Chapter 332: How to deal with conflicts between enemies and ourselves, unite more people
Zhou Tieyi said that he was lucky, so today was naturally good.

After all, with the fortune of being a king that he had just obtained, and the method of [Rewarding the Good and Punishing the Evil], he had burned the luck and national fortune to bless himself. It was not an exaggeration to describe him as the son of destiny in this small mine today.

Yu Wen's face flushed red, and the hot blood rushed from his heart to his brain, causing his mind to go blank for a moment and he lost his ability to judge.

Because he really couldn't imagine what the consequences would be if the matter of worshiping the kiln owner was leaked!
The reason why he worshipped the kiln owner was because after he went crazy, he was cured by others using the kiln owner's method, so he was sure that the kiln owner was not an evil god, but a righteous god.

But he knew that he must not tell anyone. In fact, except in the dark mine, he never worshipped the kiln owner outside the mine. The kiln owner also told him so.

Everyone knows that the mines are where the lowest class of people beg for food. Even if the big guys from the God-Slaying Division are tracking down the gods, they won't go into the mines!
But the next moment, before he could put into practice the malice in his heart, a bright moonlight illuminated the entire cave. Under the moonlight, this not-so-large cave was transparent inside and out.

The cold moonlight shone on Yu Wen, like a basin of cold water poured from top to bottom, extinguishing the malice in his heart and allowing him to re-evaluate the situation rationally.

He looked at the source of the moonlight, which was the young man's other raised hand.

The bright moon is round, cold, and illusory. Although it is only an inch in size, looking at it is like looking up at the moon in the sky under the azure sky, alone and lasting forever.

Compared with the brilliance of the moon, even the brilliance emitted by the kingdom of God of the Master of the True Kiln, which he had connected to in his spiritual world, was out of reach.

In an instant, he understood a phrase often used in operas.

Fireflies cannot compete with the bright moon.

At this moment, the bright moon was easily held in the palm of the young man's hand, which explained a lot of problems. The young man in front of them was definitely not someone they could contend with. Even if they fought desperately, they might not be able to defeat another person's thought.

Zhou Tieyi did not continue to tease the mine boss.

Naturally, he and Cui Wanxia were the first to sense that someone was praying to God at such a close distance. They even understood the whole story through their own means.

Zhou Tieyi walked up to the mad Qi Xiaoyu without any extra movements. With the moonlight in his hand, Qi Xiaoyu's violent and chaotic mind was sorted out again, and his blood returned to normal. The blood color in his red eyes faded, and he looked at the surrounding environment with a blank face, "What happened?"

Unfortunately, the miners around did not dare to speak out.

At this time, in the mine at the other corner, a dozen clerks in official uniforms walked in with solemn expressions.

Just now, Zhou Tieyi used the property of the white jade chessboard to blend with the surrounding space and was able to instantly move in the void. The range could cover several streets in Yujing Mountain, but the officials of Shantong Prefecture, even the prefect Chu Shengyan, could not do this.

But although they could not do what Zhou Tieyi did to move through the void, with the strength of everyone present, they were able to lock onto the source and hear detailed and accurate words the moment they realized someone was offering sacrifices to the evil god. After all, the straight-line distance between the two was only about seventy feet.

Chu Shengyan's face was terribly gloomy, and the officials of the surrounding Shantong Prefecture were also uneasy.

In their hearts, they had already sentenced the dozen or so miners present to death!
In their hearts, these miners deserved to die even more than the Wu family!

They finally managed to appease Zhou Tieyi, who was not going to delve into the Wu family's affairs, and even said that he did not come to Shantong Mansion to uphold justice.

And now, a major case of divine evil is laid before them, with the Legalist Minister and the Confucian Chief Justice watching on. They must investigate, and investigate from the bottom up, to find out how many miners have been secretly worshipping the so-called 'kiln owner'!
No matter what the result is, Chu Shengyan, the prefect of Shantong Prefecture, will definitely be punished severely. If the matter is serious and involves tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, he may even be dismissed and investigated!

Judging from the results I just heard, the situation is not optimistic.

Eighteen kiln owners!
There are so many evil spirits gathered under the jurisdiction of their Shantong Prefecture, no, it should be said that they should be charged with the crime of negligence!

"Lord Zhou, these kiln workers are secretly worshipping evil gods. Please punish them with capital punishment!"

An official behind Chu Shengyan had red eyes, and it even made people suspect that Qi Xiaoyu's madness had just been transmitted to him.

He is the head of the Moshi Division of Shantong Mansion!

Zhou Tieyi's eyes fell on the head of the Moshi Division, with a faint smile on his face, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

Xu Bingdao, the head of the Moshi Division, instantly realized that he was just too worried and confused. The cold moonlight shining on him made him even more nervous and confused, and he even spoke without thinking. Otherwise, with his shrewdness, he should have at least tried to say a few words, or waited for Chu Shengyan to give him a hint with his eyes before speaking.

He said quickly, "I'm being rude."

Zhou Tieyi retracted his gaze and looked at Cui Wanxia, ​​a legalist who was still silent among the many officials. "What does Minister Cui think we should do?"

Cui Wanxia pinched his beard and his eyes kept moving between the miner and Zhou Tieyi.

He has judged many cases and has always believed that he is a good judge.

But when Zhou Tieyi came to Shantong Mansion this time, the Moshi case had not yet begun to be tried. Zhou Tieyi asked him about precedents twice in a row, but he found it difficult to answer both times, and even made him, a legalist, lose confidence in his ability to solve cases. After thinking for a moment, Cui Wanxia said, "If I were to handle it, in addition to arresting the evildoers, all those who were present at the sacrifice should be executed to avoid shaking the foundation of the country, but their wives and children would not be harmed. As long as their wives and children are unaware of it, then I would show mercy outside the law."

