Hearing that there were people from the government, the three of them didn't dare to make any more noise, but they didn't let go of their hands, they still grabbed each other tightly, and walked to Xu Ping in a tugging manner.

A middle-aged man who was caught by the two grabbed grabbed the first to speak: "The officials are the masters of the small people, these two wicked people don't know where they came from, they beat and scolded the customers when they entered my store, and overturned the tables and stools." What's especially hateful is that the stove in my kitchen was demolished, and the pots and pans were knocked over on the ground, obviously to cut off the villain's way of life! ”

A middle-aged man in a long shirt who was pulling him spat him: "You bloody mouth!" What is this place? The Dharma Master wants to build a release pond here, but you open a shop selling fish on the side, which is clearly blaspheming the Dharma! We, the children of the Buddhist family, how can we allow you to come here like this! ”

As he spoke, he pressed his hand harder, pulling the shopkeeper tighter.

Xu Ping looked at the three of them, they were still unclear in front of him, entangled together, and he didn't give himself the slightest face as a magistrate, and his face was already dark.

Turning his head to Tan Hu, he said, "Come on, take down these three hun people, and each of them will wake up with ten rods!" ”

Although Xu Ping did not use the guide and the guard of honor when he traveled, the small staff of the accompanying sergeant still brought, and when he heard the commander's order, he couldn't help but say, like a wolf, he stepped forward and tore the three people apart, pressed them aside, and each of them hit ten rods firmly on their buttocks. The three of them screamed like ghosts, and their buttocks swollen.

In the Song Dynasty, corporal punishment was divided into cane punishment and flogging punishment, cane punishment was beaten on the back with a large cane, which was called a spine cane, and flogging punishment was beaten with a small cane, called a buttock cane. When the rod is used in the law, there are a number of rods according to the "rod folding method", but the cane used by a magistrate of Xu Ping's level is relatively casual, and he may not act in accordance with the law, and there are also ruthless extrajudicial punishments that can be directly caned.

After the ten canes were beaten, the three of them were honest, lying on the ground and not daring to make a sound.

Tan Hu found a chair from the shop for Xu Ping to sit on, stood behind him, and looked at the three of them with a knife on his waist.

Xu Ping pointed to the shopkeeper and said, "You say first, what's going on?" ”

"The official is a wise man, the small one opens a shop here, sells some wine and food, earns some interest to support his family, has always kept to himself, and has never been a traitor. These two people came to the store and said that they were following Master Zhiyun's layman, so that the little one immediately packed up his belongings and left here, not allowed to open a shop here. Officials, there is a seventy-year-old mother in the small family, and a young son under the age of age, who is waiting to be fed, and the shop is closed, where does my family go to find food and drink? They all say that their families are compassionate, why are these two people so ruthless? ”

Xu Ping was expressionless and waved him to shut up. As soon as it is pitiful, there is a seventy-year-old mother and a nursing baby, where did this singing come from?

Pointing to the person who hadn't spoken, Xu Ping said, "Come on, what's going on?" ”

The man's face was flushed, but his words were not very fluent: "The official investigates clearly, and must not be deceived by that villain." Both of us are merchants from Qinzhou, and we are dedicated to Buddhism, and we used to practice with Venerable Zhiyun when we were in Qinzhou. When I arrived here a few days ago, I heard that the Venerable Master was going to build a temple here, so I volunteered to follow the Venerable Master, one was to serve the Venerable Master with me, and the other was to help the Venerable Master fulfill this grand wish. The officials also knew that the master had the ambition to turn the waterhole here into a release pond in Taipingzhai, and that this wine shop was openly slaughtering and selling fish in this merciful place. Such a blatant blasphemy of the Dharma, can we Buddhist disciples endure it? ”

Xu Ping said: "So you are driving customers in the store and smashing things in the store?" ”

The man blushed: "Since he didn't listen no matter how much he was persuaded, we had no choice but to use this method!" ”

"Speaking of which, you're the one who's going to smash the store, right?"

"We're just guarding the Dharma and punishing us a little!"

