Chapter 261 Important Information
Chapter 261 Important Information
Xiao Xia and his men rested for two hours in a forest outside the city. After dawn, they slowly headed towards Mangshan Town.
Near noon, everyone arrived at Mangshan Town and found a tea stall on the street at the entrance of the town to have lunch.
Soon, a man came galloping towards this side on horseback, and the man on horseback gradually got closer. It was You Junda.
You Junda also saw Xiao Xia and the others. He dismounted, tied the horse to a wooden stake, walked in and said to Xiao Xia with a smile, "The county magistrate is looking for you everywhere!"
Xiao Xia nodded, pointed at the table and said, "Sit down and have lunch first!"
After finishing lunch, everyone followed You Junda to the northwest of the town.
The village where the Dali Temple's Tiqi were hiding was called Shangluo Village. It was a large village with more than 200 households. The parents of one of You Junda's men lived here. Soon, Xiao Xia saw Yao Lin, the Tiqi who had a broken leg and had not yet recovered.
Yao Lin once followed Yang Zhao to investigate the Chen Shubao case and got to know Xiao Xia. When he saw the Prince coming, he was so excited that tears came to his eyes. The heart that had been hanging in the air for a month was finally at ease.
Xiao Xia generously rewarded the farmer who adopted him, and comforted Yao Lin, telling him to rest and recover from his injuries. He then asked about the progress of their investigation.
Yao Lin took a deep breath and said, "As soon as we arrived in Yique County, an important leader of the Mahayana sect came to surrender. He told Zhang Pingshi an extremely important secret. Zhang Pingshi told me this secret before he died. I kept this secret in my heart and did not dare to write a letter back to the Dali Temple."
"Why don't you dare write back to the Dali Temple?"
Yao Lin looked at the others, and Sun Lei immediately led his men out of the room. You Junda also left, leaving only Xiao Xia and Yao Lin in the room.
"Tell me! What's the secret?"
Yao Lin whispered, "We suspect someone in the Dali Temple has betrayed us."
"why?"
"We didn't meet the Luoyang officials, but we met Captain You. Zhang Pingshi used a pseudonym, and I told You Junda afterwards. But the Mahayana people knew Zhang Pingshi's name and how many people we had."
Xiao Xia nodded, "Is this the secret you want to tell?"
Yao Lin quickly shook his head, "No, the secret I want to tell you is that the real leader of this Maitreya is not Song Zixian."
Xiao Xia was startled, "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that the people who spread Maitreya in Luoyang are just a group of puppets. Song Zixian is just a fake leader. The real leader is a high-ranking official in the court, who is behind the scenes manipulating these puppets to make money."
Xiao Xia immediately understood that this was a scheme set up by Han King Yang Liang to make money. The real leader might not be Yang Liang, but he must be one of Yang Liang's confidants.
After thinking for a moment, Xiao Xia asked again: "What is the current situation of the important leader of the Mahayana sect you just mentioned?"
"I don't know. His last name is Han. After talking secretly with Zhang Pingshi for an hour, he left. Then we immediately changed inns, but we were still targeted. Later, Captain You told me that the leader surnamed Han was executed."
At this time, Xiao Xia already had a rough outline in his mind. There were two possibilities for this Mahayana sect active in the Luoyang area. One was that the cult leader Song Zixian led his men south and reached an agreement with the King of Han to share the spoils. With the tacit approval of the Luoyang government, he desperately deceived the people to make money, and finally gave enough to the King of Han, and the rest was his own, and he packed up and left.
The other is the secret revealed by Yao Lin, that there is no such thing as Song Zixian in the cult, and all cult leaders are puppets arranged by the King of Han, standing in front of the stage to make money for the King of Han Yang Liang.
Before, Xiao Xia always thought it was the former, but now Xiao Xia increasingly suspects that the truth is actually the latter.
If the truth is the latter, then the so-called Guardians of the Divine are actually Yang Liang's private army, and tomorrow's Day of Offering is likely to be the last time to collect money. When it's over, the money will be transferred away, the core figures will disappear, and the remaining believers and followers will be left to fend for themselves.
Xiao Xia pacified Yao Lin and immediately led his men to Yique County. You Junda volunteered to lead the way for them. At the same time, Xiao Xia sent his men to take half of his command arrow to the Xin'an County Horse Farm and transferred a thousand troops to Yique County.
While resting in a pine forest, You Junda told Xiao Xia in detail some important news about Mahayana Buddhism.
"Song Zixian is indeed the cult leader in Hebei a few years ago. Someone recognized him, including more than 30 of his core members, who all escaped from Hebei that year. They can preach in Luoyang, so they must have a very powerful backer."
"Do they have any followers with strong martial arts?" Xiao Xia asked again. "There is a big bandit from Tongbai Mountain named Li Zitong and his brother Li Zifa. They are both very strong in martial arts. They brought 500 followers to join the cult."
