Chapter 94 From now on, all monks and Taoists will be under my control
Inside the square stone chamber, Lu Sen lit the torch.
The place here is not very big, and thirty-three masters of the Imperial City Bureau plus Lu Sen can barely fit in.
It's just that there is no air circulation, which makes people feel a bit stuffy.
The leader of the Imperial City Division, named Gao Tong, heard the faint roar of Luo Bufan outside, then turned his head to look at Lu Sen and asked, "Master Lu, we can only hide here for a while. If we stay here any longer, the air will become turbid and we will die in there."
"Just dig a tunnel and go." Lu Sen took out the stone pickaxe from the system backpack and handed it to them: "Thank you for your help."
"No problem."
Everyone in the Imperial City Bureau was very happy holding these stone pickaxes.
Before, they had helped to use these stone pickaxes to dig out a large number of stones on the top of the mountain. This was why Lu Sen was able to synthesize more than a thousand giant stone wheels in just a few days... In fact, even the top of the mountain was dug down by about ten feet at that time.
At that moment, everyone in the Imperial City Bureau dug a hole underground with great effort. Lu Sen collected soil and stones on the side. When the hole was deep enough, he blocked the entrance with soil.
Thirty-three people worked at the same time, with special tools, so they dug very quickly.
In less than an incense stick of time, they had dug more than two meters deep into the ground.
Then they started digging along the roadside. Lu Sen held a torch and he didn't know how long he had been digging before a straight passage about one meter high and one meter wide appeared.
After the stone pickaxes in everyone's hands disappeared because their durability dropped to zero, Lu Sen estimated that he was more than ten feet away from the previous roadside.
"Rest here for a while and continue digging later." Lu Sen sat down casually.
The passage was very clean. Lu Sen had repaved it with stone blocks, mainly to prevent tunnel collapse. Cleanliness was just a side effect.
The Imperial City Bureau's group also sat down, very quietly and in a very disciplined manner .
Lu Sen was thinking about what had just happened. The last group of archers that appeared were obviously regular troops, that is, soldiers.
Soldiers and martial artists have different temperaments and it is easy to distinguish them.
Donghai Penglai is a martial arts sect, but it has soldiers to help it. This is not an easy thing.
Moreover, the people from the Imperial City Bureau also discovered this. They were originally in the intelligence field, and their observation skills might be much stronger than Lu Sen's.
Gao Tong sat quietly for a while, and couldn't help asking, "Master Lu, do you know the details of the Penglai Sect in the East China Sea?"
"I don't know, but this sect wanted to use my master's name to do things, so naturally they didn't get away with it." Lu Sen smiled and said, "Not long ago, I promised Wulin that I would exchange a bottle of honey for the head of their leader. Now they are probably desperate, so they want to kidnap me."
"But they actually have a large number of archers." Gao Tong's eyes became sharp: "And they are operating near the capital. This matter is going to be exposed."
Unlike Lu Sen, Gao Tong was very familiar with the military forces near the capital.
That group of archers were definitely not the imperial guards. He recognized almost all of them, and they couldn't possibly be the garrison troops guarding the capital.
The fighting capacity of the Xiang army was just okay, but most of them had been taken away by Di Qing to the Qinfeng Road to attack Western Xia, so it was a bit difficult to gather a hundred or so archers.
In other words, this group of archers should have been transferred from other places.
It is a big taboo to mobilize troops without reporting or obtaining permission.
We were able to ambush Master Lu this time. Will we ambush the government next time if we have the chance?
Gao Tong's expression turned grim.
The Imperial City Administration itself has the responsibility of protecting the imperial palace, but the imperial guards are in the open while they are in the dark.
Everyone rested here for a while, and Lu Sen took out some stone pickaxes and asked them to continue digging.
After doing this three times, the tunnel was dug more than 40 feet deep, and they had waited underground for so long, Gao Tong said: "Master Lu, we should be able to go up. But this time we will lead the way, and we will call you out after we confirm that there is no danger outside."
Lu Sen nodded.
Then everyone from the Imperial City Bureau dug a slanted hole upwards, and then carefully dug an entrance. They first stuck their heads out to look around, and after confirming that there was no danger, they invited Lu Sen to come up to the ground.
At this time, the sky was already setting in the west. The people from the Imperial City Bureau explored the surrounding area, then turned back and said, "There is no danger around. The enemy should have left."
A member of the Imperial City Division nearby asked in confusion, "Why don't they just sit there and wait for us to come out?"
"This place is not far from Bianjing, they dare not stay any longer." Gao Tong snorted and said coldly: "If they are any later, they will run into the people from the Inspection Office, they dare not stay any longer."
The group went out to the official road and waited for a while. Sure enough, they saw a group of black-clad patrolmen riding horses coming towards them. There were about a hundred of them, and they looked quite powerful.
At this time, the Inspection Office had only been established for a few years and was still under the control of local government offices.
The two leaders were actually acquaintances of Lu Sen.
