Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Handling the aftermath is also a troublesome matter.

Gao Shun, Zhou Chuji, and Jing Song had to go back and continue working as their wood shop owners.

The sudden disappearance of the "Living Buddha" in Xiangzhou City is bound to attract attention.

If, at this critical juncture, all five charcoal shops were to close down, it would inevitably raise suspicions. Therefore, Gao Zhoujing and his two companions had to stay here and continue their business.

Li You first counted the amount of goods and ordered his soldiers to transport the Shu brocade and cloth back to Tongbai Mountain Village.

Cloth was a common commodity, but Shu brocade in this era was considered a luxury item and was even more valuable.

These two items are relatively light, while copper coins are quite heavy and can only be moved slowly.

The servants and slaves in the three residences of Monk Yuanjue were also escorted up the mountain in batches.

As for the women found in the thirty-odd cellars, sixteen of them were locals from Xiangzhou City.

Li You sent people to take them home, and instructed their families that the kidnappers were from Yunju Temple, and that the monks were wicked. He told them that once their daughters were found, they should leave it at that, and never make a sound, or they would die.

Some people in Xiangzhou City knew about the dark legends surrounding the "beautiful nun" at Yunju Temple.

Ordinary people are always terrified when facing powerful forces.

It's already a blessing that their daughter has been found, and with the added "threats" from Huang Chao's soldiers, they dared not say anything more.

There were twelve women kidnapped in other states; they were among those who wanted to go home.

Since Li You had very few troops available at the moment, he could only arrange for these women to go home later.

Led by Yan Jiu, there were a total of eight people who refused to go back no matter what.

After everything was done, another ten days or so passed.

The first to react were the various money shops in Xiangzhou City. According to the rules, every three days they had to find the monk Huizhen of Yunju Temple to deposit the copper coins and valuables they had obtained into the temple.

When the time came, the shop owner arrived at the temple and found it in complete chaos. The monks discovered that Abbot Yuanjue and his four senior disciples had all disappeared!

The shop owners were only concerned with money. Taking advantage of the chaos, they slipped into the monk Yuanjue's shrine and found the cellar. They discovered the hidden door was wide open, and the cellar was empty. The shop owners panicked, even more so than the monks in the temple.

Other stakeholders in Xiangzhou City had been wondering a few days ago why the monks in the temple hadn't come to them to discuss business. Could it be that Elder Yuanjue was ill?

They sent someone to the temple to inquire and learned that the person had gone missing.

Some wealthy businessmen who knew about Yuanjue's private residence went there to find it deserted.

At this time, a rumor began to circulate in the city.

It is said that this monk Yuanjue appears to be a living Buddha, accumulating good deeds and giving alms during the day, but in secret he is a complete devil.

Using his position as abbot of Yunju Temple, he amassed a fortune and kept a gang of thugs and ruffians to do his bidding.

For example, why is the "interest" collected by the ruffians all over the city so uniform, at 700 coins?

That's right, you guessed it, these are the rules that Monk Yuanjue set for them!

The Liu, Lu, and Wu mansions in the city are actually the private residences of the monk Yuanjue!

Now that Monk Yuanjue has made enough money—enough to build nine mountains of gold—he packed up his belongings, led his disciples, and ran away to enjoy a carefree life!

The rumor spread quickly, and the people in the city all knew about it, so they flocked to the gates of the Liu, Lu, and Wu residences to see for themselves.

These three residences had their gates wide open, and there was no one inside, making them seem like haunted houses.

The people rushed in and took away all the furniture they could carry from the house.

The villagers who arrived later, seeing that there was really nothing to take, joined forces and demolished the three mansions.

Those shop owners who run businesses only know to pay their monthly allowance, but they don't know who this allowance is ultimately to be given to.

Now rumors are flying everywhere, and everyone has someone to suspect.

Moreover, none of those scoundrels who used to collect the fees have come over in the past month!

In this way, they could earn an extra 700 coins each month, which made everyone very happy.

Consequently, the status of Yunju Temple in the hearts of the people of Xiangzhou plummeted.

This wildly spreading rumor was naturally the work of Gao Shun, Zhou Chuji, and Jing Song.

The purpose is to create a false sense of legitimacy to help cover up the actual events.

Where there is joy, there is also sorrow.

Without the support of principal, the money exchange system in the hands of Monk Yuanjue immediately collapsed.

The manager of the shop quickly closed down, while the employees sought other ways to make a living.

The other shops that were engaged in manufacturing were able to barely stay afloat.

After the initial panic and confusion, the monks at Yunju Temple immediately split into three factions and began vying for control of the temple.

Monk Yuanjue has run away, but the temple property of Yunju Temple is still there. The ownership of hundreds of shops still belongs to the temple. The temple has also bought thousands of acres of farmland outside Xiangzhou City. These things can all be contested.

What's even more interesting is that those beautiful "nuns," because of the chaos in the temple and the serious lapse in supervision, actually ran away from the temple overnight and found a secluded place to hide.

When daylight came, they ran desperately to the governor's mansion, knelt down, and cried out loudly, hoping that the government would give them justice.

Did the government know about the scandals happening in the temple?

Of course they knew; many of the clerks were actually "patrons" of these nuns.

The problem is that Liu Qingcheng, the governor of Xiangzhou, is unaware of this matter because it's being kept secret from his subordinates.

Some things are better left unweighed; once they're on the scale, they become unstoppable.

Our Prefect of Xiangzhou, Liu Qingcheng, comes from a distinguished family and has studied the classics.

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingcheng was filled with rage. He summoned the clerks in the corridor and ordered them to communicate with the nuns who were shouting outside the door, write a petition, and proceed with the normal legal process (a petition was a legal document in the Tang Dynasty).

Liu Qingcheng knew some of the things Yunju Temple was doing, but not much.

Luo Yuyang, who was in charge of the capital of the Xiangzhou government, came into contact with the monk Yuanjue at the Tongyunju Zen Temple.

Apart from this matter, Liu Qingcheng knew very little about anything else.

For eight consecutive years, the officials of Xiangzhou had not received their salaries from the Ministry of Revenue. This had been a real problem since Liu Qingcheng took office five years ago.

Fortunately, the system of "public funds" can alleviate the difficulties to some extent.

This clerk named Luo Yuyang has some family background.

Born into the Luo family of Yuzhang, he had considerable insight into financial management, so Liu Qingcheng entrusted him with the management of the public office's capital.

As it turns out, this person did indeed do a good job.

But just three days ago, Luo Yuyang rushed over in a panic, saying that the monk Yuanjue had run away and that the 10,000 strings of cash he had left in the temple, which belonged to the government as "public funds," had disappeared without a trace.

Moreover, the shops in the city that had frequent contact with Monk Yuanjue were all in a state of panic and chaos.

This year, the salaries of officials and clerks have already been paid out!