Hou Xuanyan sat on the steps in front of the main hall, pulled off Xu Yuanbao's headscarf, and sat on the ground under his buttocks.

"Old monk, where have you hidden all the women of our Han family?"

The old monk knew that the other party must have accurate news, and secretly scolded his subordinates in his heart, it was really more than enough to succeed. At that time, he told him to be careful, but the fat monk was also a fan of flower wine, which caused these things.

He pointed back and said, "The Qing soldiers have brought a total of six women, three of whom are said to be dedicated to Dorgon, and three are kept by Dordo himself. On the day the city of Suzhou changed hands, the Qing soldiers killed two of them, leaving the rest and fleeing. We were kind enough to adopt them..."

Hou Xuanyan laughed and said, "Kindly sold them to the Qinglou, right?" ”

The old monk's face turned red, and then he said: "The remaining four have been sold to two, one is in Yihong Courtyard, one is in Changle Building, and the remaining two are locked in the wing room at the back. ”

When everyone heard this, they knew that the remaining two eighty percent were kept as confinement by this group of monks.

Yang Qingshan led a monk to the side room, pushed open the door and saw that there were two scantily clad women hanging on the beams of the room, who had been breathing for a long time.

It turned out that after they were humiliated, they had always wanted to die, but they were very strict with these monks. Today, Hou Xuanyan led people into the temple, and they finally got the opportunity to commit suicide by hanging the beam.

After Yang Qingshan came back, he leaned close to Hou Xuanyan and whispered in his ear, Hou Xuanyan's pupils gradually contracted, and his fists clenched unconsciously.

"Send someone to Changle Building, rescue that woman, and bring me this lewd nest by the way."

He held back his anger and asked with a cruel smile: "Old monk, I see that you have good fists and feet, what did you do before?" ”

"The poor monk entered the temple to practice at the age of eight."

Hou Xuanyan made a look, Xu Yuanbao understood, and a stick hit his knee. "I'll ask you again, and I advise you to tell the truth, we're not good people."

The old monk's knee bones were shattered, but he was still gritting his teeth, which showed the demeanor of a generation of ruthless people, that is, he insisted that he was a monk who was a monk at a young age.

Hou Xuanyan instructed Yang Shu to take someone to the firewood room to get a pile of firewood, and after lighting it, he asked, "What did you do before?" ”

The old monk glared at him hatefully, without saying a word, and his eyes were like vicious wolves and jackals. If ordinary people see such eyes, they are afraid that they will be frightened and lose their souls, and they will find the magic stick in the township to summon their souls.

Hou Xuan has seen the scene of slaughtering the city no less than three times, and his determination is beyond ordinary people, how can he be frightened by him.

He picked up a stone and threw it into the monk's pile, hitting one of the monks' heads.

Hou Xuanyan pointed to the monk who was hit, and said with a smile: "Throw him into the fire." ”

As soon as the words fell, Xu Yuanbao picked up the monk and threw it fiercely, only to hear the monk fall into the fire and howl desperately. He tried with all his might to rush out, but every time he ran to the fire, he was beaten back with sticks by the guards.

Only then did the monks realize that although their group of people were evildoers, they had encountered ruthless people who were dozens or hundreds of times worse than themselves.

The unlucky monk was burned for a long time before he stopped struggling. His legs and feet were broken by the guards, and he was unable to escape, and was burned alive to charcoal.

"I ask again, who are you?"

The monks all looked at their leader, trembling and not daring to speak.

Hou Xuanyan picked up a small pebble, threw it into the sky, and received it in his hand.

At this time, a monk of the older grade struggled to crawl out and shouted: "I'm recruiting, I'll say anything, don't burn me." ”

Hou Xuanyan stared at him and said, "Say it." ”

The great monk was frightened by the burned companions, and he didn't dare to hide it anymore, so he poured beans into the bamboo tube and said it.

It turned out that this abbot used to be a thief who killed people and oversold goods, named Yang Xiong, who was famous in Suzhou for a generation. Once Yang Xiong went into the city to eat flowers and wine, he was recognized and was surrounded and suppressed by the government. He fled to Hanshan Temple, where he accidentally saw the monks in the temple counting incense money at night.

The silver of the white flowers completely shocked Yang Xiong. Killing people and selling goods, licking blood with the tip of a knife, the gold and silver obtained are not as good as these monks doing nothing, and what they get in one day is comparable to pinning their heads to the waistband of their trousers and doing it dozens of times.

After Yang Xiong fled, he gathered a group of brothers, entered the temple, and killed the abbot who presided over the temple. Leaving only a few small novices, they changed their ways, and a group of thieves became high monks from then on.

It's ridiculous that those who believe in men and women were deceived by them at will, and the situation was turbulent when the Qing soldiers went south, and the government did not find out.

After listening to this, Hou Xuanyan frowned and was silent.

There are many temples in the south of the Yangtze River, and the sesame oil money from these places can make a group of thieves change jobs. An idea gradually took shape in Hou Xuanyan's mind, and people from the yamen could be stationed in each temple. Since the sesame oil money is to buy peace of mind, how can it be cheap for monks who do not produce. Gone are the days when you could make money by sitting on a futon and knocking on a wooden fish.

The wealthy merchants in Jiangnan had a lot of gold and silver in their hands, and they would rather spend a lot of money in the temple to make a wish than pay taxes in their own shares. The Ming Dynasty was the worst and most barbaric in the past dynasties. They often instigated their people to besiege and kill tax collectors and violently resist taxes. Then he instigated the literati, danced and inked for them, and trumpeted this act of rebellion.

At the beginning, these southern tyrants could also push the tax to the mud legs in the north, so that they could contribute people and money. But now, the north has fallen, and if taxes are not rectified, I am afraid that we will have to drink the northwest wind.

Thinking of this, Hou Xuanyan immediately realized that this matter could not be handed over to Xia Yunyi. He is an authentic Jiangnan scholar, who has been brainwashed in his bones, and thinks that resisting taxes is the righteousness.

"Let's go, go back home, and see my father-in-law first." Gu Youde is the richest man in Suzhou and the first businessman. As long as he is persuaded and let him set an example, Suzhou will have much less resistance to collecting commercial taxes. Then Lao Tzu personally went down to Zhejiang, and it was bound to be implemented throughout Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Yang Qingshan saw him turn around and leave, and hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "My lord, how to deal with these evil monks?" ”

"Hanshan Temple is surrounded by mountains and rivers, it is an excellent place, and a military camp is set up here, and the recruited soldiers are stationed here to facilitate drills. These fake monks were full of evil, lost their conscience, and colluded with the Qing soldiers to humiliate and sell Han women. Now that we've lit this fire, let's not waste this firewood. ”

Yang Qingshan's body trembled for a while, and he gasped for cold air, only feeling a chill behind him on a hot day.

The Governor, he's a ruthless man.

The Hanshan Temple was filled with smoke and ghosts crying wolves, making this Pure Land of Buddhism like a Yama hell.