Chapter 18 You've Made Things Difficult For Me, Lord Ye

"Lord Ye, you've really made things difficult for me." Nie Rui cupped his fist in salute to Ye Tao.

What Nie Rui was referring to was naturally the matter of the Leiyin Demon Sect. Originally, in order to focus the Intelligence Bureau's work and prevent friendly fire incidents, Tan Xiaopei had privately told Nie Rui about the Leiyin Demon Sect. This was intended to help Nie Rui understand why Tan Xiaopei recommended Ye Tao as a lecturer for the Intelligence Bureau, and also to guide Nie Rui to focus on certain containment and reconnaissance operations within Xiling. Nie Rui initially didn't place much importance on the Leiyin Demon Sect, an organization directly managed by the Inner Court with somewhat fanciful ideas. He came from a military background, and although he was appointed as the director of the Intelligence Bureau due to his talents in intelligence, his understanding of conspiracies, rhetoric, and spiritual power was not as deep as that of Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, seasoned white-collar workers of later generations who had both been exposed to and disseminated such ideas. In the beginning, Nie Rui merely regarded the Leiyin Demon Sect as a backup plan left by the Inner Court in intelligence gathering after handing over the Inner Affairs Guard. Nie Rui had some confidence in the Inner Court's experience in managing such secret societies.

However, the events of this spring made Nie Rui begin to take the Leiyin Demon Sect seriously. The origin of the matter was Guan Huan's performance under Ye Tao's instigation. From that moment on, the Daoming Sect had to spend a lot of energy dealing with various rumors and gossip among its followers, especially in the entire Zhenbei Army Command and around Shunyi City, which was roughly the entire northern diocese centered on the Bamboo Monarch Hall. It even began to affect the southern dioceses, which had a denser population and were therefore more severely impacted. Finally, in the southern diocese of Xiling, in the area where the Eagle Hall had first orchestrated the massacres, a Yushi (Daoming Sect official) who had been assigned to eliminate the negative impact in the area lost his temper when faced with the questioning of some local celebrities and the repeated inquiries of the ignorant common people about the simplest and most trivial matters. The Yushi ordered the Eagle Hall members who accompanied him to the area to eliminate several of the most critical scholars... And after the massacres had caused serious consequences, the Eagle Hall members, made somewhat paranoid by the repeated instructions, were too "careful" and even killed the son of the local magistrate who was a guest at the home of one of the celebrities. Thus, a new snowball effect began. The magistrate directly abandoned his post and ran to the capital to file a complaint, publicly rebuking several key figures of the Daoming Sect. Even the Xiling royal family, which had tolerated almost all of the Daoming Sect's actions, had to send officials and soldiers to conduct a symbolic investigation.

In the sturdy northern folk, this investigation immediately provoked a strong backlash from some of the believers. Jiang Xujing originally didn't want to make things too difficult for the Daoming Sect, which had shown him some kindness. He directly handed over the investigation to the Supervisor who had come to the Zhenbei Army Command after the Battle of Yunzhou and had many disagreements with him. The Supervisor didn't misunderstand the court's intentions, but his subordinates still held the idea of getting rich by taking advantage of the situation and extorted a sum from some of the believers. When the believers, who were already impoverished and unable to cope with this unexpected disaster, clashed with the soldiers, they found that the Daoming Sect, which had always stood up for them, was silent. Not a single practitioner, Daoist, or Yushi dared to speak up for the believers, instead advising them to "cooperate" with the soldiers' investigation. At this time, the Daoming Sect absolutely dared not stand out as a thorn in the side. And when the believers faced this hopeless situation, the rebellion finally began...

The impact of this "believer rebellion," which was not instigated by the Daoming Sect but launched by the grassroots believers, was enormous. Several tens of thousands of believers, peaking at over a hundred thousand, were really no match for the Zhenbei Army Command, but this rebellion brought the already underdeveloped agricultural production near the Zhenbei Army Command and Shunyi City to a near standstill, inevitably causing many difficulties for the Zhenbei Army Command in raising provisions this year and next. But more fatally, this rebellion clearly revealed the irreconcilable contradiction between the Daoming Sect, which had completely sided with the Xiling court, and the grassroots believers.

