"This is it!" Ouyang Xiu pointed to a building road a hundred steps away from the carriage, only to see that this building seemed to be a bit like a Buddhist temple at first glance, but when you look at it a second time, you will find obvious differences, even with a bit of the style of the Western Regions, in fact, this is a Manichaean temple, that is, a Manichaean temple, because believers are forbidden to eat meat, so the folk also call it Caijiao, or another famous name - Mingjiao.

Manichaeism originated in the Sassanid Dynasty of ancient Persia, introduced to the Western Regions in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and then from the Western Regions to Mobei, the Hui people believed in Manichaeism very much, and at that time the Hui and the Tang Dynasty were friendly, so Manichaeism was also introduced into the Central Plains, and later when Tang Wuzong would destroy the Buddha, Manichaeism was also severely hit, so it went underground, and changed its name to Mingjiao, because Mingjiao believed that the darkness was about to pass, and the light would come.

Although the reputation of Mingjiao in history is not very good, especially for the rulers, it has rebelled many times, but in the Northern Song Dynasty, the reputation of Mingjiao is not too bad, except for Wu Yi and Dong Yi in the five dynasties who have rebelled in the name of Mingjiao, there is no major rebellion related to Mingjiao, especially the Fangla uprising has not yet occurred, so Mingjiao is still a legitimate religion in the Great Song Dynasty, especially in places like Luoyang Sishunfang, where Hui people live, it is not surprising that there is a Mani Temple.

Li Zhang was also looking at this Mani Temple at this time, to be exact, it was the Dayun Guangming Temple, which was also the name of the Manichaean Temple built in Chang'an when Manichaeism first entered the Central Plains in the Tang Dynasty, which was destroyed during the Huichang period, and now the Hui people living in Luoyang rebuilt the Dayun Guangming Temple here, of course, there is no way to compare with the Dayun Guangming Temple in Chang'an.

I saw that this Dayun Guangming Temple has a main gate and two side gates, it seems to be very similar to the Buddhist temple, and even the statue of Mani is very similar to the Buddha, in fact, when Manichaeism was introduced into the Central Plains, it was attached to Buddhism, and later after being hit in the Tang Dynasty, it was combined with Buddhism, and even many people could not distinguish the difference between Buddhism and Manichaeism.

The scale of Guangming Temple is not very large, at least much smaller than the Guanghua Temple and Wuliangguan that Li Zhang has seen before, and the Great Song Dynasty has strict management of religion, even Buddhism and Taoism are restricted, not to mention teaching, so there is only such a Manichae Temple in the whole Sishunfang, and the Hui people who believe in Manichaeism will come here to worship, Li Zhang saw that the believers in front of the temple are also in and out of an endless stream, the only difference is that there are no traders doing business next to it, which is a little different from Buddhist temples and Taoist temples.

"Brother Li, are you sure that the matter of the Hat Demon is related to Manichaeism?" Ouyang Xiu asked Li Zhang curiously at this time, the last time Li Zhang took him to Sishunfang, after seeing Guanghua Temple and Wuliang Temple, he immediately asked people to investigate other temples or Taoist temples in the Fang again, but Li Zhang quickly locked his eyes on Mani Temple, not the previous Guanghua Temple and Wuliang Temple, nor other temples.

Li Zhang smiled calmly when he heard Ouyang Xiu's inquiry, and then did not answer him directly, but asked with a smile: "Uncle Yong, what is the reputation of Manichaeism in Luoyang City, and what do the ordinary people of Luoyang think of these Manichaeans?" ”

"This ......" I saw Ouyang Xiu ponder for a moment, and then said honestly, "The reputation of Manichaeism is indeed not very good, when Wuzong destroyed Buddhism, although Manichaeism was implicated, but its development momentum at that time was indeed too fierce, if you let it go, maybe now there will be one more religion that competes with Buddhism, plus after Manichaeism changed its name to Mingjiao, it also behaves a little strangely, the customs of the Hui people and the Han people are different, and there are some conflicts in ordinary times, so the people in the city have always not liked Manichaeism very much, The only people who believe in Manichaeism are the Uighurs. ”

"But if you look at the believers who are now in and out of the Guangming Temple, in addition to the Hui people, there are also many Han people, what made them suddenly change to Manichaeism?" Li Zhang pointed to the temple door outside the car window at this time, and smiled again.

During the Tang Dynasty, Manichaeism was attacked and turned underground, and changed its name to Mingjiao, and now it is mainly active in the south, and there are many Hui people here in Luoyang, they also call their religion Manichaeism, but in fact, it is in the same vein as Mingjiao, and there is no difference in nature, and Mingjiao in the south is secretive, and even many people have no good impression of Manichaeism.

