Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 134: I Caught a Big Fish...
There are many historical sites in the suburbs of the imperial capital.
Although at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, many people felt that this imperial capital was not as good as the ancient capital Nanjing, which occupied the prosperous land of Jiangnan, and was inferior to Chang'an, which occupied the natural barrier of Guanzhong and was renamed by Emperor Taizu, and emotionally, they were unwilling to make Dadu, which was once occupied by the Mongols, the imperial capital, but all of them could not resist the insistence of Emperor Taizu.
Emperor Taizu was a restless man. Although he could not travel around the country at will, he still traveled all over the capital, leaving behind countless legends. He also made many famous places that were not very famous become places where tourists flock to.
For example, Lingguang Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty, and then destroyed and rebuilt many times during the Liao and Jin Dynasties.
"At that time, Emperor Taizu led people to Longquan Temple in disguise and visited the Zhaoxian Pagoda handed down from the Liao Dynasty. He stayed in the pagoda for a night. It is said that during that night, Emperor Taizu dreamed that he had lost a tooth. The next day, he called the abbot of the temple and said he wanted to dig up the pagoda. Of course, the monks refused, but later they panicked when they heard that the emperor was coming."
"As a result, Emperor Taizu ordered the Ministry of Works to bring in skilled craftsmen, and they dug out the tooth relic of the Buddha!"
At this moment, standing in front of the rebuilt Zhaoxian Pagoda, which looked majestic and magnificent, Zhu Ying, bathed in the autumn sun, said with great joy: "Because of this, Emperor Taizu later set so many rules for those Buddhist temples and monks, but no one dared to say anything, because that was not dug out of the mud, it was a stone coffin dug out by a bunch of monks under the instructions of craftsmen!"
"When the monks finally unearthed the Buddha's tooth relic, on each side of the wooden box there were inscriptions written by Monk Shanhui. When the news spread far and wide, countless devout men and women came to pay homage..."
Listening to Zhu Ying's story of Taizu's search for the Buddha's tooth, Zhang Shou couldn't help but secretly suck his teeth. Taizu, the senior, actually dug out the Buddha's tooth that had been sealed for more than a thousand years in advance. And the purpose of digging it out was not only to add a layer of halo of the reincarnation of the Buddha to himself, but also to legitimately put a tight ring on the Buddhist temples and monks. What a shrewd calculation...
Compared to digging for other treasures, this one is much more clever!
"Because of the discovery of the tooth, Emperor Taizu made a stroke of his pen and changed Longquan Temple into Lingguang Temple. Other ancient temples and monasteries in the three nearby mountains were also found, and Emperor Taizu added and repaired some more, making a total of eight, so they are called the Eight Great Places. Because Lingguang Temple has the tooth, it ranks first."
When Zhang Shou first went up the mountain, he discovered that the Chang'an Temple in the Eight Great Places had disappeared. However, considering that the Chang'an Temple was also destroyed and never restored to its original appearance, let alone opened to the public, he did not find it strange. After all, it was politically correct to choose Lingguang Temple, where Emperor Taizu miraculously found the tooth of the Buddha, as the first place.
As for the other ancient temples and new temples, their numbers were moved forward one by one. This minor problem doesn’t matter at all.
Zhang Shou, who had just been looking out from an empty spot on the side of the pagoda, looked at the endless stream of pilgrims in Lingguang Temple and asked in a low voice, "There are so many people here, why don't we go in another day?"
Zhu Ying smiled knowingly, nodded, and led Zhang Shou to the side door. When they were gradually getting away from the surging crowd, she winked at Zhang Shou and said, "In fact, I came here with the emperor and my father when I was very young. Anyway, I have no experience and I just think that the tooth looks ordinary. If you want to see it, I will ask the emperor to close the temple in the future so that you can have a good look."
Zhang Shou smiled immediately. He was not a devout believer. He could pay his respects, but why seal the temple? When the two of them left the temple and reunited with Ah Liu and other guards, they took advantage of their leisure time to climb the mountain. As for the other Buddhist temples, Zhang Shou just took a look around and checked in. Zhu Ying, who was playing with him, didn't care either. They reached the top of the mountain in a moment.
Because they had left Beijing early and had some snacks before going up the mountain, it was already late afternoon when they reached the top. Several guards were knowledgeable and went with Liu to prepare the late lunch - the two food boxes they brought contained wine, vegetables and snacks, and the food boxes even had a charcoal-heated interlayer, which was perfect for a picnic.
But what they didn't expect was that Zhu Ying, who was talking to Zhang Shou not far away, suddenly came back.
Not only did Zhu Ying come back, but she was also unhappy. She sat down on a stone bench angrily, holding her chin and remained silent. Seeing this, the guards looked at each other for a while, and some of them glanced at Ah Liu, hoping that he could go to Zhang Shou to make peace. However, no matter how they looked at him, Ah Liu just sat there like a wooden man, staring at the food box in a daze.
