Chapter 13 Chapter One

Qingqi wine shop, red light inn, thousands of shops are spread out, and there are a lot of people. Farewell to Master, our party went south by water, passed Miezei Lake, passed Maiziping, and abandoned the boat at a place called Liye. From the beginning of repairing corpses, I have been thinking about where I will be stationed after leaving the army, and Riye has always been my first choice. This is the junction of Hunan and Sichuan, and it is not far from Guizhou. Baojing is just across the river.There is also the advantage of boats and boats. It is the confluence of the northern source and the central source of the Youshui River. Down the Youshui River, you can pass through Chenzhou to Yongsui and Lizhou to Dongting Lake, and go westward against the water to reach Youyang and Xiushan.It is very convenient to travel in the mountainous area with rugged and winding roads. This area is also a trading place for local goods such as tung oil, tea oil, wood, gallnut and cowhide, as well as a distribution center for imported items such as hemp yarn.Since the Yongzheng period, businessmen from Lizhou, Hankou and as far away as Jiangxi have also begun to appear here.

Most of the people who drive the corpse choose to live alone in remote mountains, hang a small apricot-yellow flag of "Zhu Youke", and wait for the business to come, as if they are waiting for a rabbit.On the other hand, I went to the bustling market because I was eager to raise funds to take the provincial examination, and another reason was to take on the livelihood of Tian Gudao and the ghost cubs, which was a helpless move. Liye is densely populated and there are many businesses from other places, so the death rate is relatively higher than other places.The businessmen who died here either had a long journey back or were blocked by mountains, and most of them asked the corpse exorcisers to escort them back home.This is also the reason why I like Liye, a land of geomantic omen.

When you get to the shore, you can see the Youshui River, which looks like a silver belt, flowing from south to east around Liye. Two small streams flow into the big river from the northwest of the town. At this time, the sun is shining brightly, and the willows and warblers are flying.We wandered around the street for a while, and felt the hustle and bustle of the world, and the haze of driving corpses a few days ago was swept away.According to what our group of exorcising corpses said, after expelling corpses for a long time, Yin Qi accumulates on the body, so it is necessary to find a lively and lively market for fresh air, which is called "sunning in the shade".

The three of them found a small restaurant, sat down on a stilted building by the river, ordered something to eat, watched the blue waves of the river, listened to the voices of people rolling, but could vaguely smell the smell of aged tung oil from the restaurant. "Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" At this time, there was a strange sound from the next table. The sound was obviously artificially processed. All the guests covered their noses and smiled, only to see a barefoot villager whose face was reddish but pretending to be calm, and then glanced at the people around him from the corner of his eye, who then laughed.The old man's face was flushed, he picked up the rice in a few mouthfuls, packed up his things and wanted to leave.

Before going out, the barefoot villager turned his head and said, "I didn't put that fart..." The palm-sized wine cellar burst into laughter. I asked Tian Gudao to inquire about the building rental information, and I waited in the wine shop with the ghost boy. After a while, Tian Gudao came over with a happy face, saying that he had found a suitable house, and we immediately got up to go.The house is an independent building on stilts, with two floors above and below. The lower part is the eating and drinking place, and the upper floor is three bedrooms. The building is one mile away from the busy city, close to the lower reaches of the Youshui River, and is the private property of the widow Ma on the street.We were very satisfied and the price was good, so we rented it and raised the banner of "Zhu Youke".

Tian Gudao probably was inspired by the doctor who had fled to the Bay to seal the corpse, so he forced me to write the words "medical bruises", "pulling corns", "smoked toothworms" and other words on the cloth in front of the door, which was exactly the same. Like a doctor in the rivers and lakes, he said that if there is no corpse to drive, he can earn some silver to subsidize the food.I said bah bah bah bah, we must be doing great business.But seeing his look of thinking about the overall situation, I followed him again. In fact, I was also calculating in my mind that it takes two hundred taels of silver to go to Changsha Prefecture to take part in the township examination, and I can earn ten taels of silver for each corpse. Excluding the expenses, each person in Hetian Gudao can only get three or four taels of silver. , It takes fifty trips to make up for the cost of participating in the provincial examination.

