Chapter 544 Daoguan

Jiangxi Province, Guangxin Prefecture, Shangrao County.

Unlike other prefectures and counties in the empire, the time here seems to have stopped in the Chongzhen Restoration era, and has not changed with the two technological waves. There are no high-rise buildings and neon lights in the city. All you can see are antique brick and stone buildings.

After a night of heavy rain, water can be seen everywhere on the bluestone slabs of the old city. People who woke up early in the morning walked through the muddy streets in Taoist robes of different styles. The voices gradually became noisy, and the air was filled with the tempting aroma of breakfast shops.

"Layman, thank you for one yuan."

In the steamers piled up like a mountain, the vendor waved away the steam that was blocking his eyes, and saw clearly that it was a Ming treasure banknote handed to him, and he couldn't help but look embarrassed.

"Layman, can you please change that into immortal yuan?"

"Why?"

Xie Bian bit a hot bun, raised the banknotes to his eyes and looked around, and asked in confusion: "Is there a problem with this money?"

"Of course not."

The vendor waved his hands and explained hurriedly: "This is the latest regulation just issued in the city this morning. After tonight, we can only accept immortal yuan, not banknotes."

"Who gave the order not to accept banknotes, but only immortal yuan?"

Xie Bian raised his eyebrows: "It can't be the government office, right?"

"This is not something I can know. Anyway, we will do whatever the higher-ups arrange."

The vendor smiled : "After the morning meal, I will also take all the treasure notes in my hand to Cangsong Temple to exchange for immortal yuan. The Taoist priests said that if I exchange today, I can get an extra 20% of immortal yuan for 100 treasure notes. If I go after today, I won't have this good thing."

"Layman, you should also exchange quickly. I heard that this treasure note will not be usable in our Guangxin Prefecture in the future. What if the Taoist priests don't exchange it one day, won't the treasure notes in your hand become a pile of blank paper?"

"Ah, thank you for reminding me."

Xie Bian, who was immersed in thought, suddenly came back to his senses, stuffed the treasure notes in his hand back into his sleeve, and took out a blue banknote with the image of the Three Pure Ones and handed it over.

"Thank you, Layman."

The vendor clasped his hands in front of his chest, with his left hand clasped in his right hand, and bowed to Xie Bian, which means "punish evil and promote good" in Taoism.

Xie Bian nodded, stepped into the crowd, swallowed the bun in his hand in two or three bites, raised his hand to lift the hood covering his head, revealing a short white hair and a pair of handsome features with frowns.

He looked at the shops on both sides of the street and found that almost all the merchants were smiling and explaining something to the customers who came in. Some even put up a sign at the door saying "Only accepting immortal yuan".

In the crowd that was much more crowded than usual, passers-by with vigilant expressions could be seen everywhere, holding the cuffs of their Taoist robes tightly with both hands, and hurriedly walked towards the north of the city.

The Cangsong Temple that the vendors said could provide treasure banknotes for exchange was in the north of the city.

Looking at the scenes in front of him, Xie Bian understood that it was not just Guangxin Prefecture, but the basic foundation of all Taoist orders in the entire empire was probably going to change.

Xie Bian stopped in front of a chain of monasteries called "Hejing".

As soon as he opened the door, the grand chanting of scriptures sounded in his ears.

The flowing white mist flooded the first floor of the entire temple. Many figures sitting cross-legged on the cushions could be vaguely seen, and the faces that occasionally appeared were full of piety.

Xie Bian even saw many children with Taoist buns among these Taoists, shaking their heads at the feet of the projections of the Three Pure Ones, and their young features would occasionally reveal a transparent smile of enlightenment.

Although it was not the first time that he had seen such a scene after staying in Guangxin Prefecture for more than a month, Xie Bian still felt chilled.

"Mr. Xie."

Hearing the enthusiastic greetings from behind, Xie Bian quickly dispersed the coldness in his eyes and turned back to look at the fat Taoist priest who was bowing to him.

"Master Wu, the incense here is getting more and more prosperous. So many kind people come to practice Taoism so early."

"The heavens are prosperous, and my Taoism is flourishing."

The fat body of Taoist Wu made his Taoist robe bulge, and his big eyes were filled with joy. "This is all thanks to the Taoist ancestor. The people of Shangrao County are becoming more and more devout in their pursuit of Taoism."

"If this trend continues, by the time Longhu Mountain takes the exam to accept disciples this year, your abode will probably have many excellent Tao seeds."

