Wife, you didn't really drug me, did you?

Chapter 538 The Kingdom of Siam, Saving Fang Zheng!

Port closed?

The tax collector was completely baffled. Why would they suddenly close the port?

The Grand Preceptor, Basong, paid no heed to such a minor figure as him, and simply told him, "Just obey and close the port."

Later, the tax collector learned that the Nanyang forces had suffered a major defeat, and even the Prince of Zhenguo Wuping had been defeated by the Nanyang Allied Forces. The Imperial Advisor had also been forced to retreat by a Han Chinese named Zhu Chongba. Therefore, when the Imperial Advisor returned, he was determined to reorganize the army, rebuild his strength, and plan for other things.

Prior to this, during the war between the two countries, the Grand Preceptor feared that the other side would send people to the country to gather information, so he directly closed the port and waited for the right time to reopen it. Currently, Prasong needs to ensure that there are no problems in the entire country of Siam.

At this moment, the people from the Holy Sect under the Imperial Preceptor looked at the tax collector and said, "You haven't encountered any suspicious people here, have you?"

Upon hearing this, the tax collector immediately replied, "No, no, there is absolutely no suspicious person."

Seeing the tax collector say this, the man didn't want to continue questioning him. After all, in their opinion, even if the other side sent spies, they couldn't have sent them so quickly, or they might have already sent spies beforehand.

Because of these ideas, they simply closed the port hastily without conducting an in-depth investigation.

The tax collector watched as the National Preceptor's disciples began to blockade the port, his face full of bitterness. He had finally managed to secure a lucrative position, but not only did he not get a single penny, he had now lost his job as well.

Are there any ministers who served the emperor who are in a worse situation than me?
But it's okay.

The tax collector secretly pulled a pocket from his sleeve, opened a corner and peeked inside; there should be a hundred gold coins.

The Vinceco family is really something else. If it weren't for them, I would be in a terrible situation now. I wouldn't have gotten a single bite of meat and would have ended up with a lot of trouble.

Thinking of this, the tax collector even felt a little grateful to the young master of the Vincemoco family. If it weren't for him, he would have been finished this time.

Now that I have these 100 gold coins, I can try to bribe my boss and maybe even get another lucrative job.

The tax collector glanced at Feynman Harbor again, thinking to himself, "This port is indeed good, but unfortunately, I don't have the fortune to benefit from it."

With that in mind, the tax collector had no choice but to leave with his henchmen.

Meanwhile, in Siam, Chen Jie and his party had arrived in Feman, the second largest city in Siam.

It takes two more days of travel from Feynman to reach the capital of Siam, Pinggu.

Chen Jie and his companions were walking on the streets of Feynman, the second largest city in Siam, a port city and a Buddhist city.

Buddhism is very popular in Siam, and it can be said to be the largest religion in Siam. This is related to Bodhidharma, who lived in Siam for a period of time and took in several disciples. These disciples later became the leaders of Buddhism in Siam.

Among them, seven were the most outstanding and were known as the Seven Schools, which are the origin of Siamese Buddhism.

They can all be considered as disciples of Bodhidharma.

Feynman is the main temple of the Fire Sect, one of the seven sects, so the buildings here are mostly domed and have a Buddhist feel.

At first glance, all you see are multi-tiered roofs and spires.

What's even more impressive are the temples here. There are more than seventy temples of all sizes in the city of Feynman, the most famous of which is the Temple of Fire!

This is an extremely large temple. From a distance, the flame-shaped ornaments on the top of the temple look like a ball of fire burning in Feynman. Chen Jie could tell how prestigious this temple was in the country just by passing by, because the pillars of this temple were decorated with gold.

Using real gold as decoration, how rich must they be?

Moreover, a group of people were kneeling outside the temple, kowtowing and worshipping with great piety. It was clear that these people included high-ranking officials and nobles who would offer their gold to the monks inside the temple. Even poor families would use the few gold coins they had left to make offerings to Buddha and ask Buddha to bless them.

