Chapter 5 It's Already the Fifth Watch

"It's already the fifth watch, and you're still sleeping in front of the main hall of the Dongyue Temple! Stand up for this Commander!"

After the people from the Northern Garrison Office took control of the area, the standard-bearers took over the security at the entrance. Luo Sigong, as the newly appointed Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was now the number one dog of the Great Ming, and it was time for him to shake his fur.

Although he had gone to the Northern Garrison Office before, preparing to accept the divine position left by his predecessor, he didn't expect the Wanli Emperor to have affairs early this morning, so he didn't have time to be initiated.

After he entered, he immediately put on a dog-like appearance, his eyes widened, and he slammed the table. The red-robed Daoist who had been dozing off was frightened awake long ago, and stood up in a flash, standing at attention.

"You, you are...."

This red-robed Daoist sleeping in front of the Daiyue Hall in the main hall of the temple was the temple keeper. He wore a red Daoist robe, a square scarf on his head, and a golden cassock inside, with a string of wooden slips.

Daoist officials with positions in the capital dressed like this. If they were people from the Dao Record Office outside, they would wear green and gold, looking particularly environmentally friendly....

Ji Xiang's clothing had not changed yet, because the things had not been prepared and sent over, so he was still wearing the cyan crane cloak. In fact, what the Wanli Emperor bestowed should have been red and black, because among the high-ranking Daoists, those with virtue would be granted a "black cloak."

The Daoist in the scarlet robe stood up, saw the uniform flying fish robes, plus a group of heavenly soldiers and generals, and was immediately terrified, not knowing what to say.

"Are you the temple keeper here?"

Luo Sigong told him to stand properly, and asked, indicating who he was and reporting his household registration!

The red-robed Daoist quickly said:

"Reporting to the Honorable Sir, this humble Daoist was sent by the Longhu Mountain Zhengyi Temple, and now belongs to the Shenle Office under the Taichang Temple. I am the Second Zhi Guan, and the temple keeper of the Dongyue Temple, Tian Fengyu."

The Taichang Temple had ancient origins, already existing in the Qin Dynasty, when it was called Fengchang. After the Han Dynasty, it was changed to Taichang. In the Tang Dynasty, it was one of the Nine Temples. Now in the Ming Dynasty, it was one of the Five Temples, the highest administrative organ in charge of rites and music.

Things like sacrificing to ancestors, comforting the gods, managing temples, playing music, singing and dancing, drumming and gonging, formulating rituals... and the Imperial Medical Office also belonged to the Taichang Temple.

And the Shenle Office was also an institution under the Taichang Temple.

The Shenle Office was established in the eleventh year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, belonging to the Taichang Temple. Its original office location was in Yingtian Prefecture, and it was moved to Shuntian Prefecture in the eighteenth year of Yongle. The office was located near the Temple of Heaven, and was in charge of music and dance during sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, gods and deities, ancestors, and the God of Soil and Grain, supervised by officials such as Tidian and Zhi Guan.

The staff inside were all Daoist officials, of course, the highest level of Daoist official was only a "Tidian of the Shenle Office," belonging to the sixth rank.

After all, the real ritual formulators were still Confucianists, so the Daoist sacrificial institutions in the Ming court were just for show. The sixth-rank Tidian of the Shenle Office, in fact, for the ministers, this rank was considered high.

So the Deputy Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, Shen Yiguan, would tell Ji Xiang to come and study, after all, only studying could lead to a higher official position, and Ji Xiang's official status was that of a real official, belonging to the proper Confucian bureaucracy. This was a large system, and things like the Shenle Office belonged to idle personnel outside the large system.

Without abandoning the Daoist identity, even if the emperor bestowed an official position, he would at most promote you to the fourth rank.

This was probably the difference between a formal worker and a contract worker.

And the "Second Zhi Guan" that this temple keeper spoke of was the second Zhi Guan in the Shenle Office, from the ninth rank, truly a sesame seed official.

