Later that night, several members of the Jiang family also got up. After Jiang Chun kicked the stunned servants and guards awake and interrogated them, he felt a little shuddering.
"It's not an assassin. There is a somewhat hysterical Miao shaman in the old Miao village..."
"Wow." Jiang Cang praised, "Miao Wu."
"I told you not to provoke those southern barbarians."
Jiang Chun subconsciously moved away from Li Xia. After a while, he realized that it was inappropriate. He stroked his long beard awkwardly and murmured: "I mean, it's only been a month or two. From now on, Feiyu wants to do whatever he wants to do."
I don’t care about anything, right now...no, I mean..."
At this point, he didn't know what else to say. In short, he had no other wish. He just wanted to let Li Xia live in peace before the order was issued.
"Hey, let's ask a Taoist priest to do a ritual tomorrow."
"Father, you have to be careful, don't hire another Quanzhen teacher."
Jiang Chun slapped Jiang Cang on the head and said, "Go back to the house and sleep, and mix things up..."
The next day.
Li Xia arrived at the camp, crossed Xiong Mountain, and told what happened last night.
Xiong Shan was panicked.
"It doesn't matter, she has no intention of hurting me, just let your father take good care of her."
"Yes." Xiong Shan responded: "Don't worry, county captain, such a thing will never happen again."
"Go ahead."
As for Li Xia, he was not good at pretending to be a ghost and conquering the tribes in the southwest, and he had no clue. For the time being, he had no other choice. He ordered Mao in the morning and watched the soldiers practicing, and then went to the weapons workshop next to the camp.
Han Qi'an is currently busy with this matter. When he saw Li Xia coming, he took him to see the progress.
The production of armor and weapons has already begun. Once the raw materials are available, the progress will be faster. Only the firearms are not going well.
Even if it is just a simple imitation of the porcelain tribulus fireball, there is nothing to be done without talents who are good at it. Li Xia took sulfur and saltpeter and didn't know how to mix it into gunpowder...
In the back office, Jiang Cang poked his head out and saw two Taoist priests following Jiang Chun into the courtyard.
One of the Taoist priests is quite old, he seems to be in his seventies, and looks very slovenly; the other one is less than forty years old, has three long beards, is very handsome, and has an immortal air.
When they were setting up a plan in the courtyard, Jiang Cang couldn't help but cautiously asked Jiang Chun: "Father, are you sure it's not the Quanzhen religion?"
Jiang Chun stroked his beard and said: "This is a local Taoist priest... I know that as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Heavenly Master Zhang Daoling heard that the Shu people were kind, easy to educate, and had many famous mountains. He also saw that the rash in Bashu was harmful to the human body and the people suffered from diseases.
Trapped by adversity, he went to Shu to create Taoism. This was the origin of the Zhengyi religion, so there were many Taoist priests in Shu.
That old Taoist was the old Taoist Hao Xiuyang who was invited by his father to Yuqiu Mountain to the east. He had studied Taoism under Mr. Guanmiao, the contemporary Celestial Master of the Zhengyi sect, and his father had known him for a long time. How could he be the Taoist priest?
Quanzhen Sect?”
Jiang Cang nodded and asked again: "Is Mr. Guanmiao the heavenly master that my father said was once ordered to go to the palace to pray for prayers?"
"yes."
"Has Mr. Hao also been to the palace?"
"It must be Wei Zeng, he is just a disciple of Mr. Guanmiao."
Jiang Cang asked again: "Who is that Taoist priest? He is so immortal."
"Daozhang Li Xiling, he is a disciple of the old Taoist priest He."
"Isn't he from the Quanzhen Sect?"
Jiang Chun said: "Impossible. The Zhengyi Sect has talismans to pray for blessings and ward off disasters; the Quanzhen Sect advocates life cultivation. If Liu Jinsuo had not been a reckless man at that time, but his father had seen the assassin from the north, he would have seen through it at a glance."
"Father is so awesome."
…
A religious ceremony took place in the evening.
Hao Xiuyang, a sloppy old Taoist, kept waving his mahogany sword and murmuring words; Li Xiling, a handsome middle-aged Taoist priest, stood with his sword most of the time, as if he was in trance...
