After the imperial court rewarded him, Xiang Nan paid his respects three times and finally accepted it.
It just so happened that two thousand hectares of land were allocated to him at the foot of Laojun Mountain. Anyway, the Heluo area has suffered from repeated wars, and most of the ten houses are empty, and most of the land has become ownerless land.
Xiang Nan then recruited refugees and leased the land, charging 10% of the rent.
In comparison, other landlords often charge 30% to 50% of the rent. Coupled with land tax, corvee, etc., tenant farmers often work hard for a year without even a penny left.
Therefore, when there were natural or man-made disasters or poor harvests, they would be forced to sell their sons and daughters and wander around.
Therefore, with Xiang Nan's conditions being so favorable, many people immediately came to seek refuge.
In fact, even if Xiang Nan's land rent is not that cheap, like other landlords, tenant farmers are more willing to rent Xiang Nan's land. After all, within a radius of five hundred miles, who doesn’t know the reputation of Tai Chi Master?
After the tenant farmers arrived, Xiang Nan not only provided them with seeds and farm tools, but also provided them with small interest-free loans so that they could buy livestock and build houses to tide over the difficulties temporarily.
In this way, the people were naturally more grateful and worshiped Xiang Nan more diligently.
In less than a year, eight villages were formed at the foot of Laojun Mountain, each with a population of 2,000 people. They are like satellites, guarding Laojun Mountain.
In addition to paying rent for Xiang Nan, in these eight villages, during the off-season, the men in the villages, young and old, would practice martial arts with the Taiji sect to strengthen their bodies, practice weapons, train queues, and form troops.
The euphemistic name is to strengthen defense, protect the environment and the people, and avoid attacks by bandits. In fact, Xiang Nan's purpose was to have a usable team on hand, which could serve as farmers in peacetime and soldiers in wartime.
In this way, eight villages can have 10,000 troops. Coupled with the leadership of the Taiji Sect disciples, it is a team that can fight tough battles.
At that time, even if the imperial court sends a large army, there will be nothing they can do to capture him.
Unlike Song Jiang, after recruiting troops, he was assigned to attack Daliao, Fang La, Tian Hu, and Wang Qing, and lost his troops and generals. In the end, when the military power was withdrawn, there was no one available. By then, a glass of poisoned wine would kill him.
Xiang Nan would not be so stupid. He must always ensure that he has a group of available people on hand.
…
Time flies, time flies.
In the next few years, Xiang Nanduo practiced martial arts in the temple and evolved Tai Chi to a higher level.
In addition, he also traveled around, treating diseases and saving people.
Xiang Nan went to many places such as Yanzhao, Qilu, Heluo, Jianghuai, Shanxi-Shaanxi, Sichuan-Tibet, Yunnan-Guizhou. Especially wherever there is a plague, he will go there to cure the disease and eliminate the disaster.
In ancient times, due to underdeveloped medicine, coupled with the fact that the people were hungry, cold, and physically weak, it was difficult to resist viruses, and plagues often occurred.
From 674 BC to 1911 AD, more than 2,500 years ago, there were more than 300 major plagues recorded in history books.
Influenza, smallpox, plague, tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery, typhoid fever... any minor illness can kill a person.
Because of Xiang Nan's superb medical skills and his foresight, he was familiar with history books and knew where there might be plague. So be prepared in advance.
As soon as the plague came, he had already written prescriptions, prepared medicinal materials, donated doctors and administered medicines, and eliminated the disease. As a result, there were countless people alive and he was praised by more and more people.
From north to south, from east to west, Tai Chi's name is becoming more and more famous, and everyone calls him a "living god". More and more people believe in him among the people, and many people offer immortal tablets, kowtow three times in the morning and evening, and burn incense in the morning and evening.
This can also be seen from the incense in Laojun Temple.
Its pilgrims come in an endless stream from south to north, from east to west. Hundreds and thousands of people come to offer incense every day. The money collected for sesame oil alone amounts to tens of thousands of taels a year.