Zhou Tieyi did not immediately refute Cui Wanxia's judgment.

From the perspective of the Great Xia Kingdom before, offering sacrifices to gods was the greatest sin, because it really concerned the foundation of the country and would shake the basic cognition of all the people.

If it is found out that Yu Wen's crime was justifiable, as he was indeed trying to save people, he must also die.

If Yu Wen is let off, there will be too many cases of "excusable circumstances" in the future.

For example, should a husband who offered sacrifice to a god in order to save his wife continue to be sentenced to death?

To pray to God when one knows that offering sacrifice to God is a capital crime and even the extermination of nine generations of one's clan, only an ambitious person like me or someone who is truly in desperate situation would do so.

Of course, an ambitious person like me would not pray to God, but would want to be God himself!

I am like this, so is the Emperor of Daxia, and even many people are like this.

Then, when Zhou Tieyi was silent, Cui Wanxia suddenly laughed and said, "But Lord Zhou is the best at handling matters involving evil spirits, so I won't need to say more."

The eyes of the officials in Shantong Prefecture brightened up. This was indeed a solution.

Cui Wanxia said that if he were to handle the case alone, he would sentence the case to death, and this is definitely the truth.

But Zhou Tieyi asked this, combined with his attitude towards the head of the Moshisi just now, and the magnanimity Zhou Tieyi showed in the Golden Building, Cui Wanxia was almost certain that Zhou Tieyi would stop her from sentencing her to death.

Instead of fighting with Zhou Tieyi here and wasting time investigating the evil gods, it would be better to hand this matter over to Zhou Tieyi, the inspector of the God-Slaying Division, and assist him to see how Zhou Tieyi can handle this matter differently.

Because this matter will eventually reach the ears of the Emperor of Great Xia, and the biggest obstacle to changing the current national policy is not himself, but the Emperor of Great Xia.

Chu Shengyan glanced at the Confucian Chief Constitutionalist Deng Zhenquan in confusion. Since the day before yesterday, this Chief Constitutionalist Deng had a cold face and looked like he didn't want to say anything to anyone. Although this was consistent with Deng Zhenquan's original character, it was a bit too strange that he hadn't said a word until now.

Deng Zhenquan coughed and asked in a cold voice, "How does Inspector Zhou plan to deal with this?"

Zhou Tieyi looked at Deng Zhenquan, thought for a moment, and replied, "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao."

The vast majority of people present did not understand, only a few people such as Cui Wanxia understood.

······
When we came out of the Baizhishan mining area, it was already darkest. Under the illumination of the inkstone lamps in the mining area, no one knew what had happened inside except for a dozen officials and miners like Yu Wen who had come out of the mine.

Yu Wen and other miners followed Zhou Tieyi, so they naturally did not dare to tell others about the sacrifices to the evil gods inside. The officials of Shantong Mansion would not gossip about it casually, because if this matter was exposed, it would mean that they were incompetent in governing and had committed a serious crime of negligence!
Since Marquis Zhou has taken charge of the matter, and the Shangshu and Zongxian have also agreed, everyone should play ostrich until Zhou Tieyi can come up with a solution.

As a result, a case of private sacrifice by the kiln owner, which was more serious than the ink stone case itself, was concealed silently from top to bottom. Many officials even had dark thoughts, that is, if everyone pretended not to see it, would the matter end here?

Of course, those kiln owners need to be arrested, but Zhou Tieyi can simply say that it was reported by someone else, or even the officials of their Shantong Prefecture can find clues and report them to Zhou Tieyi first. In this way, Zhou Tieyi can not only protect the ten kiln workers, but also solve the evil spirit. Anyway, once those kiln owners are dead, no one will know who is offering sacrifices to the gods, and everyone can pretend to be confused.

After a preliminary review of the situation in Shantong Prefecture, Zhou Tieyi found that the situation was much more complicated than he had imagined, and there were many things to deal with. Zhou Tieyi did not want to continue arguing with these officials. He brought these officials here today, first to let them see what was really going on at the grassroots level, and second to let them understand the seriousness of the problem and that many things could not be hidden if they were investigated.

However, he was able to help them suppress the opinions of Confucianism and Legalism, demonstrate his unparalleled value, and let the officials of Shantong Prefecture come over to him and form a temporary community of interests with him.

The Moshi case is not acceptable.

Because I am the one who comes to interrogate them, and there is a natural conflict between me and them.

So we have to use the kiln owner's divine case as the case.

This was also what Zhou Tieyi had conceived from the beginning.

Under the contradiction between the enemy and us, only by creating a bigger external enemy can we unite the hundreds of schools of thought and officials and make them serve us temporarily.

This is also the reason why Zhou Tieyi transferred Deng Zhenquan first.

From the very beginning, the ink stone case in Shantong Mansion was a continuation of the struggle between Confucianism and its own party. Although Cui Wanxia also came down to investigate the case, he played more of a supervisory role.

On many core interests, there were no irreconcilable conflicts between him and Cui Wanxia. He only needed to find some cases that were difficult for Cui Wanxia to handle, and then Cui Wanxia would most likely take a step back and watch how he handled it from a bystander's perspective. Of course, the premise was that he really had to start from state affairs and let Cui Wanxia, ​​the Shangshu, see a way to solve the problem.

(End of this chapter)