On the seventeenth day of the first month, the second day of the first month.

Longshu County, Tang House.

The corpses of the thirteen members of the Tang family were neatly arranged in the middle of the house, and several Qingluan Guards were guarding this row of corpses with torches, and the fire shone on the faces of the corpses, making the corpses that had never closed their eyes even more weird.

Wu Haifu silently looked at these corpses, Li Sanxin, who was pale, stood on his right with his hands behind his back, and behind the two of them, all the general flags and small flags, including Shen Chai, silently accompanied the two chief officials and servants to perform autopsies here.

In addition to Tang He's parents, wife and concubines, the dead also included five maids, three housekeepers and a housekeeper lying in the soup house, all of whom hanged themselves. Coupled with Tang and this master, all thirteen members of the Tang family have gathered here.

It's really a family that has to walk neatly.

The faces of the Qingluan guards present were quite ugly, and anyone could see that this was a tragedy, and it happened to be thirteen deceased.

With the deepening of exchanges between the East and the West, a wave of Western learning has gradually emerged in the past hundred years, and the prevalence of Western learning has brought about many changes in the Central Plains, ranging from the small hours and hours to the improvement of ironclad ships. In addition to learning and exchanging from each other's strengths, he also moved some habits from the West to the East.

For example, the taboo on the number "thirteen".

In the legend of the Holy See, the incarnation of the Supreme Will in the world has twelve disciples, and the human incarnation of the Supreme Will had dinner with his twelve disciples before he was victimized, which is the famous "Last Supper" in the story of the Holy See.

At this meal, the thirteenth disciple betrayed the Supreme Will to the secular state of the time for a reward of thirty pieces of silver, which eventually led to the arrest of the incarnation of the Supreme Will by the secular army, and finally the crucifixion and death.

Since then, the "notoriety" of the number "thirteen" has been sung among the Holy See countries.

In fact, it is a complete injustice that the "thirteen" were so hated, and the reason why the traitor is said to be the thirteenth apostle is because the traitor died a miserable and painful death shortly after betraying the supreme will, and the supreme will can only choose another apostle, and this apostle is the actual thirteenth apostle.

But the betrayer deserves to be the last, and the traitor's ranking among the apostles has been forgotten by the believers, so the traitor can only be regarded as the thirteenth apostle.

The spread of Western learning has caused some people along the Daxuan coast to be contaminated with some Western habits, including hatred of the number "thirteen", they will deliberately avoid everything related to "thirteen", let alone raise thirteen people at home.

Obviously, Tang and this "Heavenly Court" demon don't believe much in the story of "Thirteen".

This can also be understood, after all, there are clouds in the five thousand words of the Taishang Dao Ancestor: "Twelve is the number of the earth, and the cycle repeats, and thirteen is the sky, from the earth to the sky." A new image. These are the sons. Ten is the number of days, the circulation is endless, and there are three out of ten, from the sky. Restore the source and open up the image of becoming true. This is Taishang. ”

In the Daomen, "Thirteen" is not only not a symbol of calamity, but also has some auspicious meanings, and legend has it that the thirteenth row of houses in each square in Yujing will be easier to sell for a high price.

Coincidentally, Shen Chai happened to be the thirteenth small flag in the 100 households in Longshu County.

Whether it is like the thirteenth disciple in the story of the Holy Court who died tragically on the street because of betrayal, or whether it will be as prosperous as the auspicious meaning in the Daomen, it all depends on how the hundred households deal with the thirteen corpses of the Tang family tonight.

Thinking of this, Shen Chai couldn't help but shift his gaze to the back of the courtyard, only to see a woman about twenty-five or sixteen years old was surrounded by a group of Taoist priests like the stars holding the moon, the woman was wearing a formal dress with wide sleeves and a tie on the placket, wearing a mixed yuan scarf corresponding to the five-grade Taoist priest, playing with a closed folding fan in her hand, and the face that was not powdered and had an outstanding appearance still had tiredness, and she was looking at the environment around the courtyard with unkind eyes.

That is the master of the local Taoist temple Tianxinguan in Longshu County, Shen Yuhua, a five-grade deacon Taoist priest who was born in the Shen family of Taiping Dao, and his name is Sansu.

The palace view of Daomen is divided into four levels, namely: county view, government view, state palace, and Taoist palace.

The Taoist temple in the territory of the Taoist gate is generally the county view level, and the deacon Taoist priest is arranged, according to the location and importance of the Taoist temple, the grade of the deacon Taoist priest ranges from the seven-grade Taoist priest to the four-grade sacrificial wine Taoist.

