After walking out of the city for about three hours, Le Yiyang saw a big mountain in front of him. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThis mountain is high into the sky, stretching for hundreds of miles, and is a remnant of Taihang Mountain. To the north of Taihang Mountain is the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" belonging to the Khitan, and to the south is the Central Plains Prefectures. Taihang Mountain has always been a place where soldiers often fight. As early as the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor An of the Han Dynasty issued an edict to charge troops at 36 places at the southern end of Taihang in order to prevent foreign enemies from invading Luoyang. In the nineteenth year of the Jin Dynasty, Murong Chui of Houyan entered Xiyan, and Murong Yong of Xiyan ordered all the men and horses to go to block the Taihang Pass, and Murong Chui led troops to enter from Fukou and destroyed Xiyan. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Shimin and Dou Jiande competed, Li Shimin entered the tiger prison, so that Dou Jiande could not cross Taihang, Li Shimin took the opportunity to occupy Shangdang, and collected all the land east of the river.

The mountains are densely wooded, and the backbone of the pavilion can be faintly seen. Take a closer look, it turns out that there is a thousand-year-old treasure temple in Taiyuan---- Guixian Temple. When Le Yiyang was a child, he heard his father say that Guixian Temple was rebuilt by the gentry to commemorate the Khitan veterans. Guixian Temple usually incense is very prosperous, in the heyday there are nearly 1,000 people of all ethnic groups come to burn incense and pray for blessings every day. Now that it is approaching dark, the temple is still crowded, as if it makes people forget that the war has crept towards the innocent people.

Le Yiyang has been on the road for a day, and he feels a little tired at the moment. The dry food I bought in Taiyuan yesterday has been exhausted, and there is not much water left in the skin bag I carried with me. Seeing that he was about to reach the point of desperation, he walked to the door of Guixian Temple. "It's a great way to stay here tonight. Le Yiyang remembered what his father had told him when he was a child, that when he grew up, he must go to Guixian Temple to offer incense. So he straightened up and walked into Guixian Temple.

When you enter the gate, you will see two stone monuments standing in front of you. The stele is about three zhang high and five feet wide. On the left is the merit stele, which records the heroic deeds of the frontier soldiers and the benevolent deeds of the Taiyuan gentry; on the right is the grace stele, which records the poems made by the Gaozu Shi Jingjiao Yijin returning to his hometown and returning to the Xian Temple.

Le Yiyang read the inscription of merit, and immediately admired the deeds of the frontier soldiers. Then he walked to the monument and carefully read the poems written by his predecessors. Here are a few sentences transcribed as follows:

The top of the mountain is flat and wide, and he said that the group is fragrant. The beautiful scenery is full of seductive feelings. The rocks are vacating, the peanut trees are flourishing, and the miscellaneous are overwhelmed. Follow the west of Luohan Street, get one hundred and fifty steps of stone steps, and the treasure temple is out. The three words "Guixian Temple" are presented in front of Yu. The temple is quite ancient, and the inside is wide and bright. Walk into the hall virtually, and gradually get better. ”

Again, "Climb and look around, the sky is high and the earth is wide." Beyond the rivers and mountains, the first time I saw flying cranes. Looking down on the mountains in the northwest, rolling and undulating, like a grain of jasper beads; a close view of Jincheng, the buildings are built according to the mountains, row after row, covering dozens of miles. Look at the return to the sage, the forest is prosperous, the temples are clustered, the green smoke lingers, if you go back to the eastern capital. ”

Just as Le Yiyang left the stele and entered the vestibule of the temple, he was stopped by a group of monks, and a young monk in the lead said: "The presiding master has a will, there is a major event to discuss in the temple tonight, and idle people are not allowed to enter." ”

Le Yiyang saw that it was getting late, and there was no other place to live around the temple, so he said: "This master, I am just passing by your temple and want to stay in your temple for a while, and I will rush to the capital early tomorrow morning." The monk replied reluctantly: "No, no, if you let the host know, we will all be punished, so you better leave quickly." Le Yiyang also wanted to explain that the monks had long been unrelenting and pushed him to the door one by one.