Seeing how devout these believers were, Chen Jie was quite surprised, but thinking about the future, he realized that this was a Buddhist country, and he understood.

At this moment, Zhao Fa guessed, "This is the temple of the Fire Sect, one of the seven sects left by Bodhidharma, and it is also one of the seven sect temples that has not been modified much in Siam."

“My father also comes to pay homage every year.”

Upon hearing Zhao Fachai's words, Chen Jie said, "It seems that this Huo Zong also holds a high position in your Siam. However, why do you appoint a non-Buddhist as the national preceptor when Buddhism holds such a high position here?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Facai's face stiffened, and he said, "Brother Chen, I'm only saying this to you. I wouldn't dare to tell anyone else."

Chen Jie laughed and said, "If it's so mysterious, then let's not talk about it."

Zhaofa guessed, "Well, it's not that mysterious. My father said that if we rely too much on Buddhism, Buddhism will cause chaos in the government. In history, there have been cases where eminent monks joined forces with princes to rebel against the court and establish a new emperor."

"Therefore, my father told me not to trust them too much, but to make good use of non-Buddhist believers and Buddhists who are willing to be loyal to the royal family. As for those disobedient Buddhist disciples, they should not be trusted too much, and they should not be used in politics or business!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jie nodded slightly and said, "Your father is right."

Following Chen Jie forward, he asked Zhao Fa, "By the way, how much do you know about the Imperial Preceptor?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Facai thought for a moment and said, "I know a little. He seems to be the disciple of the former Grand Preceptor, Immortal Bai. Oh, and he also married Immortal Bai's daughter, Snow Maiden. But I've heard that Snow Maiden and the Grand Preceptor don't get along and don't live together."

"Oh, where does the Snow Woman live?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Facai looked at Hei Ligudao and said, "You said last time that she lived at Yuanshui Temple!"

"That's right, it's Genshui Temple!"

Hei Ligu nodded, and Chen Jie asked, "Where is Yuanshui Temple?"

Hei Li Gu Dao: "Yuanshui Temple is located in the capital. It is an ancient temple founded by the seven sects left by Bodhidharma. However, it was affected by Prince Sari's coup. Otherwise, its status would not be much weaker than Huode Temple!"

Hearing this, Chen Jie nodded slightly, then turned to Zhao Fa and asked, "I'm hungry. What good food do you Siam have?"

Zhao Facai was taken aback for a moment, then said with a blank look, "Roasted, roasted meat is quite delicious."

At this moment, Gematai said, "Your Highness, this is not our palace, there is no roasted meat here."

Yes, barbecue is not something ordinary people can afford. Ordinary people usually eat sweet fried rice like pineapple fried rice and mango fried rice, as well as fish. Since this place is close to the port, there is a lot of fish available.

As for barbecue, forget about it; it's not something ordinary people can afford.

Although Siam has a considerable amount of arable land, accounting for more than 20% of the country's total area, most of the fertile land belongs to temples. Ordinary people own very little land, and many do not even own any land and can only work as tenant farmers for temples. As a result, the lives of ordinary people are quite difficult.

However, the good thing is that, due to the climate, rice here can generally be harvested twice a year, so rice is not very scarce.

So people here generally eat rice as their staple food, but how should we describe the rice here?
Because it's been harvested multiple times, the flavor isn't as rich and fragrant as rice harvested only once a year. However, people usually use this rice to stir-fry pineapple or even mango, which masks the flavor, so it's considered a local specialty.

Chen Jie found a fairly good restaurant in Feman City, and then sat down in this wooden building and ordered a meal.

The most abundant item was seafood. The seafood here was very plump and delicious. For Du Xiong, who loved seafood, this was definitely a feast, and it was also very cheap. A whole table of food, including drinks, only cost one silver coin.

