"Now we have left Puzhou Road and officially entered Jizhou Road," Ma Bencai said to everyone early in the morning, looking at the rolling green hills on the shore.

At this time, everyone was standing at the bow of the boat, watching the boat move unhurriedly, enjoying the scenery on both sides of the strait, hearing Ma Bencai's words, Tian Zhiyu couldn't help but ask: "Brother Ma, how do you know the boundary between these two ways?"

Ma Bencai smiled, pointed to the distance and said, "Zhiyu, look there, is there a majestic temple?"

Tian Zhiyu looked in the direction of Ma Bencai's finger, and sure enough, there was a temple between the mountains, and he couldn't help but admire Ma Bencai's eyesight.

He has cultivated to the middle grade of internal strength, and his eyesight has improved greatly compared to before, but he can only see it when Ma Bencai points it out, and Ma Bencai doesn't know kung fu, but he can see it at a glance.

Hearing Tian Zhiyu compliment himself, Ma Bencai smiled and said: "Where is it, the old horse has walked this route dozens of times, and what kind of scenery and buildings along the way have already been clear." Besides, even if we don't have these views, based on our sailing speed, I know that we are now on Jizhou Road. ”

It turns out that Ma Bencai has been running around all his life, and he probably has a map in his mind.

Thinking of Jizhou Road, Tian Zhiyu suddenly remembered the Hebei Sword Society, Zheng Luqiu, who was killed by himself, and his brother Zheng Wuqiu.

This is their territory, I don't know if there will be disciples of the Hebei Sword Society along this coast, I don't know if Zheng Wuqiu will know that he has arrived in Jizhou Road, I don't know if they will find trouble for themselves.

But in an instant, he laughed dumbly, thinking that the last time Zheng Wuqiu was so close to him, it was easy to kill himself, he didn't do it at that time, how could he kill it at this moment? It seems that his cultivation is still not enough, and he was shocked by Zheng Wuqiu's strong strength last time, and there is still a faint fear in his heart.

"One more day of sailing, tomorrow at noon we will arrive at the largest port on Jizhou Road, the ship will dock to load some goods, replenish some food, and set off again in the evening," Ma Bencai continued: "Luo Xiang, we have half a day to spare, but we want to go ashore to visit the temple on the mountain?"

Listening to Ma Bencai's words, Tian Zhiyu was a little reluctant, but after thinking about it, his reluctance was probably due to his fear of Hebei Sword Society and Zheng Wuqiu, and he couldn't help but despise himself a little in his heart.

Luo Qi looked at Nuan Yue and said, "It's okay, take a boat for a few days, go ashore for a walk, and relax your legs." ”

So at noon the next day, when the ship docked, several people went ashore. This port is comparable in scale to the port in Taiyuan, but the business is not as busy as Taiyuan.

Tian Zhiyu thought that it might be due to Taiyuan's proximity to Yunzhong City and Beiyi, and the demand for goods was large.

Listening to Ma Bencai's introduction, the city corresponding to this port is Wuqing, Tian Zhiyu's impression, Wuqing seems to be a district of Tianjin in later generations, and it is also the earlier name of Tianjin. Based on the experience of this time, Tian Zhiyu thought that this city should be Tianjin in the future.

However, from a distance, this Wuqing is a small place, far from the prosperity and grandeur of Taiyuan. Ma Bencai also said that Wuqing is now just a town inhabited by thousands of people, but due to the existence of the port, the number of people living here is gradually increasing.

Since the town was too small and there was nothing to do, they did not go, but walked in the opposite direction to the town, which was the temple that Ma Bencai pointed out to Tian Zhiyu yesterday.

The temple is located at the top of the mountain, and the mountain does not look high, but a few people climbed for about an hour before going up. Looking at this temple from a distance, it already felt very magnificent, and when he walked to it, Tian Zhiyu couldn't help but admire its incomparable magnificence.

"Luo Xiang, is Buddhism very popular in the Central Plains?" Tian Zhiyu remembered that during the Midyear Festival, he had seen the magical performances of the monks and nuns of the Fayin Temple in Taiyuan in the Taiyuan Drum Tower, and he had heard Ma Bencai introduce that they had made this decision in order to attract believers, so he thought that Buddhism was not too popular here, otherwise he would never use such a vulgar performance to attract pilgrims.

