The Song Dynasty has been deliberate for 16 years, only to know that it is the Water Margin

Chapter 385 Doubtful Points
Xianju is very close to Taizhou, and not far from the seaside, only a hundred miles away.

Although Lu Shinang is the head of the Ming Cult, he is not closely related to the Ming Cult. Before he joined the Ming Cult, he had many people. After responding to Fang La's incident, he called himself the Great General of the Sky, following the example of Huang Chao, and had little contact with the Holy Army. .

After being defeated by Tong Guan's troops, he led dozens of his own soldiers and fled into the vast sea, where he disappeared...

It's midsummer now, not the early spring season when grass grows and warblers fly. The scorching heat and the scorching sun made Zhao Tama and his team suffer from the torment.

It is quite hard to search for Fang La's traces everywhere, and to eliminate some rogues who have been scattered by Fang La's army or Lu Shinang's army.

When they arrived outside Xianju City, the county magistrate and the Bingma Dujian both got the news and went out of the city to greet them.

Before Xianju fell, the county magistrate was killed, and the chief secretary also died. After Tong Guan recovered, he let the county magistrate temporarily take charge of county affairs, waiting for the arrival of a new county magistrate appointed by the imperial court.

All the way in, Zhao Tun watched the cultural scenery.

Xianju is an ancient city, but it is only a county seat. It cannot be said that the city is tall and vast, and the barriers are fortified, but there are many scenic spots.

Xianju is the place where allusions such as "one person attains the Tao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven", "the vicissitudes of life", "everyone talks about items" and so on happened.

Here is full of antiquity and mellow ancient style, and the scenery inside and outside the city is beautiful and beautiful, just like a picture scroll.

Zhao Tuo settled in the Xianju county government office, and asked the county magistrate and Bingma Dujian about the wartime affairs and whether the situation is peaceful now.

The two were obsequious and talked about it nicely, but Zhao Tang got bored and waved the two away.

Then he pondered, but he didn't find Fang La on the way. Just like what Zhao Kai said, this method of finding is like finding a needle in a haystack. It may be effective for ordinary people, but it doesn't work for people like Fang La.

As for Lu Shinang, after his defeat, he never came back to collect the remnants of the army. After all, the general situation is over, and it is extremely difficult to get back up with weapons. Maybe it is just a matter of finding a place to be a mountain king and a little pirate, and looting houses.

But now that he is here, he can't leave easily, and the scenery of Xianju is good, so Zhao Tang plans to stay for a while longer, waiting for news from Tong Guan.

Zhao Kai didn't need to count on it, and after thinking about it carefully, it was actually very unlikely that Fang La would go to Tian Hu's place.

Although the two had known each other for a long time, after all Fang La became the emperor, how could Tian Hu tolerate him as the Holy Emperor?
So even if Fang La did find the escape route according to the map, it would probably be Guizhou and Dongting Lake.

After a night's rest, Zhao Tun changed his face the next day, put on a pair of burnt yellow skin, and then called Du Po, Wu Song, and the three brothers of the Bai family to go out.

As for the Scarlet Pioneer Group, let Shen Fei lead it, and leave the city with the three thousand cavalry to inspect the six towns and eight townships below the Xianju, and check suspicious persons.

After visiting several places of interest in the city, Zhao Tun led his people to Daxing Temple for a vegetarian meal. Daxing Temple is a thousand-year-old temple that was established in the first year of Xingping in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

At this time, the war was over, and the front of Daxing Temple was very lively. There were all kinds of stalls selling miscellaneous goods, those selling fresh fruits, and those who cast lotteries for divination and fortune-telling.

After eating, Bai Ao said: "My lord, yesterday I scouted the road in front of the army horses. I saw that there is a big bamboo forest outside the east city of Xianju, and there are temple flags and other objects in it. You can go there to relieve your boredom if you are interested."