In the second Jiangnan case a few years ago, the Zhenwu Temple that was burned down in Jinling Mansion was at the level of Fuguan, and the main Taoist priest was arranged, and his grade ranged from a five-grade Taoist priest to a third-grade Youyi Taoist priest.

The Taiping Palace of Luzhou Provincial Mansion belongs to the state palace level, looking at the entire Daomen, there are about 20 palaces at the state palace level, which is where the real people in charge of the mansion and the deputy mansion masters are located.

As for the Dao Palace level, there are only a handful, the Qingling Palace and the True Realm Courtyard of Taiping Dao, the Dazhen Mansion and Shangqing Palace of Zhengyi, the Wanshou Chongyang Palace and Wuxu Palace of the Quanzhen Dao, as well as the Zixiao Palace and the Vientiane Dao Palace. They are led by the Great Leader, the three Deputy Masters of the Great Sect, one Pingzhang Great, and the three Counselors, and the highest specifications.

Longshu County, as one of the largest counties in Luzhou Prefecture, has a vast territory, a large number of people, and a famous commercial industry such as Gaocheng melon slices, so Daomen arranged a five-grade Taoist priest here to be responsible for the management of local Taoist temples. And because the county view and the city hall in Huainan Province are jointly responsible for the trade of tea, so the position of the lord of Tianxin Guan can be described as a humble power, and it is quite sought-after in Luzhou Provincial Government.

Shen Yuhua can defeat a group of competitors at this age and successfully become the master of the view, personal ability is one thing, but the help brought by the Shen family cannot be ignored.

As an important part of the Taiping Road, the influence of the Shen family in Luzhou is unimaginable.

They are well-deserved "land snakes"

I saw this young lady of the Shen family walk straight up to Wu Haifu, and asked with a stretched face: "Wu Baihu, I think you should explain to me well, why Qingluanwei would 'privately' deal with the case of suspected secret association without reporting to the Taoist temple?" ”

The word "privately" was bitten very hard by Shen Yuhua.

The corners of Wu Haifu's mouth twitched, his face was very ugly, as the chief official of Qingluanwei in a county, he had not been questioned in such a tone since he took office.

So he replied unceremoniously: "Daoist Shen, the identity of Tang He, the 'Heavenly Court' demon, was originally interrogated by Brother Qingluanwei of our Huzhou Thousand Households from Ding Sishen's mouth, so it is reasonable that we should be directly responsible for this case." ”

After a pause, Wu Haifu's voice suddenly raised: "Our Qingluanwei is subordinate to the pro-army Duwei Mansion, but the pro-army of the Son of Heaven is directly under His Majesty the Emperor, even the elders in the imperial cabinet can't ask about the cases we handle, let alone you, Shen Shen, Daoist Shen, the five-grade deacon of the Daomen!" ”

Shen Yuhua sneered, handed the folding fan in his hand to a Taoist priest beside him, and saluted in the direction of Yujing according to the etiquette of the Daomen, and then replied: "Since you moved out of His Majesty the Emperor, then I will talk to you about the Daomen and the imperial court, Tang He is a demon of the 'Heavenly Court', and according to the classification of our Daomen, the 'Heavenly Court', a hidden association with strong strength and slightly lower danger, is listed as a second-class association." At the same time, according to the Kunlun covenant between our Daomen Xuansheng and the Emperor of the Great Xuan Gaozu who was in charge of the Jade Void Five Thunder Immortal Dazhen, all matters involving secret associations can be handled by the Daomen themselves. ”

Speaking of this, Shen Yuhua turned the folding fan handed over by his subordinates, stared at Wu Haifu with his eyes, pointed to the sky with the fan, and asked in a deep voice: "Wu Baihu said that I have no right to ask about this case of secret association, where is this Kunlun Alliance?" Where is Emperor Gaozu placed? Where is the Xuan Sheng?! ”

Wu Haifu's face became even more ugly, and a few drops of sweat oozed from his forehead.

Daomen and the imperial court did have this Kunlun Covenant, this covenant was not a few simple sentences, but a large article, after repeated consultations between Daomen and the imperial court, it was finally confirmed by Xuansheng and Emperor Daxuan Gaozu. It's just that for some reason that is not known to outsiders, Xuan Sheng and Emperor Daxuan Gaozu did not form a black and white letter, but a verbal agreement, so it was regarded as an unwritten rule. But in any case, for so many years, both the Daomen and the imperial court have recognized this verbal covenant and strictly abided by it.

