Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Chapter 1017 Destroy the Buddha
The starry night rotates, the cold moonlight rises into the sky and then turns into the golden morning sun.

A fast horse raised a cloud of dust all the way south, crossing countless rivers and across vast plains. The red pennant on the rider's back was already covered in dust, but everyone who saw it avoided and moved out of the way.

It's an 800-mile rush, and if you get hit to death, you'll have no place to cry to.

The blue bricks in front of the imperial palace were crushed by horse hooves. Several soldiers of the armed guards moved away the roadblocks that blocked the way and watched the knights galloping in. They all frowned and wondered how urgent the war had to be to require a fast horse to report it.

The transmission of the news broke the tranquility of the palace. Lu Bu, wearing a black robe, walked quickly into the Xuande Hall. The extremely tired knight hurried forward and spoke in Chinese with a grassland accent.

"Your Majesty, a locust plague has broken out on the grasslands. The area around Wugu Mountain has turned into a wasteland within 300 miles. The swarm of insects is spreading towards the direction of the Giant Mother Ancient City. Niu Duhu requests assistance from the court."

The bamboo tube sealed with sealing wax was held up, and Xu Wen, who was accompanying the guard today, hurried forward to take the bamboo tube, checked the sealing wax, and then unscrewed it.

Plague of locusts...

Perhaps because he had expected it, Lu Bu's first reaction was finally here. He then quickly shook his head to get rid of this inappropriate thought. He took the intelligence presented to him, shook it open and read it carefully. He took a breath and said, "I know about the matter. You have worked hard to pass on the information."

Turning to look at Su Yi, he said, "I will reward this brave warrior with ten taels of silver later and allow him to rest in the palace before leaving."

The knight was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately knelt down to express his gratitude, then followed the guards out of the hall.

Lu Bu folded the letter and said, "Go and ask Wang Zheng, Li Zhu, and Qiao Lie to come to the palace."

He walked to the main seat in the room and sat down: "I will wait for them here."

Xu Wen bowed in agreement, turned around and went out to order a few guards to ride on horseback to call the three people.

Lu Bu sat alone in the hall with his eyes closed, resting. In the past six months, he had been discussing these matters with Wang Zheng and the other two. Although they had calculated that these matters should be perfect, humans are not gods after all, and there are bound to be omissions in their thinking.

hope everything is fine.

The emperor frowned slightly and muttered to himself.

In less than an hour, Wang Zheng and the other two hurried into the Xuande Hall.

Lu Bu opened his eyes after hearing the voice, and did not allow the three men to come forward to pay their respects. He directly waved his hand to signal them to come forward, and then handed over the letter paper that he had just warmed up: "Wait and see the military information that came in today."

Wang Zheng did not delay and hurried forward to take it. Then two heads stretched forward, one on the left and one on the right, and the three of them read the letter carefully.

wow——

After closing the letter, Qiao Lie's eyes sparkled: "...Your Majesty, we can take action on the Buddhist temple."

Li Zhu narrowed his eyes and raised his hand to touch his beard habitually: "I have cultivated Cordyceps with An Daoquan. Now it has been planted in large quantities in the area from Mantou Mountain to Yong'an Mountain. Liaodong has also planted it in the west and north of Changchun Prefecture."

Lu Bu listened quietly and looked towards Wang Zheng.

The lazy young man straightened his back first, then slumped down as if he was tired: "I think the most important thing now is to prepare disaster relief supplies and order the troops in the north to prepare to deal with the grassland bandits."

The seated emperor nodded, and then a powerful voice sounded: "Xu Wen, summon Liu Min, Jiang Jing, Li Ying, and Fang Xuedu to come."

As the outside world responded, Lu Bu took a breath and said, "Let's just do the Buddhist thing while we're at it."

The three figures opposite looked at each other and nodded slowly.

……

There is nothing new under the sun, and there is no sundial in the imperial city that is not stained with blood.

Several teams of knights rushed out of Dading Prefecture like flying and dispersed in all directions.

