The prince is more stable

Chapter 589: Shen He's Talk
The river water in the north in winter is so cold that it feels like a needle prick when you touch it with your fingers.

The river did not freeze this winter, with only a few scattered, irregular pieces of ice drifting on the surface.

A few crows were perched on the ice floes, struggling to find food in this silent season.

Zhao Xiaoqian shook his hands, turned around and looked at the old Taoist priest, saying, "It's really cold..."

The old Taoist priest's face was ashen. His hands and feet were bound, and he had long lost the demeanor of a hermit. He said in a somewhat exasperated tone, "Torturing monks will bring disaster to future generations. Heaven will punish you. Layman, you must think carefully!"

"Aren't monks supposed to be kind and compassionate? I'm curious what kind of religion you practice. How could you have the heart to throw a pair of five-year-old children into the river? You're not from a legitimate sect, are you?"

The old Taoist paused, then angrily said, "Two mortal lives can save hundreds of thousands of people in Zhending Prefecture. This is called the virtue of loving life! Sacrificing two people is to save the people. How can I do anything wrong?"

The villagers also started to make a commotion at this time. The old Taoist priest's words obviously moved them. Even the two young couples who were about to lose their children could only cover their faces and cry helplessly, as if they had accepted their fate.

Zhao Xiaoqian sneered, "You're talking so confidently about saving the people, as if you hold a lot of respect in front of the Dragon King. Unfortunately, I also hold a lot of respect in front of the Dragon King..."

The old Taoist priest was confused. What does this mean?
Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and said, "It's like this. Many years ago, I saved a man by the Taiping River. He was lying on the ground covered in blood, with a long gash on his back. I saved him and took him home to recuperate."

"Later he told me that he was the son of the Dragon King, named 'Ao Bing.' He secretly left the Dragon Palace for fun and came to the human world. However, he got into a fight with a child named 'Nezha.' The two of them fought, and Nezha ruthlessly pulled out the dragon tendon on Ao Bing's back, nearly killing him."

"After Ao Bing recovered from his injuries, he thanked me profusely. He told me that if I had any problems, I could just send someone to talk to him. He would do whatever he could, and even if it was impossible, he would do it no matter how difficult it was..."

These words left the Taoist priest and the villagers stunned.

What’s amazing is that Zhao Xiaoqian actually saw that several villagers were already showing doubts.

Zhao Xiaoqian's cheek twitched slightly. You actually believed such nonsense. You deserve to be deceived.

The old Taoist priest was furious: "What nonsense!"

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and did not refute. After all, he could not refute it. He was indeed talking nonsense.

But, why can you get money and kill people for talking nonsense, but I get scolded for talking nonsense?

This is not fair!

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at the old Taoist priest with a smile and said, "Is this nonsense? Why don't you go down and confront Ao Bing? If it turns out that I made it up, I will apologize to you and the villagers."

"Perfect! Didn't you say that the villagers have offended the Dragon King and that he will bring disaster next year? Luckily, I have a good relationship with Ao Bing, the Dragon King's son. How about I send you down to greet Ao Bing and ask him to give me some favor and grant the villagers good weather and good harvests next year?"

The old Taoist priest took a deep breath, and only then did he finally understand what Zhao Xiaoqian was going to do.

This is a murderous intention towards them!

"You, you, you! How dare you harm a monk!"

Zhao Xiaoqian said with a look of compassion, "For the sake of the people of the world, please, Taoist priest, take the trouble to go to the Dragon Palace and mention my name to the Dragon King. It will work."

"No, I won't go!" the old Taoist priest cried miserably.

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and glanced at Chen Shou. Chen Shou waved his hand and the imperial guards pushed several Taoists to the riverside.

Zhao Xiaoqian warned them worriedly, "Tie a stone around their bodies. The Dragon Palace is at the bottom of the river, and they won't sink without the stone."

The imperial guards immediately brought several heavy stones from the riverside and tied them to the Taoists.

Several Taoists were so frightened that they cried for their parents and struggled with all their might. When they failed, they begged for mercy, but Chen Shou and others ignored them.

The village head behind him stepped forward with a nervous look on his face: "Sir, I'm afraid it's not good to treat the Taoist priests like this, right?"

Zhao Xiaoqian blinked. "What's wrong? You don't believe what I just said?"

The village head smiled and said, "I believe it, of course I believe it."

Although he said he believed it, the head of the village clearly looked like he didn't believe a single word of it. However, Zhao Xiaoqian looked like someone who was not someone to be trifled with, so the head of the village didn't dare to offend him.

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed. It seemed that he still hadn't recharged the skin. If he was also dressed in a Taoist robe, there would be many people who believed in him.

"Sir, although that is the case, throwing the Taoist priest into the river is a bit..." the village head said in embarrassment.

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and said, "Don't worry, village head. You saw it with your own eyes. The Taoist priests are skilled in magic and have great powers. They can communicate with gods and ghosts. Asking them to go down and plead with the Dragon King in person would be more sincere than sending a boy or girl."

The village head was stunned again. "Huh? The Taoist priest knows magic. Sending them to the Dragon Palace is indeed much better than sending a boy or girl."

Chen Shou had already tied up the Taoists with stones. The surrounding villagers saw that the Taoists were crying miserably and did not look like they had great magical powers, so they hesitated.

Just as everyone was hesitating, Zhao Xiaoqian frowned in dissatisfaction and said, "What are you waiting for? It's getting late, and the Taoist priests have to hurry back for dinner."

Chen Shou and the imperial guards immediately lifted up the Taoists and threw them into the river with all their might.

