"Your Majesty, the minister heard that the giant ship had sailed thousands of miles out of Hong Kong for many years, searching for the sea country. So far, three ships have been capsized, and no trace of immortals has been encountered, please bring your disciples to visit immortals at sea for Your Majesty! ”

In Yanfu Palace, Xue Daoguang knelt on the ground.

Song Huizong sighed: "Qing also wants to abandon me and go?" ”

Xue Daoguang hurriedly said: "The minister has no such intention, just looking for immortals for His Majesty." Minister...... There are also selfish intentions, wanting to search for the traces of the ancestors on the sea. ”

Song Huizong thought about it carefully, waved his hand and said: "According to Qing's wishes, he will be promoted to be an immortal envoy." Go, go early and come back early. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Xue Daoguang bowed and wanted to retreat.

"Slow," Song Huizong shouted, "Japan has not come to the court for a long time, when Qing is looking for immortals, bring the inscription and the national letter, and you can go to Japan to urge." ”

"Yes." Xue Daoguang received the order.

Song Huizong looked left and right, and the favored ministers were still there, but the Taoist priests he reused were gone.

Wang Tsai died in prison, Lin Lingsu was exiled, and Xue Daoguang asked to go to sea.

In the past month, more and more Taoist priests have come up with various excuses to ask to leave Beijing.

Last year, Song Huizong worshiped Taoism to the extreme, and now it has flourished and declined.

He followed Lin Lingsu's suggestion and renamed the Buddha and Bodhisattva as the Great Jue Golden Immortal, Immortal, and Tuas. For example, Guanyin Bodhisattva was renamed Guanyin Master.

The temple was renamed Gongguan, and the abbot was changed to Zhigong Guanshi. Monks were renamed Deshi, nuns were renamed Female De, and they were not allowed to wear monk clothes.

He also canonized Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Liezi, built Taoist schools throughout the country, allowed monks to study in the state and Taixue, and set up a doctor of Taoism in Taixue.

Song Huizong also personally annotated the "Tao Te Ching", and Cai Jing led the compilation of the "History of the Dao".

Everything seems so pale and powerless in the face of years of natural disasters.

Emperor, you claim to be the Son of God, why does God send so many calamities?

Last year, the Yellow River rose and flooded outside Tokyo, and Song Huizong asked Lin Lingsu to go out of the city.

The servants who were urgently reinforcing the embankment were tired and hungry, and they already had a lot of resentment in their hearts.

Seeing Lin Lingsu rushing out of the city, not only did he not help, but instead asked them to temporarily stop work and build a high platform for the altar first. Thinking that the high platform would have to be demolished, and that the embankment would be strengthened after the high platform was demolished, and that Lin Lingsu's disciples and grandchildren had bullied the people, the anger of the servants finally broke out.

They took all kinds of tools and rushed towards Lin Lingsu in a swarm.

The accompanying Taoist priests and forbidden troops were unable to resist, and Lin Lingsu fled back to the city in embarrassment.

This matter made a big fuss, because the Yellow River embankment was related to the safety of the entire Tokyo city, so Song Huizong quickly heard about it.

Lin Lingsu still did not repent and relied on the emperor's favor, and actually supported Zhao Kai, the king of Yun (formerly King Jia), and deliberately argued with the prince. He is a Taoist priest who dares to let the prince avoid driving and give way!

Countless ministers were outraged, especially those young people, who wrote to impeach.

Song Huizong was also a little angry, and at the same time felt helpless, so he had to let Lin Lingsu return to his hometown in Wenzhou.

For the great crime of disobedience to the prince, Lin Lingsu not only went to prison, but was able to keep various titles. When he left Beijing, he was crowned as a doctor and returned to his hometown.

The upright ministers were unwilling to stop there, and continued to impeach Lin Lingsu's disciples and grandchildren.

One after another criminal evidence was brought out, those Taoist priests committed crimes and brutalized the people, and Taoist temples and Taoism wantonly annexed the land of Gyeonggi.

Song Huizong could only back down again and announce the abolition of the national Taoist schools and punish some notorious Taoist officials.

Why didn't the emperor go his own way this time?

Because the reputation of the Taoist priests is too bad, it has aroused too much public anger!

At the same time, the imperial court was in financial distress, and it encountered natural disasters for many years, and Song Huizong had no money in his pocket, so he was really unable to get up.

