In the Imperial City, between the Secretariat and the Honglu Hall, there is the Taishi Bureau Yamen.
Wu Huaiyu came out of the censor's platform in the east, accompanied by Zhang Xingcheng, the censor in the palace, and entered the Yamen of the Taishi Bureau together.
"Ask Li Chunfeng to ask questions according to the imperial decree."
The Taishi Bureau official looked at Zhang Xingcheng and then at Wu Huaiyu next to him. After receiving the imperial edict, he invited them in.
The Taishi Bureau is not a judicial department and does not have its own prison. However, the emperor ordered that Li Chunfeng be placed under house arrest in the Taishi Bureau.
In a side room, Wu Huaiyu saw Li Chunfeng. The room was very cold. There was only a small charcoal basin. The room was like an ice cave, and even the windows were filled with cold wind.
Li Chunfeng was too cold, so he wrapped himself in a quilt and sat in front of a charcoal basin to keep warm. The ground next to him was filled with counting sticks and various calculation drafts.
He looked a little embarrassed at this time, with disheveled hair.
When Wu Huaiyu saw this scene, he felt no sympathy.
"Li Chunfeng, I am Zhang Xingcheng, the censor in the Censor's Platform Palace. I have been ordered to accompany Wu Biejia to ask you questions. You must answer all your questions."
Li Chunfeng looked up and saw two officials, one purple and one green. He was stunned for a moment before standing up to pay his respects.
The house was simple and shabby, there was no couch or bed, so Huaiyu just stood and asked questions.
"Dr. Li, can you borrow money from Da Zongchi Temple?"
"It's true."
"How much did you borrow?"
"The principal is not much, but the interest is a lot. Over the past eight years, the interest has been compounded and I owe a total of nearly 500 yuan."
"What's the current status of this debt?"
"I have a Taoist friend who helped me pay it back."
"Is this Taoist friend Yuan Tiangang?"
Li Chunfeng said it was correct, and also said that when he was studying Taoism in Henan in his early years, Yuan Tiangang traveled to Luoyang, and they met and fell in love with each other immediately.
"Although Yuan Tiangang served as county magistrate in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, as far as I know, he was born into a poor family. He has been living in Langzhong for many years. He built an observatory in Panlong Mountain to study astronomy and physiognomy. He was very poor. How could he spend 500 yuan?
Money to pay off your debt?"
Li Chunfeng replied, "Brother Yuan knew that I was in dire straits in the capital, had accumulated debts that were difficult to repay, and was often pressed. He couldn't bear it, so he tried every means to help me.
The late Prime Minister Du Xianggong had an old relationship with Brother Yuan. Brother Yuan once saw his fortune twice and formed a bond. In addition, Duke Zheng of Xingyang County, Shangshu Zuocheng Wei Ting, Huangmen Minister Cui Qian and others, Brother Yuan also
I once read fortunes for them. Brother Yuan asked the Du family and others for help, and the Du family and others gave me 500 yuan to pay off the debt for me."
Wu Huaiyu was very dissatisfied with this answer.
Zhang Xingcheng even scolded him not to talk nonsense. Now he was asking questions under orders. If he dared to lie even half a word, it would be considered a crime of deceiving the emperor.
Zhang Xingcheng had been helped by Wu Huaiyu before. He was born in the Zhang family of Zhongshan and studied under Liu Xuan, a famous scholar in Hebei. During the Sui Dynasty, he became an official and became a Yuanwailang. Later, in the late Sui Dynasty, he became Wang Shichong's Duzhi Shangshu. After returning to the Tang Dynasty, he was not allowed to be reused.
Become a minor official like the Gushu County Lieutenant.
His family was poor, so he stayed in Beijing to replace the county's central planner, took part in the imperial examination, passed the imperial examination, and was transferred to Chenping County Lieutenant. Later, he was recommended by Zhang Rui, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and became the chief clerk of Fuping.
But the family was still poor and owed a lot of debt to the capital. He was forced to repay the debt and was very embarrassed. He happened to meet Huaiyu and lent him money to pay off the debt and rescue him. After getting to know him, he found that he was quite talented and later recommended him to the emperor.
