It was nearly dusk, and the cold wind was howling across the ground, and the icy city of Beijing was extremely cold.

After several days of snowstorms, countless houses inside and outside the capital were crushed, and countless families became destitute in the blink of an eye. In the cold and freezing, the dazed victims had to wander the streets and alleys of Beijing, hoping to find a way to live.

The sharp increase in the number of victims has led to a sharp deterioration in law and order in Beijing, with a sharp increase in large and small cases. The combination of wind and snow has made it difficult to travel by land around Beijing, pedestrians, vehicles and horses have become scarce on the road, and the daily commercial activities of Beijing have become much deserted.

In order to stabilize the mood of the victims and restore normal order in Beijing, the Manchus waved their butcher's knives on the one hand and decisively suppressed the lawbreakers; On the one hand, it symbolically arranged disaster relief and assigned the Taoist temples in Beijing to start giving porridge and clothes to large households.

At Chaoyang Gate, several soldiers guarding the city hid under the city wall to avoid the wind, rubbing their hands and feet vigorously, and their eyes couldn't help but look directly at the porridge factory greenhouse next to the city gate.

The porridge factory greenhouse is located in an open space outside the city gate, surrounded by reed mats. Groups of victims poured into the gate with bowls in their hands.

In the shed, five large iron pots stand on the newly built large stove, and the pots are bubbling with hot steam.

The ragged Lu Junsong and Lu Junbai lined up in a long queue, and finally each hit a bowl of gruel.

Looking at the porridge in the bowl, it is watery, and the thin can shine on the face. Five-year-old Lu Junbai's eyes were green, and he gently stuck out his tongue and licked it.

It's hot! What a warm feeling!

Lu Junbai drank it in a big gulp, and after a few big gulps, the bowl was empty.

"Brother, I'm still hungry!"

Seven-year-old Lu Junsong handed over his bowl, "Brother still has half a bowl of porridge here, my brother is already full!" ”

Lu Junsong and Lu Junbai are a pair of little brothers, and their family lives outside Chaoyangmen. The blizzard crushed their house, their parents and relatives were gone, and they became a pair of orphans.

The little brothers relied on the porridge factory to give porridge during the day, and at night the cats struggled to survive in the small shack built on the ruins.

At this moment, the rattling of mule bells rang, and a convoy of carts and horses loaded with grain came from outside the city.

Chaoyangmen is the only way to transport grain, and the southern grain and rice that arrives in Beijing through the Grand Canal must be loaded in Tongzhou, transported into the capital through Chaoyangmen, and stored in the major granaries in the city.

"The ice and snow closed the city for more than ten days, and finally the first batch of grain was transported from Tongzhou."

"Good! The official warehouse has been replenished, and the grain for disaster relief can be distributed in full. ”

Seeing the wheels of the grain trucks rolling over the stones at the city gate, the old and young masters who closed the carriage at Chaoyangmen felt much more at ease. Seeing a large amount of grain entering Beijing, people seem to see hope.

Lu Junsong and Lu Junbai stood on the side of the road, staring blankly at the cart full of grain passing in front of them.

"Brother, I'm still hungry!"

I drank more than a bowl of gruel just now, and I don't know where to fly at this time, Lu Junbai touched his shriveled stomach and gently pulled Lu Junsong.

Looking at his hungry younger brother, Lu Junbai wanted to cry in his heart.

Daddy! Mother! You're gone, how can my brother and I survive!

Lu Junsong pulled Lu Junbai and wanted to squeeze into the long queue of hungry people.

"Kid, don't squeeze!" The Bantouzhuang Shuiyuan of the Yamen of Shuntian Mansion grabbed Lu Junsong, "The gruel in the porridge factory is not full, you want your younger brother to have a full stomach, go to Dongyue Temple, and eat there to be full." ”

"Let go of me, let go of me!" Lu Junsong hit Zhuang Shuiyuan desperately with his hands and feet, "Let's not go to Dongyue Temple." ”

Dongyue Temple, just north of Chaoyangmen Guanxiang, not far from here.

Lu Junsong had long heard from his family about Dongyue Temple, saying that Dongyue Temple had been sheltering homeless people and then transferring them to Westerners.

"At a young age, I know that I like to work hard and refuse to work to support myself." Zhuang Shuiyuan knocked Lu Junsong unconscious.

