I'm really not doing business

Chapter 583: In the next life, you will be reborn in the Central Plains

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi completely underestimated the difficulties of this trip.

If it weren't for the two hundred Ti cavalry sent by Master Huang, the fifty-two students would have been intercepted and killed as soon as they left the country, and would have been taken prisoner and died in an unknown mountain stronghold.

There is no possibility of ransom, because these horse bandits are the targets of suppression by the Ming Dynasty’s official army. Asking for a ransom will expose one’s own position.

"This is the disturbing reality. That's why people on the grassland will look for a false other side. Even if they know that this other side is fake, they just want to find a place to rely on so as not to live in constant fear." Lin Fucheng said sincerely as he looked at the captives who were tied up.

These captives will be sent to Kaiping Wei Wang Rulong, who will interrogate them. Although the old nest is deserted, it will be easier to suppress the bandits with clues about the horse bandits. These captives will have only one fate, that is, their bells will be removed and they will be sent to the mines to do hard labor until they die. There is no other way.

"Welcome to the grassland." Chen Mo dismounted and said to everyone with a smile on his face: "You will definitely figure out the question of whether human nature is evil or good here."

Chen Mo firmly believes that human nature is evil. Human nature without any restraint or constraint is the source of all evil in the world. Only when human nature is shackled by laws and public order and good customs will people stop doing evil.

Humans are also animals, and the results of dissection are that humans and rabbits have extremely similar physical signs.

"On the grassland, people are greedy, lustful and happy to cause trouble. There is much killing and fighting. The captives themselves say that it is a place of violent arguments and a sea of ​​right and wrong." Chen Mo talked about the current situation of the grassland. It is a sea of ​​right and wrong, and the biggest contradiction among people here is the threat to their survival.

The scene was full of arguments, and people would draw their swords and fight to the death if they didn't agree on something.

They set up camp at dusk and set out at sunrise. The study tour group of 52 people set out again. After walking for about half a day, the wind was still howling, and there were flying sand and rocks. They couldn't even see the road clearly, let alone identify the direction. At this time, Chen Mo, with his rich experience in Duntai Yuanhou, made arrangements and found a place sheltered from the wind to hide.

On a yellow windy day, there is usually heavy snow after a strong wind.

"The wind won't stop until tomorrow, so we'd better stop. Otherwise, we'll get lost and it'll take more than ten days to find the way. And this is when we have a lot of stuff with us. We'll set off tomorrow morning when the wind stops." Chen Mo had people set up tents in a leeward place and arranged sentries. He explained to Lin Fucheng why they had to stop.

Running aimlessly under the yellow wind of the grassland in winter will only make you more and more lost. Getting lost is the lifelong enemy of Flying General Li Guang. It is very easy to get lost on the grassland, and after a strong wind, there is often heavy snow. The grassland calls the snow disaster "white hair wind", which means the wind blows the snow and you can't tell east from west, south from north, and even up from down.

The time chosen by Lin Fucheng was the most difficult period for them, as the people on the grassland were hibernating, but it was also the most suitable time, because only in winter could one see the true appearance of the grassland.

"What will we eat if we don't bring enough water and food? How will Captain Chen solve the problem of water and food when he is fighting alone?" Lin Fucheng was curious about the life of Chen Modu Taiyuanhou.

"Rats." Chen Mo said with a smile, "Dig rat holes, drink rat blood, it's good to have rats to eat. Sometimes they gnaw on tree bark. If people are desperately hungry, they can eat anything."

"Chen Mo, you said you are awesome. I didn't believe it at first, but now I do." Lin Fucheng praised sincerely. The highest courtesy to a man is nothing more than saying you are awesome, and Lin Fucheng, a scholar, said this sincerely to the warrior.

"Master Lin, there is a situation that I need you to take a look at." Yao Guangming walked over and said with an embarrassed look on his face.

