The Beacon of Kyushu

Three days later, we visited the Ding Temple.

Baiding Temple is the first ancient temple in Quyue, located outside Hualu City, among the mountains. This temple covers a very large area, and the ancient pavilions and palaces are built among the green mountains, which looks particularly clear and quiet. Looking at Baiding Temple from the top of the mountain, you can see the scenery below the mountain. The regular and square building structures are laid out among the grass, with orderly layout and staggered arrangement. The temple in the center is particularly conspicuous. The red walls, gray tiles, and white eaves set off each other, making everything around it pale in comparison. The path in the jungle is tortuous and winding, winding outside the temple. There is a low slope in front of the temple that leads to the main hall of the temple. There is a section of road between the low slope and the main hall, where two rows of neatly trimmed small trees are placed in an orderly manner, and the pots are decorated with patterns, adding a touch of color.

Li Huan sat in the abbot's room, sipping tea while listening to the chanting of Sanskrit from outside the main hall. He looked extremely happy. "When all countries are about to go into chaos, there will be disasters and thieves will come to destroy them. You kings should uphold and recite this Prajnaparamita, adorn the temple, place a hundred Buddha statues, a hundred Bodhisattva statues, a hundred lion thrones, invite a hundred Dharma masters to explain this sutra, light various lamps in front of the thrones, burn various incense, scatter various flowers, make offerings of clothing, bedding, food, soup and medicine, houses, beds, and all kinds of offerings. Recite this sutra twice a day. If the king, ministers, monks, nuns, upasakas, and upasikas listen to and recite it and practice according to the Dharma, the disaster will be eliminated..."

After an unknown amount of time, the chanting gradually died down, and the huge temple was completely silent. Li Huan put down the teacup in his hand and said to Li Gongyun who was standing beside him: "Zhao Yan, you almost wiped out the Western Route Army a few days ago, and you just returned to Hualu and came to work for me. It's really hard for you."

Li Gongyun cupped his hands and said, "It is my honor to serve Your Majesty."

Li Huan smiled slightly and ordered, "In that case, go and call Master Bao En to me."

Li Gongyun pondered and said, "Your Majesty, today is the last day of the ritual. Are you going to take action against them?"

Li Huan smiled with admiration and said, "Haha, Zhao Yan still understands me! Now I, Qu Yue, have defeated three armies of Song State in a row. It will be easy for me to take over the southwestern cities of Song State. When that time comes, the biggest obstacle we will face is how to rule the Central Plains. As the abbot of Shaolin, the monk Bao En is the leader of the Central Plains martial arts world. As long as we control him and let Shaolin cooperate with me, why should we worry about not conquering the Central Plains and failing to accomplish our great cause?"

Li Gongyun said with some concern: "Your Majesty, when Zhao Kuangyin started his rebellion, he couldn't even get the support of the gratitude. How can he be used by you? In my opinion, it is better to find another way."

Li Huan said disapprovingly: "This is one time, that is another time! I have my own way, just go and call." Li Gongyun could not say anything more, so he nodded and left. After a while, Li Gongyun invited Bao En to the abbot's room and left tactfully.

When Bao En saw Li Huan, he put his hands together and said, "Amitabha, I wonder why your majesty wants to see me?"

Li Huan did not rush to answer, but smiled and pointed to the chair opposite him, "Amitabha, Master, please take a seat."

Bao En sat down as he was told, and for a moment he didn't know what to say, so he just kept silent.

Li Huan looked at Bao En and said with a smile: "Master, you have been working hard for Qu Yue recently." Bao En shook his head slightly and said: "It is a great honor for me to be invited to Qu Yue to perform rituals and pray for Your Majesty. Why bother?"

Li Huan smiled and said, "In the past, I was mostly busy with state affairs and rarely cared about religious matters. If I have been rude to you, please point it out."

Bao En shook his head again and said, "Your Majesty, you not only treat me as a distinguished guest, but you also often send people to ask about my well-being. How could I not be considerate? But I have something to say but I don't know whether I should say it or not. If I say it, I'm afraid that Your Majesty will blame me, but if I don't say it, I'll feel ashamed of the millions of people."

Li Huan asked, "What is it? Master, just tell me clearly."

Bao En pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, my Great Song took advantage of your country's chaos and attempted to take the opportunity to invade Quyue. This was the fault of the Great Song government. However, Your Majesty has now defeated the foreign enemy, and the Great Song has no intention of invading again. I wonder if Your Majesty can think of the lives of the people of both countries and make peace with the Great Song and establish eternal friendship? If this is really possible, this poor monk's trip can be said to be successful, and the people of the nine states will all look up to Your Majesty's kindness."

Li Huan did not answer, but said: "Master, I heard that you are from Songshan, and you have been studying hard, hoping to rise to prominence one day. Later, you accidentally met the Zhou Emperor Chai Rong, who admired your talent very much and wanted to appoint you as an official, but you refused. Later, you passed the imperial examination with your talent, which was a step to success. After only one year in office, you served as Hanlin Bachelor, Minister of Rites, Duke of Luoyang and other important positions, which made others envious. Unfortunately, Master was upright and was repeatedly excluded by traitors such as Zhao Kuangyin, so he had to become a monk. Is this the truth?"

Bao En nodded and said, "Most of what your majesty said is true. I wonder why you brought up this matter?"

Li Huan pulled his chair closer to Bao En and said, "Master, you are a Buddhist. Although you should cut off the worldly affairs and put all the worldly affairs behind you, how were you ostracized in the past, and how much you blamed yourself when Chai Rong passed away? I don't think you can forget it or let it go just by saying so, right? Now I am willing to cooperate with you, I wonder if you are willing?"

Hearing this, Bao En's expression changed slightly, and then he said seriously: "Your Majesty, do you want me to betray the Song Dynasty and serve you?"

Li Huan nodded, then shook his head, with a smile on his face. "Master, your words are true, but they are too harsh. It should be said that I will help you to avenge you, and you will help me to destroy Song. We will each get what we want."

Bao En stood up suddenly. Although he tried his best to suppress the anger in his chest, his tone was still tough. "Your Majesty, I did hate Taizu in the past, and I felt guilty towards the late emperor. But now the situation has changed. How can I still have resentment? Even if I really have this intention, I should assist the Chai clan. How can I collude with a foreign race like Your Majesty to plan for the Central Plains! If I really do this, I will be sorry to the gods and Buddhas above, and to my ancestors below. How can I live in this world with dignity!"

Li Huan said calmly, "Master, since you don't want revenge, I won't talk about revenge, but Shaolin. You have been in my Quyue for several months, and I believe you have witnessed the strength of my Quyue. Now the Song Lord is so scheming that he can't use famous generals outside and can't appoint relatives inside. He will be captured by me sooner or later! When the time comes, whether I will destroy Shaolin or not is just a matter of thought. As the abbot of Shaolin, you must not want to sit back and watch the century-old temple destroyed because of you, right?" (End of this chapter)