The weather is getting cooler, autumn is slowly passing, and early winter has arrived.
The Prince of Qin's palace was preparing Zhao Tao's marriage in an orderly manner. Although he was marrying a concubine, the woman had a royal title. In terms of status, although she was not as good as the princess, she was no different from the head wife of an ordinary official.
There were no ordinary wives in this dynasty, but the imperial concubines of this dynasty could be given imperial titles and were called internal wives.
There are internal and external imperial decrees. The inner imperial decree refers specifically to the royal family, while the outer imperial decree refers to the official wife or mother of a minister.
Generally speaking, the prince's side chamber can be named a county prince.
The commander-in-chief has a fourth-grade imperial edict!
The official wife or mother of a fourth-rank minister has the title of Jun Jun or Jun Taijun.
The status of both is the same.
The first to fifth grades are called imperial orders, and the sixth to ninth grades are called imperial orders. The main wife follows the rank of her husband. In ancient times, there was a saying of "Mrs. Gaoming".
The Song Dynasty followed the Tang system, with first-rank country wives, third-rank and above county wives, fourth-rank county lords, fifth-rank county lords, sixth-rank nuren, and seventh-rank concubines.
When sealing his mother, add the word Tai in front.
After Emperor Daojun ascended to power, he added some titles, such as Shuren, Gongren, etc.
In addition to being a symbol of identity and status, the imperial edict also means that the imperial edict's wife has a salary from the court, is a member of the clan, and is recognized by the clan and the world.
If the concubine does not join the clan, it is often difficult to even leave her name.
Taking the third prince Zhao Kai as an example, it is recorded that he had one main wife and four concubines, all of whom were granted the title of county prince, namely: Qiu Ye, Shi Jianu, Shi Jixiang, and Liu Sanfu.
There were more than a dozen other concubines, but those concubines were lost in the long river of history. They did not even leave their names, were not naturalized, and were not recognized by the royal family.
However, not all princes' concubines will have Madam Gaoming.
For example, the fifth prince, Prince Su Zhao Shu, besides his wife, had dozens of concubines, none of whom had official titles.
Another example is the Sixth Prince Jing Wang Zhao Qi, whose mother is the famous Concubine Xiao Qiao. After he opened the palace, he had one princess, Tian Jingzhu, and dozens of side concubines, but only one was appointed as a county prince. , named Ma Wudie.
Most of the time, a prince who can give a concubine an imperial edict is either favored or in power.
Zhao Tong originally wanted to ask for it at a higher price, and Emperor Daojun might not give it to him, but after thinking about it for a long time, he felt that there was no need to worry about it.
It was already afternoon, and he was reading a letter in the study. The letter was sent by Dai Zong.
Tokyo is not far from Jeju, and letters from Dai Zong have been intensive recently.
It was probably because Song Jiang had the intention of recruiting peace and turned a blind eye to the petty actions of many of the leaders below.
Dai Zong's previous letter also mentioned that Song Jiang had secretly talked with each leader one by one. When he found him, he asked if he had any relatives or friends serving as officials in Tokyo.
This time Dai Zong's letter said two things. One was that Tian Hu sent someone to Liangshan for a ride.
The other one is the Jiangnan Mingjiao. Two people visited recently, both of whom are highly skilled in martial arts.
One person is called White Crane King Fang Jiu, and the other person is Du E Sanren Du Hong Mian.
Both of them were skilled in martial arts. Although Fang Jiujiu was young, Mu Hong, Suo Chao and others were no match. In the end, he and Lin Chong were evenly matched.
When Zhao Tong saw this, he couldn't help but frown slightly...
That day, Fang Jiu was sitting at the wine shop table by the water bank, looking at the people on the ground with a smile.
He didn't hit hard, he just split his muscles and bones, but these Liangshan spies didn't survive the beating and fell to the ground at this moment.
Zhu Gui also lay on the ground, feeling that his legs seemed to have been torn apart and could not be lifted up. He had heard of Mingjiao, which was popular in Jiangnan and seemed to be very popular, but had never been seen in Shandong.
In front of him, Fang Jiujiu, who claimed to be the Crane King in White, was extremely skilled in martial arts. He didn't even draw a sword, and all his family members were knocked down. He didn't even make a single move.