Silver coins were a unique currency of Siam. They had three types of coins: copper, silver, and gold. Copper coins had the lowest value, but their purchasing power was higher than that of copper coins in Han China. Approximately one copper coin could be exchanged for five to six copper coins in the Great Qian Dynasty.

Then came silver coins, one silver coin equaled one hundred copper coins, and one gold coin equaled one hundred silver coins.

Using this unit of value, Chen Jie ate a fairly decent seafood feast in this unassuming restaurant, along with their specialty pineapple fried rice. The taste wasn't as good as it would be in later generations; it had a strange sweetness, which Chen Jie suspected was due to too much pineapple.

However, that didn't matter; Chen Jie ate quite well. After finishing their meal, Chen Jie and his group didn't dare to linger and left Feman City directly, heading straight for the capital, Bin Valley.

After a day and a night of travel, Chen Jie and his group finally arrived at Bin Valley.

As expected, Pinggu, the capital of Siam, was a completely different place. The population here was significantly larger than that of Feman City. After arriving here, Chen Jie and his group changed their clothes and found an inn in Pinggu to stay in.

The whole process went very smoothly.

After arriving here, Fang Susu couldn't hold back any longer. She wanted to find her brother and his imprisoned members of the Divine Dragon Cult.

This required some inquiries. Fortunately, Zhao Fa guessed that they still had some trusted confidants in Bingu City, and quickly obtained the information that Fang Susu needed.

It turns out that the people of the Divine Dragon Cult were all sent by the new king to build his mausoleum. That's right, the new king was influenced by Chinese culture, and the first thing he did after taking the throne was to build a tomb. He was very concerned about where he would be buried after he died.

However, large-scale projects like this usually require a lot of manpower and laborers. But if the new king conscripts laborers as soon as he takes office, he will definitely be criticized by the people. Therefore, although the new king really wanted to build the tomb, he was afraid of being criticized. In the end, he came up with a solution, which was to directly use the people of the Divine Dragon Cult.

So, after the five thousand disciples of the Divine Dragon Sect were given the national teacher's curse, their cultivation was sealed. Now they are all imprisoned in the Xingshan Camp, doing hard labor and building tombs.

"I have to go save my brother!"

Fang Susu spoke directly, revealing her thoughts: she wanted to rescue her brother, Fang Zheng.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cuishan stood up and said, "I'll go with you."

Seeing Fang Susu and the others like this, Chen Jie said, "Well, I'll go with you too."

Fang Susu said, "Uncle, don't you have important things to do?"

Chen Jie said, "No rush. We can't forget our roots because of him. Our most important task here is to save people. We can put everything else aside for now. Besides, they've all been cursed by the Imperial Preceptor. Do you know how to cure the curse?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Susu and the others immediately shook their heads; how could they possibly know how to detoxify?

Chen Jie said, "Alright, listen to me. Let's stay here for the night. Tomorrow, Su Su and Brother Cui Shan will go to the Xing Shan camp."

“Ah Chai.”

"Ah, Brother Chen?" Zhao Facai looked at Chen Jie, who said, "Lend me Gematai tomorrow, we don't know the way to Xingshan Camp."

Upon hearing this, Zhaofa guessed, "Brother Chen has given the order, so naturally I dare not disobey. Not to mention Gematai, even if I were asked to go, I would certainly obey."

Chen Jie laughed and said, "You've certainly learned to be quick-witted, kid. Who taught you that? It couldn't have been that bastard Du Xiong, could it?"

Upon hearing this, Du Xiong grinned and chuckled, "My lord, you truly have a discerning eye for talent; you recognized me immediately!"

Seeing Du Xiong's state, Chen Jie said, "Alright, we'll leave tomorrow. Be careful in the inn and don't cause any trouble."

"Don't worry, I know."

Du Xiong nodded, and then Chen Jie said to everyone, "Then let's get some rest tonight."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately settled down.

The next day at dawn, Chen Jie, Gematai, Fang Susu, and Zhang Cuishan left.

At this moment, Chen Jie and his group headed straight for the Xingshan camp.

