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Extra Chapter 11: Yuan Tiangang, the Master of Zhenwu Temple?

Liangzhou.

Guzang County, Wuwei.

Xiaolianzi Alley.

Xiao Hei stood outside a courtyard, looking at the lush apricot trees with branches sticking out of the wall, looking nostalgic.

This is the former residence of Li Yan and Uncle Ya, and it is also where she first grew up.

But ever since Li Yan solved the mystery in Liangzhou, joined the inner guard, and went to Chang'an, and Uncle Mute also left together, this place has been deserted, and the apricot trees have long gone bald.

With the current scene like this, it is obvious that someone is taking care of it.

However, there was no one in the courtyard at this time.

Xiao Hei strolled in, walked around, sniffed gently, and smelled a vague body fragrance.

Time has passed, and the smell has faded to the extreme. If her sense of smell is not far superior to human beings, she will definitely not be able to smell anything. Now Xiao Hei remembers this smell in her heart and goes to look for it under the apricot tree again.

stand up.

"There is no cemetery."

If Uncle Dumb passes away, the coffin will most likely be returned here for burial. After all, after he faked his death and escaped, he had given up his identity as Changsun Wuji and was not planning to return to the ancestral grave of the Changsun family.

Nowadays, there are people taking care of this place, but there is no cemetery for worship. That person may still be alive. With his martial arts and Buddhist attainments, it is not surprising to see everything that he is a hundred years old.

Xiao Hei thought this was good news, and happily wiped away the dust, cleaned the house a little, walked out of the yard, and closed the wooden door.

The figure behind him flashed, and the inner guard Puaduoli appeared and reported: "It has been found out that the Jia Zhongan of Honglu Temple who was greeted at the border is from the Jia family of Wuwei."

Xiao Hei was indifferent.

Puaduli added: "Jia Zhongan claimed to be Jia Sibo's nephew, but in fact he was given the surname by a clan servant, got rid of his slave status, and later became a Jinshi in high school and was awarded an official..."

Xiao Hei then raised his eyebrows: "Seriously?"

Puaduli said cautiously: "There is such a rumor in the city, but Jia has not acknowledged it, so I don't know whether it is true or not."

"As long as this matter is circulated among the people, it will be a petition!"

Xiao Hei said leisurely: "Jia Zhongan, who is from such a background, can also seek fame and become an official, but he uses talents in an eclectic way. There is no doubt that Jia Sibo is a staunch supporter of the humble family."

It was because of the decline of his family's power and the unfairness of the imperial examination that Jia Sibo had evil thoughts and colluded with the "subordinate" forces. He was later exonerated by meritorious service, but his political stance after becoming an official is difficult to say.

Because the Jia family's Zhenlun family is indeed a standard high-ranking family, dating back to the Han Dynasty, and has a clear genealogy. It is more authoritative than many powerful and high-ranking families whose genealogies cannot withstand scrutiny.

Its original flaw was that it had not produced any high-ranking officials for several generations. After Jia Sibo entered the court and was reused, he effectively made up for this. In less than three generations, he could essentially become a member of the high-ranking gentry.

But now, he voluntarily quits, associates with a poor family, and promotes members of the humble family. Is such a clear political tendency the key to his ability to come from behind and become the prime minister of a country after Di Renjie?

Xiao Hei followed Li Yan closely, and he could tell a lot from the background of a Jia family official.

After all, Puaduli is a big cannibal and does not understand this kind of political struggle. He only cares about the distinction between loyalists and traitors: "If Jia Zhongan is also in the same group, then the news he delivers will definitely distort the facts..."

Xiao Hei came back to his senses: "Have you contacted Liangzhou's internal guards?"

Puaduli was betrayed once and became extremely cautious: "There are no trustworthy internal guards in Liangzhou. I dare not go to the garrison. The dry food for the horses has been prepared and they are ready to go on the road at any time."

Xiao Hei nodded slightly: "Where is the fake envoy?"

Puaduli said: "The post here has received twelve envoys from various countries, but there are no envoys from the country of Dashi. Maybe they haven't arrived yet. We can guard the west of the river."

A huge envoy with a large number of food dancers and many musical instruments can move very slowly. It would often take several months to go from Damascus to Chang'an at a fast pace.

Xiao Hei and Yang Zaiwei immediately left the real Dashi envoy, with the former taking Puaduli and the latter taking General Abu to pursue them via different routes.

Due to the small number of people, it is not impossible to catch up with the stars all the way.

"There are hundreds of people in the Dashi envoys, and they are huge and noisy. Although we traveled over mountains and ridges, we are close to Hexi. We mostly took official roads and did not find any trace..."

But Xiao Hei thought about it, but he didn't feel that he was ahead. Instead, he thought that the envoys, in all likelihood, entered Chang'an and stayed in Liangzhou, which was a foolish act of wishful thinking.

However, if you want to enter Guanzhong, Liangzhou is a must-pass in the Hexi Corridor. There are so many people in the envoys that there is no reason to take a small road. So why is there no record of staying in a post house?

"Xuan Tian is above, protect the common people!"