Dongyue Temple, the largest jungle in northern China, has been suppressed by the Baiyun Temple of Quanzhen Taoism, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not pay much attention to it, and the incense of the Taoist Temple gradually declined.

When Lu Junsong woke up, he found that he and his younger brother were all in an empty house in Dongyue Temple. In the middle of the house is a large brazier, around which dozens of children are heating.

He looked around, and the room was sheltered from the wind and rain, and he didn't feel the erosion of the north wind at all. The wall is covered with thick straw, presumably where to sleep.

"Brother, this place is better than our shack!" Lu Junbai showed an innocent smile, "If only I could eat a full meal, it would be even better!" ”

At this time, there was a fragrant smell of batter outside the house. Lu Junsong's stomach growled. He and Lu Junbai couldn't help but walk out of the room.

Outside the house was a large courtyard, and the fragrant batter was already boiling in the five cauldrons set up by the fireworkers.

Smelling this fragrant smell, Lu Junsong couldn't help but show a bright smile, he completely forgot the troubles just now.

Okay, if you have food and drink, it's good to live!

On the back cover of the last entrance of Dongyue Temple, Ma Yilin, the presiding officer of Dongyue Temple, sat on the main seat with a smile, watching Yang Zhizhi respectfully hold a teapot for Tian Zijiudao.

Yang Zhiyi is Zhu Yangni's name in Daomen.

After a year of incubation in Shanghai, Zhu Yangni became addicted to this challenging underground work, and he strongly demanded to go to Beijing to open up a new front.

The executive committee finally agreed to Zhu Yangni's request and arranged for him to practice as a natural Taoist priest in Dongyue Temple in Beijing and carry out hidden tasks.

Yang Zhizhi is a person who can spit lotus flowers in his mouth, and he will make a fortune wherever he goes. In less than a month in Dongyue Temple, he brainwashed Ma Yilin, the host of Dongyue Temple, so that the Natural Dao became a faction of Zhengyi, and the "Natural Dao Canon" also became the scripture of Zhengyi.

"It's hard work!" Tian Zijiu swept Yang Zhiyi with disdain.

Tian Zijiu, the presiding officer of Shichahai Fire Temple, has been practicing diligently for decades since he cultivated the Tao, but now he is over sixty years old, but his face is still ruddy and his body is healthy.

"Ma Daochang, Dongyue Temple was built in the Yuan Dynasty and has been around for five hundred years." Tian Daochang was sitting in a precarious position, his face was full of seriousness, "Dongyue Temple is the same as Longhu Mountain, it is the first jungle in the north, and it has been respected by our northern Zhengyi for hundreds of years. How can you self-destruct your cultivation and mix it up with the Wild Fox Zen 'Natural Path'?! ”

"Five hundred years ......" Ma Yilin shook his head, "More than five hundred years ago, in the eighth year of the Great Virtue of Yuan Chengzong, the thirty-eighth generation Heavenly Master Zhang Yucai was awarded the 'Zhengyi Sect Master', and from then on, the Heavenly Master Dao is also known as Zhengyi. ”

He looked at Tian Zijiu seriously, "A thousand years ago, the Heavenly Master Dao was divided into two factions, the north and the south, and the southern faction was headed by Patriarch Lu Xiujing and Patriarch Tao Hongjing. The Northern Sect is headed by Kou Qian's Heavenly Master. The final encounter between the north and the south faction, Tian Daochang should know! ”

Tian Zijiu is a well-read Taoist who knows a lot about the history of Taoism.

During the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Kou Qianzhi founded the Northern School of Heavenly Master Dao, and he was the national teacher, but after he ascended to heaven, Taoism and Buddhism debated, and Taoism failed. Emperor Wenxuan ordered the abolition of Taoism, and Kou Qianzhi's Heavenly Master Taoist Order disappeared in an instant.

During the Southern Liang period, in the context of the whole country worshipping Buddha, Tao Hongjing, as a representative of the Southern School of Heavenly Master Taoism, was forced to travel far away under pressure. Finally, as the master of the Shangqing sect of Taoism, he went to the Ashoka Pagoda in Chengxian County, swore to take the ordination, and practiced Buddhism and Taoism. It was precisely in this way that the fate of the death of a new Heavenly Master Dao like Kou Qianzhi was avoided.

"Ma Daochang, although the Quanzhen Dao is now powerful, it is quite valued by the imperial court, and the incense is also prosperous in all directions, but we are also deeply rooted and leafy, and have a long history."

