After Yang Yan and Xie Yuanqing arrived at Jingjiang Mansion, Yang Yan and Xie Yuanqing said goodbye. At the time of separation, Xie Yuanqing said: "Brother Yang is doing business in the south this time, if you have time, you must come to Guangzhou, and you must do your best in Guangzhou to do your landlord's friendship." ”

Yang Yan nodded and said, "If I have time, I will take a trip to Guangzhou." After saying that, Yang Yancai separated from the caravan, and Xie Yuanqing led the caravan to Guangzhou.

Yang Yan came to the Jingjiang Mansion to set up the envoy Si Yamen, because Fan Chengda also served as the Jingjiang prefect, so the establishment of the envoy Yamen and the prefect's yamen were together.

However, this time Yang Yanxue was smart, and he didn't report his real name, and gave Zisi a fake name called Wan Hao, along with the token that Yu Yunwen gave him. The person who met Yang Yan was Zhou Xin, the senator who made the envoy responsible for collecting information. In fact, with this token, Yang Yan could directly ask to see Fan Chengda, but Yang Yan felt that there was no need to see Fan Chengda now, so he didn't care.

It turned out that Fan Chengda was acting according to Wu Gong's plan, and he was busy mobilizing military horses from all over Guangnan in the past few days, so he met Yang Yan in person, and only then did he send Zhou Xin to meet him. Although Yang Yan was young, Zhou Xin was quite surprised, but he knew that this was a token specially issued by the Shumi Academy, and the person holding the token might be Yu Yunwen's henchman, so he didn't dare to slack off, just asked Yang Yan a few words, and said: "Now the rebels are divided into two routes, all the way to gather in Deqing Mansion, ready to attack Wuzhou and Fengzhou, and all the way to Yongzhou Zuojiang Road." Now we have set up the envoy Si Yijing to send more than ten batches of detailed reconnaissance and elimination of military aircraft in Deqing Mansion, but there are not enough manpower in the Yongzhou area, I see if Brother Wan can go to the Yongzhou area to inquire about the Dao. ”

Yang Yan nodded, in fact, he wanted to go to Deqing Mansion. And according to the order given to him by Yu Yunwen, he can act according to his own ideas without listening to anyone's arrangement. However, now that Zhou Xin asked himself in a deliberative tone, it was not easy to refuse, and now there is indeed a shortage of people in Yongzhou, so he signed it.

Zhou Xin saw that Yang Yan agreed, Zhili was also very happy, and asked again, "Does Brother Wan have any other requirements?" ”

Yang Yan thought for a while and said, "I have always lived in Lin'an, and this is the first time I have come to Guangnan, so I hope to provide a detailed map of Guangnan." Also, I want to know the cause of this Manichaean rebellion, can I? ”

Zhou Xin nodded, feeling that the young man in front of him was acting very carefully, and said, "The map is easy to do, and I can provide it to you tomorrow." As for the beginning and end of this Manichaean rebellion, I have basically explained it through the scriptures, and I can tell you now. ”

Yang Yan nodded and said, "Listen to me." ”

Zhou Xindao: "The leader of this rebellion is called Zhong Zibo, he is the son of the Dongting Rebellion and the younger brother of Zhong Ziyi. In the fifth year of Shaoxing, the Dongting rebellion was quelled by Yue Wumu, Yang Mo and Zhong Ziyi were captured and beheaded, only Zhong Ziang and a dead party escaped from Dongting, came to the area of Guangnan, and re-established Manichaeism on Hainan Island. ”

Yang Yanzhi heard Guangyan say this and asked, "Then how did Manichaeism become powerful in the south?" After the Dongting Rebellion was put down, didn't the court strictly ban Manichaeism? ”

Zhou Xin smiled bitterly: "Guangnan is remote, Hainan is an island hanging overseas, and the heavy army of the court is basically in the north to resist the Jin soldiers, which is beyond the reach of the whip. In addition, those who escaped from Dongting were all Manichaean elites, and when they first came to the south, they were very deep, often in the name of Buddhism and Taoism, and it was difficult to prohibit them. ”

Yang Yan said: "I know that the teachings of Manichaeism are very different from Buddhism and Taoism, so how do they spread their teachings? ”