But looking at these beautiful temples in front of him, he was a little puzzled.

Luo Qi said: "The gods and Buddhas said that the old man has always had an attitude of respecting and staying away, didn't Confucius also say that he respected ghosts and gods and stayed away." ”

"However, since ancient times, people have had the custom of worshiping ghosts and gods, and this matter is big and big, and small and small. As long as it is the spontaneous worship of the people, it is not used to incite riots like Zhang Jiao, and the court will not care. ”

"Since Buddhism was introduced to the Central Plains, it has had a great impact, and after hundreds of years of development, it has surpassed all the religions of the Central Plains and has a large number of believers. There have also been cases in history where there were too many believers, which affected the stability of the imperial court, so there have been several suppressions of Buddhism. ”

However, from the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Dongyang only allowed Buddhism to develop among the people, and was not allowed to bring official colors, so in the past three hundred years, except for a few emperors who have let the so-called high monks be national teachers, the national teachers of all dynasties are all Taoist children. At this point, we have inherited the tradition of Dongyang, so the current national teacher of Dongyang, Jing Chengxian, and our Shuguo teacher Zhang Fengzhi, both believe in Taoism. ”

"Then why is there such a magnificent temple?" Tian Zhiyu asked curiously.

Although the imperial court did not encourage Buddhism, it did not suppress it and allowed the people to develop freely. Because Buddhism has a deep foundation and many means of preaching, there are still many people who believe in Buddhism. These temples in front of us are the largest temple groups in the north, and they do not belong to a single temple. ”

I see, Tian Zhiyu looked around, and sure enough, behind the largest temple in front of him, there were a number of large and small temples, which were quite spectacular.

Each temple has a lot of fluttering small flags, on which are written all kinds of proverbs and mantras, and in each temple there are loud or small chanting sounds, plus the monks coming in and out, quite solemn.

Tian Zhiyu remembered something again and asked, "Luo Xiang, has there ever been a peerless master among the monks, such as Shaolin Temple?"

Luo Qi stroked his beard and smiled: "Yes, Shaolin Temple, as a representative of Buddhist kung fu, has had many masters of the Dragon and Tiger List in history from Shaolin. However, because it is next to Luoyang, and the Shaolin Temple also knows that the royal family does not respect Buddhism, it has always been very low-key and does not use force to declare the world. The top masters of Shaolin Temple will not walk the rivers and lakes, nor do they participate in the unicorn tea party, only the masters of the dragon and tiger list will sometimes visit Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts, and the world can roughly know how powerful the masters of Shaolin Temple are. ”

The great monks of Shaolin Temple are really low-key enough, but Tian Zhiyu thought about it again, Buddhism has a wide influence, and Shaolin is next to Luoyang, if it is high-profile, I am afraid that it will not be tolerated by the imperial court.

A few people walked slowly along the mountain road, and saw a lot of old women and children in the village, carrying baskets, walking towards different temples respectively, and some simply met the Guanyin statue on the side of the road, and put some snacks in front of each Buddha statue.

Tian Zhiyu looked at these Buddha statues carefully, they are all carved lifelike, the Bodhisattva is solemn, the Buddha is compassionate, the Arhat is peaceful, each Buddha statue has accumulated a lot of tribute, and there are still a lot of incense candles burning in the big incense burner in the open space.

Several people walked around the temple one by one, and when they walked to the door of another very large temple, they saw a lot of people around, chattering and discussing something, and several people stepped forward and saw a row of monks standing at the door of the temple, and opposite the monks were three men with swords on their backs, and it seemed that the two sides were facing each other.

Could it be that someone came to the temple to smash the field? Tian Zifeng thought

Ma Bencai pulled an onlooker and asked what happened, and the man said: "Hey, the three men with swords on their backs are the children of the Longmen Sword Society, and they have recently been looking for people to compete in this area from house to house, saying that they want to challenge all the masters in this area, I don't know where I heard it today, saying that the disciples of Jimen Temple are the best at kung fu, so they came to the door to find someone to compete, and the host of Jimen Temple did not accept it, and a few people stayed at the door and did not leave, it was really shameless," After speaking, he shook his head and sighed.

