On Diancheng East Street, in a brightly lit mansion.

There were only four people in the living room, sitting around an Eight Immortals table.

Sitting on the east side is a middle-aged man of medium height and stocky build. He is Li Piaoling from Guangzhou Iron Arm Martial Arts School.

"Master Zhuang, we came to Diancheng to open a smoking den with great fanfare. Our original intention was to lure the green-faced ghost out and eradicate him.

But yesterday you brought dozens of people into the city in full view of the public, and today when you went out to inspect the business, you brought all these people with you. Isn't it too showy?"

Li Piaoling had a deep voice and a calm tone, and said to Zhuang Chengxian who was sitting in the west, "There are so many people, and they are all strong men with guns. I'm afraid the green-faced ghost is afraid and won't show up easily."

The legend of the green-faced ghost has been spreading for three years in the three nearby cities and seven villages, covering a radius of nearly a hundred miles.

Three years ago, the young owner of Houji Dyeing Workshop in Tancheng took over the female workers in the workshop. The female workers were humiliated and lost weight day by day after returning home. They cried secretly and refused to say more.

Her father was almost crying when he saw his daughter. He couldn't find out the truth after all the troubles. Instead, rumors came back from the city that his daughter was shameless and hooked up with the young master's family. Everyone in the village looked strange and talked about it.

The old man was so angry that he went to the dyeing workshop to find someone to argue with him. He happened to encounter a group of friends from the young master's family who were out having fun. During the disturbance, he was pushed and the old man fell to his death at the foot of the steps.

The government officials spent a lot of money on the matter from the dyeing shop. They decided that the old man was making trouble unreasonably and fell to his death, so they took the body back home.

The female worker was filled with grief and anger, and threw herself into the river holding her old father's body.

This kind of thing has long been commonplace, and with a few kind-hearted sighs, that's usually all.

But at night, a man wearing a dark green mask broke the limbs of the young master of the dyeing shop in the Tancheng brothel, hung him from the eaves with a hemp rope, and covered him with a piece of white cloth.

Crimes written all over in bright red.

That piece of cloth was like a flag, flying over Tancheng along with the screams of the young master, making it a night that many people would never forget.

That was the first time the green-faced ghost appeared.

At that time, he was surrounded by a group of young men from the young master's family. After a lot of entanglement, he overturned those people and was able to escape.

But three months later, when he reappeared, his attacks were as sharp and ruthless as the previous one.

Mr. Wu's house in Tancheng has two rice shops, where he buys low and sells high, a large opium den, and a gambling shop. His family is well off and he earns a fortune every day. Every now and then, several corpses can be taken out of the opium den.

For a smoker who has died from smoking, the people do not care about the officials, their lives are like grass, and their money is still earned.

The second time the green-faced ghost struck was in broad daylight, when Mr. Wu was inspecting the gambling shop, he jumped off the roof, cut his stomach open with a knife, and then jumped on the roof to leave. The thugs around Mr. Wu had no time to react.

.

Seven days later, the green-faced ghost took action for the third time and killed Zheng Daxiucai, who had taken over Mr. Wu's business.

The local government posted a wanted warrant and police officers patrolled night and day, but found nothing.

But three days later, I heard that there was also a murder case in Heyang City. The perpetrator was still a green-faced ghost. The person who killed was a famous local lawyer who specialized in litigating cases for wealthy businessmen. No matter if someone in the family of those wealthy businessmen was accused of rape,

, murder, theft, paid murder, as long as you find this lawyer, you can be acquitted.

The lawyer's tongue was cut off and he died in such a tragic manner that the whole city of Heyang was shocked.

The wealthy businessmen are panic-stricken, while the common people secretly claim to be happy.

In the three cities of Tancheng, Heyang and Diancheng, Dawang Township, Huaihua Township and other seven townships, as well as more than ten nearby villages, anyone with a bad reputation has been visited by the green-faced ghost.

But in that first year, thirty-seven evildoers were killed.

In the second year, not only did the government and the White House pursue the whereabouts of the green-faced ghost, but many people in the underworld also paid high prices and placed a bounty on the green-faced ghost's head.

But this year, the green-faced ghost did something big.

He assassinated the magistrate of Heyang County.

In terms of those who have done the most evil in Heyang City, those wealthy businessmen, boxers, and lawyers are not even on the list. The one who leads the list is this county magistrate.

This county magistrate took office in the fifteenth year of Guangxu, that is, 1889 in the Western calendar.

When he took office, he added a congratulatory tax to Heyang City in the name of Emperor Guangxu's appointment of a queen.

For more than ten years, Heyang City has been filled with complaints and the people are in dire straits. They secretly call the county magistrate "the sky is three feet high."

The Heyang County Magistrate also knew that he had done many evil things and would be targeted by the green-faced ghost sooner or later. He was followed by six guards when he came in and out, and there were police officers guarding him in the yamen. He had more than 20 young nurses at home and raised more than a dozen

There were wolf dogs and ten muskets at their service.

The green-faced ghost assassinated him three times. The first time he failed because of a vicious dog warning and left.

During the second assassination, the green-faced ghost seemed to have a good understanding of the habits of wolves and dogs. He killed dogs as well as chickens. In a snap, he killed seven vicious dogs and broke into the study, only to be frightened away by a gun.

The third time, the green-faced ghost used a long, sharpened bamboo pole and threw it from the wall opposite the magistrate's house.