On the second day, business was delivered to the door. In fact, when I was renting a house, I had a divination, thinking that the business in this place would be booming, and my living should be more than enough.When adding the vertical flag, I chose the time, and I didn't forget to open the altar and offer incense to pray to the ancestors.I just didn't expect the business to come so quickly. It turned out that there was a family surnamed Song on the outskirts of Liye, and there was a male named Song Guoli who belonged to the remnants of the White Lotus Sect.Not long ago, when he participated in the anti-Qing and Fuming riots, he was arrested by the court in Laiziyan, Youyang County, Sichuan Province, and will be beheaded on the spot soon.The family members were afraid of being implicated, so they did not dare to identify the corpse, and the journey was far away. When they learned that we were in the business of exorcising corpses, they came to ask for help, but I immediately refused.Because we are in the business of exorcising corpses, we don't want to get involved with politics, so as not to cause trouble.

But the visitor begged again and again, and was willing to pay five times the high price. Tian Gudao immediately rushed to agree after hearing this.I saw that there was a lot of money to lure me, but I didn't object.So, the man paid 50% of the contract and told us that there would be someone to meet us in Youyang, and he left a way to meet us. We asked the man who was about to be executed his name, his appearance, and wrote down his date of birth.The horoscope of the deceased's birthday is very important. When expelling the corpse, the deceased's birthday must be incorporated into the spell so that the corpse can walk, otherwise the corpse cannot be expelled.

Prepare the magic weapon, and we set off quickly, for fear of delaying the time and missing the date of execution.If the moment of beheading is missed, the soul will be lost and it will be difficult to gather, which will increase the difficulty of driving the corpse. On the way to Manziyan, I was still a little worried about this job. The matter of collecting the corpses of the White Lotus Cultists was small and big. Tian Gudao was a little impatient: "Xiucai, your book is really read through your asshole. This way, one trip can be worth five times. Such a simple number, Lentouqing can also count, but you still have to think twice. !"

Seeing that I was still pondering, Tian Gudao said bitterly: "Grandma is a pickle, if you die, you will turn into a fairy!" I thought at the moment, you can turn your eggs into the sky, and I still want to be a candidate, a Jinshi! In fact, my concerns were not unfounded. The White Lotus Sect has long been designated as a cult by the imperial court, killing without mercy!After being caught alive, they will be implicated.I am a down-and-out scholar. I used to only read the books of sages and sages, and I didn’t listen to things outside the window. Although I have a business, I only care about making money and taking the imperial examination. my life.