Just as I was thinking about this problem, the noise came from far away and floated into the remote and deep alley.

Xiao Hei listened intently, then his figure flashed and disappeared without a trace.

After taking a few breaths, she had arrived at the edge of the avenue and saw crowds of people lined up on both sides, welcoming a group of Taoists.

Under the playing of musical instruments, an old Taoist priest with white beard and hair was walking in the middle, wearing an apricot-yellow Taoist robe, with yin and yang on the chest and Bagua on the back. Taoist boys were accompanying him on both sides. The fairy sound was faint and the smoke was billowing around him. It looked a bit majestic.

, which attracted the people along the road to follow in awe, not daring to approach, but just kowtowed on the ground and prayed.

"Xuan Tian, ​​please bless my son's high school entrance examination!"

"Xuan Tian, ​​please protect my father from illness and disaster!"

"The old immortal of Zhenwu Temple, I hope you can give me talisman water, I hope you can give me talisman water!"

Xiao Hei didn't react at first, but soon his eyes narrowed dangerously.

When she heard Xuantian's name, she didn't react for a moment, but when the Zhenwu temple finally came out, she immediately thought that Emperor Zhenwu was also called Xuantian God, and that Xuantian was worshiping the Zhenwu Taoist lineage.

There is nothing surprising. She has seen the Zhenwu faith in Dashi. Countries with that religion can occupy a place, and the Tang Dynasty is of course more prosperous.

However, Dashi's Zhenwu Cult was in conflict with local Islam and Christianity. If Yang Zaiwei hadn't intervened, Xiao Hei would have been prepared to help.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But now, her attitude towards the Zhenwu concept in the Tang Dynasty is exactly the opposite. She is quite disgusted by these Taoist priests who are showing off in the market.

Because it reminds me of "welcoming the Buddha's bones".

The ultimate manifestation of the prosperity of Buddhism is the celebration of the Buddha's bones in the late Tang Dynasty. Hundreds of civil and military officials, wealthy families, and wealthy families competed to donate gold and silk. People from all over the world helped the elderly and children to come to pay their respects. Many people even had their arms and fingers amputated on the spot.

, just to express one's devotion to the Buddha.

There is no doubt about the result. As Han Yu said, "If you seek blessings from the Buddha, you will get more disasters."

It is a pity that at that time, folk beliefs had become a powerful trend, and no matter whether the rulers believed it or not, it was difficult to reverse the direction of this strong trend.

After Li Yan decided to ascend, what he was most worried about was the rise of Taoism.

Taoism was originally the state religion of the Li and Tang Dynasties. Although it was not as enthusiastic as Buddhism in history, the trend of alchemy in the Tang Dynasty was also started by Taoists. It was extremely popular among the powerful and attracted many well-known poets to flock to it.

When religion flourishes to a certain extent, the disasters are actually the same. The advantage of Taoism is that most of the time it does not deprive the poor. However, due to the emergence of Li Yan, it is hard to say how Taoism will develop in this world.

After all, the gods in the past were just legends, but now a real one has ascended.

This situation seems to confirm all of this.

Puaduli also rushed out, came behind Xiao Hei, looked at the huge crowd, and was not surprised: "People in the Tang Dynasty believed in Zhenwu, a god with great power."

Xiao Hei regained his composure. Seeing that the swaggering Taoist priest had no intention of going back for a while, he asked, "Where is the largest Zhenwu temple in Liangzhou?"

Puaduli didn't understand why the search mission suddenly turned to the Zhenwu Church, but the other party was the benefactor who rescued him. He didn't dare to question: "I'll go find it."

"No, business matters!"

Xiao Hei was indeed on a whim. Fortunately, she was able to recover her original body and run on all fours, no matter how powerful a thousand-mile horse was. She simply said: "You go on the road as usual and rush to Chang'an. I will check the true martial arts and we will catch up soon."

Puaduli didn't know that his aura had been memorized. He thought that this man also had a group of powerful followers, so he hurriedly agreed and left quickly.

Xiao Hei stood together, looking in all directions, opening his eyes to identify the most popular place.

"The imperial city was demolished?"

She walked through the streets and arrived at her destination in just two cups of tea, and discovered that it was the original location of Liangzhou Palace.

When the heroes were fighting in the late Sui Dynasty, Li Gui, the king of Daliang, established his capital here. Later, when the Tang Dynasty was established, the palace here was not demolished. When Qiu Ying first came here to investigate Tibetan spies, he also placed the rebuilt internal defense stronghold in the palace.

Within the city.

But now, the palace city here has finally been demolished and replaced with a Taoist temple.

Zhenwu Guan.

At this time, a fasting ceremony was being held outside the temple.

To be precise, Zhai Jiao can be divided into Qing Jiao, which is used to ward off disasters and pray for blessings, and You Jiao, which is used to redeem the souls of the dead. At this time, the two go hand in hand.

On one side, you can see that when a powerful person in the city dies, his family wears mourning, carries a coffin, and invites Taoist priests to perform a ritual ceremony. This is even taking away the biggest business of Buddhism.

