Dingchan Temple is not far from Shuai Mansion. It can only be regarded as average among the many temples in Luoyang, but it also has the best thing in Luoyang City, that is, it has the tallest tower in Luoyang, a five-foot-high wooden pavilion called Lengjia Pagoda.
, built during the Yuanfeng period, it has a history of nearly fifty years.
However, this tower has been requisitioned for military use and has become the military's Eagle Tower. The Eagle Tower is generally the tallest building in the city and is used to receive and send Eagle messages.
But there are no eagles in Luoyang, only a dozen homing pigeons, which keep in touch with Bianliang.
Before midnight, Yu Shouzhong and several of his men climbed into the wall of Dingzen Temple, and were greeted by a dark figure.
"How is it?" Yu Shouzhong asked anxiously.
"It's all done, I drugged the wine and I was fast asleep.
The black shadow is Yu Shouzhong's subordinate, named Li Huiming. He dressed up as a tutu, bought a set of second-hand ultimatums, and took the name Zhiguang. Yesterday morning, he spent ten guan to place an order at Dingchan Temple, and spent several more to accept it.
The errand of cooking for the defenders of Lankata.
"They didn't suspect you?"
Li Huiming sneered and said: "The monks in Dingchan Temple are all so poor. As long as the money is enough, the abbot can let you be the abbot!"
"Take us to the tower!"
Li Huiming took Yu Shouzhong and ran towards the tower, and soon came to the Langjia Pagoda Courtyard. It was a large courtyard with several bungalows, warehouses, stables and kitchens. Li Huiming lived here, specially for more than a dozen people.
Soldiers cook.
Yu Shouzhong suddenly remembered something and asked again: "I asked you to ask about the Pigeon Slave, have you asked?"
Li Huiming said quickly: "I specifically asked in the afternoon that all the carrier pigeons are here, fourteen in total. They have not sent letters to Bianliang for five or six days, and have not received pigeon messages. It is said that Wanyan Wushu is not in Bianliang.
"
Li Huiming led everyone up to the tower quietly. The second floor was snoring loudly. More than a dozen soldiers lived here. They drank the wine Li Huiming bought for them at night. It was not poisonous, but it could make people fall asleep the next day.
noon.
After a while, they arrived on the fifth floor. Li Huiming pointed to a door and whispered: "Two pigeon slaves live inside!"
When Yu Shouzhong saw that there was a lock on the door, he winked at his subordinates, who understood and took out a Buddhist Vajra lock that had been prepared in advance and locked the door.
The pigeon cage is in the attic at the top, and you can hear the pigeons cooing. Two of the men rushed up, and soon they heard the sound of 'flutter! flutter!', and it soon became quiet.
Two men ran down, carrying a bunch of pigeon corpses in their hands, nodded and said: "Kill them all!"
"let's go!"
Yu Shouzhong waved his hand and left Dingzen Temple with three of his men.
Li Huiming plucked the pigeon carcass and disposed of it a little, and then fled the Dingzen Temple.
Early the next morning, someone found a body in the Cao River and immediately reported it to the officials. The county magistrate Zhou Huang came with a group of government officials to check it out. The body was picked up and soon someone recognized the deceased as Meng Xiaodong. He was a craftsman and lived in the same house.
There was a man nearby who was a heavy drinker and would drink whenever he could. He probably fell into the water after he got drunk last night.
Zhou Huang immediately asked the deceased to examine the body. No injuries were found on the body, and there were no signs of strangulation. The deceased's face was bruised and swollen, his eyes were bloodshot, and his stomach was filled with water. These physical signs proved that he died of drowning.
Not long after, the yamen servants found the deceased's wife and children. Unexpectedly, the wife and children were very indifferent and did not burst into tears. They seemed to have no concern for Meng Xiaodong's death and did not want to file a complaint. Someone nearby told the county magistrate that Meng Xiaodong would go home and beat him when he was drunk.
His wife and children were often beaten and abused by him.
Since his family did not want to complain and report the case, the county magistrate Zhou Huang did not want to cause trouble, so he immediately concluded that Meng Xiaodong had accidentally slipped and drowned, and asked his family to collect his body, and he left with the government servants.
Meng Xiaodong's wife gave the widower more than ten thousand dollars and asked him to buy a thin-skinned coffin for Meng Xiaodong and send it to the mass grave in Xichengjiao for burial.
It was after the magistrate left that his son knelt down in front of his father and burst into tears.