At this juncture, Nie Rui received a suggestion from several "high-level priests" of the Leiyin Demon Sect, who were still exploring how to proselytize, through Tan Xiaopei: Could Nie Rui think of a way to link Chen Jia, the empire's last great "traitor," who had just been exposed, with the Daoming Sect? Historically speaking, it was true that the Daoming Sect's predecessor, the "Tiandao Sect," was established about twenty years after the disappearance of the Chen Jia family. Putting the blame on the Daoming Sect, whether it was true or not, was a good story.

Nie Rui thought it made sense, and spreading some rumors would be a good trial and training exercise for the Intelligence Bureau. But no one expected the reaction caused by spreading the news. Both the rise of the Daoming Sect and the disappearance of the Chen Jia family were mysteries, and when these two mysteries were combined and the Daoming Sect was caught in a situation where they couldn't defend themselves, the chemical reaction left the Daoming Sect's leadership in a state of utter disarray, the middle ranks in chaos, and the grassroots believers, except for the fanatics, somewhat suspicious...

Nie Rui originally thought that this was just a suggestion, but he didn't expect that it was a conspiracy by those high-level priests of the Leiyin Demon Sect. They stood up at this time, firmly upholding the Daoming Sect's long-promoted pantheon, appearing before the public as staunch believers. They didn't directly state that they were another religion, but rather that they were some believers who had not been accepted by the Daoming Sect, a sect with its own thoughts... They persuaded the soldiers and officials conducting the "investigation" to accept goods and services to settle the "investigation fees." They organized believers to help each other, coping with the "goods" and "services" in the form of cooperation. They tried to collect medicines to treat those believers who were sick or injured in the "services." Although they were not wealthy, they still tried their best to help families who had almost nothing and tried to find ways to make a living for them... All of this happened before everyone's eyes. The priests and high-level priests of the Leiyin Demon Sect, apart from the robes that were becoming more and more tattered from running around, had almost nothing, just like all ordinary people. And in this situation, they still worked hard to help the believers, gaining countless goodwill, gratitude, respect, and even loyalty. They even tried to organize various evidence to clear the Daoming Sect's name from its connection with Chen Jia. Lei Huang and others even went deep into the rebel believers' camps, persuading the believers to abandon their confrontation with the "court"... With a series of dazzling moves, the Leiyin Demon Sect assisted the Zhenbei Army Command, the Xiling court, the Daoming Sect, and even helped the vast number of believers to safely get through this difficult time.

Under the benevolence shown by the Leiyin Demon Sect, the Daoming Sect was actually divided into two factions, with opposing opinions on whether to eliminate the Leiyin Demon Sect. But even if the Daoming Sect wanted to eliminate the Leiyin Demon Sect, it would never be possible to do so at this time, or even in the short term, as that would directly and completely expose the Daoming Sect's mean, ungrateful, and power-hungry nature. The Daoming Sect ordered the Eagle Hall to infiltrate the Leiyin Demon Sect in every possible way, but at the same time, it tacitly allowed the Leiyin Demon Sect to exist. And so, the Leiyin Demon Sect steadily established itself in northern Xiling and began to develop its theoretical system and organizational structure in an orderly manner.

When Nie Rui fully understood the boldness and meticulousness of the Leiyin Demon Sect in such a complex situation over the past few months, he gradually began to understand how those "professionals" of the Leiyin Demon Sect used creating doubt and building trust as their most powerful weapons.

"Lord Ye, the affairs of the Leiyin Demon Sect are really giving me a headache," Nie Rui said with a wry smile. "His Majesty wanted you to have a good rest, so he asked me to temporarily oversee the affairs of the Leiyin Demon Sect, but he can't let the people in the Intelligence Bureau know about it. And the trainees you trained are just too quick-witted. Although I know they actually have a plan in their minds, my contact with them is limited after all, and I don't know much about their ideas, so it's really difficult to make decisions sometimes. It's good that you're back, Lord Ye. No matter what appointment His Majesty gives you, I'll ask His Majesty to let you continue to manage the affairs of the Leiyin Demon Sect."

