[Volume 2 New World] Chapter 199 The Undercurrent of Competition
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Chapter 199 The undercurrent of competition
This Taoist temple is in dilapidated condition. The first dilapidated house that we entered used to be inhabited by beggars, but now it is even more crowded with disaster victims. Zhang Yingchen went in from the aisle and arrived at the back. Taoist Huoju was chopping wood. He said hello hastily and went to the small yard where he lived.
The yard is not big, with stoves and charcoal piled on the dirt floor, as well as many pots and jars. The air was filled with the smell of vinegar, charcoal and disinfectant. Zhang Yingchen knew that this place had just experienced a flood. Now that the water has receded, the temperature has risen rapidly. The outbreak of infectious diseases is a matter of seconds. Although his blood vessels are full of antibodies, , in the end it is better to be careful.
Ming and Qing welcomed him back at the door of his room. This young Taoist boy from Qingyun Temple had officially become his "disciple" in Hangzhou. After his careful training, she is now his reliable and capable assistant. He was also responsible for the preliminary training of the two Daoshengs - they could at least read in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
"Master——" Ming Qing said respectfully.
"Come inside and talk." Zhang Yingchen said.
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he was not officially a naturalized citizen, so Zhang Yingchen had reservations about him. He just tried his best to instill in him new Taoist theories and his own religious views, and also imparted medical knowledge. As for the Senate that works for the benefit of mankind, he has not disclosed it yet. Zhang Yingchen just explained to him that he was a Taoist priest from Guangdong Province - anyway, Qiongzhou was also under the rule of Guangdong Province at the time.
The hall in the middle is filled with bamboo plaques containing medicinal materials, guillotines for cutting medicine, stone mortars for pounding medicine, earthen pots for boiling medicine, copper pots and charcoal, all piled up on the ground and underground, making it almost impossible to stay. In order to treat as many people as possible, in addition to the Chinese patent medicines and Western medicines brought from Lingao, he prepared many medicines locally.
Two young Daoshengs were sitting on the kang in the room, selecting medicinal materials. They were all teenagers. Their parents and relatives died in the disaster, and they themselves were half-dead from starvation. After being taken in by Zhang Yingchen, they were nursed back to health for several days before they finally recovered to normal.
Seeing him coming back, the two children immediately got down from the kang and bowed to him in an awkward manner.
"Okay, you can continue to make explosives." Zhang Yingchen said with a smile, "How is it? How many medicinal materials do you recognize?"
"I only recognize more than ten kinds..." one of the children replied.
"Well, the medicinal materials I use here are few, and it will be difficult for you to identify many. Tomorrow, go to the herbal medicine store to pick up the medicine, and the teacher will guide you on the spot to identify more."
"Thank you, Master."
Now, in addition to teaching them how to read during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Zhang Yingchen also takes time out every day to teach them how to identify medicinal materials and memorize Tangtou songs. Do some enlightenment on traditional Chinese medicine. Overall, he was quite satisfied with these two children, who were much better than the Daosheng he had obtained before.
But these two children should not stay with him for a long time. They have not been purified and are relatively weak. The local environment in Yizhou is complicated, so arrangements must be made to send them away.
Zhang Yingchen took out a key from his waist and opened the door to the back room - this room was his private room. He hid the most important things here. The so-called most important things were some medicines and medical supplies. The most important of these are his writing potion and code book.
Entering the back room, Ming Qing first reported on the family affairs: how many new words he taught his two junior brothers, the progress of medicine, who came to see Zhang Yingchen, and what unusual things happened outside the door.
The most suspicious thing was the three or four strange beggars who came in as soon as they entered the outermost part of the Taoist temple. They were not as weak and haggard as the others, but they were full of energy and energy. I don't often go out to beg. Sometimes he stays at the door. One of them often hangs around the back door of the Taoist temple.
"Well, you did a good job." Zhang Yingchen praised him, "We are strangers in a foreign land here, so we must be more careful. You should go out first."
He locked the door and lit the oil lamp - the shutters were down and the room was dark. Seven or eight days ago, a death threat with crooked writing on it fell in his yard - he couldn't do it accidentally.
Zhang Yingchen had read a lot of Taoist materials before, and also dabbled in many classics, incisive materials and research papers on various folk religions and secret societies in the late Ming Dynasty. However, he felt deeply after being in the local area for more than half a month: the historical data was too limited - the situation he faced was more complex and difficult to grasp than what was recorded in the book.
From what he had learned, there were more than a dozen secret societies in this area that took advantage of famine activities to preach and develop organizations to win people's hearts. Some of them he had never heard of.
Zhang Yingchen touched the pistol holster under his ribs: a Glock 19 pistol - he could go to Li District without caring about any weapons. No matter whether they were Li people or Miao people, they would not kill people at will, let alone kill anyone. doctor. But the current Lunan area is simply a hornet's nest - both the Foreign Intelligence Service and Zhao Yingong are opposed to his activities alone in prefectures and counties without logistical support.