At this time, an old monk came out. He was dressed in a purple robe, wearing a crown of Pilu, holding a black Buddhist bead in his hand, followed by two small novices. Le Yiyang bowed reverently, and the old monk smiled at him, and beckoned the monk to come over to understand the situation. The young monk stepped forward and whispered in the old monk's ear for a long time. After hearing this, the old monk nodded in agreement and returned to the Buddhist hall.

With Venerable Hui Xing's will, the young monk's attitude immediately changed, and he enthusiastically arranged for him to have the east wing of the front courtyard of the monastery and prepared for him tonight's fast. Le Yiyang knew at this time that this monk's name was Du Cheng, who had just turned 20 years old this year, and was from the southeast of Taiyuan. I also learned from him that the old monk was the famous Master Huixing in Taiyuan, and now he is acting as the host of Guixian Temple. The real presiding officer of Guixian Temple is Venerable Huikong, who is now in retreat and practicing in the back mountain, and will leave the mountain in a few days. Hearing that Le Yiyang was going to the capital, the host of Huixing promised to let him stay in the temple temporarily.

Le Yiyang is very grateful to Master Huixing in his heart. After dinner, I was about to visit him. At this time, three Taiyuan soldiers suddenly entered the monastery. The man in the lead, who was about forty years old, was heroic, and with a long sword in his hand, walked straight through the door. Seeing this, Le Yiyang immediately avoided it.

I only heard the man call: "Is Huikong here?" Monk Du Cheng walked out of the door, saw the person coming, and greeted with a smile: "General Guo, I haven't seen you for a long time, the presiding officer is in retreat." You go to the West Wing to rest first, and I'll go and call the acting host of Huixing. The man said loudly: "Okay, go and go back quickly, the king of Beiping has an urgent military situation, and Guo Wei does not dare to delay." After saying that, he went to the West Wing.

Le Yiyang wondered in his heart what was the connection between the military situation and the monk. He didn't mean to eavesdrop on the privacy of this place, but he was curious, so he took advantage of their unpreparedness and secretly hid in the bushes outside the west wing.

After a while, I saw the figure of Master Huixing. This time he was alone, and the little novice was waiting in the lobby. He walked to the door of the west wing, looked around, and saw that no one was following, so he went into the room. At this time, in the West Wing Courtyard, only the three of Le Yiyang remained.

Guo Wei was anxiously pacing in the room when he saw Master Huixing come in. Hurriedly greeted the past, and said with both hands:

"Master Huixing, I hope to forgive you for my sins when I come to disturb me so late. ”

"How dare you!" Hui Xing greeted: "General Guo's late night visit must not be delayed. ”

"There is indeed an important military situation to discuss with the masters, but I don't know when Master Huikong will be able to come out of the mountain. ”

Seeing that this matter still needed to be discussed with the host, Hui Xing knew that this matter was not trivial, so he did not dare to slack off, and immediately assigned someone to go to the back mountain to ask the host to come out of the mountain.

In the process of waiting, Guo Wei kept drinking tea in the room, thinking about the military report he received from the front line when he was leaving, and he became more and more anxious. Seeing this, Hui Xing knew the habit of being a soldier, and it was inconvenient to impose comfort, so he just silently slid the Buddha beads in his hand. After an hour of incense, the door of the West Wing Courtyard was pushed open, and a monk in his fifties strode in, he was covered in rags, and even his beard was covered with dust. As soon as he entered the room, Le Yiyang felt a powerful air flow rushing towards him, and at this moment, the doors and windows closed automatically.

Le Yiyang was surprised, and heard the people in the room talking softly on the ground. He immediately perked up, his ears pressed through the air almost directly against the wall.

"General Guo, what is the matter with looking for contemptible people in the middle of the night, why didn't Liu Zhiyuan come in person?" asked Huikong.

