Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 117 Puzhaowang Temple
At first, I was still wondering that so much food was hidden in Puzhaowang Temple, and all the monks in the temple should be aware of the movement caused by transportation and handling.

You know, there are quite a few monks in the Puzhaowang Temple, at least several hundred. The so-called large population, how can the hoarding of food be hidden from the world under such circumstances?
In addition, when the thieves guarding the grain hunted down and killed the four members of the Sun family, there should have been a lot of commotion, and the monks in the temple should also have noticed that the monks are compassionate, and logically they would come forward to stop them.But none of these seem to have happened.

"Could it be that the hundreds of monks in the temple and the thieves hoarding food are all in the same group, or are they all bought by books? This possibility is almost impossible?" Ye Chen looked at the few monks who came out of the temple gate to welcome him, and thought in his heart more and more confused.These monks are clearly just like normal people.

The person who came to greet Ye Chen and his party was a monk wearing a yellow cassock with a skinny face and a bit of an ascetic temperament. He didn't seem to be of low status, and he wasn't the fat-fed, oily-faced monk that Ye Chen hated the most.

"The poor monk shines the light and has seen the benefactor." The skinny monk folded his hands expressionlessly and saluted Ye Chen first.

Although Ye Chen doesn't believe in Buddhism, he still has the ability to speak people's words in front of people and pretend to be a Buddha in front of Buddha.

Following the appearance of a skinny monk, he clasped his hands together and saluted and said: "I will come to Puzhaowang Temple to worship the Buddha, and I will visit the nearby mountains and rivers by the way, and I hope that it will be convenient for you to visit your temple."

The skinny monk said: "The monks naturally open the door of convenience. Please come in, benefactor."

The skinny monk solemnly invited Ye Chen into the temple, accompanied him, and explained to Ye Chen the origin of the Buddha statues in the temple and the corresponding Buddhist scriptures.While perfunctory with the skinny monk, Ye Chen glanced at Xu Fangyi, who nodded slightly, and Ye Chen heaved a sigh of relief.Then he walked towards the temple with the skinny monk, seemingly listening carefully, but in fact he was mainly enjoying the scenery of the temple.

The Shanmen Hall of Puzhaowang Temple also serves as the Temple of Heavenly Kings. The three characters "Puzhaowang Temple" on the front gate are overflowing with ancient style.In the hall, there is a statue of Buddha that Ye Chen doesn't know. On the back is the Dharma protector Wei Tuo, and on both sides are the four heavenly kings of Jiguo, Zengchang, Guangmu and Duowen.

After passing the Temple of Heavenly Kings, one can see a vast courtyard with towering ancient trees and cigarette smoke.There is a hundred-year-old juniper in the west, a century-old ginkgo in the east, and three bronze tripods in the middle. From these three big tripods weighing a thousand catties and obviously aged, we can see how prosperous Puzhaowang Temple was in its heyday.

Walk through a passage paved with granite, and you will arrive at the Daxiong Hall.The Daxiong Palace was built in the Tang Dynasty, with six rooms wide, front and rear corridors, five-fold high eaves, and hollow flower ridges.There is a precious mirror embedded in the high part of the ridge, with "Guotai Minan" written on the sunny side and "smooth weather" written on the shaded side.

Inside the Daxiong Hall, there are solemn dharma images, solemn sutra buildings, and complete dharma utensils.Sakyamuni Buddha sits in the middle on the lotus platform, known as the "Mahatma". On both sides of the Buddha are Kasyapa and Ananda among his ten disciples. Medicine Buddha sits on the east side and Amitabha Buddha sits on the west side.Behind the Buddhist altar is a group of clay sculptures of "Sea Island Guanyin", and on both sides are statues of eighteen arhats.All the Buddha statues in the hall have been redecorated, with golden light and solemn appearance.

The skinny monk probably knew from Ye Chen's expression when he saw the Buddha statue that Ye Chen was not a Buddhist believer. The enthusiasm at the beginning disappeared immediately, and he didn't even bother to introduce him. He quickly found an excuse to let Ye Chen take it easy. Then he left with a few young monks.

Ye Chen naturally didn't mind this at all. He had something on his mind and wasn't interested. Now he visited the huge temple complex, beckoned to Xu Fangyi to lead the way, and walked for half a stick of incense time, and besides meeting two or three monks at the beginning, Other than some activity houses, the houses seen behind are all barren, overgrown with weeds and filled with cobwebs. It is obvious that no one has lived in them for many years.This also more or less explained Ye Chen's previous doubts.

What Ye Chen didn't know was that not long after he entered the Puzhaowang Temple, a monk came outside the temple. This monk had fair and delicate skin, and his appearance was even more handsome. But if you look carefully, you will find that there is an intoxicating sense of vicissitudes in his expression, which makes people unable to see his real age.This monk is not tall, five feet three inches (about 20 meters), holding a gun in his left hand and a bead in his right hand. His face has a sacred and solemn look that makes people yearn for, and the demeanor of an eminent monk is manifested. undoubtedly.

The monk easily overwhelmed the gatekeeper monk of Puzhaowang Temple, led him into the temple graciously, and handled the registration procedures for him to live in Puzhaowang Temple.It didn't even disturb the elders and abbots in the temple.