Zhou Xin said with a smile: "The rules are who will stick to the doctrine, in fact, they preach in no more than two ways, one is to pretend to be a god and play a ghost, use a blind method, and cover people's ears and eyes to coax the ignorant Baiwa to be fooled, and finally believe in Manichaeism with all their hearts." The second is to give some small favors, such as giving to some poor and suffering people, and then go around preaching the lie that the god of light has come to the world to help the world. Occasionally, he would kill a few local corrupt officials who were very angry with the people, and then say that some kind of light god appeared to the saint. It was through these methods that they worked hard for nearly 40 years in Quang Nam, not only recovering their vitality, but also accompanying a group of loyal congregational congregation, whose followers had already spread across the two regions. ”

Yang Yan pondered for a while and said, "I'm afraid that this is also because there are many corrupt officials in the two places, so that the people are not able to make a living." ”

Although Zhou Xin was a little surprised, Yang Yan spoke too boldly, but thinking that he was Yu Yunwen's confidant, he was relieved, and said: "Guangnan is far away, and the court can't reach it for a while, and there are some corrupt officials who wantonly oppress the people. But there are some special reasons for this. ”

Yang Yan said: "Oh! What are the special reasons? ”

Zhou Xin said: "The land of Liangguang is a place where Han and Yi live together, especially on this Guangnan West Road, there are barbarians such as Gu, Yao, and Miao in the local area, among which the Gu are the most powerful. The barbarians and the Han people have always been not very harmonious, and the Wen people are bullied in places where there are many barbarians, and they are bullied in places where there are many Han people, and it is not all the government that oppresses the people. ”

Yang Yan was stunned for a moment, it was the first time he had heard of the contradiction between the Han and Yi people, and this was a new problem.

Zhou Xin continued: "And Genandong Road is another special situation, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Chaozhou and other places are coastal ports for foreign trade, and in recent years, commercial goods have come and gone. Naturally, there are some people who take risks, do some business without capital, and become pirates. Coastal places are also unfavorable, and over time it becomes the climate. Several larger groups of pirates were formed. At the same time, there are also many private trades among the people, and most of the private traders are lawbreakers, once they are found by the government, they often resist arrest and beat poorly, and some even collude with pirates to fight against the government. In addition to paying taxes to the city berth, the passing merchant ships also had to pay tribute from pirates in order to keep them safe. ”

When Yang Yan heard this, he couldn't help but think of the gang of robbers he met on Shiyan Mountain on Guangnan Road, and couldn't help but say: "There are mountain thieves in the mountains, and there are water thieves in the water, this is not bad at all." ”

Zhou Xin said: "Now there are more than a dozen large and small pirates along the coast of Guangnan and Fujian. There are basically three groups of large ones. The leader of the largest group is called Meng Heng, the "Forbidden Sea Yama", with four or five thousand pirates under his command and more than 100 ships of all sizes. The other two were slightly smaller, and the leader of one group was named Xu Hai, with more than 3,000 men and sixty or seventy ships. The leader of the other group was a woman, named Meng Lanjun, who was heard to be a distant niece of Meng Heng, and there were also one or two thousand pirates under her command, and forty or fifty ships. And the rest of the men were two or three hundred pirates, and only ten. They are all attached to these three pirates. ”

Yang Yan was also taken aback and said, "How can there be so many pirates." ”

Zhou Xin smiled bitterly: "There are many reasons for being a pirate, some are people who have committed capital crimes and fled abroad, some are because the Lord is poor and forced to be helpless, some are plundered by pirates, and some are originally merchants, but seeing that they are pirates, they can make money faster, so they changed their careers to be pirates, in the final analysis, it is because of the magistrate, the law and discipline are lax, and the arrest is unfavorable." ”

After Yang Yan listened, he could be regarded as having a great understanding of the situation in Guangnan. The situation in Guangnan was much more serious than he originally imagined, not only a problem of Manichaeism, but it was not until he came to Guangnan that he had some admiration for Zhou Xin, and he understood the situation in Guangnan so clearly. I couldn't help but say: "It may not be difficult to quell the Manichaean rebellion, but it is not easy to stabilize the entire Guangnan Road." ”

Zhou Xin was stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect Yang Yan to say such a sentence, in fact, this sentence happened to speak to his heart, when he was investigating the situation in Guangnan, he also found that this was not only a Manichaean rebellion, but also a complicated problem, and couldn't help but say: "Brother Wan, you are right." ”

Both of them fell silent for a while, and after a while, Yang Yan said: "Thank you Lord Zhou for telling me the situation in Guangnan, I will leave today first, and tomorrow I will come to get the map, and then I will go to Yongzhou." ”