Lin Fucheng walked over and saw a dirty little girl with red cheeks from the cold, and a woman who was also wearing a sheepskin robe. She seemed to be frightened to see so many people and stood there in a daze. Before he got closer, Lin Fucheng smelled a strong smell of sheep. The little girl huddled behind the woman, looking at the stranger curiously, while the woman had an anxious look on her face and was chattering something. The strong wind made the words even more difficult to distinguish.

Lin Fucheng didn't understand.

"She asked us who we were and where we were going. Could we take them to Kaiping? She said her husband had died, and she was taking her daughter to join her father, but they encountered Huang Feng on the way, so they had to hide here. They were very scared of jackals, tigers, leopards, and horse bandits." Chen Mo translated the woman's words expressionlessly.

After years of serving as a marquis, Chen Mo had become hard-hearted. He regarded everyone as his enemy once he entered the grassland. He was somewhat ruthless. Facing women and children, Chen Mo showed no gentleness at all, and his eyes were full of vigilance and indifference.

Chen Mo had suffered a loss, and Lin Fucheng was curious about where the wound on his back came from. Chen Mo seldom talked about it with others. The scar was caused by his kindness on the grassland. Just like now, a poor little girl and a woman who seemed desperate asked him for help, and he helped and almost died.

In a world of complete disorder, kindness is redundant and useless.

"What should I do?" Lin Fucheng frowned. He had heard the story of the three fights with the White Bone Demon. He was a little embarrassed. Should he help or not?

Chen Mo shook his head and said, "Mr. Huang told me that I am only responsible for your safety. You are here for study tour. No matter what decision you make, it is up to you to make it."

"Li Zhi, what do you think?" Lin Fucheng looked at Li Zhi and asked for his opinion.

Li Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Take it with you."

Li Zhi couldn't bear to see all this misery. When he saw his little daughter, he thought of his second and third daughters who had starved to death. Although he knew it might bring some trouble, he still made the decision.

The final decision was to take the mother and daughter with them.

The reason why Li Zhi brought the mother and daughter with him was that he recognized Chen Mo's strength. They were the emperor's personal guards, the Ti cavalry who protected his majesty. Two hundred Ti cavalry were more than enough to crush a tribe of a thousand people.

The yellow wind raged until the early morning of the next day just as Chen Mo had said. Chen Mo looked at the sky and told everyone to move forward quickly. They must reach Kaiping Wei within one day, otherwise the white wind would come.

Blizzards are the biggest natural disaster on the grassland, freezing countless people to death every year. Especially in places like this where there are no roads, the protection of city walls is even greater.

On the morning of the next day, when the study tour group stepped into Kaipingwei, snowflakes began to float in the sky and soon turned into heavy snow. Under the strong wind, the snowflakes could not fall. Under the influence of the wind, the snow filled the sky and the earth. Everywhere you looked, it was all white.

Wang Rulong had known for a long time that this group of people were coming to Kaiping Wei. After they arrived, he did not give them any extra preferential treatment. Kaiping Wei was very poor and had no good things to entertain them. As the general of Yingchang, Wang Rulong personally hunted two sniper deer as a way of receiving them.

Although the conditions were difficult, the study tour group knew before leaving that this long journey was not for a tour and outing, so they had no complaints.

Yao Guangming did not complain about the simple conditions. This was already the best hospitality that Kaiping Wei could offer. The mattresses were all new woolen quilts, and the stove was burning red coal, which made Yao Guangming feel warm.

When they arrived in Kaiping, Wei Yao Guangming and his group still enjoyed excellent treatment, much better than those border residents.

After everyone checked in, Wang Rulong found Chen Mo and said with a frown, "The mother and daughter you brought didn't live in Kaipingwei without their father. Maybe you left too fast and they couldn't pass on the news in time; maybe they saw the firearms of the Tiqi and didn't dare to inform their accomplices; maybe they saw you and knew that the opportunity to get rid of the horse bandits had come, so they just followed you."

"This mother and daughter are sent out by the bandits to spy on you. Captain Chen is also an old night sentry, how dare he allow such people to join the team?"

