The village chief led a group of villagers to kneel at the entrance of the village and kowtow like pounding garlic, but the man in white did not take them seriously, he was interested in this group of merchants in the village, to be precise, he was interested in this more than 100 mules, horses and goods, the war was at the beginning of the stop, the people were poor, there was no oil and water to fish, it was rare to see this kind of caravan that was beginning to take shape.

He beckoned the village chief to ask a few questions, and the village chief immediately ran over and asked, "Which of you is the big proprietor?" ”

Yang Yuanqing was just about to speak, but Cheng Yanjin stepped forward, and said angrily: "Lao Tzu is!" ”

The village chief hurriedly saluted him, "Fosun asks the great proprietor to go and ask questions." ”

Cheng Yanjin has been in the rivers and lakes for many years, and has extremely rich experience in the rivers and lakes, he saw the man in white looking at the goods with bright eyes, and knew that this person had a thief's heart, he stepped forward and did not salute, and asked coldly: "What is the matter with grandpa?" ”

He was full of arrogance, but the man in white was not angry, and asked with a smile: "Do you have silk to sell here?" ”

"Yes, how much are you going to buy?"

"I'll buy as much as I want, and I'll buy all your goods."

Cheng Yanjin looked him up and down, frowned and asked, "Where is your money?" ”

The man in white patted his chest, "The money is there, it's all silver, but in the county seat, you have to go with me to get it." ”

Cheng Yanjin pretended to think about it for a while, "Hmm! We'll have to discuss, it's not all mine. ”

Cheng Yanjin turned around and came back and asked Yang Yuanqing in a low voice, "Do you want to go to the county seat with him?" ”

The village chief next to him was so anxious that he didn't agree, Yang Yuanqing thought for a while and said, "You tell the man in white that we have to eat something in the village, and then go with him." ”

Cheng Yanjin went back and said, the man in white was also refreshed, "You go to eat, I'll wait for you." ”

Everyone led the horses into the village, and Yang Yuanqing was pulled into a room by the village chief, and said to him urgently: "Young man." But don't go, you won't be able to save your life if you go. ”

Yang Yuanqing saw that there was no one outside the room, so he closed the door, took out a military badge and said to the old man: "Don't be afraid, old man, we are the Taiyuan Sui Army, and we were ordered to investigate the incident of worshipping Maitreya, can you tell me a little news?" ”

The old man was stunned for a moment before sighing. "This Maitreya cult kills people. The war has just subsided, everyone is busy repairing houses and farming, who wants to worship Maitreya? But if you don't join Maitreya. The government did not distribute relief food, and everyone had no choice but to join. But as soon as he joined, he was controlled, and he was ordered to worship the family property, and the woman who was a little beautiful in the family should also be enshrined to Maitreya, and everyone had a hard time! ”

When Yang Yuanqing heard that the government actually used relief food to threaten the people to join the church, he was very angry, he restrained his anger, and asked, "Who is that Buddha Sun?" ”

"That's a scoundrel in our township, named Zhang Wulang. I knew him when he was a child, he was secretly abducted and deceived, and he didn't do anything good for a day, he joined the Maitreya sect two months ago, and was appreciated and named a Buddha's grandson. Now it's open blackmail, and I don't know how many women from good families have been ruined. ”

"Uncle, what is the Buddha and grandson, and who else is there above, can you tell me about it?" Yang Yuanqing asked again.

This old man also hated worshipping Maitreya. Since this young man was sent by the army to investigate, he did not hide it. Then he said: "This Zhang Fosun told me when I was having dinner at my house that the worship of Maitreya is very tightly organized, and the Buddha is the lowest layer of them, a Buddha is in charge of five hundred believers, and then five Buddha is in charge of a Buddha, and there are nine Buddhas on the Buddha, and the head of the sect is called Buddha Tai, no one has ever seen it, it is said that when he preaches Buddhism, there will be a huge Maitreya Buddha behind him, so there are many believers, not to mention tens of thousands of people. ”

"Can it grow to tens of thousands in two months?" Yang Yuanqing said a little strangely.

The old man sighed again, "It's not surprising, even the government has joined, once Buddha Zhang was drunk and said that Zhou County Order of Pingyuan County is one of the Nine Buddhas." ”

Yang Yuanqing immediately bowed his hand and said, "Thank you, uncle!" ”

Yang Yuanqing came out of the room, beckoned a few pro-soldiers, whispered a few words to them, and the pro-soldiers turned around and left.

In a moment, several wolf-like soldiers dragged the man in white Zhang Wulang into the room, Zhang Wulang's face turned pale with fright, and he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, "Uncle.... Spare your life! Spare your life! ”

He had lost his original arrogance and arrogance, a few cold and glittering knives were on his neck, almost scaring him into peeing his pants, and he had realized that the group of people in front of him was not a businessman, but a person with a great background.

Yang Yuanqing glanced at him and said coldly: "If you want to live, just tell the truth, if you dare to tell half a lie, I will let your head fall immediately!" ”

Zhang Wulang trembled like chaff, unable to say a word, Yang Yuanqing asked again: "Who is the Zhou County Order of Pingyuan County who worships Maitreya?" ”

Zhang Wulang hesitated, Yang Yuanqing immediately gave the pro-soldier a look, the pro-soldier raised the knife and fell, and one of Zhang Wulang's ears was cut off! “

He screamed like a pig in pain, and his own soldiers grabbed his other ear, which frightened him into a disillusionment, and he said in a loud voice: "I said! I say! Zhou Xianling is one of the nine Buddhas in the sect. ”

"Damn it!"

