In the early summer of May, Kyoto is already the season of lush summer flowers and green trees, the cool wind blows the treetops and gently swayes, the bright sunshine looks particularly gentle under the breeze, the streets that have just been washed by the heavy rain are exceptionally refreshing and clean, the air exudes the fragrance of earth, mixed with the fragrance of flowers, people do not feel intoxicated in this thousand-year-old capital,

In Kyoto's Shino Daitokuji Temple near the town and ushered in a group of monks, they are dressed in gray and white silk clothes, with a head band, a rosary in their left hand and a tin staff in their right hand, sitting cross-legged in the shade of a tree to rest and chant silently, from time to time there will be nearby good men and women to send some vegetarian food, these monks do not refuse, all the vegetarian food sent will be returned together, and for the almsgiving Tan Yue to recite a "Heart Sutra" as a thanks.

The Buddhist atmosphere in Kyoto City is very strong, if the Buddhist temples and shrines in Kyoto are counted, there are about ten Buddhist temples, there is one shrine, there are hundreds of large and small Buddhist temples for thousands of years, and there are some dilapidated Buddhist temples in Garan that are not taken care of, if there are monks who repair and re-move in, Buddhism has been introduced to Japan for nearly a thousand years, and even the emperor, who is known as the spokesman of the gods, believes in Buddhism, so you can imagine how great the influence is.

Most of the townspeople living in Kyoto worship Buddhism, and all the Buddhist monks are wise men, even if it is the fierce and evil Ichijo Honganji Temple, so many generations of Dharma masters are all very elegant cultural people, unlike those blonde and blue-eyed Nanban monks who recite crooked scriptures, and often use means to lure believers into their sect.

The monks rest for a while, then take out the food that has been brought from the fate and eat quietly, no matter how beautiful or poor the food is, as long as it is a kind gift from the believers, it will be accepted by the monks. This is a virtue and a spiritual process. Passers-by saw this line of more than 100 foot monks quietly chanting and eating. I can't help but fold my hands and salute sincerely, and some people will praise that they really have the bearing of a high monk.

After a while, a wealthy merchant dressed in a plain brocade robe came over and saluted, "Masters are polite!" Below is Santoya Shoyori, one of the donors of Daitokuji Temple, I don't know where the masters came from? Where do you want to go? Do you need to make any accommodation arrangements? ”

A white-eyed monk stood up and saluted, "Thank you Tan Yue!" We are from Enryakuji Temple in Mt. Hiei, and we want to go to Kannonji Temple in Dazaifu, Chikuzen Province, to practice. ”

"It turned out to be a monk of Enryakuji Temple! It's rude under it! The wealthy merchant hurriedly saluted and asked curiously, "I heard that the shogunate's officials and troops are besieging Mt. Hiei, but I don't know if Enryakuji Temple is good?" ”

The white-eyed old monk lowered his eyebrows and replied obediently: "The poor monk came out early, and he didn't know about it yet. ”

The wealthy businessman seemed to be a little discouraged. And he said, "I see! Speaking of Buddhism, the mother mountain is really ill-fated, it was only burned by a fire more than ten years ago, and this time it was surrounded by the shogunate officials and soldiers...... I hope that the disaster will pass as soon as possible, and that Kyoto will have a peaceful and peaceful day! ”

The white-eyed old monk helplessly accompanied him and said, "Tan Yue is talking about ......"

"Huh! Look at my memory! Here are some dry food rice balls, given to the masters to eat on the road, please be sure not to refuse a piece of heart. The wealthy merchant took the rice balls from the basket and distributed them to the monks, but the monks could not refuse the kindness of the believers, so they folded their hands and took the rice balls.

When it came to an elderly monk who was a little different, he hesitated and handed over the wrapped rice balls. He turned around and muttered in a low voice, "It's really strange, how can there be an old monk's skin maintenance so well." His hands are so white, he must have never done any work, just like the ministers and nobles in Kyoto at a banquet......"

After a short nap in the afternoon, I suddenly heard a cry of surprise, and the pedestrians on the street were suddenly in a mess, and just when the monks were a little at a loss, the rich merchant trotted over again, panting and saying, "Oh no! The shogunate army is burning Mt. Hiei! Masters, let's get out of here! The faster you go, the better! ”

"Thank you Tan Yue for your advice! The poor monk is on his way! The white-eyed old monk hurriedly got up and saluted, turned around and ordered the monks to set off immediately, a team of more than 100 people hurriedly moved towards the northwest, and a closer look could see that there were several warrior monks taking turns to support the old monk forward, and the strong warrior monks around him were supporting the left and right.

