The bald old man also returned home, and saw that he had written a letter in his study, and then called the family and asked him to deliver it. He was pacing back and forth in his study, pondering things. Suddenly he stopped, walked over to the bookcase, and then tidied up the shelves, and then took a brick from the wall, and there was a circular mechanism in it, and he twisted it vigorously, and saw that the wall cracked, revealing a small door, and he bowed in.

Inside was a small secret room, not very big, six feet square, he lit a fire, lit a candle, and suddenly the room lit up, and there was a colorful silk painting hanging inside.

The painting is about seven feet long (about two meters three) and two and a half feet wide (about 80 centimeters) wide, and the content of the picture can be divided into five levels. The uppermost layer represents the celestial realm, with a palace in the center, and the content is the visit of the Virgin of Light and her servants to the celestial realm; In the center of the second layer are statues of Manichaean deities (most likely Mani himself), and on the right are two Manichaean electors (monks) dressed in white, one sitting, probably speaking, and the other standing, acting as assistants. Those who sit in red on the left are considered to be listeners, and those who stand on the side and are dressed in black are to be their attendants. The third layer is divided into four sub-grids, which represent the four levels of Chinese society, agriculture, industry and commerce; The fourth layer depicts the judgment of the underworld in the Manichaean concept; The fifth, the lowest level, depicts a scene of hell.

There is a statue inside, which should be a seated statue of Mani, 1.52 meters high and 0.83 meters wide, with a round face, big ears and curved eyebrows, and long hair and a shawl. Dressed in a wide unbuttoned shirt, your hands folded cross-legged with your palms facing up. The face is grass and stone, the hands are pink, and the body is grayish-white, all composed of natural stone. The back is carved with a shining ornament, and the back of the statue is carved with 16 big characters: "Pure and bright, vigorous wisdom, supreme and true Mani Light Buddha", known as "Mani Light Buddha"

Let's talk about Manichaeism first, in the first year of Wu Zetian's reign (694), the Persians brought the "Erzong Ji" to the dynasty, and Manichaeism began to be introduced to China, but there are also many scholars who believe that it has been circulated among the Chinese people for a long time. The fundamental doctrine of Manichaeism is "two sects and three worlds", that is, "light" and "darkness" are two sects, and the three worlds refer to the three stages of "primary", "middle" and "posterior".

The religion believes that light and darkness are the origin of the world, and that the kingdom of light is pure, kind, and happy, and is the place of beauty, while the kingdom of darkness is full of filth, evil, foolishness, cruelty, and is the embodiment of evil. It is believed that after three stages of struggle, light can finally triumph over darkness.

From a doctrinal point of view, Manichaeism has a strong idea of the end of the world and the idea of salvation, which are indispensable for the future integration of Chinese folk religion. The religion also has the content of the philosophy of struggle, because the Ming religion believed that the darkness was about to pass and the light was coming, so it dared to rebel and repeatedly rebelled against the government, so it was not tolerated by the imperial court. However, the Great Song Dynasty had not yet banned it, but severely restricted its proselytizing.

The Song Dynasty translated Manichaeism as Mingjiao, and Mingjiao simply summarized the teachings into eight words: "purity, light, strength, and wisdom". In order to cater to the needs of the people, they should give full play to their moral concepts of pursuing light, kindness, frugality, and friendship. Among the congregations are peasants, talents, officials, soldiers, heroes of the green forest, Jiangyang thieves, and martial arts Junyan.

The believers are white-clothed and black-hatted, secretly form a society, and jointly worship the Ming envoy as the god of the church.

At that time, because it was in a state of secret association, in order to avoid people's eyes and ears and avoid being banned by the government, the name of the religion also had a variety of aliases, in Zhejiang on the Liangzhejiang Road, it was called Manichaeism, Fujian was called Mingjiao, Huainan was called "Erjunizi", Jiangdong was called "Siguo", and Jiangxi was called "King Kong Zen". Here, the author uniformly adopts the title of "Mingjiao".

Because the doctrine is simple and clear, it is quite popular with the toiling masses, so there are also a lot of sectarians in the Yangzhou Boat Gang, accounting for about half of the number of the Boat Gang, this old man's name is Lin Guang'an, which is the head of the Ming Sect in Yangzhou, so he is also in the Yangzhou Boat Gang with a high status and is quite admired by the upper class.

I saw that the old man first cleaned his hands and incense, changed into a white coat and black hat, and then sat on the futon, his eyes slightly closed, his hands folded in front of his chest, and his mouth recited the confession: "...... If he believes in absurd hostilities, if he is a jealous heathen, a man who prays hypocritically, then in order to understand and know, he must ......"

Then he recited the Manichaean classic "Praise of the Lower Part" and said: "The light is generally pure, and the joy is extinguished without moving the curse." He has no trouble with joy, but there is no use in suffering. Always be happy and bright, if you say that you are sick, it is useless. If there are those who can live in other countries, they will be worry-free. The solemnity of the place is pure, and all the evil is not pure; Happiness is full of Chang Kuantai, and there is no point in saying that there is Xiangling. ”

After Lin Guang'an finished praying, he got up and left, went out of the secret room and returned to the study, he was thinking about the Yangzhou boat gang in the study, and after a while, the family led ten people to the study, there were eight men and two women, these ten people were all dressed in white, and their heads were tied with black scarves.

When they saw Lin Guang'an, they all bowed down and bowed, and said in unison: "Subordinate, participate in the bishop." ”

I saw Lin Guangan stretch out his hand and said, "All hall masters are exempt from courtesy", and then he asked the family to bring chairs for all ten people to sit down.