Yang Yuanqing scolded, and then waved his hand, "Drag it out of the village and slaughter it!" ”

"Spare your life! Rao ....."

Zhang Wulang was gagged by the soldiers and dragged down, and Pei Qingsong next to him couldn't help but say: "Chief, since you have promised not to kill him, why .....?"

Yang Yuanqing glanced at him coldly, "If he goes to Ande County to report, do you know what the consequences will be, can you afford your trustworthiness?" ”

Pei Qingsong lowered his head and didn't dare to say anything, and Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered: "Arrest his four entourages out of the village and slaughter them, and not leave a single person alive." ”

Cheng Biting Jin shouted happily in his heart, killing them all, this is the true character of the husband, he hurriedly asked: "Boss, shall we go to Pingyuan County next?" ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, his eyes burst with murderous intent, he wanted to know how bold the county magistrate of Pingyuan County was, and he did not hesitate to risk losing his head and rebelled with the Maitreya Sect......

Pingyuan County, like other small counties in Hebei, with the end of the war, a large number of peasants hiding in the city returned to their hometowns, and the county town suddenly became deserted, and the streets became sparsely populated.

On the other hand, as the economy began to gradually recover, business began to improve in a few shops, especially blacksmith shops and grocery stores, where there was a steady stream of farmers buying farm tools and groceries, liquor stores were also open, and many old diners returned, and the shadow of merchants began to appear on the streets.

Yang Yuanqing and his entourage entered the county seat at dusk and stayed in the largest inn in the county, although there was no trace of worship of Maitreya during the day, but after the evening, the influence of worship of Maitreya was gradually revealed, and people began to go out of their homes in twos and threes, gathered together, listened to the teachings, and held the initiation ceremony.

The shopkeeper and lady of the inn, as well as a few guys, all ran to listen to the teachings, and there was only one guy left in the inn who was busy, but there were not many guests, only Yang Yuanqing and their group.

The night is getting deeper, Yang Yuanqing came to the county government with more than a dozen personal soldiers, the county government is the mansion of the county order, the wall of the county government house is not high, climb a big tree, you can easily climb into it, the high is not the wall, and the official authority in the hearts of the people, even if there is no wall, no one dares to go further.

The two guards flipped in lightly, and then the door opened, and Yang Yuanqing walked into the back house with his hands behind his back.

After Dou Jiande was in charge of Hebei, he was promoted to the county commander, and then the new Sui army drove Dou Jiande out of Hebei, and Zhou Yu then became loyal to the new Sui and became the county commander of the new Sui.

This is also a measure taken by the Sui Dynasty in order to maintain the stability of the people in Hebei, as long as they have not committed evil crimes, they will try to keep them in office, and the facts have proved that this measure is very correct, and it is the efforts of these officials who are familiar with the situation that make the people's livelihood in Hebei begin to recover rapidly.

But nothing is perfect, and this measure has also allowed some ill-intentioned people to avoid the purge and remain on either side.

One of them was Zhou Yu, the county magistrate of Pingyuan County, who joined the worship of Maitreya and used his power to provide relief food to force peasants to join the religion, and he also collected a lot of money, of course, not just for money.

In the past two days, Zhou Yu was a little uneasy, he received the news from above, Yang Yuanqing, the king of Chu, was likely to be in the Hebei area, let him pay attention, if hundreds of horseback teams appeared, report immediately.

The geographical location of Pingyuan County is more important, at the junction of the four counties, so Pingyuan County is also particularly valued, Zhou Yu knows that the worship of Maitreya is huge, sooner or later he will be accused, he has collected nearly three thousand taels of gold through Maitreya, if he escapes before the incident, then he will be able to spend the rest of his life in glory and wealth, otherwise his life will not be guaranteed.

Zhou Yu was pacing back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back, worrying about his future, suddenly, the door creaked open, Zhou Yu had ordered no one to disturb him, he was furious in his heart, and when he looked up, he saw two strange men in black walking in.

He was so frightened that he trembled, and just as he was about to shout, a horizontal knife was already coldly pressed against his throat, "If you dare to scream, your head will fall to the ground!" ”

Immediately five or six people in black walked in, and Zhou Yu's voice trembled with fright, "You are.... Who? ”

Yang Yuanqing walked in with his hands in his hands and looked at him with a smile, "Zhou County Order, do you still know me?" ”

Zhou Yu's eyes suddenly straightened, his legs were weak, he fell to his knees, and kowtowed, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu spare his life!" His Royal Highness the King of Chu spares his life! ”

After Yang Yuanqing defeated Dou Jiande in Hejian County, he met with many officials from various counties and counties in Hebei, and he also met this Zhouyu, so he also knew him.

Yang Yuanqing sat down, he glanced at Zhou Yu, and said coldly: "I trust you, so I don't hold you accountable for your past loyalty to Dou Jiande, but you joined the cult and tried to gather a crowd to rebel, you said yourself, are you worthy of the people of Pingyuan County, worthy of the trust I gave you?" ”

Zhou Yu knelt on the ground in shame, his lips moved, "The matter is not as simple as His Highness thinks, it is actually related to the Tang Dynasty." ”