Xie Bi An joked: "Then your name will be known throughout Shangrao County, even Guangxin Prefecture."

"It's all for the sake of saving people. I don't care whether I'm famous or not. As long as I can make these believers have a good chance of becoming immortals, I'll be satisfied. After all, in Guangxin Prefecture, if you don't learn Taoism, you have no way out, don't you think?"

Although Taoist Wu said this, the smile on his fat face became brighter and brighter, and the wrinkles on his face piled up, which reminded Xie Bian of the buns he had just eaten, and he suddenly felt sick.

"So many people can have a chance of becoming immortals?"

"How is that possible? The chance of becoming immortals is not like the wild flowers and weeds growing on the roadside. It can be seen everywhere."

Taoist Wu said as a matter of course: "But whether you have the opportunity to become an immortal or not, this heart of Taoism must not be bad at all, otherwise if you anger the Taoist master, you will never be able to turn over in your life."

Xie Bi'an gave a thumbs up and praised: "Taoist Master Wu is indeed a righteous person. He is worthy of being an outstanding Jingshe Master in Shangrao County who has been commended by Longhu Mountain for several consecutive years. I really admire him for his broadmindedness and insight."

"Thank you for your praise, Master Xie. Today we still follow the same rules, secret room on the second floor?"

"That's for sure."

"No problem. The secret room you like has always been kept. No one will give it to you."

Wu Daoshi had a look of shame on his face and stopped talking: "It's just..."

"Master Wu, if you have something to say, you might as well say it directly."

"As you have seen, layman, recently there have been an especially large number of believers who want to enter the monastery to practice Taoism. However, the monastery in Pindao is only so big and cannot accommodate so many people. The secret room on the second floor with better equipment and environment is even more in demand. , many famous believers have said hello to Pindao, and they want to leave a secret room for them. The pressure on Pindao is also great."

Xie Bi'an smiled clearly: "Thank you, Taoist Master Wu, for taking the trouble. As long as the secret room is still there, the cost is not a problem. But I haven't had time to go to Cangsongguan to exchange money this morning. I don't have much immortal yuan on me. Can I use treasure banknotes?" Pay?”

"of course."

Taoist Wu quickly smiled and said: "According to the ratio of Cangsong Temple, your one hundred treasure notes will be equivalent to one hundred and twenty immortal dollars."

While talking, the two of them went up to the second floor of the monastery one after another.

In the secret room, Xie Bian stopped Taoist Wu who was about to leave and asked curiously: "By the way, Taoist Priest, why did the city suddenly stop accepting treasure money today?"

"You don't know?" Wu Taoist asked in surprise.

"I knew a little bit, but I didn't expect it to be so sudden."

Taoist Wu nodded: "It was indeed sudden. I only received the notice from the government official when I opened the door this morning."

"Taoist official?"

The fat Taoist priest who had just collected Xie Bian's double fee was particularly attentive. He opened the two windows with excellent sound insulation in the secret room, pointed out the window and said, "Look this way."

Opposite the window is the Shangrao County Government Office.

This is also the reason why Xie Bian often comes to this monastery under the guise of practicing Taoism.

But today, Xie Bian took a quick look and discovered something unusual. The people who came in and out of the government office were no longer officials from the imperial court, but Taoist priests wearing Longhushan Taoist robes.

"The immortals of Longhu Mountain have completely taken over the government. From now on, we will no longer listen to government orders, but the orders of the immortals."

Taoist Wu's face was full of joy, and his tone was full of joy.

"The order to recycle the treasure banknotes and exchange them for immortal yuan was issued by the Taoist officials in the government office."

"So that's it. That's really a good thing."

Xie Bian agreed, but his heart suddenly sank.

As a member of the former imperial bureaucracy, Xie Bian naturally knew what a 'Taoist official' was.

Even as early as when the empire was first established a thousand years ago, there were Taoist priests in the imperial court who served as officials. They were awarded the title of Supervisory Censor by Emperor Hongwu, and later they were promoted to Taichang Qing, the so-called "white-robed prime minister". Subsequent emperors all had examples of appointing Taoist priests to serve as officials in the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple. Not only that, but even Buddhism was involved. The most famous one was the 'Prime Minister in Black'.