He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the bishop has called you to come and have important matters to discuss. ”

He told everyone about the troubles of the Yangzhou Boat Gang, and also told them (her) the idea of protecting the people in charge of the Boat Gang.

He pointed to a young and beautiful woman and said, "Zhang Miaoniang, I have handed over this task to you Suzaku Hall, and you will send a master there." If necessary, the official can be repulsed. ”

This Zhang Miaoniang got up to receive the order, and the other nine people had their own tasks, and another middle-aged woman was sent to the government to spy on the news.

Suzaku Hall is a guardian organization of the Ming Sect, defending against foreign invasions, protecting the safety of the sect, and is also responsible for revenge, assassination and other actions. It is composed of a group of people with strong martial arts.

Zhang Miaoniang is nineteen years old and comes from a mysterious sect in Nanling, which is all women; Because Lin Guangan had a life-saving grace for the head of this sect, he sent Zhang Miaoniang to help and guard.

She was young, she was strong in martial arts, and her force value was the first in Suzaku Hall, and there were many people who were dissatisfied at that time, and after some challenges, they were all defeated by her men; In the Suzaku Hall, where force is respected, the one who is unyielding is enshrined as the hall master. After some arrangement and deployment, it was noon.

Lin Guangan arranged for the hall masters to have a meal, and everyone prayed again before the meal.

Because Mingjiao is influenced by Buddhism to eat vegetarian food, so a table is full of vegetarian dishes, mainly: vegetarian fried pumpkin tips, fried broad beans with leeks, fried dried leeks, cabbage vegetarian stewed vermicelli, bamboo shoots and cabbage rolls and other vegetarian dishes, as well as a basket of cabbage steamed steamed buns (buns), a pot of rice, a bucket of millet porridge.

On the other small table, there are two meat dishes, a small plate of beef, a small plate of chicken, and four meat steamed buns (buns), which are prepared for Zhang Miaoniang, and only the people of her Vermilion Bird Hall can eat meat and fishy food in the entire Yangzhou Ming Sect, just like the warrior monks of Shaolin Temple can also eat meat.

At this time, a large group of Yangzhou arrested, and two (200) soldiers rushed to the gang hall of the Yangzhou Boat Gang.

Upon arrival, the lobby was quickly encircled. Then Liu Quande, the prison officer (local judicial director) of Yangzhou, and Yang Pingchang, the county governor of Yangzhou, entered the lobby, and they saw Chang Chuanming and Liang Changqing inside.

Yang Changping recognized the two of them, so he said: "Chang Gang Master, Liang Duo Master, the gang in your gang assassinated the Dangchao Horse and the Lord Zhizhou, and also killed and injured the officials, so I was ordered to come to arrest you and others to interrogate, and temporarily seal up the Yangzhou Boat Gang, please cooperate." "A number of catchers were ordered to go to the lock with knives.

Liu Quande said to Yang Changping: "These two well-known people in Yangzhou, there may be hidden secrets in this case, so don't be shackled for the time being." Yang Changping hurriedly agreed.

I saw that Chang Chuanming and Liang Changqing both gave Liu Quande grateful glances, Chang Chuanming stepped forward and gave Liu Quande a silver ticket stuffed into his sleeve, and Liang Changqing also stuffed Yang Changping with a silver ticket.

Liu Yang and the two of them both glanced at each other, and then they both walked out of the lobby pretending to be nothing, while Chang Chuanming and Liang Changqing also walked out under the support of the officials. Finally, a seal was placed on the door.

At this time, outside the gang hall, there were a large number of boatmen who did not know the truth, and a large number of boatmen continued to come to join them, and finally the number reached as many as 1,000. Catch fast and the soldiers are like facing a great enemy, all with swords and guns in hand, bows and arrows ready to shoot.

At this time, Chang Chuanming stood up and said: "Brothers, the government let me and Lord Liang Helm go to the court for trial, in fact, it is not a matter of concern, after all, the government is also a reasonable place, you do this, but let me add a charge of "gathering crowds to make trouble and obstructing official business", so that I can't explain it to the government. So don't worry, we will be fine, you should disperse as soon as possible, and don't hinder the government's handling of the case. ”

The onlookers of the boat gang scattered when they heard the words, many of these people were people from the Ming Sect, Zhang Miaoniang was also watching inside, she saw that Chang Chuanming was escorted away by the government, and suddenly felt that the situation was a little out of control, so she hurriedly rushed back to report the situation to Lin Guangan.

Liu Yang and Liang went back to deal with each other, and Chang Chuanming and Liang Changqing were temporarily put in prison and placed in separate cells, the conditions were not bad, and the inside was relatively tidy. There is also a bed, and the bedding on the bed is clean and freshly changed; There is also a wooden table and chair in front of the bed, and a candle is lit on the table.

After returning home, Liu Quande took out the silver ticket from his sleeve, and when he saw it, his eyes were straight, his face was red, his ears were red, and his breath was short, and the denomination of the silver ticket was 50,000 yuan.

Such a scene also appeared on Yang Changping, who was even more unbearable, excitedly swinging his body and trembling with a silver ticket. He called his wife indistinctly, and his wife screamed and exclaimed when she saw the denomination of the silver ticket, so anxious that Yang Changping hurriedly covered her mouth.

Yang Changping hurriedly scolded: "What are you calling nonsense, you are not afraid of being known, and you lose your head." It's really a girl who has never seen the world. "I didn't realize my ugliness just now. The denomination of the silver ticket he received was 20,000 yuan, he had never seen so much money in his life at such an age, and his current net worth was only 10,000 yuan.