"It doesn't matter, when we grab the two white gloves, all the Liang family's bezoars and dog treasures will be exposed." Mu Min said to the anxious Liu Xiang with great certainty, "We will do this when we interrogate the old bustard Han Qiao who visited the Spring Court. You know, Zhong Aijiao’s wife became the godmother of Mr. Liang’s father, Mr. Liang’s father. This relationship is not a shallow one.”
"You have to keep an eye on it, don't make another incident of someone running away or committing suicide!" Liu Xiang said dissatisfied, "Gao Lingxiang, the leader of the Guandi Temple, has not been caught so far. It cannot be revealed during the trial. It’s such a shame that it’s a canon punishment.”
"We are now trying our best to arrest him - it is unlikely that he will escape Guangzhou. After all, we were under martial law for a long time due to the plague in the previous stage. What's more, Gao Lingxiang is dragging his family with him, so he can't go far."
"It's a pity that Gao Tianshi committed suicide! He was really advantaged." Liu Xiang said bitterly, "Unless Gao Lingxiang is killed, it will be difficult to quell the anger of the people of Guangzhou."
Mu Min disagreed. Because judging from the evidence available, Gao Lingxiang is a playboy - his reputation is not as good as that of his evil young brother Gao Lingquan - there is no evidence at all that he is involved in the witchcraft case. What's more, he only took over as the head of the Guandi Temple's head group for only a few months. Rather than being infuriated by the public, it's better to say that his title of "head of the group" is hated.
But Mu Min didn't argue with him. She understood Mayor Liu's mood all too well.
As time goes by, the shadow of the plague gradually fades, and the people of Guangzhou return to the noisy and busy life of the past. The anti-epidemic team members wearing coats and huge masks and the National Army with live ammunition in the streets have disappeared, and the curfew has also disappeared. cancelled. The terrible sound of the two-wheeled vehicles that were walking in the streets collecting corpses could no longer be heard. People breathed a sigh of relief - they finally escaped with their lives from the hands of the plague god.
When someone in the family dies, he still wears mourning. However, most people are secretly glad that they survived. The sense of relief after the disaster and the eagerness to indulge made teahouses and restaurants everywhere full. The only regrettable thing is that all the brothels in the city and outside the city, including official prostitutes and private prostitutes, have all closed down due to the "rectification of customs industry". Many people have no choice but to go to Baietan outside the city and find a boat to "have a romantic time" - for the time being, the Australian police cannot control there.
In this almost carnival atmosphere, there is still a depressive atmosphere. People in the Tea House tea shop were whispering about the recent "City-wide Dash".
Before the outbreak of the plague, the forced accommodation of the Guandi Temple people had shocked the people in the city - this was a local snake that neither the chief envoy nor the governor had dared to provoke for many years. The Australians directly eliminated it, everywhere. Doukou was swept away in an instant, and even those who were lucky enough not to be arrested now dare not come out and resume their old business.
After the plague, Australians seemed to be more motivated to arrest people, with people being arrested every day. The police and the National Army hurried through the streets and alleys, broke open the doors, and dragged away the people inside; some people were taken away on the streets, in shops, and tea houses.
There are both wealthy gentry and ordinary merchants here. The most common ones are urban foxes and rats who mess around on the streets, and idle bachelors who help hang rice seedlings in brothels and wealthy families... It seems that they are all involved in the incident not long ago. In the "witchcraft case" that shocked the whole city.
Some educated old gentlemen who had studied history were telling the story of the witchcraft case during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in a low voice and pretending to be mysterious in the tea house. They mentioned that this case involved tens of thousands of people being killed, which made the tea guests angry. They all made tut-tsk sounds. The public opinion agents were also shaking their heads in various places and reading the extra-issue serialization of "The Maojia Inn Series Murder Cases" specially published by "Yangcheng Express". This serial actually goes beyond the scope of reportage. There are large sections of descriptions of crimes that are purely "naturalistic". It’s enough to give many people nightmares when they go home at night.
But all this has nothing to do with Cui Hantang. Cui Hantang has been busy enclosing land for himself since the witchcraft case ended. First, to strike while the iron is hot, we put forward a special report on Feng Shui issues in Guangzhou.
After gossiping about Guangzhou Feng Shui, he solemnly proposed:
First, the "Zhenhai Tower" was renamed "Tanhai Tower" because "Zhenhai Tower" means suppression, and from a Feng Shui perspective, it would suppress Guangzhou's royal aura. This was also the intention of the Zhu Ming Dynasty when they built Zhenhai Tower.
Second, any excavation and felling on Yuexiu Mountain is strictly prohibited to prevent damage to the mountain's dragon veins.
Third, build a temple at the gap dug in Ma'anshan in ancient times to repair and guard the dragon veins.
Fourth, if conditions allow in the future, a large-scale Feng Shui tower can be built in the center of Guangzhou for tourists to visit. It will be a multi-functional building like the Canton Tower in later generations that integrates tourism, culture and entertainment. First, it can better magnify the dragon in Guangzhou. Secondly, it can show the strength of the Senate...