The wealthy merchant looked at the monks in the distance worriedly, turned around and hit the head of the person behind him, covered his forehead and was about to apologize, but found that it was his own guy who ran out to see the excitement, and scolded angrily: "Why don't you go back to see the store and run out?" Something missing, careful your skin! ”

The guy was trying to run away in embarrassment, when he was suddenly stopped by the rich businessman, and walked in front of the owner with a cower, and the rich businessman said angrily and funny: "Go back and remember it for a long time, you must not spread the news that we met the monks of Enryakuji Temple, if you spread everything with this big mouth fork and provoke the officials and soldiers of the shogunate to take you and me, then you will have to be sent to the prison to be punished, maybe you will have to put your life into it, and the head move is a trivial matter, can your parents rest assured?" Also, the daughter-in-law you said in your family is cheaper than other bastards, do you want to end up in such a field? ”

The guy's face was colorless when he was bluffed, and his head kept shaking and shaking, and he said, "I don't want to!" ”

"If you don't want to, it's right!" The rich merchant nodded with satisfaction, and commanded in a low voice: "Go back and remember not to say anything, if someone asks you what you were doing just now, just say that you went to the street to see the excitement just now, and if you ask you about the rice balls, you will say that you don't know and let them come to me, and the rest of the questions and three don't know, understand?" ”

"Yes!" The man nodded, and ran back to the shops along the street.

Two hours later, on a hill next to the city of Tango in the northwest of Kyoto, the group of monks stood on the top of the mountain and looked at the mountains and forests with billowing black smoke in the distance, clasped their hands together and chanted prayers in a low voice, and the old monk who had been hiding in the monks suddenly said, "I shouldn't have taken refuge in Mt. Hiei, another good place has been destroyed to protect me!" ”

Seeing the lament of the Emperor of the Masaki Town, he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty does not have to blame yourself, this is destined not to be forced, and it is righteous for the Buddhas to sacrifice their lives to protect Your Majesty, and they will be accepted by the gods and Buddhas into the Pure Land of Western Bliss!" ”

"I hope so! The hour is getting late. It's better to hurry as soon as possible! The Emperor Masakin-cho took a deep look at Kyoto. Gradually walked down the hill and left without looking back.

Meanwhile. The fire at Mt. Hiei's Enryakuji Temple was slowly entering the climax, Oda Nobunaga ordered an army of 150,000 to surround Mt. Hiei and set fire to the mountain from both directions at the same time.

The east pagoda was all on fire, the west tower was completely destroyed, and countless monks fled in panic. Countless good men and women are hiding like helpless cats and dogs, except for the passage near the Hiyoshi Shrine guarded by Oda Nobunaga that is very strictly guarded, the defenders of the other passages are all relenting and quietly let them escape.

A few Buddhas were lucky enough to escape, but most of them were unfortunately reduced to dogs slaughtered by everyone, they helped the old and the young wailing and weeping and begging the officials and soldiers to let them live, many samurai were shaken at that moment, they firmly believed in the way of martial faith and righteousness, and the gods and Buddhas who believed in them told them that they could not kill these poor Buddhas, but some people went around killing Buddhists like crazy.

The tears of the Buddhas were almost dry. They knelt in place and begged the gods and Buddhas to forgive their sins, kowtowing over and over again, knocking out bright red blood marks on their heads. But the gods and Buddhas seemed to be blocked from Mt. Hiei, and looked helplessly at the believers wailing that they had been beheaded off by the Oda Army without much effort.

The Oda military department was really crazy, under the strict orders of Oda Nobunaga, he took out the posture of dealing with a strong enemy, brandished a butcher's knife and cut off the head of an old monk who was waiting to die with his eyes closed, raised a big gun and picked up the corpse of a child who was only seven or eight years old, and what was even more shameless was that some samurai saw women and children, their eyes lit up, their mouths drooled, strangled the baby in the woman's arms, and stripped off the poor woman's clothes to commit violence to the fullest.

All the Garan stupas that were not burned by the Ashikaga Yoshikyo Sect of the evil imperial palace were on fire, the root central hall that had not been burned back then was also set on fire, and the core Sangha of Enryakuji Temple that was not killed was killed, and the mother mountain of Japanese Buddhism turned into a red furnace at this moment, exuding a sea of fire and hell with boiling heat, and the victims were this group of pious Buddhas.

The Lord of the Tiantai Throne, Jue Shu Fa Prince, sat in the root hall turned into a fire cave, his clothes were tattered by the smoke and flames, and the Prince of Dharma closed his eyes in pain, looking up to the sky and shouting: "God and Buddha! Save the poor Buddha, if Enryakuji Temple is really guilty, please punish the poor monks, and the monks! Let go of the poor old and weak women and children at the bottom of the mountain, they are innocent! ”

Several monks who were protecting him were killed on the spot by the beams of the burning room that fell from the root hall, and the remaining monks looked at each other with their hands folded and said, "Master! Please get out of here! The fundamental hall is about to collapse! ”

The Tiantai lord shook his head firmly and said, "The poor monk is not going anywhere!" This is the fundamental hall dedicated to the ancestors of my Tiantai sect, and the poor monks want to watch the destruction of Enryakuji Temple in Mt. Hiei......"