In late midsummer, the news of locusts infesting the grasslands spread like wildfire. From the Shangjing grasslands to the Zhongjing Great Wall, from the Heihe River to the east coast, it seemed that the Han and Fan people of all ethnic groups in the entire Qi State had heard about what had happened in the northern grasslands overnight.

Soon, the monk's excessive greed angered God, so he sent down disasters to punish the world.

"Fortunately, it is on the grassland northwest of Shangjing. Otherwise, if it landed in Zhongjing, hehe..."

"When a disaster strikes, you and I may all become refugees."

"Let's not talk about it. In a disaster, not to mention you and me, even the wealthy families will inevitably lose money. In serious cases..."

The voices echoed in the tavern, causing many drinkers to sigh. Someone angrily slammed the table and said, "Whether it's in Shangjing Grassland or here, it's ultimately God's punishment for the world. Ultimately, it's the fault of those bald donkeys."

"You're right. Without these bald donkeys, we might be able to live a rich life."

"The bald ass is greedy, and he will die a miserable death sooner or later."

"That's right." The person who agreed nodded, and then said, "Hey...": "Brother Yao, I remember that your family is a devout Buddhist."

bang——

The Bohai man called Pharmacist slammed the table and said, "From today on, I don't believe it anymore!"

As if in response to him, there was a commotion outside. The people in the tavern looked at each other and crowded towards the window with wine glasses in their hands. Outside, teams of soldiers in armor and armed with sharp weapons came running in. The generals with the "Han" and "Yelü" flags sat upright on their horses, their young faces looking a little solemn.

One of the drinkers stretched his neck and asked, "Who is that?"

"You don't know them? General Han Changhan and General Yelu Mawu are said to have defected from the Liao Kingdom. They are now one of the five schools of the Northern Army and belong to the Imperial Guard."

"So young?"

"Don't worry about whether he is young or not, everyone..." A drinker raised his voice: "Just wait and see if the direction General Han is heading is..."

"Longfu Temple!" Someone followed up: "That's the direction of Longfu Temple!"

The people in the tavern were quiet for a moment, then turned around with a bang, knocking over many tables and chairs, and many people shouted, "Hey, the money is on the table, the extra money will be yours!"

Many people came to their senses, turned around and put down the money. Some shouted "Hey, keep the account!" and ran away quickly. They swarmed out of the tavern and followed the army to watch the fun.

The waiters in the tavern had no choice but to step forward and clean up the mess themselves. After all, many people had paid for their drinks, and those who didn't pay were regular customers here, so they didn't have to worry about them running away with the bill.

He just walked over and swept the copper coins on the table into his hands, counted them back and forth twice, and then a sad and angry voice came from the store: "Where is the reward money? This motherfucker is not enough! God damn it, come back!"

……

Boom boom boom——

With the sound of footsteps, a series of nimble figures ran across the long street. The police and constables following behind shouted at the onlookers to retreat. When the soldiers turned the corner, the red walls and gray tiles of Longfu Temple came into their sight.

Perhaps because of what happened some time ago, there are fewer worshippers at Longfu Temple nowadays. The pilgrims who used to come in an endless stream are now mostly white-haired and pious old women.

Several bald monks were sweeping outside with brooms as tall as a person. Hearing the roar, some of them ignored it and focused on what was happening in front of them, while others looked up curiously, then shivered, and the broom in their hands fell to the ground with a "click".

"Qi...Qi army!"

"What a disaster!"

The panicked screams made the monk who was sweeping the floor look up involuntarily. Then there was chaos in front of the temple gate, and these little monks in gray clothes swarmed into the temple.

The pilgrims and believers who were about to go in stopped immediately, looked at the dark masses of soldiers coming, took a breath, turned around and hurried away with their heads down. "Oh no! Another army is coming."

"Abbot, Abbot, something terrible has happened, Abbot!"

The noisy shouting of the little monk alarmed the temple. Several monks with scars on their heads hurried over and did not hear clearly. They shouted loudly: "What are you shouting for! I have told you several times that Buddhism is a quiet place and no noise is allowed. You are late..."

"Uncle Master, what's the time to talk about this?"