Zhu Gui had been in charge of Liangshan's intelligence for many years, and he was trained to have a sharp eye and a good understanding of people. At this time, he hurriedly said: "It turns out that the Crane King is coming. I will take the Crane King across the water to Liangshan to meet with the big leader."
Fang Jiu said: "You wait and recover your muscles and bones first, I want to wait for someone else."
Zhu Gui said yes, and saw Fang Jiu in white no longer talking, sitting on a bench with his eyes closed and meditating.
The Fang family in Qingxi County, Muzhou has a prosperous population, accounting for more than half of the village's population.
Fang Jiujiu is the youngest male of this generation, ranking 19th.
The young man in purple who rescued him back then was his cousin, named Fang La. He was now the leader of the Ming Cult, and everyone in the sect respected him as Sheng Gong.
The Mingjiao existed in the south of the Yangtze River for more than a year and a half. At that time, Shaojiazhuang, Qingxi County, which Fang Lakou mentioned, was the general altar of the Mingjiao at that time.
Shao Fangqing, the owner of Shaojiazhuang, was the previous leader of Mingjiao.
It was just that Shao Fangqing had a gentle temperament, so at that time the Mingjiao in the Central Plains was happy to stay in a corner and had no intention of expanding outwards. Therefore, Persia and the Uighurs only regarded it as a seed and did not send anyone to help.
Shao Fangqing had an only daughter named Shao Yuxian, who married Fang La. Shao Fangqing practiced sky transformation and became a demon. The skin on his body was torn apart, and his eyeballs and skin fell off and he died.
Afterwards, Guangmingzuo envoy Wang Laofu was supposed to take over as the leader.
However, Wang Laofu had no intention of taking this position, so everyone recommended Fang La as the leader of Mingjiao.
Fang La did not have a master. Shao Fangqing taught some martial arts while he was still alive. Others were taught by himself from the classics in the sect after taking over as the leader.
The number one master of Mingjiao in the Central Plains is actually not Fang La, but Wang Gong Lao Fo.
Wang Laofu accepted his disciple Fang Qi, who was Fang La's cousin. People in the world gave him the nickname, Fang Qi Buddha with seven lives and seven deaths.
Seven births and seven deaths are the scriptures. The Buddha said that those who are the first to achieve the Hinayana still need to travel back and forth between heaven and earth and undergo seven lives and deaths before they can achieve the fruit of Arahantship.
Therefore, Fang Qi is also called Fang Qi Buddha.
Fang Qi inherited the seat of Wang Gong and Lao Buddha and became the left ambassador of light for this term.
Fang Jiu was taken to Shaojiazhuang by Fang La that day and stayed there, but he neither worshiped Shao Fangqing as his teacher nor Wang Gong Lao Buddha.
Instead, he met a strange hero in Shaojiazhuang. This strange hero had a very strange name, Chen Houtong.
This man is Shao Fangqing's best friend, and his martial arts skills are extremely high. Even Shao Fangqing dare not say that he will win, and he is probably between the best.
Fang Jiujiu worshiped Chen Houtong as his master. Chen Houtong used a sword, so he learned the sword and only practiced one sword technique and did not touch other weapons.
He has been studying martial arts for more than ten years and has traveled all over the south of the Yangtze River. He has never failed, so he got the nickname Heming Jiuxiao.
Fangla revitalized Mingjiao and saw that he was highly skilled in martial arts, so he gave him the throne of Dharma King. Because of his nickname, he called him the Crane King in White Clothes.
This time when Fang Jiu arrived in Liangshan, he was sent by Fang La to contact the heroes of Liangshan, intending to persuade them to raise the flag of righteousness together.
Although Liangshan had long occupied this place as king, and had gone out to fight with officers and soldiers in the water, he never really raised the flag of rebellion and talked about changing the dynasty.
Fang Nineteen came here not alone, but with Du E San, Du Hong Mian. However, Du Hong Mian had to go to Tokyo beforehand. He calculated that the time would come today, so he came to the wine shop early to wait.
After a while, everyone on the ground gradually started to get up. Zhu Gui hurriedly ordered to prepare drinks and a banquet, but Fang Jiujiu only wanted a pot of light tea.
Zhu Gui said sarcastically: "Isn't King Crane afraid that the wine will be laced with the sweat-inducing medicine?"
