Taiping Inn

In fact, Li Xuandu had already planned to start a war with the Confucian sect in Qizhou, but he set the time after the enthronement ceremony on the 15th day of the first lunar month. At that time, all the Taoists would come to congratulate him, and it was reasonable for them to gather in Qizhou. Li Xuandu gathered people and would not let the Confucian sect be too vigilant.

However, the news brought back by Li Ruxiu made Li Xuandu realize that he still underestimated the Confucian sect. When Li Xuandu was secretly planning, the Confucian sect had already taken the lead. It can be said that the Confucian sect was preparing for a rainy day or taking the initiative. In short, the Confucian sect now has the upper hand.

The Taoists could not get to Qizhou in a short time, and even the inns directly under Li Xuandu were not in Qizhou. From the perspective of masters, not to mention Qin Qing, the immortal, Shangguan Wan, Wu Xian, Lan Xuanshuang, Ning Yi and other masters were not with Li Xuandu. Moreover, Li Xuandu originally planned to divide and rule, but now he had to face the Sheji Academy and the Saint's Mansion at the same time. At this time, Li Xuandu only had the Qingwei Sect in his hands, which did not have an advantage.

Li Xuandu's power was too dispersed. If he wanted to hit someone, he had to make a fist with five fingers, which took a certain amount of time.

Fortunately, the Confucian sect wanted both the inside and the face this time. They wanted to deal with Li Xuandu and make him suffer a big loss, and they also wanted to damage Li Xuandu's reputation. The Confucian sect was sure that Li Xuandu liked to reason and cared about his own reputation. This time, they caught the Li family in the wrong and wanted to debate with Li Xuandu. In this way, they gave Li Xuandu an opportunity. Li Xuandu was not a person who did not know how to adapt. He simply let Qin Daofang drag them, and took the opportunity to gather his subordinates and mobilize the people of the Li family. After all, going to war with the Confucian school was a big deal, and the Li family had to be mentally prepared.

As for where Li Xuandu got this news from, it was thanks to the inn.

Intelligence gathering is not about buying off insiders, peeking at important letters, or eavesdropping on the conversations of big men. More often, it is necessary to see the big picture from the small details. On this point, the guests of the King of Qi gave Li Xuandu a lot of inspiration.

For example, when the Qi Palace was monitoring the Qingwei Sect, the Qi Palace wanted to determine the specific time of the Qingwei Sect's fleet's departure. Instead of planting nails directly in the fleet, it opened several restaurants, gambling houses and brothels in the prosperous coastal towns near the Qingwei Sect. The reason was also very simple. After the Qingwei Sect's fleet returned, the Qingwei Sect disciples who had been bored on the sea for a long time would definitely go to the coastal towns to have some fun, and the business would be visibly prosperous. Over time, the Qi Wang Mansion could even figure out a pattern, not only to grasp the specific sailing time of the Qingwei Sect fleet, but also to judge the number and size of the sailing fleet based on the business.

Qingwei Sect could not think of what went wrong anyway. Tianji Hall and Tiangang Hall jointly conducted internal investigations many times, but there was no effect. Instead, a certain number of unjust cases were caused, which caused complaints. The two deputy hall masters who presided over the matter were also ashamed.

Finally, the matter was brought to Situ Xuanlue. Situ Xuanlue disguised his identity and followed the fleet out to sea once. Finally, after the fleet returned, he saw many disciples going to various places for entertainment and fun, and realized that there might be problems in these places, thus seeing through the means of the Qi Wang Mansion. From then on, Qingwei Sect specially opened several special courtyards on its own island that integrated the functions of restaurants, gambling houses, and academies for disciples going to sea. Disciples were not allowed to go to restaurants, gambling houses, and academies in coastal towns at will. This was the end of it.

Therefore, even if there is no hidden person deep inside the enemy, the intelligence can still be collected by the clumsy method of panning for gold in the sand. This is also the reason why the waiters in the inn have the most manpower.

The intelligence of Taiping Inn is mainly aimed at the Confucian school. Except for a few people, most of the waiters do the job of panning for gold in the sand, collecting various information, then summarizing it, and then slowly analyzing it, so as to grasp the whereabouts of some Confucian people. Many of Li Xuandu's news came from here.

On New Year's Eve, Li Xuandu learned from Li Ruxiu that the Confucian people had secretly visited the Saint's Mansion, so he asked Li Feiyan to ask about the news of the Saint's Mansion. Many originally insignificant information became extraordinary after knowing that the Confucian people had visited the Saint's Mansion.

This time, a waiter in the inn found that there were more officials coming and going in the Saint's Mansion. You should know that in the past years, the Saint's Mansion has always been high and mighty, and few officials have been able to visit. Only high-ranking officials at the level of governors and governors-general are qualified to cross that high threshold.

