Chapter 294: Serving the Country with the Whole Family

Zhou Yi looked at the statue.

When facing my own statue, I feel a little strange.

He waved his hand and shot out a ball of golden light from the statue, which was a mixture of merit and divine power.

The Demon Sealing Temple does not have a canonization document from the imperial court and is a temple for evil sacrifices and obscenities, but it does not affect the collection of divine power.

Zhou Yi extracted the merits and returned the rest to the statue. He did not follow the incense and fire path. Refining the divine power would affect his practice.

Seeing this, Hou Yuan quickly explained: "Immortal chief, this method of refining divine power with incense is learned from the White Lotus Throne. It is extremely pure and is truly the supreme method for increasing one's spiritual conduct."

Zhou Yi shook his head and pointedly said: "Although there is a shortcut in practice, the gain and the sacrifice are always the same!"

Hou Yuan scratched his head and couldn't help but applaud and laugh.

"Heavenly Lord, every word and deed of the Immortal Master really contains the mysterious truth!"

At this time.

The old woman who climbed the mountain to worship came to the outside of the Demon Sealing Temple.

Zhou Yi used an invisibility technique and his figure disappeared. Hou Yuan turned around and escaped into the ground. .

The old woman came to the temple and gave a few peaches to Houjiu. The remaining fresh peaches were placed on the incense table, and then she kowtowed nine times and murmured to herself.

I kept saying the same words over and over again, praying for the blessings of the gods and for my son to achieve great success and return safely.

Hou Yuan waved his hand to take the peach, and in a moment all he ate was the peach core, which he threw back on the incense table.

When the old woman heard the noise, she looked up and saw the peach core rolling down. She knew that the god had appeared. She burst into tears of joy and kowtowed to the statue.

After the old woman left, Zhou Yi showed his figure.

"Since you have eaten someone else's peach, you must get something in return. Go to southern Xinjiang to protect the safety of the old woman's son."

"Don't worry, Immortal, I will keep him safe."

Hou Yuan is also a strong person among the first-level ones, and he has learned several Buddhist magical powers from the White Lotus Throne. It is too simple to bless a mortal.

Zhou Yi said: "One more thing, pay attention to the Southern Expedition at any time. If there are any changes, you can send a message through the tight hoop."

"As you command!"

Hou Yuan and Hou Jiu gave a few words of advice to be optimistic about the Demon Feng Temple, and then flew to the southern border in the clouds.

…

After leaving the Demon Feng Temple, Zhou Yi rode an ox towards Tongcheng.

By early summer, farmers were already working in the fields.

Along the way, we also saw a lot of deserted fields, and we could vaguely see the ridges of fields, and the weeds were half as tall as a person.

"Emperor Li has done a lot of practical things after all. Renting out the imperial land can at least ensure food and clothing."

Zhou Yi traveled here from Luojing and talked with the old farmers in the fields. Since the imperial fields were leased, a lot of land belonging to the landlord family has been left uncultivated.

The old farmer told Zhou Yi that the late emperor, whose posthumous name was Emperor Li, should be an extremely powerful emperor.

Going south along the official road, one could already see the city wall of Tongcheng, and Zhou Yi suddenly frowned slightly.

Not far away in the deserted field, there was an old man with white hair hanging on a tree.

When the wind blew, the hanging rope fluttered left and right. The old man's face turned purple from holding back, and he was about to die.

A flash of sword light flashed, and the hanging rope broke.

The old man fell to the ground softly, looking confused for a moment. Then he tied the rope and was about to hang himself again.

Zhou Yi exclaimed softly, and the sacred cow had the same idea, turned around and came to the tree.

"Old sir, you have lived this long, why do you want to commit suicide?"

"Cough cough cough..."

The old man coughed violently several times, sat down on the ground, and burst into tears.

Zhou Yi pinched the magic formula with his hands, used the Qingxin technique to stabilize the old father's mind, and asked again: "But what's the grievance?"

The old man felt that the Taoist's face in front of him was kind and reassuring. He wiped away his tears and shook his head, sobbing as he spoke.

"The old man has no grievances, he just can't live anymore..."

"The son was snatched away to serve as a soldier, the daughter was sold into slavery, and the only old man left in the family..."

"The master came to collect the rent this morning, but the old man couldn't pay it, so he took the deed of the house to pay for the debt..."

"This hanging hemp rope was borrowed from a neighbor! Woo hoo hoo..."

My father-in-law was so sad that he cried loudly.

Generally speaking, the older you get, the clearer and more open-minded you are, but the old man still couldn't help crying, obviously extremely sad.

Zhou Yi wondered: "If there is no royal land for rent now, why do we need to pay rent?"

The father-in-law cried for a while, relieved the grief and anger in his heart, wiped his tears and said, "How can we common people rent imperial land?"

Zhou Yi asked: "I remember that the imperial court issued an official document last year, stating that those who are extremely poor and have no land can rent ten acres of imperial land."

"Is the Taoist priest from out of town?"

The old man spat and cursed: "Those imperial fields have been rented by rich and powerful people. We can only rent from them again. If we pay an extra cent of the imperial rent for nothing, there will be no food left at all!"