"A little punishment?" Xu Ping was so angry when he heard this that he almost laughed, "Then you have to be a little serious, is it possible that you still want to close the store and arrest people?" You are not ashamed to say this, the monk said that this is the release pool, so it is really the release pool? If he said that the entire Zuojiang River was a release pond, could it be that all the fishermen would go home and drink the northwest wind? The world is the world of the Great Song Dynasty, when did it become your Shang! He has to sell whatever you ask the store to sell, and if you don't let it sell, you can't sell it? What a domineering monk! ”

The children of Buddhism in the Song Dynasty were more taboo to be called monks, and generally had to be honored as Master Master, or to put it mildly, called monks. Xu Ping was a monk, and he was a little moved in his heart.

The two laymen on the ground saw that Xu Ping was talking and his face was not good, and they still argued in a low voice: "The officials are exaggerating, we are just guarding the Dharma-"

"In the world of the Great Song Dynasty, when will we abide by the Dharma? If you want to keep the Dharma, you go back to the temple and keep it yourself! Subjects of the Great Song Dynasty, as long as you don't violate the law, it's your turn to shout and kill! In public places, private law instead of law, you two are so bold! Is it going to be the other way around—"

A reverse word came out, and the faces of the two people on the ground immediately changed, and they shouted in unison: "The officials are clearly checked, we are just the children of the Buddhist family, and we are eager to protect the Dharma, and we have no intention of despising the official law——"

Xu Ping was already unpleasant to all kinds of magic sticks, and the two of them forcibly argued and hooked up his anger, but it was indeed too much to rebel against them. Shut up, just looked at the two of them coldly.

The crowd who was happily watching the excitement on the side saw that things had come to this point, and they all calmed down. The two laymen are really at fault, and the matter is not big, so it is just a little punishment. I don't know why this young official who promoted the division was so angry, and the reverse word was spoken, it was not possible to do it with a few strokes of the board.

"The master is here!"

At this moment, someone outside the crowd shouted.

The two lay men on the ground sighed and shouted together, "Master have mercy, save us both!" ”

The crowd of onlookers moved out of the way, and an old monk with white eyebrows with fluttering sleeves walked in from the outside, followed by a young novice of about ten years old, whose scalp was still glowing with blue, obviously just shaved.

The old monk came to Xu Ping and folded his hands: "My Buddha is merciful!" ”

Xu Ping glanced at him coldly, and turned his head to look at the little novice: "There is another monk, is there a degree?" ”

The old monk was startled, and asked Du Mu when he opened his mouth, this official is not friendly to the children of the Buddhist family. Although the government prohibits shaving without permission, as long as it is not outrageous, all places will turn a blind eye and ask for a bald head. Especially this kind of small novice, most of them are treated as ordinary people's small servants, a degree is less than dozens of times, more than hundreds of times, and the price of buying an official is about the same, who will do it to a small house.

Seeing that Xu Ping's demeanor was not good, the old monk hurriedly said: "The old man's name is Zhiyun, and he has seen officials. This little novice is just doing some chores with the old man, and he is not officially ordained, and he has not yet gone through the ordination. ”

Xu Ping snorted and didn't ask any more.

The issuance of the official degree requires the monks to go to Kaifeng Mansion to take the exam, not to mention the difficulty of the exam and the expensive travel expenses, there is a limit to the number of places every year. There are not well-known eminent monks, but there are a few who have passed through this serious path. Most of them are still the royal family to do rituals, such as the emperor and the queen mother's birthday, blessings, etc., all of which have a different number of special decrees, which is the largest source of ordination places in major temples. Another major source is to spend money to buy, and the price of the imperial court's degree code is sent to the local government to directly offset various expenses. Wealthy people often buy two blank cups and give them to the temple, or let someone else become a monk in their place, which is similar to incense money. In the Water Margin, Lu Zhishen first went to Wutai Mountain to become a monk, and it was through this way.

It was not easy to come by, so there were many supernumerary monks mixed in the temple, and it was converted into a formal establishment when there was a chance. This is something that everyone knows by heart, and Xu Ping will not hold on to it.