The bamboo pole penetrated the window and turned the two guards into bloody gourds. The shocked Heyang County Magistrate fled in all directions accompanied by all the guards.

In the midst of the chaos, the green-faced ghost with plaster on his face disguised as a guardian found an opportunity and cut the throat of the Heyang County Magistrate with a knife.

After this incident, the Green Faced Ghost's reputation became even more fierce. Those who were rich and unkind, bullied men and dominated women, although they were as afraid of him as ghosts and gods. Even ordinary people were afraid of him and did not dare to treat him as a chivalrous man anymore.

, secretly really regarded him as a ghost.

Some people even secretly offered a memorial tablet to the Green-faced Ghost.

The death of the Heyang County Magistrate made the name of the Green-faced Ghost alarm the Admiral of Guangdong. The Admiral became furious and ordered a large reward for his arrest.

However, even after all the wanted posters posted on the wall were damaged by weather and weather, there was still no chance of catching the green-faced ghost.

Green-faced ghosts still come looking for evil and kill people with knives, especially those who buy and sell cigarettes and open opium dens. Every one of them dies.

By the third year, no opium den dared to open in the three nearby cities and seven townships. Those who usually behaved badly were either killed or sold their property at a low price and moved their families and families to other places.

.

But selling tobacco and soil is a hugely profitable business, and it is really annoying to put such a big piece of fat here in three cities and seven villages.

General Nalando of Guangzhou was eyeing this place.

He personally invited three of the most prestigious boxers in Guangzhou, paid a generous deposit first, and promised huge profits. He invited the three of them to go with his registered admiral Zhuang Chengxian to the three cities and seven villages to try to eradicate the

Green-faced ghost.

The title "Admiral" sounds a bit bluffing, but a named admiral has no real power at all. A person like Zhuang Chengxian has to be polite to the three famous boxers in front of him.

Facing Li Piaoling's question, Zhuang Chengxian's thin, goat-like face first put on a kind smile and said: "Bringing these thirty elite soldiers is the general's wish. Naturally, there are also deep considerations. Master Li, don't be anxious.

Let me tell you.

It should be noted that in the past three years, almost all the people in the three cities and seven villages have been killed by the green-faced ghost. We pretended to be foreign wealthy businessmen and went to this dangerous place to seize the vacancies in the tobacco business. We took dozens of people with us.

The number of escorts is the normal behavior of businessmen.

If you don't bring it with you, I'm afraid it will make the green-faced ghost even more suspicious, and the delay will only be longer."

Li Piaoling rolled his eyes and nodded: "It makes sense."

"And Master Li doesn't have to worry that the green-faced ghost won't dare to come."

Zhuang Chengxian raised his tea cup proudly, took a sip, and said calmly, "Before we came here, the General had read the files on the cases in the three cities and seven townships.

What the masters were looking at was the part about the autopsy on the corpse, so that the masters could have an idea of ​​the Green Faced Ghost's methods through the traces of killings.

But I don’t have much vision in boxing, so I had to look at other places with a few staff in the general’s mansion, and there were some situations that were very worthy of note.

For example, in the first year when the green-faced ghost committed crimes, in addition to killing those big businessmen, he also killed Li Laizi from Dawang Township, Huang Po from Liushu Township and others.

Compared with those big businessmen, the influence of these little people is naturally a drop in the bucket and not worth mentioning. They only did things such as starving their mothers to death, beating their wives, poisoning their daughters-in-law, and abducting a few foreign orphans to go to brothels.

little things.

No matter whether they are professional killers or those rogue gangsters with treacherous intentions, it is impossible to pay much attention to these little people, but the green-faced ghosts just come to the door one by one, killing all the notorious people in these three cities and seven countryside.

, kill them all.”

After hearing this, Li Piaoling felt absurd in his heart and said with a smile: "We even kill old women and cripples. Is it possible that there are really people in this world, big or small, who are dedicated to doing chivalry and righteousness like this?"

Li Piaoling and Zhuang Chengxian laughed together, and even the boxers sitting on the north and south sides couldn't help but smile.

No way, this hypothesis is just too funny.

Even Huang Feihong, who was the most famous chivalrous man in Guangdong in the past few years, was a master of medicine and martial arts. He kicked seven times in the air in a flash, and each kick could crack stone monuments. Such amazing leg skills, the most he could do was to keep himself clean.

Just hanging out with those selling cigarettes.

If he suddenly came to the door on the street and killed all those profiteers, villains, and old religious women, then others would no longer praise his reputation and would only think that he was crazy.

In these days, evil people are everywhere in the mountains and at sea, buying and selling cigarettes, even legal businesses that are now recognized by the Manchu Qing government.

If you want to kill all those damned people, how many knives must be cut off? Unless it is to turn the world upside down and rebuild the world, how is it possible?

There are very few people who were born or grew up in the Qing Dynasty who even dared to have such an idea. They would directly put such a thing into practice and do it for three years, unless they were crazy.

There is no second explanation.

But after Zhuang Chengxian smiled, his face suddenly darkened and he said: "But what we have to deal with this time is probably a real madman."

His expression changed, and the smiles of the other three people gradually faded.

There was silence on the table for a while, and then the bald old man sitting in the north spoke: "Then this green-faced ghost must not be very old."

"really."

Zhuang Chengxian nodded, "The staff of the General's Mansion also analyzed it in this way. There are some places that can be used as evidence. For example, after he assassinated the Heyang County Magistrate, the batch of foreign guns mobilized by the Heyang County Magistrate were stolen.
To be continued...