"I never trust them. I only trust the weapons in my hands." Chen Mo patted his cavalry gun and said with a smile, "The flintlock gun made by General Qi is quite useful. Otherwise, we would not be able to capture the leader of the Heigen Village."

Not putting oneself in danger is the first principle of Tiqi.

Chen Mo did not try to stop them because he was confident in his strength. The Ti cavalry were well-trained and well-equipped. Not to mention the horse bandits, even if Altan Khan was reincarnated and brought his ghost soldiers with him, he would not be able to do anything to the Ti cavalry.

Any bandit den with more than a thousand people was wiped out by Wang Rulong. During the time Wang Rulong was in Kaiping Guard, he did not receive the court's salary for nothing.

"We used to fight alone, it was really hard, just like being in the wind, not knowing where the road ahead lies." Chen Mo felt a little emotional. Everyone knew about the hardships that Duntai Yuanhou had experienced in the past, but no one did anything to change it, and there was no support.

Now, standing behind Duntai Yuanhou is Your Majesty. Similarly, only when Your Majesty stands behind Duntai Yuanhou can he protect himself and not be assassinated by villains. This is a process of mutual achievement.

Zhu Yijun had to rely on the protection of Ye Bushou, the Marquis of Duntaiyuan, and Ye Bushou also needed the support of the emperor.

"But I think these people with opinions will be disappointed. Kaiping Wei has no temples for them to see." Wang Rulong said with an embarrassed look on his face: "I hope they can stop talking nonsense."

“Aren’t there twenty-seven temples from Kaiping Wei to Yingchang?” Chen Mo said in astonishment and surprise. These twenty-seven temples were also reported in the Tangbao in September. How could there be no temples to see?
Wang Rulong said with a bit of embarrassment: "I wiped them out. They gathered monks, soldiers and pilgrims to cause chaos and shelter bandits. I uprooted these 27 temples before winter."

Chen Mo said indifferently: "Then let's go to the temple to have a look. It's just a stopover anyway. The main thing is to go to Guihua City. There are many temples there."

These opinion-mongers have nothing to do, why do they travel to study? These lama temples are not much better than the United Lamasery. These opinion-mongers have analyzed the nature of this religion so clearly, why do they need to go to the grassland to see it in person? They are all helping pigs and dogs, why do they need to see it?
Wang Rulong shook his head and said, "I can't watch it."

"Can't see?"

"Well, I burned them all..." Wang Rulong said with a complicated expression: "If they had come three months earlier, they could have taken a look. Now it's all in ruins."

"Haha." Chen Mo was a little surprised, and said with a smile: "Didn't Lin Fucheng and the others come up empty-handed?"

The next morning, under the arrangement of Wang Rulong, the limited liberal study tour group went to Da'an Temple, the nearest Lama temple to Pingwei.

Kaiping Wei was the location of Yuanshangdu during the time of the Hu Yuan Dynasty. After Li Wenzhong conquered this place, Kaiping Prefecture was established in the second year of Hongwu. In March of the ninth year of Xuande, Kaiping Wei was abandoned and moved to Dushibao. After Kaiping Wei was abolished, it became a gathering place for the northern barbarians.

After a hundred years of vicissitudes, Yuanshangdu, designed, built and planned by Guo Shoujing and Liu Bingzhong, lost its prosperity and became desolate. Without skilled craftsmen to maintain it, the brick and stone walls turned into adobe, palaces and other buildings collapsed, the moat was silted up and filled with sand, and the surrounding areas were turned from fertile fields into grasslands. In this desolate area, less than 20 miles east of the city, there are 18 Lama temples.

Among these 1500 Lama temples, the largest one is Da'an Temple. At its peak, it had more than lamas.

When Yuanshangdu was at its most prosperous, it had a population of 110,000 and nearly 500,000 people, but in the 11th year of Wanli, Kaiping Wei had only more than 40,000 people.

