Chapter 141
Watching Pu Jiang leave in disgrace, Lao Ben asked in disbelief, "He just left like that?"
Yueming glared at him angrily: "If I don't leave like this, will I dance for you?"
Qiangba clasped his hands together and worshipped the sky, chanting, "Buddha bless you, Buddha bless you."
Yueming said disdainfully, "Buddha is very busy and has no time to bless a small place like Yunxiang. Call all the gentlemen over here. I need to discuss matters."
In the makeshift meeting hall, the faces of the nobles beamed with joy. Pujiang had arrived so quickly that none of the nobles' families had time to escort them out of the city. They'd thought it was a disaster, but Pujiang was so vulnerable, he fled faster than a rabbit. Had a disaster been averted just like that? This surprise came so suddenly! The nobles were eager to go to the temple to offer incense to the Buddha.
Yueming looked at the reactions of the crowd coldly and sighed in his heart, Pujiang has retreated for now, but he will definitely make a comeback. Why are you so happy now? How can you command all the government offices when you are so naive?
The garrison commander, Lang Ye, said to Yue Ming with a smug look on his face, "The Pujiang people are just a bunch of rabble-rousers. They fled before we could even fight them."
Yueming didn't bother to pay attention to him. She just said to the chairman of the meeting: "Pujiang has suffered a great loss at our hands. We will never let it go. We must find a way to get the people outside the city to move in."
There was another uproar below.
"Almost all those living outside the city are slaves of Bo Guang and Bonai. Unless they work for a noble, they have no right to set foot in the inner city."
"Those who have been disciplined are better off. Most of them are lowly and untouchable people. The common people in the city don't bother to associate with them. If they were to move to the inner city, where would they live? What would they eat? What would they do if they couldn't make a living and stole?"
The grain official said to the chattering officials with a cold face, "Gentlemen, you may have forgotten that there are not only slaves from Boguangzhai and Bonaizhai outside the city, but also many tenants who help you farm, and the people of Jiumeng and Shibaquan. Don't you care about their lives?"
A young man said bluntly, "In these extraordinary times, how can we care about so many things? With so many people under his command, are you worried that you can't find a few tenants?"
With a clang, a teacup fell to the floor, and tea and broken porcelain pieces splashed on the trouser legs of the man in the front row.
Everyone immediately bowed their heads and shouted, "Madam, please calm down."
Yueming was so angry that his chest heaved, and he shouted angrily: "You have been standing on the top of the mountains since you were born. Standing on the high ground for too long, you see that all living beings are just like grass. But you don't think that every grain of food you eat and every piece of clothing you wear are given to you by those grass. You rely on your noble birth and your eyes are almost growing to the top of your heads. My father not only brought countless silver and money to Yun Xiang, but also brought arms that more than doubled the size of your Mengquan. You took it for granted, but no one respected him from the bottom of their hearts? From beginning to end You all just treat him as a foreigner who came to Yunxiang to make a living. Just because I am half Han Chinese, you don't even look down on me, a Yintai. But no matter how much you despise me, I am still the legitimate daughter of Lishengmeng, a Yintai listed in the Han family tree. No matter how resentful you are, you must serve me as your master. Remember, today it was thanks to my dowry and my family's reputation in the military that we were able to repel Pujiang. If you hear another sarcastic and disrespectful remark about me, get out of Yunxiang.
The gentlemen were so scolded that they dared not raise their heads. Lian Sheng shouted, "Madam, please calm down. We are terrified."
"Calm down?! Humph..." Yueming chuckled and asked, "If the family is not a family, the country will not be a country. You are still contradicting me in everything. How can I calm down?"
The chairman of the court raised his head slightly and said, "My lady is right, but your concerns are not without reason. There are only about 300 soldiers and civilians in Yunxiang City who can fight. If the city gates are wide open, Pujiang can take the opportunity to send people to sneak in among the civilians and cooperate with him from inside and outside, which will be a big trouble. The only urgent plan now is to close the gates and defend Yunxiang, waiting for reinforcements from Tengchong or for the master to lead the army back. As for the civilians outside the city, we can only let them seek refuge with relatives and friends and escape on their own!"
These people... Yueming closed his eyes, his fingers tightly grasping the fabric of his knees. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes and said in a deep voice: "For ordinary people, every time they leave their homes, they are forced to wander. Sleeping in the frost and snow, the road ahead is endless, and they don't know where to find a blessed land. In your eyes, their bloodline is as lowly as ants, but in my heart, they are just like you and the people in the city, all people of Yunxiang. As Yintai, I have the responsibility to protect them."