……

Xue Daoguang left Beijing with more than 20 personal disciples, and was pointed at along the way.

Although he does not do evil and usually restrains his disciples, the Taoist uniform on his body is enough to become a street rat.

Out of the city along the Cao River, the suburbs are full of hungry people.

This season, when the green and yellow are not in turn, there is a famine in all parts of Gyeonggi. Hundreds of people fled to Tokyo, and the capital of the Great Song Dynasty was surrounded by tens of thousands of hungry people.

The court's monarchs and ministers turned a deaf ear and turned a blind eye.

It was delayed until June, when there were more and more hungry people, that Kaifeng Mansion was allowed to release grain for relief.

It's still the old way, recruit the homeless young and strong as the van army, and the rest can be treated for a few days.

Cai Jing is about to step down.

He couldn't think of any tricks to increase taxes, so he could only restart Fang Tianling's inventory of Tianmu (open source), and at the same time let his henchmen oppose Lianjin's attack on Liao (throttling).

Fang Tianling offended the gentry officials, opposed the attack on Liao and offended the emperor and Tong Guan, and he was unable to continue to make money for the imperial court.

How can this prime minister continue?

Xue Daoguang left the capital and went all the way to Hangzhou.

When we arrived in the southeast, there was a big flood in the southeast again, and there were also floods in Lianghuai this year.

Guangdong Road, Jiangxi Road, at the same time there were small uprisings.

After the flood receded slightly, Xue Daoguang continued to Hangzhou, and found that the Huashigang had not stopped along the way. And the local officials are still collecting excessive taxes for the sake of political performance, and the people on Liangzhejiang Road and Jiangnan Road are already starving.

"Real person, you're finally here!"

The eunuch Cui Hu greeted him warmly, bowed and said: "The matter of searching for immortals will be entrusted to the real person, and he will stay in Hangzhou to pray for the real person." ”

Xue Daoguang said: "The nobles have the emperor's order, and they should go to sea with the ship." ”

Cui Hu hurriedly said: "In Xia Fubo, I am afraid that there is no immortal fate, if it is with the ship, it will be a bad thing." ”

Actually, this guy was scared.

Last year, Cui Hu led a fleet to sea and encountered a major storm. Of the 14 ships in total, 2 sank, 1 missing, and the rest were badly damaged.

Cui Hu himself almost died in the belly of the fish, and he didn't want to take a boat again in his life.

Cui Hu also asked his relatives to bring a sculpture: "This is a Fujian witch, surnamed Lin, who will build a temple and become a god after her death." The Min people call it a goddess or dragon maiden, and it can bless the safety of sailing on the sea. When we came back, we passed through Fujian and invited a statue of a god, and it was really smooth. In the past six months, the sacrifice in the next day and night must be more effective. ”

In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Mazu was only a folk witch turned into a god, which belonged to the witch belief in Fujian.

It will take another three years before Song Huizong gave the Shunji Temple. There is no title, just the name of the imperial temple, and Mazu herself has no name, only knowing that she is "Lin's daughter".

Xue Daoguang didn't like this kind of folk witchcraft, but considering the thoughts of the crew, he still planned to bring the idol with him.

Xue Daoguang asked: "Where did the nobles go last year?" ”

Cui Hu replied: "I inquired about the news along the way, and I got the help of the Fujian Road transfer envoy to recruit more than ten local crew members and fishermen. Descend from Quanzhou, meet the Pinghu Islands (Penghu Islands). There are already Han people on the Pinghu Islands, all of whom have fled from Fujian. We went to sea to find immortals, and we didn't treat these escapees harshly. Reward copper coins, gain their trust, and discover that there are more large islands nearby. ”

Cui Hu asked his relatives to go with him to get the navigation record, and he continued: "To the east of the Pinghu Islands, there is a big island. According to the fugitives, there are the countries of Liuqiu, the evil country of Vaisha, and the country of Tanmayan on the island. The beggers are more gentle, and they are willing to trade local goods with the fugitives. The Vaishers and Tanmayans were ferocious and unusually ferocious, often crossing the sea on bamboo rafts, burning houses, looting grain, and taking women captive. ”

"Let's take the fleet and visit the country of Liuqiu. The barbarians there are really mild-tempered, and there are chiefs who can speak Chinese. We gave us a few pieces of porcelain, and the chief gave back a lot of fruit, venison, and deerskins. ”

"Along the island to the south, you will meet the Visha. They were so dark-skinned that they couldn't even build a boat, so they rowed a bamboo raft to and from the sea. We drove the boat and crashed into it, and overturned several bamboo rafts at once, which can be regarded as a bad breath for the Han people on Pinghu Island. ”

"I heard that Ma Yanguo is further south, but we haven't met ......"

