I dare not

The author has something to say: It has always been like this, right? ——Lu Xun

Not long after, Fazhang took his disciples to build a temporary residence in the temple and moved to the construction site.

Gu Qiao was the only one left in the small courtyard.

The once bustling and crowded courtyard became quiet again. Gu Qiao didn't know how to cook, so during this period of time, she was looking for various delicacies near the government office every day.It just so happened that Sicang Zheng Weiwen was also single, and the two of them had similar tastes, and they would go shopping at food stalls in the streets and alleys every day.Zheng Sicang has lived in Ningcheng for five years, and he knows all the delicacies here.

The food shortage has just passed, and the market in Ningcheng has become lively.Sellers of delicacies, wild game, and snacks are lined up on the side of the street.

The winter bamboo shoots in this season are the most delicious. They are boiled with salt and water, baked half-dry, and dipped in the hot and sour sauce made by the locals. They are so delicious that they can't stop.

Gu Qiao and Zheng Weiwen have eaten at this restaurant for three days in a row. Ordering a winter bamboo shoot, a plate of fried tofu, a plate of peanuts, and warming a pot of wine is the most relaxing moment of the day.

Zheng Weiwen took a sip of his wine and said in a low voice: "When I went down to the government office today, I saw that Wei Changshi was blocked by people from several counties again. Regarding the matter of land redemption, the big households below have a lot of resentment!"

Gu Qiao contemptuously said, "At the beginning, the land that was encircled was basically taken for nothing, but now the court said it was redeemed at the original price, and only they know how much water is in that number, and this is a grievance, so it is said that the hearts of the people are not enough. Tun Xiang."

"You can't say that, it's been like this for so many years..."

"It's always been like this, right?"

"It was also tacitly approved by the government in the past, and the rules are set in this way."

Gu Qiao said coldly: "Then the government made a mistake, and if it is wrong, it must be corrected!"

His voice was a little louder, and the people around turned their heads to look at the two of them. Just as Zheng Weiwen was about to say something, he saw a lame beggar running from the corner of the street being chased.

The lame beggar stumbled into the ox cart pulling the goods, and was caught and beaten on the ground by those behind him.

"Thief! Thief who stole steamed buns!"

The beggar ignored the fists that landed on him, and just stuffed the stolen steamed buns into his mouth, choking and rolling his eyes.

"Stop!" Gu Qiao saw the beggar's face clearly, ran over and took out a handful of copper coins from her body, "I paid for him, please be merciful!"

The beating man looked after Gu Qiao Mianshan, and he gave a lot of money, so he stopped, pointed at the beggar and cursed, "For this young man's sake, let it be. If you come to our shop again later, I will see you." One hit at a time!"

The beggar kept kowtowing to Gu Qiao, unable to speak clearly with the steamed bun in his mouth, "Thank you, master! Thank you, master!"

Zheng Weiwen also came to help him to sit down in the restaurant, and asked the storekeeper for a bowl of water for him to drink.

The beggar sat down and drank the water, rested for a while before recovering, and thanked Gu Qiao and Zheng Weiwen endlessly.

Gu Qiao said: "Wang Weili, you don't remember me?"

Wang Weili seemed to have poor eyesight, so he stretched his neck to look at Gu Qiao's face carefully, "Are you...are you...Master Gu?"

Gu Qiao was actually surprised to meet Wang Weili.On the day when Shaocheng Temple was burned, only a few bandits except Du Yuwen and Huang Qi went out to patrol the mountain and escaped. He didn't expect to meet people in the temple after so long.

"How did you do this?"

Wang Weili recognized Gu Qiao and burst into tears.On the night when the fire broke out, he slept on the floor of the Buddha Hall as usual. When he heard the noise outside, the smoke was so thick that it was hard to open his eyes.He hurriedly got up and called Gu Qiao, but no one answered after calling a few times. He opened the door of the temple and saw that there were many people outside.All the surrounding wooden houses were on fire, the gate of the temple was locked and it was impossible to escape, some people's clothes were on fire, and people were crowded and burned.The survivors all rushed into the Buddhist hall, the gate was crushed, and Wang Weili was under pressure.The next morning he crawled out from the pile of corpses, his eyes were blinded by the smoke and his legs were crushed.

In a temple with more than 100 people, less than five people survived in the end.Later, people from the government came and dragged the corpses out one by one and placed them in the open space outside the temple. Those who were still alive were taken back to the government office as bandits and put in prison.

I was locked in the prison for more than two months, but somehow I had something to eat. After a period of time, I could barely walk my legs, but my eyes could only see a little bit of things in front of me, and I became half-blind.

"Afterwards, they let us go without saying why, and let us go back to our hometown to farm." Wang Weili wiped his tears with his black lacquered cuffs, "Those people said that there is still money to go back to the hometown to farm, but I look like this. , people say I can’t do farm work, and don’t give me money. I’m so hungry, I can’t…”

Gu Qiao and Zheng Weiwen looked at each other. Only a few people in Lianzhou Prefecture knew the truth about Huang Zhengxian setting fire to the temple. In order to avoid trouble, they did not make it public.People still regard it as a suppression of bandits, so neither the people who were burned to death nor the people who survived got the compensation they deserved.

But some things don't exist if they are not covered up. As an official, for the country and the people, it would be too stupid to turn a blind eye to such things.

Gu Qiao immediately decided, "Brother Wang will go back to live with me first, and we will figure out a solution for the rest of the matter."