Wang Chao and Ma Han, two deputy chief constables of Kaifeng Prefecture.
They saw the people from the Imperial City Bureau from afar, and then they saw Lu Sen. Then the two deputy detectives came over on horseback, got off their horses, bowed and said, "I am the deputy detective of Kaifeng Prefecture. Wang Chao (Ma Han) greets Master Lu and all the colleagues from the Imperial City Bureau."
"Two captains, long time no see." Lu Sen also smiled and bowed in return.
Everyone in the Imperial City Bureau clasped their fists as a sign of greeting.
"Master Lu, are you guys walking back?" Wang Chao looked around and did not see any mounts of Lu Sen and others.
Lu Sen smiled bitterly and told the story that had just happened. He guessed that those horses were also taken away by the people from Penglai Sect of the East China Sea.
You know, at that time, horses were roughly equivalent to modern cars, but they were extremely expensive.
A horse is equivalent to a supercar, that's about what it feels like.
When Wang Chao and Ma Han heard this, their faces turned pale and they broke out in sweat.
This place is less than a hundred miles away from the capital, at the feet of the emperor. How could an organized group of archers, whose backgrounds are unknown, sneak over here? And they intend to kidnap Master Lu, this is a huge event.
The two men immediately called over the other colleagues from the Inspection Office and asked them to make way for the thirty-four horses. Then Wang Chao said, "Please ask Master Lu and the colleagues from the Imperial City Office to return to the capital first. We will escort them from the side."
"It should be so." Gao Tong was very satisfied: "As expected of Bao Fuyin's subordinate, he does things in an orderly manner."
Wang Chao and Ma Han smiled bitterly. After such an incident, they could not escape the blame of "poor inspection".
Now we can only try to make up for the mistake.
So, under the protection of the Inspection Office, Lu Sen and others rode back to Bianjing City before dusk.
As for the thirty-four inspectors who gave up their mounts, they could only walk back to the city.
The Imperial City Division sent Lu Sen back to the low hill and watched him enter the yard before leaving.
Lu Sen returned home and just as he entered the door, he saw Zhao Bilian rushing out and throwing herself into his arms, crying and laughing.
Then Yang Jinhua, Heizhu and Ringo also came out. When they saw Lu Sen, they looked extremely happy.
Next, it was time for the family to happily talk to each other from the bottom of their hearts, and there was nothing to say.
By midnight, Lu Sen had dealt with the two women. Zhao Bilian had fallen asleep, but Yang Jinhua was in very good health and did not feel sleepy at all.
"When the master was not at home, my mother came to stay for a few days and left the day before yesterday." Yang Jinhua recounted the situation some time ago when the court was not sure how to deal with Lu Sen, but the Yang family did not hesitate to take a stand. "I plan to bring some gifts to thank them in two days as the eldest wife of the Lu family."
A daughter who is married off is like water spilled.
No matter how good the relationship between my daughter and her parents' family is, and no matter how close the Lu and Yang families are, they are still two different surnames.
Feelings are feelings, and reason is reason.
As the eldest wife of the Lu family, Yang Jinhua must do her best to maintain her appearance, otherwise she will be laughed at by outsiders.
After all, she is now 'Lu Yang' in the eyes of outsiders.
"I don't know much about the ways of the world. It's up to you to decide."
Yang Jinhua guessed what Lu Sen would say. She smiled and asked, "I heard that you showed your prowess in the army and killed more than 100,000 enemies. Can you tell me how you did it?"
Her eyes were bright and she looked at her man with great admiration.
At this time in the palace, after listening to Gao Tong's report, Zhao Zhen asked, "Liu Chuanzi is missing? What about Xiao Zuosheng?"
Xiao Zuosheng was the little eunuch who followed Lu Sen to Qingzhou. However, after arriving in Qingzhou, he disappeared on his own. The people in the Imperial City Bureau were used to this, so Lu Sen knew that the little eunuch must have his own mission, so he did not ask any more questions.
"He should still be hiding in Xi'an." Gao Tong bent down and said respectfully, "He might know something about the disappearance of Eunuch Liu, but there is no secret letter."
Zhao Zhen was biting a pear. This pear was sent by the Prince of Runan. There were several more pears in the basket next to him.
After eating the pear, he could feel his headache gradually subsiding. "Let's put their affairs aside for now. You just said that there were more than a hundred archers outside the city? And they were related to the Penglai Sect of the East China Sea?"
Gao Tong nodded in agreement.
"Oh, is it because I'm too easy to talk to that some people always want to bully me?" Zhao Zhen was a little angry at first, but then he sighed and said, "Before, Councillor Ouyang wrote a memorial in Hangzhou and submitted it through the post station. He said that Penglai in the East China Sea spread the words of ghosts and gods and seemed to have evil intentions. Now that the archers are involved with them, no matter how you think about it, they are coming for my throne."
Gao Tong didn't dare to respond . In front of an important person, the more you talk, the more mistakes you will make. It would be best to say nothing and just follow orders.