This has also made the Tai Chi Sect more and more powerful. It has more than a thousand disciples and has become a famous sect in the martial arts world, no less famous than the Shaolin Sect.
Among them, Deng Chang and others were the first generation disciples; the three hundred disciples brought back from Luoyang City were considered the second generation disciples; in addition, the third generation disciples were selected from the eight major villages, all children in their eighties or nineties. When they grow up, they will be able to take over the family.
In addition, Xiang Nan secretly selected outstanding young talents and sent them to Shaolin Temple to learn skills and implement his undercover plan.
He himself has no way to return to Shaolin to practice martial arts. Let’s not talk about whether he, as a first-generation master, can worship the Shaolin Temple again. Even if he wanted to do it himself, Shaolin Temple would not do it.
After all, they were expelled from the Shaolin Temple back then, which is equivalent to the abandoned disciples of the Shaolin Temple. It was impossible for the Shaolin Temple to take him back, so he could only use Infernal Affairs.
…
In the 16th year of Zhengde's reign, Zhu Houzhao contracted pneumonia after falling into the water. Coupled with the year-round drinking and meat-producing, and excessive debauchery, the body has long been strong on the outside and dry on the inside, with no need to replenish the deficiency. Therefore, the medicine was ineffective and he soon returned to the west.
Because Zhu Houzhao had no sons, his cousin Zhu Houcong took the throne as emperor, which was the famous Jiajing Emperor.
When Emperor Jiajing came to the throne, he reorganized the government, promoted advantages and eliminated disadvantages, reduced tax burdens, re-employed virtuous ministers, removed guarding eunuchs, strictly monitored the system, and punished corruption and bending the law.
After the implementation of these New Deals, the politics were clear, the people were happy with their jobs, and the national strength was restored to a certain extent. It was called the "Jiajing New Deal" in history.
However, Emperor Jiajing was not without his shortcomings. He believed in Taoism and was obsessed with practicing alchemy and the art of immortality. This is directly related to his birth in Huguang.
This is because the practice of witchcraft and sorcery has been prevalent in the Huguang area since ancient times. In the early days of his accession to the throne, because he had not yet taken control of the power, he did not dare to act arrogantly yet.
A few years after he took the throne and gained power, he began to act like a monster. He suppressed the Buddha and valued Taoism, doted on the alchemists, and indulged in practicing the art of immortality.
In the third year of Jiajing's reign, Shao Yuanjie, a Taoist from Longhu Mountain, was recruited to the palace to explain Taoism.
What is good at the top will be bad at the bottom. For a time, there were countless people who contributed Taoism, alchemy books, and secret laws, and they often received gold, silver, jewelry, and even official rewards.
Xiang Nan is a well-known Taoist priest in the world, a loyal and righteous person conferred by Emperor Zhengde, and has countless living people. He is known as the "Living God", so he is naturally taken seriously.
In the third year of Jiajing's reign, Emperor Jiajing issued an order to recruit Xiang Nan to the palace to explain Taoism and teach immortality.
However, Xiang Nan failed to respond after repeated calls and paid his respects many times.
On the one hand, accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger. In particular, Emperor Jiajing was suspicious, sensitive, jealous, willful, violent and cruel.
In Chinese history, the only coup that occurred by a palace maid occurred during the Jiajing Dynasty. If he hadn't been too cruel, treating the palace maids as human beings and beating them to death at every turn, he wouldn't have aroused the wrath of heaven and the people.
Xiang Nan naturally did not want to serve such an emperor.
On the one hand, Xiang Nan's Infernal Affairs has begun to bear fruit. Since the seventh year of Zhengde, he has successively sent undercover agents to Shaolin Temple. After more than ten years of planning, it has now begun to bear fruit.
Among the disciples he sent, some have already entered Bodhidharma Academy and learned the two superior martial arts of Crazy Magic Wand Technique and Demon Subduing Fist, and they have been secretly sent to him.
He is currently practicing and has no time to talk to Emperor Jiajing.