Ouyang Xiu was also stunned when he heard this, then turned his head to observe carefully, and soon found that there were indeed some Han people among the believers who came in and out, which made him a little surprised: "When did the Han people in Luoyang City also start to convert to Manichaeism?" ”

"Just recently, at the beginning, I asked people to mainly investigate the missionary situation of these two schools of Buddhism and Taoism, but ignored this Manichaeism, so after I went back that day, I asked people to re-investigate, and found that Manichaeism also took advantage of the opportunity of the Hat Demon to preach, claiming that their God of Light can protect believers from the invasion of the Hat Demon, and also used some small favors to attract believers, and as a result, some fools and foolish women really became Manichaean believers." Li Zhang smiled lightly again at this time.

Li Zhang has always had a neutral attitude towards religion, but he believes that religion must have its own bottom line, such as not being able to enter secular power, and preaching must be voluntary, and must not use coercion or deception to let people enter the church.

"But didn't the previous Guanghua Temple and the Immeasurable Temple also take the opportunity to rein in the believers, why would Brother Li doubt Manichaeism?" Ouyang Xiu asked again puzzled at this time.

"The suspicion of the Infinite View and the Guanghua Temple has not been completely ruled out, but they used to be well-known temples and Taoist temples in the city, even if they also used the same means as the Hongfa Temple to make the hat demon, but there is no need to hurt people, you must know that not only some people in the city were injured by the hat demon, but even a few died of serious injuries, this is a matter of human life, if Uncle Yong, the presiding officer of your temple, will you do this kind of thing?" Li Zhang also showed a serious expression at the end.

"No, Buddhism and Taoism have deep roots, and Wuliangguan and Guanghua Temple are both well-known temples, so they can't use such extreme means to attract believers, so Manichaeism is really the most suspicious!" Ouyang Xiu also showed a shocked look after listening to Li Zhang's analysis.

In fact, they all made a mistake before, thinking that the mastermind behind the hat demon was a certain person or force, and even Li Zhang thought so before, but after the incident of that Xuanyue, Li Zhang suddenly thought of a possibility, that is, the hat demon thing is likely not to be done by one person or force, but by several people or several forces, after all, there are many smart people in the world, and there should be more than one or two people who can see that the hat demon is Kong Ming's lantern.

It is under the above idea that Li Zhang divides the hat demon into two kinds, one is the hat demon but it does not hurt people, such as the birthday banquet of Judge Zhou, although there is a hat demon, but no one is injured, and the other is the situation of hurting people, this situation is closer to the situation of the hat demon in the second year of Tianxi, not only the hat demon, but also the hat demon will change into a wolf, breaking into the house and hurting people.

Li Zhang also deliberately checked the confessions of those injured people, and the confessions of these people were also surprisingly consistent, they all first saw the hat demon in mid-air, and then the house was suddenly broken into by a wolf-like monster, most of their wounds were bitten or scratched, and after the yamen's puppet examined the wounds, they also found that they did not look like they were injured by weapons.

"If these Manichaeans are playing ghosts, then the hat demonizing the wolf can also be explained, after all, they are nomads, and I heard that there are methods of driving wolves and taming tigers in the Western Regions, and the Hui people may use this method to drive wolves and hurt people!" Ouyang Xiu suddenly thought of it again at this time, and said excitedly again at the moment.

However, Li Zhang shook his head when he heard this and said: "It may not be a real wolf, after all, the hat demon only appeared a few months ago, if the Hui people want to use a real wolf, they must catch the wolf back for training, and then transport it to Luoyang City, I am afraid that it will be too late in such a short time, but they can completely use people to pretend to be wolves, after all, the night is dim, and the injured person is full of fear, and it is impossible to distinguish whether the other party is a real wolf or a fake wolf." ”

Ouyang Xiu nodded in agreement when he heard Li Zhang's words, indeed, it is indeed not easy to find wolves around a big city like Luoyang, and it will take a while to transport them from other places, so it is more likely that the wolf that hurts people is pretending.

"Brother Li, should we go in, or let people go directly to the Guangming Temple to search?" Ouyang Xiu asked again at this time.

"The investigation is definitely going to be investigated, but I'm worried that they should destroy the evidence, and even if they go in and search, I'm afraid they won't find any useful evidence." Li Zhang said lightly at this time.

However, he did not regret making Kong Minglan public before, after all, Luoyang had already been panicked by the hat demon at that time, and if it was made public one day later, there would be one more day of risk, and there might even be something about the hat demon hurting people, and since Kong Minglan was made public, Luoyang City has not only settled down, but also never happened to the hat demon.

"Then what should we do, if these Manichaeas no longer pretend to be hat demons, won't we have nothing to do with them?" Ouyang Xiu was also very anxious at this time and said again.

"Hehe, Uncle Yong don't worry, I have my own way!" Li Zhang smiled again with a confident expression at this time, he has not been idle these days, in addition to investigating the affairs of Manichaeism, he is also thinking about how to get the evidence that these people are pretending to be hat demons and hurting people, and now he has a detailed plan, and this time he came to the Guangming Temple to implement this plan.

Hearing Li Zhang's words, Ouyang Xiu was also very curious, what was Li Zhang's plan to inquire about at the moment? But Li Zhang refused to say more, but took him out of the carriage, and then asked people to go to the Guangming Temple to identify themselves, and told the other party openly that he was here to investigate the case of the hat demon.

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