It is these 40,000 people who support the 18 lama temples. The locals call this place Zhaonaiman Sumu, which is a place where temples gather, a holy place for lamas, and a nightmare for poor laborers. Anyone who has any means will not come here to make a living.

Lin Fucheng and others did not come back empty-handed, because they saw the ruins of Da'an Temple. It was indeed ruins, with broken walls everywhere, which showed that it had been bombarded by Ming Dynasty artillery and there were traces of burning.

If it were a lowly scholar, he would definitely say that Wang Rulong was attracted by the wealth accumulated in the temple, so he violently broke into the temple and burned it to destroy the bodies, but the lowly scholar could not reach Kaiping Wei, so no one would criticize Wang Rulong. Wang Rulong was much more cruel than Li Rusong. Li Rusong threatened, but Wang Rulong beheaded all the 3,400 lamas who gathered to cause chaos.

Of course, no one would care. Even in the official records, there is only one sentence that the lamas gathered together and rebelled again, and Yingchang General Wang Rulong led his troops to put down the rebellion.

"Just looking at the ruins, we can still imagine how magnificent it was back then. This stuff is all the people's hard-earned money. Such a large Buddha statue, and it is gilded, how many craftsmen must have done it, and they didn't do anything else but carve the Buddha statue?" Lin Fucheng stood in front of the ruins of the giant Buddha, sighing.

What he saw was not the Buddha statue, but the people's hard-earned money.

"Many Buddhist instruments are covered with gold foil, and the gold foil has to be from Yingtian Prefecture. I think you two masters know how expensive that stuff is better than a martial artist like me." Chen Mo pointed to some golden spots left on the Buddha's body and said. With Chen Mo's salary, he would not buy it, not because he couldn't afford it, but because it was really useless.

Golden Buddha, Golden Buddha, is not made of gold, so where does your sincerity come from to move the Buddha?
Chen Mo agreed with Lin Fucheng's point of view that it was all the people's hard-earned money and the blood and sweat of the border residents.

"Where are you from?" An old lama holding a broom saw the people coming and asked in surprise.

"From the capital of the Ming Dynasty." Lin Fucheng frowned as he looked at the lama and said, "You speak Chinese very well."

The old lama put down the homemade broom in his hand, clasped his hands and bowed his head, saying: "I used to be a lama of Da'an Temple. Later, a group of strong men occupied this place, and I fled. I heard that the Ming army broke through Kaipingwei, so I came back from the north, and I saw that everything was in ruins."

"Alas, fate plays tricks on us."

Lin Fucheng wanted to move forward, but Chen Mo held him back and whispered, "Stay away."

Chen Mo didn't want Lin Fucheng to die at the hands of a lama who seemed to have no ability to do anything, otherwise when Chen Mo returned to Beijing, he would not be able to report to the emperor.

Lin Fucheng was ten steps away from the lama and started chatting with him.

As early as when Kaiping Wei was still Yuanshangdu, temples began to be built here and Buddhism had already flourished. Da'an Temple was built by the order of Kublai Khan and was destroyed in a fire during the change of dynasties. The fire was not set by Li Wenzhong. The news of Li Wenzhong's capture of Yuanshangdu reached the temple. The lamas had an internal conflict to fight for various treasures in the temple, and the fire completely burned down the original Da'an Temple.

The main hall of Da'an Temple was originally a giant pagoda with four visible floors and seven hidden floors. It was 210 feet high and 180 feet wide, roughly the same size as two Huangji Halls. The vast grassland could be seen from dozens of miles away.

In order to fight for money and goods, the lamas in the temple fought among themselves and eventually burned down the Da'an Temple. Later, after the Kaiping Guard of the Ming Dynasty moved inland, the scattered lamas returned here and built a new Da'an Temple.

The old lama didn't care about the Da Ming people's vigilance. He sat on the bluestone, holding his broom, and said with a longing look on his face: "Twenty years ago, Da'an Temple was a small nunnery with seven rooms in total. Fourteen monks lived there, six of whom were Han Chinese. They cultivated a total of 120 acres of land, and they could make a living by grazing livestock and exchanging salt, iron pots and other items. Although they were poor at that time, they lived a peaceful life."

