Chapter 41: Di Qing the Fire Dog
February 12, 15:30
Seeing that no one else dared to speak, Lao Bao thought that Wen Yanbo should come. He was a bit senior and had no taboos.
"What are these puppet monsters saying, Prime Minister, do you have any advice for me?"
"Well, the first sentence is nothing new. The saying 'the king has no virtue' is nothing more than a veiled criticism of Taizu's illegitimate acquisition of the country."
"However, this running dog is cooked, yellow, green, blue..." Bao Zheng did not dare to continue, as if he realized some taboo.
"Bao Xiren must have thought of it, but in my opinion, the most important thing here is to investigate the case, so there is no need to be shy about it."
"this……"
"In that case, let me explain. The running dog is cooked, which should be represented by the character 'Di'. The yellow, green and blue should be represented by the character 'Qing'. This is a reference to the Privy Councilor Di Qing."
There was dead silence at the scene. Xu Chong looked up suddenly. He didn't expect it to be interpreted this way.
"How sinister, how sinister." Bao Zheng broke the deathly silence, "It seems that the ghost covering his face is also hinting at Prime Minister Di Shu. As for the treacherous villain as the vanguard, is it also hinting that Di Qing will be forced to rebel? It seems that the person behind the scenes not only wants to deceive the people, but also has some rules and regulations... Just this one, although the words are crude, is more vicious than the prophecy displayed on the screen of the mystery society."
"Do you still want to alienate Your Majesty?" Wen Yanbo, who had no taboos, said, "I hope Your Majesty doesn't take it seriously. If you really suspect Di Qing and Empress Cao, you will cause chaos in the army and the harem."
"Prime Minister's words reminded me that there are still some strange things in this text that are worth pondering." said Lao Bao.
"Tell me about it?"
"The goals of these two articles seem to be different, although both are aimed at overthrowing the Song Dynasty. However, the first article focuses on the Queen, while the second article focuses on the Privy Councilor. The two are not related at all. If they put some effort into it, why didn't they create some connections in the text... This article further strengthens my previous guess that there are disagreements and disputes among them."
"That's right, that's right," Wen Yanbo clapped his hands in admiration, "Empress Cao has a distinguished family background and is a relative of the emperor; Lord Di, the Privy Councilor, is a military commander. The rise of these two is the most feared by all the emperors of all dynasties. Since they want to disrupt the Song Dynasty, why don't they add fuel to the fire and link the two together? Just change one or two words and it will be possible. The idea of relatives of the emperor making friends with border generals and the palace communicating with the vassal states will be there, but there is no connection at all?"
"What deeper meaning do you think this has?"
"From what I see, maybe there is more than one person in charge among them?"
"After Wang Ze was executed, wasn't Saint Aunt in charge of all matters within the sect?"
"It's really a bit weird and hard to understand."
Yang Weide was silent, and no one wanted to ask him what he thought. Recently, he had been using the "Jingyou Liuren Shending Jing" and "Jingyou Dunjia Fuying Jing" to calculate the pattern of the appearance of the hat monster, but he had not succeeded. Old Bao began to neglect him again.
He stood by and listened for a while, and felt that Wen Yanbo and Bao Zheng had already understood the true meaning of these mysterious language arts.
The prophecy is similar to his technique of writing astronomical reports, which is that it looks ambiguous beforehand, but it seems somewhat true afterwards. In fact, he also noticed the change in the style of nursery rhymes. At least the original nursery rhymes rhyme, but the two that appeared yesterday showed signs of being rushed. The strangest thing is that prophecies have always been less important than more. For example, "The one who destroyed Qin was Hu!", or "Peaches and plums, floods surround Yangshan." The former is simple and clear. The latter is difficult and mysterious. But they are all just a few words, just enough to keep the mystery. In fact, this kind of mysterious thing is most taboo to talk too much, for fear of missing information. This worry is unnecessary. The people will naturally fill in the missing parts in their minds, and rumors will enrich the details. The final version of the story will only be more exciting than what you want to convey. The current situation is abnormal. Although the puppet from the sky is indeed powerful in magic, the information conveyed by the new nursery rhyme is too long-winded and confusing. As the saying goes: Too much talk leads to mistakes. This is even more true for prophecies. From the Song Taizu to the current emperor, no one is spared. One nursery rhyme is not enough, so another one is added. It is not only too much nonsense, but also superfluous and out of place. If you want to sow discord between the monarch and his subjects, just a hint is enough. Now the intention is too obvious. The emperor is not stupid and will naturally be on guard.
He recalled that a few years ago, the emperor was exhausted by the Qingli New Deal, so he deliberately asked him to find some astronomical signs as an excuse to slow down. It happened that the prime minister Xia Song also sent someone to find him, wanting to demote Teng Zijing, hoping to find the corresponding astrological changes. The order was issued by many departments, resulting in the strange and lengthy astronomical report of that month. In the end, the emperor kept it without approval, obviously seeing something. If you want to influence a person, it is best to use subtle hints, otherwise it will be counterproductive.
Now his intuition was the same as Bao Zheng's. There were some disagreements among this group of thieves hiding in the dark. Everyone wanted to add his own purpose and malicious intent, and in the end it became like this, sinister but too straightforward.
Over there, Taoist priest Li Cheng'an found a cushion to sit on and ignored their argument. Since Li Cheng'an came here to report, when he met Lao Bao, he only exchanged greetings and then ignored each other.
Shen Kuo patted the black ash on his hands. He had already dismantled the wreckage. There was another burnt lamp next to it, but he couldn't figure out how it worked.
