297: Chapter 95: The Origin and Development of the Red Lantern Society 297: Chapter 95: The Origin and Development of the Red Lantern Society The origins of the Red Lantern Society can be traced back to a historical and ancient profession—boat prostitutes.
There used to be an old saying, “A million canal workers depend on their clothes and food.”
Many people have treated this saying as a classic quote by experts in the know, yet they are unaware of its true origin.
In the past, Tianmen City served as the largest canal transport port in the North, indeed having a million canal workers.
This term, canal workers, referred not only to those who transported grain by boat and workers who moved goods at the docks but also to a vast ecosystem that extended around the north–south canal transport system.
Boat prostitutes were a very important part of this ecosystem.
In Tianmen, there was an unwritten rule that whether on boats or in the courtyards of alleys, places hanging red lanterns at night were those engaged in the “technical trades.”
This can’t be elaborated upon, as it would be censored.
The name “Red Lantern Society” comes from this.
But this does not mean that the Red Lantern Society is some indecent organization.
In this era, many self-righteous people despised and maligned it with the vilest of language, and then felt as if their souls had been purified and revitalized.
In fact, the formation of the Red Lantern Society was fundamentally due to the exploitation and oppression by the Foreigners.
Back then, the Imperial Court was corrupt, the Western Great Powers created turmoil, and the coastal areas suffered greatly.
Well known were the despicable behaviors of Western missionaries and businessmen, but there was another group that hardly left any trace in the history books yet truly existed, causing considerable harm to the morality of the coastal cities.
That was the Western sailors.
What the Western sailors were like, just look at how the U.S.
Military is in Japan.
You can pretty much imagine; it wasn’t exactly the same, but at least nowadays there’s a bit of social and media pressure—back then, there was none.
The booming of international maritime trade and the arrival of Western sailors dealt a destructive blow to the existing canal transportation system of Tianmen City.
One of the first to be affected was the series of ancillary industries, including boat prostitutes.
Those government officials back then couldn’t see nor cared to deal with the plight of these lower-class people.
If you dared take a second glance, not only would you surprise the allies, but you would also face disdain from your colleagues.
You dare speak up for mere boat prostitutes?
I didn’t know you were into that, what poor taste you have!
We’re all driving Mercedes, and you’re in a Mazda; no wonder you’re stuck in traffic!
What makes you think you can sit with us?
Their fate was actually already sealed, just like countless other impoverished people of that era who were impacted by Western civilization, doomed to be casualties crushed under the wheels of history.
Until the Holy Mother of Red Lotus lit the first Heavenly Lantern.
She said, sisters, stand up and fight back!
I will lead you to burn churches, kill the Foreign Demons!
Li Mumu stood by the shore, gazing at the brightly lit pleasure boat in front of her, filled with deep emotions.
In the timeline she had traveled from, the records about the Red Lantern Society could be said to be few and far between.
It was only briefly mentioned in modern history textbooks — in the year 1900, when the Western Allies invaded Tianmen, the head of the Red Lantern Society, Lin Moyan, led his followers in a bloody battle against the Allied Forces.
The Red Lantern Society was completely annihilated, and the leader’s remains were never found.
The more commonly known reference was a video that began circulating online in an unknown year, featuring a few so-called scholars of Chinese studies and history experts, who sat together, fanning themselves and drinking tea as they discussed the past and the present.
When the Red Lantern Society came up, one of them chuckled and said, “They were just a bunch of blind and ignorant old prostitutes who, failing to extort money from the Western sailors, furiously drew their swords.
They never even read books, how could they understand the duty to one’s country?
It’s all later fabrications of the mind.”
Then everyone laughed out loud, clapping in admiration, thinking the remark brilliant.
In this world, the Red Lantern Society was larger in scale and more renowned, having formed a considerably mature and well-structured organization over decades of development.
Although nominally it had only one headquarters in Tianmen, this very boat she was observing, it did not possess its own armed forces like the Qianjin Church and appeared more like a homemaker’s club filled with the rustic charm of the Chinese countryside.
But there was a local saying in Tianmen, “The bun is stuffed with meat, not in the folds.”
Only through humility and discretion can one mature, and so can an organization.
In fact, the strength that the Red Lantern Society concealed beneath the surface was extremely terrifying.
The first leader, Holy Mother of Red Lotus, had now attained the rank of Bodhisattva, her divine authority stretching across the Money on both shores, something Li Mumu deeply acknowledged.
Beneath the Holy Mother of Red Lotus were the first-generation disciples, like Zuo Yan, the red-robed elder, totaling eighteen.
Beneath the red-robed elders were the second-generation disciples, known as the “36 Lamp Holding Rakshasas,” each possessing unique skills…
This was all firsthand information disclosed to her by her senior sister Zuo Yan, and it was reliable.
Do you fear knowing that there are seventeen others as powerful as I am?
That being said, over the years, the red-robed elders had mostly retired from frontline duties and no longer interfered with the affairs of the society, even during the incense ceremonies, at most only three elders would appear, primarily serving as mascots.
The specific work was all handled by the various Lamp Holding Rakshasas.
Currently, the one holding the leading position at the headquarters…
no, internally referred to as the “big sister,” was named Shi Yulan.
She also held two other public identities, one as the vice-chair of the Tianmen Martial Arts Association, and the other as head of the Tianmen branch of the China Women and Children Relief Association.
The greatest achievement of this big sister during her term was that she never initiated an incense ceremony, not even during the war that spread to Tianmen City a few years ago.
Although the upper echelons of the Red Lantern Society did participate in the war at that time, it was either under the direct decree of the Holy Mother of Red Lotus or the President personally came to pick the leaders, Shi Yulan herself had never initiated it.
The advantages of such actions were evident, indeed allowing for a long-term stable development of the Red Lantern Society.
But it wasn’t without disadvantages, it made some people utterly forget, or rather completely unaware of the existence of the Red Lantern Society.
Once people forget, they become ignorant, and ignorance begets a lack of fear.
This time, the incense ceremony was still not initiated by Shi Yulan, but by her biological daughter, another Lamp Holding Rakshasa, Yang Youxuan.
Because it was convenient, Zuo Yan brought Li Mumu and Wendy, arriving somewhat late.
By the time they boarded the boat, three red-robed elders had already arrived, just missing the most exciting part of the opening performance.
Seeing that the people inside had already begun to speak, she didn’t rush in but took the two of them aside, prying open a crack in the window to peek inside.
She heard someone loudly say inside, “This is a blatant provocation!
I implore the elders to stand up for your disciple!”