These so-called vassal states are actually tribes.

The country of Liuqiu is in the northwest of Taiwan Island, and because they often interact with the Han people, they are called Liuqiu people according to historical records.

The Vaisha Evil Kingdom and the Ma Yan Kingdom are in the west and southwest of the island of Taiwan.

In particular, the Visha evil people, who appeared in the historical materials of the Southern Song Dynasty many times, actually rowed a bamboo raft all the way to the coast of Fujian.

The Southern Song Dynasty built Yongning Village in Quanzhou and more than 200 military houses in the Penghu Islands, which were specially designed to guard against the evil people of Bishe.

Cui Hu continued: "We continued to the south with the fleet, and when we encountered many islands, we sent people to the islands to see them. Some islands have people and some islands have no people, but they haven't met the gods. All the way to the country of Ma Yi (northern Philippines), where you can meet Han Chinese merchants......"

The cargo traveled all the way from Taiwan to the Philippines, and arrived in Vietnam through the island of Java, where it encountered a storm and lost three ships on the way.

In addition to looking for immortals, he also brought back a lot of spices in barter, and made a windfall when he arrived in Hangzhou.

But no matter how much money he made, Cui Hu didn't want to go, he really almost died at sea.

Xue Daoguang said: "When I left Beijing, the official family ordered me to go to Japan to urge tribute, and I had to go to Japan this year. ”

Cui Hu said: "You can go to Mingzhou to discuss this matter with Zhizhou Louyi." ”

The Great Song Dynasty and Japan have always had diplomatic contacts and exchanged in the form of a stumbling form.

The Great Song Dynasty issued a decree in the name of the governor of Mingzhou (Ningbo), and Japan replied in the name of Dazaifu.

This is not a tributary relationship, or even a diplomacy at the central level. However, for the sake of face, the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty often used words such as "edict" and "gift", and unilaterally regarded each other as a tributary relationship between monarchs and ministers.

There was a change three years ago, and Song Huizong didn't know what to think, so he actually sent a credential to Japan (only once in the two Song Dynasty).

This is tantamount to acknowledging that Japan and the Great Song Dynasty have equal diplomatic relations.

But Japan is very faceless, three years have passed, and there has not been a reply to the national letter, which really makes Song Huizong a little unbearable.

At this time, in Japan, Genji interfered in the government and pursued a policy of seclusion and seclusion. Only merchants of the Great Song Dynasty were allowed to go, and Japan was not allowed to sail.

In order to get rid of his relatives and Genji, Emperor Shirakawa took the initiative to abdicate as Emperor Shirakawa, and set up a separate court outside the imperial court to attract and promote middle and lower-class samurai.

To put it simply, the emperor rebelled!

Japan's two power teams are fighting fiercely, how can they be in the mood to accompany Song Huizong to play diplomacy?

Xue Daoguang left Hangzhou and went to Mingzhou to discuss with Lou Yi, and then went to Japan with Shang Jia.

Less than half a month after he went to sea, a man named Fang La began to rebel.

History has changed, although it has not changed much, and it is all related to the Zhu family's father and son.

In order to build a glass cave, Song Huizong ordered all official and private kilns to pay more tribute to glass. The misery of the people of Jiangxi led to this year's Jiangxi uprising, which was larger than in history, and many kiln workers joined one after another.

Building a fleet to go to sea to find immortals also increased the burden on the people of Zhejiang and Zhejiang. Not only do they need materials for shipbuilding, but they also forcibly recruit sailors and food to go to sea. Even the goods that were brought to trade were extorted from the merchants.

The strange stones, flowers and trees in the glass cave are also mostly forcibly recruited in Liangzhejiang.

The Fangla uprising was several months ahead of schedule.

However, the Song and Jin countries had not yet formed an alliance, and the army of the Great Song Dynasty had not been assembled in Tokyo, so they could not be directly pulled to suppress the uprising.

Fang La, in this plane, has more time to expand its territory.

(End of this volume.) ）

(End of chapter)