Became the magistrate of Sanyuan County.
Because of his good performance, Li Shimin made an exception and promoted him to the imperial censor. Zhang Xingcheng was very grateful to Wu Huaiyu. He also knew that the recent rumors in Beijing had hurt the Wu family, so he was now very rude to Li Chunfeng.
Huaiyu is not in a hurry.
As long as it is a lie, there will always be a flaw.
"I heard a piece of news, but it's different from what you said." Huaiyu added more charcoal to the charcoal basin and increased the fire.
"The daily charcoal supply is limited. If you add too much, there will be no fire at night." Li Chunfeng said helplessly.
"Dr. Li, if you can cooperate well, you won't have to stay here at night and can go home to reunite with your relatives."
Huaiyu added more charcoal and finally felt warmer.
"Zhang Yushi, can you help me get a pot of hot water and some tea?"
Zhang Xingcheng was sent away,
Wu Huaiyu got straight to the point, "Some people say that Brother Chai's son-in-law was punished for the incident in the cave in the south of the city, and it was all due to me. Moreover, Mr. Chai had already had a feud with me.
Chai Zhewei found his dandy friend Cui Yuqing, and through him he found his relative Zheng Shiji. Zheng Shiji then found his uncle Du Jingai. Du Jingai pretended to be Yuan Tiangang and redeemed your IOU from the Grand Chief Temple.
Chai Zhewei uses this IOU to coerce and induce you to give a secret report to the emperor. On the grounds of the abnormal celestial phenomenon that has occurred in Taibai today, he will attach a secret note and present the eleven-character prophecy of the third generation of Wu Dynasty Li Xing, the heroine Chang, to my Wu family.
Take action.
If you do this for them, they will not only help you pay off the 500 guan debt, but also give you another 500 guan."
"No, that's absolutely not the case."
Li Chunfeng firmly denied it.
"I don't know Chai Zhewei, let alone Cui Yuqing, Zheng Shiji, and others. I'm not familiar with Cui Gan, Cui Dunli, Zheng Shanguo, Du Yan, etc. I told you.
I didn’t even take any money from them.”
Wu Huaiyu sneered a few times, "Since I came to see you today, it means that I already know a lot of inside information. Do you think I will believe that the contents of your secret letter were really written by you?"
Li Chunfeng was silent.
After a long time, he slowly said, "I admit that the contents of that secret message were not all based on my speculation."
But Li Chunfeng still refused to admit that he was paid to do things for Chai Zhewei and others.
He told another truth.
He and Yuan Tiangang had been exchanging letters. Although one was in Chang'an and the other was in Langzhong, they had a good relationship. In their letters, the two discussed Yin and Yang Taoism, astronomy, and even divination.
Late days have appeared frequently recently, which is somewhat similar to the situation last summer. This is a very unusual celestial phenomenon and must have some omens.
They were originally studying this, so the two of them also discussed this matter in their letters.
Finally, it was Yuan Tiangang who connected the recent appearance of the sun with the secret note, and said that the omen refers to the eleven characters.
Li Chunfeng thinks it makes sense.
So he proposed to report the matter to the emperor. After all, this was also the duty of the officials of the Taishi Bureau. He also told Yuan Tiangang that his name should be reported. This was his speculation. But Yuan Tiangang said that he did not want his name to be reported.
, and also said that he now wants to concentrate on studying astronomy at the Langzhong Observatory and does not want to be affected by other things.
In the end, Li Chunfeng did not mention Yuan Tiangang in his secret memorial.
It sounded reasonable, but Wu Huaiyu didn't believe it.
"Where are the letters you exchanged with Yuan Tiangang?"
"In my study at home."
Wu Huaiyu dug into the details and made many inquiries, and finally discovered some more doubtful points.
Li Chunfeng said that Yuan Tiangang sought help from Du Yan, Zheng Shanguo, Cui Mingan, Wei Ting and other powerful people in Chang'an who also had contacts with Yuan Tiangang, and Yuan Tiangang had helped them meet several times.
