"Something happened? What should I say?" Li Qi shook his head to get rid of the previous distracting thoughts and looked at Uncle Six in front of him carefully.

Uncle Liu is the veteran of the Paibo Gang and the leader respected by everyone. He is fair, enthusiastic and experienced, so he has the unanimous trust of others.

This old man in his forties or fifties has gray hair and a stooped back. Years of towing boats has caused his spine to become somewhat distorted. There is an obvious scar from his neck to his back. At a glance, it is clear that it was caused by years of friction with ropes.

Most old trackers have these physical characteristics, especially the twisted spine which is very conspicuous.

It is impossible to physically pull a ship of several thousand tons without causing some problems.

"After the opening of the river, there will be rewards for the first pass, but isn't the original first pass the group of people from the Li Zhuang Gang?" Liu Shu said.

"What's the original purpose? Now we're halfway through opening the river, we've finished pulling the first tunnel, and the prefect is watching with his own eyes. Is it possible that they can still snatch it away? Even if it's for revenge afterwards, the strength of the Lizhuang Gang is as strong as ours.

Even among brothers, the fight for supremacy has always been based on one's own abilities, so what's the point?" Li Qi didn't know why.

If this is called staring, it can be said that the tracker gangs are staring at each other anytime and anywhere.

It's a competitive relationship from the beginning, everyone just depends on their abilities.

"Yes, it used to be like this. The Li Zhuang Gang didn't have the ability to start a war with us. It just lost Kaihe once. But there was news from our eyeliner just now that no one from the Li Zhuang Gang came to see Kaihe today." Uncle Liu said.

As soon as he said this, Li Qi frowned.

He sensed something was wrong.

"We are the first group, the water horse gang is the second group, there is no third group, but we are always exhausted people. If there are vacancies that need to be filled, there are always people from the Lizhuang Gang who can fill it, but none of them came.

?" Li Qi touched his chin and said to himself.

According to the usual practice, once you participate in Kaihe, in the end, although it is not as good as the first and second steps, there will still be rewards. There are also people in the Lizhuang Gang who have difficulties in life. When the time comes, there will be one or two injured gaps here.

There can be a dozen people who can get a reward.

So in the past, when three gangs fought for the top spot, if they couldn't get the first one, they would get the second one. If they didn't get the second one, most people would come to join in the fun and try to get a share of the rewards.

But now, no one from the Strong Clan is here?

No wonder Uncle Six would rush over to him to discuss countermeasures.

When something goes wrong, there must be a monster.

So, he clapped his hands and said: "Uncle Six, I won't go after the rotation. I'll go to the Lizhuang Gang to have a look."

Uncle Six nodded: "That's what I mean too. You are smart and a good fighter. You are also very good at Paibo Jin. You are second only to me in the gang. I feel most at ease if you go."

Perhaps Li Qizhen has a talent for practicing martial arts. Anyway, after obtaining Paibo Jin, he has become stronger than most of the gang members in the past two years.

Coupled with his educated and smart mind, he has become the number two figure in the Paibo Gang, second only to Uncle Liu.

"Then I'll go over first." Li Qi was not a procrastinator, so he stood up immediately.

"Be careful, pay attention to safety, and the most important thing is to protect yourself." Uncle Liu warned.

"Don't worry." Li Qi nodded and left quickly.

After saying this, Li Qi left quickly.

————————

During the opening of the river, every household in Lizhou City was preparing things.

Merchants prepare goods and vendors prepare food, all busy with business after the river is opened.

After the river was opened, goods and merchants from many cities in the Dalu Kingdom would gather in Lizhou City and transport them to all directions with the help of the Lishui River.

Therefore, opening the river is the most important event of the year in Lizhou City, even more important than the Chinese New Year.

At this time, the whole city was busy with its own affairs, so except for laborers transporting goods and mailmen conveying messages, there were almost no other idlers on the streets.

So when a man dressed as a tracker wanders around the city, many people look at him strangely.

But most of them were just curious, and no one came to mind their own business.

If you are too busy with your own affairs, why bother with a tracker?

Li Qi, on the other hand, wandered on the street for a while, and then suddenly stopped a vendor who was setting up a stall: "This little brother, why are everyone so surprised when they see me?"

The hawker rolled his eyes and glanced at Li Qi: "You're a tracker. You don't go to the river and wander around in the street. Why do you think you're looking at me?"

