Chapter 40 Chapter Seventeen

As soon as the fourth watch drum was beating, Mr. Di quietly got up, washed and washed in a hurry, and left the Eight Immortals Hotel. When Di Gong returned to the courtyard of the state office, he saw that Hong Canjun had already carried out his orders.He nodded in satisfaction, got into the official sedan chair, changed into his official uniform in the sedan chair, and passed the order to set off. ——Wang Wengou, Deputy Envoy of Observation, Bao Weiyuan, Sima of Junzhen, Wen Xiaolan of Zhishi Xuetai, and Lingfeng's Mansion of Mayor, picked them up one by one. The two left-behind yamen gently opened the gate of the prefectural yamen, the queue was put down, and the fire was extinguished, and eight official sedan chairs meandered up the street.The horseshoes were wrapped in strips of cloth, and they traveled silently along the way.At the front of the official sedan chair, Qiao Tai and Ma Rongxiong are in full military uniform, and their helmets and armor are covered with a layer of soft and light silver frost under the waning moon.Holding a halberd in his left hand and a bow in his right hand, brightly colored feathers are exposed from the mouth of the arrow pot.

In a short while, Wang, Bao, Wen and Ling's four soft sedan chairs and their attendants were all assembled, and they followed Di Gong's sedan chair and set off for the north gate.The military academy at the north gate had already heard the news, hurriedly opened the city gate, and recruited hundreds of militia members recruited overnight.So the large group of people left the north gate and turned eastward, and then rushed to Puci Temple in a mighty way.When we arrived outside the mountain gate of Puci Temple, the rooster was crowing just before dawn, and the morning stars were few and far between.

Hong Canjun got off his horse, knocked on the mountain gate three times, and yelled: "Open the door, open the door." After a while, he saw a sleepy little novice monk open the mountain gate and come out with a lantern. Hong Canjun said loudly: "We are public servants in the yamen, and a thief sneaked into the temple to hide just now. Hurry up and open the mountain gate, let us go in and search." The little novice was about to question him carefully, but when he saw that he was dressed as a government official, he was so frightened that he wanted to run back. Ma Rong stepped forward and grabbed his cassock, threw it halfway, and asked the yamen servant to chain it up.Qiao Tai led all the yamen servants to open the gate, and all the people rushed into the gate of Puci Temple and stopped in front of the main hall of Guanyin.

Di Gong opened the curtain of the sedan chair and got out of the sedan chair.Hong Canjun and Tao Gan helped the four adults Wang, Bao, Wen and Ling get off the sedan chair.Di Gong ordered Ma Rong to go to the abbot to call the abbot Master Lingde. Ma Rong led four yamen servants to rush into the abbot. Inside the abbot, red candles were burning high, and the strange fragrance filled the air. Master Lingde was sleeping soundly on the Zen bed.Ma Rong put on the curtain, and saw a vermilion handprint on the gourd of master Lingde.With a yell, Lingde woke up from his dream, and two yamen servants chained him up earlier in the morning.

Ma Rong escorted Lingde out of the abbot.When Di Gong saw that his spiritual virtue had been tricked and his deeds were lost, he was overjoyed, so he ordered all the monks in the temple to be escorted to the courtyard in front of the Guanyin Hall to kneel down. In a short while, all the sixty or so monks from the whole temple arrived and knelt in six rows on the bluestone floor of the courtyard, trembling.Yamen servants, messengers, Tuan Ding, and Min Zhuang each held knives, guns, sticks, ropes, and instruments in their hands, and stood around them. Di Gong asked, "Where is Bitao?"