Zhao Tong nodded in agreement, and the group headed straight to the east, not far from the city gate, and they saw a large green bamboo forest, I don't know how many miles away, there are wine flags on the side of the road, small gray tile buildings in the forest, and Taoist temples with white walls , there is nothing wrong with it.

Walking over, I saw that the restaurant was very grand. In front of the blue brick house, bamboo and wood wine canopies spread straight into the forest. There are more than a dozen tables and nearly a hundred guest seats. At this moment, there are people drinking in twos and threes, but they are not noisy. poetic.

Zhao Tun couldn't help but praised: "Sure enough, it's a good place, worthy of the word Xianju."

A few people walked under the "drunken dream" wine flag fluttering in the wind, Zhao Tun suddenly stopped, looking thoughtfully at the flagpole with thick arms.

Just in the inconspicuous position of the flagpole, there is a small symbol like graffiti.

This symbol is not big, if you don't look carefully, or even if you are not familiar with the symbol, you will not notice it at all.

It was a mass of white fireworks, green bamboo skin, painted in white, lifelike.

Zhao Tong squinted his eyes, he recognized that this was the contact signal of Mingjiao, and wondered if this "drunken dream" restaurant was a remnant stronghold of Mingjiao?
Now that Fang La was destroyed, Lu Shi Nang was defeated, the main forum of Bangyuan Mingjiao was completely destroyed, and the branch forums in various places were no longer there. It stands to reason that Jiangnan Mingjiao should have disbanded.

Even if there are still some remnants running outside, but they are scattered, and it is too late to avoid the officers and soldiers' search, where will they make contact?There is no such thing as organizing such a thing, and there is no way such a gathering will happen.

The symbol on the flagpole doesn't look like the old one. Judging from the marks of the knife edge, it is newly engraved, which means that someone is really hooking up in secret.

But what puzzled Zhao Tang was that the level of this white firework symbol was not low, and it could not be used by ordinary believers or low-level envoys such as guides. Using white fireworks as a contact symbol had to be at the level of a flag bearer.

He glanced at the surrounding drinkers, but no one paid attention to this symbol. For ordinary people, even if they saw the white fireworks, they didn't recognize them, so they wouldn't take it seriously.

Zhao Tang pondered for a while, if it is said that this Zuizhongmeng restaurant is the dark spot of Mingjiao, it is still a bit too arbitrary, after all, the flagpole stands outside the door, and the restaurant will not care if the guests randomly swipe a few times, and the bamboo flagpole is worthless , are everywhere, and you can draw materials at will.

"Go and have a look in the forest." Zhao Tang didn't care about the sign, but called a few people to walk deep into the forest along the bamboo path.

Not long after they left, a person came out of the wine shop, dressed as a cashier, with an iron abacus in his hand, looked at the symbol on the flagpole, and looked at the backs of Zhao Tun and others, with a meaningful expression on his face.

This bamboo forest is vast and deep, and there are many antique buildings in it.

There are some small temples for gods and gods in front of them, all of which are presided over by temple congratulators, and there is no shortage of incense, and the people who worship the gods come in threes and fives.

Continue to walk in and you will see a Taoist temple. This Taoist temple is huge, covering a wide area, covered with green bamboos, flowers and trees, like a paradise.

Before the group came to Guanmen, Zhao Tong looked up, and there were three horizontal characters in official script "Shenxian Temple" written on the plaque.

Wu Erlang was not much of a talker by nature, and he was silent all the way, but at this moment he couldn't help but said: "What a bold tone, how dare you call such a name!"

Du Po laughed and said, "What is this? There is a Taoist temple in my hometown, which is less than half the size of this place. The scenery is even more indescribable. What name did Erlang think of?"

Wu Song shook his head and said nothing, Du Po said: "It's called Dengxianguan, and the incense is extremely prosperous. It is said that as long as you worship sincerely, you will definitely ascend to heaven and become a fairy."

