My eunuch godfather

Chapter 93 The Scent Cult

Wang Sen, whose original name was Shi Ziran, was born in Jizhou, Shuntian Prefecture, Zhili Province in the 21st year of the Jiajing reign.

Luo Fuguang, the daughter of Luo Qing, the founder of the "Wuwei Sect," was preaching in Jizhou at the time, which greatly influenced Wang Sen.

The religion venerates the "Eternal Mother" as the creator goddess and the supreme deity, claiming that all gods and people are the royal offspring of the Eternal Mother.

Everyone used to live in the "Vacuum Homeland". In order to undergo reincarnation and tribulations, they were sent to the world to suffer.

Now that the "final day of reunion" is approaching, those who do not join the religion will suffer a great calamity, be eternally trapped in the cycle of reincarnation, and be unable to return to their true home in the void.

This theory is very similar to the Abrahamic monotheism of Europa and the Abbasid Caliphate.

The core followers of this religion only worship the Eternal Mother, oppose complicated and cumbersome rituals, and oppose the monastic system.

We oppose blind faith in scriptures and the worship of idols, and advocate doing good deeds, helping each other, and cultivating one's mind.

The theory is relatively sound, but the organization is rather loose.

Its influence was far-reaching, and it was listed alongside the White Lotus Sect as one of the two major sources of folk religions in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Influenced by the Wuwei sect, Wang Sen founded the Wenxiang sect in the 43rd year of the Jiajing reign and went to Luanzhou, Yongping Prefecture to preach.

Unlike Luo Qing, this guy claimed to have received "fragrance bestowed by an extraordinary person," possessing supernatural abilities that allowed him to know the past and future.

They further venerate Maitreya, the future Buddha, emphasize the impending end of the world, and claim to be an incarnation of Maitreya, engaging in idol worship.

The theory was rudimentary, but the organization was quite rigorous.

He amassed a fortune through missionary work, amassed a large family of wives and concubines, and transferred benefits to many officials and gentry.

The number of followers of the Fragrance-Enhancing Sect is growing rapidly, and it is even catching up with the Inaction Sect, which appeared more than 50 years earlier.

In the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign, Wang Sen was reported by his enemies, imprisoned and sentenced to death, but managed to escape by bribing officials.

In the 42nd year of the Wanli reign, Wang Sen's disciple Li Guoyong betrayed him and reported him to the authorities.

Wang Sen was arrested, but escaped again by bribing officials.

At that time, there was a severe drought in eastern Hebei. Taking advantage of this, his disciple Gao Yingchen and others gathered disaster victims to start an uprising and forcibly installed Wang Sen as their leader.

This led to Wang Sen's re-arrest, and he has been detained ever since.

The arrest of the cult leader did not hinder the growth and expansion of the Fragrance Cult:

The three eldest sons, Wang Haoli, Wang Haoyi, and Wang Haoxian, were personally taught by Xu Hongru, Zhang Cuihua, and other disciples.

Under the leadership of his disciples Mi Bei, Gong Chang, Zhou Yin, and others, the Wenxiang Sect spread and flourished in various places.

Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu belonged to the territory of the "Bangchui Society," a branch of the Wenxiang Sect founded by Zhou Yin.

Zhou Yin's Stick and Hammer Society pioneered the martial arts training ground system, organizing believers to practice martial arts such as sticks and batons in the training ground, and even conduct military training!

In the original timeline, in July of the second year of the Tianqi reign, the Bangchui Society launched an uprising in Zhili, responding to Xu Hongru in Shandong.

With a force of tens of thousands, they once captured Wuyi, Jingzhou, Hengshui, Fucheng and other prefectures and counties.

......

The third quarter of the hour of Zi (11:45 PM).

In a courtyard in Xianghe County, more than thirty bronze lotus lamps were lit in the courtyard. It is said that the lamp oil was mixed with human fat.

Zhou Yin, the leader of the Bangchui Society, held a copy of the Maitreya's Descent to Earth Scroll and stood behind a stone platform chanting sutras and performing rituals.

"Three to the left, four to the right, seven turns back to one!"

Zhou Yin drew a blood-stained iron sword from his waist and struck the incense burner on the stone platform seven times.

Inside the incense burner are seven blackened, severed fingers, a practice of offering severed fingers to Buddha in the Scent-Enhancing Sect.

Thirty-odd young men, carefully selected from among the believers, took off their clothes and held a wooden stick in their mouths.

They walked to the stone platform one by one and knelt down. Long passages of the Maitreya's Descent to Earth Scroll were tattooed on their backs, some of the words still bleeding.

"Give me your hand!"

Yu Hongzhi, the Xianghe County preacher of the Bangchui Association, stands beside a stone platform, holding a short knife. There is also a copper glove on the stone platform.

The first able-bodied man put his left hand into the copper glove, revealing his little finger.

