Aunt Chen is back from the world of cultivation

After hearing this, Old Madam Li no longer dared to speak, and didn't even dare to mention the matter of Censor Yuan.

He was only thinking about how to calm his father's anger, and secretly prayed that Cihang Temple would have only a backer like Censor Yuan.

However, God did not hear her prayers after all.

"Madam, Li Da and Jiang Ma are outside asking for a meeting!"

Madam Li's heart suddenly rose to her throat. She almost wanted to drive the two away immediately so that she could pretend that nothing had happened.

However, Minister Li would never give her this opportunity.

"Tell them to come in."

The two of them soon appeared in the main hall.

Minister Li was somewhat surprised by the bruised face of Li Da, but he did not have time to care about such trivial matters, so he asked directly:

"Where are the people from Cihang Temple?"

Li Da thought that Minister Li was blaming him for not doing his job well, so he said quickly:

"Please forgive me, old master! The people in Cihang Temple are too evil. We couldn't defeat them and couldn't even get into the temple. And... and..."

Minister Li was just surprised that the female Taoist priests of Cihang Temple had such amazing fighting power, when he heard Li Da continue:

"Besides, the Cihang Temple is backed by two ladies, the wife of Censor Yuan and the wife of Duke Dingguo. We dare not act recklessly..."

"what!"

Minister Li stood up in shock and said, "Tell me the details of what happened at that time!"

After listening to the two people's reconstruction of the situation, Minister Li frowned.

The behavior of the two ladies is really not like the maintenance of temples and Taoist temples by ordinary pilgrims.

In that situation at that time, facing so many tough thugs, the two men did not send their servants to identify themselves and stop them, but stepped forward personally, which shows that it was unusual.

In addition, the son of a general of Yangzhou actually stayed in this Taoist temple for a long time to pray for blessings.

The water in Cihang Temple is truly unfathomable.

He had this feeling when he learned that the Jingnan Marquis Mansion was punished. Fearing that it might offend others, he did not send anyone to investigate for the time being.

Now, this feeling is even clearer.

Fortunately, however, the matter is not irreversible.

Thinking of this, a hint of cruelty flashed in Minister Li's sharp eyes.

He looked down at the two servants kneeling on the ground and shouted harshly:

"Well, you two wicked slaves, how dare you use the name of my Shangshu Mansion to oppress the people, I will not tolerate you!"

Madam Jiang and Li Da, who were kneeling on the ground, were startled, and then they heard the master of the Shangshu Mansion give the order without hesitation:

"Come here, beat these two bullying slaves to death with sticks! This will restore the good reputation of our Shangshu Mansion!"

Nanny Jiang was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground.

Li Da quickly argued:

"Old Master, please spare us, we are all following the orders of the old lady..."

Minister Li did not give him a chance to speak, and said loudly:

"What are you still standing there for? Tie him up, gag him, and drag him away!"

Several strong servants immediately rushed in to carry out the order.

The two were quickly bound and gagged, then dragged outside the main courtyard for execution.

Mrs. Li finally came to her senses from the shocking incident and tried to plead for mercy:

"Old man, they really followed my orders to go to Cihang Temple and kidnap someone!"

"madness!"

Minister Li scolded.

After all, she was his first wife, she had given birth to several sons for him, and her family background was not bad either. He suppressed his anger and broke it down to her:

"According to your opinion, I shouldn't beat them to death. Should I beat you to death so that you can make amends to Cihang Temple?"

Madam Li was immediately frightened and quickly explained:

"Master, that's not what I meant. I meant that there's no need to beat them to death if you want to make amends. They are both well-known managers in the Shangshu Mansion..."

Minister Li sneered:

"So what? Should we tie someone up and ask Cihang Temple to deal with him? Is that what you call sincere apology?"

"Who among those who came to give me gifts would be so stupid as to ask me what I want? Wouldn't they secretly inquire and guess, and then directly deliver the things to my house?"

"By the same token, those who really want to apologize will never send a living person to embarrass the other party. It is precisely because they are well-known that beating them to death will show sincerity. Do you understand?"

Minister Li looked impatient.

Madam Li nodded quickly.

"Okay, pack up a valuable gift immediately and go to Duke Dingguo's mansion."

If the Duke Dingguo's Mansion is the biggest backer behind Cihang Temple, then we should apologize directly to the Duke Dingguo's Mansion.

If not, then use this opportunity to inquire about the news from the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, and then ask them to act as a middleman to pass the message to the real person behind the scenes.

