There was a loud bang, and the sound of clay pots being smashed was heard in the Panjia Restaurant on the east bank of the Bianhe River in Kaifeng City, followed by crying for father and mother, and several screams from time to time.
Li Xia stood on the street and looked around. He saw a group of soldiers robbing a restaurant. A middle-aged man was kneeling there and begging. Next to him were two corpses. Blood was flowing all over the floor.
Amidst the shouting and scolding, Li Xia probably understood what he was doing.
The so-called "Gou Kao" examined money, grain, and taxes. Mongolia's management of the Han territories was very loose. What they wanted was money and grain to pay tribute every year to support their endless conquests.
Now that the strategic envoy Zhao Bi has been arrested on the charge of "withholding military rewards," Kaifeng's tax revenue is obviously in a big deficit. The Goukao Bureau then began to collect this part of the money and food personally.
It's like a rough man occupies a piece of land, and usually leaves it to the manager to take care of it. He doesn't care about anything. But from time to time, he has to come and take a look in person, give the manager a few slaps, search it, and then tell the manager, "Look clearly.
This is how money and food are collected.”
For senior Han officials such as Shi Tianze and Zhao Bi, after five years of hard work, they managed Henan in an orderly manner and the city of Kaifeng regained prosperity...but they became fattened chickens, pulled out and slaughtered.
Officials at all levels were captured, tortured, and died miserably in prison. They were as afraid of hooks as tigers, and they were said to be extremely cruel.
But for Dou Sheng Xiaomin, it is truly cruel.
Looking around, everyone walking in the streets is just meat on a chopping board.
Li Xia watched for a while and saw that there were twelve soldiers in Pan's restaurant, so he turned and walked towards a small alley. After a while, he heard crying in front of him.
"Without this food, the villain's family really can't survive..."
I saw an old man hugging a soldier's calf and crying. One of the two soldiers was carrying a small cloth bag, and the other was holding a floral tattered robe, and they were kicking the old man.
Li Xia didn't look at the old man. There were too many people like him in Kaifeng City and he couldn't take care of them.
He just stepped forward quickly and stabbed a soldier in the back with the dagger in his sleeve.
This was so sudden that the soldier fell to the ground before he could react. The other man turned around and the dagger had already cut across his throat.
The small cloth bag containing the grain fell to the ground.
Li Xia didn't pick it up, didn't say anything, turned the corner, and quickly left the scene.
After twisting and turning, he approached a broken house, took the key to unlock the door, and quickly took off his Taoist robe after entering the house.
When he went out again, Li Xia's clothes were in tatters, his face was full of stains, and he was holding a broken bowl in his hand, like a beggar...
"You mean, there was a Taoist priest in the city who killed two soldiers from the Goukao Bureau?"
The old man who spoke was named "Liu Taiping" and he was a Mongolian minister. He was ordered by Meng Ge Khan to assist Alan Dal'er in taking the exam and was appointed as the political governor of Shaanxi Province.
Although Liu Taiping was a Han Chinese, he was not from the lineage of Kublai Khan.
Although Kublai Khan's policy of "ruling Han by Han law" has won over most Han people, such as Yao Shu, Hao Jing and other literati, such as Zhang Rou and Shi Tianze, they still can't let go of the Han family's etiquette inheritance in their hearts.
What he did was to let the Mongols practice Han law. This was not treason, but integration and naturalization of the Hu people.
But not all Han officials in the Great Mongolia were moved by this sentiment.
For example, Liu Taiping believed that the Great Khan was the Great Khan. Whether he used Han law to govern the Han land or let the Hui people manage finances, they were essentially collecting money and food for the Great Khan. What was the difference?
In their eyes, the Han people in Kublai Khan's shogunate were like selling themselves in a brothel but still claiming to be noble, which is ridiculous. Whether it's a prostitute or a prostitute, who doesn't do it for money?
This time, Meng Ge ordered Liu Taiping to assist Alan Dal'er, and the division of labor was very clear. Alan Dal'er's job was to eradicate Kublai Khan's power, while Liu Taiping's job was to plunder money and food from the Han lands.
Therefore, Liu Taiping is responsible for "making up for the shortfall" in Henan in recent days.
After listening to the report today, Liu Taiping murmured: "Quanzhen Sect...Double Ninth Viewing..."
"What my uncle said is that my nephew also believes that it was done by the Quanzhen Sect." Liu Zhongzhi cupped his hands and said, "My nephew wants to thoroughly investigate the Double Ninth Festival."
Liu Taiping said: "Nowadays, the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism is fierce. It may not be that Buddhism deliberately framed Taoism. You should not prejudge it."
In the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism, Liu Taiping still prefers Taoism, as you can tell just by looking at his name.
"Yes, my nephew will not act recklessly without conclusive evidence. Then my nephew will go to watch the Double Ninth Festival now?"
"Go." Liu Taiping buried his head in the document again.
To him, this was just a small matter. The death of two people showed that some people were dissatisfied with Goukao, which was expected.
Liu Zhongzhi received permission, ordered a group of people, and went to watch the Double Ninth Festival.
He is different from his uncle Liu Taiping. He doesn't care about Buddhism or Taoism, he just wants to complete the errand at hand.
If anyone dares to kill his people, regardless of whether they are Taoist priests or monks, Liu Zhongzhi will definitely find them out...
Sun Deyu has not been happy recently.
He finally saved some money, but the restaurants and gourmet restaurants in Kaifeng city were closed. People everywhere were in panic, and they didn't know how to spend the money.
