Chapter 122: Burning Lingyin Temple
Lingyin Temple was built in the first year of Xianhe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 326). It is located to the west of the West Lake in Hangzhou, with the North Peak at its back and Feilai Peak facing it. It is known as the first ancient temple in Hangzhou. Its founder is the Indian monk Huili. Later, it was granted land and expanded by Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties. It became large-scale and gradually became popular. During the Five Dynasties, Qian Hongfang, King of Wuyue, expanded Lingyin Temple into nine floors, eighteen pavilions, and seventy-two halls. At one time, there were as many as three thousand monks, and monks from foreign countries often came to learn Buddhist scriptures. By the Jiading period of Emperor Ningzong of the Song Dynasty, Lingyin Temple was already known as one of the "Five Mountains" of Zen Buddhism in the south of the Yangtze River. Thirteen thousand acres of fertile land in Hangzhou and Jiaxing were all owned by the temple. In the Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang also summoned the abbot of Lingyin Temple to Nanjing to preach. He personally named him one of the "Top Ten Eminent Monks" and awarded him a golden cassock... It can be seen that this temple has a high status in the southeast. Endless honors and favors.
In terms of natural environment, Lingyin Temple is surrounded by rolling mountains and is famous for its beautiful scenery. The way pilgrims enter the temple is surrounded by lush cedar forests. Among the green ancient trees and gurgling streams, the elegant temple stands on the mountain, integrating perfectly and harmoniously with the surrounding environment. Surrounded by towering trees, it exudes an indescribable Zen feeling while welcoming the world. of worship.
However, all these unforgettable and beautiful scenery are now transformed into wisps of drifting smoke amid the blazing flames.
When Wang Qiu and others who were staying on Fenghuang Mountain realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly led the team over, they could only face a broken wall filled with smoke and raging fire, as well as a building blackened by thick smoke and cracked by flames. Relief panels, stone Buddha statues and hot bronze incense burners made people stare blankly.
——In front of the notorious slave-catching team, the magnificent and luxurious Lingyin Temple is as delicious as fresh lamb.
At this moment, outside Lingyin Temple, there was a group of bonfires dotted all over the place. Puffs of yellow flames danced between Buddhist scriptures and fragments of Buddha statues, making bursts of crisp sounds and sparks flying. They complemented the temple in flames and fully demonstrated the cruel scene of this war-torn world.
When Wang Qiu and the others arrived, the entire temple had already been burned with extra-large torches, and the monks who were lucky enough to survive were tied up in long strings by the captured slave team members and collapsed dejectedly. roadside. The bloody white bandits and black slave soldiers, after looting the temple for a whole day, smashed the various incense tables and shrines with complicated patterns into pieces, along with the despised books and scriptures. Throw them into the bonfire, then talk, laugh, and sing around the fire, taking stock of the harvest of the day's plunder, and enjoying the food, wine, and women they just plundered.
Wang Qiu had just walked outside Lingyin Temple where smoke was rising into the sky when he saw a drunken red-haired one-eyed pirate under a big tree. He was holding a young girl in ragged clothes with tears on her face in his left hand and holding a small glass of wine in his right hand. Pour the rice wine in the jar into your mouth. There was someone spinning a small grill next to it, with golden and crispy roast chicken skewered on it. Fatty oil dripped from the air and splashed on the red wood chips, making a sizzling sound.
Another drunken black slave-catching team member hung more than a dozen strings of pearls, crystals and gold and silver beads around his neck as if to show off. He was covered in several dazzling silk cassocks and loudly boasted about his harvest. . Several nearby slave-catching team members who were enjoying themselves around the fire started shouting in agreement, and then wave after wave was passed to farther places, causing a huge commotion.
Seeing this scene of demons dancing wildly, Wang Qiu, Sun Yang and Zhao Yingong, the masters of the village who came in a hurry, could only helplessly shake their heads and sigh.
"... Lingyin Temple is probably completely over now. Hangzhou has lost a scenic spot... What should we do next?" Wang Qiu asked.
"...How else to deal with it? Just pretend you didn't see it! Well, and let them pay the spoils and prisoners according to discipline..."
Major General Sun Yang shrugged helplessly, "...don't forget, these large monasteries occupying tens of thousands of acres of land are our enemies just like the landlords and gentry! They are social parasites who do not engage in production, and must The target of eradication! I can't blame or even punish my own people because they treat the enemy too cruelly! If it were the more savage Indian warriors, I might have to skin these monks! br>
Of course, after the war in Hangzhou ends, I will transfer these foreign mercenaries away as soon as possible and replace them with Han soldiers to maintain law and order..."