"To see the true nature of a person is to expose them completely."

Yu Hongzhi held up a bronze lotus lamp, chanting scriptures as he used the lamplight to disinfect the dagger.

He forcefully cut off the young, strong little finger, shouting, "Cut out his heart and liver to offer to Maitreya!"

"Well!"

The young man gritted his teeth and groaned in pain. Several inner disciples came over and helped him to bandage his wounds.

Zhou Yin picked up a copper stick, inserted his severed finger into it, burned it on the lotus lantern held by Yu Hongzhi, and threw it into a copper bowl.

Around 3 AM, all the able-bodied men completed the ritual of cutting off their fingers to offer to the Buddha, thus becoming disciples of the Wenxiang Sect.

Yu Hongzhi carried over a jar of liquor mixed with black sesame paste and poured it into a copper bowl.

Several inner disciples carried stacks of ceramic bowls and distributed the black-fragrant wine, mixed with blood and black ash, to everyone.

After Zhou Yin and the others drank Wuxiang wine, he ordered several inner disciples to bring over a man whose hands and feet were tied and whose mouth was gagged.

He placed the bronze bowl in front of the man, took the short knife handed to him by Yu Hongzhi, and said sternly:

"Those who apostatize will have their eyes gouged out to be used as Buddha lamps, their three souls and seven spirits will be infested with worms, and they will be eternally condemned to hell!"

After saying this, he used a short knife to cut the man's throat and pressed it over the copper bowl to bleed him.

After bleeding the disciples, he placed the dagger on the stone platform, dipped his finger in the blood, and drew a talisman on the chest of one of the disciples.

"Having received this talisman, as long as you remain loyal to the Holy Teachings, you will be able to ascend to the Heaven of Wonderful Goodness after death..."

A moment later, inside the sealed room.

Yu Hongzhi lowered his voice and asked Zhou Yin, "Brother, are we really going to start an uprising on the outskirts of the capital?"

"This is a diversionary tactic."

Facing his personal disciple Yu Hongzhi, Zhou Yin revealed the truth:

"Let's cause trouble in Shuntian to cover the retreat of Yongping to the south."

"Brother, our patriarch is imprisoned. Why are you still taking orders from those few good-for-nothings?"

Yu Hongzhi, unwilling to obey Wang Sen's son's orders, advised Zhou Yin:

"Let's follow that guy surnamed Li's example and split up to go our own way!"

Zhou Yin shook his head. The expenses of the Bangchui Association in running the martial arts are very high, and it is impossible to maintain it by relying solely on their own donations.

Previously, Wang Sen was the one who supported the gang. After Wang Sen was arrested and imprisoned, Wang Sen's second son, Wang Haoyi, continued to support the gang.

Wang Haoyi maintained several groups of private soldiers, each numbering around a hundred men, who operated year-round in the Shuntian and Yongping prefectures.

A significant portion of the stolen goods were sold through the Guanyin Temple in Zhangjiawan.

Not long ago, news came from Guanyin Temple that someone was investigating the temple's money and goods transactions.

Based on the movements in the capital, Wang Haoyi believed that the imperial court had its eyes on the Wenxiang Sect and the Wang family.

As mentioned before, Wang Sen's theory of the Fragrance Cult was rudimentary, but its organization was very tight.

In the eyes of Yongping Prefecture, the Fragrance-Enhancing Sect was just an ordinary branch of the Inaction Sect, with a scale of several thousand people, posing little threat.

That's why officials dared to accept bribes from Wang Sen and provide him with protection until the disaster victims gathered and rose up in rebellion.

Little did they know that the Fragrance Cult had already expanded through its "branch system," growing to a size of over 100,000 people.

If the officials of Yongping Prefecture knew, they wouldn't dare to protect Wang Sen even if they had ten thousand lives.

"Don't be too blunt, but let your close brothers understand."

Zhou Yin whispered to Hongzhi, "When trouble breaks out, we'll immediately flee to the south."

......

Zhang Kun returned to Zhangjiawan and began the final preparatory work for the "joint campaign to suppress and eliminate the notorious bandits along the Tongwan River":

Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu were divided into smaller suppression areas, and three thousand river workers were transferred from the river work camp.

Under the guise of protecting the river, they were dispatched to various suppression areas to build simple camps as logistical supply points for the joint suppression campaign.

The structure consists of two layers of circular fences, with a large enclosed building in the middle of the fences, and a watchtower in the middle of the large enclosed building.

During the campaign, the watchtowers will be kept lit with lamps at night.

If you suspect thieves are approaching the camp, use a large bronze mirror to reflect the light and illuminate the possible locations of the thieves!

The main forces of the campaign, including the river protection army, the tax collection army, and the canal transport army, moved back and forth between the camps.

Once these preparations are complete, the final battle will begin!