"Until this place was occupied by strong men, it changed from a pure Buddhist place to a place of filth and dirt. The number of temples here increased from one to eighteen, and the incense was extremely prosperous. We old monks had no choice but to flee."

"As for the Chinese language, it was all taught by the Han people."

The old lama sat on the bluestone, seeming to miss the days of green lamps and ancient Buddhas, but those days were gone and would never come back.

"In the past, the good people here read the scriptures and chanted the Buddha's name. In fact, they all hoped that they would be reborn in the Central Plains in the next life." The old lama looked at Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi with envy. Being reborn in the Central Plains in the next life was the utilitarian desire of these good lamas.

To become a Ming person in the next life is the pursuit of worshiping Buddha and the wish made to Buddha.

Li Zhi found this statement extremely novel. He raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile, "Why do you want to be reborn in our territory? Is the grassland bad? Or is my Buddha bad?"

The old lama looked at Li Zhi, sized him up, and said leisurely, "No, the grassland is great, and my Buddha is great, but now that I have come to the Celestial Empire, to the Central Plains, I can stop believing in Buddhism."

"What do you mean?" Lin Fucheng heard this. These lamas like to be witty when they talk, which makes people confused. They pretend to be profound! But Lin Fucheng himself is also a master of pretending to be profound. He is always the last one to appear.

Lin Fucheng thought of a person, Li Yashi. When he arrived in the Ming Dynasty, this guy betrayed his oath, got married and had two sons. It was said that his beautiful mistress was pregnant again and would probably have more children.

The West is good, but in the Ming Dynasty, people are not required to believe in religion. The land in the Central Plains is not controlled by gods, but by people.

"Becoming a monk is the only option I have." The old lama talked about his past and why he became a monk. Because he could only be a monk, only as a monk could he survive. Only by retreating from the world could he escape from the sufferings and troubles of the human world and gain a moment of peace and liberation.

“It’s hard for people in the Central Plains to understand that whatever you do is wrong. It may not be you who is wrong, but the world that is wrong. This feeling is rare in the Central Plains.” The old lama felt that people in the Central Plains might not understand this feeling that whatever you do is wrong, so he immediately explained it.

Being jobless and wandering around is the portrayal of the life of the people on the grassland.

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi looked at each other and had a deeper understanding of their own theories. The grassland was indeed a good place. As soon as they arrived in Kaiping Wei, they had a rich harvest. The lack of material resources and the instability of life were the reasons for the rampant spread of religion.

The old lama smiled and said, "Can't you understand? For example, even being a lama is wrong for me. If I were a good lama, I would be invaded by strong men. If I were a bad lama, I would be attacked and destroyed by the imperial court."

"Is there any Lama temple nearby?" Lin Fucheng asked the question he was concerned about. All the well-known Lama temples in Kaiping Wei were destroyed by Wang Rulong, and he needed to find a Lama temple to complete this study tour. Kaiping Wei belonged to the left wing of the suzerain Khan, while Guihua City belonged to the right wing of Altan Khan. The Lama temples on the left and right wings were different.

“There is no such thing as a Lama temple on this grassland. It’s all just a den of thieves and demons. Where are the Buddhas? They are nothing but demons.” The old Lama picked up the broom and continued to sweep the floor, as if this ruin was not a ruin, but the magnificent Buddhist temple before. He swept towards the distance, as if the small space under his feet was his whole world.

Li Zhi asked loudly: "The white-haired wind has come, old man, don't you want to find a place to hide?"

"There is a cave on the back hillside. I can hide there." The old lama waved his hand, continued sweeping the floor, and walked away gradually.

The rise and fall of Da'an Temple and the old lama's persistence made the group sigh with emotion.

Li Zhi frowned and said, "They are all dens of thieves. That's a good point! It is precisely because of the strong personal dependence relationship that the Buddhist temple has become a den of thieves and devils!"

