Chapter 264 Fishing in troubled waters
Chapter 264 Fishing in troubled waters
Pei Wen'an and Yang Jishan looked at each other and were both shocked. It turned out that Mahayana Buddhism was really related to the King of Han.
Pei Wen'an asked quickly, "What does Envoy Xiao need us to do?"
Xiao Xia said slowly: "I need to do two things. First, find evidence of the collusion between the King of Han and the Mahayana Sect. At least I need to find evidence of the collusion between Huang Yaokuan and the Mahayana Sect. Second, I need to intercept the wealth that the Mahayana Sect has collected. Do you have any suggestions?"
Yang Jishan said: "To find evidence of collusion, we must go to the Maitreya Tower of the Mahayana Temple. Maitreya is about to descend, and the people of the Mahayana sect are going out to build momentum. The Maitreya Tower is unguarded, so this is the perfect opportunity."
Pei Wen'an also said slowly: "In fact, I have also sent people to keep an eye on the Mahayana Sect. An army of about 2,000 people came from Yingyang County. About half an hour ago, they transported away hundreds of large boxes. I guess they are just going to transfer the wealth."
Xiao Xia immediately asked, "Where are they going to transfer their wealth?"
Pei Wen'an shook his head, "I don't know either? But there are dozens of ships moored on the Yi River outside the city. They must go by water and reach Luoyang first. The navy is slower. If the envoy intercepts them, it's still in time!"
At this moment, a very short and sharp horn sound suddenly came from outside, blowing continuously, "Woo-woo-"
Yang Jishan said quickly: "The Maitreya reincarnation parade has begun!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "Please protect yourselves!"
He turned and left, taking his men out of the backyard of the county government office. At this time, because the leader was out, all the warriors had no time to look for Xiao Xia and the others, but ran to protect the leader. The street outside the county government office was empty, there were no white-clothed warriors or civilians, and everyone ran to kowtow to the reincarnated Maitreya.
Xiao Xia said to his two men, "You two go and notify the cavalry immediately to intercept the fleet on the Yi River. There are probably dozens of ships, and there is a lot of wealth inside."
The two warriors agreed and immediately ran towards the north gate.
Xiao Xia then took the rest of his men and headed straight for the Mahayana Temple.
A fight has already broken out in the Mahayana Temple. Millions of strings of money have been gathered in the temple's underground palace. Hundreds of believers are busy packing the money. Outside, three hundred Mahayana warriors are on high alert. However, Li Zitong is trying to take over the post with his men. The guards disagree, so Li Zitong gives the order to attack.
His two hundred men suddenly attacked, catching the guards off guard and killing dozens of them on the spot. However, the warriors quickly reacted and began to counterattack, and the two sides fought in front of the underground palace.
However, Li Zitong still made a mistake. He thought that the warriors in the city were responsible for loading the copper coins onto the ship. Then there would be no loopholes in his plan. Once Li Zifa launched a sneak attack, the warriors in the city would definitely go to rescue.
But Li Zitong did not expect that the army responsible for loading the ship was actually two thousand soldiers from Yingyang County, which had nothing to do with the warriors in the city.
The warriors in the city did not go to rescue at all. In addition to the majority of warriors who had to escort the leader during the parade, there were still 500 warriors guarding the Mahayana Temple.
Not only did Li Zitong and his men fail to successfully break into the underground palace, they also successfully lured the guards in the Maitreya Pavilion out to join the battle, which created opportunities for Xiao Xia and his men.
Xiao Xia also rushed to the Mahayana Temple with a dozen warriors. He did not get involved in the internal strife among the Mahayana warriors, but entered the Mahayana Temple from the east gate.
The perimeter of the Mahayana Temple was very quiet. All the believers had gone out. They passed through the layers of dormitory areas and rushed to the front of the Maitreya Pavilion. The two warriors guarding the gate shouted, "Who are you? How dare you trespass into this important place!"
Two cold lights flashed, and Xiao Xia threw out knives with both hands, "Puff! Puff!" The two flying knives pierced into the foreheads of the two white-clothed warriors. The two men screamed and fell on their backs.
Xiao Xia pulled out a flying knife and shouted, "Kill without mercy!"
Everyone was in high spirits, drew their swords and rushed into the Maitreya Pavilion.
There were originally a large number of warriors in the Maitreya Pavilion, and the security was tight. However, a fierce battle broke out in the underground palace, and many warriors were transferred there. As a result, there were fewer warriors in the pavilion, but there were still some.
Everyone followed Xiao Xia and killed nearly a hundred warriors along the way. They rushed to the top floor in one breath. The top floor was the core location of the Mahayana sect. The warriors were not allowed to go up there and were only allowed to guard the entrance to the third floor. They had all been killed.