But this time, the officials who came and went in the Saint's Mansion were not so prominent, and there was also a clerk without an official status. Although the clerks cannot be underestimated, because officials are temporary officials who can only work for a few years, and they are all outsiders, the clerks have remained unchanged for decades, and they are all locals, and even passed down from father to son, with a deep foundation. If they really join hands, it is not difficult to sideline the officials. It can be said that they are low in status but powerful. But the clerks are not qualified to participate in the imperial examinations. People in the Confucian school have always looked down on the clerks, and the Saint's Mansion is even more so. But this time, a clerk was allowed to enter the Saint's Mansion for the first time, which is very intriguing.

Li Xuandu deduced from this that the Confucians were planning to make trouble for the government. No one would take the government's decision seriously, but this move could give the Confucians a legitimate reason to show the world that it was not the Confucians who took the initiative to provoke, but the Taoists who were behaving in a bad way, which also meant winning over people's hearts.

Li Xuandu had nothing to say about this. The identity of the hidden man was exposed, which meant being passive. He couldn't really hand over Li Ruxiu, so when Li Xuandu met Qin Daofang, he proposed a delaying tactic, using the trick against the trick to let Qin Daofang delay time for him. If the Confucian sect reacted a little slower, Li Xuandu could take this opportunity to gather people and return to the original plan.

Now, Li Xuandu has mobilized Shangguan Wan, Ning Yi, and Qi Wang's guests to Qizhou. Shangguan Wan is in Bohai Prefecture and Ning Yi is in Luzhou, both close to Qizhou, and should arrive soon. As for others, they will be much slower. Many righteous sects will not arrive until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. As for Liaodong, Qin Qing has already begun to prepare for entering the pass. He has so many things to do that he has no time to split himself. Moreover, this war will not end within a day like the second change in the imperial capital, so Qin Qing cannot help Li Xuandu and can only rely on Li Xuandu himself.

After Li Xuandu came back from the Governor's Office, he summoned many Li family members who were disciples of the Qingwei Sect in Beihai Hall. Li Xuandu was still sitting on the patriarch's rosewood chair, with his left hand on the armrest and his right hand leaning on a sheathed long sword, which was the immortal sword "Knock on the Heaven's Gate", which made all the Li family members in Beihai Hall hold their breath and concentrate carefully.

Above Li Xuandu, there was a plaque with the words "Beihai Hall" hanging high, and in the center of the north wall behind was a very plain white central hall with a few lines of regular script characters written on it: "Without leaving the house, you know the world. Without looking out the window, you can see the way of heaven. The farther you go, the less you know. Therefore, the saints know without going, see without seeing, and achieve without doing." The signature on the lower left of the central hall is "On the first day of the first month of the fourth year of Wude, Li Daoxu respectfully recorded the true words of the Supreme Taoist Ancestor"; below the signature is a big red seal with four seal characters "Bajing Jushi" engraved on it.

On the left and right of Li Xuandu were Li Feiyan, Li Daoshi, Li Shixing and a group of elders. The elders' white beards trembled slightly, indicating that these old people were not calm.

Li Xuandu looked around and said slowly: "I asked you all to come here today to tell you something. I believe some people already know, and some don't know yet. On New Year's Eve, someone from our Li family was beaten to death in our Li family cemetery."

As soon as he finished speaking, four Li family members came in carrying a coffin and placed it in the ancestral hall.

Li Xuandu said: "On the great day of our Li family's ancestor worship, or in our cemetery, it is equivalent to giving us a slap in the face under the eyes of our ancestors. This is a slap in the face of our Li family. There are things in the world that can be tolerated, and there are things that cannot be tolerated. This matter is intolerable, what can't be tolerated!"

The Li family members immediately understood the hidden meaning of Li Xuandu's words. Li Taiyi stood up first and said in a deep voice: "What the clan leader said is very right. This matter is intolerable. If we tolerate it, let alone how the world views our Li family, I am afraid that our ancestors will have trouble sleeping in the underworld."

Li Taiyi took the lead, and it was related to the face of the Li family and the ancestors. The Li family members immediately said in unison: "This matter is intolerable, what can't be tolerated!"

Li Xuandu said: "Uncle, what is the origin of the murderer? Have you found out?"

Li Daoshi slowly stood up, bowed slightly to Li Xuandu, and said: "Reporting to the clan leader, it has been found out that this person is a servant of the Saint's Mansion."

Li Xuandu said expressionlessly: "The servant of the Saint's Mansion came to kill my Li family members at this time. Is it because my Li family has no one?"

Li Taiyi said coldly: "They are trying to show the clan leader a warning. They think that Qizhou is their world now that the old man is gone. First they are testing, and then they want to take action. Their intentions are really questionable!"

Li Xuandu nodded, looked at everyone and asked: "What do you think should be done?"

"Life for life!" Someone shouted loudly immediately.

As soon as these words came out, many young people said: "War with the Saint's Mansion! When has my Li family ever suffered such humiliation?"

"Qizhou should have been the world of my Li family!"

"The Saint's Mansion is going too far!"

At this time, Li Xuandu looked at several elders who had not spoken.