Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 205 0200 [Fire Boy]

"Buzzing..."

From time to time, the sound of breaking through the air can be heard in the back house of the state government office. This is Zhu Ming brandishing his mace.

Double maces are already being forged by blacksmiths, and Deng Chun also wants to get a pair.This guy doesn't like to use knives and guns, he always fights with a long stick, iron mace or iron bone is more suitable for him.

Don't be obsessed with dual-wielding weapons in horse battles, because the ends of iron maces or iron bones are tied with ropes.The rope is put on the wrist, which can prevent the weapon from being dropped in battle, and can free up the hand to hold the rein at any time.

An open space in the back house of the state government office has become a martial arts arena.

Li Bao trained very hard, and he drew with Zhang Tong with a gun, which was regarded by Li Bao as a great shame and humiliation.

"Prefect, Zhang Tong is here!" Yang Pu ran to report.

"Ask him to come in." Zhu Ming said.

Zhang Tong strode in, bowed and said, "I pay my respects to the prefect."

Zhu Ming asked: "Has the Zhang family negotiated?"

Zhang Tong said: "It has been agreed that the thief must be taught a lesson, otherwise he will definitely make progress in the future."

"That's right, what are a few thieves?" Zhu Ming said with satisfaction.

Zhang Tong said again: "The government not only ordered the expansion of Huangting Temple, but also ordered the repair of other Taoist temples. There are many people who pretend to be fake. Not only monks and thieves have become Taoist priests, but even demons have been dressed in Taoist clothes."

"Monster?" Zhu Ming was instantly alert.

Zhang Tong said: "There are many demon sects on the east and west roads, and the Maitreya sect is the most common. There are demon cult believers in every state and county. In Huhe Town in the south, there are people who worship 'Huolun Xiaoer', who used to be called 'Huohaier'. Temple', now changed to a Taoist temple called 'Chilong Temple'."

Huolun Xiaoer originated from an official legend in the Song Dynasty.

It is said that when Chai Rong was still alive, he found a few-year-old child by the Guangji River in the middle of the night, and his whole body was shining with fire.The eyewitness, Wang Pu, died of no illness a few days later.The witness, Chai Rong, also died half a year later.

Therefore, the fire wheel boy represents the destiny of the Great Song Dynasty...

The officials said so, and the common people naturally felt that it was awesome. In the early Song Dynasty, there was a demon sect dedicated to Huo Hai'er.

Zhu Ming asked, "Are there many believers?"

Zhang Tong said: "In the past few years, more and more people around Huhe Town have Huohaier believers. Even rural scholars have joined the religion."

Huhe Town is located by the Huhe River, which is the intersection of Juancheng County and Leize County.Due to the convenience of water transportation, the trade is quite prosperous, and it has become the commercial town with the highest tax amount in Puzhou.

The rebellion of the demon religion in Shandong began as early as the Five Dynasties period.

In the eighth year of Qingli, there was even a forbidden army in Qizhou, who wanted to massacre the city and rebel, and supported Wang Ze, the leader of the Maitreya sect who raised troops in Beizhou.

After Wang Anshi's political reform, Shandong Demon Sect had a new development.

Because Shandong scholars are not proficient in Jinshi subjects, they go to all subjects in one go.Wang Anshi canceled the examinations of various subjects, and it was difficult for Shandong scholars to adapt. Many scholars who had no hope in the imperial examinations went to the demon sect after their brains became dizzy.Moreover, scholars also compiled demon scriptures and prophecies, which made the demon religion spread more quickly.

Song Huizong intensified the tax collection, which accelerated the development of the demon religion in Shandong.

It will be really fun when the Fangla uprising fails and the Manichaeists from the south flood into Shandong to combine with the local demon religion.

Zhang Tong said: "Huang Ting's Guan Ding is related to Huo Hai'er!"

Zhu Ming showed a playful expression. Although the Zhang family was very cowardly, after the family meeting, they were able to come up with a poisonous plan.They were afraid of Huang Tingguan's thieves' revenge, so they simply framed them as monsters, wanting to kill those guys completely, and they could also cope with the emperor's censure.

Zhu Ming said: "Tell me about how these demons deceive the people."

