Chapter 68: The Dragon Raises Its Head (Part 2)

The reason why Daomen can claim to be civilized is not largely because of how civilized Daomen is, but mainly because of the foil of other people. Against the backdrop of robbers and villains, even an ordinary person will be as glorious as a sage and gentleman. tall.

It is precisely where there is black that there is white, and where there is evil there is good.

The reason why the Taoist sect did not engage in slave trade was because after overthrowing the Confucian sect and the Great Wei Dynasty, the Taoist sect began to fully advocate the concept of equality in order to eliminate the influence of the Confucian sect and oppose the Confucian order of superiority and inferiority. As a result, the Daxuan court also The abolition of the humble status system that had lasted for thousands of years directly led to the existence of the Jiaofangsi in name only and had to turn to the employment system. There are still servants in the Central Plains today, but these servants do not belong to lowly status. They can also take part in the imperial examinations and marry normally. The master's family cannot kill them at will, otherwise they will have to pay with their lives. This is actually the nature of employment.

There was a female Taoist priest surnamed Yu in the Taoist sect. She was very famous because of her good looks and good at greeting people. However, she was eventually executed by the Taoist sect for killing her maid.

If Daomen engages in the slave trade, it will violate its own concept of equality. Double standards will cause huge backlash, which is directly reflected in ideological confusion and division. And it will open a hole, and initially look for slaves from the outside. When the "source of goods" is insufficient and the profits are huge, the slave trade will eventually develop to one's own people, which will cause endless harm.

Furthermore, Daomen has to transport a large number of immigrants to Borneo every year to strengthen its control over Borneo. Daomen is still very short of people.

Therefore, Daomen firmly resists such behavior.

Because slaves cannot be kept, some people keep slaves in the name of "adopted sons" or "adopted daughters." They are children in name, but in fact they are slaves.

However, Taoism is also strictly prohibited. As for the Li family, no one dares to say that the Li family's adoption of adopted sons is an act of slavery. After all, letting adopted sons be the head of the family has also happened. In this regard, it is the Li family's Implement the concept of equality most thoroughly.

It can only be said that people with different fates have different fates. For example, Qi Xuansu is actually Qiniang's adopted son, adopted halfway, but his treatment is similar to that of his biological son, which makes Zhang Yuelu feel helpless and headache, and makes Li Qingnu envious and jealous. Some adopted sons and daughters actually sound nice, but are actually slaves who have to sacrifice their lives for their adopted fathers.

After Maginot left, Li Tiangang reported the matter to Master Qingwei.

After listening to this, Master Qingwei pushed forward an official letter: "It is expected that Westerners will be restless. Take a look at this."

Li Tiangang picked up the official letter and scanned it quickly, his expression slightly changed: "Is this from Deputy Hall Master Qi?"

Master Qingwei nodded and said: "This time I used Qi Tianyuan correctly. He sent me a total of three secret letters. The first one was about the successful recruitment of Suzuka Gozen, and the second one was a detailed explanation of Tsuchigo How did the onmyoji of the clan mess up things? This is the third one. On the way to Suzuka Mountain, he accidentally discovered that a metropolitan of the Holy Court was secretly involved in the rebellion of the resistance faction, and promised to support the opposition faction. Provide all kinds of support.”

Li Tiangang said with a solemn expression: "Although this has been expected for a long time, I didn't expect that Westerners would be so bold and dare to go to the Ise area. I wonder what your opinion is?"

Master Qingwei said calmly: "Let them help, but let's see how much gold and silver they have to fill the bottomless pit of Fenglinzhou. We are only separated from Fenglinzhou by a small half of the East China Sea, and they are separated from Fenglinzhou But they are separated by more than half of Southeast Asia. I wonder who can afford it more? Moreover, the tactic of refueling has always been a taboo among military strategists. They think that using Japanese lives to consume us is to bleed us, but in the end, who will do it? Who will bleed is still unknown."

Li Tiangang immediately understood what Master Qingwei meant.

If the Taoist faction fights against the Taoist sect in a group, it will probably be five people fighting ten people, which can indeed cause losses to the Taoist sect. In this case, it is of practical significance for Westerners to support the Taoist sect, as they can continue to bleed the Taoist sect. But if the Fighting Dao Sect is completely defeated, the remaining stragglers will turn into ten people who come up to the Dao Sect one by one. They will not be able to cause any damage to the Dao Sect. Instead, they will turn into the Dao Sect and bleed blood for the Holy Court.

Furthermore, the Taoist sect will not blindly pay attention to civilization. After the forces of the Taoist sect are reduced to pieces, it will indeed be difficult for the Taoist sect to eliminate them, and it will cause a lot of waste, but

After reaching this point, there is no need for Daomen to take action personally, because Daomen also supports Prime Minister Toyotomi. In the past, Prime Minister Toyotomi has ruled Fenglinzhou for nearly two hundred years. It can be said that it is deeply rooted and has rich experience in suppressing rebellions. Even before the defeat of Ise, Prime Minister Toyotomi was on the offensive for a time, so it continued It will be up to Prime Minister Toyotomi to take charge of how to clear out the stragglers, and the Taoist sect can withdraw and declare the end of the war.

The game involved is naturally quite complicated, but the distance determines that the role that the Holy Court can play is quite limited and will not change due to any strategy.