They arrived at Xingshan Camp in silence around noon. Upon arrival, Chen Jie and his men saw a large mountain, but a significant portion of it had already been carved out. Gematai said, "The king's tomb is to be placed inside the mountain, and they are carving it out!"

Chen Jie and the others realized that the entire Xingshan camp was heavily guarded, with a 5,000-strong army suppressing the outside and clearly more than 5,000 people inside.

It should be more than just the five thousand members of the Divine Dragon Cult.

Chen Jie looked at the defenses here. Although they were tight, for their group, which consisted of experts at least at the Dragon Realm, this place was practically flat ground.

Sure enough, Chen Jie jumped up, and the others followed. Soon they entered the Xingshan camp.

At this moment, in the Xingshan camp, a group of people wearing handcuffs and shackles, shirtless, were carrying stones under the scorching sun. Every ten meters around them was an overseer holding a leather whip, staring fiercely at the slaves in front of them.

Suddenly, an elderly man who looked quite old fell to the ground with a thud, and the huge stones in his basket on his back scattered all over the ground.

“Wala Gacha…”

Then one of the foremen angrily shouted "Local tycoon!" and rushed forward, whipping the old man repeatedly. With each lash, a bloody welt appeared on the old man's body, and it looked as if the old man was about to be whipped to death.

At this moment, Chen Jie, who was hiding in the shadows, frowned and asked, "What are they saying?"

Gematai said, "It's a local insult in Siam, roughly meaning lazybones, idiot, someone who's asking for death, etc..."

Chen Jie nodded. Although he couldn't understand their language, he could guess what they were saying from their expressions and actions. Chen Jie frowned slightly.

Looking at Fang Susu beside him, he asked, "Susu, is that someone from your Divine Dragon Sect?"

Fang Susu shook her head and said, "No, the elders of our Divine Dragon Sect don't go out to sea. They all live out their retirement on our island."

"Those were conscripted laborers?"

Chen Jie muttered something, but then Gematai said, "No, that's not a laborer. That old man was the tax collector from Feynman Harbor, and he was our old king's servant!"

After saying this, Gematai said, "Many of the people imprisoned here are former subordinates and family members of our old king. It is likely that they were sent here as slaves because they were unwilling to pledge allegiance to the new king."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jie's gaze sharpened slightly, and he said, "This is equivalent to exile, isn't it?"

Thinking this, he saw that the old man was about to be whipped, but the guards were not going to stop. Each of these guards had a death quota, which meant that they would not be punished for killing a certain number of people in a day, but they would be punished if the project was not completed.

Therefore, they employ people very ruthlessly, regardless of whether the people live or die.

"Wah la wah wah~"

At this moment, the guard raised his whip again, ready to strike again, and continued to curse. It was clear that the old man was about to give up, but the guard clearly wanted to make an example of him and was prepared to beat the old man to death, so as to warn the slaves present not to slack off, because they were really capable of killing people.

Just as the guard raised his whip again, ready to strike, a voice suddenly blocked the old man's path and grabbed the whip.

"If you keep hitting him, someone will die!"

Upon hearing the voice and seeing the figure appear, Fang Susu's eyes widened in shock: "Brother!"

That's right, it's Fang Zheng, the young master of the Divine Dragon Sect.

At this moment, Fang Zheng was seen shirtless, covered in sweat, with heavy handcuffs and shackles on his hands, and many whip marks and scars visible on his body.

"Waaaaa..."

"what did he say?"

Fang Susu couldn't understand the local language of Siam. When she saw the guards talking to her brother in a foreign language, she became anxious and asked a question.

Gematai said, "The guard told your brother to let go, or he would be punished."

Fang Susu frowned immediately, and just then a burly man walked over, smiling obsequiously at the guard, "Wah-la-wah~"

"Uncle Lei!"

Fang Susu immediately saw the familiar figure. It was Lei Ming, the vice leader of the Divine Dragon Sect.