"In the past, I only knew the trouble of not having money. It turns out that having money also has troubles. I thought that the saint was my belly, not my goal, so I went to get this. Now I am not a saint, I still need to practice."
He murmured to himself, and not long after meditating, he couldn't help but take out the two ingots of silver.
"You are disturbing my Qingxiu, I wish I could spend your time away..."
Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps. Sun Deyu hurriedly collected the silver ingots and then closed his eyes. He heard someone say: "Junior brother, someone from the public servant is here and wants you to come over."
"Ah? Senior Brother Miao, is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
"The person who came here has a bad look on his face, so he must be doing something bad."
"Oh, then why don't you just say 'It's not good'..."
Sun Deyu complained, but quietly hid the money in his sleeves under the mat, and then followed out uneasily.
Before they reached the side hall, they heard conversations inside. It was Yu Dechen who was explaining about going south to kill Li Xia again.
Yu Dechen has said this matter over and over again many times. Listening to Sun Deyu, he felt that this senior brother Yu was really getting better and better at telling lies. How could he still look like a pure cultivator?
In the side hall, Liu Zhongzhi had been interrogating Yu Dechen for a long time.
"You really don't know where that Zhang Junbao has gone?"
Yu Dechen said: "I really don't know."
Liu Zhong walked a few steps, glanced at the statue in the hall, and asked: "Do you dare to swear in front of the Venerable Sanqing?"
"I swear that I really don't know where Zhang Junbao has gone, and I don't know if Zhang Junbao was a secret agent of the Song Dynasty."
Liu Zhongzhi frowned and saw a little Taoist priest coming in from the door.
"Are you Sun Deyu?"
"Pindao is exactly that."
"Someone saw you traveling with Zhang Junbao yesterday, right?"
"Yes." Sun Deyu said bluntly, "Yesterday I took Senior Brother Yu and Zhang Junbao to eat stir-fry."
"Where did Zhang Junbao go after that?"
"In the blink of an eye, he lost his sight and said that he wanted to find Master Xuan Yi to recognize his family." Sun Deyu said: "But I think he is really suspicious."
"Oh?" Liu Zhongzhi's eyes lit up and he said, "Elaborate."
Sun Deyu lowered his head, rolled his eyes, and said, "This official, my senior brother Yu is actually a bit stupid."
Yu Deshen glanced at Sun Deyu and frowned. Since there was someone in the official gate, he had to keep silent.
"Senior Brother Yu has grown up on Zhongnan Mountain since he was a child. He only knows his homework every day and has no knowledge of worldly affairs. How can he compare to the sophistication and cunning of the Song Dynasty people? If he travels far away to do such a thing, it is very likely that others will see through..."
Sun Deyu first excused Yu Deshen in this way, and then talked about his own reasoning again.
Liu Zhong listened and was a little surprised.
"You mean, that Zhang Junbao is Li Xia pretending to be? What is he doing in Kaifeng?"
Sun Deyu opened his eyes wide and said seriously: "People from our Quanzhen sect will kill him. If he comes back...of course it's revenge, maybe he wants to assassinate Master Qiyun."
"Heh." Liu Zhongzhi chuckled.
Although he didn't know Li Xia, he already knew from today's investigation that Li Xia was the county magistrate of the Song Dynasty.
Parents from the same county came to kill an old Taoist priest alone? Ridiculous... If Li Xia really came to Kaifeng, what he would do would definitely not be such a boring thing.
Thinking of this, Liu Zhongzhi's eyes were full of contemplation.
Sun Deyu added: "But, my senior brother Yu is definitely innocent. He just stayed a little bit, and he might have been taken advantage of."
"Yes, that Zhang Junbao claimed to be here to find his relatives, and what he said was true. We Chongyang viewers all believed him. Who would have thought that he would dare to kill people on the street..."
"That's right." Sun Deyu said: "Yesterday I told Erlang Shijia about this inference, and even Erlang Shijia didn't believe it."
"Shi Jia Erlang?" Liu Zhongzhi suddenly frowned, stared at Sun Deyu, and asked: "What's going on with Shi Jia Erlang?"
"I... poor Taoist..."
Sun Deyu suddenly realized something and did not dare to say anything anymore.
In his heart, the Shi family was a top-notch person, so he brought Shi Zhang out to show that Zhang Junbao acted well and to prove that Yu Deshen was innocent.
But when he saw Liu Zhongzhi looking unkind, Sun Deyu thought that these words might bring trouble to Shi Zhang, and he regretted it endlessly.
Liu Zhongzhi did not let him go. He took a step forward and asked, "Tell me, what's going on with Shi Erlang?"
Sun Deyu was a little frightened and didn't know where to put his hands.
If he doesn't say it, someone else will.
"Shi Erlang came here yesterday, specifically to check on Li Xia's head..."
Liu Zhongzhi was still frowning and thinking, when another subordinate came quickly and said in a low voice: "Someone saw the Taoist priest who killed today yesterday."
"where?"
"Yesterday at the old site of Fanlou, someone saw Shijia Erlang meeting the Taoist priest with his own eyes."
Liu Zhongzhi suddenly turned his head and glared at Sun Deyu.
The next moment, Yu Deshen strode forward and stopped in front of Sun Deyu.
"Yes, we did see Shijia Erlang when we went out yesterday. But my junior brother and I don't know Zhang Junbao's identity. If there is any guilt, I will be the only one to hold him accountable."