The reputation of the White Lotus Sect is indeed great.The news about the killing of the White Lotus Sect by the imperial court in Youyang Town has already spread. We boarded the boat from Liye. "Do you know? Under the White Lotus Sect, there are eight major branches, including the Shengong Sect, the Bagua Sect, the Gelaohui, the Red Lantern Society, the Jindan Sect, the Tianli Sect, the Big Sword Society, and the Jianghu Society, all of which are under the orders of the White Lotus Sect. The people who were arrested by the imperial court last time were members of the Daohui, and Manziyan is the stronghold of the Daohui, and it has been stationed there for a long time. There are eight villages and sixteen battalions, nearly two thousand people..." A man dressed up in the rivers and lakes had a mysterious expression, Lowering his voice to tell others the news, he looked like he was well-informed. Anyway, sailing is boring, and the people on the boat were aroused by his topic. At this time, an old man disdainfully interrupted him: "This White Lotus Sect is a cult that deceives the public with false rumors. It teaches its disciples to know sorcery. I heard that there is a member of the White Lotus Sect. His little wife had an affair with a male servant. When he found out, he kept silent and sent a male servant to feed the pigs. As soon as the male servant entered the pigsty, he immediately turned into a pig. The servant's father and the male servant's father went to the local government to report the demon. The official was also afraid of the man's sorcery and dared not arrest him. He had to ask officers and soldiers to surround his mansion before arresting him, his wife and children. Unexpectedly, on the way to the capital, a giant suddenly appeared from the mountain, as tall as a tree, with eyes like lamps, mouth like a basin, and teeth about a foot long. The officers and soldiers escorted were too frightened to move forward. At this time, the member of the White Lotus Sect said: : This is a monster, my wife can repel it. The officers and soldiers believed him, but his wife was eaten by the monster. Repeatedly, the three members of the family became the belly of the monster..." Speaking of the exciting part, the old man stopped suddenly and pretended to be a joke. "What about the end?" Others were very interested in the ending. "All the officers and soldiers fell under the sorcery of the White Lotus Cultist. It looked like people were eaten by monsters, but in fact the three of them had already escaped." Everyone tutted. At this time, another middle-aged man in a long coat took over the conversation and echoed the old man's topic. "Xu Hongru, the leader of the White Lotus Sect, has a mirror that can reflect a person's future. So he hung it in the courtyard, allowing people to take a self-portrait, or a headdress, or a gauze hat, or an embroidered garment, in different forms. Everyone was surprised, As a result, the reputation spread far and wide, and many people came to see him. Xu Hongru said: "All military and noble officials in Chinese are destined to be members of the Longhua Society. Everyone must work hard and don't shrink back." So he himself took pictures in front of everyone. The mirror is crowned with Longgun, just like a king. Everyone looked at each other in shock, and fell to the ground to worship." After hearing the story of the middle-aged man, the people who listened to the vernacular next to him started talking about it again.Some people say that Xu has the appearance of an emperor, which is God's will.Some people say that this is Xu's heresy, a trick to deceive people, and he has his own conspiracy, which is not to be believed.There was a lot of discussion among the people, and they couldn't agree on what to do. Seeing everyone arguing endlessly, a strong man who had been silent all the time suddenly shouted: "You know nothing! The disciples of the White Lotus Sect are all good! You should know the story of Wang Cong'er, right? She is the heroine of the White Lotus Sect! And When Shen was in power, the imperial court was very corrupt, local officials were rampant in corruption, and the people complained. The officials forced the people to rebel, and they had to rebel! Wang Cong'er divided his troops into three groups, starting from Hubei and fighting all the way to Henan. After countless hard battles, Wang Cong'er led his troops back Division Hubei, encountered the Qing army at Xiehuapo of the Sancha River in Yunyang, and was besieged by eight powerful enemies. The rebel army led by Wang Cong'er resisted to the death, ran out of ammunition and arrows, and rolled down the boulder, and finally was outnumbered by the Qing army. The army broke through the line of defense and gathered around. The 22-year-old Wang Cong'er led more than ten female soldiers to jump off the cliff to die, seeing death as home..." As a result, everyone began to agree with his statement. Seeing that the original supporters turned back in a blink of an eye, the old man felt that he had lost face and was very angry, so he continued to win supporters. The boatmen debated endlessly, and some even had blue veins, each looking for evidence for his own point of view, adding allusions and legends.Speaking of the excitement, the strong man and the old man actually wanted to make a move.Everyone hurriedly persuaded them, but the two were unwilling to give up... "Don't talk about state affairs, don't talk about state affairs! Don't talk about right and wrong, and you might be beheaded." A young man who looked like a scholar advised everyone. This sentence is very effective, and the noisy scene just now calmed down.A young man who supported the White Lotus Sect involuntarily touched his neck, and when he saw that his neck was still there, he put his hand down calmly. So, everyone started to change the subject, but the atmosphere was a bit dull. Tian Gudao and I have kept quiet for fear of exposing our identities.The ghost cub was very excited, jumping up and down, probably never seen such a lively scene. I've heard about the White Lotus Sect, and I've read about it in books.Knowing that this large-scale uprising consumed a lot of military expenditure and military power of the imperial court, it is said that more than 200 million taels of silver was invested before and after, which is equivalent to the annual income of our dynasty for four years, and the national treasury was emptied. One thing is certain is that some of the followers of the White Lotus Sect know alchemy. Zhu Yuanzhang, who started as a Red Scarf Army, knows the mysteries of the White Lotus Sect.After he established the Great Ming Dynasty, he immediately issued an edict to strictly prohibit "Bailian Club, Mingzunjiao, Baiyunzong, and witches supporting Luan to pray to the holy, and writing talismans and water spells." The "Law of the Great Ming Dynasty" also specially set up the clause "prohibition of sorcery by masters and witches", which stipulates: all masters and witches pretend to descend on evil gods, write spells on water, help Luan pray to the saints, call themselves Duangong, Taibao, and master, and falsely call Maitreya Buddha , Bailianshe, Mingzunjiao, Baiyunzong and other associations, all respond to heretical techniques, or hide their pictures, burn incense and gather people, gather at night and disperse at dawn, pretend to do good deeds, and incite the people. The leaders are strangled; One hundred, three thousand miles. After repairing the dead body, I was also familiar with alchemy, knowing that it was just a wild art that could not be explained by common sense. Maybe someone used this art indiscriminately, so it was regarded as a sorcery.Just talking about the secret art of expelling corpses, it is basically the well-being of the dead and bereaved families. Listening to the people on the boat chatting and laughing, before we knew it, the boat had entered the Meijiang River from the Youshui River, and turned around the Rongxi River. We disembarked from the Youyang River Estuary Wharf, rented two horses at the wharf, and ran to Manziyan.In two days, I arrived at a small place called Banxi under Laizi Rock.