Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 243 Maitreya Sect, How Many Lightning Bolts Can You Withstand? [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Maitreya religion was founded during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang. It was nominally a branch of Buddhism, but in its evolution, it absorbed elements of Taoism, Manichaeism, and folk mythology, eventually evolving into the White Lotus sect, which became a professional rebel group.

Xin Qiji was no stranger to this sect, because in the seventh year of the Qingli era of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Maitreya sect uprising broke out in Shandong. Since then, the Maitreya sect has penetrated into the folk culture of Shandong.

Although the imperial court launched several campaigns to suppress the sect, they achieved little success. In particular, during the late Northern Song Dynasty, when the people were suffering, the Maitreya sect took the opportunity to grow and expand, gaining a considerable number of followers.

Xin Qiji's grandfather, Xin Zan, even contacted people from the Maitreya sect, hoping to join forces to resist the Jurchens.

But after meeting them, the old man gave up on the idea... A bunch of bastards who only know how to exploit and oppress the poor, hoping that they would resist the Jurchens is not as hopeful as the Southern Song Dynasty.

That petty boss is still making a racket:
"Hurry up and pay, or let them stay. You won't lose out at all by buying a few strong laborers for ten taels of silver."

Xin Qiji smiled, took out the Hunyuan Palace token from his pocket, tossed it in his hand, and asked the minor leader:

"Is your sect leader here? I'm not talking to you, have your sect leader come see me."

While chatting with these refugees, Xin Qiji learned that the Maitreya sect gathered the refugees together and then sold them at a price, which was more profitable than the slave trade... The slave trade required ships to transport people across the sea, while the Maitreya sect only needed to drive people over.

The underling had never seen stainless steel before, but seeing its shiny appearance, he assumed it must be a treasure, so he ran off to find the local forum leader.

Not long after, a middle-aged man riding a mule, attended by the foreman, arrived before Xin Qiji with an arrogant expression. He clasped his hands together in a Buddhist gesture.
"May Buddha have mercy, and hear that this layperson wishes to see me?"

He was wearing a silk robe and a bunch of random ornaments. Although he was performing Buddhist rituals, the Maitreya sect, from top to bottom, was not exactly the same as Buddhism, but rather completely unrelated.

Xin Qiji sized up the nouveau riche leader of the altar and said to him:
"You watch it!"

After saying that, he pointed the token in his hand at the babbling underling, and a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the sky, turning the underling who treated people like commodities into charred remains.

The thunderclap startled everyone around, and several Maitreya followers who had previously shoved the Xin family members were so frightened that they wet their pants.

The more senior the believer, the clearer they are that the so-called Maitreya religion is all a hoax. If Maitreya Buddha could really be born, he would probably kill the Maitreya religion's high-ranking members who have committed all sorts of evil deeds, such as burning, killing, looting, and arson.

Now, these charlatans have met their match. This guy can summon divine thunder with a simple wave of his hand and a token. He's a real god!

The altar master was so frightened that his body went limp and he fell off the mule.

Xin Qiji lifted his leg and stepped on the guy, saying:

"By dawn tomorrow, gather five hundred strong laborers for me, with their families allowed. If you fail to do so, this piece of charcoal will be your fate. Do you understand?"

The pride on the altar master's face vanished instantly, and he agreed with a sob in his voice:
"Understood, understood. Five hundred strong laborers, not one less."

Seeing that he was quite cooperative, Xin Qiji did not make things difficult for him and strode towards his own camp to begin arranging dinner and lodging.

The younger brother, Xin Youzhi, asked anxiously:
"Brother, was that lightning bolt just now the protective divine lightning that the immortal gave you?"

Xin Qiji nodded:
"Yes, everyone in Hunyuan Palace can summon protective divine lightning. This is a self-protection immortal technique that our master gave us."

Xin Youzhi turned to look at the altar master, who was leading a mule and trembling as he walked back, and asked in a low voice:

"Then why didn't you just kill that altar master? All those gold and silver ornaments on him seem to have been stolen from refugees."

Xin Qiji rubbed his younger brother's head and said:
"If we kill him, who will find manpower for us? It's not too late to kill him tomorrow, which will be a good opportunity to establish authority for the newcomer."

After saying that, he started busying himself with the camp arrangements, leaving Xin Youzhi dumbfounded, never expecting that his brother had already planned it all out.

The next morning, just as the sky began to lighten, the altar master rode a mule and led seven or eight hundred refugees to the place. His gold and silver jewelry was clean, and his silk robes had been replaced with coarse cloth robes.

Since last night, he has been busy gathering refugees, and he has given away all his valuables in exchange for refugees.

After a busy night, they finally managed to gather enough people before dawn and rushed over to deliver the package to Xin Qiji, hoping that this plague god would leave soon, otherwise the cause of the Maitreya Sect would suffer a serious blow.

The migrants were a mixed bunch; some were robbed, some were tricked, some were threatened, and some were even coerced into coming.

Xin Qiji glanced over the document, then had everyone stand in line. He then stood on the oxcart and addressed the crowd through a small megaphone:
"I've bought several mountains and need people to help me clear the land and farm. Those who are willing to go will be given two meals a day, one dry and one wet. If they perform well, they will be allocated land. The area is quite large; it's no problem for each family to get thirty to fifty acres... If you don't want to live like livestock, if you want to live a life free from being bullied, then come with me. Let's create a better future together with our own hands!"

These refugees were almost all poor people whose land had been seized by the Jin people. Upon hearing this, they immediately decided to leave with Xin Qiji... They were already fleeing famine and begging for food, could things get any worse?
Seeing that everyone was very interested, Xin Qiji immediately summoned divine thunder and struck the leader of the Maitreya sect to death, showing these refugees another side of him.