All the important supplies were on the fourth floor, but they searched everywhere and found no place for the documents.
They walked to the innermost room and kicked open the door. It turned out to be a large hall where countless Maitreyas were enshrined. There were even twelve golden Maitreyas, each weighing fifty kilograms and inlaid with various gems. They were made by melting the gold offered by believers and have always been the treasure of Mahayana Buddhism.
Xiao Xia did not act pretentiously. He smiled and said to everyone, "Take all these golden Buddhas away later!" The warriors were overjoyed and took the twelve golden Buddhas down from the niches. Xiao Xia looked around the hall and found it a bit strange. It was impossible that there was no one here.
At this moment, he suddenly felt the cabinet door beside him move slightly. Xiao Xia sneered, stepped forward and kicked the cabinet door open, pulling out a middle-aged man in white. The man shouted, "Spare my life! Spare my life, my king!"
Xiao Xia saw that the man was well-built and looked like a steward. He slapped him twice, and the middle-aged fat steward's face immediately became bruised and swollen.
Xiao Xia held the straight knife against his throat and stared fiercely into his eyes, "Tell me the truth, where are the important documents hidden? If you tell me, I will spare your life. If you don't, you will die now!"
"I said! I said!"
The middle-aged fat manager was so scared that he was trembling all over and his crotch was wet.
He pointed upwards. Xiao Xia looked up. This hall was at least three stories high, reaching up to the dome, but the room on the left was of normal height. Xiao Xia immediately realized the problem. There was a secret room up there. He pushed the fat man and asked, "Where is the staircase?"
The fat steward walked into the room on the left tremblingly. It was an empty room with nothing in it. The fat steward opened a small door on the wall. There were two rolls of ropes hanging on the wooden wall. The man let go of the first roll of rope, and a large wooden board above his head slowly lowered. The man let go of the second roll of rope, and a finely crafted ladder slid down.
Xiao Xia signaled to his men, and they held the fat steward captive. Xiao Xia quickly climbed up. Halfway up, Xiao Xia pointed at a few large oil tanks filled with sesame oil and said, "Sprinkle the oil around and get ready to light it!"
Xiao climbed onto the roof, where there was a platform. There was a door on the left, but it was locked with a chain. Xiao Xia kicked the wooden door hard, and it broke into pieces. He kicked it again, and the door opened.
It turned out to be a study room, decorated very luxuriously. The tables, chairs and cabinets were all inlaid with gold and silver, and the four treasures on the table were either carved from jade or ivory, and even the pen holder was made of ivory.
There is also a jade seal, which is made of an extremely rare seed-material mutton-fat jade. It is extremely white and delicate, just like a lump of oil on a sheep's tail. This kind of treasure is extremely rare even in the Sui and Tang dynasties, not to mention that it can only be seen in later generations.
Xiao Xia picked up the seal and looked at it. It was still a blank and had not been engraved yet. This was just the right thing for him to do, so he put the seal in his arms.
Xiao Xia began to search quickly and soon found a secret compartment in the cupboard, but it was locked. Xiao Xia unscrewed the secret compartment directly and found an ivory box inside with several letters. They turned out to be letters from King Yang Liang of Han to Huang Yaokuan. The letters gave him detailed instructions on how to create the Mahayana sect and the goal of making money.
It turns out that this is Huang Yaokuan’s secret study.
Xiao Xia was overjoyed. He put the ivory box in his arms and opened the drawer. Soon he found the secret compartment at the back of the drawer. When he opened it, he found a brocade box filled with all kinds of precious gems.
There was also a booklet, which was an account book, recording in detail how much money was salvaged, what kind of wealth was paid as tribute to Yang Liang, the King of Han, and how much money was paid as tribute, with the date also written clearly.
Xiao Xia poured all the gems into a silk bag, put Huang Yaokuan's seal and account booklet into the bag, and put it in his arms.
He took another look at the items on the table. There was nothing he liked, except the mutton-fat seal.
Xiao Xia rushed down from upstairs and shouted, "Light the fire!"
The crowd threw a dozen torches into the oil, and immediately a big fire started, and the huge curtain was also ignited.
The fat steward was also terrified. He knew that if the leader came back, he would be cut into pieces. But he didn't care anymore. The most important thing was to escape.
"There's a secret passage going down this way!"
The fat steward pushed open a small door. Xiao Xia leaned over to take a look and saw that it was a spiral staircase that led directly to the bottom.
"Go this way!"
Xiao Xia pushed the fat steward and asked him to lead the way. His subordinates followed closely behind, carrying the golden Buddha on their backs. The golden Buddha was wrapped in a cloth curtain.
They quickly rushed out of the Maitreya Pavilion and left the Mahayana Temple through the emergency evacuation side door in the northeast corner.
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(End of this chapter)