Chapter 163: Destroying the clan and abandoning the temple, meeting an acquaintance

The Swordfish Flying Boat flew towards Anping Prefecture. Since it was adjacent to Datong Prefecture, it would only take one day to reach the place at the speed of the Swordfish Flying Boat.

Zhao Xing came out to get some fresh air, while Long Xiao concentrated on flying the flying boat.

One day was enough time for Long Xiao, a tough warrior, to get over his sadness. He started talking again: "Why is it raining all the time? I can't see anything. Can you stop the rain?"

Zhao Xing said: "How can the rainfall number of a prefecture be changed just like that? Do I want to stop living?"

In normal times, it doesn't matter if there is more or less rain in inland areas.

But now is the eve of the Pingman War, and Datong Prefecture and Anping Prefecture are both important border areas.

A little Karami like Zhao Xing dared to change the rainfall number. No matter whether he was a genius from the Ten Yang Cave Heavens or a genius from the Ten Great Cave Heavens, the Ministry of War would chop off his head without mercy.

Long Xiao was also trying to make conversation: "We have already arrived at the territory of Anping Prefecture. How could the military world give you such a mission that you even have to take care of the affairs of the underworld?"

The Yin God resides in the Yin Realm, and its function is similar to that of the Military Realm. However, there are only two types of people who can enter the Yin Realm. One is a dead person. If their soul has not been destroyed, it will be automatically absorbed by the Yin Realm. If it has not been sealed as a Yin God, it will dissipate after a period of time.

This usually lasts for three to five generations.

Because after three or five generations, the younger generations basically no longer respect the incense, so it naturally disappears.

One possibility is to cultivate to the third level of Yuanhun realm, where one can break free from the constraints of the soul in the womb and go to the underworld.

The underworld was not created by the Great Zhou Dynasty, but existed in ancient times.

It is difficult to get in, but not difficult to get out. The souls can be guided by burning incense, summoning souls by magic, or even by the natural entrance created by the intersection of yin and yang, all of which can allow the souls to leave the underworld.

Zhao Xing had previously made some extra money in Gucheng. That was a situation where yin and yang met, and an entrance appeared. However, the wandering soul could not enter due to other abnormal reasons and remained in the world of the living and the underworld.

Therefore, when a new dynasty of destiny is born, the first thing it does is to take over the underworld and establish a system of underworld gods to prevent ghosts from causing harm to the human world.

Zhao Xing also thought carefully about Long Xiao's question.

"At the seventh rank, not only the Si Nong, but all professions can call on the gods. Maybe after I complete the nine-ring mission, I have a great chance of being named a seventh rank official, so I have this training."

"Long Xiao, have you ever prayed to the gods?"

Long Xiao nodded: "I invited Sima Ming Gong once and Ju Ling Zhenjun once, but that was seven years ago."

"Only twice? What was the cost?" When Zhao Xing rose up in his previous life, the Yin Shen system had already begun to have problems, so he played less.

But inviting the gods requires a price, and the main problem is the difficulty in sending them back.

"Twice is already a lot, the price is not small." Long Xiao said: "When warriors in the army summon gods, they usually use blood essence as a medium. The second time I summoned the Great Spirit Master, it was a matter of life and death. I had no choice but to pay 50% of my blood essence as a price."

"That time I lost at least 10 years of my life. Later, I was granted a title and went to the temple to increase my lifespan. I don't know how much of it I made up for."

Long Xiao recalled: "There was really no other way. The situation was too dangerous. If I didn't invite him, I would have died directly. How could I care about whether my life span would be shortened?"

"It's better to offer sacrifices. They pay very little to invite the gods."

Zhao Xing said: "That depends on which deity you are worshipping. If the span is too large, the sacrifice will also shorten your lifespan."

Long Xiao said: "I don't understand the details, but I feel that those who can serve as priests are very powerful, and they can do anything."

Zhao Xing nodded. Master of ceremonies and priest, why do you say it is an early priesthood?
Because they are too powerful and too comprehensive.

All the gods canonized by the Great Zhou Dynasty will be invited!

Especially military priests. After reaching the seventh rank, they can invite the Yin spirit of almost any profession to possess them.

Once possessed, the priest will possess some of the abilities that the Yin spirit had when it was alive.

All professions can pray to gods, but the restrictions are too severe, and basically you can only pray to the gods of your profession.

But the priest can ask for everything. For example, now an eighth-rank priest can ask Caoxi Zhenjun to possess his body, so he can call the wind and rain, and in a short period of time he is equivalent to a military minister.

If you invite Donghu Bo, you will immediately become a big muscle man.

The priesthood is literally a super-god profession.

When Zhao Xing was in Gucheng, he had thought about becoming a master of ceremonies to have some fun. Later, he became a priest, which would make him invincible at the same level.

But for the sake of long-term planning, I finally gave up the momentary pleasure.

Because the priests are too dependent on the system of Qiyun Dynasty, once the Yinshen system collapses, the priests will fall from the altar.