Wang Weili burst into tears again when he heard him say this, "Master Gu doesn't dislike me as a useless person, he is willing to take me in, and even calls me brother and brother, I...I..."

He slid down from the chair and was about to kowtow on his knees, but Gu Qiao hurriedly supported him, "You don't have to. You didn't make things difficult for me when I was imprisoned in the temple."

Zheng Weiwen asked him: "Is there anyone else in your family?"

Wang Weili sniffed and replied, "Not anymore."

Gu Qiao remembered what he said about his younger brother who lost his voice in the gold mine. This time he was on a business trip in various counties and heard about similar situations.However, due to the strict management of the mine, very little information can be found, and Gu Qiao has not received any information related to the missing miners.

On the second day after Wang Weili was settled in his home, Chang Feng came down the mountain.

The money for rebuilding the temple was not given to Fazhang all at once. Fazhang asked Chang Feng to report the progress to Gu Qiao every month, and Gu Qiao allocated the money for the next progress from the treasury to him, which was safe and convenient for both parties.

Gu Qiao told Chang Feng about Wang Weili, "On the surface, they are suppressing bandits, but we all know that most of them are innocent. This is a man-made disaster, and the source is that the imperial court employs people carelessly, but they want to put them on the mountain." The hat of a bandit, as a court official, I feel ashamed!"

Chang Feng said: "You didn't cause this, don't blame yourself. Wang Weili can live in the temple after the temple is repaired, and the master will not object."

"Not only Wang Weili, but also others. I have personally written their names and biographies. It is their credit that the disaster in Lianzhou has attracted the attention of the central court so quickly."

"But most of them are dead."

Gu Qiao sighed, "Although people are dead, some parents, wives and children are still alive, and the pensions that should be given should still be given."

Chang Feng nodded, "It should be so."

"However, if the money is given from the yamen, it would be a bit unfair. I think I can only trouble you, senior brother."

Chang Feng raised his eyebrows, "How to say?"

"Hmm..." Gu Qiao scratched his head, "The reconstruction fee reported to me by Master Fazhang, after calculating the 500 million taels of silver, there is still a few 10 taels left. I want to take 50 taels out of it to pay In the name of Shaocheng Temple, it will be issued to the families of the deceased."

Chang Feng raised his eyebrows even higher, "Do you want me to sprinkle silver on behalf of the Buddha?"

Gu Qiao nodded, "Yes, by the way, let's promote Shaocheng Temple, and your incense will definitely flourish in the future."

"Forget it, the incense is so hot that the rest of us are too busy, so it's better to be quiet, and don't become like the Daci'en Temple."

"Speaking of which, I heard Master Fazhang say that the back mountain of Da Ci'en Temple was all given to the mine, what happened?"

"That..." It was a long story, Chang Feng sat down and drank a glass of water, and then told him what happened.

Da Ci'en Temple has been built for more than 300 years. The main hall is located on the mountainside of Chen Jinshan. After more than 300 years of development, a large area of ​​front and back has become its territory.

The person who discovered the gold mine was a monk in the temple. He picked up gold in the stream of the temple.There are many people in the temple, and the news spread quickly. Soon after, the Ministry of Industry sent people to investigate.

Gu Qiao knew a little about the later things, because it was his father, Gu Zhiwei, who was the doctor of Yubu Division of the Ministry of Industry, who came here at that time.

Gu Zhiwei is a master surveyor, he can calculate the mineral reserves very accurately, there is no other person in the whole country of Hao.It was at that time that Gu Qiao came to Lianzhou with his father, but he was still too young at that time to know that Chen Jinshan where he lived was a real Jinshan.

Gu Zhiwei calculated that Chen Jinshan's gold reserves were astonishing, and the annual output could reach half of the annual output of the national gold mines in Haoguo at that time.Soon, Gu Zhiwei was recalled to the capital, and the Shaofu Supervisor took over the gold mine.

"The mine was originally built a hundred miles southeast of the mountain behind the Daci'en Temple. It was not in contact with the temple well water. For some reason, it began to expand its scope a few years ago and has been encroaching westward, close to our mountain behind." Daci’en Temple is the place where Changfeng grew up, and the feelings are still very deep. “The back mountain is the stupa of the masters of the past. At that time, my ancestor Master Hongri was still there. His old man’s attitude was very firm and he did not allow the mine to occupy a When he was alive, the mine never dared to act rashly. Four years ago, when the master passed away, Master Uncle Fa Qing succeeded him as the abbot. The mine opened to the mountain behind us. You will know what happened later, the master led us to stop the uncle, but he tricked us out."

"When Master Fazhang told me before, I felt very strange. The scope of the mine should be fixed at the beginning. How can we dig more and more? If there are mines in the temple, it should be the court who came forward to negotiate with them. The temple is talking about relocation, so how can the mine dig wherever it wants?"

Chang Feng poured himself another glass of water, "Then I don't know."

"It seems that I need to find an opportunity to take out the blueprint and have a look."

"The mine is so heavily guarded that I can't even fly in. You still want to see the blueprint."

"Maybe my father still has it? Didn't he go to investigate?"

"Did you see it among your father's belongings?"

Gu Qiao shook her head, "When I was young, my teacher helped me clean up my father's belongings."

"Then you can ask your teacher."

"Well, we can only watch it when we return to Beijing." Gu Qiao said.