Chapter 192 Don’t be disgusted, the monk knows you
(The previous chapter should be 189)
"My lady, what can I do?" When Xiao Baoyin heard that Princess Nanyang could help him solve his problems, he quickly put on an intimate look and asked.
Princess Nanyang said, "My husband, have you forgotten that there is a great monk in the city who has obtained the secret method of Fotucheng? If you have any questions, can't you just ask him?"
Xiao Baoyin was stunned for a moment. He knew that the eminent monk Princess Nanyang was talking about was Bian Ji from Longhua Temple.
Ever since the battle with Liu Lingzhu, Bian Ji's identity as Fotucheng's successor has been confirmed.
Even Empress Dowager Hu invited him to teach Buddhism at Yongning Temple.
Bian Ji gave a Dharma talk in Yongning Temple, which caused a sensation in the entire Luoyang city.
Because the Buddhism he taught was different from mainstream Buddhism, many monks debated with Bian Ji on the spot, but they were all refuted by him, and Bian Ji's status as a high monk was completely confirmed.
However, after the debate with the monks in Yongning Temple, Bian Ji returned to Longhua Temple for seclusion, and even rejected King Qinghe's invitation.
Nowadays, Buddhism is flourishing in both the Southern Dynasty and the Northern Wei Dynasty. Xiao Baoyin is not completely unbelieving. He asked:
"But this Master Bianji has been in seclusion at Longhua Temple, and he won't even see King Qinghe."
Princess Nanyang said, "Don't worry, my husband. When Master Bianji was giving lectures at Longhua Temple, I donated a lot of money to Longhua Temple. Today, Master Bianji agreed to come out of retreat and help my husband to hear the bell and make a decision."
"real!?"
Judging things by listening to the bells was Fotucheng's unique skill. In the past, he used the bells in the Buddhist temple many times to help others predict good and bad luck, and every time his prediction was correct.
Fotucheng was able to predict the fire in Youzhou in Yecheng, and Bian Ji was able to predict the fire in Bingzhou in Luoyang. It is obvious that Bian Ji also had the ability to "judge things".
Upon hearing this, Xiao Baoyin immediately said, "Hurry to Yongning Temple. I want to ask Master Bianji to block the way forward!"
Su Liang was a disciple of Confucianism, and he felt a little uncomfortable seeing Xiao Baoyin like this, but he had no other choice. The group quickly left Danyang Mansion and headed towards Longhua Temple.
Shortly after Xiao Baoyin left, Li Shengui, who had rushed over, found nothing.
"What? Your Duke Danyang just went out?"
But Xiao Baoyin left in a hurry and did not tell where he was going, so Li Shengui said, "Forget it, I'll just wait for Duke Danyang to come back at home!"
By the time Xiao Baoyin arrived at Longhai Temple with a small entourage, the sun was already high in the sky.
The monk in charge of reception knew the identity of Princess Nanyang and also saw the nobleness of Xiao Baoyin, so he politely led everyone to the place where Bian Ji was in seclusion.
Today's Bian Ji is different!
Since the battle with Liu Lingzhu, Bian Ji also lectured on the method of Pure Land practice in Yongning Temple, and the Pure Land sect quickly became popular in Luoyang.
Longhua Temple rebuilt the Buddhist hall for Bian Ji, and many disciples became his disciples. Today, Longhua Temple is as popular as those famous temples in Luoyang, all thanks to Bian Ji.
When Xiao Baoyin saw Bian Ji in a white robe and heard all the miraculous things he had done, he felt that this man was a high-level monk.
Bian Ji had already received Su Ze's [commission]. He waited until his disciples closed the monastery before speaking behind closed doors:
"The monk already knows what Duke Danyang wants to know."
Xiao Baoyin was shocked. Before he even asked the question, Bian Ji already knew it?
At this time, Bian Ji's disciples pulled the rope, and the Buddhist bell installed on the top of the pagoda made a melodious sound.
This is the bell that Bian Ji specially asked a craftsman to make. Once it is rung, the sound can be heard throughout the Longhua Temple.