Thinking of his wife's temper, Minister Li ordered indifferently:

"When the time comes, just listen to what I say, and don't interrupt me. If you mess things up, you'll have to live in the Buddhist temple from now on."

Madam Li hurriedly promised not to speak nonsense.

*

Duke Dingguo is at home today.

As the Admiral of Caojiang, his identity was very sensitive and would attract the attention of the Jinyiwei and the Factory Guards, so it was inconvenient for him to appear in Cihang Temple in person.

As soon as Lady Dingguo came back, she reported to him what had happened at Cihang Temple that day.

After listening to this, Duke Dingguo said with satisfaction:

"You have a very good sense of proportion today!"

He protected Cihang Temple in a timely manner at the critical moment, but did not express his opinion on the truly important matters on the spot.

"Then...should we deal with the Li family like the Yuan family did?"

"What do you think, ma'am?"

Duke Dingguo asked.

Lady Dingguo knew that he was testing her, so she said:

"I think it's feasible."

"The Li family is not careful enough on a daily basis. If we really want to punish them, it will be easy to collect evidence. Moreover, the Li family has thousands of hectares of fertile land in Jiangnan. If the Li family collapses, our family can also take over a lot of fertile land in Jiangnan."

The fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River is the hardest to buy, as it is almost entirely occupied by local gentry and old nobles.

Not to mention the best quality farmland, even the second-rate farmland was in the hands of landlords of all sizes, so it was difficult for outsiders to purchase a farm of some size.

Nowadays, gold and silver are gone once they are spent, and shops are not reliable. Only land is the foundation that can be passed down from generation to generation.

The ancestors of the Duke Dingguo Mansion had been in decline for a period of time, and almost all the fertile land in Jiangnan was sold. Now, if there is a chance, they would naturally want to buy it back.

Duke Dingguo stroked his beard and said:

"Your Majesty loves fame. Killing a tyrant like the Li family who preys on the common people will win praise from the people of Jiangnan. I'm sure you will be happy to see it happen."

"However, a centipede will not die until it is stiffened. We need to deal with the Li family without making too many enemies for the Duke Dingguo Mansion. This matter still needs to be considered in the long run. However, we can first pass on a message to the temple master."

Regardless of when things will be done, it is important to express your stance as early as possible, otherwise if someone else gets there first, the effect will be greatly reduced.

"Then I will send someone to Cihang Temple to deliver the message."

*

The wife of Duke Dingguo sent a maid who often accompanied her to Cihang Temple to burn incense to pass on the message.

It was almost dark when the nanny arrived.

The disciples of Cihang Temple are busy sorting out the offerings sent by the people of Yangfeng Town at the foot of the mountain.

The people of Yangfeng Town, with the help of the immortal master of Cihang Temple, were able to escape from the Japanese pirates with very few casualties and recover their property losses.

Not only that, within two days, a wealthy businessman who was a believer in Cihang Temple heard about this and sent valuable donations to all the dead and injured people.

With this money, those families not only solved the difficulties caused by the loss of labor, but also made a fortune, which greatly comforted the people's grief caused by the death and injury of their loved ones.

Everyone in the town is grateful to Cihang Temple.

He also made up his mind to burn incense and offer sacrifices on the first and fifteenth days of every month to repay the great kindness of Cihang Temple.

At the same time, they secretly hoped that if there were bandits or pirates to attack again in the future, Cihang Temple would still protect them because of their devout offerings.

For the first offering, the townspeople prepared very rich offerings.

There are hundreds of bags of newly harvested rice this autumn, sesame oil, a number of livestock such as chickens, ducks, pigs, geese, and dried vegetables dried in the summer.

The value is not high, but there are really a lot of things, filling up the entire yard.

In order to avoid disrupting the wealthy and noble pilgrims in the morning, the people of Yangfeng Town chose to come in the afternoon.

Upon hearing that it was a token of love from the townspeople, Chen Qingzhu asked someone to accept it.

This is an offering after all, and to refuse it repeatedly would be ungentlemanly.

"Master Huiyun."

The maid from Duke Dingguo's mansion found Huiyun, bowed, and whispered:

"The Duke's wife sent me to tell the master of the temple that the Li family is arrogant and disrespectful and dares to offend Cihang Temple. The Duke Ding's Mansion will go all out to uproot them and set an example for others."

Huiyun was a little surprised that the Duke Dingguo's Mansion made such a big decision so quickly.

"Wait a minute, I will report to the abbot."