"No! The imperial fields are right under the old man's feet. They are all deserted. You guys would rather rent private fields!"

Zhou Yi asked doubtfully: "If you violate the imperial laws like this, no one will complain?"

"Why didn't anyone file a complaint?"

A man whose father-in-law died once should have nothing to fear. He said: "Someone went to the Governor's Mansion to file a complaint, but after an investigation, it was found that the person who rented the land was a slave of a wealthy family. Instead, he was found guilty of false accusation and was slapped with a blackboard!"

"This world just doesn't give people a way to survive!"

"When Governor Pei was here, he was the great master of Qingtian. No one had ever starved to death..."

The old man started talking, and he talked a lot. Sometimes he missed the past, and sometimes he cursed.

Zhou Yi asked from time to time and learned a lot about the current situation in Tongcheng. After the Pei family killed the nine clans, the newly appointed governor was unable to control the situation, and there was a power vacuum in Tongcheng for a period of time.

Several big families in the city took advantage of the situation, but they encountered an inspection of their fields and a lot of them died.

The well-known and well-known families in Tongcheng today were just nouveau riche without foundation when Pei Heihu was in office.

After these families came to power, they were several times more ferocious and brutal than before. They would grab any benefit of a penny. They don't understand sustainable development at all, so they can cut leeks one after another.

Of course, what the old man said was hearsay, and Zhou Yi had to see it in person.

"Old man, you keep this ingot of silver. People always have to live."

Zhou Yi said: "Besides, being a soldier doesn't necessarily mean you will die. You have to live well and wait for your son to come back from the war."

"This silver..."

The old man was full of disbelief. The silver in his hand weighed at least ten taels. When he came to his senses and wanted to kowtow to thank him, he found that the Taoist had disappeared.

He bit the silver hard and found it was real. He couldn't help muttering to himself that he had met a god descending to the earth.

...

It was almost noon.

Zhou Yi rode a cow into the city.

The soldiers on duty saw the pass for Luo Jing and did not dare to make things difficult for him. They bowed and invited him in.

Luo Jing, Taoist priest, riding a cow, these three things combined, it is very likely that he is a Taoist master.

The city is much more lively than the last time. Zhou Yi saw several soldiers conscripting men after just walking through a few streets.

On the way here, Zhou Yi asked the farmers in the fields, and what the old woman and the old man said was basically true. The new Grand Commander Shen Chongshan conscripted men everywhere, but the interesting thing is that no matter whether it is civilians or several big families, they are not spared.

I heard that there was no silver for replacing men, and all young and strong men over five feet tall were taken to the barracks.

Later, several big families joined forces to make trouble, and the public sentiment was surging. Shen Chongshan issued a silver for replacing men, which could be converted into silver and exempted from taxation.

Rumors in the countryside are credible and there are many false rumors. Zhou Yi plans to see Shen Chongshan with his own eyes to see what kind of person he is.

The soldiers of Tongcheng are one of the eight national defense armies, and they are of great importance. If they are really evil and heretic.

Even if Li Long forbids Zhou Yi to interfere in military affairs, he must find a reason to beat Shen Chongshan to death.

Zhou Yi even thought of a way to frame him, such as turning into a young farmer and standing on the street. It won't take long for him to be arrested and taken to the military camp. Shen Chongshan deserves death for treating the real immortal like this!

It took about an incense stick of time.

Zhou Yi came to the inner city, took the divine cow into the Sun and Moon Cave, and performed the Tiangang Taoism to stand upright without a shadow, ignoring the patrolling soldiers.

There is a mansion in the middle of the inner city, with "Grand Commander's Mansion" written on it!

Zhou Yi performed the Qi technique of looking forward, and saw the blue-purple air rising, which foreshadowed that the owner of the mansion would have a prosperous career and a meteoric rise.

"There is no demonic aura, just a corrupt official?"

Zhou Yi flashed into the governor's mansion, passed through several courtyard gates, and followed the purple aura straight into the backyard garden.

In the garden, there were faint cries and scolding sounds.

A man in a purple robe and gray hair sat on an official hat chair, pointing at a middle-aged beautiful woman and scolding her.

"This governor is deeply favored by the emperor and has been named the Grand Governor. He must be a role model for the army! You, a woman, dare to interfere in military and national affairs. According to the law, you should be beaten with thirty military sticks!"

Twenty or thirty men and women around him bowed their heads and listened, not daring to speak.

The beautiful woman cried even more miserably after hearing this, and knelt down to beg: "Master, I beg you... Qi'er is only five feet tall... He can't lift a knife or a sword... How can he go to the battlefield... Please spare his life..."

"Why are you crying!"

The man swept his tiger eyes over the men and women around him and said: "Since this governor has issued a conscription order, all those in Tongcheng who are over five feet tall, whether they are sons or grandsons of this governor, must follow the army to the south!"

The beautiful woman wiped away her tears, took out a stack of silver notes, and said: "In this case, I will take the silver for Qi'er, so I don't have to go to the battlefield?"

The man shook his head and said: "Men of the Shen family either die on the battlefield or have great military achievements, there is no other result!"

