Chapter 131: Donate Silver as You Like
This is a big deal.
It turned out that the monks were saying that a high monk in Kaihua Temple in Dingjun Mountain was going to burn himself to death and ascend to heaven, and they wanted everyone to go and watch the ceremony.
It was called a viewing ceremony, but in fact it was just propaganda to the people in the city, encouraging them to burn incense and worship Buddha as fate would have it, and to offer silver as offerings.
When Zhao Yulin heard that someone wanted to self-immolate, he became sensitive. Buddhism still emphasizes people-oriented and cherishing life. Who would burn themselves to ascend to heaven while living a good life?
Will these monks deceive the common people for money?
He was a little confused and walked back with Chen Chen. When he entered the house, he called Qiu Ju to explain the situation.
In the evening, the two of them went to attend Lu Youpeng's welcoming banquet.
Gao Jia, Lao Lu, Yu Fuming, and two judges sat at the same table.
After three rounds of drinks, Lao Gao happily praised the army for taking back Guanzhong, which was a feat not seen in a hundred years, and the imperial troops of Xingyuan Prefecture had made great contributions. Everyone drank three more cups with him in succession.
Zhao Yulin said very modestly that this time he entered It would take several more years to gain a foothold in Guanzhong.
Several subordinates immediately flattered him, believing that the Shenwei Army could enter Guanzhong and gain a foothold in Guanzhong.
Zhao Yulin stopped being polite and gave Gao Jia suggestions on how to speed up the economic development of Hanzhong, and Gao accepted them all. Zhao Yulin said that the Shenwei Army would establish a general team of craftsmen and let Yu Fuming select people from the craftsmen camp and from the soldiers who were about to be discharged to specialize in the most difficult repair tasks.
He gave an example, such as the maintenance of the Lianyun plank road some time ago. If there was no militarized management and the willpower to overcome difficulties, how could we ensure that the plank road was completed quickly and well ahead of schedule to facilitate the army's attack on Guanzhong?
He told Yu Fuming: The newly established craftsman corps was divided into several technical teams and squadrons. First, a chain bridge construction team was established to try to build a chain bridge over the Han River to Da'an, so that the passing carriages would no longer have to ferry and could cross the river directly.
As soon as this idea came out, everyone at the table became interested and helped to come up with ideas. Zhao Yulin had read information about the construction of the iron chain bridge over the Dadu River in the Qing Dynasty. He sorted out the memories in his mind and asked Chen Chen to give the brocade box he brought to Yu Fuming.
He said casually that it was simple. The instructions for making it were all written on the box and the masters would understand it at a glance.
These people had long regarded the Third Young Master as a god. Yu Fuming quickly and carefully put away the brocade box and said that he would discuss with Prefect Gao to set up a cable bridge construction team.
Gao Jia was very supportive of this. He said that large vehicles could now go to Baoji. Ziwu Road was the shortest road to Chang'an, but it was extremely dangerous. They could try to build an iron cable bridge there first to straighten the bend and shorten the journey, thus turning the dangerous Ziwu Valley into a smooth road.
That’s Yu Fuming’s business.
Zhao Yulin told Lao Gao about the establishment of a cooperative in Guanzhong. He believed that Hanzhong was now peaceful, and it was entirely possible to set up cooperatives in various states and counties like Guanzhong had done. This would not only enable the circulation of goods, but also guarantee the people's daily necessities needs. The key was that it could also help stabilize prices when supplies were tight.
In fact, some businessmen have tried to set up such cooperatives, but they are weak . Once the Shenwei Army sets up the framework, it will definitely be twice the result with half the effort.
Yu Fuming said that it could also provide resettlement for demobilized soldiers, killing three birds with one stone.
These are things that happened later. He believed that the key was to use and manage it well. He asked Chen Chen to think more and improve the rules and regulations by referring to the experience of Yibin and Guanzhong.
Two days later, Qiu Ju reported that it was the day when the monk in Kaihua Temple would pass away, so let's go and see it together.
Zhao Yulin asked her if she had found out any information.
She said that she had inquired in Shunfeng Place and found that the monks inside were all strangers and most of the local people did not know them. Master Lu suspected that it was a hideout for spies.
Zhao Yulin hadn't played with Chen Chen for a long time, so he asked Lao Lu to go and see what was going on.
There is a small hill to the south of Dingjun Mountain, which can be seen clearly with a telescope from a distance of several hundred meters. A group of people went to the top of the hill and raised the telescope to observe.
He saw that the empty dam of the temple was full of pilgrims and people looking at the strange things. There was a high platform in the middle surrounded by piles of firewood, and monks kept pouring vegetable oil on the firewood. The self-immolating monk on the high platform had a thin face, his eyes were full of tears and he couldn't stop shaking.
Zhao Yulin handed the telescope to Lao Lu and said that there was definitely something fishy going on and that the man definitely did not want to die. He immediately sent someone to inform the abbot, saying that he wanted to watch the ceremony and listen to the monk's lecture, and that the ceremony would be held another day. He then took the monk to the government office for questioning.
He pulled Chen Chen up and called him back, but the girl said that everyone was waiting to see the show and he had disturbed it again.
He said human life is at stake, so don't treat it as a joke.
The host firmly disagreed and said that the master on the stage had chosen the auspicious time himself, so how could it be abandoned?
Qiu Ju told the many pilgrims that it was Commander Zhao of the Shenwei Army who personally selected the day after tomorrow for the ceremony. Lord Zhao was the God of Literature who had descended to earth, so how could he have chosen the wrong day? He had invited a great monk to Nanzheng to preach.
Several guards went up and took the man away without saying a word.
