I want to embrace the moon for nine days

The annual gatherings of these temples in Songjiang Prefecture, which deal in opium cigarettes, were initially held at Longhua Temple.

That place, in the southern suburbs of Songjiang Prefecture, is the largest temple in Songjiang. The Longhua Evening Bell is one of the eight scenic spots in Songjiang. It is a bright place, fragrant melons and fruits, and the tea used by the opera troupe is all top quality.

But the magistrate thought it was too noisy there, even though the four doors were closed to prevent pilgrims from entering, and the surrounding area was also quite tacky, so he allocated a separate mansion under his name just for him to gather with these monks and Taoists every year.

According to the custom of Dongyue Temple, I had to get up early in the morning and rush there.

Su Hanshan only took two Taoist priests, Fuxing and Shouquan, to go out. He did not rent a carriage or horse. He only let Shouquan lead the way and walked away.

During the Qing Dynasty, Guangfu was the only trading port. If foreigners wanted to go ashore, they could only go to Guangfu, which created a prosperous scene of burning oil, flowers and brocade.

Not to mention the big businessmen of the Thirteenth Industry, the food and clothing expenses of a rich family in Foshan Town are comparable to those of ministers, and their horizons are even better. They often see foreigners coming and going for rent.

At that time, if someone saw a foreigner in Songjiang Mansion, they would probably think he was a monster.

In the 18th year of Jiaqing, the Forbidden City fell, the emperor was beheaded, and wars broke out in various places. The foreigners did not care about the rules of the Qing Dynasty. They occupied Songjiang several times and wanted to build it into a large trading terminal that was not inferior to Guangfu. .

Although the foreigners were repelled later, Guangfu was occupied by Emperor Xu. Of course, tea, raw silk and other bulk goods from other forces refused to be transported to Emperor Xu's territory, and they all moved to Songjiang Prefecture.

There were foreigners wearing wigs and curly hair getting out of Western-style carriages.

A few years ago, Westerners seemed to still claim that smoke was a gift from God to mankind. Without smoke, medicine would be lame.

Songjiang Prefecture is now crowded with business travelers and people from all over the country are pouring in. Not only are the houses crowded and shantytowns are standing there, but water has also become a big problem.

And the costumes of the common people are even more diverse. Many of them don't shave their heads but still have braids, and many of them just cut their hair short.

The man was shocked when he saw Taoist Shouguan's robe made of fine silk material and a big knife slung across his back. He was both happy and frightened. He called "Master" repeatedly, stepped back and thanked him hurriedly.

During these days, Su Hanshan gave them orders in Dongyue Temple, doing this and that, and letting them see a bit of the new host's temperament.

Su Hanshan turned around and chuckled: "I am a distant relative of Taoist Master Fuxing."

Su Hanshan took a good look at this mature Taoist priest.

"Oh."

However, this group of people did not dare to go to the main road, because if the old and young masters and foreign goods shops on the main road were slightly crowded, it would be a disaster that would cause the whole family to lose their fortune.

He is really ruthless, and his ambition is not small. Some of the information he inquired made Lao Dao Fuxing and the others dare not say anything.

It was also those half-witches and half-doctors in the West who abused cigarettes. Anyone with a sprained foot or sprained wrist would just smoke a pipe of cigarettes as long as they had money. That's why Western businessmen discovered the "business opportunities" so quickly. ".

A carriage came running on the road behind. A strong Taoist priest in the car opened the curtain and said with a smile, "Senior Fuxing, it's been a long time since we last seen each other. And this one, who is he?"

Those cooked water shops that boil water to make tea and sell bath soup are also called tiger stoves. It is said that half of it is because the stove is shaped like a tiger and burns fiercely when burning wood, and the other half is because of the bad reputation of these water carriers.

When Su Hanshan walked to the corner at the end of the road, when a large group of men carrying wooden poles and barrels hurried over on the path, he could see that these people all had half-length hair.

Over the years, the migrant population in this area has expanded a hundred times.

How much copper these people can get in a day depends on how much water they can carry and deliver it to the cooked water shop.

There are also middle-aged men wearing square scarves and round-collared robes in restaurants, looking like Ming Dynasty scholars.

Although the road Su Hanshan took was a dirt road, it was also a big road. The widest part could accommodate six carriages traveling in parallel.

After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty's rule, those with a surplus of wealth chose their attire according to their own preferences, while for the common people, it was whatever was convenient for them.