Didn't Zhu Ying always think Zhang Shou was a good person? It was a rare trip today, and the atmosphere was very good all the way. Why did the couple fall out? You know, the lady had hinted before that the wedding would be held as soon as the Duke returned!
Only Ah Liu noticed that Zhu Ying was venting her anger by stepping on the grass roots on the ground, while pulling over an unlucky branch nearby and pulling down the leaves one by one, but she kept looking at Zhang Shou out of the corner of her eye and muttering to herself.
"I'm so angry. They don't know how to appreciate a good person... They sent me away after doing something so dangerous!"
Zhang Shou, who seemed to have had a falling out with Zhu Ying, unknowingly walked a dozen steps in the other direction. He seemed to be a little absent-minded, looking down at the ground while walking, not looking forward at all. Fortunately, there were not many people on the top of the mountain, unlike the Lingguang Temple at the foot of the mountain, which was full of incense. He didn't look up until he heard the constant argument in front of him.
"How can this problem be calculated like this..."
"You are all wrong. This is how it should be calculated..."
Zhang Shou was slightly startled when he saw three young men gathered around a stone table, pointing and prodding at a piece of paper. He then went forward. He saw that the three of them were arguing about one of the three questions that he had given to Shuntian Prefecture to post for the enrollment of students at Jiuzhang Hall. He did not say anything, but just stood there quietly.
One of the tall young men orally explained the extremely complicated steps and solved the problem. Then he boasted: "This is how I did it when I submitted the paper to Shuntian Prefecture!"
"Humph, Dr. Zhang advocates simplicity the most. He may not be interested in such a complicated algorithm like yours!"
Zhang Shou raised his eyebrows and walked forward, but when he got behind them, before he could even speak, two young men suddenly came up from the left and right, trapping him tightly in the middle. At this time, a young man who had been concentrating on a question just raised his head.
"Sure enough, I can only attract you by using what you are most interested in, Dr. Zhang."
"Who are you?"
Seeing that Zhang Shou tried his best to remain calm, but his handsome face was tense, the young man, who was also outstanding in appearance, could not help but reveal a smug expression. He glanced at the sword on Zhang Shou's waist with contempt, and then said nonchalantly: "Who am I? Haha, of course I am the one who gave you this sword. I didn't expect that after I hinted at you like this, you not only didn't know how to restrain yourself, but also continued to show off."
"So you are the one who gave me the sword to threaten me." Zhang Shou suddenly laughed, "I thought it was a sword given to a hero."
Seeing that Zhang Shou's life and death were clearly in his hands, but he still spoke wildly, the young man was immediately angry. However, when he thought of the purpose of today, he took a deep breath and temporarily drove away all the negative emotions.
"Stop talking nonsense. Who do you think you are? How dare you covet Zhu Ying! If you know what's good for you, go back to the countryside! If she hadn't lost her mind and persuaded that stupid old woman from the Zhu family, you would still be working as a farmer in the countryside..."
Zhang Shou, who had just regained his composure, gradually changed his expression. He was not angry, but rather a little subtle and strange. He looked up and down at the young man until the other party gradually noticed his gaze, became more angry and irritable, and the words he said became more and more unpleasant. He then sighed.
"Sir, you went to the Duke of Zhao's mansion and sent me an unsheathed sword just to threaten me to stay away from Yingying?"
"What Yingying? What qualifications do you have to call her Yingying... Ugh!"
Just as the young man was slamming the table in anger, Zhang Shou, who had just been trapped by two people, suddenly moved. He stomped hard on the instep of the man on his left hand, and when the man squatted down in pain, he directly gave the man on his right hand a heavy elbow. Then, he took a step back and drew his sword calmly.
The specially made heels and elbow pads were really uncomfortable to wear, but considering that they were convenient for hitting and kicking people, he decided to magnanimously forgive Ah Liu's bad idea, and also forgive this "rival in love" who made his troubles worthwhile.
"I have only learned swordsmanship for one day, so I don't know how well it works. If I make a mistake, please forgive me."
Seeing a cold light suddenly coming towards him, the young man's face suddenly changed, and he completely forgot that there was a stone table between him and Zhang Shou, and turned and ran. Zhang Shou, who was pretending to hold a sword, saw that a few sturdy men in black suddenly rushed out from the seemingly empty area not far away, surrounded him and stopped him, and he couldn't help but sigh.
Neither he nor Wang Datou had expected that the person who sent him the sword had nothing to do with the secret letters he had helped Wang Datou decipher. Wang Datou was furious. The secret plan he had made had turned out to be this guy, not the mastermind behind the scenes.
Fortunately, after he proposed it yesterday, Wang Datou immediately agreed with it and said that he had received news that others were indeed waiting for an opportunity... He had just managed to persuade Zhu Ying, who he was worried about, to leave, and was left alone, but he ended up catching such a guy!
This is a really big fish...