If you ask for help from gods at that time, the freed Yin spirits will not work for you obediently. They will basically take money but do nothing, or the price is ridiculously high.

If the Minister of Agriculture causes trouble to the local area, the damage caused will be great, so the review and promotion of the Minister of Agriculture, especially the military Minister of Agriculture, is more stringent.

But compared with the military priest, he is still a little naive.

"Sacrifices are indeed powerful." Zhao Xing said, "It is not necessary. I don't know how to summon gods. This time when I go to Anping Prefecture, I guess I will be a juror. I am not the one who actually does the work on this mission."

Zhao Xing saw it more clearly. As an official of agriculture, he took on this task only to give some suggestions, but it was impossible for him to actually kill those evil spirits.

To put it bluntly, it's just about talking.

All officials must understand the Yin God System. When the military and agricultural officials are fighting outside, if they pray to the gods, they must be careful not to borrow the power of any evil gods.

Otherwise, the destructive power of Jun Si Nong + the evil god would be enough to kill me.

The current Lord of Anping Prefecture, Cui Zhe, is a fourth-rank official.

Wei Hong, the high priest of the Anping Prefecture Temple, was of the fourth rank, half a level higher than the Lord of the Prefecture.

After arriving in Anping Prefecture, Zhao Xing first reported to the Prefecture's Sinongjian, and then sent a letter to the Prefecture's temple through the Sinongjian's channels.

During this process, he naturally looked through the list of officials of the temple, big and small. Zhao Xing vaguely felt that the name Wei Hong was familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

To show their appreciation, the Anping Prefecture Temple sent a team of priests and asked Zhao Xing to follow them to do their work.

When Zhao Xing got the list the next day, he saw a name called Wei Xuancheng on it and his brows jumped immediately.

"Hiss, it turned out to be him. We've run into another ruthless guy. Is he rushing here to take part in the Pingman War?"

Zhao Xing looked at the list and was speechless.

Wei Hong was nothing. He was a fourth-rank official, but later he only achieved the third-rank, and he was still a priest of the imperial mausoleum, without any real power.

But his younger brother Wei Xuancheng became prime minister during the reign of Emperor Wu!
The greatest achievement of this man was the reform of the "Yin God System". He single-handedly implemented the policy of "destroying clans and abandoning temples", which solved the problem of too many Yin Gods for Emperor Wu.

Of course, his final fate was also miserable. During the Yuan Dynasty after Emperor Wu, Wei Xuancheng's tomb was even dug up, he was removed from the ancestral temple, and finally he was pulled out of the underworld.

The corpse was whipped and the soul was whipped, and the soul was scattered. This person died because of his own plan.

"Why is Lord Zhao looking at me all the time?" The next day, the person sent by the temple to pick up Zhao Xing was Wei Xuancheng, but he was only a seventh-rank priest at that time.

Wei Xuancheng was born in a big family. He was arrogant but respectful to his subordinates. He cared less about the people with higher status and respected the people at the bottom. At this time, Wei Xuancheng was only 30 years old, but he was already a seventh-rank official. He also had a fourth-rank official brother. He had a bright future.

"Lord Wei looks like an old friend of mine. I was distracted for a moment. I hope Lord Wei won't blame me." Zhao Xing bowed.

In fact, he was only stunned for a second, but the priest was very sensitive to thoughts, so he quickly found an excuse to make do with it, locked his mind and stopped thinking about it.

Wei Xuancheng didn't care. After all, he was not much older than Zhao Xing, and they were both young people.

"Please come in, Lord Zhao."

"Master Wei, please."

Zhao Xing and Long Xiao followed Wei Xuancheng onto the flying boat and first arrived at the temple in the city.

Then he paid a visit to Gong Ming, the sixth-rank official who was in charge of the sacrifice in the side hall.

Following thirty-two priests, including Wei Xuancheng, they boarded a "Yunyu Tower Ship".

The following tasks are completed as follows:

Gong Minghui took Zhao Xing to 52 folk temples.

Every time he arrived at a place, Zhao Xing would give advice on how to deal with folk temples: go or stay.

He will stay inside the Yunyu Tower ship and will not go down.

Next, the city's sacrificial meeting will carry out the actual processing.

It doesn't necessarily follow Zhao Xing's opinion.

If more than half of Zhao Xing's suggestions are adopted, he will be qualified and can be rated C. If 70% are adopted, he can be rated B, and if 90% are adopted, he can be rated A.

"This mission is neither difficult nor easy. There are only two options: go or stay."

"You can try your luck, even if you only say one word, whether to go or stay. As long as the final suggestion is consistent with the temple's actions, you will pass."

"Even if you know nothing about the temple's political affairs, assuming you are lucky and guess correctly 26 times in a row, you will pass." Wei Xuancheng was sitting in a private room. He was the person responsible for conveying messages and explaining to Zhao Xing.

"If your opinion is meaningful and accepted by Lord Gong, even if you guess wrong a few times, as long as the difference is not too big, you can still be promoted to a higher level. Lord Zhao, do you understand?"