Zhang Tong replied: "They lie that there will be a catastrophe coming to the world. They lure them to heaven and fear them to hell. They gather at night, preach and teach, and disperse during the day. The leaders of the demon way eat big fish and meat, but let the believers eat vegetables, and say What is it to cultivate good deeds? It is nothing more than to let the believers save money and use it all to worship the leader. In recent years, it has become more and more arrogant, even preaching demon law during the day, and even building temples in a grand manner."

Zhu Ming ordered: "You go back and recruit the Baojia strong men, first destroy the Red Dragon Temple, and then destroy the Huangting Temple!"

After Zhang Ting left, Zhu Ming thought about it carefully, and then sent an official document to Yao Guangshu, the county magistrate.

The county government office is not far next door.

After receiving the order, Yao Guangshu took the official document and read it for a long time, and asked the escort: "The Zhizhou asked me to dispatch 80 archers, and go with him to Lei Ze County to wipe out the thieves. What do you think?"

The Yasi said: "There are indeed bandits in Lei Ze County. I heard that a while ago, the horse thief Xu Er attacked Zhizhou's followers. Perhaps because he couldn't do anything in Juancheng, Zhizhou wanted to take people to Lei Ze to suppress the bandits. To vent the resentment in my heart, and secondly, I want to take advantage of the opportunity to gain power."

Yao Guangshu smiled: "No matter how powerful you are, can you still scare me?"

Zhu Ming had very good reasons for asking for archers, and Yao Guangshu couldn't refuse, so he had to send 80 people over.

At the same time, Zhu Ming sent a message to the deputy envoy of regiment training, ordering him to convene the Xiang army for training, and he had to personally select nine of them to suppress the bandits.

Without military talismans and bandits attacking the city, Zhizhou could not dispatch more than ten Xiang troops.Then call for nine, as long as you don't violate the rules, it's fine.

Zhu Ming went to inspect the Jiazhan Warehouse of the prefectural government office, where all the weapons and armor of the Xiang army were stored.

At first, the Shandong Xiang army could not carry weapons with them. In view of the fact that there were too many thieves, they were allowed to carry weapons.However, the number of deserters increased, and the Xiang army always fled with weapons as robbers, so the Shandong Xiang army was not allowed to carry weapons.

Zhu Ming went into the Jiazhan warehouse to check carefully, and found that some of them were placed outside, which were not bad due to frequent access.

The inner parts are all useless, the bows and crossbows are eaten by moths, the knives and guns are corroded, and the armor is all moldy.

Zhu Ming reprimanded the officials in charge of maintaining the Jiazhan, and asked them to pick out the usable ones, take them out, wipe them clean and simply repair them, and put the moldy ones in the sun to dry.

The next day, Zhu Ming went to inspect the Xiang Army again.

The deputy envoy of regiment training was Xie Yong, a Beijing official who offended Cai Dang and was demoted.This kind of situation is very common. Su Shi has served as a deputy envoy for regiment training twice, and his actual power is not as good as joining the army as a judicial officer.

"That's all?" Ju Ming looked at more than 200 old, weak, sick and disabled people in the school grounds.

Xie Yong replied: "The rest are serving."

The Xiang Army, also known as the Conscript Army, mostly served in various military positions.For example, in the courier shops in various places, the soldiers of the Xiang Army acted as postmen, and it was impossible for Zhu Ming to recruit them to suppress the bandits.

The main force of the Xiang army is cavalry, also known as the horse army, the horse-riding army, and the cavalry and archery army.

Zhu Ming asked, "Where's Ma Jun?"

Xie Yong said: "During the Xining period, all Puzhou horse troops who were able to fight were promoted to the forbidden army. Those who were unable to fight were all disbanded. In the nearby state capitals, only Xingren Mansion, Guangji Army, and Yunzhou Army were left. Keep the horse army."

Looking at the old, weak, sick and disabled again, Zhu Ming felt sincerely: "Your Excellency, the deputy trainer of the regiment, is really... hard to describe."

Xie Yong smiled wryly, he is a Beijing official, but he can only care about these crap in front of him.

Zhu Ming was quite sympathetic and said, "Come to the state government office for a drink if you have time."