Jiang Cang couldn't bear to watch them anymore and hid back in his room to study.
Even Jiang Chun lost his patience, thinking that he was just asking for peace of mind, but it was taking too long, but the two Taoist priests said that they must see the person who was entangled by the Miao Wu, and said that if they were caught, they would do it.
The poison must be resolved as soon as possible.
Jiang Chun had no choice but to send someone to ask Li Xia to come back.
But Li Xia was busy with work and didn't return to the county office until night, but they waited patiently...
"Does the Taoist know how to make elixirs?"
Li Xia had been acting nonchalantly during the exorcism, but then he asked this question with a serious expression.
Hao Xiuyang looked slovenly, with a smile in his eyes, and nodded and said: "I'm a humble man."
"Can you make gunpowder?" Li Xia asked again.
Hao Xiuyang twisted his beard and did not answer, turning to look at Li Xiling.
Li Xiling stood with his hands behind his hands and nodded.
Just when Li Xia thought it was Li Xiling who knew how to make gunpowder, Hao Xiuyang responded: "I am a poor man who knows how to make gunpowder."
Li Xia pondered for a while and said slowly: "I'm afraid that the Mongolian army will invade Shu again this year, so they need to make some firearms to deal with the enemy. Can I ask the two Taoist priests to help?"
He asked this matter sincerely, and he could not refuse. He had already ordered Jiang Fan and others to stand outside.
Hao Xiuyang agreed simply, saying: "Old Dao will just follow the county captain's orders."
…
Li Xia felt a little strange, but he couldn't tell what the problem was. He could only vaguely feel that something was not right in the eyes of the two Taoist priests.
He asked Jiang Fan to take them to rest, and whispered that he must send someone to keep an eye on them.
Later, Han Qi'an was found and explained: "It is rare to find people who can make gunpowder, but these two people are very strange. From then on, they entered the firearms workshop and did not let them have contact with outsiders."
"What are Alang worried about?"
"It's too easy." Li Xia said, "It's like someone bringing you a pillow when you're dozing off."
"Taoist Master Hao is a Taoist priest. He knows how to refine gunpowder. It's normal."
"He agreed so simply that he didn't even ask."
Han Qi'an pondered for a long time and then said slowly: "There are always counselors in the world who are from Taoist sects. For example, Zhang Liang entered Baiyun Mountain and became a teacher in Huangshi, named Chisongzi; Tao Hongjing lived in the mountains. Whenever the country had good or bad fortunes and major conquests, he would always come to consult him.
, people at that time called him the "Prime Minister of the Mountains"; Li Mi was a high priest on the Hengshan Mountain in Nanyue, assisting the emperors of the three generations of the Tang Dynasty; even Su Shi also studied under the Taoist Zhang Yijian and was a lay disciple of the Taoist sect... But they may not all be true Taoists.
"
"What do you want to say, Mr. Yi Ning?"
"In my opinion, Taoist Li Xiling is not like a real Taoist priest. Either he wears a Taoist robe to ward off disasters or avoid disasters; or because the imperial household registration control is strict, he can only travel around the world by becoming a Taoist."
After Han Qi'an said this, he smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying: "Let me use another analogy... Generally, scholars seek advancement through imperial examinations and want to be officials. But occasionally there are smart people who break the law and avoid Taoism.
Or Buddhism, such people would not ask Alang what he wants to do."
Li Xia nodded and said, "Mr. Yi Ning thinks that Li Xiling has a case against him, and Hao Xiuyang is afraid that he will expose his secrets, so he doesn't dare to ask more questions, so he directly agrees to help me?"
"This is just my guess."
"Anyway, keep an eye on it first..."
That same night, in the room arranged by Li Xia for two Taoist priests, Hao Xiuyang was lying on the ground, drinking wine with a gourd in his hand, smacking his lips from time to time: "This is strange... I can't figure it out..."
Li Xiling stood in front of the window with his hands behind his hands, looking at the two government servants outside with deep thoughts in his eyes.
"I said, you really didn't lie to me?" Hao Xiuyang murmured again: "But just by looking at it, I feel that you clearly didn't lie... Maybe you have to look carefully at this matter..."