Fang Jiu shook his head and smiled: "I never drink."
Zhu Gui was stunned for a moment and thought to himself, this is strange. How can there be a hero who doesn't drink? The Crane King of the Ming Cult looks young. Could it be that he is a vegetarian?
Although he didn't know much about Mingjiao, he had heard about it, and it seemed to be related to some kind of Buddha. At this moment, he couldn't help but guess.
Fang Nineteen drank tea, and when the sun passed due south, the sound of horse hooves sounded outside, and it was Du Hongmian who arrived.
I saw Du Hongmian dressed in red, with her head wrapped in red silk, with two swords stuck sideways behind her back. She looked like a ball of blazing fire. She was about twenty years old, with willow eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes, and a heroic appearance.
The two of them chatted for a while, and Zhu Gui took them to the waterside. Then he took out a magpie-painted bow, attached a ringing arrow, and shot it over the reeds on the opposite side.
Then a young man pulled out a speedboat from the reeds, and Zhu Gui jumped aboard before it even reached the shore.
He was familiar with the nature of water and was naturally at ease. He was so proud that he was about to turn around and speak, but unexpectedly, two steel knives were already placed on his neck.
Du Hongmian said coldly: "Master Zhu, the host got on the boat first without inviting the guests, but how is Liangshan treating guests?"
Zhu Gui suddenly smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking that Jiangnan is also a land of water. In terms of lakes, it only has more lakes than Jeju, not less. The two of them are also familiar with the nature of water, but they are carelessly showing off.
He hurriedly apologized and ordered the gangster to row quickly, and the boat moved forward quickly.
After arriving at the mountain to report, Song Jiang naturally had far more knowledge than Zhu Gui, and knew that the Jiangnan Mingjiao was a powerful force at this moment, so he summoned all the heroes on the mountain to meet at the Zhongyi Hall.
Fang Jiujiu was sitting in the hall, secretly watching Song Jiang, and saw that he had a dark face and a short body, and thought that people should be judged by their appearance. He also looked at Lin Chong and Wu Yong on both sides, and saw that one of them had beautiful features, white face and long beard, like a gentleman in a school. The other leopard has a head with eyes and a heroic spirit.
Song Jiang frowned after reading Fang La's letter. Fang La said in the letter that Zhao Ji, the foolish king, was arrogant, extravagant, greedy and immoral. He set up a farmhouse in the north and conquered Huashi Gang in the south. He plundered the people and put them in trouble. In order to save the people from danger, he set up a military base in the north and south. Heroes should join forces to kill corrupt officials, overthrow the foolish emperor, and establish a new dynasty.
Song Jiang felt a little disgusted and threw the letter to Wu Yong without saying a word.
Wu Yong knew that there was Ming Zunjiao in the south, and he had long wanted to know some details. After reading the letter, he said, "I would also like to ask King Crane to explain the teachings of your sect."
Fang Jiu smiled when he heard the words. He had been calculating on the way here. He couldn't speak obscurely to these Liangshan people, and it was better to be simple and easy to understand. He said: "The Holy Religion was born from the light to drive away the darkness. The Dharma is equal and there is no superiority." Below, there is no distinction between men and women, they are all brothers in the same family. The poor share wealth and help each other, and the weak help each other with teachings. Everyone who comes in and out, regardless of whether they are acquaintances or not, is one family."
After listening to this, Song Jiang couldn't help but sneer in his heart. It sounded tempting, but each of them might last for a short time, but it would never last long. To use such things to seduce him, he was looking for the wrong person.
Wu Yong said: "I have always heard about the affairs of flowers and stones in the south of the Yangtze River, and the small court said it. May I ask why King Crane is doing it?"
Fang Jiujiu thought for a while and said: "Since Chongning, the unfaithful emperor ordered the traitor Tong Guan to set up manufacturing bureaus in Suzhou and Hangzhou, driving thousands of craftsmen of all kinds from the southeast, collecting countless materials, and making ivory, rhinoceros horn, jade, etc. Gold, silver, carvings, weaving and embroidery, etc., were used with all their skill to transport them to the imperial city of Tokyo for the foolish king to spend and enjoy."