The trip to Da'an Temple seemed to be fruitless, but in fact it was very rewarding. The appearance of the old lama made everyone think about the process of alienation of people by religion.

The journey back was not smooth. It was not because of bandits or wolves, but because the road was blocked by snow. It took two hours to walk the twenty-mile distance, and this was when there was a carriage.

"Did Captain Chen go deep into the enemy camp in weather like this to investigate the enemy situation before?" When Lin Fucheng saw the gate of Kaiping Guard again, his eyes became wet. He never thought that one day even walking would be so difficult.

It’s too painful. I won’t come again.

Chen Mo shook his head and said, "No, that's not the case. The northern barbarians also have to spend the winter and generally don't leave the border. I'm a human being, and in this horrible weather, no one can help me."

"Uh, that's not right. We seem to be trapped in Kaipingwei!" Li Zhi suddenly said in shock, "We originally planned to stay in Kaipingwei for half a month and then go to Guihuacheng, but now we can't go! Will the snow on the grassland melt?"

"It won't melt until a long time after spring begins." Chen Mo said, wanting to laugh but holding it back.

When making the travel plan, Chen Mo suggested that Lin Fucheng go to Guihua City first, and then go to Kaipingwei in the spring and summer of next year. The grassland is different from the interior of the country. Once it snows, it will be a whole winter. Lin Fucheng thinks that a little snow can delay the trip? Does that mean that the caravan can't do business in winter?

Lin Fucheng greatly overestimated the population of the grassland. Human activities could not keep the roads unobstructed.

His Majesty the Emperor appointed Chen Mo, an experienced person, to help Lin Fucheng complete his study tour. Lin Fucheng was stubborn and now he is dizzy because of his own boomerang.

"Actually, you can walk." Chen Mo looked at Lin Fucheng and said with a smile.

"How do we get there? By sled?" Lin Fucheng had heard of dog sledding, and he asked eagerly.

"Walk over there, use your two legs. Unfortunately, none of you are elite soldiers from the Beijing camp." Chen Mo finally laughed after he finished speaking. What he meant was that scholars are completely useless. Faced with this situation, these scholars can only fumble around in despair.

When there was no cavalry battalion, the Ming army had to wait until the beginning of a heavy snowfall to march out of the Great Wall. This was because of the lack of mobility, which meant that the enemy's mobility was at the same level as theirs. The campaign against Altan Khan was the only time that the Ming army fought outside the Great Wall in spring and summer, and Altan Khan was caught off guard.

"A sled pulling one person requires 6 to 12 dogs, and they can only run ten miles a day at most. These dogs also need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate. Look at our artillery and all the baggage. Master Lin, are you sure we want to go to Guihua City at this time?" Chen Mo explained why sleds were not used. Dogs are for guarding the house and are not suitable for towing. If one person has 6 to 12 dogs, how much baggage would they have to carry?

Li Zhi spread his hands and said with a smile: "We are trapped here."

You can study anywhere. The conditions in Kaiping are limited, but it is enough as long as you are not starving or freezing. Kaiping, a small city with a circumference of 14 li, is home to 37,000 people, including lamas who have returned to secular life, former believers, and ordinary border residents. They can all be visited and questioned to examine the alienation of people caused by religion. It is not necessary to visit the lama temple.

Li Zhi touched the official badge on his body. After wandering for most of his life, he could finally study with peace of mind.

Within five days, news came that the lama of Da'an Temple had passed away. On the day he met the study tour group, the old lama passed away in a cave in the back mountain. As the saying goes, fallen leaves return to their roots. He had been wandering outside for twenty years, and finally returned to the last pure land in his heart, back home.

No one remembers the old lama's name anymore, and the people living on the grassland don't even have any impression of the old Da'an Temple.

A notebook filled with travel records is the only relic of this old lama.

"Perhaps, the old lama found his other shore in the last moment of his life." Li Zhi said to Lin Fucheng with certainty.

(End of this chapter)