Tian Zhiyu didn't know what this sword society had to do with the Hebei Sword Society, so he asked Luo Qi and Ma Bencai.

Luo Qi smiled, looked at Nuan Yue, and said, "Nuan Yue, let's talk about it, you know more clearly." ”

Nuan Yue pursed her mouth, looked at Tian Zhiyu looking at herself, hurriedly looked away, and said: "This Longmen Sword Society is a sect that has suddenly risen in Jizhou Dao in recent years, and the head is Long Xiao, who is in his forties and has the strength of the top grade. This Longmen Sword Society rose too suddenly, there was no Long Xiao in the rivers and lakes before, and it was suddenly born in just a few years, not only did it have the strength of the Tiger List, but the Longmen Sword Society established it gained a firm foothold in Jizhou Road, and even its strength was close to that of the Hebei Sword Society. ”

It turned out to be the opposite of the Hebei Sword Society, and for a moment Tian Zhiyu actually liked this Longmen Sword Society a little, and they also squeezed towards the front of the crowd, wanting to see in what direction the confrontation between the two sides would develop.

The three disciples of the Longmen Sword Society were all wearing gray robes and carrying a sword behind their backs, all of them were in their twenties, not much handsome, but they had the chic of people who practiced martial arts.

The man at the head looked the oldest, he looked at the monks of Jimen Temple who were like great enemies, and said with a smile: "Master, I didn't come here today, I didn't mean to find fault, but I heard that the warrior monks of Jimen Temple are the best in Jizhou Road, so I came to have a discussion." The world's martial arts, should be interconnected, we have always admired the masters of Buddhism, so even if we know that our strength is not high, we dare to hope that the head will not hesitate to teach. ”

On the other side, the monk wearing the robe of the head of the family joined hands and said, "Three donors, Jimen Temple has always been a pure place for Buddhism, and it never fights and kills. Even if the disciples in the sect practice martial arts, it is only as one of the precepts of the Qing rules, and it is not for the sake of competitiveness. As for martial arts, it is even more incompatible with the pure land of Buddhism, and I hope that the three donors will not work hard to disrupt the practice of the monks and laymen here. ”

The man smiled and said: "The master's words are wrong, there have always been rumors in the rivers and lakes, the world's masters, Shaolin accounts for half, and even if the masters of Buddhism do not participate in the selection of the Dragon and Tiger List, the people in the rivers and lakes also know that the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon of Buddhism, if you really want to participate in the selection, I am afraid that it will cause a sensation in the world." Not long after our Longmen Sword Society was based in Jizhou Road, we have heard a lot of rumors about Jimen Temple. The most famous rumor is that every time there is a war, Jimen Temple will send a warrior monk to help the needy and defend the country, which is really admired by me in a narrow sense. Therefore, the head of the sect will send our three brothers to learn from your disciples, and they are really admiring the high wind and virtue of Jimen Temple, and I hope that the master will not let us down for the sake of our sincerity. ”

At this time, the onlookers had unanimously condemned the words and deeds of these three people.

Jimen Temple has been promoting Buddhism in this area for a long time, and has been widely benevolent, especially in every disaster year, Jimen Temple will call on large and small temples to raise food together to provide food for the victims, which can be said to win the hearts of the people here.

When the people saw that these three disciples of the Longmen Sword Society were not only unreasonable, but also entangled, they all complained.

But ordinary people also know that people in the rivers and lakes have always done their own thing, and they can still reason with the government, and it is very difficult to communicate with these people flying around. In addition to whispering condemnation, they can only see how the host master deals with it.

"This warrior monk of Jimen Temple is really powerful?" Tian Zhiyu asked Nuan Yue in a low voice.

Nuan Yue didn't want to answer, but after thinking about it, she still replied: "This temple is the largest Buddhist center in the north, and Jimen Temple is one of the leaders. It is said that the warrior monks among them are on a par with the warrior monks of Shaolin Temple, but compared to Shaolin Temple, Jimen Temple is more low-key, and no one has ever seen their disciples walking the rivers and lakes. ”

Listening to her soft voice, Tian Zhiyu still wanted to talk to her more, but after seeing that after she finished answering her own question, her body deliberately moved to the side to avoid herself, Tian Zhiyu smiled helplessly, and had to look at the center of the venue intently.