Northern Dynasties

Located in Luochuan, the Shifo Temple has already attracted the attention of the masses when it was still under construction, and it became the No. Overshadowed.

The history of the Shifo Temple is not long, and it pales in comparison with other famous temples in Kansai. However, because the Liu Shifo it enshrines is an eminent Jihu monk, and the northern states are the main distribution areas of the Jihu tribe, so these Jihu The members of the Hu people are sincere in their worship and offerings to the temple.

This large temple is located on the east bank of Luoshui, not far from the territory is the north-south transportation and business center of Luoshui, where there are many people and goods coming and going, and it is bustling.

The Shifo Temple has also become a scenic spot on the surface due to the huge flow of people. Even if they are not monks or Jihu people, most people will choose to visit such a famous temple when they hear that there is such a famous temple.

The temple itself is not known for its profundity of Buddhism, but for its majestic architecture and exquisite statues.The most important building in the temple is called the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas, which enshrines thousands of Buddha statues, large and small.

These Buddha statues are made of different materials and have various postures. They are enshrined in various niches. They receive worship and prayers from many believers every day, and they use the incense they share to protect the supporters who donate behind them.

The bigger the temple, the better the blessing.In this hall of ten thousand Buddhas, even a small clay statue at the lowest level is said to be able to protect the health of the supporter and prevent all diseases from invading.

Of course, it is not an easy task to obtain these blessings. In addition to believing in the Dharma in your heart, you must also have sufficient sincerity.The Buddha has thousands of believers, and every believer is sincere enough. If you want to stand out among the many sincere believers, you will naturally have to show more.

When the temple was built, only one sheep was needed to enshrine a clay statue of Buddha.But now that the incense in the temple is getting more and more prosperous, this standard is also rising year by year. The latest quotation this year has reached as many as one hundred pieces of silk, and it can only be enshrined for one year. to pass on to other believers.

"There are [-] niches in the lower level, [-] in the upper level, [-] in the upper level, [-] fine niches, [-] golden niches, and [-] precious niches in the upper level. Donate more than [-] bolts of silk, and also need to contribute to the promotion of Dharma in the temple. At the end of each year, the presiding officer and the elders will discuss which enshrined master can go to the niche in the coming year, and the temple will add a Sutra reform meeting, or a water and land dojo, etc. wait……"

As Shifo Temple became more and more famous in Beizhou, Master Hongyi, the abbot of the temple, became a well-known Dharma monk in Beizhou. He devoted himself to studying Buddhism and the management of the temple every day. However, he led all the elders in the temple to accompany a handsome young man to tour the temple.

All the eminent monks, who usually have a dignified appearance, followed this young man with their heads bowed and respectful. It made people wonder what kind of identity this young man was able to enjoy such respectful treatment in the temple?

There were more crowds looking around, and gradually someone saw a clue, and suddenly pointed at the young man in brocade robe surrounded by eminent monks and warriors, and shouted: "Isn't this the guardian of Master Buddha?"

When everyone heard this exclamation, they all looked in surprise.Li Tai couldn't help being embarrassed, he didn't expect that the little trick he played back then is still full of stamina, he naturally didn't want to be surrounded by the crowd, so he waved his hand to end the tour, Master Hongyi and others sincerely invited him to the inner hall Sit down, and then apologize again and again: "The old monk waited until the temple was closed to clear the venue, and let those foolish people disturb the lord, please forgive me..."

Li Tai waved his hand to express that he didn't mind, then frowned and asked, "With so many niches, can they be filled every year?"

Although he had determined the operation route of the temple when he was still in Beizhou, the details were still completed by Hongyi monks.

Hearing monk Hongyi's introduction of various charging stalls just now, Li Tai silently calculated in his heart that the income from offering Buddha statues in the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas alone reached nearly a million pieces of silk every year, and he was shocked but also a little worried.

The believers of this Buddhist temple are mainly Jihu, and most Jihu are very poor. Now that so much wealth is squeezed from them every year, it will inevitably become poorer in the long run.Once there is a conflict between belief and survival, I am afraid that there will be a wave of great turmoil.

Li Tai's original intention of creating this Buddhist temple was to use religion to tame these rebellious Jihu people. If he put too much emphasis on interests, it would undoubtedly be putting the cart before the horse.He raised this question because he wanted Monk Hongyi to take it easy and not to waste money.

Hearing this, Monk Hongyi said with a smile: "Master, please rest assured that these niches and funding are increasing year by year in response to the needs of the masses. Now the believers in the temple are all over the northern states, there are tens of thousands of people, each with their own The thought of worshiping the Buddha, if you don't tolerate it here, I'm afraid you will go elsewhere..."

