Could it be that the old monk himself had done it? Some people even had this thought in their minds, but they also discarded it. Master Jinghong was obviously intelligent, so how could he cut off his own arm? Even if something happened, it would only require the punishment of one person, not the burning down of the entire temple.
The nobles suspected a lot, but in the end they still didn't know who did it. However, some people did find some clues. They felt that this was not done by the inherent forces of Nanzhao Kingdom, but by outsiders.
In recent times, the most powerful outsider is the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, but he has now returned to Sichuan and taken all his people with him. The strength of Shangqing Temple is not weak. If you want to burn it down like this, you need at least thousands of skilled people.
In fact, they had such an idea purely because they overestimated the ability of Shangqing Temple. They also knew that there were many mechanisms inside Shangqing Temple, but because of the sneak attack at night, many mechanisms were not opened. In addition, the people under Qian Ping were extremely capable, so this result occurred.
At dawn the next day, the King of Nanzhao was furious in the court. Since the founding of Nanzhao, there has never been an incident of a temple being burned down. Dozens of corpses were also found. Although it was not known whose bodies these were, it could be inferred that they should be monks in the temple.
The King of Nanzhao has always advocated Buddhism. Now a temple has been burned down and dozens of monks have been burned to death. It is also possible that the fire was caused by arson. So the King of Nanzhao immediately ordered several officials to form a joint yamen to solve the case in the shortest time possible. No matter who did it, there will be no leniency.
Prince Zhennan listened in the court for a whole morning and released his men, but he still had no clue. He thought his subordinates had good investigative abilities, but there was actually no information at all about this matter.
The first person who can be ruled out is himself. He would never do such a thing because his people are scattered all over the country, and his subordinates in the capital alone do not have the ability to do so. When Shangqing Temple was burned, the first emotion of Prince Zhennan was very happy, but he soon became unhappy because even he himself felt that he was suspicious, so why didn't other people think so?
However, judging from the situation at this morning's court, His Majesty the King and the temple did not suspect me. After all, none of my people had come to the capital, and if there was any movement, they would naturally notice it.
But it is this unknown force that is the most terrifying. If we can infer it, even if its strength is a hundred times stronger than ours, we can still make a certain response. But now there is nothing in front of us except darkness. Moving forward in the darkness makes people feel chilling.
"Your Highness, please wait a moment. His Majesty the King invites you to the back hall to serve tea."
After the court was dismissed, Prince Zhennan was preparing to return to his palace. There were still a lot of things waiting to be dealt with. In addition to the matter of Shangqing Temple, he also had to let his subordinates continue to investigate. Unexpectedly, his eldest brother would not let him go back.
Prince Zhennan knew what was going on. It must be something about Shangqing Temple, which made this eldest brother a little anxious.
The king, without much power, had to rely on a religion to fight him. Now that one of the religion's arms had been cut off, how could the king's eldest brother not be anxious? He probably pretended to drink tea, but really wanted to test him. Based on the Prince of Zhennan's understanding of his eldest brother, perhaps he thought he was plotting to usurp the throne.
Although the two brothers are brothers, they each have their own guilty consciences, so they don't enjoy drinking this cup of tea. Before they finish the first cup of tea, His Majesty the King is already a little restless. Although he was in high spirits and seemed to be doing things in an orderly manner in the court just now, it is easy to see that His Majesty the King is anxious when there are only the two brothers.
"Second brother, in your opinion, who did this incident at Shangqing Temple?"
His Majesty the King has nothing to hide, and there is no point in hiding this matter. There is no one else here, including the chief eunuch, all of whom have been sent aside by His Majesty the King. What he wants now is the truth.
"Brother Wang, you ask me this question. Do you think I did it? I didn't say a word all morning, and this matter really has nothing to do with me. If it was really me, then I would definitely have a series of subsequent actions. I would never be here with you for tea."
When there were only two brothers, the words of Prince Zhennan made His Majesty the King unhappy. Have you stopped hiding your ambitions?
But if you think about it carefully, there is nothing wrong with what the King of Zhennan said. Last night I dealt with the evil monks in Shangqing Temple, which was equivalent to cutting off one of Master Jinghong's arms, and that was also equivalent to cutting off one of your Royal Highness's arms.
Did I do this just to show everyone the flames? That's not what a strategic person would do. After this one thing is done, there will definitely be other things behind it. Will I still come to your court today? I'm afraid the whole royal city is already in chaos with shouts of killing.
"My brother, what you said makes sense. It's obvious that I didn't do it. Then, who else in this royal city has this ability?"
What His Majesty the King said is also what Prince Zhennan wanted to say. The two brothers have been in conflict almost all the time since the day they were born. If they were to be confused about the same thing, it might be the incident in front of them.
After drinking two cups of tea, neither of the two brothers could figure out anything, but one thing was clear: it had nothing to do with them.
The two even thought that it was very likely that Master Jinghong did it himself. After cutting off his arm, he might not want to get involved in the fight between the two brothers. He even wanted to evacuate the Buddhist quiet place and then devote himself to teaching Buddhism.
But the two brothers knew Master Jinghong very well. Although he seemed to be a harmless old monk on the surface, he was actually very ambitious. He would never do such a thing as cutting off his own arm.
It’s better not to drink this bowl of tea. After drinking it, I have even more question marks on my forehead...