These families were also very considerate to Yuan Tiangang, and together they gave him 500 yuan to repay the debt of the Grand Master Chi Temple. After repaying the debt, someone claimed to be a member of Du Yan's family and sent the IOU, along with Yuan Tiangang's debt.
of a letter.
The letter said that it had helped him settle his debt, and then it was about the strange phenomenon in Taibai.
"Are you saying that this letter started the discussion between you and Yuan Tiangang about the appearance of the sun?"
"Yes."
"Very good, I will check what you said today,"
Zhang Xingcheng brought hot water and tea, but Wu Huaiyu had already finished asking questions. He went to see Fu Yi from the Taishi Bureau. Fu Yi, the Taishi Ling, was also a famous Taoist priest who was very good at looking at the stars.
Last year, he was the one who said that when Taibai meets Qin, the king of Qin will rule the world. Fu Yi is also an anti-Buddhist and has always been the leader of Taoism in the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism.
But on the other hand, Fu Yi is very cautious. Although he watches the stars and divines fortunes, he will never spread the news easily and will never leave a copy even if he reports to the emperor.
Much better than Li Chunfeng in this aspect.
Fu Yi has a good impression of Wu Huaiyu, and even has some natural affection for him. After all, Wu Huaiyu's teacher is the hidden immortal of Zhongnan. Wu Huaiyu is even the uncle of Qihui, the abbot of Louguan Taoism. He has a higher seniority and everyone knows that Wu Huaiyu is good at refining alchemy and drawing talismans.
He Medicine, he is also the second generation head of the Longmen Sect.
The old man chatted with Huaiyu for a few words, but did not show up. He told Huaiyu that he hoped that Huaiyu could contribute to Taoism and persuade the emperor to suppress Buddhism and promote Taoism.
Huaiyu is actually very dissatisfied with the current status of Buddhism and Taoism, especially Buddhism, which is not simple. For example, these temples in Chang'an now occupy one square, half a square, or even thousands of acres of fertile land.
, have hundreds of slaves, and even many tenants working for them, not to mention they have strong financial resources, open treasury for lending, etc.
This is the cancer of the dynasty.
But he didn't dare to touch it easily.
Just like when Li Shimin won the throne, he didn't care about Xiao Gui and Cao Sui, and wanted to immediately abolish Li Yuan's Sha Tai Buddha and Taoist edict.
They are strong and need to unite and win over each other first, making more friends and fewer enemies. This is inevitable to stabilize their position and power.
Although the Wu family is now considered to be an upstart, it does not have a deep foundation. How can it dare to attack Buddhism? He is no longer a Taoist monk, and the five surnames and seven families may not dare to be so harsh on Buddhism.
Although Li Yuan issued the edict of Sha Tai Buddha and Taoism at the beginning, there were many opponents in the court at that time, especially those led by famous noble families.
The noble clans represented by the Five Surnames, Seven Families, Guanlong and Six Surnames have actually had interests connected with these Buddhist forces for a long time.
Huaiyu made some perfunctory remarks and suggested that Li Chunfeng's conditions were too poor and the weather was freezing cold, so he should not be frozen to death. After all, he was still an official from the ninth rank, and the emperor even gave him the task of deducing astronomy.
"Please ask Fu Taishi to change him to a cleaner and more comfortable room, and add more charcoal fire, etc."
"This is an oversight on my part. I'll make arrangements right away." Fu Yi was very considerate.
Huaiyu said goodbye and left, taking Zhang Xingcheng to Liumen, where he found An Yuanshou and Doulu Huairang. He then went to Li Chunfeng's house and brought some firewood, meat and vegetables to Li Chunfeng's mother, wife and children. He also said that Li Chunfeng had important errands recently and could not do it for the time being.
go home.ωωw..net
Then he said that he would go to the study for Li Chunfeng to get something.
Li Chunfeng took away all the books, letters and some drafts in his study.
Before leaving, Huaiyu even left twenty guan of money for Li Chunfeng's wife for living expenses.
"Li Chunfeng hurt you like this, why do you still treat his family so favorably?"
"The injustice has its owner, and the debt has its owner, and it has nothing to do with them. Moreover, I find this matter more and more interesting. Li Chunfeng may just be the victim who was kept in the dark and was used as a gunman."
