White-robed Minister

Chapter 213 0211 [Spring Outing and Buddhist Worship]

The two eunuchs, Wang Zhongzheng and Li Xian, continued to inspect the border areas.

Wang Zhongzheng's official position was "Zouma Chengshi," responsible for monitoring local officials, but he had no real power. He could not interfere in local affairs; he could only write letters or return to the capital to report to the emperor.

Li Xian's official position was to handle official business; he had specific duties. Once he was ordered by the emperor to go to a local area to handle a certain matter, he had to return to the capital after completing it, similar to an imperial envoy.

In the third month of the lunar calendar, Xu Lai received a private letter from Gao Zunyu.

In his letter, Gao Zunyu vehemently criticized Wang Zhongzheng, saying that while the man was obedient in front of him, he had caused widespread resentment among the civil and military officials under his jurisdiction.

Gao Zunyu himself did not want to offend the eunuchs, but he was thoroughly annoyed by them. So he wrote to Xu Lai to ask if he could get rid of the eunuch.

Xu Lai wrote dozens of letters in one go to appease the generals of the newly recovered prefectures and ask them to be patient for the time being.

He left out the unnecessary details, simply telling the generals to be patient; anyone with a brain would know what he meant.

"Sanlang, it's time to go out," Dingxiang called from the courtyard.

"Coming!"

Xu Lai, dressed in casual clothes, walked out of the study.

I was very busy with official duties recently and couldn't even rest on my days off. Today I finally have some free time.

Upon arriving at the inner courtyard, Dingxiang, her maids, and servants were already prepared. The Ding family had recruited Tanka warriors from Guangzhou, each carrying food and wine.

As everyone got out of the car, many carriages and horses were already waiting on the streets of the nearby government office area.

Today is a holiday. Except for those who stay on duty, everyone else is going to Jiqing Temple to worship Buddha.

Confucianism could not be spread quickly, so Buddhism was used to appease the people in the border regions first.

The Qiang people revere Buddhism, and there are nine large temples within the territory of Xizhou.

Today we're going to a place called Jiqing Temple, which is very large.

How large was it? Historically, when Wang Shao attacked Hezhou, his supply lines were cut off by the enemy. The Qiang generals who had surrendered to the Song Dynasty stationed their troops directly in Jiqing Temple, using the temple as a fortified stronghold.

The carriages of civil and military officials formed a long procession as they left the city.

Most people travel by horse or donkey, with fewer traveling by carriage. Officials with female members in the area always allow them to travel by carriage.

Next came the officials and merchants, who also went to join in the fun.

Spring plowing outside the city is not yet over, as each person has been allocated a large amount of land. Some fields have already been sown, while others are still being tilled.

When the Han and Qiang people saw the convoy passing by, they all turned their heads to observe it with curiosity.

Some officials brought their sons with them to take up their posts. These teenagers or young men, with their lively personalities, would take the initiative to ride ahead on horseback to clear the way. They would ride a long way off, then ride back laughing and waving and shouting.

Xu Lai didn't stop them, as long as they didn't trample the fields. Who hadn't experienced that youthful phase? He actually quite liked it.

Wang Hou, who had already returned from the border village, also joined their ranks, riding his horse back and forth and shouting.

Wang Shao looked at his son, who was frolicking around, and sighed, saying, "I'm afraid the governor-general will find this amusing."

Xu Lai laughed heartily: "If I hadn't become this official, I would definitely be galloping around with all those young men."

Yang Shu rode up and said, "What a pity! When I was young in Guangzhou, I could hardly find any horses. If I had been born in the north, I would definitely have been just as carefree and unrestrained."

The officials rode ahead on horseback, followed by a procession of women. There weren't many, but there were also maids and servants.

Dingxiang's carriage was quite spacious, and she invited Yang Shu's wife to ride in it. The wives of Liao Zhenggu, Li Shen, and others followed closely behind in the other carriages.

The women occasionally let out soft laughter, and as they talked, some even lifted the carriage curtains and called out to the women in other vehicles.

Clearly, they often visit each other and are already quite familiar with one another.

