Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 478 477 The Mountain Bandit King and Queen Yun

In the end, Mr. Feng still went to stay at a farmhouse, all because of a casual remark made by Bao Xiaojuan.

"I have a treasure map of the bandit king. Please help me take a look."

Now I have no choice but to go.

Regardless of whether the treasure map is real or fake, just based on the name alone, Feng Xiuhu's reputation is questionable.

So Feng Xiuhu removed the spell and released the bandits, and the group set off on their journey in high spirits.

Shunzi, however, lost his affection for Bao Xiaojuan. He always felt that the bandits were after his money, so he stayed in the carriage the whole time, guarding the safe and never came out.

Feng Xiuhu sat side by side with Fang Youliu on the carriage shaft, chatting casually with Bao Xiaojuan who was walking beside them.

After walking through forests and over hills for nearly an hour, we finally arrived at our destination.

Standing outside the village gate, Feng Xiuhu kept looking around, feeling uneasy no matter how he looked at it.

After observing for a long time, he finally realized what it was and exclaimed, "Is this a temple?"

Bao Xiaojuan gave a thumbs up: "Second Master has a good eye. This is indeed an ancient temple. Since it has been abandoned for a long time, we, Duanzhang Hall, will make good use of it and set up camp here."

Feng Xiuhu observed carefully and found that this was indeed the case—the temple occupied a large area, no less than a Taoist temple. The gate tower and eaves were antique, but they were already dilapidated and many places showed signs of destruction and collapse.

The bandits made use of the temple's buildings and space, using local materials such as sawing wood and cutting bamboo to repair the main hall or build new row houses, thus creating the scene before us that is both ancient and rugged.

There were bandits left behind in the temple. The sentry on the high ground saw Ding Tianliang leading his brothers back with a horse-drawn carriage. Thinking that they had made some more money, he quickly beat the drum to signal the gate to open. A group of bandits ran out noisily.

Before Bao Xiaojuan could explain, one of the bandits who was running in front jumped into the carriage and started moving things without saying a word.

Bang!
The bandits had barely gone in when Shunzi kicked them out.

Shunzi's angry voice rang out from inside the carriage: "I knew you guys were up to no good!"

The bandit fell to the ground with a thud, but he seemed to have forgotten the pain. He just stared at the carriage, dumbfounded, and shouted in a daze, "Money—so much money!"

Feng Xiuhu had broken the lock on the safe, and it was stuffed full of gold vouchers, so it couldn't be closed at all.

The scene fell silent for a moment as everyone looked at Bao Xiaojuan.

Feng Xiuhu also looked over with a smile.

One of the bandits at the gate swallowed hard and tentatively asked, "The Heavenly Beam?"

Bao Xiaojuan's face darkened, and she cursed, "Are you all blind? This is the renowned Master Ma, whom I specially invited to the village as a guest. Look at your flustered faces, you've completely disgraced Duanzhangtang."

Having received this explanation, the bandits finally calmed down, and the tense atmosphere subsided. The crowd parted to let the carriage in.

Upon entering the village, Bao Xiaojuan ordered her men to prepare wine and food, and then personally led Feng Xiuhu towards the main hall.

Shunzi and Fang Youliu were also invited, but neither of them got off the bus.

Shunzi was worried about his money, so he was determined to stay in the carriage and not go out all night; Fang Youliu, on the other hand, was reluctant to leave his carriage, fearing that the bandits would lose control and touch it indiscriminately.

To put it bluntly, both men felt that these bandits were inherently untrustworthy and therefore distrusted them. Meanwhile, Feng Xiuhu, who should have been the most suspicious, seemed carefree, eating whenever he could and sleeping wherever he could find a place to sleep.

The reason is quite simple—Feng Xiuhu and Shunzi Fangyouliu have different perspectives on things.

Shunzi and Fang Youliu only saw their identities as "mountain bandits," but Feng Xiuhu's focus was elsewhere.

What he saw was a village that could produce muskets and cannons by hand. Everyone in the village was fat and strong, and they even had the mind to prepare uniforms. This showed that they no longer had to worry about food. The reason they gathered in the mountains was more to avoid being controlled.

They were living a good life, so Feng Xiuhu wasn't really worried that Bao Xiaojuan would fight them to the death for a box of money.

Feng Xiuhu walked and looked around.

Most of the temple buildings have only their exteriors preserved. Because there were many bandits, they needed places to eat, drink, and relieve themselves, so the interior furnishings were almost completely cleaned up, to the point that Feng Xiuhu could not tell which deity was originally worshipped here.

So he simply asked, "Which temple left this place?"

Bao Xiaojuan smiled and waved her hand: "Second Master, you misunderstand. This temple is not that temple."

Feng Xiuhu didn't understand, so Bao Xiaojuan continued to explain: "This temple is not one of the major temples that Second Master knows, but the 'Yunhou Temple' which is dedicated to Empress Yun."

"Empress Yun?"

This was the first time Feng Xiuhu had ever heard of this name.

Bao Xiaojuan continued, "Empress Yun is not a deity. She was the empress of the Yu Kingdom back then. Her exact name is unknown. Historical records only state that the ruler of the Yu Kingdom called her 'Ayun,' which is why later generations called her 'Empress Yun.' The ruler and the empress had a very deep relationship, so when Empress Yun died for her country in Yu'ai Prefecture, the ruler of the Yu Kingdom built a temple for her so that future generations would remember her."

Feng Xiuhu was puzzled: "But I have only heard of the deeds of Yu State ministers who jumped off cliffs to die for their country. How come I have never heard of the story of Empress Yun?"

Bao Xiaojuan smiled helplessly: "Sigh, it's naturally because of the temple."

"The mistake was that the King of Yu should not have built a temple for Empress Yun. From ancient times to the present, no temple can be built for anyone but a deity. The temple naturally refused to accept the King of Yu's actions."

“Going back a few hundred years, there were actually quite a few Yunhou Temples in Yu’ai Prefecture. At that time, the people of Yu’ai Prefecture all claimed to be descendants of the Yu Kingdom, so the incense at Yunhou Temples was very prosperous. But as the temples couldn’t stand it anymore and intervened, Yunhou Temples were gradually demolished. Over time, few people mentioned the name of Empress Yun anymore.”

He pointed to the ground: "The ruins of this temple you see now are preserved because it is located on the border of Yu'ai Prefecture and deep in the mountains and forests."

Feng Xiuhu nodded knowingly. This was indeed like the behavior of a temple—it didn't care when it was time to take charge, but it would immediately step in whenever it concerned gods and faith.

During their conversation, the two entered the main hall.

The spacious main hall was transformed into the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness, and the tiger-skin chair at the very front is the location of the small silk cloth wrapped around the top beam.

He pulled Feng Xiuhu over, then pressed him down to sit in a chair, and ordered someone to fetch the treasure map.

Feng Xiuhu followed up by asking, "And what's the background of that bandit king?"

Bao Xiaojuan laughed heartily: "What else could he be? He's the ruler of the State of Yu!"

Feng Xiuhu was taken aback: "Why did you give up being an emperor and become a bandit?"

Bao Xiaojuan explained, "Second Master, you may not know this, but when the King of Yu was defeated, he was pressed step by step by the King of Beizhen. Under pressure, he scattered his remaining troops and sent them into the mountains and forests to take advantage of the terrain to continue resisting. Although they were scattered soldiers, they did manage to survive for several years. Therefore, later generations regarded him as the ancestor of mountain bandits and jokingly called him the 'King of Mountain Bandits'."

(End of this chapter)