"My Lords, I'm afraid it will be difficult to understand Yu Hao's scheme unless we get the second volume of his Wood Classic."
"Today I sent someone to invite Master Huailiang, but he is not in the shop. He should have heard about what happened in Baifan Building last night. I wonder if he wants to get involved in this mess again. Cunzhong, I have no choice but to trouble you to go there."
"I understand. I'll go there this afternoon."
"You go now."
"My husband, I want to take something with me. It's something I took out of this palace lantern."
"As you please."
Bao Zheng did not ask any more questions and continued to study the nursery rhyme with the others. It seemed that the nursery rhyme had already responded to eight sentences, but there was still no clue here.
February 12 noon
Shen Kuo went to the Daxiangguo Temple alone. There were crowds of people along the way, most of them heading out of the city. Looking at their faces, they were all terrified. But judging by their clothes and belongings, most of them were rich people. It can be seen that the rich cherish their lives, and this saying is true.
If a few days ago, every time a prophecy came true, everyone would treat it as a topic of conversation after dinner, or add a few more bets to the gambling house , but now it has started to be different. Eight out of ten prophecies have come true, like a noose that is constantly tightening. Although the object of the bet is the court, in the past, when there were disputes in the world, the first to suffer were the common people, and among the common people, the rich and powerful were the first to suffer.
It seems that people's hearts have really begun to change. The people don't know that no matter whether the prophecy is blessed by magic or not, it cannot directly overthrow the Song Dynasty. It can only overthrow people's hearts.
He hated himself for not being able to stop the prophecy from coming true. He had also heard the discussion between Bao Longtu and Wen Shuxiang just now. The opponents seemed to be a little hasty and flustered, and there might be some internal disagreements, but they were still in the dark and moving towards their goal. Yu Jing fled in a hurry, but he did not forget to take some things with him. All signs showed that they still had a nest.
We arrived at the Xiangguo Temple Market. There were many more spies here.
He himself had been in the Military Headquarters for a few days, and had seen many spies coming in and out. He could recognize those who were dressed in plain clothes and disguised as peddlers or idlers. These people always looked around, not paying attention to their poles and goods, and their expressions and behaviors were not like those of ordinary people. Perhaps the masters in the government office would not be like this, but most of them were easy to identify.
I don't know whether he was from Kaifeng or sent by the Imperial City Bureau, or whether he was someone from Lord Di, the Privy Councilor.
Di Qing probably knew that he was involved in a political vortex. This kind of evil rumor spread through riddles is very viable. Judging from the emperor's actions of hiding in the temple and crying for his ancestors, the emperor seemed to be a little confused. It is hard to say whether he can still see the whole thing as clearly as others. If the emperor lost his composure and began to be confused and suspicious, things would take a sharp turn for the worse.
The market was still crowded, but those standing by the street were talking to each other in groups of three or four. The stalls selling house-protecting charms, Zhong Kui statues, Tianshi charms, and mahogany boards were particularly busy . Most of them could not escape the capital, so they could only hope that these things would work. If they could not protect the Song Dynasty, at least they could protect their homes.
He arrived at Huailiang's shop, but there were no customers. Who would buy a pig head at such a midday when everyone was in danger?
When Xiao Yi saw Shen Kuo coming, he hurriedly sang Fei Ni and led him to an empty seat.
"Someone came to ask for Master Huailiang this morning, but he was not there at the time."
"Are you available now?"
"He came back once at 9:00 PM, took some things and left in a hurry, saying he might not come back today."
"What else did the master say when he left?" Shen Kuo asked anxiously.
"It seems like there is something he wanted to say but didn't. Before he left, he just told me not to buy oil, salt, and sauce from him anymore and not to sell on credit. It looks like he's going to close the shop for a few days. Sir, look at this market now, how can we do business?"
"Do you know where the master is going?"
"It seemed like he was heading north to the direction of Kaibao Temple. I saw him take out a recruitment bag, which he always brought with him when he went to the ghost market. There was some paper, pen, and change in it."
After Xiao Yi finished speaking, he went back to the kitchen and started working.
It seems that I have come here in vain. Shen Kuo said hello and walked out. But he saw the yamen runners outside beating gongs to urge passers-by to get out of the way. Soon, dozens of light cavalrymen with bows and arrows and short swords came galloping, and soon a sedan chair with eight people came. That was the Privy Councilor Di Qing.
Someone opened the curtain of the sedan chair and saw an old man in purple official uniform coming down. If you didn't know the details, you would never associate this old man with a cane with the famous general. It seems that the sore on his back has never been cured.
Watching Di Qing return home, Shen Kuo turned around and saw Huai Liang standing beside him with a white bag on his shoulder. He clasped his hands together, chanted Buddhist mantras, and then sighed.
"Master Huailiang, you are back ."
"Oh, I was hungover last night and couldn't go see Mr. Bao this morning."
"Master, it's good that you're back. I have so many things to ask you."
"I guess it's about the puppet turning into a spirit in Baifan Building yesterday?"
"Master already knows about this?"
"Is there anyone in Bianliang who doesn't know about this? But everyone has different rumors. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so it's hard to speculate."
"I was on the fourth floor of the Baifan Building yesterday."
"Oh? Did you see it with your own eyes?" The monk suddenly became interested.
"Not only did I see it with my own eyes, the resurrected puppet was jumping around right in front of me."
"How far?"
The monk stepped forward and asked urgently.
"At the closest, it was only two meters away."
"Come, come, come with me and tell me carefully what you saw."
