"Report to the lord, General Xu is asking to see you outside the camp!"

"General Xu? But Xu Da Xu Tiande, who went to Langya to borrow grain? ”

"Exactly. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Let him in!"

In a valley in the north of Xiapi Guoyu County, Liu Miao led 3,000 Xuanjia troops to camp here.

Originally, I was waiting for the news of Xia Picheng, but I didn't know that the news of Jinyiwei in front of me was not returned, but he waited for Xu Da first.

After a while, Xu Da came to Liu Miao's tent, and looked at his face, feeling haggard and thin.

As soon as Xu Da entered the camp, he knelt in front of Liu Miao with a "poof", bowed his head and said ashamedly: "Lord, Xu Da is incompetent, he has lost money and food, and he has come to accept the guilt." ”

"Stand up and talk first!" Liu Miao stepped forward and wanted to help Xu Da up, but Xu Da was stiff and unwilling to get up.

Liu Miao understands Xu Da, he is a person who has always boasted of being a general, but he messed up on his first mission, and he must feel uncomfortable, and he may even fall into the shadows.

Liu Miao had no choice but to say in a deep voice: "Xu Da, you must know that the man has gold under his knees, it doesn't matter if the money and food are lost, but the ambition of the person cannot be lost!" You are a general I rely on, and after defeat, you can't just know how to blame yourself and accept your guilt. I personally led the troops here, not for money and food, but for you Xu Tiande! Money and food can be lost, but you Xu Tiande can't lose it, and your general's ambition can't be lost. ”

"Lord!" Xu Da had to stand up and burst into tears.

"Let's talk about the specifics first!"

Xu Da stabilized his mood for a while, and then replied: "After my subordinates borrowed money and grain from Langya State, they hired a boatman to transfer it by water. When passing through Geyi Mountain and turning from Yishui to Surabaya, he was intercepted and inspected by soldiers from Xiapi County. When his subordinates negotiated with him, the grain transport team was suddenly attacked by a large number of soldiers, and his subordinates could only rush out with a hundred Xuanjia sergeants at that time, and the grain transport team was lost. After that, his subordinates turned around to find out the situation, but they were chased and killed by the troops led by the next Pi Xiangrong, and the other party had many soldiers, and it was really difficult for the subordinates to take advantage. After getting rid of the pursuit, his subordinates decided to return to Jiujiang County first and ask the lord to decide. On the way, he was recognized by the Jinyi guard, and then he knew that the lord was stationed here. ”

"Do you know that you are my Jiujiang County general?" Liu Miao asked.

Xu Dadao: "When the subordinates negotiated with the soldiers of Xiapi, they once said that their identities and the origin of the money and food, and I think that Zhenrong knew it. And later during the war, he also questioned Zhen Rong in person, but Zhen Rong ignored it at all, and only wanted to hunt down his subordinates, probably trying to kill people and cover up the banditry behavior of robbing me of money and food. ”

"Are there any casualties among the sergeants?"

"There were no losses in the 100 Xuanjia Army, but almost everyone was wounded."

"Have you ever understood the current situation of Zhenrong and Xiapi?"

"The subordinates were chased and killed by Zhenrong and his troops, and they were in a hurry to return to Jiujiang County to report the news, but they did not go to inquire about the news."

"You go and rest first, appease the sergeant well, and wait for the Jinyi guard to find out the news, and then make a decision!"

******

Two days later, Jin Yiwei, who inquired about the news, came back with information one after another, and after Liu Miao summarized and sorted out the information, he had a general understanding of the situation in Xiapi and Zhenrong.

Zhenrong is a native of Danyang, the same county as Xuzhou Mu Taoqian, and believes in Buddhism like Tao Qian. When he was in his hometown, he was a philanthropist, especially to the temple devotees, and he often gave some money. After Tao Qian took office as the pastor of Xuzhou, Di Rong led hundreds of Ding Zhuang and believers to defect to Ren Tao Qian, Tao Qian trusted this fellow villager very much, and appointed him to serve as the tax collector of Guangling, Xiapi, and Pengcheng counties, and later became the minister of Xiapi.