"Three years later, the Yingfeng Bureau was added, and the fengcheng Zhu Meng of Suzhou was in charge of it. It collected rare items of flowers, stones, bamboos and wood. If there was a stone or wood in the common people's house for appreciation, they would be taken by force, even if they were at the bottom of the river, they would also use all kinds of tricks to get it. In other words, they broke into people's houses at will, and those who had such things were regarded as the imperial property. When moving, they demolished houses, knocked down walls and destroyed bridges, without any care. Zhu Meng's men took advantage of the opportunity to blackmail, and tens of thousands of families were ruined. A large number of ships were used to plunder the proceeds. For transportation to Tokyo, every ten ships form a gang, which is called the Huashi Gang."
"As a result, Zhu Meng, a treacherous man, won the favor of the emperor, and his power increased day by day. He secretly had the power to promote, demote, and even kill officials in Jiangnan. The various prefectures and municipal shipping offices in the southeast all had corresponding agencies. Zhu Meng secretly almost dominated Jiangnan. The emperor’s residence is called the Southeast Little Court.”
Wu Yong nodded when he heard the words, and suddenly asked: "May I also ask King Crane, where is the main altar of Mingjiao located?"
Fang Nineteen remained calm. The other party seemed to be trying to find out what was true, but he could not tell the truth. Just like the Liangshan Mountain in front of him, who in the world didn't know where it was?
He said: "The main altar of the Holy Cult is located in the Bangyuan Valley by the Jianshui River. The Bangyuan Valley is more than fifty miles wide and deep. It is composed of three mountains. The mountains are overlapping, the water is fast, and the terrain is dangerous. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack."
Wu Yong was thinking after hearing this. Over there, Song Jiang looked at Du Hongmian and said, "How many female generals do you have in your Mingjiao religion?"
Du Hongmian said calmly: "Chief Song, our Ming religion emphasizes that there is no distinction between men and women. As long as men and women have skills, they can be generals. It doesn't matter how many."
Song Jiang shook his head and said: "There are only a few women who have the ability. How many people can be made generals based on it?"
Du Hongmian was furious when she saw that Song Jiang didn't pay much attention to Fang La's letter. Now she heard that Song Jiang seemed to be prejudiced against women, and she was even more angry. She couldn't help but said: "The little girl's martial arts skills in Mingjiao are only average, but... If I compete with the heroes from Liangshan, I’m afraid I won’t give in too much!”
Fang Jiu frowned and said, "Why would Dusan say such a thing!"
Wu Yong shook his feather fan and his expression changed. The Ming Cult was powerful and had many people. He was afraid of making enemies based on this, so he hurriedly said: "What your leader said in the letter is a serious matter. If we join forces, we should have detailed strategies..."
When Song Jiang heard this, he was afraid that Wu Yong would get the wrong meaning. If his words were wrong, it would be difficult to recover, which would affect the recruitment and security plan. He quickly interrupted Wu Yong and said: "We gather brothers in Liangshan, make heroes in the water, do justice for heaven, and establish loyalty in the hall. , I dare not invade the state and occupy the government, and I dare not harass the people. I cannot agree to what your leader said for the time being. You should think carefully before making a decision."
Du Hongmian listened to his decisive words and was a little biased towards the court. He couldn't help but sneered: "The leader of the Song Dynasty said this wrongly. The king is ignorant and has no moral principles. The court is rampant and traitors are rampant. The state capital is doing the things of tigers and wolves. The people of Li are suffering. , and you talk about doing justice for heaven? This little girl has always heard that there are fierce generals and countless heroes on Liangshan, why don't you dare to do such a big thing? "
Song Jiang was not annoyed. He looked at her and said, "Du San just said that he would compete with me, the hero of Liangshan, but he didn't give in too much?"
Du Hongmian said calmly: "Chief Song heard right, the little girl is willing to learn the methods of Liangshan heroes!"
Fang Nineteen was too late to stop him at this time, and couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. He had said that he would use someone else, but Shenggong sent this girl instead. He knew that she had a violent temper and was afraid of bad things.
But at this moment, he could see that Song Jiang had no intention of joining forces, and after thinking about it for a while, he felt that it would be better to take advantage of this moment to stir things up and see if things would turn around.
So he smiled and said: "I would also like to meet all the heroes of Liangshan!"
(End of chapter)