Xu Lai looked around and, finding the atmosphere pleasant, immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He was not a Buddhist, yet he led officials to worship Buddha. Besides spreading Buddhist teachings and appeasing the people, he also had the idea of ​​taking the officials out of the city to relax.

Recently, everyone has had too much to do, and the rationing of food has caused discontent among many. There's a lot of resentment going on at all levels, and this resentment needs to be released.

With the establishment of new official salt-producing areas, more and more merchants came to "enter the central region." Cart after cart of grain was transported by merchants from Guanzhong and even from more distant places, greatly alleviating the food shortage problem in the Xihe area.

Finally, the grain rations were no longer fixed.

Xu Lai is now preoccupied with managing his territory, and even his trips to worship Buddha have political motives. He is increasingly aware of what it means to be powerless and what it means to have one's position dictate one's perspective.

After traveling for a while, the carriage finally arrived at Jiqing Temple.

The original abbot of this temple was the same master who was trampled to death by fleeing soldiers during the Battle of Panshi Fortress. Most of the monk soldiers also fled or died at that time.

Xu Lai then besieged the city and attacked the reinforcements. When he led his troops past Jiqing Temple, all the monks in the temple were so frightened that they all ran away.

The current abbot is Zhiyuan, who comes from Kaifeng.

He brought several monks with him. Xu Lai then selected some obedient Qiang monks from among the captured ones and gave them to Zhiyuan. He also arranged for the monks to work as Qiang tenant farmers.

"This humble monk pays respects to General Xu, Secretary Wang, and—"

Zhiyuan led a group of monks to greet the officials one by one.

He originally planned to emulate the Qiang gurus and establish his own territory to support monk soldiers and tenant farmers. However, realizing the situation was not going well, he quickly changed his plans and did whatever Xu Lai asked him to do.

Xu Jinglue naturally reciprocated by petitioning the court to designate Jiqing Temple as a public monastery, and Zhiyuan was appointed as the first officially appointed abbot of Jiqing Temple.

The Ten Directions Forest is a temple and monastery management system that originated in Zen Buddhism and gradually spread throughout Buddhism and even Taoism. It also incorporated various Confucian concepts and rules.

The abbot of a Buddhist or Taoist monastery is democratically elected by monks or Taoist priests, or may be invited to serve as a high-ranking monk or Taoist priest from other temples.

Moreover, the abbots who are democratically elected or hired from outside must be reported to the imperial court and approved!

Temple lands belonging to monasteries must also be taxed according to regulations, unless they are granted tax exemption by the imperial court.

Temples that do not conform to this system are commonly known as ancestral temples or wild temples, and are unlikely to gain official recognition, let alone hold religious official positions.

At present, Jiqing Temple is the only Buddhist temple open to all in Xihe, and Zhiyuan is very satisfied with his position as abbot.

Xu Lai was ushered into the temple gate. He stepped through two gates and found no couplets, so he said, "Bring me pen and ink!"

Zhiyuan was overjoyed and immediately asked the monks to bring him writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

Xu Lai picked up his brush and wrote: "The Tao River flows from the west, nourishing thousands of Han and non-Han families who all look up to the sun of wisdom. The Longshan Mountains stand tall to the east, where all Qiang and Rong peoples bathe in the benevolent clouds."

Xu Lai put down his brush and said to Wang Shao, "How about you write a couplet, Mr. Wang?"

Wang Shao carefully studied the couplet written by Xu Lai and understood from which angle to start writing. So he picked up his brush and wrote: "The palm leaf transmits the heart, blending the sounds of the three mountains and the Chinese language; the lotus platform preaches the Dharma, transforming the sword energy and blade light of a thousand peaks."

Both of these couplets promote the idea of ​​harmonious coexistence between the Han and Qiang people.

Following closely behind, Liao Zhenggu, Zhang Shangying, Yang Shu, and others also wrote couplets for Jiqing Temple.

The couplet written by Yang Shu reads: "Accumulated blessings and radiant glory protect the border city and forever extinguish the beacon fires; Opening up the border and spreading benevolence, teaching the Qiang villages to cultivate blessed fields everywhere."