Luo Sigong asked the temple keeper: "Was there anything unusual at the Dongyue Temple last night?"

"Reporting to the Honorable Sir, there was nothing unusual at the Dongyue Temple last night. This humble Daoist has been sitting here."

"I see you were sleeping so soundly, you wouldn't know if anything happened, would you?"

The temple keeper showed an awkward but polite smile.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard searched the Dongyue Temple, every hall, every statue, carefully searching.

Luo Sigong could not have imagined the methods of the Northern Garrison Office. This time, it was even the Jia Ling Marquis among the Three Heavenly Generals of Tianmen, in charge of water-based executions. He could detect subtle and minute strange changes. If the temple keeper showed any unusual movements, he would be killed on the spot.

He saw white gas rising from the Heavenly General's eyes, the size of chicken eggs, suddenly stopping and turning into two bright mirrors.

Before he went to the main hall, in Ji Xiang's inner vision, a description had already appeared on the divine tablet:

[Precious Light Dharma Eyes: Also known as the Great Bright Precious Mirror, there is white gas in both eyes as large as chicken eggs, which turns into two bright mirrors in front of the face, which can illuminate one body and twenty-four spirits, making the insight clear. It can also see the shape-shifting objects, examine the primordial spirit of life and death, control the changes of ten thousand demons, employ thousands of spirits and ghosts, and prevent disasters from arising.]

The Precious Light Dharma Eyes were examining the demons and monsters. The Heavenly General entered the main hall, and saw the statues of the seventy-six Yin Division gods on both sides. These statues were either pale and cold, or green-faced with fangs, or red-faced with angry appearances. In conclusion... none of the sculptures had a good face.

Well, the seventy-six statues in the Dongyue Temple were the main gods of the Yin Division. Being caught by the Yin Division meant going to suffer, so it was impossible for the many nether gods to wear a smile and let you give a good review.

Even if they wore a smile and let you give a good review, would you dare not give it? Then it seemed that the "service" was not in place.

Of course, in addition to the seventy-six Division gods, there were many other statues, such as the Medicine King, Guan Yu, the Third Son of Dongyue, the God of Joy, the Emperor Wenchang, the Kitchen God, the Great Emperor Zhenwu, etc. These were all companion statues, that is, to let the gods enjoy incense. In fact, their relationship with the Yin Division was not so close.

As for the seventy-two red shops and the seventy-six Yin Divisions, there were several divisions that did not have administrative red shops, but had separate shrines.

He entered the main hall, carefully observing the various situations in the Dongyue Temple, and suddenly saw two statues. The incense in these two statues was disordered, and their dharma appearances were also closed-eyed and kind-faced, out of tune with the surrounding gods.

In the Dharma Eyes, the faces of these two statues, and the whole body, seemed to be cut off from each other.

The Heavenly General found the temple keeper and asked:

"Temple Keeper Tian Fengyu, I have observed with the Dharma Eyes, why have the positions of the God of the Swift Report Division and the God of the Seal Signing Division been moved, causing the Yin Division's incense energy to be unable to be offered in the correct positions?"

His voice was cold, as if he had no emotion, as if the next sentence, if you said something wrong, he would raise his hand and smash you into mud.

Of the seventy-six Divisions of the Yin Division, the Swift Report Division, Taoism believes that "the retribution of good and evil follows like a shadow." The benefits or illnesses people encounter in their daily lives are all caused by their good or evil actions. The chief god of this division is Yue Fei.

However, this Yue Fei, of course, was a division of the Yin Division, after all, Yue Fei had many divine duties, and the chief god of the Swift Report Division was only one of them.

"These two statues of the chief gods were not repaired five years ago. Where did these two statues come from?"

The temple keeper said: "The faces of the old statues suddenly cracked some days ago, for some unknown reason. I led some Daoist disciples to investigate, and it was thought that rats in the temple had gnawed the statues."

"So, we replaced them with two new faces. The disordered incense may be because the statues themselves have not yet adapted to the newly replaced faces."