Wu Song wondered, "What does it mean to worship sincerely?"

Du Po said: "It is a large donation of gold and silver, which is no different from the merits and virtues donated by that monk and monastery."

Wu Song sneered and said, "My Jie Dao can be sent to immortals, but I never need to donate it."

Everyone burst out laughing when they heard the words, and then went inward.

At this time, a little Taoist came out, let everyone go, but stood in front of Wu Song, sang "Infinite Heavenly Venerable" crisply, and said: "This benefactor, please stay."

Everyone looked at it together, Wu Song wondered: "Why do you block my way alone?"

The little Taoist said: "The benefactor is a member of the Shi family, and the original view is Taoism. It is better for the benefactor to be Mo Jin."

It turned out that since Wu Song put on a tutu monk robe by Jiang Ning, he felt spacious and comfortable, and he never changed it.

Hearing this, he was annoyed: "Which stipulated Sajia's clothes can't be seen?"

The little Taoist raised his chin and said, "You Tuomo is going to get angry, even if I go to the monastery, I won't let you in. Where did you receive the precepts? Which master did you worship? Don't you even know this?"

Wu Song felt a little guilty at once, he is a fake practitioner, how did he receive ordained as a teacher?He couldn't help but touched the golden hoop on his hair and said, "Sajia has neither touched the top nor received precepts?"

The little Taoist said with a smile: "It turned out to be a wild tutuo, but you can't enter if you wear this clothes, you'd better wait outside."

Wu Erlang's teeth itch with hatred, but these kinds of things are unreasonable, and it's not easy to get rid of a robe, if it's hot today, there's not much clothes inside, it's not proper to look at it naked.

Zhao Tun opened the gold-painted folding fan beside him, shook it a few times, and said with a smile, "Xiao Daoist, can you be flexible?"

The little Taoist took a look: "This official, the poor Taoist sees that Toutuo is the official's personal follower, but this is the rule in Guanli, and I am not good at talking, the official has the right to make decisions."

Zhao Tong thought to himself, but this is a clever one, so he said: "I'm going in here, and the Taoist priest can go to the priest's side and explain to the temple master."

The little Taoist's eyes sparkled, he looked at Zhao Tun and did not refuse directly, but Qi Ai said: "This..."

Zhao Tuo winked at Bai Ao who was beside him, and Bai Ao immediately stepped forward and took out two big silver coins: "My young master donated the merit to Guanli, and I asked the Taoist priest to go to the temple to talk to the aforementioned."

The little Taoist immediately put a smile on his face, reached out to take the silver, slapped his head, and changed his address: "The believer is very sincere, and the little Taoist is willing to explain in front of the temple master. Everyone, please come in and have a good time."

Zhao Tong nodded, the little Taoist gave another salute, then turned around and left, behind Du Po pulled Wu Song into the door, Wu Song looked at the little Taoist's figure going away, and said bitterly: "What rules, I think the rules of Tongqi are the biggest! "

Zhao Tong said: "You can't say that. After all, monks also have to eat and live. What's more, the scenery here is beautiful. Although it is not a real residence of gods, it is rare in the world. Spend money to play and buy peace of mind."

A group of people went inside and entered the Sanqing Hall, seeing that this temple was indeed different from ordinary temples. There were dozens of gods accompanying Sanqing, and it was difficult for everyone to recognize them all. Even Zhao Tun was a little at a loss .

"There's something in this view!" Du Po couldn't help sighing.

Zhao Tong nodded, some of these fairy statues were gilded, some were pastel, and they were lifelike, not the dull clay sculptures in small Taoist temples.

Walking a few more steps forward, there are faithful men and women on the futon kneeling and kowtowing, chanting words, nothing more than praying for safety and prosperity.

Zhao Tang looked around for half a circle, leading others to go out from the back of the hall, but was suddenly taken aback, and saw a small symbol drawn on the inside of the cloud-patterned pillar.