Seeing that Xu Ping was no longer asking, Master Zhiyun secretly sighed and asked Xu Ping carefully: "Official, these two laymen don't know what they have done?" ”

Xu Ping said coldly: "Smashing other people's stores for no reason, there is no king's law, take it here!" ”

Zhiyun was taken aback: "The official has clearly investigated, these two lay men have known each other for many years, and they are both good people who have been doing good deeds for many years, how could they do such an unruly thing?" ”

"The people who beat it, the things that were thrown out are all here, could it be that I read it wrong?"

"How can an official be wrong? There must be some misunderstanding between the two laymen, wait for the old man to ask clearly. ”

Xu Ping sat on the chair, just looked at it coldly, and didn't say anything.

Venerable Zhiyun took two steps forward and said to the two on the ground: "You two are both people who are proficient in Buddhism, and the Buddha is compassionate, how could you do such an embarrassing thing?" ”

The two of them told the story of the incident in a curtled manner, and glanced at Xu Ping from time to time, still not angry.

Master Zhiyun sighed, turned to Xu Ping and said, "Official, these two laymen are devout and worship Buddha, and they are not suitable to do such a thing. The old man is brave, please raise your noble hand and let them go this time! ”

Xu Ping said coldly: "What about the things that were damaged by them?" Forget it too? ”

Zhiyun was stunned for a moment, and said carefully: "A little stove is not worth a few dollars, these two laymen are all worth a lot, and it is nothing to compensate them." However, it is indeed inappropriate for this store to quietly kill chickens and fish in Buddhism. According to the poor monk's intentions, he paid the shopkeeper a few dollars and asked him to open a store elsewhere, what did the officials think? ”

Xu Ping smiled: "This is something you discussed with the store, what is the official doing with that heart?" If you give him money, he is willing to move out, and the government has no reason to interfere in what you are willing to do. ”

Zhiyun sighed: "The officials are merciful! ”

Xu Ping said again: "However, they have already smashed the store today, but it is not easy to let it go casually." Otherwise, in the future, if someone opens a store here, and you make a mess in the store, who knows if it will scare people away or pay people to make people want to leave? ”

Zhiyun was stunned: "What does the official mean—"

"Let these two people lose the shopkeeper's things, and they will also lose money if they disturb other people's business, and then talk about other things. It's just a matter of compensation, and it's up to you to discuss it with the owner. ”

Zhiyun was a little anxious when he heard this: "The Buddha Gate is quiet, opening a butcher shop here, and blaspheming the Dharma like this, shouldn't he be punished lightly?" ”

"Where is the quiet place of Buddhism? Where do you live here and become a Buddha? Does your place include this mountain or this water? Is it difficult to wrap the Taiping Village in? Want to wrap the whole of Yongzhou into it? Under the whole world, it is not the king's land, when will it become a place of Buddhism with a casual stroke! If you want to be quiet, build your own temple and close the door to slowly calm down! Don't say that you are a small temple in the wilderness, the Great Xiangguo Temple in Tokyo, the largest Buddhist holy place in the world, and the barbecue sold in the Roast Zhu Yuan is famous in the world, which dares to smash the store and drive people away! ”

Zhi went to the face of sneer, if you want to say that you are a monk, who doesn't know the Great Xiangguo Temple, although the burning Zhu Temple inside is not to the point of being famous in the world, it is still very famous. Not to mention that a few decades ago, during the time of Taizu, the monks in the Great Xiangguo Temple ate meat and drank wine and recruited prostitutes to look at the city, and it was still the largest temple.

Xu Ping said again: "Build a temple, close the door, and practice your Dharma in the temple." In such a public place, to replace the law of the land with private law such as Buddhism is a deliberate rebellion! Today, I will make it clear to you, if this kind of thing is not an example, if it happens again, I will drive you out of Yongzhou! ”

At the point where private law obstructs the national law, Master Zhiyun no longer dares to speak up. If you continue to talk about it, it is to challenge the dignity of the imperial court, not to mention building a temple here to promote Buddhism, Xu Ping will directly order to take people.