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In the last years of the Celestial Empire, the national strength had turned from prosperity to decline, internal and external troubles followed one after another, and natural and man-made disasters continued to occur. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoInternal worries: officials are corrupt and pervert the law, vulgar people occupy high positions, redundant people are brutalized, the forest is withered, paganism is exposed, and droughts and locust plagues are frequent. External troubles: Forced and oppressive countries, disrupting the government, foreign religions are full of heresies, and opium is harmful to people's livelihood. The community was divided up by the bandits, and all kinds of inequalities frequently occurred in the land, and the bandits colluded with various sects and factions to set off one after another inhumane natural and man-made disasters.

To the south of the Celestial Empire, there is a fortified city, surrounded by large and small villages, which surround the central city like stars and moons. This fortified city had four gates, east, west, north and south, each of which was guarded by soldiers. On the day of Qingming, I saw people coming and going on various roads, bustling, burning incense to worship ancestors, blessings and peace.

On a road in the east, I saw a Taoist man holding a flag in his left hand and a bell in his right hand slowly coming towards the city, reciting words and singing in his mouth: "During the Qingming Festival, the rain is rainy, and the rain is red and delicate." Because of the blessings and blessings of misfortune, he knows everything, and pinching his fingers to count half of the immortals. Binghuo's human nature is too strong, he can accept the soft and not the strong, and he has a temper and a tiger, and he has lost his temper like a sheep. I can't bear the softness but I haven't learned, and I don't slip away and don't hold it. There are many people in the fire who have a strong temper, and they have to be noisy when they come up, and they dare to make trouble in front of Tai Sui, and they dare to break through the sword mountain and the sea of fire. Jin Duosheng people press right and wrong......"

The pedestrians on the road saw that although this Taoist was neatly dressed, with his head in a bun, and walking like a wolf, his behavior was crazy, and he was stupid and stupid when he spoke, and he was annoying and bored to look at him; like a plague, he retreated and avoided the other party, and pointed at the Taoist one after another, laughing and scolding.

When this person came to the city gate, he looked at the moat ten meters wide at his feet, and there was a suspension bridge above the river, which was used to enter and exit the city; Directly above the city gate sits a majestic tower with flying beams, connected to the city wall, on which soldiers with swords walk and patrol from time to time. The man stepped across the drawbridge and slowly came to the city gate, looking at the soldiers standing on the left and right sides, and several green and yellow notices were posted on the left and right sides of the city gate.

The Taoist looked at the notice posted on the left side of the city wall, and the residents standing outside stood in twos and threes, stretching their necks to see that there were some things written on the will and policies of the imperial court. On the right, surrounded by lively residents, at first glance, these notices are some notices of wanted criminals, and there are also pictures of the physical signs and appearance of wanted criminals, explaining all kinds of trivial matters of their people. The Taoist was about to step into the city, when he suddenly saw a pawn holding a roll of paper in his left hand and a bucket of paste in his right hand, coming to the city wall on the right, and then smeared a yellowed notice with paste, pasted the roll of paper in his hand, glued it and left.

The Taoist didn't want to pay attention to what was written in this notice, but just as he was about to leave, an old voice came from the crowd: "Reward for wanted criminals Liu Zhixie and Song Zhiqing, the leaders of the Holy Lotus Sect, male, about forty years old. The two of them are the remnants of the cult thieves, disrupting the community, destroying the common people, and swaggering everywhere under the pretext of 'the red sun (now) is exhausted, and the white sun (future) should be prosperous', and the gossip confuses the people and bewitches the world. These two thieves traveled around Xiangcheng and Yucheng, distorted the truth, wantonly provoked harmony between the government and the people, and created chaos. If a reward of 100 taels is provided for the whereabouts of the two people, and one of the two is captured or killed, a reward of 1,000 gold will be given, and the official will be knighted. The prefect solemnly promises......"

"Get out of the way, let me see what the bounty notice is?" The old voice was continuing to read when it was suddenly interrupted by a strong voice.

The Taoist looked back and saw a man with big shoulders and a round waist, a fat head and big ears, a body of horizontal flesh and greasy, exposing the pimple muscles of his upper body, pushing the onlookers away, followed by small minions in twos and threes, crowding into the crowd. When the surrounding onlookers saw each other, as if they had seen a plague, they hurriedly moved out of the way and avoided them. When he stared at the notice with wide eyes, in addition to being able to recognize the two heads painted on the notice, the small characters below were unrecognizable.

The group couldn't recognize what was written on it, and when they saw that a neatly dressed old scholar next to them was leaving, they laughed strangely, stretched out their hands, grabbed the other party's collar and pulled him in front of him, and shouted with bared teeth: "Read the notice to us quickly, or you will eat me with a fist." ”

"I said, I said. The notice read: 'Reward for wanted criminals Liu Zhixie and Song Zhiqing, heads of the Holy Lotus Sect, male, about forty years old. The two of them are ......remnants of the cult.'" The old pedant's voice explained intermittently to the group, and from time to time he translated the difficult points for the group.

The Taoist saw that this group of people looked like ruffians in this area, and he was about to step forward to stop them, but he gave up the idea of justice when he thought of "the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake". On the other hand, the soldiers on the left and right of the city gate turned a blind eye, pretending not to see each other, and still stood there laughing and chatting, as if they had not heard or seen each other. The Taoist shook his head and saw a soldier sitting on a chair snooping haha, squinting in the sun. The Taoist sighed and walked towards the city gate, his ears echoing from time to time with the words of the old pedant.