As long as Xuansheng is still the Zhongxing patriarch recognized by the Daomen, and the god seat of the Emperor Gaozu is still enshrined in the middle of the Taimiao, and he is still the ancestor of the eternal world, no one dares to deny the rules set by the two.

Shen Yuhua said that he Wu Haifu did not respect the covenant, Emperor Gaozu and Xuansheng, what a big hat!

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting more and more stiff, Li Sanxin, who had been watching the two arguing from the side, coughed lightly and came out to play a round for the two: "Deacon Shen, how can Wu Baihu be like this, we don't dare to go against the ancestral teachings of Gaozu and Xuansheng, but we are in a hurry to follow the power, lest the matter leak out." In addition, the Heavenly Court can be described as the world's first-class foolish people, unlike the Gu Immortals, they are very 'cheesy', in addition to the incense and fire willingness, they don't want flesh and blood and souls, as long as they are real money, they wantonly accumulate wealth, and hundreds of thousands of people have been deceived, and they have even rebelled in the territory of Daxuan. In such a situation, it is mainly our court to exterminate such a cult that has brought disaster to the country and the people, and the Daomen generally do not directly conflict with the 'Heavenly Court', so we forgot to tell Deacon Shen and hope that Deacon Shen Haihan. ”

Generally speaking, the titles of "deputy hall master", "presiding officer", "deacon" and other titles are only used within the Daomen, and can also be used by people in the imperial court or related to the Daomen, while outsiders call people in the Daomen by "Dao Chief", "Master", "Gao Gong" and other titles. If it is overstepping, it will be equivalent to patting the horse's ass on the horse's hooves, which will make the people of the Taoist sect unhappy.

Although Li Sanxin is a test hundred households of Qingluanwei, he is actually a child of the Li family in Taiping Dao, and in Taiping Dao, the Li family is the leader and a firm ally with the Shen family. From here, Li Sanxin and Shen Yuhua are still half Taoist friends, and he calls Shen Yuhua "deacon", which also wants to pull the relationship and say good things from this aspect.

You are like me, I have you, and everything in the world is bad here.

Shen Yuhua naturally knew Li Sanxin's intentions, and after "humming", he stopped speaking and returned to the group of Taoist priests.

Although the Kunlun Covenant stipulates that as long as it involves secret associations, Daomen can handle them with full authority, but there is also a stipulation in it that the imperial court has no right to dispose of the people of the Daomen, and the Daomen has no right to dispose of the people of the imperial court.

Wu Haifu can't help Shen Yuhua, and Shen Yuhua can't help Wu Haifu either, and the covenant is just to suppress this Wu Baihu, in order to seize the initiative and gain more credit in the follow-up case handling.

Seeing that Shen Yuhua was no longer aggressive, Wu Haifu couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, and gratefully arched his hand to Li Sanxin.

There is no way, he is taking refuge in Zhengyi, and he is not a disciple of the Taoist Sect, so his relationship with Shen Yuhua is naturally not as close as Li Sanxin.

Li Sanxin hugged his fists in return, no matter how the two fought before, they had to cooperate sincerely in this situation, otherwise the case would be stabbed into the sky, and none of them would have a good time.

Seeing that Shen Yuhua no longer paid attention to this, Li Sanxin came to Wu Haifu and whispered: "Lord Wu can rest easy, Zhao Qianhu is in Longshu County at this time, I have already sent someone to invite him, as long as Lord Zhao comes to ask about this matter, everything will be easy to say." ”

Wu Haifu was first overjoyed when he heard this, and then realized something, and glanced at Li Sanxin with complicated eyes.

Qingluanwei, the small flag is only from the seventh product, the total flag is only the seventh product, try 100 households from the sixth product, 100 households for the positive six products, deputy thousand households from the fifth product, thousands of households for the positive five products.

Among the Qingluanwei, whose highest official rank is only the third grade, Zhao Qianhu, who is the fifth grade, already belongs to the high-level figures in the Qingluanwei, and his status is probably equivalent to the Daomen's four-grade sacrificial wine Taoist. Because in addition to the first and second grades in the nine grades of the Daomen, there is no master-slave distinction between the rest of the grades, so Zhao Qianhu's counterpart is actually the four-grade sacrificial wine Taoist who holds the real power in the Daomen, rather than the ordinary four-grade sacrificial wine Taoist.

As long as Zhao Qianhu comes, Shen Yuhua really can't make any big waves, after all, she is only a five-grade Taoist, no matter how humble and powerful she is, it is impossible to suppress Zhao Qianhu.

The only problem is that as the chief official of the Baihu Office in Longshu County, he Wu Shixing didn't know that the direct boss had come to the county.

This is the real "head snake".