The melodious bell sounds in the solemn Buddhist temple, giving Longhua Temple a more Buddhist holy land feel.
Xiao Baoyin's mind also became dazed by the incense and the ringing of bells.
At this moment, Bian Ji continued to tell Xiao Baoyin a piece of news that shocked him.
"The rebel king of Qinzhou emerged, and unrest began in the world."
"what!"
Qinzhou rebelled?
Xiao Baoyin thought about the various unusual movements in Luoyang in recent days, and felt that they were in conflict with the rebellion in Qinzhou!
If Qinzhou had not rebelled, why would the Luoyang Imperial Guards be so nervous?
If Qinzhou had not rebelled, why would the Queen Mother be so anxious?
Xiao Baoyin then asked, "Who in Qinzhou rebelled?"
Bian Ji folded his hands and said, "When the royal power is weak, there must be evil. Great Wei has a pair of evil father and son causing chaos."
Xiao Baoyin thought for a moment, raised his head and asked, "Hou Gang!?"
Bian Ji stopped talking, but a huge wave of emotions was rising in Xiao Baoyin's heart.
Yes, Hou Gang, if Hou Gang had not rebelled, why was King Yuan Yi of Jiangyang so silent?
The more Xiao Baoyin thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed to him. At the same time, he was attracted by Bian's words, "When the royal power is weak, there will surely be evildoers."
Royal aura, does it mean that the fate of the Wei Dynasty has come to an end?
Xiao Baoyin was a man who had experienced the fall of the Southern Qi Dynasty. He himself was a member of the Southern Qi royal family and had witnessed the end of the dynasty.
He didn't think so at first, but now Xiao Baoyin feels that the state of Wei is very similar to his motherland before it was destroyed.
Thinking of this, Xiao Baoyin wanted to lead his troops away from Luoyang even more.
He no longer doubted Bianji's "supernatural powers" and asked devoutly, "Master, please teach me!"
Bian Ji said: "To capture this evildoer, you, Duke Danyang, are the best candidate, but if you want to lead the troops to the battle, you still need to work hard yourself."
Xiao Baoyin nodded repeatedly. Seeing that the bait had been put down, Bian Ji immediately said, "In that case, Lord Danyang should go back to his work. If the court really wants you to lead the army to quell the rebellion, please come to Longhua Temple again."
Xiao Baoyin also knew that time was precious, and when he heard what Bian Ji said, he immediately stood up and said:
"If you can lead the troops to fight, I will definitely donate ten thousand coins to Longhua Temple!"
Bian Ji still kept his hands clasped together and his eyes lowered in meditation, which made Xiao Baoyin admire him as a great monk. He hurriedly left Longhua Temple. Xiao Baoyin sincerely said to Princess Nanyang: "Today's matter is all thanks to your help!"
Princess Nanyang was delighted. This was the best attitude her husband had shown her in the past six months. Just a conversation with Master Bian Ji could have such an effect. He must be an enlightened monk!
But the more Princess Nanyang heard about Bian Ji's repeated displays of supernatural powers, the more uneasy she became. Could it be that what Bian Ji said that day about his ill-fated relationship with Su Ze in his previous life was true?
So if she wants to reconcile with her husband, she must first repay Su Ze for the bad karma from her previous life?
Thinking of this, Princess Nanyang's heart started beating wildly again, thinking of the scene when she saw Su Ze in the Longhua Temple Pagoda that day. At this time, Xiao Baoyin had no time to care about his wife's mood changes. He was thinking about how to get the Wei court to appoint him to go to Guanzhong to quell the rebellion.
Hou Gang rebelled, and King Jiangyang Yuan Yi, who had tried his best to protect Hou Gang, must now atone for his sins. However, there are only a few people under King Jiangyang's command who are qualified to lead troops into battle.
The most urgent task is to convince King Jiangyang to recommend himself to go to the war!
Xiao Baoyin understood this and ordered the coachman to speed up and return to his house. He wanted to take a bath, change clothes and go see King Jiangyang immediately.
But unexpectedly, when he returned home, he met an unexpected visitor, that was Li Chong's son Li Shengui.