Xie Yong chatted with Zhu Ming, and said, "In the past, the Yellow River often flooded, and there were a lot of troops in the Puzhou Xiang army. The Yellow River has not flooded for decades, and the number of Puzhou Xiang troops has dropped sharply. It has long been unusable."

The Yellow River passes through Puzhou, and Puzhou has always been part of the Yellow River Flooding Area.

But in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, Puzhou stopped suddenly, and the Yellow River flooded in Hebei instead (the Yellow River bifurcated when it reached Puyang, and it was divided into three parts, and the water volume in Puzhou dropped sharply and became the old course).

Zhu Ming was annoyed seeing these Xiangjun troops, and waved Xie Yong to disband immediately.

Two days later, Zhang Tong brought more than 20 Baojia soldiers, four of whom had bad horses.Eighty archers also came, and they were taken to the school grounds for reorganization.

Deng Chun, Bai Sheng, Li Bao, and Zhang Tong were all temporarily elected as escort officers (that is, regiment leaders, 25 archers form a regiment).

Only trained for one day, let them know the order.

Immediately, Zhu Ming personally led an army of hundreds of people to kill Lei Ze County in a mighty and swaggering manner.

Officials at the prefecture and county levels all came to watch the excitement, and really thought that Zhu Ming was going to suppress the bandits.

When Li Xiaozhong got the exact news, he summoned his confidant servants and said, "Ride immediately to Lei Ze, tell the horse bandit Xu Er, that Zhizhou is going to suppress him. It is best to choose a place to set up an ambush, and kill Zhizhou by night!"

So, the servant of the Li family rode a fast horse and rushed to report the news before Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming still marched slowly, with his luggage on the boat, and walked along the Hu River.

Arriving outside Huhe Town, Zhu Ming said, "It will be dark in two hours, so let's set up camp and rest, and it's not too late to leave tomorrow."

There are only a hundred people in total, how can we set up a camp?

The archers marked out an area by the river, pitched tents on the spot, and allocated some people to guard it.

Zhang Tong pointed to the west: "Two or three miles outside the town, the Chilong Temple is there. All the temples are demons. The big families around Huhe Town are mostly bewitched by the demons. "

Going to Lei Ze County to suppress bandits is all a cover, and Zhu Ming is here to eradicate the demon sect.

Before the camp was over, some wealthy households from the town came to work as soldiers.

"Xiaomin Zhu Liang, meet the prefect!" This fellow was dressed in silk and satin, with a bulging belly.

Zhang Tong said in a low voice: "Zhu Liang is a big family in the local area, he is also a member of the demon sect, and he has been the leader for a long time. He does not hide this matter, but often flaunts it openly, claiming that Huo Hai'er is the reincarnation of the Dharma protector."

Zhu Ming laughed out loud when he heard the words: "So it's still from the same family. I've heard about Zhu Yuanwai's name in Zhoucheng. I heard that the abbot of Chilong Temple is unpredictable in Taoism, and the Chilong Zhenjun Huohai'er there is very effective. Go to worship!"

Zhu Liang came to inquire about the news, and seeing that Zhizhou was interested in Huohaier, he actually wanted to pull Zhizhou to join the religion.

Very weird idea.

But it seems to be normal in Shandong, because even the scholars have joined the sect one after another, and the imperial court's crackdown on the demon sect has been very weak in the past few decades.It wasn't until after Fang La's uprising that the imperial court ordered the prohibition of the demon sect.

Zhu Liang said: "Zhenjun Chilong entrusted a dream yesterday, saying that a nobleman passed by today, unexpectedly it came true to Zhizhou."

"Is there such a miracle? Did Master Chilong ever say, when will I be promoted to be a transfer envoy?" Zhu Ming looked superstitious.

Zhu Liang said: "I don't know, I have to ask the Great Protector to communicate with True Monarch Chilong."

Zhu Ming asked, "Where is the Great Protector?"

Zhu Liang said: "It's in the Red Dragon Temple."

Zhu Ming said eagerly: "I can't wait, I will go today. Order the soldiers, don't set up camp anymore, and follow me to pay homage to True Lord Chilong!"

(End of this chapter)