Several members of the Xin clan pushed wheelbarrows and began distributing dry rations to the refugees.

There were all sorts of food: steamed buns, flatbreads, multigrain pancakes... it was quite a mixed bag.

Before setting off, Xin Qiji sent his uncles and paternal relatives ahead of him with a group of people to book the steamed bun stalls along the way. They were told to make as many as they could so that the main force could have a meal when they arrived.

Although it was the first time he had commanded a long-distance transfer of over a thousand people, Xin Qiji remained calm and composed. He arranged everything perfectly, from the advance vanguard to the main force's lodging and the final tasks.

To be honest, those who call for curing illness and abandoning disease are born commanders. They can come up with ideas that many generals would spend their whole lives trying to come up with.

At the same time, inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi and Wu Meiniang had breakfast, then drove down the mountain to the Agricultural Machinery World near the county town, where they bought ten sets of cast iron curved plows.

Under normal circumstances, this thing has no market anymore, but if you're clearing land in a remote mountain valley, the curved plow is still very useful.

Next, he bought a lot of each of the following farming tools: three-legged seed drills, hoes, shovels, sickles, etc., so that they could be made in the ancient world.

These agricultural machines have undergone many generations of development and are very much in line with the principles of mechanics.

The shop owner found it strange:
"Why would a Taoist priest like you buy this thing?"

Zhou Yi said with a smile:

"I enshrine Shennong in my Taoist temple. What new farming tools do you have here? Give me a few of them. I want to broaden the horizons of the Great Emperor Shennong."

Upon hearing this, the shop owner got really excited and found a bunch of modern farm tools for Zhou Yi, enough to fill a whole truck.

The shop owner personally delivered it to Hunyuan Palace and said he would like to come and pay his respects when he has time.

After the inquisitive shopkeeper left, Zhou Yi said to Wu Meiniang:

"Send one set of the curved plow to each world. They can produce it for comparison, either cast from iron or made of wood."

Wu Zetian wrote it down and said she would start distributing it once everyone arrived.

She glanced at the calendar and said:

"Today is the day Zhao'er is coming. She usually comes early, so why hasn't she made a sound today?"

While Her Majesty the Empress was praising the talented woman, this girl was in the gunpowder workshop of the Ordnance Bureau in the world of Emperor Zhezong, using the stopwatch function on her mobile phone to measure the speed of the gunpowder fuse made by Emperor Huizong.

After the lead wires were dried, they were dipped in melted wax oil. This will coat the surface of the lead wires with a thin layer of wax, preventing them from getting damp.

Once the fuse is in place, the combustion rate naturally needs to be calculated.

The ancient methods of timekeeping using sundials and incense burning were too inaccurate, so in order to obtain accurate time, Emperor Huizong invited Li Qingzhao over again.

The group first cut a section of gunpowder fuse and lit it under Li Qingzhao's direction.

Once lit, the fuse burns rapidly, occasionally producing sparks, but the overall speed is quite uniform, without any sudden acceleration.

After the fire was finished burning, Li Qingzhao checked the time and said:
“It’s a little over fifteen seconds. I’ll go to the Immortal Master’s place later and bring you a few stopwatches, and also buy two clocks and a digital watch, so you can keep track of time.”

Science requires rigor; predictions alone are insufficient.

She opened her phone's notes app and wrote down what she wanted to buy:
"High-precision electronic scales, heavy-duty electronic scales, standard weights, laboratory thermometers, hygrometers, blowers, electric fans, power generation equipment, electronic watches, electronic clocks, stopwatches, standard rulers, measuring tapes..."

Almost everything she does is related to scientific experiments; the most talented woman in China is practically becoming an angel investor in the Song Dynasty's technology sector.

After noting these things down, Li Qingzhao looked around and asked Zhao Ji:
"Don't just focus on doing experiments here, you also need to keep an eye on things at Yiyuan Temple. Sister Meiniang will be asking about the progress."

Zhao Ji patted the gunpowder powder off his body and said:
"Don't worry, Fairy. Everything is arranged at Yiyuan Temple. I will go to the construction site every day after work to check on things. I guarantee that nothing will go wrong."

Hearing this, Li Qingzhao was relieved. She returned home by carriage and happened to run into Li Hang pushing his pink folding bicycle out.

"Hang'er, what are you going to do?"

Li Hang gave a dry laugh:
"The book says that rubber will rot if left for a long time, so I'm moving the car around for my sister."

Knowing that the boy wanted to ride it for fun, Li Qingzhao, in the manner of an older sister, lectured him:

"Don't just focus on playing. You need to prioritize your studies. Otherwise, how will you fight against treacherous officials and seize power from powerful ministers in the future?"

After educating her younger brother, Li Qingzhao went to Hunyuan Palace. Hearing that a tomb raider would be hunted the next day, the girl immediately transformed into Chu Yunfei, hands behind her back, and said:
"Evil spirits and heretics should be punished by everyone. No matter who kills tomb raiders, our 358th Regiment must stand up for them... Immortal Master, may I participate tomorrow?"

Zhou Yi had originally intended to say that the child was guarding the gate of Hunyuan Palace, but then he suddenly remembered that the tomb raider might control the spirits, so he asked with a smile:

Are you... afraid of dogs?

Li Qingzhao nodded heavily:

"I was scared. Last time I was walking down the street, a dog chased me so fast I lost my shoes..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi immediately made a decision:

"Great! Tomorrow you'll be in charge of luring the snake out of its hole!"

(End of this chapter)