Li Zhang was riding on a horse in civilian clothes, next to him were wild dogs and Ouyang Xiu, both of whom were also dressed in civilian clothes, looking like three rich sons who were out to play, they were now located in the southern suburbs of Luoyang, and this was also the place where the hat demon appeared for the first time.

"What does Uncle Yong think of the Hat Demon?" Li Zhang asked Ouyang Xiu next to him with a smile at this time, he came to Luoyang to investigate the matter of the hat demon, and he needed a local official to accompany him, and Qian Weiyan saw that Li Zhang and Ouyang Xiu were old acquaintances, and they were both young people, plus he also had the intention of cultivating Ouyang Xiu, so he asked Ouyang Xiu to accompany Li Zhang to investigate the case.

I saw that Ouyang Xiu showed a hesitant expression at this time, and only after a while did he speak: "Zi Bu is strange and confused, I originally didn't believe in the hat demon, but I was also present on the day of Judge Zhou's birthday, and I saw the legendary hat demon with my own eyes, and during this time, there were constantly things about the hat demon hurting people in the city, which made people panic, and now I also have some doubts about whether there is really a hat demon in this world?" ”

After Ouyang Xiu finished speaking, he saw Li Zhang smiling and silent, and asked curiously at the moment: "I don't know what Brother Li thinks of the hat demon?" ”

"Me?" Li Zhang smiled again when he heard this, and then he spoke, "Before I saw the hat demon with my own eyes, I was still skeptical of the hat demon, and even if I saw it, it was not necessarily true, after all, eyes sometimes deceive people." ”

When Li Zhang spoke, the three of them also came to a small hill, Luoyang is not like Kaifeng, Kaifeng is a big plain, not even a mountain can be seen, at most there are some mounds, called Tushan by the locals, but there are many mountains here in Luoyang, such as Yushan, Bishan, Qingyao Mountain, Jingzi Mountain and so on.

Li Zhang: The hill in front of them is very ordinary, the name is Qingfeng Ridge, you know that it is not a famous mountain when you hear the name, in fact, this hill does not have a name, and even few people in Luoyang have heard of it before, but just a few months ago, this Qingfeng Ridge was famous, because there was a hat demon here, and many villagers around the vicinity witnessed a hat demon flying up from the mountainside and quickly disappeared.

Li Zhang wanted to find the first place to find the hat demon, after all, his detectives were not in vain, generally speaking, there will always be some special places in the place where the case first appeared, so he also specially asked Qian Weiyan about the place where the hat demon was found for the first time, although it is not yet certain, but judging from the appearance of the hat demon received by the yamen, Qingfengling should be the first place where the hat demon was reported.

"This is Qingfeng Ridge, there are a total of three villages nearby, located in the southeast, northwest and northeast directions of Qingfeng Ridge, at that time, the hat demon appeared in the middle of the Qingfeng Ridge, and floated in the air, disappeared after a while, and many people in the three villages saw it at that time." Ouyang Xiu pointed to the hill in front of him at this time and introduced.

Li Zhang also took out a topographic map at this time, which was the terrain near Qingfeng Ridge and the location of the village, and when he looked at the topographic map, he suddenly turned his head and reconfirmed Ouyang Xiu next to him: "People from the three villages can see the hat demon?" ”

"Yes, in fact, it's not just the people in the village, there is a Hongfa Temple on the mountain, and there are more than a dozen monks living in the temple, and they also see the hat demon." Ouyang Xiu spoke again at this time, in order to accompany Li Zhang to investigate the matter of the hat demon, he had also carefully read all the things that appeared in the hat demon in the past two days, and he knew it well at this time.

After listening to this, Li Zhang nodded, then thought about it for a while and said again: "Let's go, let's go up the mountain and have a look!" ”

The mountain road was narrow and there was no way to move horses, so Li Zhang and the three simply dismounted and walked, leaving a few entourages to watch the horses at the foot of the mountain. Qingfeng Ridge was not high, so Li Zhang and they soon came to the location of the mountainside, Li Zhang wanted to find a clue here, but it was lush with vegetation here, and the place was too big, and there was no effective clue at all.

In desperation, Li Zhang had to continue to walk up, and he saw pedestrians from time to time on the road, and asked Ouyang Xiu to know that after the appearance of the hat demon, the people of the surrounding villages were also panicked, so they went up the mountain to Hongfa Temple to burn incense and ask for peace charms, it is said that as long as the peace charms in the temple are hung, the hat demon will not dare to enter the door and hurt people.

Li Zhang shook his head slightly, but he didn't say anything, when they came to the top of the mountain, they saw a small temple appear in front of them, surrounded by trees, if they didn't look carefully, I am afraid that ordinary people would miss this temple.

Li Zhang came to the temple and looked at the temple door, only to see the plaque of "Hongfa Temple" hanging on the door, and it looks very new, it seems that it is not long after the replacement is replaced, the temple door is wide open, and the pilgrims can be seen coming in and out from time to time, and the temple is also full of incense, which seems to be a little out of place with the quiet and hidden environment around the temple.

