When Liu Bei arrived at the White Horse Temple with 500 Jinwu, this ancient temple from the Ming Emperor's period had been renovated, and it was magnificent and brilliant.
From the Imperial Palace to Yongmen Temple and then to the White Horse Temple, incense is lingering all the way, and half of Kyoto is filled with indigo clouds.
In order to welcome the Jade Buddha to the White Horse Temple, the young emperor specially collected an additional amount of "Buddha Ceremony Money" in Kyoto, and then mobilized nearby people to start renovating the White Horse Temple.
In short, it is necessary to show the majesty of our great Han Dynasty in front of the Khotanese envoys. As for how the conquered Guizhou leader complained, the little emperor in the palace could not hear it.
However, in fact, many good people and nobles in Kyoto are indeed devout to Buddhism. After all, Buddhism has been introduced to Kyoto for more than a hundred years, and it has also developed a group of good men and women of its own.
This time, the White Horse Temple was renovated and the Jade Buddha was welcomed. The emperor and officials all came to watch the ceremony. For this prosperous time, many of them donated their family property to Baima Temple sincerely.
When Liu Bei came, he happened to see a group of soldiers chatting in the pomegranate garden.
After seeing Liu Bei coming, one of the generals with a bright helmet and a beard and a Chenliu accent came over. He shouted loudly:
"Brother Xuande is here, come on, come here."
Liu Bei smiled shyly and recognized that the man was Wu Kuang, the captain of the general He Jin. Next to him was a fat general named Zhang Zhang, who was also Wu Kuang's army commander.
As the general in charge of military affairs, He Jin had his own complete shogunate. The shogunate was divided into two groups, namely the civilian officials responsible for the administrative work of the shogunate and the military officials responsible for the military strength of the shogunate.
Among them, the main tasks of civil servants include issuing documents, recording accountability, recommending, admonishing, advising and making strategies, participating in court discussions, and revising the calendar. These positions are noble and not complicated, and have always been pursued by the children of aristocratic families.
But the main reason why they flock to it is that this road is Qingyun Road. Those who were lucky enough to be appreciated and promoted by the generals in the past dynasties generally had a smooth official career, and there were not a few who reached the rank of Three Dukes.
For example, the current He Jin has a long history with Wang Qian, who belongs to a duke family in Yanzhou. The two generations above have all reached the rank of San Gong, so Wang Qian is undoubtedly the head of the shogunate's civil servant system.
Under Wang Qian were Xun Shuang, Xu Xun and others who were engaged in military affairs. These people all have the right to contribute opinions, suggestions, and participate in political discussions. They are also He Jinneng's most important helpers in handling political affairs.
It can be said that many civil servants in He Jin's shogunate were all descendants of aristocratic families from the land of Ruying. He also relied on appointing and promoting subordinate officials to serve in foreign dynasties, and he gradually controlled most of the court.
Today's He Jin may not have as much absolute power as the former generals Dou Xian and Liang Jiqiang. After all, the world was not yet divided at that time, but in terms of relative power, He Jin is not far behind.
However, although this is a Qingyun Road, those officials who were promoted by He Jin are also tied to He Jin, and they will be prosperous and suffer.
Once He Jin loses power or dies in a power struggle, these officials will be affected. At worst, they could be demoted and dismissed from office; at worst, they could be buried together.
For this reason, the staff of the He Jin shogunate quite consciously formed an interest group.
Liu Bei didn't know much about the civil servants who entered the shogunate, but he knew a lot about the generals in his shogunate.
For example, Wu Kuang, who just greeted him, is one of He Jin's five battalion captains, more than two thousand stones. Zhang Zhang next to him is his military commander, who is more powerful than Qianshi. There are four other school captains like this: Wu Fu, Fan Zeng, Xu Liang, and Wu Dan, all of whom are He Jin's confidants.
And these people are the enemies Liu Bei wants to deal with this time.
Liu Bei had something on his mind, but he greeted Wu Kuang quite naturally. He first punched Wu Kuang on the chest, then patted himself, and then laughed heartily:
"Well, Old Wu, I brought my brothers here too early. I didn't expect you to come earlier than us. You are the one!"
As he said this, Liu Bei gave Wu Kuang a thumbs up.
Wu Kuang was also a vulgar warrior, and he took advantage of Liu Bei's kindness. He smiled and said:
"Xuande, you don't know that our general attaches great importance to welcoming the Buddha. Why would we have made our brothers wait here long ago?"
With that said, Wu Kuang also said hello to Zhang Fei. The two had had drinks before, so they knew each other.
Then seeing that Liu Bei didn't care, Wu Kuang still whispered mysteriously:
"Xuande, you don't know, and you don't know where the rumors came from. It is said that someone is going to be harmful to the general at this Buddha reception, so he asked the brothers to come here early to arrange it. Don't tell outsiders, otherwise it will appear too much." Our general is cowardly.”
Liu Bei's heart tightened, and then he looked behind Wu Kuang, and sure enough he saw officials belonging to the general's shogunate guarding the main road of White Horse Temple in twos and threes.
Liu Bei's heart was beating fast and his face was a little red. When he felt that his secret would be exposed if he went on, he told Wu Kuang:
"Then you have to be careful. The current situation is in chaos. There were still many remnants of the Yuan family lurking in Kyoto back then. You must not protect the general. By the way, has the general arrived?"
