Chapter 55 Chapter 55: On the Negotiation Table

But it is said that after Li Sibiao and his party entered the city, they settled down at Peng Wei's incense altar.Not long after, Lin Xiaochao sent someone to post a post, asking Fourth Master to sit at Master Zhang Xiang's place, saying that he wanted to welcome Fourth Master Li.Li Sibiao was furious when he saw the post, Lin Xiaochao was his junior no matter what, when he came to Nanchang, Lin Xiaochao didn't come to greet him personally, but invited him to meet him in his own territory, it was extremely rude.Although he knew that most of the matter could not be resolved through discussion, he did not want the conflict to escalate, so he decided to go to a banquet and negotiate with Lin Xiaochao.

That night, Li Sibiao brought Peng Wei, his confidants, Shi Lei, Li Huamei, Zhao Guan and more than ten people to Zhang Wanqing's incense altar.A middle-aged man in a long robe came out to greet him, and said with a smile: Fourth Master!What wind brought your old man here?Come in quickly, my nephew hasn't seen you for many years, and I miss you very much.How are you? Li Sibiao looked at him, and said calmly: Nephew Lin Xian, you are also good.Your father is in good health?Lin Xiaochao said: My father is in good spirits and in good health, nothing could be better.Fourth Master, please come in.

Zhao Guan saw that Lin Xiaochao was about forty years old, with a handsome appearance, but he was born with a good-looking talent, and thought: This man looks like a good person, but he must be a bastard who hides a knife in his smile.He obviously has no respect for fourth master, yet he wants to make such an affectionate appearance. Lin Xiaochao invited everyone to enter, pointed to a man with a round face and said, "Fourth Lord, my nephew will introduce you to me. This is Xin Wutan Zhang Wanqing Xiangzhu, do you see him often?"Zhang Wanqing came up to salute Li Sibiao and called out, "Si Ye!"Li Sibiao glanced at him and only nodded.

After the group sat down, Li Sibiao went straight to the point and said: Nephew Lin Xian is also a brother in the gang, so don't make things ugly and make people laugh.The position of the Xin Wu Altar Master should be taken over by a brother of high morals and prestige.Master Peng Xiang respects faith and righteousness in the altar and is popular, so he should inherit the position of altar master, we don't need to argue any more. Lin Xiaochao said: "Fourth Master, for the matter of Master Xin Wutan, I bothered you to come here in person. My nephew is really sorry."But to help neutralize the altar master, the three books have always been the criterion, and Zhang Xiangzhu inherits the altar master according to the three books, that is very clear.He waved his hand, and one of his subordinates immediately took a step forward and spread a piece of paper on the table.

Zhang Lei took the paper and put it in front of Li Sibiao.Zhao Guan looked from the side and saw that it was written on the paper: Zhang Xiang Lord Wan Qing is hereby appointed as the successor of the altar master.Miao Liren would like to stand on a certain date. Li Sibiao frowned slightly, and was about to speak when Peng Wei yelled: "Si Ye, this book is fake!"Zhang Wanqing said loudly: Master Peng Xiang, what evidence do you have for saying this?This book was handed over to me by Brother Miao himself. He knew you were not talented enough, so he didn't establish you, so you don't have to be so angry.

Li Huamei interrupted suddenly: "Master Zhang Xiang, your Excellency has always been appreciated by Master Miao Tan, everyone knows that."But the little girl was puzzled about something and wanted to ask Lord Zhang Xiang for advice.Zhang Wanqing said: Miss Li, please tell me.Li Huamei said, "May I ask when did the Master of the Miao Tan promote you to be the Lord of Fragrance?" Zhang Wanqing said: That was the year before last.Li Huamei said: "Really?"Then this book is probably not very reliable.The date on the book is three years ago, at that time your Excellency had not been appointed as the incense master, how could the Miao Tan master call you the incense master?How could you be qualified to be the successor of the altar master at that time?

Zhang Wanqing was at a loss for words, he hesitated and said: Is this it?It is also possible that the date of this book is wrong.Li Huamei raised her eyebrows and said: "It's more likely that this book is a fake at all!"Zhang Wanqing's face turned red and he was speechless. Lin Xiaochao smiled, and interjected: According to my brother's guess, the situation is roughly like this.When Master Miao Tan established a successor three years ago, he didn't have any suitable candidates under his command. He must have waited until Brother Zhang was promoted to be the Fragrance Master before filling in Brother Zhang's name.Peng Wei, Li Huamei and others couldn't help being angry when they heard his unreasonable words.

Li Sibiao said: "Nephew Lin Xian, the matter of setting up the altar master is so important that it cannot be decided with an unreliable book."Moreover, this letter has never been submitted to the leader, and it has no effect.Lin Xiaochao's complexion changed slightly, and he said with a smile: "Si Ye doesn't trust this book, and the altar master Miao died of a sudden illness without leaving a single word. Could it be that the position of the altar master can't be decided?"The altar cannot be left alone for a day, so it is not a solution to let it go in chaos.

Li Sibiao said: There is no one book, but there are two and three books.There are only two incense masters, Peng and Zhang, in the Xin Wutan, so these two books are naturally useless at this time.According to the rules of the gang, at this time the decision should be made by Sanshu. Zhao Guan didn't know what this book, the second book, and the third book were, so he asked Li Huamei in a low voice, and she briefly explained.It turns out that the decision of the altar masters in the Green Gang is based on the previous altar master's intentions; each altar master must announce the selected successor of the altar master.The incense masters under each altar also secretly wrote a book, declaring their support or opposition to the heir, and submitted it to the general altar, which is called the second book.Most of the incense masters of the altars are cronies promoted by the altar masters, and they rarely do not support the candidates appointed by the altar masters. Therefore, these two books are mostly mere formalities. Knowing the opinions of the incense masters based on the second book, sometimes they will support the altar master according to the consensus of the second book.The three letters are the opinions of all the gang members in the altar. Usually, only when the person selected by the altar leader is too unseemly, the gang members will jointly write the three letters and go to the main forum to protest. Generally, these three letters do not exist.