Unexpectedly, as soon as the report came out, it was criticized as worthless by Li Zhuoxian, a veteran who had recently arrived in Guangzhou. At the meeting, in order not to hurt the face of New Taoism and Taoist Cui, Articles 1 and 2 were finally approved. Article 2 was adopted on the grounds of environmental protection. The third article "will be considered by the city government as a whole", and the fourth article was ruthlessly shot. As for the proposal that New Taoism wants to take over old Taoism's temples, the meeting said it would "further discuss". Lao Cui's plan to take over the Taoist temples in Guangzhou and take the opportunity to annex the property and manpower of each Taoist temple had to be shelved for the time being.
But his other motion was to pay homage to the victims of witchcraft and the recent plague. The scale needs to be large, the momentum needs to be sufficient, and the people's hearts and minds must be fully captured - but it passed very smoothly. However, his original plan of "the government setting up a stage and the New Taoism performing operas" became "the government setting up a stage and the three religions performing operas".
"Damn it! Forget it with Bald Donkey, what's the point of involving foreign religions!" Cui Hantang almost pulled off his bun when he looked at the revised "public sacrifice" plan.
Dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction. After all, this ritual ceremony is also the first appearance of New Taoism in Guangzhou, and it is a great opportunity to spread its influence. The fat Taoist priest became busy. Departing from his usual lazy demeanor, he would lift the Taoist students out of bed every early morning and ask Qingyun and Xiaoqian to review Tai Chi sword and music. In the afternoon, he would also take out a flat square box to summon them to watch some kind of show. things, and are required to practice according to the above actions.
Cui Hantang himself is also very busy: in addition to sending telegrams to Daoist Dai E at the Lingao headquarters, he has been non-stop in the past few days visiting Lin Baiguang of the Comprehensive Management Office, Wu Mu of the Political Security Bureau, and Ziminglou Entertainment Co., Ltd. Pei Lixiu from the company, Zhang Yikun from Big World, Ding Ding from the newspaper and other senior officials talked for a long time.
However, when he went to visit Liu Xiang with full confidence and wanted to get the Feng Shui treasure land in Ma'anshan, he was dismissed by Liu Xiang with a few words: "Brother Han and Tang, I have been thinking about it for a long time when I came back, and I think what you said is very good." It makes sense: the dragon veins of Guangzhou really need to be protected. I have decided to change the plaque on Zhenhai Tower - Mr. Wen is also planning to write an inscription! I also asked the city bureau to put up a sign on Yuexiu Mountain: No felling, no private burial. Burial. A large Yuexiu Mountain is full of graves, and it is not dignified to look bare. So we decided to clean up the barren graves first, and then plant trees! We will turn Yuexiu Mountain into a big garden in Guangzhou! So Ma'anshan can't I’ll give it to you. After all, it’s a dragon vein. If you have a royal spirit, you won’t dare to disturb the earth casually. What if the dragon vein is dug up? Do you think so?”
Cui Hantang knew that Liu Xiang had changed his mind, so he had to lower his attitude and do the next best thing: "Ah, what Mayor Liu said is, ah, what he said is true. Haha, this dragon vein is really not suitable for breaking ground, ah, it is not suitable for breaking ground. , Mayor Liu, you are really far-sighted and lofty, lofty! But look at me, a new Taoist of more than 20 men and women, crowded in the small courtyard of the big world. It is already crowded. This is not for doing For your public memorial event, I have invited more than a dozen people from Lingao. Now we really can’t live here. Do you think it can be done? Hehe..."
Liu Xiang enjoyed Cui Hantang's deflated appearance. Seeing the fat man hunkering down in front of him, he felt secretly happy. He had already lost face because of his surrender, and Taoist Cui was still bragging about it... making him lose all face! If I don't make up for it this time, how can I live up to the mayor's face? But, you can't make it too difficult for him on the surface. After all, this fat man has helped him. As long as others are still in Guangzhou City, they can control him anytime and anywhere, and they are not afraid of him flying into the sky.
Thinking of this, Liu Xiang spoke up, with a smile on his face as usual: "Ah haha, Lao Cui, what are you talking about? Who of us brothers will follow who? There will be a long time to come, like this Well, when I entered the city some time ago, I took over several Taoist temples and temples, and all the monks and Taoists were gone. If you don't mind, how about I allocate the Five Immortals Temple to you? That place is not small!"
"This... ok, ok, thank you, Mayor Liu, thank you, Mayor Liu, are you free tonight? I'll be the host of Ziminglou!" Fatty Cui's chest clapped loudly.
Liu Xiang accepted it and said, "No, no, you have helped me a lot. This little thing is nothing. I still have to prepare for the public trial. I think you should go to the Taoist temple to clean up first? Public sacrifices and public trials are not The highlight of recent social governance is, by the way, the Luzeyuan Cemetery in Yantang. Please take the time to send some people to pay a memorial ceremony."
"Of course we have to go, I will go there myself. But the land for the Taoist temple at the cemetery must be approved as soon as possible..."
"There is no problem with the land. I am waiting for you at any time. But the money for the land purchase of your New Taoist Church has also been paid." Mayor Liu said, "You see, the Catholic Church is very happy. The money has arrived - I am now They suppressed the procedures and refused to approve them, otherwise the good places would be picked out by them” rw