The clever-looking little monk stepped forward, stamped his feet, pointed outside, and panted: "The army, the army is coming again, so many people!"

"what?!"

Several monks who were called Uncle-Master suddenly panicked. Someone shouted, "Find the abbot!" Then they woke up as if from a dream and said, "Yes, yes, yes, go and notify the abbot!"

The monks lost their calm demeanor, threw up their robes, swung their arms, and ran towards the abbot's room. A voice that was deeper and louder than the young monk's was heard: "Abbot, Abbot, something terrible has happened, Abbot!"

Several young monks in the back looked at each other in bewilderment: "Why does this sound so familiar?"

"Someone seemed to have shouted..."

"What are you talking about? Hurry up and follow him."

Chaos spread in Longfu Temple. Outside, Han Chang and Yelu Ma Wu stopped and looked at each other, then raised their hands to signal. Immediately, the soldiers in armor began to move. Shields and spears were pointed at the temple. Crossbow archers holding imitation Shenbi bows stepped on the bowstrings, and crossbow arrows that were thicker and longer than ordinary arrows were stuck in the slots.

On both sides of the temple, the intersections blocked by officials were crowded with people who came to watch the excitement. Although they were shouted at by the officers in front of them, "Stay back!" and "Don't cross the line!" and did not dare to cross the horizontal line drawn by the other party, many people still stood on tiptoe, jumped up from time to time, and stretched their necks to look over there.

"What is this for?"

"Isn't this about settling the score for the anti-poem last time?"

"It's been so long. If they wanted to settle accounts, they would have arrested him long ago. Why wait so long?"

A messenger looked back and saw the man holding the long notice coming forward. He looked at the people in front of him and slowly opened the new document in his hand.

"Listen carefully, this is a new imperial edict from the court.

I have received the favor of Heaven..."

……

The black masses of soldiers have formed a battle formation, and the monks in the temple have found the old abbot. They put on their monk robes and were escorted out of the temple.

Han Chang and Yelu Ma Wu watched the people coming out from their horses. They knocked their feet on the horses' bellies, and the soldiers in front made way for a passage on the left and right, which was then closed again after the war horses passed by.

The old monk saw the two of them approaching, took a deep breath, walked out, chanted a Buddhist name, and bowed his head and said, "Our small temple has learned from the past and has made mistakes. Those fields and pastures have been handed over. I wonder what the two generals are here for this time?"

The monks at the back watched the old abbot come forward, and although they were afraid, they still took two steps forward. Yelu Mawu raised his eyebrows and looked up at them. The monks in the front row immediately stopped and used their hands to stop the fellow monks and nephews who were about to leave from behind. The monks in front stopped and the monks in the back moved forward. Suddenly, there were sounds of "Ah!" and "Ouch!", and many people stood on one leg with the help of others, but they were accidentally stepped on by others.

Han Chang snorted and stretched out his hand. Someone placed a roll of white silk in his hand. The young warrior unfolded it with a "whoosh", took a deep breath, and said in a loud voice: "I have received the favor of the Heaven, and I am in charge of all affairs and the people.

Recently, the nine categories of the Hong Fan are out of order, and we can see that the disaster of the monks is spreading to the country. According to the report of the Shangshutai, there are 2,723 Buddhist temples in the country, occupying more than 4 million acres of fertile land; there are 89,000 bronze statues, which can be minted into countless copper coins. However, the government only has enough millet to last for five months, and half of the armor and weapons of the border towns have decayed - isn't this the temples taking away people's food and the golden statues wasting the national treasury?

In the past, Duke Zhou created the Zhou Li and set the nine taxes. Today, monks wear black robes and evade taxes and labor service. For every household with three men, two are exempted from labor service. The number of registered monks and nuns is far more than 235,000. The annual exemption from labor service and labor service is nearly 800,000 pieces of silk. It is also heard that monks and nuns in various places have horse farms but do not graze them, and monks in Zhongjing have occupied good farmland but left it uncultivated. How can such behavior conform to the Buddhist verse of "saving all living beings"? It is actually a demonic atmosphere of "harming the country and the people"!