There is certainly a reason why Meng Xiaodong's wife and son expressed their abnormality. In the middle of the night last night, several vicious men came to Meng Xiaodong's home and took her away. They threatened the mother and son severely, and finally gave her two hundred taels of silver as hush money.
Meng Xiaodong's wife and children took the money and had a stable life. Even though they knew that Meng Xiaodong was being killed, they did not dare to cause trouble anymore.
The county magistrate Zhou Huang had just returned to the county office when Zhe Keqiu sent someone to issue notices throughout the city. He wanted a Toutuo who was leading the practice, named Zhiguang. Those who provided effective clues would be rewarded with a hundred coins to help the government catch the Toutuo.
Those who do will be rewarded with one thousand guan.
Zhou Huang wanted to go to the Commander's Mansion to inquire about the situation. The soldier smiled bitterly and advised him: "The Commander is furious and very angry. Send a notice quickly! Don't cause trouble anymore."
"What happened?"
"The pigeons were all dead and cooked in a pot without their hair being plucked out. It was this Toutuo named Zhiguang who did it. He was responsible for cooking for the guarding soldiers. Now he has run away."
Zhou Huang was surprised and asked: "Is it possible that he didn't know that it was a homing pigeon and thought it was a vegetable pigeon that was killed for cooking?"
"I don't know anything about my humble position. I only know that the commander-in-chief is furious and wants to punish the monks of Dingzen Temple severely. The county magistrate should issue a notice quickly! The commander-in-chief is going to be angry again."
"I'll make arrangements right now!"
Zhou Huang quickly arranged for his men to issue wanted notices. He had already forgotten Meng Xiaodong's death.
In Dingzen Temple, dozens of monks, including the abbot, were pushed to the ground and beaten with sticks by soldiers. A dozen guard soldiers and two pigeon slaves were also pushed down and beaten with a hundred sticks each.
Even if you don't die, you will lose half your life.
Zhe Keqiu stood in front of the pigeon cage with a livid face, looking at the blood stains in the cage. He turned around and asked Yang Dinghui, the officer who joined the army: "Does the army think this was the work of a spy from the Song Army?"
Yang Dinghui was not considered a staff adviser, but was only responsible for joining the army as a recorder who handled documents. Pigeon intelligence was within his jurisdiction.
Yang Dinghui said after a while: "I can't figure out what the other party is doing to destroy the pigeon letter. If they are Song Army spies, then they should destroy the grain and grass warehouse. Without the grain and grass, our city cannot be defended. This is the key.
Moreover, among the dozen soldiers and two pigeon slaves, none of them were killed. This was not in line with the style of Song Army spies. What is incredible is that this tutu actually plucked the pigeons and stewed them. This was more like venting his anger.
Therefore, based on personal judgment in a humble position, the possibility of venting anger and retaliation is greater.”
"Then what's his motive?"
Yang Dinghui sighed, "Commander, this is a Buddhist temple. The Lankavatara Pagoda is a place where Buddhist scriptures are stored, but we use it as a pigeon faith tower. A group of soldiers eat meat, drink and play with women here every day, desecrating Buddhism. A group of pigeons have stained the tower.
How can these monks not be annoyed by how filthy they are? The monks at Jingzen Temple are feeble-minded, but that doesn’t mean other temples can tolerate it."
Next to him, another military officer, Liang Qing, also said: "What Yang Canjun said makes sense. The doors of the two pigeon slaves were locked with Buddhist Vajra locks. If they were spies from the Song Army and chopped them off one by one, how could it be that bad?"
Long-winded?
And just like Yang Canjun said, before they were exposed, they should attack the granary first, not the pigeon letter first, even if they are humble, they would think it was a monk venting his anger."
Zhe Keqiu was really a little disappointed. These two people were scholars after all. It was too simple to see the problem. They actually said it was a monk venting his anger. How could this be a monk venting his anger? It was clearly the work of the Song Army spies who cut off their external contacts and deliberately
He used some disguise and deceived the two of them.
However, he was disappointed, so Zhe Keqiu still gave the two of them a little face, without directly exposing their ignorance. He immediately ordered: "Pass my order, the granary will strengthen double defense. Anyone who comes within fifty steps of the granary will be
Kill without mercy!"
The two soldiers looked at each other. It turned out that the commander-in-chief did not believe his explanation. Yang Dinghui laughed twice and said: "The commander-in-chief arranged it in a timely manner. Regardless of whether it was done by Song Army spies or not, we must strengthen the defense of the granary and not give the opponent
Any chance."
Zhe Keqiu smiled lightly and said, "That's exactly what I meant!"