Tian Zijiu's face became a little ruddy, "Besides, we are all people who practice in the world......

"A person can retreat from the world to practice, a Taoist temple, a religious order, it is impossible to avoid the disturbances of the red dust. If there is no external force to hold onto each other, the cultivation of the true path will ultimately be just a water moon mirror flower. Ma Yilin couldn't help but interrupt Tian Zijiu's words.

Ma Yilin's words are right to the key point of Daomen's cultivation, can the will of the imperial court not be obeyed? Can the requests of dignitaries not be welcomed? Can the daily use of the Taoist temple be separated from the worship of incense from all directions?

Tian Zijiu's mouth was plugged for a while.

"As for whether the 'natural way' is a wild fox Zen, then it is necessary to clean up the source and restore the origin of Lao Tzu's 'morality'." Ma Yilin said with a smile, "I have read and read the five volumes of the Natural Dao Canon, and there is no conflict with me as the Pope. ”

"Oh?" Tian Dao's eyebrows raised.

Zhengyi has always advocated that cultivators should not only seek to become immortals, but also help others to do good deeds and attain the enlightenment of sentient beings. The same is true of the doctrine of the Word of Nature. Ma Daochang said with a straight face, "The natural Taoist canon preaches that there are five virtues in the Tao: 'good life', 'freedom', 'equality', 'reward for diligence', and 'purity'. In this way, it embodies the belief and social norms of kindness, freedom, equality, diligence, and temperance. Poor Dao thought that he could make up for the missing scriptures. ”

Tian Daochang said hesitantly, "'Good life', 'freedom', 'equality', 'reward for hard work', and 'purity' seem to be all teachings about joining the WTO. ”

"Being born is practice, and entering the world is also practice." Yang Yi listened to it for a long time, and finally couldn't help but speak, "Those who don't plan for the whole domain are not enough to plan for one domain, and those who don't plan for the world are not enough to plan for one life." ”

Tian Zijiu smiled dumbly, "Daoist Yang is mistaken, we are cultivating immortals, not attacking cities and capturing land." ”

"In the past, Taoism and Buddhism debated, and Buddhism and Taoism won and lost each other, this is the siege of cities and captives, this is the war of religion!"

Yang Zhiyi briefly mentioned the survival of various contemporary religions, "Whether it is Buddhism, Quanzhen Religion, or the Xingyue Religion in the Western Regions, or the Cross Religion in the West, they are all seeking living space and the faith of believers. ”

Tian Zi thought about it for a long time, and felt that Yang Zhiyi's words had some meaning, but he had doubts about a term, "Faith power? ”

"There are three gods and Buddhas in the world, one is the real god Buddha, one is the god Buddha that people think, and the other is the god and Buddha held hostage. There are many people who believe, and this god and Buddha seem to be extraordinarily sacred, extraordinarily powerful, and extraordinarily powerful. ”

Tian Zijiu raised his eyebrows, "Oh?!" ”

Yang Zhizhi said with a smile, "For example, Emperor Guan Sheng." ”

Tian Zijiu didn't open his mouth for a long time, Guan Yu's belief is indeed like this, originally he was just a small god, there were many people who believed in it, and the royal family of all dynasties and dynasties supported the scene, and the result was that the prince and the king, the king and the emperor, the emperor and the saint, the holy and the sky, the praise is endless, and the temple is endless.

Yang Zhi said eloquently, "Inside the Daomen, the Quanzhen Sect is the most powerful; Looking at the Central Plains, Buddhism is stronger than Taoism, and it is very strong; In the Western Regions, the Star and Moon Sect is great; In the West, the Crusades dominated. If your pope has no believers, no matter how good your morality is, it will surely decline. ”

He finally said aloud, "Between heaven and earth, there is only one avenue. We all know that the 'Tao' we cultivate is the Great Dao, but you have to convince more believers, otherwise you will only tend to decline. For us cultivators, entering the WTO is practice, and being born is also practice. If we can't gain more faith power, and the Daoist sect will eventually decline, can you say that we are cultivating the Great Dao?! ”

"I'm going to study the Book of Nature first."

Tian Zijiu's mind was confused, and he recalled the original intention of the conversation, which was to tell the "Tao of Nature" to be a wild fox Zen, so that Dongyue Temple could restrain some of its behaviors a little, but in the end it turned into a discussion of religious wars and a discussion about avoiding the decline of Taoism.