At the moment Li Zhang entered the temple, he saw a tall incense burner at the entrance, many pilgrims were incense, and there were monks selling incense next to him, Li Zhang looked at the situation in the temple at random, and then entered the main hall, only to see that this hall is no different from the general temple, the main gate is facing a clay statue of Buddha, pilgrims can ask for a sign, and there are monks next to them to unsign, and even sell peace charms, although Li Zhang remembers that peace charms seem to be Taoist, but Buddhism and Taoism are not separated, and there seems to be nothing wrong with appearing in Buddhist temples.

Li Zhang found the monk of Zhike, after indicating the identity of his official government, he asked to see the host of the temple, and the monk did not dare to slack off, first asked Li Zhang and them to rest in the quiet room next to them, and served tea, and then rushed to the backyard to report.

After a while, I saw a fat middle-aged monk walk in, and when he saw Li Zhang, he immediately saluted and said: "The poor monk Xuanyue is polite, I don't know what this noble man is called, what position he holds in the yamen, what is the matter with finding a poor monk?" ”

Although this Xuanyue didn't seem to be anything abnormal on the surface, he was actually very vigilant, because he asked Li Zhang three questions in a row, and a pair of eyes were also looking at Li Zhang and them with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Master Xuanyue is polite, under is Ouyang Xiu, the official of the Xijing Left-behind Mansion, this time I went out to play with my friends, I heard that there was a hat demon here, and I wanted to ask the master about some things under curiosity." I saw Ouyang Xiu stand up and show his identity at this time.

Hearing Ouyang Xiu's identity, this Xuan Yue immediately showed a respectful look, although the position of the official is not high, but it is quite powerful, and the other party is so young, either a scholar from a jinshi background, or a nobleman with a shadow of his ancestors, these two people are not something that he can provoke as a small host.

"It turned out to be Ouyang Tuiguan, the poor monk was rude, please sit down, come here, serve good tea!" Xuan Yue immediately said very enthusiastically, and finally specially ordered someone to change the tea, which made Li Zhang and Ouyang Xiu also look at each other and smile, although this Xuan Yue is a monk, but his words and deeds are more like a businessman.

At that moment, Xuan Yue accompanied Li Zhang and a few people to drink tea and chat, Ouyang Xiu also asked about the hat demon again, Xuan Yue was very eloquent, and told the appearance of the hat demon before in detail, and also added many mysterious and mysterious details, such as the wind when the hat demon appeared, and the wolf howled in the mountains, I don't know if it's true or not.

Although the story told by Xuanyue was very exciting, it didn't have much value, and Ouyang Xiu also showed a disappointed look after hearing it, but Li Zhang suddenly said at this time: "Master Xuanyue, I think Hongfa Temple is quite ancient, I think it should be an ancient temple, right?" ”

Hearing Li Zhang's words, Xuanyue's eyes lit up, and she immediately said excitedly: "This noble man really has a vision, our temple was built in the former Tang Wuzhou period, it is said that someone saw the colorful Buddha light in Qingfeng Ridge at that time, so there were nobles who funded the construction of this temple on the mountain, although our temple is not very big, but it has flourished for hundreds of years, especially recently it is the peak of incense, and even people in Luoyang City often come to the temple to make incense and make wishes!" ”

Seeing Xuan Yue's excited appearance, Li Zhang smiled calmly and said again: "I didn't expect Hongfa Temple to have such a history, but when I entered the temple just now, I found that the plaque in your temple was brand new, could it be that the plaque in the temple has been changed?" ”

Plaques are not easy to replace, old can be repainted, but rarely replaced with new ones, unless the old plaques are really broken and unusable, some plaques can even be passed down for generations, especially in places like temples, where an old plaque can sometimes highlight the heritage of the temple.

Hearing Li Zhang's inquiry, Xuan Yue's face obviously showed a somewhat unnatural look, but finally explained: "Don't hide it from the two nobles, in fact, our temple was originally called Mingxin Temple, and after I became the host, I felt that the name was not very good, so I changed it to Hongfa Temple, so I replaced the new plaque." ”

"Mingxin Temple?" Li Zhang suddenly showed a somewhat clear look when he heard this name, and then smiled again, "Zen Buddhism has the words of seeing the mind and seeing the nature to become a Buddha, if my guess is right, the Mingxin Temple should have been a practice temple before, right?" ”

The temple is divided into the practice temple and the incense temple, the so-called practice temple, that is, the monks in the temple are mainly practiced, usually do not receive pilgrims, and the incense temple is the temple in the hearts of most people, you can go in to burn incense and worship the Buddha, collect incense money and so on.

"This ......" Hearing Li Zhang's words, Xuan Yue immediately showed an embarrassed expression, but this kind of thing can't lie at all, because the Great Song Dynasty is extremely strict with both Buddhism and Taoism, and the changes in the temple must also be reported to the government.

"Master Xuanyue, I have another question here, I don't know if you changed the cultivation temple to the incense temple, before or after the hat demon appeared?" Li Zhang stared at Xuan Yue at this time and asked again, from the moment he came to Hongfa Temple, he had already had doubts about this temple.