A few days later, the first Mingjiao conference since Fang La took over as leader was held on a sunny winter day.
Deng Yuanjue and others keenly discovered that some people who should not appear often appeared near Fang La's residence at the originally prepared location. After learning about this, Fang La decisively informed the helmsmen and temporarily changed the location.
The new location is a farm on the outskirts of Shezhou. This is the property of the wealthy businessman Lu Shinang. This man is also a member of the Ming sect. He often distributes money and provides relief to the people. He is very popular, and Fang La is even more obedient to his words.
Fang La, Deng Yuanjue and others arrived secretly earlier and ordered all the helmsmen to come here disguised as beggars. Lu Shinang's family cooked porridge every day for relief, and blended in with the crowd of beggars, but they were unaware of it.
However, all the helmsmen had some complaints, especially Wang Zongshi, the helmsman of Raozhou, who was so angry that when he arrived at the backyard of the farm and saw Fang La talking to a few strangers, he wanted to point at Fang La's nose and curse him angrily.
"There are important matters related to our religion that need to be discussed today, so we have no choice but to resort to this clandestine method. Master Wang will suffer."
When Fang La saw Wang Zongshi's resentful look, he stood up with a smile and came to greet him in person as the leader of the cult.
Even if Wang Zongshi was ungrateful, he still understood the superiority and inferiority, and his anger was almost gone. In addition, Fang La's smiling face made Wang Zongshi less likely to get angry. He thought to himself: "Fang La is a person who understands current affairs and knows a certain family."
He is the oldest in teaching."
"I dare not have a labor camp leader to greet me."
Wang Zongshi hesitated for a moment, then bowed his hands and saluted Fang La.
"Master Wang, please sit aside for a moment." Fang La nodded and said, "We will discuss matters after all the helmsmen have arrived."
Wang Zongshi saw that many stools had been prepared nearby, and a few helmsmen were sitting sparsely, and there were three or five familiar ones, so he chose a seat at the front, said hello, and looked up and down at Deng Yuanjue and others.
Wang Zongshi had never seen these five people before, and he was suspicious: "There are these few outsiders here at the Mingjiao Conference. What is Fang La's intention?"
Just as I was thinking, there was a loud sound of footsteps outside the courtyard, but the other captains arrived, filed in, and took their seats one by one. The last ones to enter were Yu Wupo, the captain of Quzhou, and Wang Cang, the captain of Yanzhou, and they were walking side by side.
They entered, behaved in an intimate manner, and saluted Fang La first, then the two of them chose a place farthest away from Wang Zongshi to sit down.
Wang Zongshi saw this and couldn't help but murmured: "Is it possible that Wang Cang and Yu Wuba are already married?"
Fang La smiled slightly when he saw this, turned around and walked in front of everyone, pressing down with his hands, and all the helmsmen were silent.
"Everyone!" Fang La glanced at all the helmsmen and said, "I have called you here this time to discuss a top priority of our religion for hundreds of years! This matter cannot be known to the government, so we are asking everyone to pretend to be beggars!"
All the helmsmen were shocked when they heard this. Since the founding of the Mingjiao in China, the Mingjiao has been preaching in secret. Although there are hundreds of thousands of followers, they still act in secret on weekdays. The government also turns a blind eye to the Mingjiao.
, as long as you don’t mess with the government, there’s nothing to worry about.
But when Fang La said this, he had a hidden intention of going against the government, and all the helmsmen had doubts in their hearts.
Fang La saw the expressions on everyone's face, smiled slightly, and gave it away first. Instead, he ordered Deng Yuanjue and the other five people to come forward: "Before the discussion, there are five brothers who I want to introduce to everyone!"
Five people including Deng Yuanjue, Wang Yin, Shi Bao, Fang Jie and Pang Wanchun stood in front of everyone. Fang La told his name and position in the church one by one. All the helmsmen were in an uproar. Some of the helmsmen knew that Fang Jie was Fang La's nephew.
This is nothing, but the other four people are all strangers. What is even more confusing is that Deng Yuanjue is actually wearing a fierce scarlet robe and has nine fragrant scars on his bare forehead. He is obviously a monk!
"Master Fang!" Wang Zongshi stood up: "How can it be that these five people are in high positions just after joining the religion and have no merit? Especially Baoguang Tathagata Deng Yuanjue, who is the first person below the leader.
, what can he, a monk, do?"
Fang La smiled and said nothing, but Deng Yuanjue stepped forward and shouted the Buddha's name: "The clothes and appearance are nothing more than a skin. A certain family is indeed a member of the Buddhist sect, but they also believe in Mingjiao. Why not?"
After Deng Yuanjue said these few words, he quietly returned to the team and stood with his hands down.
Wang Zongshi was speechless for a moment. When he thought about it carefully, the Mingjiao teachings only believed in the light, but they really did not prohibit other sects from joining the religion. He then thought about it and shouted: "Even so, what merits do you have for being an envoy of the light?"
As soon as this statement came out, several helmsmen immediately responded, all of whom were veterans of the Ming Cult for many years.
Fang La suddenly said: "Master Wang, let me ask you, what are the teachings of our Ming Cult?"
"As the leader of the religion, you come to ask me?" Wang Zongshi shouted: "Purity! Light! Power! Wisdom! This is the teaching of my Ming Cult!"
Wang Zongshi’s eight words really summed up the teachings of Mingjiao. Saying them word by word immediately attracted applause from many helmsmen.
