As Luo Xiuxin said, master and apprentice Jiang Liuer were taken to the imperial mausoleum the next day.
Most of the people here are monks and Taoists captured by the imperial court, and they are very resentful.
Then they drew lots with the newly arrived prisoners, and as expected, his master Huiji was assigned to the relatively relaxed logistics department, mainly responsible for cleaning, growing vegetables, and canteen-related work.
Prisoners who are sentenced to come here must bribe themselves to enter the logistics department.
As an undercover agent, Jiang Liu'er was a bit unlucky. He was assigned to front-line work deep in the imperial tomb, which basically involved excavating stones and transporting building materials. It was extremely hard work.
Jiang Liuer almost collapsed on the first day of work. He was exhausted. The supervisor was not satisfied and whipped him severely with a whip, leaving him without food for the night.
After nightfall, luckily his master hid a steamed bun and secretly took Jiang Liuer to eat it in the toilet.
Smelling the filthy smell in the toilet and chewing the steamed bun on his lips, he burst into tears.
I can't wait too long, I will leave soon.
Jiang Liuer said to himself: "Grandma, you asked me to be an undercover agent, and you gave me a showdown on the first day! How can I be an undercover agent?"
Naturally, it was not easy to be an undercover agent. On the second day, he started a day of high-intensity labor as usual.
However, all the on-site supervisors went to rest, leaving only a few people present and unable to supervise such a large area, so naturally some prisoners began to move around.
While Jiang Liu'er was digging rocks, he was inexplicably pushed to the ground by a man.
The person who overthrew him was a Taoist priest who said: "This is our territory, monk, go over there and dig it!"
Looking at the Taoist priest's finger, the stone at that location was extremely hard. The prisoners working nearby had made no progress for many days. People were punished every day. No one wanted to work there.
Jiang Liu'er argued: "When you come here, there is no distinction between monks and Taoist priests. They are all just prisoners!"
The Taoist priests nearby burst out laughing. One of them walked around behind him and suddenly raised a stone and threw it at his head.
Jiang Liu'er didn't know that he was being attacked by someone, but he moved his body on his own, easily avoided it by turning sideways, and punched the attacker on the chin with his backhand, knocking him to the ground immediately.
The Taoist priests in front of him became furious and started fighting in groups.
Jiang Liu'er was in a panic, fighting and retreating. His body seemed to be able to defend itself when encountering danger, so he knocked down several more people in a short while, until he attracted the attention of the overseer, who ran over yelling and scolding, and used the leather whip to indiscriminately attack the Taoist monks.
A beating.
The leader of the Taoist priests quickly found the leader of the supervisor and said: "This monk was the one who started trouble. We agreed that this should be our work site. He doesn't work in his own place, but he came to us. He didn't take the initiative."
Looking for trouble?"
As he spoke, he secretly stuffed something into the supervisor. The supervisor nodded seriously and said, "It's the bald donkey's fault. Catch him and take him back to take care of him!"
The two supervisors locked up Jiang Liu'er and went back. Jiang Liu'er looked surprised and yelled: "Obviously they beat me because they had more people?!"
The supervisor hit him in the abdomen with a stick, causing Jiang Liuer to bow down immediately.
"There is no place for you to be reasonable here. What I say is the truth. Do you understand? Let's go!"
The group of people were walking halfway when they came to an area where a group of monks were digging soil. Suddenly, a fat monk among them stepped forward and sang a Buddhist chant to the leader of the overseer with a smile.
"Donor Guo, it's just a trivial matter. I think it's better to spare this master today. What do you think?"
After saying that, he also secretly offered some benefits to the supervisor. The supervisor secretly weighed it and was very satisfied.
"Puzhen, who are you, this monk? I didn't expect you to come to protect him?"
Puzhen chuckled and said, "I just saw that this master didn't dare to conflict with those bad guys because he was alone, and he was considered a good man, so I felt inspired and gave him a helping hand."
The supervisor didn't take it seriously either. As long as he had something to gain, he didn't care at all, so he just left Jiang Liu'er here.
Jiang Liuer clutched the injured area, shocked, and quickly thanked Puzhen first.
Puzhen nodded to the monk below, and everyone dispersed and started busy with their work.
Jiang Liuer took a closer look and found that there was something wrong between these monks and the monks working in other areas.
The monks in other places are all skinny and dry due to torture, but most of the people here appear to be very strong.
Including the Taoist priests with whom he had just clashed, although they were wearing clothes outside, when fighting, he could feel that they at least had enough to eat every day, so he was curious in his heart, but remained calm.
Puzhen said: "What do you call the unknown young master?"
Jiang Liuer introduced it casually and explained the reason why he entered here.
Puzhen laughed loudly, "Are some of the monks and Taoists here not deprived of their ultimatums by the imperial court and deliberately captured here?
The poor monk Puzhen was the abbot of Jianming Temple in Chuzhou. An earthquake broke out in the area and the temple was destroyed. The poor monk thought that there were usually many good men and women in the temple and he had some savings.
So I planned to use my savings to rebuild the temple, but the court and local officials firmly disagreed!"
Jiang Liu'er asked in surprise: "Why do we need the court's approval to rebuild our own temple?"
Puzhen chuckled, with a hint of resentment in his smile.
"The imperial court has already revised the law. If a temple is in disrepair or is damaged, it must be rebuilt with the approval of the imperial court. Otherwise, it will be treated as a rural cult and willfully build a cult temple.
Therefore, without permission from the local government, our temple could not be rebuilt, and hundreds of monks had to live in thatched huts temporarily.
After that, the imperial court confiscated all my ultimatums on the pretext that they did not belong to any temple. Hey, it happened to be the same way you came in, little master."
Jiang Liu'er was shocked, "How can this lead to chaos in the imperial government?"
"Humph, what's so strange about this? In recent years, in order to get more monks to return to secular life, the imperial court has even launched a war on the level of human beings and immortals. Today's imperial court's fundamental purpose is to destroy Buddhism and Taoism!"
Jiang Liu'er was greatly surprised, thinking of the task Luo Xiuxin had given him, he hesitated for a moment.
Puzhen patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Since arriving here, the monks and Taoist priests have been incompatible with each other, and it seems that they are what the court wants to see. There have been many fights between the two sides.
Young master, you shouldn't go to their territory to work, but if those bullies see that you are fine, they will come back to cause trouble for you sooner or later."
Jiang Liu'er said quickly: "Although I'm not afraid of young monks who fight or something like that, there are so many of them and they can bribe the supervisors, so I always suffer a loss. I don't know if Master Puzhen can take the young monk in, and the young monk can't repay him."
Puzhen nodded meaningfully and thought to himself: This little monk is alone, new to this place, and has no power behind him. I owe him a debt of gratitude today. I will ask him for help with the major events that will be launched in the near future. He will not be able to refuse, but he will also
Just enough to accomplish that big thing without having to sacrifice any of my own people, just right!