However, when the news of the accident at Shangshan Temple (which was raided by unknown persons) reached the ears of Li Xiuyuan, the Magistrate of Lantian County who was visiting friends from afar and had a banquet in the back office, it was like thunder, and he was horrified. There was chaos on the spot, and all the wine glasses that were flowing were knocked over.
As the name suggests, Li Xiuyuan's ancestors were from the Yuanzhi clan; but because there were too many generations apart, starting from his great-grandfather's generation, he was automatically removed from the Zongzheng Temple's genealogy and demoted to a commoner who no longer received clan subsidies. ; But as the principal wife, you can still leave your name for three more generations.
Therefore, compared to his grandfather who gave up on himself, lived a life of drunkenness and finally died of drunkenness; and his father who tried to revive but failed in management and almost went bankrupt and needed marriage to rescue him; Li Xiuyuan's luck is undoubtedly better, because he is willing to study and catch up with the three generations of people who have left their names. Final benefit.
As the Tianjia's benevolence to the majority of the clan's children, Zongzheng Temple will specifically fight for a certain number of candidates from the two major universities in the capital, the Imperial College, and the Imperial College every year, and provide them to those poor and willing to make progress for the clan's descendants from distant relatives and concubines; Li Xiuyuan It's stuck on the basic line.
Therefore, although he failed to enter the two major universities in the capital (Jingshi University and Military Preparatory University), he managed to catch the last train to the Imperial College and became one of the tens of thousands of candidates for academic officials in the Tang Dynasty. Then he had some luck and received support and sponsorship from his maternal uncle's family.
After marrying a cousin who was born in a foreign domain, he also had the opportunity to transfer to a higher education as an official. Finally, at the age of thirty-seven, he was released to the seven counties of Chi, Ji, Wang, Qian, Shang, Zhong, and Xia. , the magistrate of Lantian County in Ji County, "the city next to Beijing", has been in office for the third year.
Of course, compared to what is known as "Three lives of misfortune, the county magistrate is attached to Guo; three lives of evildoers, attached to the provincial capital of Guo; full of evil, attached to the capital of Guo." However, the two counties of Chang'an and Wannian, which have huge affairs and great pressure, are located in Wuguan, southwest of the capital. ——Lantian County, which is at the heart of Shangluo Road, is much easier.
It is located at the heart of Gyeonggi and has the prosperity of business travel routes, but also has the natural inertia of long-term conformity and conformity; it is also relatively far away from the turmoil of the Xijing court. Even if you don't have to pursue political achievements and achievements, you can still rely on relatively hands-off inaction until your term is over.
The only issue that needs attention is the various leisure gardens, forest villas and other large villas built on both sides of the water from Lantian Valley to Wangchuan by those high-ranking officials in the capital, high-ranking officials and relatives. Among them, according to the priority, they are naturally divided into three, six and nine levels.
Shangshan Temple, located on the roadside near Weishan Mountain, is undoubtedly one of the most important places; compared with the ancient temples and temples everywhere in the capital, the gods and Buddhas in the imperial edict and imperial monasteries are all fighting; there is only one in Lantian County It is a blessing to have a Shangshan temple where the clan makes offerings and fulfills its vows.
Therefore, although there have been frequent incidents in recent years, Li Xiuyuan's tenure has been relatively stable; at most, he has killed some deformed beasts that wandered from the mountains onto the road. But someone actually attacked directly and set fire to Shangshan Temple. This was a serious event.
Therefore, no matter how unwilling he was, he could only pick up the unfamiliar riding skills again; he summoned the strong squads in the county and the local hunting team to prepare for the beasts, and also sent a message to the nearby regimental garrison and government soldiers. Military Village; invited as backup. Then, surrounded by people shouting from the front and back from the back, they came towards Shangshan Temple.
However, when he reached the halfway point, the news that came back one after another made him hesitate again and again, and he began to retreat in his heart. Because it was reported that those who attacked Shangshan Temple were not ordinary thieves, but a whole team of armored soldiers with full body armor and complete equipment.
You must know that this is an important place in the capital, and even the Jinwu disciples of the six street envoys on the left and right are wearing scarlet robes and light clothing. Being able to dispatch armored soldiers is no ordinary being. Immediately afterwards, there was news that a group of road guards who went to Shangshan Temple when they saw the fire were also defeated by these unknown soldiers.
The road guards and Cao battalions have always been under the direct control of the state government, but they are controlled by the various transportation departments and supervised by the patrol censors. Those who dare to directly defeat them are not Li Xiuyuan, the mere magistrate of Lantian County. Can't afford to provoke. However, when he decided to order a U-turn and return.
The fourth wave of messengers caught up again. This time, the unknown identities of the soldiers were brought to him, and they turned out to be people from the Xijing Anxing Yushi Department/Li Xingyuan. At this moment, Li Xiuyuan's head almost felt as if someone had punched him, leaving only a buzzing sound in his head.
Although he was just a small county magistrate in charge of more than 100,000 household registrations in Lantian, he had often heard of the newly established Anxing Imperial Palace in the imperial court's newspapers and documents, or privately orally. News from the History Department/Li Xingyuan are basically closely related to major events in the two capitals.
