Northern Dynasties

Chapter 194 Wearing Armor to Exterminate Evil
After finalizing the deal, Li Tai took advantage of the opportunity and asked to visit the temple.

The old monk did not refuse, and thoughtfully arranged several monks who were good at talking as guides to explain along the way.

The scope of this temple is very large, and it can be roughly divided into several areas such as preaching the scriptures and preaching the Dharma, offering Buddhist objects, monks' life, and storage and production.Aside from some private areas that are not open to the public, the halls dedicated to Buddhist relics are the most magnificent, and several monks are also strongly recommending to Li Tai to introduce their signature industry display area.

"Although there are many virtuous and eminent monks with profound Buddhist teachings in Beijing, the temple also has its own unique features when it comes to the enshrining of Buddha statues. There are so many Buddha statues in the Thousand Buddha Hall, and many other places are inferior!"

Li Tai listened to the monk's introduction, and walked into a tall and magnificent hall.

But from the outside, this hall is comparable to the palace hall in Chang'an City, and the inside is even more unique.Looking around, there are large and small Buddha statues everywhere, each with unique and exquisite shapes and different materials.

Seeing this scene, Li Tai was also amazed, and then asked several monks: "If you want to pay homage to the Buddha here, how much do you need to give?"

Faced with this rare high-profile guest, several monks did not hide their words, and introduced the prices of various Buddha statues and materials of different sizes.

After listening to Li Tai, he felt that this business was really well done. There may not be as many as a thousand Buddha statues enshrined here, but if they are all sold at the price recommended by the monks, it will definitely be a mouth-watering surprise. huge sum of money.

"There are many statues in the temple. May I ask where do I get these gold and copper materials?"

Seeing the vigilance of the monks, Li Tai laughed again: "My family's property has quite a lot of copper production, but there is no money in the pass for a long time. Since there are a lot of materials used in the temple, I have a question."

The monks looked slightly relaxed when they heard this, but they didn't ask any more questions, obviously not very interested in it.

Seeing their expressions like this, Li Tai no longer continued this topic.Although he has not found any conclusive evidence since entering the temple, he can basically be sure that there must be a crime involved in this temple.

Such a large temple should have been a place where believers come and go frequently.But Li Tai and the others traveled all the way, but they didn't see many believers worshiping, and the temple seemed to be heavily guarded, as if there was a string in the dark.

Since the casting of Buddha statues is the main business, but the source of raw materials is kept secret and refuses to discuss in depth. Li Tai took the initiative to hand over the topic, and they were not curious to ask. The materials needed can never be produced out of thin air.

Although it is not ruled out that Li Tai is preconceived and his inferences are far-fetched, but it is coming, so let's talk about whether there is a date.

Li Tai toured downstream under the leadership of the monks. In the evening, a powerful and loud bell rang in the temple. The monks explained to Li Tai that the bell was to call the monks in the temple to gather together for evening Buddhist singing, and invited Li Tai to join him. Past.

Li Tai also wanted to see how many people were in the temple, so he followed him to the square in front of the main hall of the temple.When they arrived, many monks had already gathered here, and it was completely dark at a glance.

Hairstyles with no hair left behind are not popular among monks nowadays, and there is no picture of a large shiny head.

As a distinguished guest in the temple, Li Tai was arranged in a row of seats next to the lectern.In addition to him, there are some male and female believers sitting here, and they look like they should be the big and powerful people nearby.

After Li Tai sat down, he noticed that some of them were quite wary of them, and they kept checking and appraising them.But he still acted like a defiant dandy, imitating Li Ya's rebellious appearance, and ignored it.

The Sanskrit singing in the evening class lasted for half an hour. Li Tai saw that there were more than two thousand monks and believers in the square, and more than half of them were novice monks and soldiers in their prime.This does not include the craftsmen and slaves in the workshop and the monks at the foot of the mountain. If they are all added up, this temple alone may have a crowd of several thousand.

Seeing the crowds in this temple, Li Tai couldn't help but secretly sighed, a temple is like this, one can imagine how powerful the Shamen in the entire Guanxi is.The most important thing is that if he directly leads troops to attack, he may not be able to attack this temple for a while.

No wonder the Western Wei government was so short of money that it didn't start attacking Shamen until the time of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

Without the support of a strong national power and a relatively stable external environment, the full implementation of the policy of exterminating Buddhism will cause much turmoil to the world, and the temple itself will not be a bone to chew on.Although Yu Wentai had a great fight with Gao Huan, he only dared to beat Qiufeng like cutting sausages.

After the evening class, Li Tai and his followers were led back to the guest house.

The old monk before then walked in and told him that the bronze statue had been moved down the mountain as required, and that it could be transported to Chang'an immediately after the money and goods transaction was completed tomorrow.

The old monk also sent a lot of food, wine and meat. Nowadays, monks don't have strict diet rules, and the diet is quite rich.

Li Tai was still worried that the temple was playing tricks on him, so he dragged the old monk to have a drink at the same table, and he was willing to eat the food the other party had eaten.