Although the people around felt a little regretful, they were all happy to hear that the Third Young Master had returned and wanted to come and watch the fun in person. It didn't matter if they were delayed for two days, as they could still get a glimpse of the Third Young Master's face.
After the imperial court took away the self-immolating monk, tension immediately rose inside the temple. The pilgrims were quickly dismissed on the pretext of cleaning, and the main gate was closed. Soon, people dressed as pilgrims slipped out of the back door of the temple and walked towards the official road to Nanzheng.
In Nanzheng City, Lao Lu first asked the kitchen to prepare a bowl of lean meat porridge for the self-immolating monk, then explained the reasons for stopping him from self-immolating, and asked him if he had encountered any difficulties, saying that the Shenwei Army would definitely be able to help him.
This guy pretended to be deaf and dumb and refused to speak.
Lao Lu didn't dare to scold or hit Zhao Yulin, so he came to Zhao Yulin helpless.
He said that this man must have been coerced, otherwise, why would he be willing to be burned to death?
If it weren't a huge problem, how could ordinary people accept it?
He asked Lao Lu to take the self-immolating monk out for a walk. Once the man knew that the Divine Power Army was enough to protect his safety, he would definitely tell the truth.
Sure enough, after Lu Youpeng asked Qiu Ju to escort the self-immolating monk around Nanzheng City and came back, he spoke.
It turned out that this person was Shen Baiyi, a wealthy businessman in Guanzhong who was particularly good at doing business. When he saw the Shenwei Army entering Guanzhong, he was worried that a long war between Song and Mongolia would ruin his business, so he had the idea of going south to Hanzhong to do business, and brought his family along the old road to investigate.
When passing by Dingjun Mountain, they saw the temple on the mountain. His eldest wife was a Buddhist lady who ate vegetarian food and chanted incense. She wanted to go up the mountain to worship Buddha and burn incense to pray for good luck for her husband, so she decided to go up the mountain together. The two wives went into the temple to worship Buddha.
Who knew that they would be trapped in a cage as soon as they stepped into the temple? As soon as the two women entered the temple, they were seen by the abbot who was coming towards them. The abbot was stunned by the female Bodhisattva-like fairy face. He then waved his hand and the monks in the temple took immediate action, covered the women's mouths and dragged them away.
Damn, this temple turned out to be a fake Shura Temple.
Seeing that his two wives had not come out for a long time, Shen Baiyi went in with his bodyguards and servants to look for them. As soon as they entered, the door was immediately closed.
Several ferocious monks came forward with machetes and started hacking at them. The servants and bodyguards were immediately killed, leaving him, a weakling, standing there in a daze. The leading monk laughed and said that finally there was meat and women again. He asked people to bring in the remaining gang members outside the temple so that they could have a good meal of human meat buns at noon.
Soon someone came to drag away the body and cleaned the floor.
Fairy Banban, it turned out that this was a temple occupied by a strong man. Shen Baiyi suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground.
The temple abbot had raped his two women, and the two women were so scared that they told them everything. Of course they knew he was Shen Baiyi and that he was rich, but if they spared his life, they would always want to get money from him.
Helplessly, the Shenwei Army quickly ended the war in Guanzhong and even organized the inspection system at the checkpoints in an orderly manner. He sent a young monk in disguise to try to sneak through Maguan twice but failed and almost exposed his identity.
Finally, seeing that Shen Baiyi and his wife had a deep affection for each other, this guy took him to a secret room and raped his wife in front of him. After they were done, he said that the temple had no money left, so they wanted to hold a big ceremony and invite all the incense worshippers to come and collect incense money. Then he would ask Shen Baiyi to burn himself to death and ascend to heaven. In this way, he could ensure that Shen Baiyi's two wives would not die.
Shen Baiyi had seen through the devilish host before and after. If he died early, the two women would live longer, so he agreed and had to agree.
That’s why there was a grand Dharma Assembly at Dingjun Mountain.
Shen Baiyi nervously explained that there were many women in the secret room on the mountain, the youngest was less than ten years old, and the oldest was in her fifties or sixties. Those fake monks entered the secret room, blindfolded themselves with black cloth, and rushed over to pull up the pants of whoever they caught. They were simply not human beings. He must find a way to rescue them.
Qiu Ju had never heard of such a strange story, which was all about bullying women and children. Her eyes turned red, and she picked up the sword to lead people to destroy Dingjun Mountain. She was stopped by Lao Lu and they went to report to Zhao Yulin together.
He pondered for a while and said that this incident happened in a temple, which involved the issue of personal freedom of belief. It was necessary to catch the perpetrators and make it a solid case, so that the people could wake up.
Otherwise, it will damage the image of our Shenwei Army in the hearts of the people, and they will think that we have no respect for the law and arbitrarily brandish swords and guns to arrest and kill people even in temples, taking human lives lightly.
He asked for surveillance first, and spread the news that he was going to the mountain to watch the ceremony in the vicinity of the temple to calm down those fake bald men, and then he would go up the mountain tomorrow to expose these wolves in robes in public.
After Zhao Yulin finished his work, he accompanied Chen Chen to the academy to visit his second brother Zhao Yujiang. His second sister-in-law had given birth to a fat boy and was in confinement after childbirth. He waited for Chen Chen to give his nephew a gift and then come out to have tea with his second brother.
Zhao Yulin told his second brother about the situation in Kaiyuan Temple. Zhao Yujiang was so frightened that he started to talk nonsense, and then he became so angry that he trembled all over.
He asked the newspaper to send a scribe to Dingjun Mountain tomorrow to find out the truth and discuss it in the Hanshui Morning News. We advocate freedom of belief and must oppose superstition. He felt that even in the future, feudal superstition could not be eradicated, but the people must see its true face.