What's more, his current actions are suspected of having "ulterior motives" for both the government and the secret religious societies. If you don't be more careful, you will die in seconds. Zhang Yingchen sometimes admired himself for being a "faithful" person. He dissolved a special writing medicine in water, then dipped a brush in it and started writing quickly.
The letter was written to Zhao Yingong, and Zhang Yingchen was eager to know how his progress in Qilu was. Has a relatively stable base been opened? Not only does he have the manpower to transport, he is also eager to get supplies of medicines from Zhao Yingong's channels.
He blew dry the first letter he had written, and then used a brush to write some insignificant content in the spaced lines of the cipher text. After writing the letter, seal it and wrap it in oilcloth with sealing wax. Tomorrow he planned to deliver it to a store in the city in person. That store had a clerk go to Linqing every three or four days to deliver letters and handle matters, and he could do it for a small fee. The clerk arrived in Linqing and delivered the letter to the local Qiweizhan. Qiweizhan uses pigeons to transmit the letter. The letter can reach Hangzhou within three or four days, and then be sent out by telegraph. Within a week, Zhao Yingong and Lingao would know the contents of his letter.
Although this transmission speed is extremely fast in this time and space, it is still unimaginably slow for the elders. And there are too many uncertainties.
Zhang Yingchen has no other choice. This is not the place to set up the Five Elements, Five Shang and Black Dragon Society. The closest contact station to him was Linqing, the shipping center in Ludi on the Grand Canal.
The second letter was more cautious. Not only did he use writing potion, he also converted it into a code before writing. This is a letter about ideas and plans for how to carry out further activities in Qilu, and the content is very sensitive. Except for his deputy Dai E and the leaders of the Religious Affairs Office, he does not want others to know about this for the time being - as an independent department, the New Taoism has its own code book - the same as the Lingao Church. However, as the director of the Religious Office, He Ying had the code books for both of them.
In fact, there is a bigger and more intense plan in Headmaster Zhang's mind. What the letter talks about is the targeted plan for the Dengzhou Rebellion:
"Old Dai, see the words as the face:
As Operation Engine unfolds, as members of the glorious Senate, you and I must make every possible preparation for the Dengzhou Rebellion. Given the tight time frame, it would be difficult to maximize population transfers solely by relying on indigenous bureaucrats. Therefore, I referred to the incident of the Queen Mother of the West during the reign of Emperor Ai in the "Five Elements Chronicles of the Han Dynasty" and felt that it was necessary to use the folk religion and worship of the inanimate old mother that had become rampant in the Shanxi, Hebei, and Luyu areas to create panic and maritime disasters a little in advance. The legend of the holy ship that rescued all sentient beings. I also conveyed this opinion to the Grand Library and Intelligence Department. I think this plan has certain value for Operation Engine. However, the uncertainty is also worrying. Please talk to E Shui for me, and Director Zhao. In my opinion, no one is more interested in this plan than him..."
There are some things that Zhang Yingchen did not mention in his private message, such as how many tragedies blindly erupting riots among the people will cause. Obviously, Zhang Yingchen deliberately ignored this part - no wonder he did not mention using New Taoism as a tool to spread rumors and guide public opinion. Tools, in the eyes of Zhang Zhang, this kind of dirty work is better left to the folk religions that are destined to be banned.
When he finished writing this paragraph, Zhang Yingchen felt a little hesitant - he felt that He Ying might vigorously oppose his plan. The risks he took personally in this plan were extremely high, and it would be difficult for He, as the head of the department, to bear the risk if something happened.
No matter, he thought, in order to get more people, it was necessary to make Qilu more chaotic. At least among the intelligence agencies and civil affairs departments, his idea still has a lot of support. However, with his current miserable execution ability, he had no idea how effective it would be.
"No one can do anything!" Zhang Yingchen sadly thought of the boys around the porridge again - what a good resource!
The thought of this made his blood boil. Why don't you just recruit seventeen or eight people to come back? Anyway, they can be sent directly to Linqing and let Qiweizhan's ship transport them back to Jiangnan.
Then, he added at the end of the letter that he asked Lao Dai to send a few of the Taoists currently being trained who could speak better Mandarin and who were reliable in their faith to Qilu for use. In addition, he also added a few words, asking Dai E to try to get some powerful escorts or people from the special reconnaissance team to come to Qilu to "help out". Especially to protect your own safety.
After writing the letter, he stood up, stretched his waist, and walked outside to watch the Taoists processing medicinal materials. The "epidemics" after the flood were almost all intestinal infectious diseases, and the medicines were simple. Daoshengs mostly process this kind of medicinal materials. In addition, he also has special "antidiarrheal medicine" in his hand.
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