Although Li Gang agreed readily, Zhang Shixun did not hold much hope.
The Jin army besieged the city, and hundreds of thousands of imperial guards and reinforcements suffered huge losses, and the stored grain was almost used up.
When the Jin army retreated, in addition to gold and silver, they also extorted a lot of food. As a result, all the food stored in the capital was emptied.
In order to make up for the food shortage, the imperial court forcibly requisitioned most of the grain from grain merchants in the capital.
This caused food prices in the capital to soar, and ordinary people could not afford it at all.
Seeing Zhang Shixun's worried look, Li Shishi knew he was worried about buying grain, so she said, "We can't buy much grain from grain merchants with the little money we have. You can think of other ways."
"Other ways?"
"For example: Taoist temples and Buddhist temples, these people might have a lot of food stored in their hands."
Zhang Shixun's heart moved.
This was indeed a good idea. Zhang Shixun immediately thought of the Taoist priest Zhang Hu. This guy was very successful during the reign of Zhao Ji. He had many followers and must have a lot of food.
As for temples, we cannot have too high hopes, because Zhao Ji worshipped Taoism and suppressed Buddhism, and he did not like Buddhism, so the temples had a hard time.
Except Daxiangguo Temple.
Daxiangguo Temple was formerly known as Jianguo Temple. It was first built during the Tianbao period of the Northern Qi Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Ruizong of Tang named it Daxiangguo Temple because Prince Xiang ascended the throne. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Xiangguo Temple was highly respected by the royal family and was funded and expanded many times. Since Zhao Kuangyin, almost all emperors would go to Daxiangguo Temple to burn incense. Song Taizong, Song Yingzong, and Zhao Ji successively wrote inscriptions or eulogies for the temple. The appointment and resignation of the abbots of each temple were approved by the emperor's edict.
Therefore, the special status of Daxiangguo Temple made it very popular. Even when Zhao Ji was most serious in worshipping Taoism and suppressing Buddhism, Daxiangguo Temple was not greatly affected.
Zhang Shixun followed Li Shishi's advice and went to find Zhang Hu early the next morning.
As a result, the young Taoist priest guarding the door said that the ancestor had gone traveling.
Zhang Shixun asked Gao Yanei to find out the day before and found out that Zhang Hu was clearly in the Taoist temple and had not gone anywhere else.
He grabbed the young Taoist priest's robe and asked coldly, "Little Taoist priest, do you know who I am?"
"I...I know you. You are Master Zhang."
"Now that you know, you still dare to lie to me."
"I..."
"Hurry up and tell Zhang Hu that Tianshi Zhang is here to visit me. If he doesn't come out to see me within one stick of incense, I will burn down his Taoist temple."
The young Taoist priest disappeared in a flash.
Zhang Shixun waited patiently for a while, and the little Taoist priest came back.
"Master Zhang, the ancestor has indeed gone out to travel, I..."
Before he could finish, Zhang Shixun took out his pistol, switched to grenade mode, and fired a shot at a corner of the Sanqing Temple.
There was a loud bang, bricks and tiles flew everywhere, and smoke and dust filled the air.
There was chaos in the Taoist temple, and the Taoist priests ran outside in fear, all in a panic.
When the smoke and dust cleared, everyone was stunned.
A corner of the Sanqing Temple disappeared, directly destroyed by this grenade.
"Holy crap! It's so powerful."
Zhang Shixun smiled so hard that his teeth were showing.
He originally thought that the grenade fired from a pistol would not be very powerful, and it would be good enough if it could reach the level of an ordinary grenade. He never expected that it was a cannon.
What a pleasant surprise! Why didn’t I think of using it in the previous battles?
This guy Wang Dong really has the goods.
Zhang Shixun decided to take advantage of the good mood and try again.
If you don’t do it, then forget it. But if you do it, you might as well do it on a bigger scale.
When he aimed at the other corner of the Sanqing Temple and was about to pull the trigger, Zhang Hu finally came out.
"Master Zhang, please show mercy."
"I'm going to tear down your Sanqing Temple today, and no one can stop me."
Zhang Shixun didn't even look at him and pulled the trigger. There was another loud bang, and the other corner of the Sanqing Temple disappeared.
Zhang Hu was so frightened that he sat down on the ground, looking at the Sanqing Temple which was almost becoming bald, and he felt like crying but had no tears.
His interest grew stronger and stronger, and he pointed his pistol at the gate of Sanqing Temple.
Seeing this, Zhang Hu jumped up from the ground, grabbed Zhang Shixun's arm tightly, and begged him desperately, "Master Zhang, please have mercy on me. For the sake of our past friendship, please show some mercy. I beg you!"
"Let go, Ox Nose! I'm going to tear down your Sanqing Temple."
"I won't let go, even if you kill me."
Zhang Hu banged his head against his chest. "If you want to demolish my Sanqing Temple, tear down these old bones of mine first, wuwu...!"
Seeing him cry, Zhang Shixun calmed down and thought to himself: "The effectiveness of rifle grenades has been proven, so let's let the old guy go for now. The number of grenades is limited, and each one is one less, so I'd better save it for fighting the Jin soldiers later."
"Niubizi, your Sanqing Temple is in such a state of disrepair, why not just tear it down and build a new one?"
"Oh no!" Zhang Hu cried, his nose and tears streaming down his face. "I didn't provoke you, why did you summon heavenly thunder to strike my Sanqing Temple?"
Zhang Shixun pushed him aside and put away the pistol.
"Ox-nosed Taoist priest, you clearly knew I was coming, but you hid away. What's your intention?"
Zhang Hu wiped his nose and cried, "You are now a plague god, everyone avoids you. I am a Taoist priest of the Three Pure Ones, I can't afford to offend you, can't I just hide?"
"God of Plague? When did I become one?" Zhang Shixun grabbed him by the collar. "Ox-nosed, if you don't explain yourself clearly today, I'll not only tear down the Sanqing Temple, but I'll also tear down your doghouse."
Zhang Hu stopped crying immediately. He looked around and saw his disciples staring at him with wide eyes. He shouted, "What are you looking at? Go back and practice."
After these people dispersed, Zhang Hu took him to a secluded room and asked the young Taoist priest to make tea.
"Shixun, don't you know that you have become a thorn in the side of the imperial court?"
Zhang Shixun had just picked up his teacup when he heard this and put it down again. "Zhang Hu, I know the court doesn't like me. But to say I'm a thorn in the court's side is an exaggeration."
“That’s not an exaggeration at all.”
Zhang Hu waved his hand to let the little Taoist go out, then walked to the door himself, looked around, closed the door, and then walked over and sat down.
"Shixun, I've been in the capital for many years, and I have disciples all over the place, so I'm naturally well-informed. To be honest, I received news a few days ago that someone in the court is plotting to take action against you and Wang Dong."
"What?" Zhang Shixun was surprised. "Where did you get this information?"
"Don't ask. I can't tell you even if you ask."
"Is the information reliable?"
"It should be reliable." Zhang Hu paused, then lowered his voice and said, "I heard that this was the suggestion of the retired emperor. The new emperor seemed quite wary of your magical powers and was undecided. So he summoned Geng Nanzhong, Li Bangyan and several other trusted ministers to discuss this matter specifically."
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