The group of men next to them were all shocked by this scene. After Taoist Shouguan retreated, they continued on their way.

Some people ran so fast that the water in the bucket sloshed out, and the soles of their feet were slippery, and they would fall if they stumbled.

Some people dressed as poor scholars poked their heads out of the roadside shops. When they saw this group of people, they cursed behind their backs: "It's these water tigers again! Hurry up and reincarnate!"

Therefore, the drinking water in the city relies on water storage ships moored on the inland rivers and a large number of water carriers who carry water into the city when the tide of the Huangpu River is high.

The people from Huatuo Temple got a commendation for selling cigarettes. They really learned quickly from their Western counterparts.

Many young adults who do physical work actually shave their heads directly. After three or four months, when the hair has grown longer, they shave it again. After all, shaving your head also costs money.

After more than a hundred years of Manchu rule, talking about body, hair, and skin, being influenced by parents and not cutting hair is naturally a big joke.

Especially after there are more factories and dyeing houses, many rivers in the city are silted up. Even if you boil the scooped water, it will have a strange smell. People with weak bones will have vomiting and diarrhea after eating it, and half of it will be lost. Life goes.

Taoist Shouguan grabbed him in one step, stretched out one hand, and lifted his shoulder pole to help him stand firm.

A young man with short hair and a tuxedo got off the rickshaw carrying a suitcase.

"Give in quickly, give in quickly!!"

But I don’t know if I was stupid after listening to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and imitating Master Guan’s style of being arrogant but not inferior.

The men in the group didn't wear much, most of them wore an open-chested jacket and a pair of coarse trousers that didn't cover their ankles, but they were steaming all over, shouting and squeezing past pedestrians on the path.

Taoist priest Shouguan introduced: "This is the enlightened Taoist priest of Huatuo Temple. At the Buddhist and Taoist Conference in Songjiang Prefecture last year, his family's business was the best, and he was commended by the prefect for his talents."

When Old Taoist Fuxing saw it, he felt a little strange. When he caught a glimpse of Su Hanshan next to him, he suddenly came to his senses.

This guy Shouquan is really smart!

The new abbot was actually a bodhisattva to those who had debts in the temple and were sold, and to the common people.

The time for high tide is limited, and the journey back and forth is not short. These people carry heavy loads and are always in a hurry, running and jogging.

They circled around on various small roads, crowding out pedestrians, and earned the reputation of "water tigers" in the countryside.

You can see all kinds of people on the road. There is an old man sitting in a roadside teahouse, wearing a melon cap, dragging pigtails, shiny face and bragging to others.

"Hahahaha, what kind of happy event did Brother Shouquan encounter today that he was actually in the mood to help these coolies?"

"It all depends on the promotion of my comrades. The prefect is wise."

The enlightened Taoist priest clasped his fists and said with a smile, "Master Zhifu is counting how many percent of each temple's performance has increased compared to the previous year. It's not how many goods were sold. If we just count the quantity of goods, I may not be among the top five." Gotta go in."

"Come on, come on, my carriage is quite spacious. If you don't mind it, why don't you ride with me?"

Fuxing and Shouquan both looked at Su Hanshan and saw him nodding before thanking him and getting in the car.

When the enlightened Taoist priest saw this scene, he became concerned.

This carriage is indeed spacious, and even after three more people get in, it doesn't feel crowded.

A few Taoist priests chatted for a while, while Su Hanshan just opened the curtains and looked at the scenery outside.

"I have a few disciples in my family who like to gossip. I heard from some women in the dental shop that Brother Shouquan led people to buy back all the wives, sons and daughters that the smokers sold recently?"

The enlightened Taoist priest stroked his beard and said, "Some of them have been educated for half a year. They can be sold to wealthy families and become decent maids. You have to buy them back at the original price. Those women did not dare to say it at the time, but they spread the news a lot afterwards. Rumors."

"It is said that Dongyue Temple took advantage of them. When they are well-educated and bought back, they will start this business, which makes those women complain very much."

Taoist priests Shouguan and Fuxing looked at each other and could only put on a hehe smile.

Those who can complain are considered lucky. Those who don't have the teeth to post seriously, but even the leader's head is gone, so they can only complain to the Lord of Hell.

Besides, if today's big event is really accomplished, those people won't be the only ones who will complain later.

