Qiantang, grain wharf.

Dozens of boats are docked at the dock in a staggered manner, and the boatmen who shout and the coolies who carry rice bags on their shoulders are busy with their heads bowed in the scolding of various stewards, and the sweat flowing is full of smiles on their faces, making people feel that life is not easy but blooming with bright brilliance.

In this current situation, there is work to do, there is sweat, there will be food!

Xu You was chatting with a grain merchant from Jiangzhou, and learned that he had sent three boatloads of river rice this time, which was enough to make a profit of more than one million dollars at the current market price. According to him, the current grain merchants in Wu County are almost full of rivers, and everyone has heard the news and almost transported the old grain from Guangzhou, Ning, Yi, Jing and other prefectures to Yangzhou.

When I left the grain wharf and passed by the West Lake, I saw that the monks of Dade Temple were giving porridge and rice along the street, and there was an old woman in ragged clothes, gray hair, trembling and kneeling slightly and asked: "Grand Master, didn't the Buddha protect the believers?" My whole family has respectfully served the Buddha for many years, but the old man died the day before yesterday, and today the grandson who just completed the moon died, and the son and daughter-in-law are dying, why? Please, if you want to take it, take my old bones, and spare your sons' lives! ”

The monk pronounced the Buddha's name, helped the old woman up, and said: "This is the sin of the previous life, the fruit of this life, not that the Buddha does not bless it, but only by breaking the cause and effect, can they be reborn in bliss." What you see is death, but in fact, the Buddha has given them a new life! ”

"Freshmen?"

"There are many hardships in the sea of suffering, it's not a pity to leave it, the old man is relieved, your family can be rich and prosperous in the next life!"

"Really? That's good, that's good......" The old woman knelt down again, kowtowed reverently, and said, "Buddha bless, Buddha bless!" ”

Xu You stood under the willow tree, looked at the scene in front of him, and sighed slightly.

Zuo Yan asked, "Why does Lang Jun sigh lightly?" ”

"Fenghu, you say, are these truths of Buddhism the real truth?"

Zuo Yan shook his head and said, "I don't think so!" According to Buddhism, everything that happens in this life has a cause and effect in the previous life, and then the believers should let go of their desires and wholeheartedly seek happiness and peace in the next life...... So what is the point of our existence and efforts? ”

"You can think of this layer, you are already smarter than many people! Buddhism may not hold the truth of heaven and earth, but the benefit of religion is that it can soothe people's hearts in times of despair. If it weren't for the monk's words, the old woman would not really be happy from this moment until she died, and she was tormented by her relatives day and night, and her body and soul were tormented, and she was not at peace. At least now, her dying heart has a home! ”

Zuo Yan thought for a moment and said: "What Lang Jun means, don't care about the origin and original meaning of the religion, just see if it can bring tangible benefits to the common people?" ”

The reason why Taoism was gradually surpassed and completely suppressed by Buddhism in the war for believers is, in the final analysis, because of the difference in theoretical systems. The theoretical system of Buddhism is simpler and easier to implement, and it is more rigorous and logical, and after it is concretized, it is a huge demagogic and rendering power for the foolish people.

"Yes, abandon its divinity and absorb its humanity, whether it is Hu Christianity or Orthodoxy, it will become our unique sect! A thousand years ago, and even a thousand years later, the transformation of the Chinese religion was about the same! ”

Xu You suddenly laughed, and there was pride and reverence for this great civilization, as well as cunning and pride in the extraordinary ability of assimilation of this great civilization.

"Take the essence, discard the dross, and then, use it for me!"

Back in Jingyuan, Xu You went directly to see He Wei, his expression was a little dignified, and said: "Even the monks of Dade Temple have begun to come out to give porridge to buy people's hearts, why hasn't the Heavenly Master Dao moved?" ”

"Dade Temple is not just a soup kitchen, in the past few months, Zhu Fayan has absorbed the fleeing refugees with two meals a day, and has expanded the temple in various places, with a very low cost, but it has been praised by the people." He Wei reached into his arms, rubbed the mud, then popped his fingers out, and said lazily: "Liu Yan has hoarded so much food in advance, it won't be used for his own food, right?" Maybe Du Mingyu is still waiting to see the situation, if Gu Yun doesn't make a big move, even if he scatters all the food that Liu Yan has hoarded, it will be just a drop in the bucket, and it will be useless! So, I think, he's waiting, waiting for a suitable moment to step in! ”

Xu You felt a little relieved, but his brows still did not stretch, and said: "If it's just like this, it's just a matter of time or time, at least it's good for the people." But I don't know why, I always feel uneasy......"

"Huh?"

He Wei sat up straight, he grew up in the temple, and he would more or less believe that there would be mysterious and unpredictable power in the underworld, especially for a genius like Xu You, his intuition would sometimes be more accurate than what his eyes saw!

He stared at Xu You, leaned forward slightly, and said, "Where does the uneasiness come from?" ”

"I don't know, I can't catch it!"

Xu You buried his head in his hands irritably, and muttered: "The people of the Winter Solstice didn't find anything abnormal, and they didn't find any signs of the people of the Heavenly Master Dao being active in Qiantang, and Meng Xingchun from Wu County didn't find more clear clues. It's like...... It's as if the Heavenly Master Dao suddenly disappeared, Du Mingyu tried his best to find the position of sacrificing wine, and as soon as he got the position, he immediately killed Yang Yi and established Huwei, and then steal the treasury silver, secretly transported it to Xiaoqu Mountain, and then took precautions to store grain, every step is as exquisite as a game of chess, and it will not become silent when it is time to collect the seeds, right? ”

As soon as the words fell, he and He Wei were shocked at the same time, and the two looked at each other, both seeing the horror in each other's eyes.