But Lin Xiaochao said, "Fourth Master was joking."These three books are difficult to obtain, how can we take them as the standard?According to my little nephew, in our gang, martial arts has always been used to determine the superiority.If martial arts are not strong, they will not be able to convince others, nor will they be able to command their brothers.Looking at this point, my nephew still thinks that Zhang Xiangzhu is the most suitable candidate. Only when Zhang Xiangzhu succeeds to the throne can Xin Wutan be stable and avoid chaos. Li Sibiao said solemnly: I only heard that the gang is based on faith, but I have never heard that strong martial arts are enough to be the altar leader.

Lin Xiaochao smiled and said: Fourth Master is right.Master Zhang Xiang is very popular in the altar. He is trustworthy and righteous, and has always been respected by the brothers in the altar.Li Sibiao shook his head and said: Nephew Lin Xian, the old man heard something different.The old man often heard about Peng Xiangzhu's reputation in Hangzhou, saying that he is a good man with integrity and courage, and that Zhang Xiangzhu is a flattering, shameless, treacherous and untrustworthy person.Could it be that the rumors are wrong? Lin Xiaochao said: Fourth master is far away in Hangzhou, so it is possible that he heard something wrong.The little nephew was in Yueyang, what he heard was exactly the opposite of what fourth master said.The brothers Xin Wutan unanimously supported Lord Zhang Xiang, this matter could not be more clear.More than a dozen Zhang faction gang members behind him shouted loudly: My brother swears to support Director Zhang Xiang and the altar master of this altar! Li Sibiao sneered and said: Nephew Lin Xian, don't use such tricks in front of your fourth master.There is no basis for words, and the matter of setting up the altar owner still depends on the three books.We choose a good day and auspicious day, call together Xin Wu's brothers, one person and one lottery, put into the magic box in front of the altar, the green color supports Peng Xiangzhu, and the red supports Zhang Xiangzhu.When the time comes to see which color is more, whoever will be the altar master.This method is the most fair, nephew Lin Xian should not have any objections, right? Lin Xiaochao said: Fourth Master's method inevitably has disadvantages.If the brothers in the gang are coerced by Peng Xiangzhu's lure and coercion, and dare not not vote for the blue lottery, so what?According to me, choose a good day and auspicious day, let Peng Xiangzhu and Zhang Xiangzhu fight in front of the altar, whoever has the best martial arts will be the Xiangzhu.Li Sibiao said: "When the brothers vote, fold up the lottery and keep it secret, so that there will be no such disadvantages."The two incense masters, Peng Zhang and Zhang, sent their subordinates to monitor the box, and the old man and nephew Lin Xian were in charge, so no one dared to make trouble.Lin Xiaochao said: Si Ye's method is certainly good, but as a member of the gang, how can he convince others without relying on martial arts?My nephew believes that martial arts should prevail. Li Sibiao let out a hey, he knew that Zhang Wanqing was a good fighter of Pu Dao, and although Peng Wei's martial arts were not weak, he probably wasn't Zhang's opponent, that's why Lin Xiaochao insisted on the martial arts competition. Zhang Lei said loudly: "Master Lin, you keep saying that the decision should be made by martial arts. Now we each hold one side, and we can't agree on the method of electing Xin Wutan master. It's better to rely on martial arts to decide."If Lin Tanzhu is willing to fight with his family teacher, whoever wins will follow his own method, so Lin Tanzhu has nothing to say, right? Lin Xiaochao smiled and said: My nephew is a junior of the fourth master, how dare he fight with the fourth master?Why don't I ask Senior Brother Zhang for some tips and think it's a decision.Zhang Lei said angrily: "Okay, let's come and compete!" Li Sibiao knew that his apprentice was reckless, and Lin Xiaochao had dominated the world for more than ten years with daggers and eyebrow stabs. How could his apprentice be his opponent?He frowned and said, "Lei'er, step back."Nephew Lin Xian, my father and I have known each other for many years, this time we are here to talk about things, harmony is the most important thing, and we can't hurt the friendship between our two families.Since you respect me as an elder, you should listen to me when it comes to how to choose Xin Wu altar master.Lin Xiaochao said: "Although fourth master is an elder, he should be reasonable in everything.Li Sibiao said: Exactly.If you want to be reasonable, you should follow the gang rules, decide with three letters, and let the brothers under Xin Wutan vote for the decision.Lin Xiaochao said: In addition to reasoning and righteousness, strength must be matched to convince others.Even if Peng Xiangzhu is more popular, but he has no talent, virtue and martial arts to complement him, how can there be no chaos in the altar?The two were at each other's throats, arguing again and again. After all, Li Sibiao is old and hot, and after talking about a cup of tea, he finally defeated Lin Xiaochao. The two sides decided to gather brothers under the Xinwu altar on an auspicious day three days later, and vote for the altar owner. Li Sibiao felt relieved when he saw that the negotiation was going well, and ordered his subordinates to monitor Lin Xiaochao and the others to prevent him from going back on his word and plotting another plan.After a day, there was no change of mind. Peng Wei and Zhang Wanqing respectively sent their subordinates to persuade Brother Xin Wu to get everyone to vote for their support.