Chapter 1609 1611 [Infernal Affairs]
After the imperial court rewarded him, Xiang Nan paid his respects three times, and finally accepted it.
It just so happened that it was at the foot of Laojun Mountain, and I gave him 2,000 hectares of land. Anyway, the Heluo area has suffered from repeated wars, with ten rooms and nine empty houses, and most of the land has become unowned.
Xiang Nan then recruited refugees, leased out the land, and took 10% of the rent.
In comparison, other landlords often charge 30% to 50% of the rent. Coupled with the land tax, corvee and so on, the tenant farmers often worked hard for a year without a penny left.
Therefore, when natural disasters and man-made disasters occur, and the harvest is not good, they will be forced to sell their children and daughters and wander around.
So, Xiang Nan's conditions are so favorable, many people immediately come to join him.
In fact, even Xiangnan’s land rent is not that cheap. Like other landlords, tenant farmers are more willing to rent Xiangnan’s land. After all, with a radius of 500 li, who doesn't know the reputation of Daoist Tai Chi.
After the tenant farmers arrived, Xiang Nan not only provided them with seeds and farm tools, but also provided them with small interest-free loans so that they could buy livestock, build houses, tide over difficulties,
In this way, the people will naturally be more grateful to Dade, and those who worship Xiangnan will be more attentive.
In less than a year, eight villages were formed at the foot of Laojun Mountain, each with 2,000 people. They are like satellites, guarding Laojun Mountain.
In addition to paying rent for Xiang Nan in these eight major villages, during the slack season, the men in the village, no matter how old or young, practice martial arts with the Taijimen to strengthen their bodies, practice weapons, train formations, and form troops.
The euphemistic name is to strengthen the defense, protect the environment and the people, and avoid raids and bandits. In fact, Xiang Nan's purpose is to have a usable team in his hands, who serve as farmers in peacetime and soldiers in wartime.
In this way, eight villages can have 10,000 soldiers. Coupled with the leadership of the disciples of the Tai Chi Sect, it is a team that can fight tough battles.
At that time, even if the imperial court sends a large army to come, there is no way to get him.
Unlike Song Jiang, after being recruited, he was arranged to fight Daliao, Fang La, Tian Hu, and Wang Qing, losing troops and generals. In the end, as soon as the military power was withdrawn, there was no one available. By then, a glass of poisoned wine would have killed him.
Xiang Nan will not be so stupid, he must always ensure that he has a group of available people.
…
Time flies, time flies.
In the next few years, Xiang Nan mostly performed martial arts in the audience, evolving Taijiquan to a higher level.
In addition, he also traveled around, treating diseases and saving lives.
Like Yanzhao, Qilu, Heluo, Jianghuai, Shanxi-Shanxi, Sichuan-Tibet, Yunnan-Guizhou and many other places, Xiang Nan has been there. Especially wherever there is a plague, he will go there to cure the disease and eliminate the disaster.
In ancient times, due to the underdevelopment of medicine, coupled with the hunger and cold of the people, and their weak constitution, it was difficult to resist virus infestation, and therefore plagues often prevailed.
From 674 B.C. to 1911 A.D., in more than 2,500 years, there were more than 300 large-scale plagues recorded in history books.
Influenza, smallpox, plague, tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery, typhoid fever... A little disease may kill a person.
And Xiang Nan, because of his superb medical skills and his foresight, he is familiar with history books and knows where there may be plagues. So be prepared in advance.
As soon as the plague came, he had already written the prescription, prepared the medicinal materials, donated doctors and dispensed the medicine, and eliminated the epidemic. As a result, there were countless people alive, and he was praised by more and more people.
This can also be seen from the incense of Laojunguan.
Its pilgrims come in an endless stream from south to north, from east to west, and hundreds of thousands of people come to offer incense every day. There are tens of thousands of taels of money for sesame oil alone in a year.
This also made Tai Chi Sect more and more powerful, with more than a thousand disciples, it has become a well-known martial arts sect, no less famous than Shaolin Sect.
Among them, Deng Chang and others belonged to the first generation of disciples; the three hundred disciples brought back from Luoyang City were regarded as the second generation of disciples; in addition, from the eight major villages, the third generation of disciples were selected, all children in their 80s and 90s. When they grow up, they can just take over the door.
In addition, Xiang Nan also secretly selected excellent seedlings, sent them to Shaolin Temple to learn art, and implemented his own undercover plan.
He himself has no way to go back to Shaolin to practice martial arts. Not to mention whether he, as a master of the generation, can still worship Shaolin Temple again. Even if he wanted to, Shaolin Temple would not.
After all, they were expelled from Shaolin Temple back then, which is equivalent to abandoned disciples of Shaolin Temple. It is impossible for Shaolin Temple to take him back, so he can only use Infernal Affairs.
…
In the sixteenth year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao contracted pneumonia due to falling into the water. Coupled with the perennial drinking pools and meat forests and excessive lewdness, the body has long been strong on the outside and dry on the inside, and the deficiency cannot be replenished. Therefore, the medicine didn't work, and he returned to the west soon.
Because Zhu Houzhao had no son, his cousin Zhu Houcong became the emperor, that is, the well-known Emperor Jiajing.
At the beginning of Emperor Jiajing's ascension to the throne, he rectified the government, promoted the advantages and eliminated the disadvantages, reduced and exempted the tax burden, reused the virtuous officials, removed the guarding eunuchs, tightened the supervision system, and punished corruption and perversion of the law.
After the implementation of these new policies, the politics was clear, the people enjoyed their work, and the national strength was restored to a certain extent. It was called [Jiajing New Deal] in history.
However, Emperor Jiajing was not without flaws. He believed in Taoism and was obsessed with practicing alchemy and immortality. This is directly related to his birth in Huguang.
Because the Huguang area has been prevalent since ancient times. In the early days of his accession to the throne, because he had not yet taken control of the power, he did not dare to be presumptuous for the time being.
After a few years in power, he began to act as a demon. Suppressing Buddha and emphasizing Taoism, favoring alchemists, obsessed with practicing the art of immortality.
In the third year of Jiajing, Shao Yuanjie, a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain, was recruited into the palace to explain Taoism.
What is good at the top will be worse at the bottom. For a time, there were countless people who donated Taoism, alchemy, and secret methods, and they often received gold, silver, jewelry, and even official rewards.
Xiang Nan is a well-known Taoist priest in the world, a loyal and righteous person conferred by Emperor Zhengde, and there are countless living people. He is known as "Living Immortal", so he is naturally valued.
In the third year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing issued a decree to recruit Xiang Nan into the palace to explain Taoism and teach immortality.
However, Xiang Nan failed to meet the call repeatedly, and bid farewell many times.
On the one hand, being with a king is like being with a tiger. Emperor Jiajing, in particular, was suspicious, sensitive, jealous, self-willed, violent and cruel.
In the history of China, the only coup d'etat by a court lady occurred in the Jiajing Dynasty. If he hadn't been too cruel, treated the court lady as a wrong person, and beat him to death at every turn, he wouldn't have provoked the wrath of heaven and people.
Xiang Nan naturally didn't want to serve such an emperor.
On the one hand, Xiang Nan's Infernal Affairs has achieved initial results. Since the seventh year of Zhengde, he has successively sent undercover agents to Shaolin Temple. After more than ten years of planning, it has now achieved initial results.
Among the disciples he sent, some have already entered the Bodhidharma Academy and learned two excellent martial arts, the Crazy Wand Technique and the Subduing Demon Fist, and they have been secretly sent to him.
He is currently practicing and has no time to talk to Emperor Jiajing.
(end of this chapter)