After serving as the minister of Xiapi, Zhenrong began to intercept the taxes of the three counties, built temples, Buddha statues and stupas in Xiapi on a large scale, and spent a huge amount of money to build a floating temple in the south of Xiapi City, there is a tower in the temple, there is a gold plate on it, there is a heavy building under it, the tower is a nine-layer octagonal, each layer has cornices, each side is inlaid with a copper realm, and there is also a bronze mirror facing the sky at the top of the tower, which is called "Nine Mirror Tower". The scale of the Futu Temple is magnificent, the temple can accommodate more than 3,000 people to read the Buddhist scriptures at the same time, there are a number of tall bronze Buddha statues in the temple, the Buddha statues are coated with gold outside, and they are dressed in brocade robes, which can be described as extremely luxurious.

When the Futu Temple was built, the believers of the Buddha were invited to visit and worship, and feasts were set up on both sides of the road leading to the Futu Temple, which stretched for dozens of miles, and the wine and rice were placed for people to eat. At that time, it attracted many people and Buddhist believers from nearby counties, and the number of people reached tens of thousands, and the cost was incalculable. Zhenrong called this grand occasion the "Buddha Bathing Meeting".

After the first "Buddha Bathing Meeting", Zhenrong ordered that the people under his rule should chant and recite Buddha and worship Buddhism; All Buddhist believers in Xiapi can be exempted from forced labor and taxes, and those who come to Xiapi to believe in Buddhism from other counties can also be exempted from forced labor and taxes, so five or six thousand families have migrated to live in Xiapi.

Zhenrong also ordered that every year on the eighth day of the fourth month of the Buddha's birth, a "Buddha bathing meeting" should be held in Futu Temple.

The Xiapi Kingdom had no princes and kings a few years ago, but due to the turmoil in the imperial court, the feudal state was not revoked in time. As the prime minister of Xiapi, the various measures implemented in Xiapi have been supported by many poor people, and he has gained a lot of fame in a short period of time.

"What do you think of this person?"

After the information was summarized and sorted, Liu Miao brought Liu Ji, Hua Mulan, Zhou Tai and Xu Da together to discuss.

"I think this man is a careerist in the cloak of kindness!" Mulan, who has rarely expressed her views publicly, spoke first this time.

Liu Miao looked at Mulan with interest and asked, "Mulan, why do you say that?" ”

"Intuition!" Mulan said arrogantly, and then added, "I hate this person anyway." ”

Mulan's words caused everyone to laugh.

"I think what General Mulan said is very reasonable!" After laughing, Xu Da said, "Zhenrong used all the taxes of the three counties to promote Buddhism, and exempted Buddhist believers from forced labor, and induced the people of the surrounding states and counties to move to Xiapi, he is nothing more than to strengthen his own power, and it is very doubtful whether he really believes in Buddhism." ”

Hua Mulan secretly gave a gesture of appreciation for Xu Da's support.

Liu Miao didn't care about Mulan's small actions, but he also affirmed Xu Da's words: "It has nothing to do with us whether Zhenrong believes in Buddhism or not, but it is obvious that he uses this to expand his power." According to intelligence, Zhen Rong raised tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Xiapi City, many of whom were his loyal followers and had strong combat effectiveness. But no matter what, since he provoked my Jiujiang County, I have to teach him a lesson. ”

"What the lord said is very true, Tai is willing to be the vanguard, attack Xiapi, and capture the Rong and hand it over to the lord to deal with!" Zhou Tai patted his chest excitedly.

"Don't be impatient, since we have brought troops here, we can't return empty-handed, and then you will have a chance to fight. It's just that I still have some doubts. ”

"Is the lord worried about Tao Qian?" Liu Ji asked.