But Zhao Zhen didn't seem to want to let him go, and asked with a smile: "The ones with such strength are only those few families. Gao Tong, who do you think wants to rebel? The Chai Palace, the Xiangyang Palace, the Yang Prince, the Jing Prince, the Yong Prince, or the Runan County Prince?"
Gao Tong was sweating profusely and was too scared to speak. Only a fool would get involved in the Zhao family's dispute.
Seeing him like this, Zhao Zhen felt quite bored: "Forget it, you go down first, and go find Supervisor Mei to claim the reward tomorrow."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Gao Tong breathed a sigh of relief, bent down and walked out of the room backwards at an extremely fast speed.
Zhao Zhen was the only one left in the room. Soon, a long sigh came from the room, full of loneliness and loss.
…
…
The next day, Lu Sen went to attend the morning court.
In the court, Zhao Zhen first said some polite words like "Master Lu, thank you for your hard work", and then appointed Lu Lin.
The position of Zhongnanshan Zhenren remains unchanged, because this is already the highest title for Taoists in the human world, even higher than that of Heavenly Master.
The real change in power was that his official rank was changed from the fifth grade to the fourth grade, and he was appointed as the Langzhong of the Ministry of Shrines under the Ministry of Rites.
Although the Ministry of Rites can be considered a low-income government office, in terms of status, it is the most noble of the six ministries.
Responsible for major festival sacrifices, imperial examination appointments, reception of foreign envoys, etc.
The Ministry of Shrines was a subordinate department of the Ministry of Rites, in charge of carving sacrifices, divination, and the incense money from temples, Taoist temples, and nunneries throughout the country.
As we all know... there is actually a lot of profit in the money from incense offerings, it just depends on whether you can collect it.
Zhao Zhen's appointment made it clear: Master Lu, from now on all monks and Taoists in the world will be under your jurisdiction.
So in name, Lu Sen is already the Immortal of Zhongnan Mountain, the highest honorary title in Taoism, and now he has real power. If he wants to say that Zhongnan Mountain is not the orthodox Taoism, and Longhu Mountain is it... then the position of Heavenly Master can only come from Longhu Mountain.
It's just so arrogant and outrageous.
Lu Sen bowed and accepted the position.
He actually looked very stubborn and anyone would think that Lu Sen was not interested in this official position.
But no one thought he was pretending... A true cultivator who knows magic needs power?
After the court was dismissed at noon, Lu Sen went to the Ministry of Rites west of Kaifeng Prefecture to hand over the official seal.
As soon as Lu Sen entered the door, he was welcomed by almost everyone in the Ministry of Rites.
Even the Minister of Rites Yan Shu took the initiative to come out and greet Lu Sen.
After some mutual flattery, Yan Shu brought Lu Sen to the Ligong Hall, asked him to sit down, and asked: "Master Lu, as the saying goes, a new official has three things to do when he takes office. Do you have any ideas that require my cooperation?"
The position of Langzhong in the Ministry of Shrines is neither big nor small, and is far less domineering than the word "Zhenren", so anyone with a higher emotional intelligence would not call Lu Sen Langzhong Lu.
"He is in charge of sacrifices." Lu Sen thought for a while and suddenly remembered that when it comes to sacrifices, he is really a good person and wants to show it to the people of this era: "Then let the world see how the ancestors' witch sacrifices are?"
Yan Shu was stunned, his thin face full of disbelief: "Could it be that Master Lu wants to use the immortal shadow play to recreate the ancient witch rituals?"
Lu Sen nodded.
Yan Zhu hissed, "Can you see what our ancestors looked like?"
"visible!"
Yan Shu suddenly felt his scalp tingling.
Lu Sen has been showing films in Bianjing City for several months.
The pictures are all about animals and geographical features, and never about people.
Yan Shu was stunned for a moment, then asked, "But tonight?"
"right."
Yan Shu stood up, bowed and said, "Then I will go home first, wash and change clothes, and then burn incense and calm my mind."
After saying that, he turned and left.
The officials standing nearby also hurriedly finished the work at hand, apologized to Lu Sen, and went home immediately, probably to wash up and change clothes.
Soon, there were no people left in the Ministry of Rites.
Lu Sen had no choice but to get up and go home.
He didn't know that when he returned to Aishan, the entire city of Bianjing was in motion.
After hearing that Master Lu was going to perform shadow puppetry and preside over the witch ritual tonight, those who were able to do so began to wash and change clothes. The wealthy used incense to cleanse their bodies, while the poor went outside the city to pick mugwort and mixed it into the water to exorcise evil spirits.
Lu Sen was born in the information age, where not many traditional customs remain, and young people are too lazy to get involved in these things.
So he didn't know how much importance the ancients attached to sacrifice.
Not to mention, this was a shamanic ritual performed by the ancients.
A witch uses her human body to communicate between heaven and earth. In essence, this is a ritual of summoning gods.