Xiao Baoyin was also very puzzled. Although he and Li Chong were both in King Jiangyang's camp, neither of them was King Jiangyang's direct descendant. They were only a group that joined the King halfway through, so they had no contact with each other on a daily basis.
Moreover, this time, Xiao Baoyin and Li Chong are secretly in competition for the position of commander-in-chief in the expedition to Guanzhong.
But as soon as Li Shengui opened his mouth, Xiao Baoyin was shocked.
"Duke Danyang, the rebel marquis just killed the governor of Qinzhou and started a rebellion. The empress dowager is worried about this matter day and night. Today, I went home to visit my grandfather and thought that Duke Danyang must be the one to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion!"
Li Chong was originally his rival, and Li Shengui was favored by the Queen Mother. This was something all the officials in Luoyang knew.
Xiao Baoyin felt it was a pleasant surprise that his competitor recommended him to join the battle!
Thinking about his meeting with Bian Ji just now, Xiao Baoyin felt that this monk really had supernatural powers and could really make decisions through the Buddhist bell!
At the same time, a trace of fear arose in Xiao Baoyin's heart.
He has many secrets of his own, and he has recently been exchanging a lot of letters with his "nephew" Xiao Zong of Southern Liang. Does the monk Bian Ji also know all about it?
Xiao Baoyin put aside these messy thoughts for the time being. The most important thing now was to fight for the position of commander-in-chief!
The Danyang Mansion began to get busy.
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Two days later, Prince of Qinghe Yuan Yi and Prince of Jiangyang Yuan Yi respectively recommended their own candidates for the commander-in-chief to Empress Dowager Hu.
The Prince of Qinghe recommended Yuan Yao, the former Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Expedition who had quelled the Mahayana rebellion. This result was expected by the court officials. Yuan Yao was a distant relative of the royal family, and his royal family status made his loyalty not to be doubted, and his distant relative status made him even more loyal.
Yuan Yao had a record of suppressing the rebellion in Jizhou in two months, and he was also a rare minister in the Northern Wei royal family who was knowledgeable about military affairs.
The person recommended by King Yuanyi of Jiangyang was Xiao Baoyin, Duke of Danyang.
This was far beyond the expectations of Prince Qinghe's followers.
They originally guessed that King Jiangyang would definitely recommend Li Chong, the veteran general from the last expedition against the Rouran. This was a candidate who met the requirements in terms of qualifications and abilities. The only problem was that Li Chong was old.
Therefore, Prince Qinghe's followers were preparing to use Li Chong's age to attack him.
However, Prince Jiangyang did not recommend Li Chong, but recommended Duke of Danyang Xiao Baoyin.
Both sides put forward candidates, and Empress Dowager Hu asked the important officials to express their opinions.
The final result was that King Jiangyang had long anticipated that the person recommended by King Qinghe was Yuan Yao, and he produced a lot of evidence to attack Yuan Yao, even bringing out the scandals of Yuan Yao when he was suppressing the rebellion in Jizhou.
On the contrary, Xiao Baoyin was a candidate that suddenly emerged, and the Qinghe King’s faction was not prepared at all. They were all ready to attack Li Chong!
More importantly, Empress Dowager Hu was deceived by someone and showed an attitude that was more inclined towards Xiao Baoyin.
When the fence-sitters in the Menxia Province saw Empress Dowager Hu's attitude, they immediately expressed their support for Xiao Baoyin, and the balance of victory quickly tipped towards Prince Jiangyang.
Some upright officials in the Menxia Province were also very dissatisfied with Prince Qinghe because of his indulgence of the imperial sister Princess Lanling. They joined the team supporting Xiao Baoyin, and the political struggle to decide the position of the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition came to an end.
In the second year of Shengui, at the end of August, the imperial court could no longer conceal the chaos in Guanzhong.
The latest news is that after the rebel leader Hou Gang raised the banner of clearing the court of corrupt officials, powerful people in all states in Guanzhong responded, and the states in Guanzhong were all uneasy.