As soon as the man stepped into the city gate, suddenly a soldier with a red tassel spear in front of him opened his arms and stopped in front of him. The Taoist looked the other party up and down for a while, shook his head, and asked, "What is the matter with the chief?"

The soldier looked at the other party for a while, snorted coldly, tilted his neck, rolled his eyes, pursed his lips, and shouted disdainfully: "Didn't you, a Taoist priest, see the decree issued by the imperial court? Get out of the way, don't get in the way of your eyes. ”

Hearing that the other party did not allow him to enter the city, the Taoist squinted his eyes and glanced at the soldiers around him, confident that he could knock them all to the ground in a breath and kneel down and beg for mercy. But if he really does it, he is afraid that he will bring unwarranted disasters to himself, and the gains will outweigh the losses, and besides, he will have to go into the city to do business, and he will have to find a livelihood, so he can only make compromises. As the saying goes: the people do not fight with the officials. The Taoist thought for a while and said, "Please also ask the chief to make it convenient, Xiaodao is naturally grateful." ”

When the soldier saw that the other party refused to leave, he became more and more impatient, and he was about to shoot the other party away with a gun, but after thinking about it, he thought about it and grinned and asked, "Which Taoist priest are you? ”

The Taoist sneered in his heart, stretched out his hand and was about to take out the degree from the sleeve, thought about it, touched it in the sleeve again, and then handed the degree to the other party. The soldier grinned and stretched out his hand to take it, and when he found that the pamphlet was hard, he immediately smiled. The soldier opened the degree and found that there was a piece of broken silver that was not very good in color, and weighed it, it was less than half a tael, so he hurriedly put the silver into his arms and looked towards the degree, which was written "Wuyun Taoist monk Xu Yuyang", and there were some physical signs and appearances describing Yunyun. The soldier looked at Du Mu indiscriminately, saw that there was no problem, and threw it to the other party, got out of the way, and signaled that the other party could go.

The Taoist took it, put it back into his sleeve, and slowly walked towards the city. Just as the man walked forward, a loud shout came from behind him: "Don't hide, hand over the silver, don't think I didn't see it." ”

The Taoist looked back and saw that the soldier who had just accepted his bribe hurriedly handed the silver in his arms to the soldier who was sitting on a chair basking in the sun, and stammered flattery. The soldier who was sitting was the head of the east gate, and after reaching out to take the other party's silver, he patted the other party's shoulder twice, opened his mouth and snorted, and said, "You guys are here to protect more, and I will go to have a good time." He dropped his words and ran towards the city by himself.

The Taoist looked at him twice as he watched the other party pass by him, then turned around and ran away. When the soldiers guarding the city gate saw that their leaders had left their posts without permission, they staggered as if they had fallen apart, leaning their blades against the wall, or sitting or lying on the ground, without paying any attention to what the other had just said. And the soldier who had just accepted the bribe sat on a chair, crossed his legs, and waited for the arrival of the next lamb.

The Taoist stood inside the city gate and watched for a while, and found that these soldiers had turned to some outsiders to extort money as traders and traders, while ignoring the ordinary people who were richly dressed and had no oil or water. When the Taoist priest saw the soldiers at the city gate like this, he was very worried that if there were thieves who raided at this time, you would have a chance of winning. The Taoist shook his head, walked into the city, and looked at the shops and buildings one by one, the flags were flying, the voices of people were boiling, and the sound of shouting and buying and selling was endless. The bustling residents are crowded, people come and go, and it is a bustling city.

The Taoist looked at the few residents passing by him and laughed, his eyes were blue, and he walked noisily towards the center of the city. And not long after these people left, suddenly there was a shout of scolding behind them. When I looked at it, I saw several mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law running and shouting after those people, pulling and pulling, but overthrowing these mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law to the ground, and then running to the city, not knowing what to do in a hurry? As a result, the surrounding onlookers came up to watch the excitement, and helped these mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law up one by one and scattered in all directions.

The Taoist looked at the people in front of him who had disappeared into the sea of people, shook the bell in his hand, and signaled that he was a fortune teller while looking for a place to set up a stall around. The Taoist searched all the way and found that suitable places were occupied by small merchants and hawkers. Just as the Taoist was looking for it in frustration, he unconsciously walked to the center of the city, and just when he didn't know what to do, a voice came from beside him: "This Taoist is polite, can you see the future of marriage?"

When the Taoist looked back, he saw a young man dressed as a scholar looking at him. And in front of it is a table, on which are neatly listed books, the four treasures of the study, which are engaged in the sale of articles. Seeing that the other party was talking to him, the Taoist stepped forward to make a joke and said, "Poor Dao knows a little bit about it. ”

The scholar couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard the other party see the future of the marriage, and hurriedly walked out from behind the table, bowed down, and said: "The Taoist chief is polite, I want to ask the Taoist chief to see the future of the marriage in the next, I don't know how much money I will receive?"

When the Taoist saw that there was a deal sent to the door, his heart was excited, but his face was as calm as water, and he said loudly: "Money is something outside the body, you don't bring it in life, and you don't bring it in death." This poor road down the mountain is just to solve the world's ears, and only charge one or two pieces of silver. After speaking, he squinted at how the other party answered.

When the scholar saw that the other party was going to accept a tael of silver, his eyes widened, his mouth opened wide, and he was hesitant for a while, wondering whether to spend a tael of silver to solve his doubts. The Taoist saw that the other party was stunned, and sighed in his heart, knowing that this deal was probably about to fly. When the Taoist was regretting his greed, the scholar stomped his foot fiercely, as if he had made a major decision, and said: "Please ask the Taoist chief to calculate a hexagram in the next place, and he is willing to spend a tael of silver in the next place." ”