"Have you heard? A major incident happened in Daxiangguo Temple, Master Chengyuan died suddenly!"

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"How dare I make such a joke? You haven't seen that the Daxiangguo Temple was surrounded by people from the Jingzhaoyin Yamen early in the morning, and many monks were taken away for questioning..."

"I heard that it was a young novice monk who found out about it. No one responded when he went to deliver breakfast. As soon as he opened the door and entered the meditation room, he saw Master Chengyuan lying on the ground. His body was already stiff!"

"Hiss—! I was flustered when I heard this. Master Chengyuan, a generation of eminent monks, came to Beijing yesterday in good spirits. How could he die suddenly in the middle of the night? Tell me, this must not be related to ghosts, right?The evil came, and when the ghost heard the news, it killed him first..."

"I think that's probably the case!"

"In this way, this so-called eminent monk is nothing more than that. I heard that the eminent Buddhist monk has profound Taoism and a Buddha's light. Ordinary ghosts can't get close to him. If they get close, they will be wiped out by the Buddha's light. How can they be harmed by ghosts?"

"That's reasonable, it seems that Master Chengyuan is not worthy of his name."

"I don't think so. Master Chengyuan is a world-renowned eminent monk who attained the Tao. How could he be comparable to a real god stick. He was killed by a ghost. Maybe there is a reason for it, or the ghost is really special.Incomparably tyrannical!"

"If you want me to say, how can demons and ghosts hurt Buddhist eminent monks in a Buddhist holy place like Daxiangguo Temple? It is clear that the ghosts and gods of the underworld took him down."

Early in the morning, news of what had happened at Daxiangguo Temple spread, and the discussion immediately spread throughout Shangjing.

Regarding the death of Master Chengyuan, although Jing Zhaoyin gave the answer that he died of heart palpitations, it is not uncommon for elderly people to suffer from a sudden onset of death-like illness.But the common people automatically translated it as "being harmed by evil spirits".

How lofty Master Chengyuan's status is in the hearts of the people, the evil spirit that caused his sudden death in Daxiangguo Temple is so unfathomable and terrifying in the hearts of the people.To be more precise, the existence that can achieve this step is no longer a ghost in the eyes of the common people, but a ghost!

Even Buddhist eminent monks can't resist it. Who else in the capital can escape from ghosts and gods?Immediately, the haunted rumors in the past intensified.All the people know that there are ghosts and gods from the underworld wandering in Shangjing.

And every night, the countless shadows passing across the sky like a group of ghosts traveling, and the whistling sound of the dark wind faintly echoing in everyone's dreams, seem to support this statement.

All of a sudden, people in Shangjing were panicked and turbulent.All kinds of rumors came out.Some say that evil spirits have blue faces and long fangs, four heads and eight arms, some say that evil spirits love to eat children, and some say that ghosts and gods in the underworld only punish evil but not good... But no matter what, this bustling Beijing cannot calm down.

At the foot of the Son of Heaven, the capital of the empire has turned into such a mess. Most of the prosperity in the past has gone, and there are heretics and chaotic parties taking advantage of the opportunity to create troubles and confuse the people. There are even rumors such as "the foolish king will punish the ghosts and gods".How could the emperor and court officials continue to let things go?

If this goes on like this, if someone really takes the opportunity to incite the hearts of the people and cause chaos, even if it is suppressed, it will lose face!This kind of incident is not without criminal record. Civilian uprisings often occur in various parts of Daqi, but because the scale is too small, they are often suppressed by the local people when they are just born. When such troubles happen in the local emperors, they can still pretend to be ignorant and appear in Shangjing.What does the officer think of him?How to write about him in history?

"The most important thing now is to stabilize the hearts of the people."

In the court hall, as expected, there was a censor who gave a solemn speech.

"Nowadays there are rumors of ghosts and gods everywhere, and the people are ignorant to listen to the rumors and it is difficult to clarify them. I think that His Majesty should come forward in person to reassure the hearts of the people."

Hearing this, Emperor Huiming remained calm: "Ai Qing thinks...how can I make the people feel at ease?"

"Your Majesty is the emperor of the real dragon. How can ghosts and monsters get close?" The censor said solemnly, "As long as your majesty goes out of the palace to worship the heavens, or goes to Daxiangguo Temple to pray for blessings, and tell the people, ghosts and monsters are not to be feared..Then all the demons of the cult will be arrested and brought to justice, and the punishment will be imposed. In this way, the people will feel at ease, and peace will return to Beijing.”

The emperor's brows twitched, and his eyes darkened for a moment: "Using the spirit of the emperor to suppress demons and monsters and calm the hearts of the people, is this your opinion? You are familiar with the books of sages, do you also believe in ghosts and gods, and believe the rumors of ghosts?"

——The most important thing is, since this is the case, dare to push the emperor out and let the emperor face ghosts and gods for a group of foolish people?In order to appease the hearts of the foolish people, do you want the monarch to risk himself?