"Yes, thank you Lord Wei for your advice." Zhao Xing bowed.

In other words, Gong Ming is the same as Qiu Mingyi, and has a lot of autonomy in giving him scores.

After waiting on the boat for quarter of an hour, we soon arrived at the first destination.

Wei Xuancheng first left the private room, then went back.

"We have arrived at the first place. Lord Gong asked me to ask you, what should be done with Yanguang Temple?"

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and said, "We should remove the temple and destroy the golden statue!"

Wei Xuancheng said: "Do you have anything else to say? If not, I will reply."

Zhao Xing nodded and said, "Not just this one, I have the same attitude towards all 52 temples in Anping Prefecture, which is to get rid of these folk temples."

“There are three reasons for this.”

Wei Xuancheng stretched out his hand and said, "Please speak."

"First, the people of Anping Prefecture privately set up temples. Although some of them are not considered to be worshipping evil gods, and sometimes even have meritorious deeds, it is already a huge expense to maintain the advancement of Yin gods for two hundred years."

"According to the Great Zhou's Yin God sacrificial system, even the main gods have annual sacrifices, monthly sacrifices, seasonal sacrifices, and daily sacrifices. For these Yin gods that are no longer canonized by the court, they require even more sacrifices."

"I am not familiar with the government affairs of the temple, but I know a lot about mathematics. I can do some calculations for Lord Wei and the masters of the temples."

"Take the Yanguang Temple as an example. To advance in two hundred years, it must maintain a major sacrifice every ten years and a minor sacrifice every year."

"During the year of the great sacrifice, daily sacrifices must be made, four times a day, and each time three animals must be offered as sacrifices. These are cattle, sheep, horses, silk, jade, and bronze, a total of 160 items."

"Even if the sacrifices can be repeated, food still needs to be offered 1,695 times a year. Although the other 51 temples are not as powerful as the Yanguang Temple, I have calculated that these 52 temples need to offer food a total of 34,453 times."

"During every monthly festival, guards were hired to carry the statue through the streets, and temple priests, retainers, and musicians were invited. Each time, no fewer than 3,000 people were dispatched, and the number of people dispatched in a year reached 100,000."

"Whenever there is a parade, believers will buy incense, paper money, and even put copper coins into the merit box. Even if 10 people only put in coins each time, it would be more than taels. In fact, the number will be even higher! The military can't even count it."

"This is just one year. Let's just talk about those privately-built temples. Anping Prefecture still has the official gods canonized by the imperial court! If the people don't believe in them, then that's fine. But if they do, they would rather live in poverty than not support the gods they believe in."

"Over the past two hundred years, these 52 temples have absorbed the manpower of several generations of people, how could it be worth hundreds of millions? And have the people really benefited from it?"

"Even if those Yin Gods have so-called meritorious deeds, why do they need the Wild Gods to do them?!"

"Absorbing the people's power, exceeding authority and monopolizing personal gain, this is the first person who deserves death!"

Zhao Xing's voice was so loud and clear that a flash of anger appeared in Wei Xuancheng's eyes after hearing it.

This was exactly what he wanted!

Originally he had not thought about it so much, but when Zhao Xing listed the numbers, Wei Xuancheng immediately became furious.

Yeah, what a waste!

It may not be obvious when applied to ordinary people of one generation, but the accumulated amount over the past two hundred years is staggering. What Zhao Xing said was very heartbreaking. Since there is waste, there must be beneficiaries. Who are the beneficiaries?
Of course it’s the aristocratic family!
They are like termites that lie on the bodies of the people and continue to suck their blood.

There are always some people who are fooled by these people without knowing it, and they spend their hard-earned money and even praise them.

Zhao Xing was worthy of being the Minister of Agriculture. He used the financial perspective as the basis for his approach, which immediately impressed Wei Xuancheng.

Wei Xuancheng bowed and said, "Mr. Zhao's analysis is very insightful and has enlightened me. Please accept my greeting."

"I dare not, it's just some arrogant words. If I said something wrong, please forgive me, Lord Wei." Zhao Xing quickly stood up and returned the greeting.

In fact, what he said were the correct strategies that Wei Xuancheng later presented to Emperor Wu in the court.

Of course, these things now are not as exaggerated as Wei Xuancheng later said.

Wei Xuancheng wanted to reform even the imperial mausoleum. He proposed the "Five Temple System", which meant that there was no need to hold sacrifices for the emperor, concubines, princesses, and princes after five generations. If sacrifices were to be held, they should be held in the Temple of the Son of Heaven.

Zhao Xing was being reserved in his words. Compared with the drastic measures taken by Wei Xuancheng in later generations, his words now were just a needle.

It was strong enough to pierce the hearts of Wei Xuancheng and the temple priests, but not too much.

"Please continue with the second and third points, Lord Zhao." A strange light flashed in Wei Xuancheng's eyes. He really wanted to know if Zhao Xing had any other unique opinions.

　The next chapter will be after twelve o'clock, please give me the guaranteed monthly ticket for June!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)