Xiao Xia laughed. Li Zitong was also one of the heroes at the end of the Sui Dynasty. He actually appeared here. He was a hero who wanted to be emperor. How could he be willing to be inferior to others?
"Is he also a key leader?"
You Junda shook his head. "He is not. On the surface, Song Zixian thinks highly of him and appointed him as the Protector General, but in reality he has always excluded him. It is said that he is not even qualified to go up to the fourth floor of Maitreya Pavilion, which is the most important decision-making place of Mahayana Buddhism. This Li Zitong is obviously upset and publicly declared that it is better to believe in him than Maitreya. I think that Li Zitong will openly break with Mahayana Buddhism sooner or later."
Xiao Xia stood up and said with a smile: "When the wind and clouds meet, there will be dragons looking for opportunities in the wind and clouds. Li Zitong is a dragon, and so are we. Let's continue to head south!"
At the same time Xiao Xia rushed to Yique County, the county magistrate Zhao Bolun felt that the situation was not good and immediately rushed to report to the general manager Huang Yaokuan.
Unexpectedly, the gatekeeper of the General Manager's Mansion said, "General Manager Huang is not here!"
"Butler Huang went out for something?"
The soldier shook his head, "The steward didn't come today!"
"Where did he go?"
"The villain doesn't know!"
At this time, an official came out quickly from the General Administration's Office. It was the Chief Clerk Fan Xun.
Zhao Bolun hurriedly went up to him and asked, "Where did Manager Huang go?"
"Didn't the steward tell you? He rushed to Yique County before dawn."
County Magistrate Zhao Bolun was stunned. Huang Yaokuan had clearly told him yesterday that he wanted to cut ties with the Mahayana sect and not get involved with them anymore. Why did he run off again today?
Zhao Bolun suddenly thought that maybe Huang Yaokuan went to ask for money.
He was still very worried. The detectives did not find Xiao Xia and his friends today, and even Captain You was missing. Zhao Bolun guessed that Xiao Xia and his friends had also gone to Yique County. If Xiao Xia discovered that Huang Yaokuan was in collusion with the Mahayana Sect, it would be a big trouble.
Yique County was even more lively at this time than during the Spring Festival. Platforms were built everywhere in the county, with white cloth curtains several meters long spread on the platforms. A statue of Maitreya was enshrined on each platform.
But what attracted people's attention was not the platform, but the giant wooden buckets below the platform. Each bucket was at least one person tall, as if the grain buckets in the national treasury had been moved out. There were dozens of such giant buckets in the entire county.
As soon as you go out on the street, you cannot escape the powerful pressure exerted on you by the giant bucket. It is like a bloody mouth that will suck away all your property.
The warm-up has been going on for three days. Although the atmosphere is not strong enough, their goal has been achieved. Throughout Henan County, every household knows that tomorrow is the Maitreya Worship Day.
The Henan County of the Sui Dynasty is today's Luoyang area, which has ten counties under its jurisdiction. Yique County is the stronghold of Mahayana Buddhism. It has been rising since three years ago and has been causing trouble in Henan Prefecture. At the beginning, it would win people's hearts and mediate family and neighborhood conflicts. When encountering injustice, it can also help you make the decision. It is common for it to treat minor illnesses for free, so it has won hundreds of thousands of believers, who all believe that it is Maitreya's reincarnation to help them.
After rounds of brainwashing, hundreds of thousands of believers are extremely devout to Mahayana Buddhism and believe in it without a doubt.
But starting last year, the style of Mahayana Buddhism began to change. The Maitreya they believed in became greedy, and they started to have a Maitreya Day, which was first held once every three months, and in recent months has become once a month. They use all kinds of means to exploit believers, and all kinds of minor illnesses are said to be caused by demons, and large amounts of money must be spent to eliminate the disaster. Countless believers have been exploited by the Mahayana Buddhism to the point of losing their homes and fortunes, and some even sell their children to raise money to drive out the demons in their bodies.
But after losing everything they have, they will become formal believers. Since their houses have been sold anyway, they will live a communal life. Strong men will serve as guards, weaker ones will do hard labor, and women will be responsible for taking care of children and doing chores such as cooking and washing clothes. If they are young and pretty, they will have to devote themselves to the upper class.
Tomorrow is the seventh reincarnation of Maitreya, and he must be adequately cared for in order to arrive safely. The Mahayana sect started building momentum ten days ago, calling on believers to donate generously to save Maitreya.
Four hundred thousand believers from Henan County, Hongnong County, Xiangcheng County, and Xingyang County gathered in Yique County. Even from Henei County on the other side of the Yellow River, tens of thousands of believers crossed the Yellow River and were received and managed by thousands of believers.
Hundreds of thousands of believers gathered inside and outside Yique County, and a grand event was about to begin.
(End of this chapter)