Ten days have passed since Xu Ziling went south.

In the past ten days, Xu Ziling has not been seen, and Ming Xia has been a little lacking in interest in doing anything. Most of the time on weekdays is spent with Lin Niangzi to learn from the girl, and occasionally she plays the piano and visits the night market with Yue'er.

Unlike the time in the alum building, where she needed to communicate with dignitaries and dignitaries with false courtesy, this kind of dull and comfortable day made her like it even more. The only thing missing is a peace of mind.

Two days ago, she and Yue'er went back to the Alum Tower to visit Aunt Qing, and when Aunt Qing took them to dinner together, they met a person she didn't want to meet for the time being-Zhou Bangyan.

At that time, Zhou Bangyan was having dinner with the two sons in a private room in the alum building, and the door was not closed when the food was served.

After Ming Xia dealt with a few words, she wanted to leave under the pretext of an excuse, but Zhou Bangyan strongly invited them to dine together. This was untimely and unreasonable, and Ming Xia decisively refused.

I don't know whether it was intentional or not, Zhou Bangyan raised his voice and issued an invitation again, and the voice alarmed the companions in the private room, and they all walked out for a while.

The atmosphere suddenly became delicate. The two sons recognized Aunt Qing's "mother" clothes, and thought that Ming Xia and Yue'er were the Qing'er of Alum Tower, and refused Zhou Bangyan's request to sing wine.

The two sons and brothers relied on their extraordinary identities and began to question Aunt Qing. As soon as the maid Yue'er heard them questioning Aunt Qing, she said loudly that they had redeemed themselves, and if you don't believe it, you can ask Zhou Bangyan. So the two sons turned their heads to look at Zhou Bangyan, but they shook their heads calmly when they saw him.

Yue'er argued angrily, and the two sons turned a deaf ear to her words, and just told Aunt Qing that they wanted the two daughters to go in and cheer them up.

Aunt Qing explained the current identities of Mingxia and Xia with a smile, but the two sons still did not give up, and even reported their identities and asked her to watch it.

One is Cai Jing's son Cai Ying, and the other is Zhu Mian's son Zhu Gui. Cai and Zhu are both well-known officials in the court, and Aunt Qing can't afford to be offended, so she is a little at a loss for a while.

Just as she was hesitating, the maid Yue'er raised her little hand and roared: I know Grandpa Tong Guan!

As soon as these words came out, Cai Ying and Zhu Gui's faces changed suddenly, and they knew some of the inside story, and hurriedly made a gift to Aunt Qing, and pulled Zhou Bangyan into the private room and did not come out again.

At that time, Ming Xia had already seen the old man Zhou Qi who appeared at the end of the corridor, thinking that something big was going to happen, but she didn't expect Yue'er's words to solve the trouble.

Afterwards, after Yue'er explained, Ming Xia learned that the old man surnamed Tong who gave her Tianlanqing a few days ago was the famous Tong Guan. As for why those two sons were so jealous of Tong Guan, she couldn't figure it out, and she didn't want to think about it. The only thing that made her wonder was why Zhou Bangyan said that he didn't know them.

Since that day, in order to avoid encountering similar situations again, Ming Xia has gone out less often, and only occasionally at the invitation of Lin Niangzi will she go out of the house to play.

During this period, Su Wan also came to the Lin Mansion once, chatted with Ming Xia for a while, and finally told Ming Xia the news that she was going back to Yangzhou when she left.

These days, the atmosphere in Bianliang City is very solemn. First of all, the news of Lianjin's invasion of Liao was confirmed, and not only the forbidden army defending Bianjing was making pre-war preparations, but also part of the Northwest forbidden army was also ordered to be transferred to Bianliang to strengthen the Northern Expedition team. Later, the news that Hu Yanzhuo was defeated and surrendered to the enemy, and Gao Taiwei led his troops to attack Liangshan for the second time also caused a storm in the city.

The most intuitive impact on the Lin Mansion was that Lin Chong participated in the conquest of Liangshan as the head of the capital.

Chao Gai and Song Jiang were not idle, taking advantage of the respite of the imperial court, they let the heroes dress up in disguise, and the inside and outside joined forces to break through Qingzhou City, looted a large amount of property, and incorporated many soldiers back to Liangshan, so that Liangshan had more capital to fight against the imperial court.

......

In Hangzhou, Jiangnan, Xu Ziling stayed by Fang Baihua's side for four or five days, and he already knew about their business.

The rebel army has been organized in Qingxi County, and it only needs to wait for an order to raise the banner of righteousness and sweep through the surrounding state cities. At this time, what Fang Baihua was doing was to expand the influence of Manichaeism and the "Holy Father" in Hangzhou, and by the way, to develop internal responses in Hangzhou.

Their ultimate goal was to co-opt more ignorant people in the event of an uprising in order to increase the momentum of the uprising. But in Xu Ziling's view, this is just the icing on the cake and cannot change the fundamental problem.

On the one hand, the untrained people, even if they are not afraid of death on the battlefield with their blood and faith, may not even be as good as the army in terms of combat effectiveness;

On the other hand, if they were victorious, Fang La and the others would definitely order the killing of all the officials and wealthy households, and the looting of their property as a reward for the army. And once the oppressed people have tasted the pleasure of plundering, they can easily become addicted to it and become more terrible than the officials who oppress them.

Xu Ziling has no way to do this, Fang La's uprising is already at an awkward point in time, if it is seven or eight years late, it may succeed, but now it is too difficult. Once they become too powerful, the army used by the imperial court to unite the Jin and Liao forces may be used against them.

Therefore, Xu Ziling's suggestion to the other side of Baihua is: accumulate grain and revolt late.

Fang Baihua listened to his explanation and felt that there was some truth, but Fang La and the forces that supported Fang La's uprising couldn't wait. There are some things that cannot be controlled by one person.