Although Nie Rui was complaining, he also showed his high estimation of the role the Leiyin Demon Sect could play in the future. He was eager to hand over these unfamiliar duties to Ye Tao, fearing that his decisions as an amateur would hinder the development of the Leiyin Demon Sect. Tan Xiaopei had temporarily entrusted these matters to him because Tan Xiaopei herself hadn't completely understood the form of the Leiyin Demon Sect, and still thought it was something similar to an intelligence organization. But after Nie Rui had handled it for a few months, he fully realized that it was completely different. Although the Leiyin Demon Sect valued all kinds of intelligence, they valued their own profession even more: proselytizing. When they wanted to do something to certain well-known figures in the area, they often wrote to Nie Rui to ask if the Intelligence Bureau had any information on the person, or if there was anything that needed attention. There were also all sorts of other questions and requests, such as some medicinal herbs, some plant seeds... And Nie Rui often couldn't understand what they were going to do at first. It wasn't until those professional swindlers of the Leiyin Demon Sect actually did something that he suddenly understood. Nie Rui really didn't want to relive this state again and again.

But Nie Rui also mentioned one of his doubts, which was that the Leiyin Demon Sect's aggressiveness towards Xiling was not reflected at all.

As the two rode side by side, Ye Tao answered this question: "General Nie, I think that making many believers of the Daoming Sect see that the Daoming Sect and they are no longer of one heart is the greatest erosion of Xiling, and this was one of the goals I wanted to achieve when I established the Leiyin Demon Sect. However, perhaps it's fate, but I didn't expect them to have such fruitful results so quickly. The value of the Leiyin Demon Sect is not in being able to collect how much intelligence, bribe how many officials, or weaken how much military strength. Everything they do seems to not only not erode Xiling, but also reduce the superficial contradictions of Xiling. The common people are organized to help each other in production, someone intercedes with the landlords and officials for them, and they live a better life, so naturally they won't always be thinking of going against the government. It seems that Xiling, of course, is now only in northern Xiling, and seems to be more stable. But in fact, the common people have not reached any understanding with the government, the landlords, or the rich. No one has made concessions, there is only an extra mediator in the middle. And if this mediator changes its tune, who do you think the common people will believe? Will it be the Leiyin Demon Sect, which has always been thinking of them, or those who want to plunder all their property? Not to mention, religion is a very terrible thing. Even if the Leiyin Demon Sect is not a pure religion, once you believe in it, it's not so easy to get rid of it. Whether it's the familiarity with those doctrines in your mind, or the habits developed by long-term organizational life, they will have a very strong effect. The Daoming Sect used these to grow in the past, and now, this has become the weapon of the Leiyin Demon Sect."

Nie Rui nodded, seemingly satisfied with Ye Tao's explanation. He sighed and said, "After all, this is an organization you created, and only you can understand the thoughts of those people. I'll write a memorial later, but... it probably won't be approved in the next few days. If there are any new letters, I'll come to Lord Ye for advice."

Ye Tao said modestly, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. It's an honor for me to have General Nie come to my residence."

Nie Rui looked at the people who had come to welcome Ye Tao with him. Speaking of which, apart from him, the others were all ordinary people, such as the Vice Minister of Rites, who was bound to appear according to etiquette, the Deputy Chief Steward of the Inner Court, and so on. The scene of Tan Weiran personally welcoming Ye Tao when he returned to Danyang last time did not appear.

Nie Rui chuckled and said, "His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Prince originally wanted to come and welcome you, Lord, but this morning, unfortunately, His Majesty summoned the two into the palace. It seems that they are discussing some very important matters. ... This time when you come back, Lord Ye, no matter what position you take, the Ministry of Personnel can't come up with a charter. His Majesty is very dissatisfied, and in this bad mood, this strange thing actually came out. Hehe..."

"Strange thing?" Ye Tao was stunned for a moment, then he realized that Nie Rui was preparing to remind him of something.

Sure enough, Nie Rui said with a smile, "His Majesty seems to have some slight disagreements with Her Highness Princess Xiu. Her Highness is not young, and His Majesty originally wanted to arrange a marriage for Her Highness, but several candidates were dismissed by Her Highness as worthless. His Majesty is a little unable to step down, and he can't break the promise he made to the Princess back then—that her consort must be someone she recognizes and likes. ... The two of them are sulking, and the result is that we all don't mention anything related to them in their presence. You are also a member of the imperial family... Even if you want to hide, I'm afraid it will be a little difficult. Hehe."

This probably doesn't count as a reminder, it can only be said to be a warning to Ye Tao. Tan Weishi is a very interesting little sister, and also a guy who likes to extort all kinds of exquisite little toys from him. This time, he has really prepared a lot of interesting gifts for Tan Weishi. These gifts should be enough to prevent her from venting her anger on him, right?

But Ye Tao wasn't very confident about this.

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