In the final analysis, temple management is also a business. If there is demand, there will be supply. If there is sentiment, then you have to pay.Previously, the Taiwan government had dealt a big blow to Liu Shifo's belief, and Li Tai took advantage of this vacuum to re-establish this belief, and raised it to a very high position, adding ethnic identity and emotion, etc., making Master Liu The Buddhist Temple quickly established a dominant position in the religious circles in northern Shaanxi.

But with the passage of time, other Jihu forces have also noticed this situation, so similar temples have appeared in other places to gather and divert believers.

Monk Hongyi and others responded to this by increasing niches and raising fees, relying on the still rapidly developing market to raise industry standards and increase brand effects, so as to attack those grassroots teams.

"Are there a lot of fake temples?"

Li Tai's face sank when he heard this. He did not believe in Liu Shifo not only to make money, but also to strengthen the ideological integration and shaping of the Jihu group through this belief.

In this field, he absolutely does not allow other competitors to appear to take away his right to speak.Of course, those imitators may not have such understanding and intention, but in the actual operation process, the right to speak will be dispersed.I say Chengmen Louzi, you say hip bones and elbows, who should you listen to?
After listening to Venerable Hongyi and others saying that similar situations had occurred frequently, Li Tai said again: "Have you reported to the government? Isn't it the responsibility of these state and county governments to prohibit prostitution and cultivate customs?"

"Yes, there are, but the princes of all the mansions only say that the barbarians are fierce and stubborn, and the wilderness is difficult to control..."

As soon as Li Tai heard this answer, he knew it was just perfunctory.Speaking of Hu Huang, is it more serious than when he came back then?

Jihu casually pulled out tens of thousands of people and chased him like a dog. After a few years, he has not been cleaned up by him, and now there is the Jihu group belief in the Shifo Temple. When I was alive, I didn't have such a strong appeal. It should be molded and strengthened in order to control the Jihu group.

In the end, if you are not one of your own people, you don't care. What's more, you may simply share another dividend here in the temple, and support puppets to do business elsewhere.It's not that Li Tai hasn't done such a thing before, and he has a clear heart inside.

He also asked people to fetch the temple account books to look through, and found that the annual dividends paid to North China and other state capitals have not decreased, but the situation of imitation in the territory is the most serious.

Among the states in the northern border, Beihua Prefecture is considered a relatively rich place, and it is also the northern barrier of the Guanzhong Plain, so its geographical location is relatively important.Before that, several Hui and Cui Xi successively served here. At that time, Li Tai was also able to develop with peace of mind under the care of relatives and friends.

But after Cui Xi resigned, the governor of Beihua Prefecture was replaced by Yuwen Xianhe.Although Yu Wenxian and Yu Wentai are of the same clan, they are actually not the same thing. They are a wealthy family who moved south, and they have long been estranged from the same clan in Wuchuan Zhenbing. When it comes to relationship, they are still closer to those clans and aristocratic clans in Chang'an.

The current situation is obviously that Beihua State took the money and did nothing. Although the strategy of the monk Hongyi can ensure the growth of profits, it has lost the ability to radiate and influence the public in the long run. Therefore, those who follow must be suppressed and banned. of.But now Li Tai is not the governor of the three defense cities, so it is obviously impossible to use troops across the border.

After thinking for a while, he said again: "From now on, don't give any more tributes from Beihua Prefecture, and collect [-] Hu soldiers and the corresponding supplies. Later, Daxingtai will go on a tour here, and say that all the Hu people will learn from Buddha. Inspired, want to donate materials for Daxingtai, and build Huazhou official residence."

Although Li Tai has money, he never spends too much meaningless money. After realizing that Beihua State is no longer able or unwilling to provide protection in the area, there is no need to entangle and directly get Da At Xingtai Yuwentai's place, Xingtai ordered the ban on the destruction of obscene sacrifices and maintained the monopoly of belief.

It was too easy for the Shifo Temple to recruit three thousand Hu soldiers. Many Ji Hu were poor and had nothing to support, so they used forced labor to serve their beliefs.It's just that Li Tai forbade the temple to hoard land and population from the very beginning, otherwise there would be at least thousands of households of monks and slaves.Because they did not have their own land property, many believers who donated their lives to the temple were rented out by the temple to Xihe County for farming and reclamation.

After inspecting the operation of the temple, Li Tai returned to Luochuan Fangcheng to wait for the prince and Daxing to meet up in Taipei.

After the new year, the emperor's illness relapsed again, and it took until the beginning of March to decide on the matter of the northern tour. Because Li Tai was in Luoshui, he was sent by the first envoy to arrange the meeting. The news of Liang Dachang and the destruction of Jiankang City has already spread to Guanzhong, and the northern tour team has not yet set off.

Even if Li Tai didn't notice it at first, but being left here for so long, he naturally tasted something unusual.Then Li Mu's arrival confirmed some of his conjectures.