Lei Ming was mainly in charge of overseas trade, so he knew some of the local Siamese languages.

At this point, they started talking directly to the guards, who were furious. They were the law here; who dared to disobey them? This was outrageous!

He excitedly spoke to Lei Ming, and the commotion attracted the attention of the surrounding guards.

At this point, no one knew what Lei Ming had said, but he chattered on and on with a fawning smile on his face.

Although I don't know what he said, I know it must have been something like flattery. It's quite a pity that the former vice leader of the Divine Dragon Sect has fallen to this state.

The group talked for a while, and then Fang Zheng let go of the whip. The guard gritted his teeth and angrily lashed Fang Zheng five or six times before he calmed down.

He then handed the bamboo basket from the old man's body to Fang Zheng, the meaning of which was clear: you can't be reckless.
Come help the old man move this stone.

Seeing that Fang Zheng complied with everything the author said, the other guards exchanged glances and left. At this moment, Fang Zheng helped the old man up, pulled him aside, and then began to carry stones with two bamboo baskets on his back.

"Ah Zheng, how many times have I told you not to stick your neck out? This isn't Dragon Island anymore. You're a prisoner now. It's better to avoid trouble. Did you get hurt?"

Lei Ming looked at the still-bleeding whip marks on Fang Zheng's body and spoke earnestly.

Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng calmly replied, "It's alright, Uncle Lei. It's just some superficial injuries. You're right, but I can't just stand by and watch someone die in front of me like this!"

"Sigh, Zheng, we're in a sorry state now. There are some things we can't help but do. We can't be so impulsive in the future."

Lei Ming is noticeably smoother than Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng said, "Okay, Uncle Lei."

Lei Ming sighed and said, "I really didn't expect that we would encounter such a calamity. I wonder how the sect leader is doing now?"

Fang Zheng didn't speak upon hearing this, but his eyes were filled with worry.

Not only his father, but also his sister was very worried. He didn't know if his sister would impulsively come to Siam after hearing the news. He hoped she wouldn't come, as this place was a den of dragons and tigers!
"Let me go, let me go, I'm going to kill that bastard!"

On the secluded hillside, Fang Susu's eyes were wide with rage, her teeth clenched, and the sword in her hand rustled. She was truly furious. Seeing her brother being whipped like a pig or a dog, without even daring to fight back, filled her with rage. She wanted to rush down and use her sword to poke a hundred holes in that damned guard.

How dare they bully my brother! This is outrageous! This is outrageous!

However, as soon as he moved, Zhang Cuishan hugged him from behind, which led to the scene just now. At this moment, Chen Jie looked at Fang Susu and said, "Don't be impulsive. We're here to save people, not to vent our anger."

"Lunch should be served soon, then we'll go talk to your brother again."

Fang Susu calmed down after hearing Chen Jie's words. The group waited on the mountaintop for about half an hour until it was time to eat. The meal was simple: one dark rice ball for each person, mixed with some unknown substance.

"Eat."

At this moment, Lei Ming handed his rice ball to Fang Zheng. He thought that since his young master had been whipped today, eating more would help him recover.

Fang Zheng said, "Uncle Lei, I don't want it. You haven't eaten for two meals. Your body can't take it!"

Lei Ming said, "Hehe, I'm already this old, what can't I handle? It doesn't matter if I eat one more meal or one less meal."

Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng glanced at Lei Ming, then broke his rice ball in half and gave it to Lei Ming, saying, "Have some."

Lei Ming did not refuse. At this moment, Fang Zheng stood up again, went to the old man who had been beaten, and gave him his rice ball. The old man looked up and looked at Fang Zheng gratefully. The next moment, he began to wolf down the rice ball.

Fang Zheng returned to Lei Ming's side and ate the half-eaten rice ball. Lei Ming sighed but didn't say anything.

However, just as the two were eating, a pebble suddenly hit Fang Zheng on the head!
Huh? Fang Zheng turned his head to look!

(End of this chapter)