Gao Tansheng pushed open the ajar temple door and walked in. There are ever-burning lamps in the Buddhist hall, so it is not dark. He walked around the Buddhist niche, walked out of the front hall, came to the backyard, opened a door and walked in. In the room, nun Jingyi was folding clothes beside the bed. Gao Tansheng hugged her from behind and kissed her on the cheek. Jingyi put down her clothes, broke away from his arms, and said with a straight face: "You come to me every time you want to do that, but you never come to the door."
Gao Tansheng laughed loudly, lay down on the bed and said, "Am I too busy? Don't worry, when I conquer Xia County and become emperor, I will make you my queen." Jingyi curled her lips. Said: "Who cares?"
"Then what do you care about?"
"It's rare to stay with you openly and honestly."
"A woman's opinion!" Gao Tansheng shook his head and said, "If we return to secular life, what will we do for a living? Can't we become farmers?... After conquering Xia County, we will have rich clothes and food, and we will have everything we need..."
Gao Tansheng was born in the countryside. He has been physically strong since he was a child and has quite a bit of strength. But he is lazy and doesn't like farm work. After his parents died, he could no longer stay in his hometown and went out to make a living. After hanging around outside for several years, he found that being a monk was the easiest, so he became a monk at Longxing Temple. Because Gao Tansheng was born powerful, he naturally had several confidants around him. At Longxing Temple, he pretended to be loyal and hard-working, and gained the trust of the abbot. He was promoted along the way, and finally became a deacon. A few years ago, he poisoned the meal, poisoned the host, and became the host himself.
After Gao Tansheng became the abbot of the largest temple in Yinhua Mountain, he gradually replaced the abbots of other temples and replaced them with his confidants. And all the beautiful nuns in the nunnery have become the objects of his sexual desire, especially the nun Jingyi in front of him, who is the most suitable for him...
The next morning, Li Zhiyun was reading in the room. Cai Hu came back and reported to him: "From the 18th day of the twelfth lunar month last year to the present, no floating corpses have been found in the lower reaches of the Lingzhang River." Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "You go back to your room to rest first. I’ll send someone to call you later and let’s go out.”
After about two sticks of incense, a middle-aged man in his thirties arrived. He was a servant of the county government. Li Zhiyun asked Scarface to call Cai Hu. Several people left the inn, led by the guards, walked through two streets, entered an alley, and came to the door of a house.
Li Zhiyun winked at Cai Hu. Cai Hu jumped up the courtyard wall, jumped into the courtyard, pulled the door bolt from the inside, and opened the courtyard door. Several people entered the yard and came to the house. The door was not locked and opened with a slight push. Everyone entered the house and looked around. Li Zhiyun walked into the innermost room, tapped his fingers on the wall, then pointed at a cabinet and said, "Move it!"
Scarface and Cai Hu moved the cabinet away, and a door appeared on the wall. Scarface pushed open the door first, and Li Zhiyun followed. He took a closer look and saw that this place was more like a Buddhist hall than a secret room. I saw a Buddha statue enshrined in the Buddhist niche in the front, and the table in front of the Buddhist niche was filled with offerings. There are Buddhist items everywhere throughout the house.
Li Zhiyun rummaged for a while, picked up a Buddhist flag, unfolded it and said to himself: "It is indeed him..."
Ding Chou Day in April is the day when fasting meetings are held.
Early that morning, five thousand monks from the temple on Yinhua Mountain swarmed down the mountain. From the foot of Yinhua Mountain to the north gate of the county, there is a bustling flow of people. The monks wear various costumes, the most respected ones wear cassocks, and the ordinary monks wear sea blue, long gown, or Arhat coat. They carried bells, drums, wooden fish, conch shells, diamond bells, prayer flags and other ritual implements. These magic weapons were either held in their hands, or put in boxes and carried by two people, and the large group of people marched toward the county seat in a mighty manner...
The venue for the fast meeting was in a large open space in front of the county government office. The faithful men and women in the city had already moved their tables, chairs and benches over, and the tables were filled with offerings and incense candles. As soon as the monks arrived, they started to get busy. Some hung up prayer flags, some fixed the round umbrella cover, some knocked on the wooden fish and shook the diamond bell, and some simply meditated on the sutra...
As usual, Xu Tiecheng put on his official uniform under the service of his servant and went to the county government office in a sedan chair. As soon as the sedan reached West Street, it was stopped by a group of soldiers. The leading officer opened the sedan curtain and said, "Mr. Xu, the King of Chu invites you to go to the barracks." When Xu Tiecheng heard this, he was surprised: "What happened?"