On the other side, countless believers prostrated themselves on the ground and prayed devoutly towards a statue of the god.

The statue wears the robe of Lord Qingxuan and the crown of Cangbi Qizhi. It is dressed like an emperor. It has a majestic face and extremely finely carved facial features.

This is the holy image enshrined in Zhenwu Temple.

But it obviously went beyond the normal sacrifice of Emperor Zhenwu.

The normal Zhenwu Emperor was barefooted, wearing a mysterious robe, gold armor and a jade belt, with turtles and snakes on his feet. Now this one has added many elements and looks more solemn and majestic than the Jade Emperor in later generations.

Xiaohei knew that Li Yan didn't like this kind of unnecessary pursuit, so she didn't like it either.

Just looking at such a fanatical scene and thinking that Liangzhou is like this, Chang'an still doesn't know what it is like, and I feel a little headache.

This is not some rural obscenity, sacrificing boys and girls, or doing something that is harmful to nature, which is easy to suppress. This is orthodox Taoist belief, but everything is too much, and it is not enough. How can we get it back on track?

correct……

Did these Taoist priests pay taxes?

Xiao Hei's eyes fell on the Taoist priest who was presiding over the fasting ceremony.

Although his face is a bit old, his temperament is outstanding and his robes are expensive. This person should be...

"Huh?"

As he looked at it, Xiao Hei suddenly felt something familiar. He looked carefully and recognized the identity: "Isn't this Ming Chongyan?"

Ming Chongyan is also a direct descendant of Li Yan. Although he was born in the Meihua Internal Guard and initially worked for Li Zhi, he followed him loyally from the Yun Dan case and played a very important role. Later, he successfully entered the Yushitai.

The future is promising.

Why are you still so old when you are a Taoist priest in Liangzhou?

Xiao Hei's curiosity aroused, and he entered the Zhenwu Temple in a flash, heading deeper.

Although it was so lively outside, the inside of the Taoist temple was relatively deserted. There were Taoist priests in groups of three or three who were meditating, but they had no intention of practicing at all. From time to time, they looked outside with envious eyes.

Xiao Hei found a lone person, reached out and grabbed him, came to a palace, took out the token and waved it: "The internal guards are on duty!"

The Taoist priest was so frightened that his body froze. He did not look at the token carefully and said tremblingly: "I am a poor Taoist... I am a poor Taoist..."

Xiao Hei asked directly: "The Taoist priest who presides over the ritual ceremony outside is your temple master? The layman's name is Ming Chongyan?"

The Taoist priest finally calmed down a little and said in a low voice: "It's the master of my temple... I wonder why the official is here?"

Xiao Hei snorted coldly: "I'm here to check him out. If you report his misdeeds truthfully, you might be able to accomplish some merit!"

The Taoist priest was startled, his eyes were not surprised but happy. He obviously wished that the viewer would be unlucky, but for a moment he did not dare to completely believe the inexplicable appearance of the inner guard. He couldn't help but stammered: "This... poor Taoist... I don't know...

"

Xiao Hei said calmly: "It seems that you want to protect this thief. Well, let's judge him guilty together!"

"I said! I said!"

The Taoist priest was anxious and immediately poured beans into the bamboo tube. Xiao Hei asked a few questions from time to time, and soon he had some understanding of the old events.

The group of confidants who followed Li Yan back then are now in high positions, including governors of feudal territories, princes and prime ministers. Of course, it is inevitable that there are also people who have made mistakes.

The first one to be eliminated was Ming Chongyan.

When Li Yan ascended to the throne in the name of Zhenwu Sage, he developed greed and ambition, preparing to seize this immeasurably huge political resource, and then became Li Hong's number one confidant.

To be fair, Ming Chongyan does have advantages.

He was born in Taoism and was once a plum blossom internal defender. He controlled one of the most critical teams and was the first one besides Di Renjie to break away from the confinement of internal defender. He has a bright future.

But he was too hasty after all.

The little Taoist priest of Zhenwu Temple did not know about the specific battle. The result was that Ming Chongyan built Zhenwu Temple in various places, promoted sacrifices, and welcomed the holy will. He gained Li Hong's trust. Although he did not enter the political affairs hall, he took the lead.

He had almost the authority of the prime minister, but at the last moment of becoming the prime minister, for some unknown reason, he was demoted and left the capital, unable to recover. Later, he punished himself by entering a Taoist temple to worship Zhenwu.

Xiao Hei felt a little regretful, but thinking about Ming Chongyan's current choices, he felt that he was not hopeless: "After leaving Chang'an and living in Liangzhou for a long time, it seems that he has finally given up on the struggle for power..."

The Taoist priest shook his head and unceremoniously exposed his background: "The officials are looking down upon him. Ming Chongyan wants to return to Chang'an all the time, but he can't!"

Xiao Hei asked curiously: "Why is this?"

"Don't the officials know the master of Chang'an Temple?"

The Taoist priest was also surprised and said the name of that person in a tone of great reverence: "With Yuan Tiangang and Yuan Zhenren here, what qualifications does Ming Chongyan have to return to the capital?"


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