In Mr. Jin Yong's martial arts world, the Gang can be said to occupy a pivotal position.
From the Age of Heavenly Dragon to the Age of Double Eagles, the Gang has been in its heyday.
It was only in "The Book of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens" that the beggar gang began to walk down the altar.
The six major factions besieged such activities as the Bright Peak, and none of them called the Shangpai Gang,
It can be said that at this time, the beggar gang has become a marginal gang.
But why did the gang decline to this point?
In fact, this is inseparable from Huang Rong.
In the Eight Heavenly Dragons, Qiao Feng succeeded to the throne as the Helper.
With his superb martial arts, he led the gang to resist foreign invasion and made great achievements.
It is called Beiqiao Peak by martial artists.
The status of the Gang of Servants was also improved, becoming the "world's largest gang", and together with Shaolin, it was called the Taishan Beidou of Wulin.
Unfortunately, Qiao Feng was later expelled from the Gang because of his status as a Khitan.
The affairs of the Gang were controlled by Quan Guanqing again, and the status of the jianghu began to decline slowly.
When it was time for the Double Eagle Era, it was the turn of Hong Qigong and Huang Rong to be the helpers.
The reputation and strength of the Gang of Servants have returned to their peak state and become the largest gang in the world.
In the Divine Sculpture, the Heroes of Lujiazhuang Conference unanimously proposed that Hong Qigong, the former gang leader of the Cai Gang, should serve as the leader of the Wulin League.
It can be seen how strong the prestige of the beggar gang is at this time.
It's just that although the gang is very strong, there have always been internal contradictions in the gang, and there is a dispute between the dirty clothes faction and the clean clothes faction.
The Dirty Clothes Sect are real beggars and displaced people, and these people joined the beggar gang to survive.
Live by real begging and strictly abide by the precepts of the gang.
In addition to wearing a patched beggar's suit, the clean clothes faction is no different from ordinary people.
Big fish, big meat, marrying wives and concubines does not affect.
These people were originally heroes on the rivers and lakes, or admired the chivalrous behavior of the beggar gang, or befriended the disciples in the gang and joined the gang, but they were not real beggars.
Such inequality between rich and poor will naturally lead to contradictions.
The number of dirty clothes factions is strong, and the clean clothes faction is strong, and most of them are helpers.
Despite his high martial prowess, the Seventh Duke of Beiqi Hong ranked among the top five in the world.
But he could not completely resolve the contradiction, and in order to show impartiality and selflessness, he could only help himself.
Wear clean clothes in the first year, and dirty clothes in the second year, so that you can change them every year to be impartial.
It's just that Hong Qigong likes good food, and if he is allowed to go to people to beg for leftovers, he is naturally unwilling.
Therefore, he could not strictly abide by the precepts of the Dirty Clothes Sect, although Qiao Feng was not born tall, but his adoptive parents were still alive when he joined the gang.
Normally he would not be reduced to a beggar, so he should be a cleanser.
Ma Dayuan, the deputy gang leader, not only has his own mansion but also can marry a wife, and there are servants in the family to serve, which also belongs to the category of the clean clothes sect.
Although Hong Qigong did not introduce his origin, from his research on food, it is not something that a person from a beggar background can have.
After all, there are few beggars who are as picky about food as Hong Qigong. He should also belong to the Clean Clothes Sect.
Huang Rong's family is prominent, and she has been pampered and raised since childhood, and naturally belongs to the clean clothes school.
Hong Qigong uses unbiased clothing to deal with the dispute over the cleansing within the gang.
How did Huang Rong respond?
Huang Rong is smart and witty, and it is naturally a piece of cake to govern the gang with her ingenuity.
Moreover, Huang Rong's own martial arts are not bad, and his father's eastern evil Huang Yaoshi's stunt skills.
Coupled with the Gang's Dog Fighting Stick Method, the internal power was blessed with the Nine Yin True Scriptures.
Even if the martial arts do not reach the level of the Five Absolutes, they are also first-class masters in the jianghu, not to mention that there are also quasi-Five Absolute Guo Jing around.
It can be said that the beggar gang has her in town, and the general small door faction does not dare to provoke at will.
Huang Rong lived on Taohua Island in the early days, and later the Mongols attacked the Song Dynasty and began to guard Xiangyang with Guo Jing.
The Cai Gang under the leadership of Huang Rong was the backbone of the guarding Xiangyang.
In this way, the contradiction between the clean clothes school and the dirty clothes school was successfully transferred.
Let the two factions unify their guns and align with each other, and naturally there is no time for infighting anymore.
Huang Rong was impartial during his management of the Cai Gang, and the most trusted person in the Cai Gang was Lu Youzu, the elder of the Dirty Cloth Sect.
He also chose to let him take over his position, but Lu Had limited qualifications and martial arts talent was even worse.
Even the beggar gang stunt dog stick method can't be learned well.
In fact, Huang Rong also wanted to find a successor with strong martial arts skills, but the Gang was not like the orthodox sects such as Shaolin Emei.
They have their own unique martial arts and internal gong heart methods for disciples to learn, and the gang can take out the martial arts that shock the martial arts, only the Eighteen Palms of the Dragon and the Dog Stick Method, but these two things can only be learned by the Helper.
The other members are all from different classes, and there are very few masters who bring art into the gang.
In this way, there is naturally no other master for Huang Rong to choose, Huang Rong can only pick a general in a cripple, and choose Lu Youzu, who is still okay with martial arts.
By the time Lu Youzu died, the Gang had no suitable choices for its owner.
You can only choose your helper through a ring contest.
Huang Rong's helper was his son-in-law Yelüqi
Unfortunately, Yelüqi was defeated by He Shi I, who was disguised as Huo Du, and Yang Guo sent a dog stick in time to avenge Lu Youzu.
At that time, the four elders of the Cai Gang gathered around Yang Guo to thank him, and they all wanted Yang Guo to be the leader of the Cai Gang.
Only in the face of the invitation, Yang Guo still refused, and he did not agree to be the leader of the beggar gang.
Instead, he took the initiative to recommend Yelüqi and let him become the leader of the beggar gang.
The gang saw that it was Yang Guo who recommended it, yelüqi was still Guo Jing Huang Rong's son-in-law, and it was also a strong pressure on the crowd, which made Yelüqi the leader of the gang.
Yelü Qi's master was the old naughty boy Zhou Botong, who learned the martial arts of the Quanzhen Sect.
Later, he studied with Guo Jing to descend the Eighteen Palms of the Dragon, which can be said to be the best among the divine sculptures.
Although Yelüqi was strong in martial arts, he could not stop the decline of the Beggar Gang.
After Yelüqi was the helper for more than ten years, the city of Xiangyang was attacked by the Yuan Dynasty.
Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and Guo Shaoyu were martyred.
As the main force, the Cai Gang also suffered heavy losses.
After Huang Rong became the leader of the gang, the main task was to guard Xiangyang.
Although Lu Youzu became the helper in the later period, the actual person in power was also Huang Rong.
Huang Rong's family was guarding Xiangyang, how could they not pull together the gang.
Other sects may have a symbolic contribution, but the gangs are different.
The energy of the people in the gang was devoted to the defense of the city, and there was no time to develop their own gang.
War also consumes relatively large personnel, and the high value of force in the beggar gang is relatively small, and it is natural that there will be heavy casualties and decline.