He didn't speak politely, because the trackers were no match for the traders.

Vendors also have their own chambers of commerce under the aggregation of different wealthy merchants. These chambers of commerce generally unify prices in their own industries to stifle competition. Knife and scissor merchants have their own guilds, blacksmiths have their own guilds, and even porters have their own guilds.

organize.

In this world, everyone lives together around a single skill, and trackers obviously belong to the lowest level.

"So that's it, but aren't there a lot of trackers on the street today? Why are you looking at me alone?" Li Qi scratched his head in confusion.

"Are you crazy? Apart from you, where are the trackers on this street? Okay, if you don't want to buy something, leave quickly. Don't delay my work. The river opening will be over soon. Everyone is here. Will you compensate me for the loss?"

Seeing that Li Qi had no intention of buying anything, the vendor quickly waved his hand and sent him away.

Li Qi also immediately stepped away, not to disturb him in preparing goods and setting up the stall.

He also got what he wanted.

As expected, trackers under normal circumstances would definitely be at the river opening site and not wandering around.

Well, the people from the Lizhuang Gang neither went to the river opening site nor walked around the streets...

It can be seen that they did not go out and stayed together.

Most of the ordinary trackers work for a day and eat for a day. They basically have no savings. Even if they do, the amount is not large and cannot last for a few days. It is okay for a young single like Li Qi. After all, one person can feed the whole family.

If you're not hungry, you can still save some.

If you are a married tracker, the financial pressure will be even greater.

If people gather together under such pressure and don't go to the river, and they don't wander around in the streets, then this is a big problem.

In this day and age, what else can more than two hundred trackers do if they gather together? Could it be a party?

Not in Chengdu.

Li Qi decisively quickened his pace.

With so many people gathered together, it might be a swearing-in ceremony or something, so I had to go quickly to see what was true.

He knew that the Lizhuang Gang was stationed next to a tributary of the Lishui River in the city.

The tributaries of the Lishui River are spread throughout the city like capillaries, just like a water town in the south of the Yangtze River. They are the water sources that the entire city depends on for its livelihood.

He quickly rushed to the river. The tributaries of Lishui that spread throughout the city were still frozen, but there was still ice on them.

This is exactly what he wants.

According to the heat island effect, the local temperature in residential areas will be much higher than that near the river.

This means that the ice here is more fragile.

I randomly found a tributary, stepped on it, stamped my feet, and looked around, but there was no one there.

Very empty.

Good thing.

He stepped down hard and the ice shattered.

He decisively fell through the crack.

There are three tracker gangs in Lizhou City.

The water horse gang's skills are good at endurance. They are said to be as durable as an ox or a horse. They can pull for three hours without stopping. Their skin is thick and the rope cannot wear the skin, making them more durable.

The Li Zhuang Gang's Kung Fu is good at increasing strength. The other two gangs can pull a boat that requires fifty people, but they can pull it with thirty.

As for the skills of the Paibo Gang...

You can tell from the name that the Paibo Gang is good at water. They can pull the boat in the water without standing on the shore.

Li Qi took a deep breath and used his wave force to move quickly under the frozen water like a fish.

The frozen ice gave him almost perfect cover. Although he couldn't breathe, with the blessing of Paibo Jin, he could stay in the water for two quarters of an hour without breathing.

And it only takes him five minutes to swim to the territory of the Strong Gang.

Soon, he arrived at the water area of ​​Lizhuangbang, which was an alley in the city with a tributary running through it.

The people living in this place are all poor people. A group of tailors and the Li Zhuang Gang live here. Because of this relationship, the clothes of the Li Zhuang Gang are much better than those of the other two gangs.

The tailors are not easy to mess with. They are good at flying needles and hidden weapons, and they have a good relationship with the Li Zhuang Gang. After all, there is no conflict of interest between the two parties and they live together, so they form an alliance and help each other.

Once here, Li Qi was a lot more careful.

He could see holes in the ice with fish hooks hanging out.

They are all mud-legged poor people who live by the water. Of course they need to catch some fish to support their families and make some tooth sacrifices.

But they are all fishhooks, not fishing nets.

Because fishing with fishing nets is the exclusive preserve of the fish stall owners in the city. Anyone who dares to use fishing boats and nets privately is making enemies of all the fish stall owners in the city. Those fishermen with harpoons are not someone to be trifled with.

This is the current situation of the world, with distinct groups and classes.
To be continued...