Although a year's plan lies in spring, the spring of the first year of the Auspicious Talisman, once the Qingming Festival passed, it was time to end it. After the Guangling Path's West Chu ancient capital was trampled by the Xu Family's armored cavalry, it had already changed its name from Divine Phoenix City to the humiliating Lost Tripod City. Deep in the mountains on the outskirts of the city, there was a brick temple. The temple's name originated from a famous Buddhist saying. This caused the increasingly heated topic of meditation during the Spring and Autumn Period to cool down. Because the abbot of the brick temple said that grinding bricks could not become a mirror, how could meditation become a Buddha? At dawn, the birds were singing. The three of them walked on a tree-lined path. The old man was very old, with white hair and snow-white eyebrows. He climbed the mountain with a bamboo cane. Stepping on the mountain path paved with cobblestones of different sizes, he staggered but didn't need anyone to support him. The green-robed monk was not young either. His hair was white, but his aura was especially elegant and otherworldly, forgetting the secular world at first sight. The woman was the youngest. Her appearance was stunning, not like a woman of the mortal world. Carrying a red sandalwood sword box, her steps were light. Probably because they were taking care of the old man, the three of them didn't speak when climbing the mountain. Entering the quiet ancient temple where there were no pilgrims, there was only the rustling of a young monk sweeping the floor with a broom. At the time of the Li Dynasty's destruction of Buddhism, even the Two Zen Temples were sealed. Mobrick Temple, for the past twenty years, didn't have many pilgrims, so it escaped the disaster. There were still some monks left who continued to hide in the mountains to pray. Seeing the three pilgrims, the young monk hurriedly put the broom under his armpit and bowed with his palms together. Especially when he caught a glimpse of the woman from the corner of his eyes, his bald head drooped even more, afraid of breaking the precepts and losing the heart of Bodhi. After returning the greeting, the old man led the monk and the woman to the Five Hundred Arhats Hall. It wasn't the golden-robed arhats commonly seen in imposing temples, but painted wooden sculptures. What was even rarer was the Five Hundred Arhats, each one vivid and lifelike. Some were sitting upright, some were listening, some were clasping their palms, and some were even glaring, beating gongs and drums, scratching their ears and cheeks. The old man led the two of them to a Venerable One. He held a mirror in his left hand, and his right hand tore open the skin of the old man's face, revealing a handsome young man's face. It was enough to stun the onlookers.
The old man stood at the foot of the wooden arhat and said calmly, "I heard that the Minister of Rites, Ceng Xiangqi, carried a large jar of wine into the temple alone on a snowy day in the first year of Yonghui. He died drunk here, and his last words were probably drunken words. This old subject knows that in the past, Old Ceng did not touch a single drop of wine and always advised us to drink and make things worse. I remember one time when His Majesty drank too much and missed the morning court session. Old Ceng angrily rushed into the palace to scold His Majesty. If it was not for the Empress stopping him, His Majesty would have almost fought with this old fellow. After that, His Majesty was still angry and privately told this old subject that during the celebration banquet the night before, this old fellow was the one who was the most unkind. Since he did not drink, he poured wine for others and did not even let him off. In the end, Old Ceng turned hostile the next day. Who would have thought that this old thing, who hated the smell of alcohol all his life, would drink himself to death in the end? "
Minister of Rites, Ceng Xianglin, was naturally not a second-level official in Li Yang, but the last Minister of Rites in West Chu. He was a fellow disciple of the Grand Chancellor of Shangyin Academy, Qi Yanglong. He was also the teacher of Wang Ming Yang, who had guarded Xiangfan for ten years.
The old man reached out to stroke the slightly cool arhat pedestal and said softly, "Old Ceng must have come to find Minister Tang of the Ministry of Revenue. Tang Jiahe was the most knowledgeable in this group of people. Originally, he looked down on Buddhism, a foreign religion, the most. Unexpectedly, he fled to Motiao Temple. As for whether he truly devoted himself to Buddhism or was disheartened, only God knows. Old Ceng and Tang Jiahe did not have the same political views all our lives, but that was still considered a dispute between gentlemen. Da Chu's party struggle was not a struggle between officials for power and influence, nor was it a struggle between gentlemen and villains. Looking at it now, it was more like a dispute between gentlemen. The hearts of the people were, after all, still on the side of the Jiang character, the common people. It was just that each of them took different paths, and it was inevitable that scholars would despise each other, which led to a disaster. However, Tang Jiahe said two things that were very insightful. He said that all living things in the world could die because of love. Martial artists died on the battlefield, civil officials died in the palace. Men and women were not the only ones who were obsessed with each other. Since people could only die once in their lives, they should always keep it in their hearts and die with kindness. A man is still a blade of grass, he also thinks about the five winds and ten rains. Moreover, people are not plants. However, if Tang Jiahe really wanted to die, he would die. He was not willing to live an ignoble life. But in the end, this Minister Tang, who had once lost to our side, Cao Touxiu, 16 games in a row, also went back on his word. He fled from Motiao Temple for a few years. Later, perhaps he was afraid that old Ceng and I would find him, so he fled even deeper into the mountains. No one knows whether he is alive or dead. "
The white-haired old man continued, "Great General Song Yuan, who was often lectured by His Majesty to be more literate, should not always be blind in the palace and make a fool of himself. This stubborn old urchin has really gone crazy. The only grandson in his family, who had originally secretly passed the Jinshi exam in Yonghui Sixth Year, was burned alive by him. He also burned himself to death in a dilapidated library that did not have many books to begin with. When our Da Chu was at its peak, martial artists did not have saber qi, scholars did not have the air of poverty, women did not have the air of cosmetics, mountain people did not have the air of clouds, and monks did not have the air of incense. It was publicly recognized by the world as the most prosperous era in the eight hundred years after the Great Qin Dynasty. Li Yang was only a small dynasty that originated from the barbarians in the north. It had been independent for fifty years, and its eunuchs had been involved in politics for fifty years. The Head Eunuch Fan Gongliang had killed one Emperor, two Princes and six Concubines in his lifetime, yet he was still able to live out his remaining years in peace. How could such a dynasty, who did not understand etiquette, suddenly change after fifty years and inexplicably become the Princess of the World? And our Da Chu, how could it perish just like that? The monarch was wise, but the fault did not lie with the monarch. The civil and martial officials were loyal, but the fault did not lie with the officials. The common people worked hard, but the fault did not lie with the common people. Thus, this old official, Sun Xiji, wanted to know what had happened. Since dying with remaining grievances was an extravagant hope, he wanted to have peace of mind before he died and know an acceptable answer. This old official was not afraid of bearing the infamy of being a servant of two surnames. Just like that, I stood in the court of Great Peace City and coldly watched for a dozen years. But in the end, I still could not understand why Da Chu had lost, and lost so miserably and so quickly. However, this old official recognized two people. One was the butcher Xu Xiao, the other was the blue-eyed Zhang Julu. It was them who made this old official accept his fate. Xu Xiao had done the right thing. A good saber, as long as it was in the right hands, the faster the saber, the less blood the common people would bleed. Zhang Julu had done very well. He had braved the risk of being called the Emperor of the War with Han Shengxuan in private and repaired the Zhao Family's courtyard until it was airtight. This old official had already accepted his fate, but Changqing asked this old official to come see you, so this old official came. Not for anything else, but for an old man like me to die in his homeland. That is better than anything else. "
The three people were West Chu's Grand Preceptor, Sun Xiji, Cao Changqing, who had reached the Confucian Sage Realm at the ruins of Xi Leibi, and the fallen princess, Jiang Ni, whose original name was Jiang Si.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