"You are the last hope of Enryakuji Temple in Mt. Hiei, as long as you can go out and call on the Buddhist temples of the world to crusade against Oda Nobunaga, you can avenge us!"

"Nope! The poor monk is going to die here, to be a guide for all the dead Buddhas under the Yellow Spring! Prince Kakushu covered his mouth and nose and coughed violently, looked up at the burning beams that were about to collapse, and stood up trembling and cursed bitterly: "Oda Nobunaga! You devil crawling out of hell! You Sixth Heaven Demon King! Even if the poor monk dies, he will not let you go! You're going to die a bad death! Don't die well......"

The root hall collapsed, collapsed, and destroyed in the fire, and the 166th Tiandai lord became the first lord to be killed during his reign, and he was also the first Prince of Ho to be killed, and his death will surely cause a sensation in the world, and at this moment, Oda Nobunaga at the foot of the mountain is completely unaware of all this, and is still indignant and angrily scolding Hieiyama Enryakuji Temple for not knowing what to do.

"This group of monks is extremely cunning, they should be killed!" Oda Nobunaga walked back and forth in front of the big tent indignantly, as if he was constantly encouraging himself, and said: "Since the Heian period, these mountain mages have always been against the imperial court, and when there is nothing to do, they will carry the mountain king god out to complain, which is extremely rude!" I, Nobunaga, am just angry for the imperial shogunate, but my family is the three ministers and the deputy generals of the shogunate, not to mention that they dare to harbor the emperor, and they should be burned! ”

It seems that he is very satisfied with his reasoning, and he doesn't care how unconvincing his words are, anyway, as long as he doesn't feel guilty and ashamed about the burning of Mt. Hiei, it also reflects the psychological pressure of Oda Nobunaga from the side, and the burning of Mt. Hiei has always been regarded as an act of immorality, at least from the current point of view, none of the people who burned Mt. Hiei ended well.

Ashikaga Yoshikyo burned Mt. Hiei for the first time, and then he was beheaded by Akamatsu Mitsusuke in the Cargi Rebellion, Hosokawa Masagen burned Mt. Hiei for the second time, and then he was assassinated by his adopted son Hosokawa Sumiyuki, and he burned Mt. Hiei for the third time, and then Honganji Temple was pointed out as an enemy of Buddha by the Tendai sect, and once broke Garan and defeated Kii, Honganji proved to be depressed, and the culprit Kaga Ichijo was captured by the Kanto Ashikaga family, and fell to the brink of almost destruction, and what will happen to him Oda Nobunaga?

When Oda Nobunaga learned that Prince Kakushu refused to flee and died in the root hall, the curse he issued also spread by word of mouth among the monks who fled, Oda Nobunaga immediately felt that the whole person was not good.

"You mean that the Lord of the Tendais, Prince Jue Shufa, cursed his family...... Cursed Yu? Why curse Yu? Why? Oda Nobunaga dealt with the anger, roaring loudly to vent the panic in his heart, he was indeed very nervous and worried, as the saying goes, what is afraid of something, the more afraid of walking at night, the easier it is to meet ghosts, unfortunately he ran into it.

Prince Kakufufa, who could have escaped, chose to fight to the death, and let out a terrible curse before he died, do you want Oda Nobunaga to sleep peacefully? Probably can't, from Oda Nobunaga's expression, it seems that he can't, if he doesn't do bad things, he is not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door, and people with weak hearts are especially afraid of curses, and the more he is afraid, the more he can bump into it, no wonder Oda Nobunaga's expression has become very weird, probably because he was not scared.

The Oda retainers showed a worried expression, and when they were seen by Akechi Mitsuhide, they couldn't help but laugh secretly, and respectfully got up and persuaded: "Rest easy, the last words of Prince Jue Shu have no witnesses, most of them are fabricated by false rumors, these monks of Enryakuji Temple hate our officials and soldiers deeply, and it is very possible to make up a lie and put it on the general general!" ”

"Hinata Mamoru is right! That's very reasonable! It is worthy of the samurai of Kyoto who is really well-informed, and he can poke the little tricks of the monks of Enryakuji Temple at once! Good! Very good! Oda Nobunaga looked extremely happy, and immediately got up and shouted: "The general of the rumor will send an edict to Kyoto, and the monks of Mt. Hiei will confuse the people with evil words, and frame the behavior of the shogunate crusade army, and the rumors will all be sent to the source of the six rivers to be beheaded and shown to the public!" (To be continued......)