a religious sect. Even its religious character was not strong. The Canal Gang was roughly organized along the Grand Canal, with each locality forming its own gang. While senior disciples held respected positions, it was merely a status. There was no command structure between the gangs; they merely cooperated.

The Canal Gangs too far from Hangzhou would find it difficult to intervene directly, even if they knew that the China Merchants Bureau’s grain transport contract posed a great threat to their future.

Therefore, any action would have to be initiated by the gangs in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang.

If the Canal Gang were truly planning to move against Zhao Yigong, given such a loose organizational structure, the mid-level members of the Hangzhou Canal Gang should have received the news by now.

However, Zhao Tong ran around for days and found nothing. The Canal Gang was busy repairing their boats. In a few months, the autumn grain would be harvested. The county yamen would open their granaries to collect taxes, the grain households would pay, and the canal boats would arrive at the docks to receive and load the grain, a process known as “shoudui” (receiving and verifying). This was the most important event of the year for the Canal Gang. Not only could they not delay “public business,” but the “shoudui” process, with its “rice color inspection” and “clearing customs,” was also a golden opportunity to extort the counties. Not only would the gang leaders in charge profit, but the entire gang would also receive a huge income.

In this state of affairs, it was hard to imagine that the Canal Gang, busy with generating income, would think of dealing with Zhao Yigong. Even the news of the sea transport of grain to the north did not cause much of a stir in the Canal Gang: first, it was not a regular occurrence, and second, a mere fifty thousand dan of coarse rice was just a drop in the bucket compared to the more than two million dan of tribute grain transported by canal each year.

Zhao Tong was also baffled. He had been very confident in his deduction, but the facts turned out to be otherwise.