But even in the era when the order was not obvious, the duties of these Taoist and Buddhist officials in the court were mostly to deal with Taoist affairs, and they did not have much power. After the Zhongxing of Chongzhen, the need for "official positions" appeared in the Confucian promotion rituals, which further aroused conflicts between Confucian officials, Taoist officials, and Buddhist officials. The three parties started to compete around the positions related to the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple. Fierce competition.

After the establishment of the New Donglin Party, almost all Taoist and Buddhist officials were expelled from the bureaucracy, which was regarded as forbidden by the Confucian Preface, leaving only some "idle jobs" with no name.

As Zhang Fengyue took the position of chief assistant, his repressive power became stronger and stronger. Even the other two Buddhist and Taoist masters appointed by the young emperor when Emperor Longwu died were driven out of the capital by Zhang Fengyue very forcefully. Half step in.

But today, Taoist officials who should have been eliminated from history reappeared again, and they occupied the government offices very strongly.

Although in the basic system of Daoxu like Guangxin Mansion, the government office does not have much say, but after all, it represents the face of Confucian Xu, so it has always been the case that the two sides are in a well and do not interfere with the river. You can live your life, I will Accept my followers and everyone will be in peace.

What Longhushan is doing now is tantamount to demonstrating against Confucianism.

"It seems that the Buddhist and Taoist families are about to start a counterattack."

Xie Bi'an thought secretly.

"Who says it's not a great thing? I should have done this a long time ago!"

The fat Taoist priest groaned and said: "Our Guangxin Mansion is full of believers from Longhu Mountain from top to bottom. It was originally a pure and quiet Taoist ancestral holy land, but a group of rotten Confucianism dressed in animal skins sneaked in and acted arrogantly. Taoist priests, I have long disliked them. Now they are fine, finally."

"I heard that in Chengdu in the southwest of the empire, the Taoists in Qingcheng Mountain were even more ruthless! They didn't give these corrupt officials a chance to escape. They killed them directly and buried their bodies at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain. That’s miserable.”

Taoist Wu got excited about it, stared at his little eyes and sighed: "Our immortals at Longhu Mountain are still kind-hearted."

"None of those officials resisted?"

"Who dares?!"

Taoist Wu snorted coldly and said proudly: "Although our Shangrao County is not as close to the dragon and tiger's feet as Guixi County, it can still be regarded as close to the toes of the dragon and tiger. If anyone dares to be disrespectful to the immortals, there is no need. If the Immortal takes action, we disciples and disciples can be saved by them!"

"It is a blessing for us to have a believer like you, Taoist Wu."

"It is our blessing to have a dragon and a tiger."

Taoist Wu lowered his eyebrows and eyes, but at this moment, something strange happened!

"Who dares to break into the Taoist office?!"

A roar came from the window, followed by a series of shrill screams.

"Murder?!"

Taoist Wu's fat body trembled suddenly, and he hurriedly leaned against the window frame, leaving only one eye staring at the outside world.

Xie Bian stood still, frowning and staring at the government office where shouts were heard. A bad premonition rose in his heart for no reason.

But in a moment, the turmoil in the government office returned to calm.

"The madman is looking for death! The madman is looking for death!"

Taoist Wu's tone was fierce, but his voice was as soft as a mosquito's hum. He stretched out his two hands tremblingly to grab the window and closed it silently.

"Layman, let's avoid the sharp edge for now. Soon, an immortal will come down the mountain to kill this rampant evil demon!"

At the moment when the window was about to close, Xie Bian saw a black-robed blood-stained figure slowly walking out of the yamen, dragging a life-and-death Longhu Mountain Taoist order in his hand.

Upstairs and downstairs, the two looked at each other from a distance.

"It seems that the evil spirit in him can't be suppressed."

Xie Bian smiled bitterly and shook his head, turning around and leaving the temple amid the words of Taoist Wu's dissuasion.

Outside Shangrao County, a contact point abandoned by the Jinyiwei for many years.

Xie Bian, who hurried back, heard a man begging for mercy with a crying voice before entering the door.

"I really don't know, Brother Yang Xuan, believe me, I really don't know"

Puff!

A severed head flew up and was waved away by Xie Bian who had just entered the door.

In the dilapidated courtyard, Chen Qisheng, dressed in black, sat on the steps in front of the house, his head buried so that people could not see the expression on his face. Under his feet was a corpse that was still twitching, and white blood was constantly pouring out from the huge wound on the neck.

Ming Gui Changjun squatted under the eaves ten feet away, and cast a helpless look at Xie Bian who turned his head to look.