Wang Zongshi was very proud, but Fang La smiled and nodded and said: "Okay! Master Wang is right! The fabrication bureau set up by the imperial court now goes to all corners of the Yangtze River to collect scratched stone, bamboo, wood and rare treasures. The corrupt official Zhu Meng and others took advantage of this opportunity.
Blackmailing the people and making a fortune. The people are complaining. What should I teach?"
When Wang Zongshi saw Fang La suddenly changing the topic, he murmured in his heart, but this topic was really heavy. Wang Zongshi had to say seriously: "We, the Mingjiao believers, will definitely defeat the darkness with our supreme strength and wisdom, and return a pure light to the people of all walks of life in the south of the Yangtze River."
world!"
Fang La applauded and said: "What Master Wang said is absolutely true. This is the purpose of Fang calling everyone here today!"
Hearing this, all the helmsmen understood something in their hearts. Some nodded silently, while others were filled with indignation. Wang Cang and Yu Wupo looked at each other, and Yu Wupo quietly stretched out her hand to touch the back of Wang Cang's hand.
Wang Cang turned over his hand and held it tightly with Yu Wu Po.
"Fifth Wife, I originally wanted to take this opportunity to announce our marriage in front of everyone, and the leader could also be a witness, but the leader is about to start trouble..."
Before Wang Cang finished speaking, Yu Wupo took over and said: "Children love each other long but heroes are short-tempered. Don't worry about the wedding beforehand."
Wang Cang sighed: "Let's wait until the leader accomplishes something great."
The two whispered to each other in a low voice without being heard by others. They nodded to each other. Wang Cang released his hands, clenched his fists tightly, stood up and shouted: "The leader is in trouble, although Yanzhou only has 3,500
The sixteen members of the congregation will definitely give their best!"
Yu Wupo also clenched her fists and stood up: "There are 4,128 followers in Quzhou, waiting for the order from the leader!"
The other helmsmen were in an uproar. Wang Zongshi, the helmsman of Raozhou, saw that Wang Cang and Yu Wupo were taking the lead. He snorted coldly, cupped his fists and said: "Master! There are more than 10,000 believers in Raozhou, including a certain family.
Willing to be the vanguard of Mingjiao!"
Wang Zongshi's statement made other helmsmen couldn't help but stand up to express their attitude. For a while, no one was sitting still.
Seeing this, Fang La sighed secretly: "Although there are gaps among the leaders of our Ming Cult, they can still work together when facing major events. But I worry too much!"
"Everyone, please sit down." Fang La's expression was serious. After the helmsmen sat down again, he said slowly: "This matter is not a trivial matter. It requires careful planning. If you show off your courage for a moment, it will ruin the big thing! Now I teach you
We are not strong enough to fight against the imperial court, and if we rush into rebellion, even if we can occupy the prefectures and counties for a while, we will not be able to resist the imperial army."
Wang Zongshi raised his head and said: "If the leader has any plans, just tell him! I will follow them one by one."
As soon as Wang Zongshi finished speaking, there was a chorus of agreement.
"One year!" Fang La stretched out a finger: "My Ming Cult must endure for one year. During this year, we must vigorously develop the congregation, especially those upright people with military power and ability in the government.
Everyone, those who are not willing to join our Mingjiao must also win over and prepare for future uprisings! Only in this way can we capture all the roads in the south of the Yangtze River as quickly as possible when an uprising occurs next year. Even if the imperial court is alert, there will be no time to rescue.
!”
"this..."
Fang La's words caused a lot of discussion below.
When it comes to fighting and risking one's life, these helmsmen are not afraid, but when it comes to wooing people from the government and recruiting people into religion, it is very difficult.
"Actually, there is no need to force." Fang La explained: "It is indeed difficult to win over people directly, but as long as they are people, they have parents and relatives, and there will be three disasters and five disasters. As long as you are careful, you can gradually approach these people in the government from the periphery, and when they meet
If you show up in time when difficulties arise, you will get good results. You must remember not to rush for success."
After speaking, Fang La smiled slightly: "Light Envoy, come and tell us about your previous experience."
Only then did all the helmsmen understand that the strategy proposed by the new leader was not just an idea, but had partly become a fact, and the new light envoy Deng Yuanjue was the pioneer!
Deng Yuanjue stepped forward and coughed: "According to the leader's wishes, a certain family will tell you about Dongchang Mansion and Dongping Mansion!"
Dongchang Mansion! Dongping Mansion!
Some helmsmen suddenly thought of two famous figures.
The soldiers and horses of Dongchang Prefecture have no feathers and arrows to guard Zhang Qing!
Dongping Prefecture’s military commander Dong Ping!
Could it be that Deng Yuanjue had already attracted these two people into Mingjiao?
"That's right, the military commanders in these two places have been recruited. Although they have not yet joined the religion, it is just a word from a certain family." Deng Yuanjue answered the doubtful looks of the helmsmen.
, and then began to introduce his experience: "Zhang Qing suffered from a strange disease some time ago..."
What Deng Yuanjue said made all the helmsmen nodded repeatedly, as if they saw a glimmer of possibility in the impossible.
Wang Zongshi finally understood why Deng Yuanjue was able to obtain the position of Light Envoy!
Before Fang La became the leader, he had already acted secretly to prepare for all this!
Wang Zongshi was finally convinced, and like other helmsmen, he devoted all his strength, even his life, to the coming bright cause without hesitation.
At this point, the conference was considered a complete success, and all the helmsmen also left one after another, each planning how to win over people in the government such as governors and controllers from various places.
"When spring comes next year, it will be time to raise the flag and start trouble!" Fang La prayed silently: "Great Ming Zun! Give me strength!"