Li Jing received two messengers who went to eastern Zhejiang to bring back his favorite daughter, and sent a letter to Master Zhiqi to Tiantai Mountain, and found a map on the same day, carefully inspected the route from Guangling to eastern Zhejiang, and found that he was faced with two choices:

Or, set off from Guangling, take the waterway from Songjiang to the sea, take a boat to reach Huiji by sea, abandon the ship and go ashore, and rush to Dongjiaocheng, a settlement of the Gu family in the northeast of Huiji, and Tiantai Mountain in the southeast;

Or, it is to cross the river from Guangling to the south, land from Jingkou, and go directly to eastern Zhejiang by land, although this road can save a lot of time than taking the waterway, but because it needs to pass through hundreds of miles of mountainous areas along the way, it is not as safe as taking the waterway.

According to the geographical location of Dongjiao City and Tiantai Mountain, Li Jing decided to go to Tiantai Mountain first to ask for a meeting with Zhiqi monk, and then go north to Dongjiao City to pick up the dust and return to Guangling.

He is also a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, when he thought of not long ago, he repeatedly heard people talk about how Shi Wansui led his troops to the south to fight with the powerful halberd army in the deep mountains and dense forests, and finally won a big victory.

In Li Jing's subconscious, he hoped to rush to the east of Zhejiang through the mountains and forests, and it was best to meet some remnants of the halberd army who were lucky enough to escape from under the sword of Shi Wansui's department, so that he could get over the addiction of killing the enemy and making meritorious contributions.

However, to his great disappointment, his journey was surprisingly smooth, even when he traveled through hundreds of miles of deep mountains and dense forests, he didn't even encounter a fierce beast, let alone a halberd army, it only took ten days of hard work for Li Jing to reach Huiji City.

Although Yang Guang confessed to Li Jing that he was a secret envoy and did not assign him an entourage, out of safety considerations, he specially gave him a token of his own before Li Jing set off from Guangling, telling Li Jing that if he encountered danger, he could ask for help from the officers and soldiers stationed nearby at any time, and that no garrison or commander of the army in Jiangnan should refuse Li Jing's request for help.

Therefore, Li Jing could have arrived at Huiji, took the token given by Yang Guang into the city to meet the general of the Sui army stationed there, and asked him to send someone to Dongjiao City to bring back the dust, and when he went to Tiantai Mountain to see Zhiqi and deliver Yang Guang's handwritten letter, he could take the dust back to Guangling on the way back to Huiji.

However, I don't know if it was the reason why this road was too smooth, or the young man's temperament, with a greedy and reckless mind, he wanted to complete the two errands cleanly and beautifully with his own strength, and earned enough face in front of Yang Guang and the generals of the hussar battalion.

The mountains in the south of the Yangtze River are not as steep and towering as in the north, although Tiantai Mountain is famous, but in the eyes of Li Jing, who grew up in Guanzhong since childhood, it is like a small hill made of stones on the coast of the East China Sea, until he went deep into Tiantai Mountain, he was attracted by the beautiful scenery in the mountain and appreciated the unique charm of Tiantai Mountain.

Tiantai Temple is located in the halfway of the mountain in front of Tiantai Mountain, is a Buddhist temple with a magnificent scale, incense is vigorous, Li Jing went up the mountain on the day it was a rainy day, from the time of entering the mountain gate of Tiantai Mountain, you can still see groups of local people going up the mountain to Tiantai Temple to worship the Buddha in an endless stream, you can't help but secretly sigh that the incense of Tiantai Temple is prosperous, and it is by no means under the Great Xingshan Temple of Chang'an, the imperial capital.

Unfortunately, when Li Jing entered Tiantai Temple to inquire, Master Zhiqi took his high-level disciples to the empowerment more than a month ago, and he has not returned.

Li Jing was unwilling to come thousands of miles away but pounced, so he asked the monks in the temple about the specific whereabouts and return date of Zhiqi's master and apprentice, but was told that he had always gone without direction, and every time he went down the mountain, he would return in a few days, and he would not return to Tiantai Temple for two or three months, and no one knew where they had gone and when they would be able to return to the temple.

When Li Jing heard this, it was as if someone had poured cold water on his head, and it was cold from his head to the soles of his feet, and he thought to himself: If the two masters and apprentices of Zhiqi wandered around outside for two or three months and did not come back, wouldn't they have to mess up this errand trip?

He has the heart to trust the monk in the temple to treat the wisdom of the master and apprentice to return to the Tiantai Temple, first give him a message, to him in the temple to wait for himself, take advantage of this time, he first turned back to the east to pick up the dust, and then returned to the Tiantai Temple for the second time to see the wisdom of the monk, but then think about it, look at the temperament of the monk Zhiqi, not necessarily will honestly stay in the temple and wait for him, it is better to come to the peace, temporarily live in the Tiantai Temple and wait for the wisdom of the Zhi, if a few days later still can not see him, and then think of other ways.

Thinking like this, he explained to the monk that he wanted to stay in the temple and wait for the return of the master and apprentice, and specifically stated that he would never eat and live in the temple for nothing, and he would definitely pay the money for the room and the meal in full.

When the monk heard that Li Jing wanted to stay in Tiantai Temple, he shook his head with a wry smile and replied: "This little benefactor is not a poor monk who intends to embarrass you, but there is no extra guest house left in the temple for guests to stay." ”

Li Jing had no choice but to ask the monk who knew the guest: "Master, are there other Buddhist temples on this Tiantai Mountain for people to stay?" It's okay for me to live in other monasteries on the mountain. ”

The monk who knew the guest listened to Li Jing's accent in Guanzhong, and saw him enter the temple, so he asked himself about the whereabouts of the monk Zhiqi, and for a while he couldn't guess what he was, so he replied perfunctorily: "There is also a temple on the back mountain, as far as the poor monk knows, occasionally there are donors who go up the mountain to drop incense to settle in the temple, if the little donor is not too far away, but can go to the back mountain to ask." ”

Li Jing only heard the monk talk about a Buddhist temple in the back mountain, which can be used for people to stay, and he didn't notice the twinkling eyes and some strange words when the monk mentioned the Buddhist temple in the back mountain, and happily hugged his fist at the monk and begged: "Then please ask the master to tell me the path to the Buddhist temple in the back mountain, and I will try my luck now." ”

The monk showed Li Jing the path to the back mountain, and saw Li Jing run out of Tiantai Temple with a smoke, his face seemed to show a trace of remorse, and he shook his head and turned around.

Li Jing followed the path indicated to him by the monk of Tiantai Temple, trotted over the main peak of Tiantai Mountain-Lotus Peak, arrived at the back mountain, walked not far away, and sure enough, he saw a red wall under the shade of the bamboo forest in front of him.

He was secretly happy in his heart, so he ran to the mountain gate of the Buddhist temple in three steps and two steps, looked up at the plaque hanging on the mountain gate, and saw that the plaque was also inscribed with three gold lacquer characters: Tiantai Temple.