The emperor's anger kept rising, but he saw that the censor cupped his hands in a calm manner: "I don't believe in ghosts and gods. It's just that I think that since the people believe in ghosts and gods, we should use this to calm people's hearts." This means that although the rumors of ghostsIt's all fake, but the common people believe in ghosts.Then, Your Majesty, you might as well offer sacrifices to the heavens and pray for blessings. As long as the people believe that the spirit of the Son of Heaven can suppress ghosts and gods, they won't be so panicked.

At the same time, the evil cult demons who were causing trouble in the dark were captured and punished in front of the people of Shangjing, which played a deterrent effect, and no one would dare to make trouble again for quite a while.

This is indeed a very good idea, at least it is very appropriate to deal with the current situation, both appeasement and deterrence, it can be regarded as a combination of leniency, all the officials immediately responded.

But after Emperor Huiming pondered, he didn't respond on the spot. He still asked the officials to continue to come up with ideas to see if they had better suggestions.And he announced his withdrawal from the court without adopting any of them, as if making a decision after careful consideration.

For another two days, the rumors in Beijing had not subsided, but became more and more outrageous, and the emperor's will finally came out from the palace.

——The theory of being haunted by ghosts is purely false, and it is caused by evil cults and monsters.He ordered Jing Zhaoyin to cooperate with the Imperial City Department to capture the cult demon who spread rumors in Beijing, but he was killed on the spot if he resisted.

This decree obviously adopted the suggestion of the censor, but the emperor didn't mention a word about offering sacrifices to heaven and praying for blessings.

The ministers had a faint realization: that censor doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, it doesn't mean the emperor doesn't believe in them!The haunting turmoil in Shangjing lasted for several months, even the second prince's mansion was affected, only the palace was safe and sound, it can be seen that even the ghosts and ghosts dare not offend the palace ban.But outside the palace is not so peaceful.How could it be possible for Emperor Huiming to leave the palace and take risks for a group of common people?

What happened to the Second Prince's Mansion already made Emperor Huiming very vigilant.

As the Son of Heaven, his life is above all people in the world.As long as there is a slight chance of encountering a ghost, he will not leave the palace.

Unless someone can prove it, everything is pretending to be a ghost.But if it can be proved, it will not let people panic.

Therefore, Emperor Huiming only adopted half of the suggestions.

Stability in Shangjing is the unanimous goal of the emperor and all the officials. Under the concerted efforts of the court, people have been dragged out from various places in Shangjing by the Imperial City Secretary.The staff of Jing Zhaoyin and Huangcheng Division worked hard like never before. They stayed up all night without sleep, but they produced results in just five days.

Among those who were captured, apart from genuine cult monsters, there were also guys of unknown identity who jumped up and down to spread rumors. At this time, all of them were labeled as cult monsters, and each one was put on shackles and paraded through the streets by the Imperial City Commander.

Wherever the mighty team passed by, countless people whispered to each other and looked sideways, waiting to hear that they were the evil cult monsters who disturbed the peace of Beijing, and some people declared their various crimes, including the kidnapping of wives and daughters., the people all clapped their hands and applauded.

When they were taken to the execution ground, and the punishment was enacted, the people's applause became more and more enthusiastic under the leadership of the caring people.

After this big drama, Shangjing City has indeed stabilized a lot.With the absence of so many troublemakers, the emotions of the people have also been released, and most of the turmoil has subsided.

The officials were satisfied, and so was the emperor.

Perhaps the only dissatisfied person is the person behind the censor who made the suggestion.

The man vented wantonly in the mansion, feeling gloomy: "I thought the death of the old monk was a good opportunity, but the emperor is so cowardly! He dare not even leave the palace, such a person is worthy of being the supreme under heaven!"

The person standing below with hands down secretly curled his lips.

... If you really leave the palace, you will be taken advantage of by the assassin you arranged.If you can come up with such a trick as assassination, I think you are all in the same boat, and you are not worthy of being the supreme in the world!

He slandered in his heart, but this man said respectfully: "...After all, he is the Son of Heaven, so he should have a bit of luck. Since the assassination failed, His Highness might as well stop calmly and wait for the opportunity."

He didn't like the reckless act of seizing the throne at all, and he really couldn't understand why the other party was so impulsive, showing a good performance to compare with other princes, the emperor will choose an heir sooner or later.Even if the emperor doesn't like it, wouldn't it be enough to get the approval of all the officials?

The person at the top suddenly became irritable: "Wait for the opportunity! Wait for the opportunity! I have been waiting for so many years! If this continues, I will have no chance—" At this point, he knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, so he didn't say any more.He doesn't want to leak the fact that the emperor raised an illegitimate child, it's best that no one knows about it!

But it was this "waiting for the opportunity" that reminded him all of a sudden: "Isn't it the winter solstice in a few days?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, his eyes became brighter and brighter: "According to the rules of previous years, the palace will hold a banquet on the day of the winter solstice to entertain the clan's children, civil and military officials... so many people come and go, it is convenient for them to do somethingtoo much."

"Haha." He suddenly turned from anger to joy, "It seems that God still favors me, isn't the time coming?"