"You'll know when you get there." After the officer finished speaking, he lowered the sedan curtain and asked the bearers to turn around and head south.
The barracks is in the southwest corner of the county. After the sedan entered the barracks, it stopped in front of the messenger hall. Xu Tiecheng got off the sedan chair and walked into the lobby. He saw that many people had gathered in the lobby, including the county magistrate, county lieutenant and other officials of the county government. The hall was surrounded by guards armed with swords, staring at them eagerly.
Xu Tiecheng walked up to Ding Guoyi and asked nervously: "What's going on? Why did you bring us here?" Ding Guoyi shook his head blankly and said, "I don't know either." The officials were talking about it, and everyone was confused. Confused, I can't figure out what happened.
After about half a stick of incense, Li Zhiyun walked in surrounded by a group of followers. He stood at the top position, waved his hands and said: "Everyone, please be quiet!" After the room calmed down, he continued: "Everyone must want to know why I invite you here. That is In order to protect your safety. Because Gao Tansheng will take advantage of today’s fast meeting to lead five thousand monks to launch a rebellion..."
As soon as he said this, the room suddenly exploded, and the officials were stunned and stunned. They looked at each other and chatted. Xu Tiecheng's face turned pale and he couldn't even speak. He cupped his hands and said: "Chu...King Chu, you said that Gao Tansheng wanted to rebel. What proof do you have..." Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "Wait a moment. You will see it with your own eyes..."
At this moment, on the road leading from Yinhua Mountain to the county town, more than 200 strong young monks were escorting seven or eight horse-drawn trailers loaded with Buddhist flags, futons, Zen stools and various religious supplies. The convoy was getting closer and closer to the county seat. The leading monk quietly said to the people beside him: "When you get to the city gate, immediately take out your sword, kill the guards, and rush into the city!" The monks nodded.
Suddenly, more than a thousand officers and soldiers rushed out from the woods beside the road and surrounded the convoy. The leading monk looked at the soldiers around him in horror and shouted: "You...what are you going to do?"
A captain came over and said to the two soldiers standing nearby: "You two, go and unload the things from the car!" The two soldiers handed their weapons to their companions and walked over to take the things from the car. Get up and throw it to the ground. After a while, the weapons hidden underneath were revealed.
When the leading monk saw that he had caught the enemy, he shouted, rushed forward and pushed the soldiers away, grabbed a big knife, and swung it at the officers and soldiers next to him. He probably knew some martial arts, and he cut down several people in a row. Upon seeing this, the captain drew his sharp sword, rushed forward like lightning, and pierced his soft abdomen with the sword. The monk suddenly froze, staring with dull eyes, the sword in his hand slipped, and his whole body went limp...
The captain pulled out his sword, snorted coldly, put the sword into its sheath, waved his hand and said loudly: "Take them all away!"
At the fasting meeting, Gao Tansheng was wearing a crimson cassock, twisting a string of Buddhist beads in his hand, and frequently clasped his hands to pay tribute to the surrounding believers. Buddhist cassocks are divided into three categories: five-strip robes, seven-strip cassocks, and coats. What he is wearing today is a coat, which is worn by monks when going to and from the palace, performing rituals, etc. The patches are four long and one short, making it the highest quality among coats. , non-virtuous monks are not allowed to wear it. The string of Buddhist beads in his hand is made of bright pearls, each one as big as a dove egg.
At this time, a confidant ran over and whispered: "The time is coming, but the carriage carrying weapons has not arrived yet." Gao Tansheng whispered: "Send someone to look for him quickly!"
About a stick and a half later, the confidant came over again and whispered: "We sent people out of the city, but they couldn't find him."
"Wouldn't this delay things?" Gao Tansheng frowned, paused, and whispered, "How many people have weapons now?"
"Less than a hundred people."
Gao Tansheng pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Let's get started. First, rush into the county government office, kill the county magistrate, seize weapons, and then rush into the barracks!" The confidant nodded, and then walked to the steps in front of the county government office. , cleared his throat and said loudly: "The fasting party has begun!"
Then, the conchs were blown, the wooden fish and the bells were rung, and thousands of monks lined up neatly on both sides chanted sutras in unison. Amidst the Sanskrit words of Buddha, Gao Tansheng held the incense in his hands and walked forward slowly. Directly in front of him, on a long table covered with a large red velvet carpet, was a bronze incense burner...