The middle-aged beautiful woman heard the words, her face was fierce, and she stood up and hit the flower bed.

"Master, if you force Qi'er to death, I will not live!"

"Humph!"

The man snorted coldly, waved his hand and swept his true energy, and actually pushed the beautiful woman to hit the flower bed.

Puff!

The head was broken and blood was flowing, and she died directly.

The others trembled when they saw the miserable appearance of the beauty, and dared not to ask for mercy.

The man scolded a few more words, waved his hand to let everyone retreat, and began to deal with the military and political affairs of Tongcheng.

Zhou Yi stood in the yard, quietly watching everything happening in front of him. The man was Shen Chongshan, the Grand Commander of Tongcheng, and those men and women were his wives, concubines, children and grandchildren.

A gust of wind blew.

The fallen leaves just floated past Zhou Yi and passed through his body, as if they were a shadow independent of the world.

Shen Chongshan was a first-class martial arts master, and his senses were extremely sensitive. However, Zhou Yi stood a few feet away and did not find anything unusual.

For more than ten days in a row.

Zhou Yi was in the Grand Commander's Mansion, secretly observing Shen Chongshan. As a result, except for the large-scale conscription, there was no problem with his other actions. He was actually considered a good official.

He handled military and political affairs fairly, and all kinds of judgments were firmly in accordance with the laws of Dagan.

After investigation, it was found that the matter of the imperial land had nothing to do with Shen Chongshan. First, the judge was the previous Grand Commander, and second, those big families took advantage of the loopholes in the law.

The imperial land order issued by the Ministry of Agriculture included slaves in the category of renting and planting.

Even when it came to the large-scale conscription of soldiers, Shen Chongshan led by example, and all the men in the clan who met the requirements joined the army without exception.

The whole family was pressed forward, and he was a great and loyal minister who was unique in Dagan!

Zhou Yi did not think this was a good thing, but his doubts became more and more serious.

"When Emperor Jingtai was in power, the top three masters would not only sacrifice their entire families, but also run away quickly if their lives were in danger. Why did Emperor Hongde let Shen Chongshan risk his entire family's lives and send his sons and grandsons to the battlefield?"

"First, Yan Ying and Zhengshan committed suicide, and now Shen Chongshan is serving the country with his family!"

"Emperor Hongde is just a grandson of the emperor, how can he be so charming?"

This is very abnormal!

According to the Qi-watching technique, Shen Chongshan is surrounded by blue and purple, and there is no evil spirit.

While Shen Chongshan was practicing, Zhou Yi cast a spell to detect his true qi. The breath was pure and upright, and it was definitely an orthodox martial arts.

Calculating with fingers, Tianji concealed it and could not deduce any information.

Resisting the killing intention, even if Shen Chongshan was likely to be listed in the Demon Atlas, Zhou Yi turned into a light and flew to the Tianji Hall.

Tianji and others could even predict the rise of the demon clan, so Shen Chongshan's abnormality should be traced back to the source.

Zhou Yi has always been decisive and direct in doing things. Slowly investigating, unraveling the mystery, and the fun of investigating are boring to a true immortal.

…

Tianji Hall.

As soon as Zhou Yi approached, the clouds covering the mountain dispersed on their own.

A long rainbow crossed the sky and landed at Zhou Yi's feet.

Tianji's three brothers led the disciples in the sect to line up to welcome and bow to the arrival of the true immortal.

Zhou Yi nodded slightly and looked at a Taoist boy of seven or eight years old behind Tianji and the other two.

The Taoist boy had a clear and refined face and seemed a little timid. He hid behind Tianji and looked at Zhou Yi quietly. The most mysterious thing was that there was a golden thunder pattern between the Taoist boy's eyebrows.

Zhou Yi asked, "Who is this kid?"

"My Lord, when the spring thunder sounded this year, I felt something in my heart."

Tian Ji Zhenren stroked his beard and said, "After divination, I found a descendant of Tian Ji. His mother got pregnant after hearing the thunder, and he was born three years ago. He is naturally close to thunder, so I accepted him as my last disciple."

"My little nephew has a mysterious talent and feeds on thunder. He looks like he is seven or eight years old in just two months."

Tian Yi Zhenren said, "But don't worry, my Lord. We have repeatedly confirmed that my nephew is a pure human."

The Taoist boy has a clear face and seems a little timid. He hides behind Tian Ji and quietly reads Zhou Yi. The most mysterious thing is that there is a golden thunder pattern between the Taoist boy's eyebrows.

Zhou Yi asked, "Who is this kid?"

"My Lord, when the spring thunder sounded this year, I felt something in my heart."

Tian Ji Zhenren stroked his beard and said, "After divination with the Tian Ji Tu, I found a descendant of Tian Ji. His mother became pregnant after hearing the thunder, and he was born three years ago. He is naturally close to thunder, so I accepted him as my last disciple."

"My little nephew has a mysterious talent and feeds on thunder. He looks like he is seven or eight years old in just two months."

Tian Yi Zhenren said, "But don't worry, my Lord, we have repeatedly confirmed that my nephew is a pure human."