The suggestion was left to nothing.

Although helpless, for Fang Baihua's happiness, Xu Ziling still wanted to help her do something. Hearing that he wanted to help, Fang Baihua did not hesitate to give him the waist card that could hold the power of the deputy sect leader, and let him take charge of the Manichaean mission in Hangzhou.

The mission of the Manichaeans in Hangzhou was not to proselytize, but to inquire about all kinds of news and monitor the whereabouts of government personnel. This kind of task is not so simple, after all, the imperial court also has a civilian spy agency, once it attracts the attention of the government, it will be arrested and put in prison by officers and soldiers on trumped-up charges and tortured.

Xu Ziling did not hesitate, after taking the waist card, he changed his appearance a little and lived in a restaurant in the north of Hangzhou.

This restaurant, called Wuxian Building, is a Manichaean property dedicated to the collection of information in Jiangnan. Wuxian Lou is located on Taiping Street, the most affluent street in the northern section of Hangzhou, surrounded by teahouses, restaurants, green buildings and other entertainment venues.

When Xu Ziling showed the waist card given to him by Fang Baihua in front of the shopkeeper, the shopkeeper hurriedly welcomed him to a secret room, surrounded by bookshelves, full of books and letters.

The shopkeeper looked at him with a little doubt, and he said: "Just give me the important news you receive in the future, and you can come to me directly if you have any emergency, and I will stay in the restaurant." ”

Previously, Fang Baihua was directly connected with the shopkeeper, Xu Ziling sat here for her, and the shopkeeper guessed that he must be Fang Baihua's cronies, so he nodded and bowed.

The secret room is not big, but there is still a set of tables and chairs, Xu Ziling sat on the chair, and said to the shopkeeper: "You go and bring me the personnel roster." ”

The shopkeeper searched for a while on the bookshelf, took out an account book-like thing, and handed it to Xu Ziling.

Xu Ziling began to check the roster, and if there was something he didn't understand, he immediately asked the shopkeeper. After an hour or two, Xu Ziling had a rough idea of the names and positions of the Manichaean people in charge of the various sections in Hangzhou.

After putting back the roster, he returned to the lobby on the first floor of the restaurant, pretending to be an ordinary guest, waiting for the handover of the task. His task is to organize useful information and feed it back to Fang Baihua at noon every day.

In the afternoon, while he was looking at the letters presented by the congregation, two Taoist priests suddenly walked into the hall and sat down at a table near him.

There were almost no guests in the building at this time, and when he saw someone coming in, he glanced up. Just this glance made him stop looking. Ordinary Taoist priests would not attract his attention, but one of the Taoist priests he had met and had a relationship with in Yuncheng County.

The Taoist priest also noticed him, and although his face changed a lot, the Taoist priest recognized him at a glance.

Looking at each other, Xu Ziling took the lead in retracting his gaze.

But he saw that the Taoist priest left his companion and sat directly opposite him, looking at him with a smile on his face: "Little friend, do you still know the poor Dao?" ”

"I seem to have seen the Taoist Elder somewhere," Xu Ziling smiled, "but I can't remember it clearly." ”

The Taoist priest waved his hand and called out to his companion, and another Taoist priest immediately sat down. "Qingxuan," the Taoist priest introduced to his companion, "this is the young man I told you about meeting in Yuncheng County. ”

The Taoist priest named Qingxuan looked at Xu Ziling, raised his eyebrows, and asked, "Do you have memories of your past life?" ”

Xu Ziling was struck by lightning when he landed, and said dumbfoundedly: "Dao Chang Mo is not an immortal......

Qing Xuan touched his forehead and pointed to the side: "He said it!" ”

So Xu Ziling looked at the Taoist opposite in a daze, and the Taoist smiled and said: "Don't panic, little friend, the poor Dao is just a little glimpse of the heavenly opportunity." In the details, I don't know anything about the poor road. ”

Xu Ziling calmed down and asked, "I am also puzzled about the memory of the two lives, can the Taoist master solve my confusion with me?" ”

The Taoist priest stroked his white beard, shook his head and said, "Poor Dao can only see that you are based on the luck of the two lives, and there is a lot of correlation between the two lives. The rest of the poor roads are also unknown. ”

"However," the Taoist priest looked at him, "this kind of thing is not the only one, among the disciples of the Qingxuan Daoist, there is one person who has the same fortune as you. If you talk to her, you may get answers. ”

Qing Xuan continued: "She is the personal disciple of my senior brother, she grew up in the valley since she was a child, even if she has the memory of two lives, she is still only willing to hang a pot in the valley to save people, and does not want to be born." Xiaoyou wanted to see her, so he had to go to the Valley of Flowers to visit. I may write a book so that you can see her easily. ”

Xu Ziling thought about it for a while, and felt that he would have a chance to go to Baihua Valley in the future, so he bowed to Qingxuan and said, "Then there will be a labor chief." ”

"It's just a matter of raising your hands," Qing Xuan took out a pen and paper from his baggage, "What's more, this kind of situation is indeed not common, and I am also happy to enjoy the beauty of adults." ”

While Qingxuan was writing, Xu Ziling asked him: "Since the Taoist is from the Valley of Hundred Flowers, have you ever heard of a man named Liu Jingsheng whose meridians are all broken?" ”

Qing Xuan wrote the letter and shook his head: "I have been out of the valley for more than a year, and most of the things in the valley do not know. ”

Seeing that he didn't know, Xu Ziling thanked him again. Remembering that they were here to eat, he hurriedly asked Xiao Er to serve some food.

As soon as he received Qing Xuan's letter of recommendation, the old Taoist priest on the opposite side suddenly asked, "Little friend, is the Chixiao Sword on you?" ”