With a few splashes, the Taoists' cries and wails stopped abruptly, and they sank into the river. After a few bubbles appeared rapidly on the surface of the river, there was finally no sound.

Zhao Xiaoqian stood by the river, gazing into the water for a moment, and said with relief, "Although I can't see it, I can feel it. The Taoist priests have been speeding along at lightning speed since they entered the water. They are almost reaching the Dragon Palace now."

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled at the villagers and said, "Don't worry, the Taoist priests all know magic. They must be immortals incarnated. The immortals and the Dragon King are colleagues in heaven, so they will show some respect to each other. Next year will definitely not be a disaster year."

The villagers still seemed hesitant, but no one objected. Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and gazed deeply into the river for a long time. The water had ceased to bubble. Calculating the time, the Taoist priests should not be in the Dragon Palace at this moment, but in the underworld. Perhaps they had taken the wrong path...

At the call of the village head, the villagers returned home one after another.

Zhao Xiaoqian also said goodbye to the village head with a smile.

He had originally planned to sleep in the village tonight, but since he had just killed a few people, Zhao Xiaoqian was afraid of ghosts, so he thought it would be best to leave.

…………

At night, Zhao Xiaoqian took Chen Shou and others out of the village and slept in a temporary tent built by the imperial guards in the wild.

After years of marching and fighting, Zhao Xiaoqian had long been accustomed to a life of sleeping in the open air. The exquisiteness and pickiness he had in Bianliang were no longer so particular.

So, the army is indeed a melting pot, and even Zhao Xiaoqian has changed a lot without realizing it.

The next morning, Zhao Xiaoqian returned to Zhending City.

Yesterday's incognito visit yielded some results, mainly the discovery of a cancer under my jurisdiction.

Killing those Taoists was not enough. Zhao Xiaoqian did not forget that the Taoists had their own dens. If the dens were not eradicated, some would still come out to harm the neighbors, and countless children would die innocently.

After returning to the city, Zhao Xiaoqian immediately called Zhao Xin from the Imperial City Office.

"There's a Taoist temple called Xuanqing Temple in the north of the city. Send someone there to investigate."

Zhao Xin was confused: "Taoist temple?"

In his eyes, His Royal Highness the Prince is a big shot who does big things. Why would he target a Taoist temple for no reason?

"That's right, the Taoist temple, that Taoist temple is not doing the right thing, it's a disaster. Send someone to collect evidence of their crimes." Zhao Xiaoqian ordered.

Zhao Xin didn't dare to say more, so he accepted the order solemnly.

Under Zhao Xiaoqian's scolding and beatings, the Imperial City Bureau not only expanded its intelligence network in the past two years, but also greatly improved its work efficiency.

Two days later, news came from the Imperial City Office.

Xuanqing Temple has been taken over by the Imperial City Bureau.

There were more than ten Taoist priests in the Taoist temple, and they were all arrested and thrown into the Zhending Prefecture Prison.

Once a person is sent to prison, he will naturally still be responsible for the work of the Imperial City Bureau.

This case is neither big nor small, but it has caused great harm to the people and must be handled seriously.

So a dozen Taoists were inexplicably arrested and thrown into prison, where they were subjected to the most cruel punishment they had ever received.

The rule of the Imperial City Court when trying prisoners is not to ask about the punishment first. This is called "killing with a stick". After a beating, no matter how hard the mouth is, it will eventually soften.

These routines were probably learned from Liu Dan.

In less than half a day, all ten or so Taoist priests were confessed.

When the Imperial City Division delivered the confession to Zhao Xiaoqian, he was stunned for a long time.

The confessions of more than ten Taoist priests were consistent. They had indeed done some evil things in the past two years. Most of the time, they were cheating people out of their money. It was not the kind of petty scam like fortune-telling on the streets, but they were cheating the entire village by pretending to ward off disasters.

The amazing thing is that after these two years, the Taoist temple’s image has not only not collapsed, but it has gained a good reputation among the people, and the temple’s incense is much more prosperous than in previous years.

If it was just a scam, it would be fine and they would be dealt with according to the law. But the Taoists' confessions said they had committed murder.

Some of them would go to households to perform rituals or preside over sacrifices, and if they set their eyes on the property of a wealthy family, they would sneak in to steal after a few months, or even kill people and rob their property.

There are also those who openly use the name of natural disasters and man-made disasters, under the guise of praying for the people to eliminate disasters and blessings, find an unlucky person and say it is an unlucky person, or directly sacrifice living boys and girls.

According to statistics from more than a dozen confessions, more than a dozen people have been killed in the Xuanqing Temple incident in the past two years, all of whom were innocent civilians, half of whom were young children.

What surprised Zhao Xiaoqian even more was that the Imperial City Division was unable to continue its investigation of Xuanqing Temple.

After tracing back to the source, the Imperial City Administration started investigating from the time when Xuanqing Temple was built. They only found out that it was built by an unnamed wealthy family near Daming Prefecture, and it had been under construction for more than ten years.

The Imperial City Bureau tried to investigate the background of this wealthy family again, but found nothing.

The rich man did not leave his name at all. The money for construction was paid in cash, and the craftsmen hired were all locals. The rich man never showed up from beginning to end, and no one knows why he built this Taoist temple.

Originally, Zhao Xiaoqian did not take the Xuanqing Temple seriously. After all, the national law was in place, so he had to do what he had to do.

Now, after tracing back to its origins, this Taoist temple is becoming more and more mysterious, and Zhao Xiaoqian finally perked up.

No sneaky guys are allowed in my territory except me.

(End of this chapter)