In the deepest part of the temple complex of Puzhaowang Temple, there is a main hall that is never open to the public, but it is the place where the most senior and senior monks in the temple live and practice.

At this time, the skinny monk who welcomed Ye Chen in stood in front of the two old monks with his hands clasped together, and said in a low voice: "Master, uncle! The benefactor and his party who just came, will go to the northern area. It’s a residential area, and the direction I look at is going straight to the yard where I borrowed from Wang Yuanwai to store things a few days ago.”

The older monks, with their white beard and white eyebrows, looked about 90 or 60 years old. The younger ones, with their black beard and black hair, were about [-] or [-] years old.They are all wearing cassocks of Thousand Buddhas, and they are obviously the two with the highest status in Puzhaowang Temple.

"Amitabha! Goodness, goodness! The poor monk knew it was wrong a long time ago. Although he didn't know what they hid in our place, the old monk outside the king had seen it. He was clearly a treacherous and evil person. What he did Most of the things are against the laws of the country." The old monk with white beard and white eyebrows said with a bitter face.

"Senior brother! Those houses have been abandoned for many years, and they are left alone. They can be exchanged for [-] incense sticks within two and a half months of use. How can such an opportunity be missed? Since the fields in the temple were washed away by water the year before last Most of the time, the various expenses in the temple are getting worse day by day. Even though the incense money has increased, it still cannot make ends meet. The [-] yuan of money is just used to buy another [-] mu of fertile land, and at the same time, it can also ease this year's expenses .”

"As for the royal staff, when I collected their money, I told them that no matter what they wanted to do, the range of activities was limited to the north of that courtyard. I also issued a ban on the disciples in the temple, and they were not allowed to go The dilapidated house in the north. Therefore, no matter what they do, they will not implicate us. So don't worry, brother. On the contrary, the fire in the front hall at noon, I think we should investigate carefully." Hei The black-bearded monk said with disapproval.

"Uncle! The front hall suddenly caught fire at noon. This incident happened strangely. Another disciple heard a woman screaming from the abandoned house in the north. I always feel that this incident is related to each other." The skinny monk interrupted suddenly.

Monk Heixu snorted coldly, and said, "Zhaoguang! Are you questioning Master's decision? You remember that your business is to arrange all the guests who have donated incense money and stayed overnight in this temple. You don't need to worry about other things. The two waves of guests who live in the temple now donate a lot of incense money. The two female guests who came yesterday came with three guards. There are quite a few of them, there are five hundred guan, and I don’t think they will stay for too long. Therefore, you must make arrangements for accommodation. Especially vegetarian must be done well, as long as the name of the temple’s vegetarian If the news spreads, more and more distinguished guests will come to the temple to eat, and the incense money of this temple will be reduced."

On the east side of Puzhaowang Temple, there are several courtyards for foreigners to stay. In the most secluded small courtyard on the east side, Yu Daoxiang and Li Siyan are tasting the vegetarian food carefully cooked in the temple. Five steps away, Qian Ning Standing respectfully and reporting things.

"Saint! Elder! At present, everything is proceeding according to the plan. The members of the Wang family and the Huang family guarding the basement where the grain is stored have been controlled by Xiang Fubo and the others, and one person was killed. An old couple died in the selected family. The young lady and maid of that family were taken in by Uncle Xiangfu and the others. The monk who was bought by us to lead the family of four, just went to the back mountain to fetch water, but he slipped into the pool and drowned. The one who set the fire was me from Kaifeng. One of the subordinates who came here has already returned to Sizhou with the pilgrims at noon, and continues to monitor the movement of the prefect of Sizhou." Qian Ning said quickly and clearly.

After Yu Daoxiang heard this, she frowned slightly, turned her head and glanced at Qian Ning, and said, "There are too many coincidences, it's fine if those two girls are dead, but now they are taken in by Ye Chen, Ye Chen must never leave." He knew that a monk took them to the cellar. In this way, most people would suspect that someone deliberately lured him to the place where he was hoarding grain. And we are the ones who know his whereabouts, so Ye Chen may have begun to suspect us."

At this moment, Channing's face was already pale, and his forehead was covered with sweat. This was indeed a loophole in the plan.However, Yu Daoxiang seemed to be in a good mood, and she didn't say anything to blame. Instead, after a little thought, she glanced at Li Siyan and Qian Ning, and said, "You two should arrange this matter, and find a suitable replacement from among the monks in the temple." Sinner, pretending that this monk accidentally found out that the Wang and Huang families had hoarded a large amount of grain. For a certain purpose, he deliberately lured outsiders to the place where the grain was hoarded while the temple was on fire, and wanted to use the power of outsiders to expose it. This matter."

Li Siyan and Qian Ning said yes respectfully.

Ye Chen and his party came to a very inconspicuous small courtyard.

The small courtyard seems to have been cleaned and tidied up in recent days, and it can also be seen that there are traces of event accommodation in recent days.

Ye Chen saw Li Junhao and Shiwa in the small courtyard, as well as two people on the ground with their hands and feet tied and their mouths gagged.These two people are obviously different from the four big men who hunted down Sun Xueying and Xiaomo before. They are over 40 years old, and they look like housekeepers or shopkeepers of a big family with their attire and look.

(End of this chapter)