Wu Kuang was stunned by what Liu Bei said. Hearing Liu Bei's question, he nodded subconsciously, and then explained:
"The general and some ministers have already arrived at the temple. Now we are waiting for His Majesty to arrive."
At this time, Liu Bei already understood that there might be something wrong with the original plan. After he dealt with Wu Kuang for a few words, he took Zhang Fei and Chen Dao in first. As for the group of Jinwu officials, they could only stay outside with the generals, shogunate officials and officials outside.
Entering the temple, Liu Bei's eyes darted all the way, and finally he saw an acquaintance, it was Kuai Liang, who was also a member of the operation.
Originally, Kuai Liang was still talking to other ministers from Jingzhou. When he saw Liu Bei coming in, he immediately understood that something might have changed.
So Kuai Liang first glanced at Liu Bei, then made excuses with his colleagues and turned in from the side road.
Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Chen Dao immediately followed Kuai Liang and went around. The path was very narrow and winding, and then they followed Kuai Liang into a row of monasteries.
There were three stick-holding monks outside one of the monasteries. When they saw Kuai Liang coming, they quickly opened the door behind them.
After that, Kuai Liang entered, followed closely by Liu Bei, while Zhang Fei and Chen Dao stood guard outside the door like the three stick monks, one on the left and one on the right.
The doors and windows in the monastery were closed, and it was dark inside. Kuai Liang lit an oil lamp, and the looming light hit his face, creating heavy shadows.
It wasn't until this moment that Kuai Liang spoke:
"Xuande, what happened? Shouldn't you be guarding outside the temple with Zhijinwu?"
Liu Bei was so anxious that he lowered his voice:
"Something happened, and I don't know where the news leaked out. The general shogunate heard that someone was going to kill him at White Horse Temple. Now Wu Kuang, the captain of the shogunate, has led people to surround White Horse Temple."
Kuai Liang was shocked, but quickly calmed down.
He first asked:
"Have you seen how many people there are?"
Liu Bei thought about it carefully and confirmed:
"A school captain's department has about a thousand people, but I think Wu Kuang only brought one army commander, and the total strength should be around 500 people. The shogunate of the general is probably not sure whether the news is true, so he dare not Mobilizing so many people with great fanfare”
When he heard that there were only five hundred people, Kuai Liang calmed down completely. He thought for a while:
"I will discuss this matter with Zhong Yao later. Xuande, you should still guard outside the temple with Zhijinwu, but you need to select fifty people from the army, let them change into monk robes, and come in first."
Kuai Liang was a descendant of the Jingxiang family. His brother Kuai Yue was originally promoted by General He Jin, but he later followed Liu Biao to Jingzhou. For the benefit of the family, Kuai Liang stayed in Kyoto to provide the family with the trends of various forces in Kyoto.
Afterwards, Kuai Liang joined Lantai formed by the little emperor, became a member of the so-called imperial party, and was deeply involved in the planning of this operation.
Therefore, Kuai Liang still had certain decision-making power. He knew that it was no longer realistic to follow the previous plan, so he made a decisive decision.
It was decided that He Jin would be captured inside the temple without having to hold Jinwu outside the temple.
He talked with Liu Bei for a while and asked him to choose the operators, and then used the wooden sticks and firewood axes from the temple as weapons.
He asked Liu Bei if he had any worthy warriors.
Liu Bei said without hesitation:
"My second brother Zhang Fei has courage that no man can match."
"Okay!"
Because there were many people and mixed views, the two of them couldn't talk much, so they decided to follow this plan.
Before leaving, Liu Bei glanced at Kuai Liang and saw the arrangement in the recovery room, and said no more.
To be honest, Liu Bei was greedy for Kuai Liang, and he wanted to take Kuai Liang for his own use. In fact, he didn't have much contact with Kuai Liang, but in just a short period of time, he saw that Kuai Liang had the qualities to be a top counselor.
That is decisiveness.
Liu Bei has realized that many people always make coups very complicated and involve many people. It seems that the more people involved, the more things will work out.
But in fact, these people don't know what the key to action is.
In this operation, the most critical thing was to isolate He Jin from his shogunate soldiers. Why set it up at White Horse Temple instead of attacking at the Golden Palace like before against the Yuan family?
It is because He Jin has military power. The five battalions of soldiers affiliated to the shogunate are stationed in Kyoto all year round and can support He Jin at all times.
But White Horse Temple is different. First of all, it is outside the city, and the soldiers of the shogunate cannot be mobilized out of the city. Secondly, because of the relationship between White Horse Temple and the royal family, it was easy for the little emperor to arrange actions. Last but not least, once He entered the White Horse Temple, his bodyguards could only stay outside, because this was a meeting to welcome the Buddha in which the young emperor participated, just like a government affair.
Kuai Liang, who was on the opposite side, quickly seized the main trunk in a short period of time. He understood that since the soldiers from outside could not come in, he had to arrange for people to come in first and capture He Jin directly with what was available in the temple.
After all, He Jin is just a sheep-slaughterer, so why does he need a knife?
Therefore, Liu Bei appreciated Kuai Liang, but he also understood that Kuai Liang would not join his team. Thinking of this, Liu Bei could only suppress his bitterness and unwillingness and devote all his energy to the subsequent actions.