Chapter 6: Living in a Temple, Not Speculating

Chapter 6: Living in a Temple, Not Speculating

Chapter 6: Living in a Temple, Not Speculating
Pei Yuan clenched the small white porcelain cup in his hand, frowned slightly, and slowly walked out of the Northern Pacification Office.

The little flag he had brought earlier came closer nervously and asked, "My lord, what did they say?"

Pei Yuan had no one to use, and this small flag was returned from the East Factory along with him.

This young flagman was in his thirties and his name was Chen Toutie. According to the eunuchs in charge of the East Factory, he was very skilled in torture and had never failed.

When Captain Pei went to the south of the Yangtze River, the East Factory assigned Chen Toutie to Captain Pei in order to strengthen his power.

The original plan was to wait until Captain Pei destroyed the Plum Blossom Society, then interrogate and torture them on the spot, and then directly capture the mastermind behind the scenes.

I didn’t expect that life would not be satisfactory ten out of ten times.

Before Chen Toutie could even make a move, Pei Baihu had already lost his virginity.

Dongchang Gongqiu Ju endured the shame and humiliation, and later dismissed all the relevant personnel and sent them back to the Jinyiwei.

Chen Toutie was very confused after the product was returned.

He had been loaned to the East Factory for more than ten years, and had no background or foundation in the Jinyiwei. This time when he returned, there was no place for him.

Chen Toutie had no choice but to think that Pei Yuan was at least a sixth-rank centurion, and it would be easier for him to make a name for himself than for a small flag officer like him.

After returning to the Jinyiwei, he still followed Pei Yuan, insisting on sharing weal and woe with him.

It doesn't matter whether Pei Yuan has a real job now or not. He is happy to have someone to help him hold the fort, and he cares a lot about his only follower.

He felt that he should give Chen Toutie some hope.

After all, apart from ideals, Pei Yuan couldn't give Chen Toutie much.

Pei Yuan immediately comforted him, "It's okay. The Jinyiwei in Nanjing think highly of me. This time a captain came to borrow me to do something. If the assignment is lucrative enough, I will find a chance to bring you over as well."

Chen Toutie smiled happily when he heard this.

"Then it all depends on your support, sir."

Chen Toutie has had a hard time these days. Now he is just a figurehead in the Northern Pacification Office and no one pays any attention to him.

If there is no way to make money, what's the difference between him and those officials who only receive empty salaries?
Thinking about the efforts Pei Yuan put in to fill the vacancies, you will understand how difficult Chen Toutie’s situation is now.

Although the Nanjing Pacification Office did not have as much real power as that in Beijing, its advantage was that the emperor was far away and the country was in the beautiful Jiangnan world of glamour and singing and dancing. As long as one could find a few wealthy businessmen with no background and make some money, one could live comfortably.

After slowly exiting the alley, Pei Yuan casually asked Chen Toutie in a low voice, "By the way, do you know which temple or Taoist temple is closest to us?"

Chen Toutie was not sure after hearing this. "Well, I can't say for sure. Yuan'en Temple seems to be not far away, and Guangci Temple should be nearby as well."

It’s no wonder that Chen is so stubborn.

As for the reasons, it is more complicated.

Since its founding, the Ming Dynasty's policy has been to strictly control the number of temples and Taoist temples.

If all the prime locations are used to build temples and the fertile land becomes temple property, how can ordinary people survive?
In the sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict that temple residents should not be fired, and ordered that prefectures, states, and counties were only allowed to retain one large temple, and all the others had to be merged!
In the 15th year of Yongle, Zhu Di issued an edict that monks and nuns were not allowed to fire their temples and build nunneries privately. They had to abide by the law and those who violated it would be punished!
In the tenth year of Zhengtong, Zhu Qizhen issued an edict that temples were not allowed to be demolished or repaired, and the ban was strictly enforced.

In the 21st year of Chenghua, Zhu Jianshen issued an edict that the abbot of a temple should not be fired, and anyone who dared to add to or request a plaque or falsely claim to revive the ancient temple would be punished.

From the founding of the country to the present, almost every imperial court has taken "residence in temples but not speculation" as its guiding ideology and issued many imperial decrees for this purpose.

Under the relentless suppression of successive imperial courts, finally...

By the Zhengde period, there were more than 810 famous temples in Beijing alone.

How many small temples are there?

Here we can make an analogy. According to the "Jinling Buddhist Temple Records", there were 180 temples in Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty. Of course, this number is not complete, because in other historical materials, there are more than 20 temples with different names. Let's count it as 200.

It is also mentioned in the Records of Buddhist Temples in Jinling that "there are more than a hundred who are not included in the records."

In other words, the proportion of small-sized temples in Nanjing city is about half of the famous ones.

By this calculation, there are more than 400 nameless small temples in the entire city of Beijing.

In Kyoto, which has at least 1,200 temples, let alone Chen Toudi, even if the chief officials of the Buddhist and Taoist Records Departments were called in, they would be confused.

After listening to Chen Toutie's words, Pei Yuan murmured softly, "So, why did Zhang Rong want me to go to Zhihua Temple?"

Pei Yuan carefully thought about what had just happened, pondering it over and over in his mind.

Captain Han asked Pei Yuan to find a nearby temple with a Taoist priest named Zhenji to withdraw the silver. This was originally a trivial matter.

It was a bit puzzling that Zhang Rong, the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, intervened out of the blue.

Could it be that Captain Han had been in Nanjing for a long time, and Zhang Rong thought that she was not familiar with the temples in the capital, so she wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to do something?
Right.

There are thousands of temples in the capital city. Han Qianhu, an official from Nanjing, naturally doesn't understand the ins and outs here.

Pei Yuan walked slowly.

After a while, the fat military officer who took Pei Yuan to the Northern Pacification Office appeared at the corner at the end of the alley.

There was no smile on his face, and he said calmly, "Let's just get to know each other today."

After saying that, he threw over a small piece of silver and said in a deep voice.

"My name is Sun Bo."

After saying this without any context, the fat military officer turned and left.

Pei Yuan held the silver in his hand and for the first time felt that it was hot.

Chen Toutie followed and asked in confusion, "Sir, what are you doing here?"

Pei Yuan shook his head.

Then he whispered, "Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask. Come with me to Zhihua Temple."

"Zhihua Temple." Chen Toutie smacked his lips, "That's not a glorious place."

Zhihua Temple is a well-known temple in Beijing, covering an area of ​​more than two hectares. The temple has a main hall, side halls, a bell and drum tower, a Great Compassion Hall, and hundreds of meditation rooms, and its scale is comparable to that of the Confucius Temple in Beijing.

This was originally the ancestral temple of Wang Zhen, the eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department. After the Battle of Tumu, Wang Zhen's family was confiscated and his property was exterminated. However, because Zhihua Temple was built by the order of Emperor Yingzong, it was preserved.

Later, when Emperor Yingzong was restored to the throne, a shrine for heroes was built for Wang Zhen in Zhihua Temple.

The people hated Wang Zhen for ruining the country, which led to the Zhihua Temple being implicated and the temple became less popular.

Although Wang Zhen's ending was not good, because he was the most powerful eunuch in the Ming Dynasty, many ambitious eunuchs would secretly come to pay their respects to him after leaving the palace.

Pei Yuan was thinking about these bits and pieces, guessing Zhang Rong's intentions, while walking towards Zhihua Temple.

Sometimes, knowing some secrets isn't such a bad thing.

What's really bad is that others think you know something, but you know nothing.

(End of this chapter)