A woman dressed as a maidservant walked up to Di Gong, and said a deep blessing: "Master, this servant is here." "Lead us to the Fragrance Pavilion where Miss Huang Xing will stay overnight." Bi Tao took the order, and led the crowd across the flower bed and rockery to a fragrant pavilion on the right side of the Guanyin Hall. The crowd followed Bi Tao to the Xixiang Pavilion. The door of Youxiang Pavilion was locked tightly, with a yellow paper cover cross-stitched on it, and Lingde's private seal was also stamped on the cover. Di Gong ordered: "The relatives and attendants of the women who stayed overnight in the three fragrant pavilions in the east, south and north tore off the covers on their doors!"

How could the relatives and servants of the three families dare to disobey? ——One tore off the cover on the door of each incense pavilion, took out the key, and opened the door.The three women came out of the Xiangge slowly with a weary attitude. Seeing the burning torches outside the Xiangge and the voices of people, they unconsciously lowered their heads and stood aside. Di Gongdao: "Bitao, now you go and tear off the cover, open the West Pavilion door, and let Miss Huang Xing come out." Bi Tao took the order, stepped forward to tear off the cover, turned the key to the big lock, and pushed hard.Huang Xing appeared at the door wearing an apricot red cicada wing light shirt.She casually blew out the candlestick in her hand.

Di Gong asked: "Miss Huang Xing, did a monk enter your Xiangge last night?" Huang Xing nodded and said with tears in her eyes: "My family suffered a lot of grievances last night." In front of everyone, she used her fingers to twist a steel ball on the door of the pavilion for a few turns, and a secret door was gently opened, wide enough to fit a person in. body. Tao Gan's face turned pale with shock, and he was filled with annoyance. Di Gong's face darkened: "Order to start the trial!" Dawn has broken, the morning glow is like blood, and a round of red sun is bouncing upwards.The halls and pavilions of Puci Temple are bathed in the morning light, and the flocks of sparrows are making noise, chirping and flying around.

Di Gong and Tao Gan went to the gates of the three incense pavilions in the east, south and north - tried it, and sure enough, there were secret doors installed in each of them.Di Gong pondered for a while, nodded frequently, and then led the crowd back to the high platform in front of the Guanyin Hall.Under the white stone railing, there were already densely packed public servants and members of the township from the yamen. All the monks knelt in the courtyard with their heads bowed and hands down, none of them dared to move. Five ebony armchairs had been placed in front of the big copper incense burner on the high platform, and Di Gong and Wang Wenjun, Bao Weiyuan, Wen Xiaolan, and Ling Feng made room for them to sit down.

"Bring Lingde to the stage!" Ma Rong and Qiao Tai agreed in a thunderous voice, each took Lingde's arm and dragged him up to the high platform. Di Gong ordered again: "Tie the two monks with cinnabar handprints on their heads and me and bring them up." The four street servants responded and escorted the two monks with cinnabar handprints on their heads to the high platform. Di Gong shouted: "You three thieves, are you guilty?" Lingde raised his head and shouted: "What is the crime of the poor monk, to be tortured like this?" Di Gongdao: "Why do you and the other three have cinnabar handprints on their heads?"

The three of them looked at each other in blank dismay, puzzled. Di Gong scolded: "Now that the matter has been exposed, how dare you deny it? How will you use the Goddess of Guanyin to rape a woman from a good family?" Lingde quibbled and said: "The poor monk is getting more and more confused by the words of the master. The most forbidden word in Buddhism is the word 'obscenity'. How can the master slander good people for no reason? The most forbidden word in the Yamen is the word 'stolen'. Did Master Di forget it?" Those yellow and white things?" Di Gong was furious, thinking that this thief and donkey was really cunning, and now he really brought up those ingots.He smiled slightly: "Lingde, it's those yellow and white things that bribed the official that made me suspect that you guys did a shameful crime in Puci Temple. You can rest assured that those gold and silver will still be clearly accounted for in the future." Cancel it with you! Come, witnesses, confront Lingde face to face!—Where is Miss Huang Xing?" Huang Xing took the lotus step, walked up to the white stone platform, pointed at Lingde and shouted: "Last night, the first one to sneak into my Xiangge was this bald thief!"