Taoist Shouguan felt uncomfortable just thinking about it.

Although he was afraid of Su Hanshan, he also had great respect for the prefect.

Su Hanshan obviously wants to take action against the magistrate. If it succeeds, he will pay it back. If not, the people in Dongyue Temple will really have no choice but to live or die.

It would be fine if the prefect encountered something urgent today and didn't go to this meeting.

It drags on day by day. The two Taoist priests felt uneasy and could not help but speak perfunctorily.

The enlightened Taoist priest saw that they were absent-minded and thought that they really wanted to get involved in other industries and did not want to disclose it in advance, so he smiled mysteriously.

"Brother Shouquan has already cultivated the middle Dantian at this age. He is very hopeful that he can break through to the upper Dantian in the future. The magistrate also specially gave me a sword, so I look at him with special eyes."

"For such a talented person to only be in charge of the Dongyue Temple's property, it is indeed a dereliction of his talent."

The enlightened Taoist priest said, "I know that Taoist Brother Shouquan doesn't want to surrender to the magistrate because he is afraid of losing his freedom. After all, it is better to be your own master."

"Recently, there is an opportunity. You and I form a partnership. Everyone is the master. You can earn a lot of money and be promoted. I wonder if you are interested in this?"

Su Hanshan asked curiously: "What opportunity?"

"Humph."

Kaiming Taoist Priest was quite proud, "This is the news I got secretly. Songjiang Mansion will soon be preparing to grow tobacco by itself."

"It's not a small plant, it's a big plant. The prefect has already made a plan. First, control the seven towns. Plant it for a year and see the results. If the planting is good, we can expand it next year."

"This year is crucial. It will determine who will be at the forefront in the future. If you and I form a partnership, you provide martial arts and I provide money, it should be enough to contract a town, suppress those weak-legged people, and let them work for us obediently. …”

As he talked, he didn't see any surprise look on Taoist Shouguan's face, so he couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Why are the people at Dongyue Temple so unmoved by such a great good thing?

Fortunately, at this time, Su Hanshan answered the question again.

"The tobacco business in Songjiang Prefecture has not been growing for a day or two. How come the prefect's Yamen didn't do it before and now it wants to do it now?"

The cultivation of opium in the mainland had already occurred during the Qianlong period, but even the emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty hated this matter and explicitly prohibited it.

In recent decades of chaos and war, no one could control whether to grow cigarettes or not. But since the situation has stabilized, this ban has been put on the agenda by all parties.

The buying, selling and smoking of cigarettes are all done with a blind eye, but the ban on growing cigarettes is not at the same level as the previous ones.

Not for anything else, just for food.

There was a lot of money earned from growing cigarettes. After all places followed the example of growing cigarettes, there would be less food. Without food, how could we fight a war?

The territories of small warlords are intertwined. If your side becomes slightly weaker and lacks food and grass, there will immediately be three, five, seven or eight families nearby, waiting to annex you.

The great warlords really wanted to unify and become emperors, and they were even more eager for troops and food. They wished that grains would fall from the sky, they would give birth to ten children a day, dominate the world, and achieve great things.

Since the mainland does not allow it, what is the attitude of foreigners?

Foreigners don't want to see this kind of thing either.

Tobacco is grown overseas, transported and sold. The profits are not only from selling cigarettes, but also from freight transportation, shipbuilding, sailors, navy, plantation slaves, etc., all aspects are business.

If you grow cigarettes on a large scale, you are competing with them for business.

Considering that Songjiang Prefecture is not considered the territory of other warlords, and the prefect's Yamen wants to grow cigarettes on a large scale here, the biggest resistance may come from the foreigners.

So, who has recently given the prefecture's Yamen enough confidence to resist the pressure from foreigners?
Su Hanshan had only been here a few days, and after understanding the situation in this world, he was able to think of these things.

The enlightened Taoist priest, who was born and raised and was involved in the situation, had been obsessed with money before. He had never thought about this, and certainly did not want to inquire about this information.

Su Hanshan asked a few more questions, and he became a little dazed.

"This……"

The enlightened Taoist priest's face changed slightly, "So, we really shouldn't get involved in this matter in a hurry. If we jump too fast now, if there is a commotion in the future, we will probably be sacrificed!"

Su Hanshan comforted him: "Don't panic, don't panic, fellow Taoist, you have figured it out now. It's not too late. Come, have a cup of tea to calm down the panic."