"I didn't mean to disrupt your plan. I just couldn't control myself when I heard that someone from Longhu Mountain was coming."

Chen Qisheng raised his head, his messy hair hanging in front of his eyes, his face was as pale as a ghost, and he whispered: "Sorry."

"No need to apologize, anyway, my plan has not made any progress."

Xie Bian sighed silently in his heart, pointed at the body of Daoxu on the ground, and forced a smile: "Did you ask anything?"

The news that Chen Qisheng told later was almost the same as what Xie Bian had inquired in the Jingshe. He only knew that Longhu Mountain suddenly sent a large number of Taoist officials to take over the government offices of all counties under the jurisdiction of Guangxin Prefecture.

Apart from this, there was no other useful news.

"If we kill the Daoist official of Shangrao Prefecture at this time, Longhu Mountain will definitely not let it go."

Xie Bian paused, swallowed the words "It is not advisable to stay here for long" that he was about to say, and said instead: "How about we try to find a way to catch the Daoxu they sent to support us?"

"Forget it."

Chen Qisheng exhaled a breath of turbid air, and the uncontrollable murderous aura in his eyes finally faded away.

"Guangxin Prefecture is Longhu Mountain's base after all, and their support will come quickly. And they have been secretly guarding against us. This time I exposed my whereabouts, and I am afraid that the next one will not be a small character."

Seeing that Chen Qisheng finally recovered his clarity, Xie Bian couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Then let's change places first."

"Why do we have to prepare to run away as soon as we arrive? It doesn't have to be so miserable."

Xie Bian looked back in surprise, and saw Zou Sijiu with his hands in his pockets walking in with his shoulders swaying.

"Niubi, what stupid thing have you done again?"

Chen Qisheng ignored Zou Sijiu and looked at Li Jun who followed him in.

"Why did you come here first?"

"The Concubine Ming was worried that something might happen to you, so she asked us to come to Jiangxi first."

Li Jun lowered his eyes and glanced around, grinning: "It seems that we came at the right time."

"Xiaobai, what's wrong with Chen Qisheng? Why does he look dead?"

Under Xie Bian's helpless gaze, Zou Sijiu, who had always been outspoken, suddenly bit the end of his words and raised his hand to slap himself lightly.

"How did it become like this?"

Zou Sijiu glanced at Li Jun and Chen Qisheng who were sitting side by side on the steps in the distance, put his arm around Xie Bian's shoulder, and whispered, "Did you hurt your brain?"

Xie Bian didn't bother to pay attention to him at all, looked at Shen Li and asked, "Who is this?"

"Shen Li, the fourth martial artist of the sect, our new brother, and the top fighter under your Li Baihu."

"I guess you are Xie Bian, the general flag of Inuyama Castle in the Japanese District?"

Shen Li bowed and smiled, "On the way here, I often heard Brother Jun mention you and another brother named Fan Wujiu. You did a great job in the Japanese District. I admire you!"

"Brother Shen, you are polite."

Compared to the unruly Zou Sijiu, this warrior named 'Shen Li' gave Xie Bian a much more stable feeling.

But this feeling only lasted for a moment and disappeared completely without a trace.

"Old Zou, who is that guy? He looks so murderous."

Shen Li's head was close to Zou Sijiu, and the two of them were whispering.

"He is Chen Qisheng."

"Old-school Daoxu?!"

"Isn't he rare? When he was in Edo City, he tore off the spiritual orifice behind his neck for me, Master Zou, and turned against Longhushan, who had nurtured him since childhood. He killed a Zhang family member from Tianshi Mansion alone."

"You are a good brother who sticks with me for life! Introduce me to him later."

"Now is not the right time. I advise you to stay away from him."

"Why?"

"I just read a fortune for Lao Chen."

"What's the result?"

"Very bad."

"Is this the only fortune you have?"

"If you don't believe it, go and try it."

Just as the two were talking nonsense, Li Jun, who was sitting on the steps, suddenly stood up and walked out the door.

"Brother Jun, where are you going? Leave it to me if you have something to do." Shen Li asked hurriedly when he saw this.

Li Jun said without turning his head: "No need this time, I'll go and catch a few rabbits and come back soon."

"Hiss"

Zou Sijiu looked at Li Jun's back and took a breath of cold air. He raised his hand to stroke his chin and muttered to himself: "Could it be that my fortune was wrong again, Master Zou? The bad fortune is not on our side?"