But for Li Xiuyuan, whether it is the currently famous Fourth Court of Censors or the clan background behind Master Miaozhendong in Shangshan Temple, whichever side of the situation is affected, it depends on his current rank and Official position, unbearable consequences. "Quick...quick..."
However, before Li Xiuyuan could think of an excuse to turn around and turn back, several cavalrymen with bright armors came again from the front, and Li Xiuyuan's last bit of luck was gone. "Under the orders of the Supervisor of Xijingli Xingyuan and the post envoy of the patrol halls in the two capitals, I would like to ask Bailijun to speak."
After a while, Li Xiuyuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and leave a group of subordinates to wait outside. With only a few personal followers, he walked into the messy Shangshan Temple with difficulty. Facing the newly established Lixingyuan of the imperial court, although he could still shirk one or two things, he could not refuse the supervision of the two imperial emissaries.
Then in the third courtyard, in front of an almost burned-down hall, Li Xiuyuan also saw a tall young official with a clear appearance and deep eyes. He couldn't help but quickly bowed his hands and saluted: "Lantian Order Li Xiuyuan to pay homage to the tour envoy at this moment..."
"Bailihou came at the right time." The other party smiled calmly and said, "My subordinates just made some discoveries. I would like to ask Bailihou to be a witness."
"Only what you wish for!" Li Xiuyuan also responded bitterly: After all, we have reached this point, and there is no room for him to shirk and refuse; not to mention that this happened under his rule. No matter what happened, It cannot be separated from an oversight or poor management.
A moment later, Li Xiuyuan saw Mage Dongzhen/Miaozhenzi who was tied up with a big head, his face was bruised and swollen, and his mouth was gagged. The purple crane cloak on his body was also burned into strips by the smoke and fire, revealing many burns. His face became increasingly ugly, and his mouth became severely bitter.
You must know that this is one of the Lou Guan Dharma lines enshrined by the imperial court, Dongzhen Master of the sixth and eleventh rank, and the Palace Guan Master of the third rank. Not to mention that Li Xiu was far away from home on weekdays. He had to respectfully call out "Miao Zhenren". Even if he wanted to see him, he had to look at the other person's mood.
"Don't be fooled by this guy's name. He's just a decent guy." As if he was aware of his vague thoughts, Jiang Tian explained in the same casual way: "However, this guy was taken. After living there, he actually wanted to bite his tongue and commit suicide; so he had to knock out his teeth first."
However, Li Xiuyuan could only respond with a submissive and embarrassed look. Immediately afterwards, the ruins of the main hall were also completely cleared; after the base of Emperor Xuanyuan's (Laozi) clay sculpture and wooden niche was removed together, an entrance with stairs going down was immediately revealed.
A moment later, Li Xiuyuan, who was invited to go down, staggered due to the stench that hit his face, and almost fell down the stairs. Then, under the light of a lit lamp, he quickly saw clearly the locks and iron bars fixed on the four walls, as well as the furnishings that looked like torture instruments.
In an instant, Li Xiuyuan's heart sank, but he felt a sense of relief and relief. Since Master Miaozhen, who is usually well-known for his moral integrity and celestial spirit, hides lynching instruments underground, he has been charged with breaking the rules and regulations and plotting evil intentions.
At least he doesn't have to worry about being involved in a huge dispute that is deliberately framed and framed. Thinking of this, Li Xiuyuan also squeezed out more expressions of indignation on his face: "I never expected that this guy... this thief would be so heartless and crazy, I am ashamed of myself!"
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"Actually, the serious relationship involved is much more than that?" Jiang Tian glanced at him meaningfully, shook his head again and said: Then the sergeant who went deep inside to search broke out a short noise and noise, and then another It turned into a few short screams and whines.
I saw Lin Shunyi, one of the four great disciples, already dragging two limp human bodies with his hands, striding out, throwing them on the ground and whispering: "When the disciples broke in, there were these two bitches." , hiding in a secret cell and attacking with a sword, but we knocked him over."
Li Xiuyuan took a closer look and saw that they were two young Taoist boys. However, they only wore thin gauze clothes and crotch bags, and their faces were smeared with makeup, making them look a bit weird and strange. I couldn't help but understand. Then several more large and small boxes and boxes were lifted out.
After opening them one by one, some of them contained expensive clothing materials, but they seemed to be mostly women's personal belongings; some contained jewelry and accessories used by women; some boxes contained large amounts of gold, silver, money and scattered gems; and In the box are stacks of ledgers and letterheads.
After seeing this scene, Li Huaiyuan's scalp became numb again; it was no surprise that despite all the calculations, he could not help but be involved in a huge trouble and dispute again. this moment. He would rather he saw nothing, or never came down at all.
But then, there was a loud sound of the wall cracking inside again; it was the sergeants who were exploring the four walls; they accidentally discovered and knocked open the secret wall hidden deep in the underground secret room. Immediately afterwards, a woman with a gray face and a withered face was dragged out.
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Tian asked someone to come over with a large picture album; he opened one page of a simple portrait sketch, looked at the woman carefully for a moment, and then breathed out: "There are six or seven The resemblance is very close, it should be her, the miko who disappeared back then."