The eunuch from the Military Affairs Office sneered, "Madam, that's easy to say. Resettling these people isn't something you can just talk about. How will they eat and live after they arrive?"
The city was completely unprepared to accommodate the civilians from outside. Where to build the shelter and how to accommodate the civilians were major issues.
Yueming gritted her teeth. They were only going to hold out for a few days anyway. At worst, she could let them stay at the Lan family mansion. She'd take as many as she could. She wanted to speak but was silenced by a voice.
"Any Buddhist temple in the upper, middle, and lower cities can accommodate them. They can eat whatever the monks in my temple eat!"
Everyone looked at the previously silent Great Buddha, and even Yueming was stunned. She had never expected that the Great Buddha would support her again and again. Being nurtured by the incense every day, one's awareness must be different! Thinking back to her previous disrespect for the Great Buddha and the slander she had secretly shown him, she suddenly felt a sense of shame and embarrassment.
After a moment of shock, the chairman of the council repeatedly said, "Buddha, the Buddhist temples in the lower city are fine, but even the Buddhist temples in the middle and upper cities are not allowed to be entered by ordinary people, so how can we allow those untouchables to desecrate them?"
The Buddha said calmly, "It is the duty of a monk to develop a bodhi mind and help all living beings."
The Buddha stood up, and the opposition voices weakened. This meeting ended with the gentlemen's reluctant consent.
Yueming sincerely expressed his gratitude and heartfelt respect to the Big Buddha.
The Great Buddha said calmly and detachedly, "You are too kind, ma'am. Refraining from evil, being fully virtuous, and purifying one's mind are the teachings of all Buddhas. Cultivating precepts, concentration, and wisdom are all forms of spiritual practice. I am simply following the Buddha's teachings."
Look at Yueming's expression, so good! This burden has been taken up by someone, and Dafoye suddenly felt something was wrong. After coughing to clear his throat, he said: "The temple taking in the people outside the city is just an emergency measure. Madam should still give them a proper place to stay. If a large number of people pour into the city, the rice and grain in the temple will not last long."
The Buddha started crying poor again! Yueming was surprised and said, "Master said that the official Buddhist temple has 500 acres of fertile land and receives offerings from the people on weekdays. How can it be that it is still short of food?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw veins popping out on the Big Buddha's neck.
The Buddha felt that his encounter with the old man and his wife had forsaken all the meditation he had cultivated through years of chanting before the Buddha, morning and night. Whenever he spoke to either of them, he felt a surge of resentment rising from his chest.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath for a while, and finally couldn't help but say: "Although the grain of Guanfo Temple was not blown here by the strong wind, it was blown away by the master. One thousand dan were blown away for the garrison in Mengning, and another five hundred dan were blown away to fight the Japanese. If you want to take it away too, my lady, wait until the summer grain is harvested." After that, he left in anger.
Yueming rubbed his nose and said awkwardly to Qiangba and Lao Ben, who were trying to suppress their laughter, "I didn't ask for it for free, why is he so angry? And he's being sarcastic."
Qiangba wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes with his fingers and said, "The Great Buddha must be scared by the tricks you two have played on him."
Lao Ben was amused for a moment, then said to Yueming with a worried look on his face, "Madam, what the masters say is not without reason. The city gates are wide open, and Pu Jiang will definitely seize this opportunity to send his men in. By then, we will be defenseless and put in a very passive position."
Upon hearing this, Qiangba was also frustrated and said, "I never expected Pujiang to arrive so soon. I originally thought that I could just hold out for a few days, but I didn't expect that I would have to fight him to the death."
Yueming said in a deep voice: "In order to block the Japanese army, we were forced to blow up the Huitong Bridge. I know that this is the best option, but watching the refugees on the bridge fall into the turbulent river and die is also the nightmare of my life. Now I have to watch Pujiang slaughter those unarmed civilians outside the city just to save my life. I can't do it." She took a long breath and said resolutely: "Some things are like this. Even if you know the result will be unsatisfactory, you must do it. The people outside the city and Mengquan must be allowed to take refuge in the city. The city gates must be checked more strictly, and strangers and those without companions are not allowed to enter the city. In this way, even if they sneak in, their number will be limited and easier to deal with. We have won the battle today, and there is no reason to admit defeat. If Pujiang wants to come, let him come!"
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