"...but...this burning Lingyin Temple..." Wang Qiu looked at the fire that stained the mountains and forests with complicated eyes, "...it feels really awkward!"
"...Comrade Xiao Wang, you don't need to feel too sorry. Although Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou is known as a thousand-year-old temple, the current Lingyin Temple is actually only built not many years ago, and it is not even as old as the Great Hall of the People. Just burn it!”
Zhao Yingong, who has been stationed in Hangzhou for many years and has a deep understanding of the local culture and customs, also echoed this persuasion to Wang Qiu.
According to him, Lingyin Temple, which is now burned down, is no longer the same as when it was first built. As early as the late Tang Dynasty, Lingyin Temple was ordered to be abandoned by the imperial court because of the "Huichang Dharma Dilemma" when Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty abolished Buddhism. Later, during the Five Dynasties period, Lingyin Temple was restored by the Wuyue Kingdom. Next, during the Peasants' War at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the entire Lingyin Temple fell into war again and was burned to the ground. It was not until the Hongwu period of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign that Lingyin Temple was rebuilt again. However, in the third year of Longqing in the last century (1569), Lingyin Temple was completely destroyed by a fire caused by lightning for the third time, and all the monks fled. After that, the temple existed in a state of ruins for twenty years. It was not until the Wanli Period that believers raised funds and successfully renovated it. Therefore, even the oldest temple in the temple was only completed about 40 years ago, so it cannot be said to be very old.
More importantly - "...even if there was no military disaster caused by us, according to the original history, in the 13th year of Chongzhen (1640), Lingyin Temple would have suffered another fire. It was burned down four times and was not rebuilt until the Qing Dynasty. The Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou that the modern world sees is actually an ancient building from the Qing Dynasty - as the saying goes, if the old does not go away, the new will not come in. Anyway, this Lingyin Temple was destined to be burned down in the late Ming Dynasty. Burning it down a few years in advance is also in line with the trend of history..."
After listening to Zhao Yingong's persuasion, Wang Qiu became calm. In fact, he didn't like those bald donkeys at all. He was just angry that the scenic spots he liked in the original time and space were brutally destroyed. He spoke unscrupulously. Just said some angry words.
On the other side, after learning that several "big bosses" had arrived, the African slave-catching team that had just destroyed Lingyin Temple was also led by the captain to greet them with a wink, and at the same time presented a list of spoils. Wang Qiu took the list and flipped through it. In addition to registering some copper coins and silver taels, as well as magical objects such as golden Buddhas, jade Buddhas, copper incense burners, etc., there were actually more than fifty women on it. He couldn't help but be surprised.
"...So many women were actually found in the temple? In this time of war and chaos, there are still female donors who dare to come and offer incense?"
"...Where is the female benefactor? Most of them are the fans raised privately by those bald donkeys in Lingyin Temple!"
As a half-landowner, Zhao Yingong curled his lips and said, "...or maybe it's the tenant's wife who was kidnapped to pay the rent..."
Before Mr. Zhao finished speaking, he heard a noise not far away, and then a rough man with a yellow face and thin muscles and ragged clothes was turned over. After interrogation, this guy claimed to be a farmer from a nearby village. Due to his poor youth, he owed rent to the monks of Lingyin Temple. His wife was forcibly kidnapped and his newborn son starved to death because no one was feeding her. He now has no relatives and no family, not a penny or a grain of rice, so he wants to seek help from the "short-haired kings" and at the same time begs the "short-haired kings" who broke up Lingyin Temple to reunite him and his wife...
——So, seeing two dark, ugly, dirty people crying and hugging each other in the burning fire of Lingyin Temple, Wang Qiu didn't know what it felt like for a moment... Then, he suddenly I felt something fall on my clothes and hat.
Wang Qiu initially thought it was ashes floating in the wind, but the flying ashes from the fire would never be so cold.
The next moment, when Wang Qiu looked up at the sky, he understood everything.
Snow, snow is falling from the sky.
The snowflakes floated quietly, and some of them melted on his face, allowing Wang Qiu to see the white breath he exhaled turning into frost.
The snow came suddenly and fell very hard. Almost in the blink of an eye, the wilderness by the West Lake was covered with a thin white carpet, and it was getting thicker and thicker. The fire that burned down the ancient temple next to me was quickly extinguished in the heavy snow. ——Because of a sudden heavy snowfall, the "Kun Thieves" were forced to temporarily suspend military operations and gave Hangzhou a chance to breathe...