Zhao Tong rubbed his chin, different from the fireworks symbol seen on the flagpole of the restaurant before, this is a sun symbol, which is also the contact symbol of Mingjiao.

Interesting... Zhao Tun pondered slightly, the restaurant outside might be responsible for the Mingjiao, but there is definitely a big problem with this Taoist temple.

Everywhere in this place is luxurious and pays attention to beliefs. Countless money has been amassed just by looking at it, but this kind of place has not been destroyed during Lu Shinang's occupation of Xianju for several months?
Lu Shinang's army is no different than Fang La's army. Before joining the Mingjiao, they were all bandits and bandits who sat on the ground and divided up the spoils. Can they let such a rich Taoist temple not snatch it?
Although the Daxing Temple in the city is currently prosperous, many halls inside have been burned and destroyed. When Zhao Tuo and the others went to eat vegetarian food, they saw the ruins and asked why they didn't find someone to repair them.

The great monk replied that all the money for incense offerings was taken away by bandit soldiers, and the rebuilding of the temple would cost a lot of money, and it might take two years before we can talk about it.

But the Immortal Temple in front of me...has no trace of being destroyed, and there is no sign of being robbed at all, which is somewhat unreasonable.

Wu Song and the others didn't know the symbol, they just followed Zhao Tun and went to several halls through the back door. The Shenxiao Palace in the cities of various prefectures may not be comparable.

After coming to the temple for a while, I saw a big tree between the two halls. The tree was towering, with lush branches and leaves, and jasper was like makeup.

Wu Song was surprised: "What kind of tree grows so big, you have never seen it before?"

Bai Ao said: "Erlang doesn't know, this is Chu Mu, which is rare in the world, if it is not struck by lightning, it can grow infinitely, and it cannot be destroyed by drought, flood and insect disasters."

Zhao Tong also looked up, and saw that the crown of the tree was like a huge canopy, covering the sky and the sun, like emerald clouds.

With Mingjiao in mind, he looked around the tree, and sure enough, he found a symbol on the tree trunk, the symbol was vague, he identified it, and after recognizing the meaning, he called everyone into the back hall.

This is a great hall dedicated to Taiyi's God of Rescue of Suffering, Zhao Tun wandered around in it, and sure enough, he saw another symbol on a pillar, it was a moonlight talisman.

There are some miscellaneous talismans under the moonlight talisman, Zhao Tang looked at it carefully, with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

There is indeed a big problem with this fairy temple. This is a Mingjiao stronghold, and the miscellaneous symbols under the moonlight symbol represent the meaning of the third watch.

In the middle of the night, Taiyi saves the suffering Tianzun hall, you can meet.

But it was obviously not for Zhao Tong. As for whom to connect with, Zhao Tang couldn't guess for a while.

After all, Mingjiao has been disbanded, and there is no sanction altar in the south of the Yangtze River. This level of contact should not exist, but judging by the contact symbols and the scale of the Immortal Temple, it does not seem like ordinary remnant believers colluding with each other.

The white flame talisman cannot be drawn by ordinary believers. There are also sun talismans and moonlight talismans, which are at least eligible to be kept by the banner bearer. They also hid themselves to avoid misfortune. Now that the limelight is on the rise, how could they have the audacity to contact them in private?

"Let's go, let's talk about it when we go out!" Zhao Tun said lightly.

Everyone left the Immortal Temple together, and then went around the other temples in the bamboo forest. At this time, the sun had already set.

After leaving the bamboo grove and coming to the door of "Drunken Dream" restaurant outside, Zhao Tun slightly squinted his eyes. At this moment, there are more guests under the bamboo canopy than before.

Bai Ao asked suspiciously: "It's already getting late, and there is no place to stay outside the city. Where did these drinkers come from? They won't be able to enter the city by then, so where can they stay?"

Zhao Tun pondered slightly, then smiled and said, "Let's go and sit down too."

(End of this chapter)