The "Book of Filial Piety" says, "Your body and hair are from your parents." But now a foolish man has been bewitched, abandoning his old parents in a broken kiln and taking his young son into the monastery. There are complaints everywhere: the only son has his hair cut and goes to the monk temple, while his old mother freezes to death on a snowy night.

Such inhumane and unethical behavior angered Haotian, who sent down the Locust God as a warning - last year there were locusts causing trouble in the northern border, and this year the grasslands were covered with flying locusts, and nothing grew wherever they passed, and all the weeds were devoured. Wasn't this a sign that the gods were punishing them?

That is:
All the nameless temples in the world were destroyed, all the bronze and iron statues were turned into plowshares, and the gold and silver ritual instruments were confiscated into the national treasury.

Monks and nuns were required to study the "Book of Filial Piety". Those who were proficient in it were allowed to return to secular life and be granted land, while those who were not so proficient were made soldiers in border garrisons. The land in the temples was redistributed according to the equal-field system.

The horse farm was under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department, and twelve temples, including the Longfu Temple, were left in Beijing. The number of monks was limited to no more than thirty, and they were responsible for translating Buddhist scriptures and worshiping ancestors.

Anyone who reports the private ordination of monks and nuns will be rewarded with 50 strings of cash; if anyone conceals the incident and does not report it, his entire family will be forced to serve as soldiers guarding the border.

Announce it far and wide, and let everyone know! "

Snapped--

After closing the white silk, Han Changzai immediately lowered his eyes, looked at the pale old monk, and said calmly: "The emperor has given his will, will you obey or not?"

The warhorse snorted under his crotch, and its pair of dark round eyes stared at the abbot whose body was trembling slightly, and the horse's tail swept it from time to time.

The monks at the back heard it clearly. Some people collapsed and sat down on the ground. Those who were a little stronger kept chanting "Amitabha" to ease their emotions. More people had dull eyes, looking in disbelief.

"Old monk, we don't have time to waste here with you." The warhorse kicked its legs anxiously. Yelu Mawu stretched out his hand to tighten the reins, holding the long-handled broadsword upside down in one hand: "I will count to three. If you don't move out of the way, Longfu Temple will punish you for disobeying orders."

"one!"

The old monk smiled bitterly: "Amitabha, Your Majesty is rich in the world, why do you bother to embarrass people like us?"

"two!"

Yelu Mawu remained unmoved, and Han Chang gently raised his hand.

wow-

The archers under his command raised their bows and crossbows.

The old monk closed his eyes and said, "Amitabha... I, this old monk, feel ashamed of myself, the Buddha."

"Fang...Abbot, please don't let your loyalty get in the way!"

"Uncle Master, promise them!"

"General, General, please don't be like this. I never said I wouldn't obey you. I never said I wouldn't obey you!"

Various voices were heard. The two generals on the war horses in front of them remained unmoved. Yelu Ma Wu's tongue tip had just touched his upper teeth, and the air had not yet come out when the abbot in front of the horse lowered his head and walked away, with a voice that sounded a little like crying: "I dare not disobey your order."

"You know the times."

Han Changzai snorted and swung his hand back. He lowered the crossbow with his arm and raised his arm forward: "Go in--"

The black waves surged and rushed into the temple with a roar.

In the third year of Jianwu in Qi Dynasty, at the beginning of summer, all counties and prefectures of Qi State destroyed Buddhism. For a time, the cries of monks and nuns resounded through the sky, and the property and grain of the Buddhist countries on the ground were transported into government warehouses in carts in an endless stream.

At this time, a group of merchants from the south passed through the vast wilderness. Looking at the ruined monasteries and temples, they murmured to themselves: "Is Qi destroying Buddhism to make money? Is it going to invade Liao from the south?"

Then he turned his head and shouted to his followers, "Hurry, get the team moving faster. If we go too late and ruin the government's business, we can't afford it."

In the daylight, the face was clearly Zhao Liangsi.

Finally I can hold it in, /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
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(End of this chapter)