The old monk at the banquet also hinted that he hoped to take stock of the goods that Li Tai brought now. Li Tai would naturally not do what he wanted, so he changed the subject with a haha, and after a while, he simply pretended to be drunk and had a good time. .

The old monk saw that he was already drunk and a bit dissolute, and he was gradually exhausted, so he could only get up and leave first, but there were still more than two hundred monks and soldiers guarding outside the courtyard.

When the old monk left, Li Tai's eyes suddenly recovered. While ordering Zhang Shinu and others to go into the house and put on their armor, he ordered the monks and soldiers outside the courtyard to come in. They scattered gold and silver in the courtyard, and ordered the monks and soldiers to fight for wine.

No one can refuse this kind of entertainment, not to mention that these monks and soldiers are not well-trained and disciplined soldiers, and they quickly joined in. There is no competition in the drinking and defecation corner, and the whole yard is filled with joyful laughter Voice.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting better, Li Tai also took the opportunity to get up and leave the table, and went inside to put on his armor, and when he walked out with a knife, his style was completely different from before.

A few monks and soldiers sensed the abnormality, their smiles subsided, and they were waiting to ask the question, when the door of the guesthouse near the left opened together, and the monks and soldiers who had already been armed and neatly surrounded them.Just as someone was about to shout for warning, an arrow pierced his throat head-on!
Immediately, the monks and soldiers ran and shouted, and the scene was chaotic for a while, but from the outside, it was not much different from the previous frolicking and hilarity.

Li Tai slashed several monk soldiers who were attacking with their sticks, and the bloody scene made the nearby observers shudder.

"The Buddha is merciful and helps the poor, so he borrowed some materials today. If you don't want to go to death, quickly throw away your weapons and enter the house, or you will be saved under the sword today!"

Li Tai slashed with a knife, beheaded a monk soldier, and then shouted loudly.

Some terrified monks and soldiers threw away their staffs in a hurry after hearing the words, and ran straight to those guest houses, but there were also some who were still determined to fight and wanted to protect the Dharma with their lives. Please benevolent.

Soon, two hundred monks and soldiers in the courtyard either died or surrendered, and the scene was brought under control.

Li Tai first led Zhang Shinu to lead thirty armored men to capture the bell tower that had been observed clearly during the day, and then he himself raised a knife and pulled out a few monk soldiers and prisoners, put the knife on his neck and asked: "Ten days ago, did you monks go to Sanyuan Go? Where are the materials of the officers and soldiers now?"

The faces of the prisoners changed greatly after hearing the words, and only then did they understand the real purpose of Li Tai and his party.

"No, I didn't go... I don't know!"

A monk soldier denied it, but as soon as he said that, his head rolled to the ground, and the blood sprayed from his chest hit the head and face of his companion next to him. Behind the temple, officers and soldiers were buried in Donggu..."

Hearing this, Li Tai's expression froze again, and he ordered an attendant to continue the interrogation in detail, while he led fifty people out of the courtyard. Many monks were already seen running in panic in the temple, and all monks and soldiers who saw formations were immediately Then he led the crowd to charge up, smashing several teams in a row, and the riot has spread to the whole temple.

Many monks who were awakened from their sleep had no idea what was going on, and hurriedly and subconsciously rushed to the lectern square. Some high-ranking monks and monks also came here, shouting loudly to restrain the crowd.

When Li Tai led the crowd to the bottom of the bell tower, hundreds of monks and soldiers had gathered here, brandishing knives and guns and attacking upwards desperately.

Li Tai was about to lead his crowd to go forward to meet him, arrows were scattered on the walls on both sides, hundreds of monk soldiers shot randomly with their bows on both sides, making it difficult for people to move an inch, they had no choice but to withdraw.

"Master, let's attack the vital points elsewhere, and the servants will guard here, and the sound of thieves will never be heard!"

In the light of the fire, Zhang Shinu saw that Li Tai's group had been repulsed after several attacks, so he shouted loudly, and slashed with all his might, until the two monk soldiers were split in two.

Seeing monks with swords and guns rushing from behind, Li Tai no longer wanted to fight, and led the crowd directly into the scattered crowd of monks, slashing a bloody path with a knife, and followed the memory of the day to the storage in the temple. place to kill.

"Hurry up, hurry up, take back the bell tower! Send someone to ride a horse to report to the village, and let the villagers come to rescue quickly!"

A few old monks who usually had a graceful posture now also looked terrified and frightened, and issued various emergency instructions.

At this time, the mountain road was already thunderous with the sound of horseshoes, Liu Min took the lead, constantly urging the soldiers to quicken their pace.On the way, if there were monks who fled in a hurry or reported the news, they directly drew their bows and shot them, rushed all the way into the temple, and joined the several members who were lurking here, followed the guidance and went to the temple to kill.

It is true that this temple has a large number of people, but it is rare to encounter such a shocking change. It does not have a flexible and effective command and dispatch. Although there are many well-shaped buildings everywhere, it cannot be effectively deployed.When these thousands of strong soldiers rushed into the temple, the situation suddenly became more chaotic.

(End of this chapter)