It's not that Du Mingyu is silent, but that they have become deaf and blind!

When it comes to the ability of intelligence shielding, the institution in the hands of the winter solstice that has just learned to walk is too far behind the wind gate!

He Wei was about to send someone to call the Winter Solstice to come over and inquire in detail, but Xu You stopped him and said, "No need, the Winter Solstice has done its best, this is not a gap in personal ability, but a comprehensive asymmetry in manpower, material and financial resources, in vain!" ”

He finally regained his composure and said, "No matter what Du Mingyu wants to do, we just need to do our own thing and respond to all changes without change!" After speaking, he smiled again and said: "Actually, our anxiety is unreasonable, for the Heavenly Master Dao, or for any party, we are all small people, insignificant. There are really big changes in Yangzhou, and it's not your turn to worry about me! ”

"Let's wait and see!"

It's just that having said that, it's not easy to stay out of the situation when you're in the game. After a large amount of grain entered Yangzhou, the price of rice remained high, and the voice of resentment among the people almost filled the world, like a bulging fish bladder, which could break at any time.

Compared with this kind of public resentment on the surface, it is the undercurrent surging underground that makes people really worried. I don't know when the prophecy that Gao Hui came out before his death began to circulate secretly among the heads of Qian, but the hidden information in the last few sentences of the prophecy was still not exposed, and only the first few sentences were used to incite dissatisfaction with the current dynasty and Buddhism.

In addition, the work of the winter solstice is becoming more and more difficult to carry out, and the peripheral personnel have been reversed, if she is not alert enough, I am afraid that she will be misled by wrong information, and several internal lines planted in Liu Yan's place have lost contact one after another, and her ears, eyes and tentacles have begun to be cut off in a planned way after a few months of savage growth, and she has no ability to fight back.

In order to avoid greater losses, and in order to preserve his strength in this unequal intelligence war, Xu You asked Dong Solstice to order all his subordinates to lie dormant, and the frontal battlefield should be handed over to the Crouching Tiger Division to fight, and he did not have the capital to squander this hard-won little possessions.

In the blink of an eye, at the end of August, the heat began to dissipate, but the resentment of the people had accumulated to the point that it could not be concealed, and a little more would have completely exploded. After Gu Yun and Xu You discussed, they thought that the time had come, and the government came forward to release the rice and grain purchased from the various gate lords and scholars during this period of time, far below the market price, and through the coordination of multiple departments of the Crouching Tiger Division and the county guard's government, they strictly investigated the grain merchant Fujia pretending to be a disaster victim to buy grain, and once it was discovered, he was arrested and imprisoned for misdeeds, and his family property was confiscated for disaster relief.

Within three days, nine households were arrested, three heads were beheaded, and the smell of blood permeated the streets of Wu County. Originally, according to the law, death row prisoners must be replayed and approved by the emperor before they can be executed, but there are priorities, Gu Yun has such a small amount of food reserves in his hand, if he doesn't use thunder means to quickly shake the bad Xiaoxiao, he will have to be exposed if he can't support it for a few days. Therefore, he persuaded Meng Xingchun early, and asked for a secret decree from An Zidao through Xiao Xunqi, the captain of Sili, so that he could make a decision immediately, and cut it first and then play. However, this power to kill people at will is more powerful than the governor of the festival, An Zidao is not at ease, and strictly ordered Meng Xingchun to kill no more than five people, officials and scholars cannot move, and Gu Yun must sign at the same time before the execution.

This is enough, three bloody human heads, hanging on the grain wharf and Dongshi, more convincing than any words, the people who really need food can buy subsistence rations at low prices, and the disaster victims who have no money can also eat the hanging gruel for free, and the situation in the fryer has calmed down a little. At this time, Gu Yun secretly released the news that the grain merchants knew that the rice and grain in the hands of the government were bought at a parity from various gates, and the reserves were exaggerated by ten times, which was enough to cope with most of the affected counties in Yangzhou to survive the drought.

As soon as the news came out, the grain merchants were restless, and finally some people couldn't hold it back, and began to follow the government's rice price to open the market for sale, just more than ten days, the price of rice caused by the herd mentality collapsed, like the water of the Yellow River, pouring in, and it could not be stopped.

There was a tumult in the Jingyuan, and outsiders didn't know it, but they knew that all the strategies to stabilize the price of rice came from Xu You, who seemed to be biased and impersonal, but it seemed to be a clever hand of creation, and he made a big disaster invisible to put it mildly.

This is a miracle!

Equally happy were the thousands of people who were struggling on the brink of life and death, kneeling in prayer for joy, thanking the heavens and Gu Yun for calling him a saint and calling the strategy of this disaster relief the government of the gods.

But no one expected that behind this piece of peace, a crisis that swept Yangzhou suddenly broke out.

On the night of August 27, the thunderous voice disturbed the dreams of countless people, Xu You woke up suddenly, found that there were sweat stains on his body, and ordered the autumn equinox to hold the lamp, and when he was in doubt, Zuo Yan hurriedly pushed the door in, and said in a low voice: "Qiantang City is surrounded!" ”