The enlightened Taoist priest took the icy jade-like cup, drank it in one gulp, and came to his senses: "What kind of tea is this, so refreshing?"

"It's just a little bit of dew from home-brewed wine."

Su Hanshan took the cup and put it into his sleeve, but the moment it entered the cuff, it had already vaporized and disappeared.

He made the cup casually, and he condensed the tea directly from the moisture in the air.

Originally this wasn't a problem, but he also added a set of Xuanyin Sword Plague spells inside.

When this Kung Fu was first developed, the seals were formed several times, and the afterimages shot out were visible to ordinary people with the naked eye, and an obvious sword-shaped mark was temporarily formed on the forehead.

After these days of speculation, Su Hanshan has been able to use this set of spells invisibly and condense them into tea. Once others drink it, it is equivalent to being cursed.

The way of Xuanyin and the evil way skills must be unpredictable to achieve samadhi.

There are a lot of people in today's large gathering. If we don't prepare some means in advance to be able to operate silently, some people will escape when the time comes, and it won't be considered complete.

The bumpy carriage suddenly became extraordinarily smooth after going uphill for a while.

Su Hanshan opened the curtain and took a look and found that the carriage had already driven onto a cement path that was several miles long.

At the end of the path, it leads to a beautiful scenery of green forest and green water. Rose vines are wrapped around a white pointed wooden fence. There is a garden inside the fence. To the north of the garden, several two- and three-story Western-style buildings stand side by side.

Cement was still called cement at this time, and the most popular type of housing in Songjiang Prefecture was that the brick walls were covered with cement, and the cement was covered with tiles.

There are also pillars and arches made in imitation of the British royal style, and sculptures placed in the garden, collectively called garden houses.

The prefect of Songjiang did not live there at all, and specially allocated it for these monks and Taoists to gather once a year. It was such a large garden worth tens of thousands of gold.

The carriage stopped on a large flat cement ground outside the garden. Dozens of carriages had already arrived nearby, and servants brought fodder to serve the horses.

When Su Hanshan walked through the fence gate, the first thing he saw was a pool. There was a bronze horse standing in the pool. It seemed to be cast after the Eight Horses of the King of Wu, with some patina deliberately added, and there were small seal script inscriptions.

In the garden of a Western-style house, there are such things with oriental classical charm. It is not obtrusive at all, but complements each other. It can be seen that it is the handiwork of a master.

On both sides of the pool, there are large grassy pavilions and corridors, as well as long tables where pastries, wine and fresh fruits are placed.

There are already hundreds of people in the garden, wearing cassocks and Taoist robes, singing "Amitabha" and "Infinite Lord", holding glass wine glasses, tasting cakes from time to time, drinking and drinking, walking around and chatting.

The enlightened Taoist priest was a man who made a lot of friends. As soon as he came in, he laughed, greeted everyone, and went to get a wine glass to drink together.

Some people also greeted Taoist priest Shouguan and others.

Su Hanshan let the two of them leave, and walked alone, walking slowly along the long table, tapping the edge of the table with his index and middle fingers, and stepping forward bit by bit.

Dear masters and Taoist priests, it is really fashionable and fashionable. Otherwise, it would not be so convenient to cast a curse on you.

Where he walked, small bubbles rose up among the drinks on the table. They disappeared in an instant, but there were already traces of spells invisible to the naked eye.

When Su Hanshan walked around those who had taken the wine before, he also took a glass of wine, leaned against the pillar of the pavilion, and tasted it slowly.

These people talked loudly, and what they talked about could help him supplement his knowledge. However, he was even more looking forward to the arrival of the Songjiang prefect.

He was not kept waiting for too long. When the grandfather clock in the building rang nine o'clock, eight carriages came one after another on the road in the distance.

A group of people got out of the car in a hurry, surrounded the magistrate, and walked into the manor.

But it is different from what Taoist priest Fuxing and others once described. In the past, the prefect took the lead and was absolutely central.

Among the group of people who entered the manor today, there was also a green-robed Taoist wearing a purple lotus crown and five long beards floating on his chest, walking alongside the prefect.

Among the cloud patterns on the sloping collar of the Taoist priest, there is another unique pattern, specially embroidered with gold thread. After careful identification, it turns out to be the word "Xiantian" written in cursive script.

(End of this chapter)