Zhiyuan was overjoyed, surrounded by powerful figures from Xihe.

The ink was still wet and was all laid out there, and the women gathered around, laughing and commenting.

Everyone complimented Xu Jinglue's couplet as the best, praising him as worthy of being a top scholar.

As Dingxiang listened to the compliments around her and carefully recited the couplets, her smile grew brighter and brighter: indeed, her husband was the most talented in literature.

Xu Lai said to Zhiyuan, "There are not enough tenants in the local area, but I have provided enough for your temple. The abbot need not worry about the temple lands; he should spend his days spreading the Dharma and the Emperor's grace."

Zhiyuan quickly replied, "The ten Qiang children selected by the Prime Minister are all intelligent and quick-witted. I have already accepted them as my disciples, and they will go down the mountain every month to provide free medical care for the Han and Qiang people, while also teaching these disciples medical skills. Every two months, I will also take my disciples to the Tibetan tribes to treat the chiefs and their people. When treating patients, I will always expound on Buddhist teachings, proclaim the Emperor's benevolence, and explain the principle of the common origin of the Han and Qiang people."

Xu Lai exclaimed, "Truly a virtuous and eminent monk! I have already informed the court and requested many Buddhist scriptures from the Xiangguo Temple. They should arrive by next month at the latest."

Zhiyuan was overjoyed.

With numerous Buddhist scriptures, inscriptions by officials, and the only open Buddhist temple complex in the Xihe area, Jiqing Temple is sure to flourish.

The once boastful Zhiyuan has now surprisingly developed ambitions to achieve great things. However, his ambitions lean more towards spreading Buddhism, hoping to stand alongside the eminent monks of the Han and Tang dynasties a thousand years from now.

Zhiyuan led the group to various halls to pay homage to the Buddha. He then appeared as a high-ranking monk and preached Buddhist teachings in the square.

Civil servants, military officers, family members, clerks, and merchants all listened with great interest, and Xu Lai also maintained a devout expression throughout.

The temple's previous savings were used by the Song army for military purposes last year, and now even its food supplies have to be allocated by the government. Therefore, Jiqing Temple did not provide lunch, and everyone, including Xu Lai, brought their own dry rations.

After listening to the Buddhist teachings, everyone sat in the square and ate.

Officials and their families invited each other to sample their own food. Some officials' wives even dared to chat with women like Dingxiang and Zhao Nanjia.

After receiving food from the officials' families, the wives of those officials were extremely excited and began chatting about all sorts of trivial matters and anecdotes.

There were also some Qiang nobles in Xizhou City, such as Xia Yao. He also brought his wife and children, and his wife chatted happily with the families of Han officials.

A Buddhist pilgrimage trip turned into a spring outing for officials from both the Han and Qiang ethnic groups.

Incidentally, whether in Xihe or on the border of Western Xia, Chinese was a common language among all ethnic groups. Only in mountainous areas far from Han territory did ordinary people not understand Chinese.

In the Tao River Valley area of ​​Xizhou, even the poor Qiang people can communicate in simple Chinese, although they don't speak it fluently and can't understand some of the less common words.

In the more distant Hexi Corridor, the situation was similar. There were even large numbers of Han Chinese who originally came from the Shaanxi border but were captured by the Western Xia and made serfs.

Xu Lai raised his wine cup, stood up, and shouted, "Gentlemen, let us drink this wine! We wish the Emperor good health and peace, and we also wish our Han and Qiang people a peaceful and prosperous life from now on!"

"good!"

"Let's do it!"

The entire square erupted in a thunderous response.

Many officials and merchants also shouted their wishes for Prime Minister Xu's meteoric rise to power.

Zhao Nanjia whispered in Dingxiang's ear, "Your husband is really impressive. My Thirteen Lang told me many old stories, and every time he expressed his admiration for Master Xu."

Dingxiang loved hearing this kind of talk, and immediately reciprocated with flattery: "My Sanlang always speaks highly of Yang Shisanlang. He often admires Yang Shisanlang's martial arts skills and laments that he can't personally go into battle to fight the enemy."

The two women got more and more excited as they talked, each praising the other to the skies.