"Master Huikong, you don't know yet, the Khitan was making provocations on the border some time ago, and five counties on the border of our Taiyuan were plundered. Now there is a serious shortage of military spending. The end of the mutual market between the two countries has caused great losses to the merchants. Our military spending has not been replenished, and the front-line officers and men have already complained. Although the king of Beiping went to the front line a few days ago to comfort the soldiers, if this continues, it is still inevitable that a mutiny will occur. ”

Guo Wei said anxiously,

"I received a military report from the King of Beiping this afternoon, asking me to come to you immediately, and I must see you in person. I don't know what the prince thinks. I wonder if your temple can support one or two now?"

Huikong glanced up at Huixing. Usually, the expenses in the temple are all recorded by Huixing, and he naturally knows how much money he still has.

"The country is in trouble, and it stands to reason that we should have helped. But we do have a weak heart right now. Although there are many pilgrims on weekdays, they are all used to build attics, and there is very little left in the stock. Huikong replied lightly.

Guo Wei lowered his head, thinking in his heart that Guixian Temple's annual income exceeded one million taels of silver, and other donations were not counted. Of course, there is also a disaster relief meeting held in the temple every year, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of income. Most of the money was spent on repairing the monastery and expanding the terrace. What's even more ridiculous is that every winter, the army also sends people to the monastery on errands, and the beautiful name is Guixian on duty. It's infuriating!

"General Guo, what the presiding officer said is true, we only have 1,300 taels of silver at present, and we still need to buy cotton clothes to protect against the cold this winter and prepare food for the border people next year. Hui Xing hurriedly responded.

"In this way, even if all these three hundred taels are used for military expenses, they will not last for a few days. Could it be that the heavens are going to destroy my Taiyuan?" Guo Wei said disappointedly.

"We can't do anything about it. General Guo, please go back!" Huikong shook his head and got up to see off the guests.

Just as Guo Wei was about to leave, he suddenly remembered what Liu Zhiyuan had told him. He turned his head and said to Hui Kong:

"Does the host still remember the friendship with the King of Beiping back then?"

Huikong was shocked when he heard this, he didn't expect Guo Wei to ask this question. He motioned for Guo Wei to sit down, and said to Hui Xing:

"You go down and rest first, I have something I want to talk to General Guo. ”

Hui Xing promised, and left the West Chamber and went back to his room.

Huikong sat at the coffee table and was silent for a while. Le Yiyang was standing outside the door with a sore back and numb legs, and was about to go back to the room to rest. At this time, Huikong began to speak.

"General Guo, when it comes to the friendship with your Beiping King Liu Zhiyuan, I have to talk about one person, that is the late Gaozu Emperor Shi Jingjiao. ”

"That has to start from ten years ago, when it was still the last moment of the reign of Emperor Li Congke in the Central Plains at the end of the Tang Dynasty. My common name is Xu Yuanfei, and together with Liu Zhiyuan, I am a military academy under Shi Jingjiao. In the last years of the Later Tang Dynasty, the imperial court was corrupt, military discipline was lax, and the people were poor. The rebel armies in the Central Plains were surging, and the Tang army was defeated and retreated. At this time, the Khitan tribe located in the north of our country had already established the second state, and the emperor Yelu Deguang saw the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty, so he ordered his brother Yelu Lihu to take advantage of the south to attack Daizhou. Unexpectedly, Shi Jingjiao actually formed an alliance with the Khitan behind the back of the imperial court and ceded the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" to destroy the Tang Dynasty with the Khitan army. After Liu Zhiyuan and I learned of the situation, we thought that once the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" was lost, there would be no peace in the Central Plains in the future, so we risked our strength to admonish Shi Jingjiao not to listen to our advice and insisted on going his own way, and the result was the humiliating result of bowing to Yelu Deguang as "Emperor Er". I left Taiyuan in a fit of rage and have lived here for 14 years.

About an hour passed, and Huikong finally finished the whole story.