Qinzhou and Nanqinzhou were occupied by the rebels. The two rebel groups joined together and attacked Liangzhou (Hanzhong) westward. Hanchuan City (Hanzhong City), the capital of Liangzhou, was besieged, and nearly half of Liangzhou was lost.
The bandit army in Guanzhong then advanced eastward to Qizhou. Fortunately, the governor of Qizhou, Cui Yanbo, was a man who understood military affairs. He led his trusted soldiers to defend Fengxiang City, the capital of Qizhou, and sent his sons to break out and seek reinforcements from Luoyang.
In addition, there were many rebel envoys active in Jingzhou and Yuanzhou, which were adjacent to Qinzhou. Rebellions broke out one after another within the prefectures and counties. The governors and county magistrates of these places could only defend their cities and did not dare to send troops to quell the rebellion.
One of the few bright spots in this Guanzhong rebellion was that Gaoping County Magistrate Yu Jin took the lead in imprisoning the powerful generals Hu Chen, Wanqi Chounu, Su Qin Mingda and others who were preparing for rebellion in Gaoping County, and imprisoned them in the county magistrate's mansion, thus thwarting the rebellion plot of the Xiongnu and Qiang people in Gaoping County.
In addition, Liangzhou Governor Yuan Yu and Hezhou Governor Li Shizhe announced a joint defense of the two states, plus a Gaoping County, which locked the rebellion in the narrow Guanzhong area and prevented it from spreading to Longxi and the northern Hetao area.
Under such circumstances, the court finally responded.
Empress Dowager Hu and the young emperor jointly issued an edict, appointing Xiao Baoyin, the Duke of Danyang, as the envoy with special powers, the chief minister, the governor of the Western Road, and the commander-in-chief of Pingxi.
The court sent out another 20,000 imperial guards, and the capital, Bingzhou, Xiangzhou, and Sizhou recruited a total of 30,000 soldiers, totaling 50,000 people. They claimed to have 200,000 troops under the leadership of Xiao Baoyin, and went to Guanzhong to quell the rebellion.
As soon as the court made the appointment, the originally deserted Xiao Baoyin mansion immediately became bustling with traffic.
The last time Yuan Yao planned to set up an administrative office and to suppress the Mahayana sect, Zhang Shijun served as Yuan Yao's administrative office secretary and military advisor. After suppressing the Mahayana sect rebellion, Zhang Shijun was immediately transferred to be the governor of Jizhou.
The Xingtai was a higher-level power than the Kaifu. Compared with the specialized military institution Junfu, the Xingtai was an institution that combined military and political power.
To put it bluntly, the Xingtai was a small imperial court.
Xiao Baoyin was appointed as the acting minister, and under him was a secretary to assist the acting minister in handling military affairs.
Comparing with the thirty-six departments of the Secretariat, each department has an arbitrary number of assistant officials, who are called Xingtai Langzhong, also called Xingtai Lang.
The Xingtai also had several military positions including left and right lieutenant generals, military assistants, and recorders.
All of the above are the main positions in the imperial court of the Xingtai, and they can all be appointed and dismissed at the discretion of Xiao Baoyin, the Xingtai Shangshu.
In addition, Xiao Baoyin, the governor of the Western Road, can also appoint and dismiss officials at the county level under his jurisdiction and control the various armies in the Guanzhong region.
Even during the process of suppressing the rebellion, Xiao Baoyin could appoint and dismiss temporary officials at the provincial governor level on his own, and after the war he could also present a report to commend their merits and have them promoted to full-time officials.
For the poor officials in Luoyang, the Xingtai under construction was very attractive.
Despite his busy schedule, Xiao Baoyin still found time to come to Longhua Temple. He came to fulfill his vow to Monk Bian Ji.
In the monastery last time, Xiao Baoyin met Bian Ji again, but an evil thought surged in his heart. If this big monk really knew everything, then wouldn't he be able to hide the things he had done from him?
Xiao Baoyin was filled with murderous intent and decided to test Bian Ji. If he really knew everything, he would send someone to kill him!
Unexpectedly, when Bian Ji saw Xiao Baoyin for the first time, he clasped his hands together and said:
"Don't be disgusted, the monk knows you."
(End of this chapter)