Toyotomi Chiyo was walking on the streets of Yoshida Castle, wearing the clothes of a female Taoist priest. She was followed by two spiritual officers responsible for guarding her. Behind her were two samurai from the Prime Minister's Office and two Onmyoji from Onmyoliao.

Pedestrians gave way and looked at her with awe.

Toyotomi Chiyo has long been accustomed to this kind of awe. After all, she has another identity - the sister of the previous regent Guan Bai, and the princess of Toyotomi Prime Minister's Palace.

At this time, Chiyo Toyotomi was more sentimental. Her brother Hidetsugu Toyotomi died in Ise. She had prayed to Daozu countless times, hoping that the heavenly soldiers of Daomen would descend from the sky to avenge her brother. Daozu and Daomen did not disappoint her after all. The heavenly soldiers of Daomen really appeared, so she asked to follow the Taoist army to Ise, and Fenglinzhou Daofu agreed to her request.

Only when Chiyo Toyotomi really came to the devastated Ise did she realize how deep the trauma of war was to the human world.

The black-clothed people were responsible for guarding important places, and the servants of the Xiangfu patrolled back and forth on the streets. After seeing Chiyo Toyotomi, the leading hatamoto always saluted humbly and respectfully, because Chiyo Toyotomi had the dual identities of Xiangfu and Fenglinzhou Daofu. In the eyes of ordinary people, she was an undisputed big man.

At the end of the street was a shrine.

At this time, it had been taken over by the spiritual officials.

The main hall of the shrine was full of a solemn atmosphere.

"Xu Kou, the head of Yaoguang Division of Tiangang Hall of Taoism, a fifth-rank Taoist priest, has been ordered to question you. Please cooperate."

Xu Kou stood with his hands behind his back, facing away from everyone, looking at the shrine.

He spoke in the Central Plains Mandarin, and the interpreter of the Prime Minister's Office translated his words into Fenglinzhou Mandarin.

Around Xu Kou were uniform black-armored spiritual officials, like black statues. Not far away, a temporary desk was set up, and an ordinary Taoist priest sat behind the desk, responsible for recording.

Xu Kou turned around and looked at the people in the shrine surrounded by the spiritual officials, and said, "I want to know where the Rangdao faction is hiding in Duoqi County. Don't say you don't know. As a subordinate shrine of Ise Shrine, hasn't it been in the same nest with the Rangdao ronin?"

There was silence.

No one answered Xu Kou.

Xu Kou was not surprised by the result, and just said, "I knew it. If you don't accept the toast, you will be punished. I will warn you for the last time. The Taoist sect does not advocate torture, but there is an exception in wartime. During wartime, all rules must give way to victory. It is better for you to suffer than for us to suffer."

The spiritual officials did not move, and several ninjas from the Xiangfu came out quietly.

They were the official ninjas of the Xiangfu, the Hattori clan, and torture was one of their many specialties.

Xu Kou did not intend to let the Taoists dirty his hands, and these dirty jobs were left to the professionals of the Toyotomi Xiangfu.

Two ninjas lifted up the palace priest who had lost the ability to resist, and fixed him to a pillar in the hall with iron chains, then took out various torture instruments and placed them on the ground one by one, mainly knives, needles, thorns, and medicines.

After all, Xu Kou was from the Qingluan Guard, and he was used to it. He did not look at it more, but cast his eyes on the rest of the people. He did have a record of torturing people to death, but he did not enjoy it. His fundamental purpose was to pry open these people's mouths and get what he wanted.

Soon, Xu Kou's eyes fell on a little witch.

Xu Kou raised a barely warm smile on his face and asked, "What's your name?"

The little witch raised her head and met Xu Kou's gaze.

Her face turned pale, her lips trembled slightly, and she whispered, "Qian, Qian Jing Cang."

Xu Kou said, "Qian Jing Cang, my intuition tells me that you are a kind girl. You must not want to see your friends and elders encounter misfortune, right?"

Qian Jing Cang nodded hesitantly.

Xu Kou pointed at Gong Si and continued, "As long as you tell me the hiding place of those vagrant sects, I will let him go."

Qian Jing Cang's lips moved slightly, and he was about to speak. Gong Si suddenly shouted, which frightened Qian Jing Cang so much that he shuddered and swallowed the words that were already on his lips.

Xu Kou said calmly, "Shut his mouth."

A ninja immediately stuffed something like a hemp core into the mouth of the chief priest.

Xu Kou leaned forward slightly and smiled, "Okay, go on."

Qian Jingchang turned his head and looked at the struggling chief priest, speechless.

"Then I won't say it. My patience is limited." Xu Kou stood up, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

Just then, there was a commotion outside the door.

Xu Kou turned around and asked, "What's going on?"

A spiritual officer walked in quickly and whispered to Xu Kou.

Xu Kou frowned slightly, "Let her in."

After a while, Toyotomi Chiyo walked into the hall.

Xu Kou was impatient, and a trace of displeasure flashed across his face, but he immediately squeezed out a polite smile: "Miss Toyotomi, what are you doing here?"

For the Taoist sect, Toyotomi Chiyo has a great symbolic significance, so her status is special, and Xu Kou can't be disrespectful.

Toyotomi Chiyo looked around and asked, "What are you doing?"

Xu Kou replied simply, "Asking questions."