Chapter 11 The Magical Ming Dynasty

Pei Yuan hesitated when he heard this.

Da Ci'en Temple is located outside Xuanwumen in Xicheng District, and it takes a lot of time to visit it.

Pei Yuan has a lot of things to prepare for his long journey this time.

——For example, borrowing money.

Although Pei Yuan had already overspent within the system, the only thing that was directly affected was the forced borrowing of money. As it was money borrowed based on one's own ability, the system would not interfere except for recording the amount.

Pei Yuan got six taels from Cheng Zhihu, and the piece of silver that Sun Bo threw to him was about seven or eight taels.

This money can basically only be used to pay off debts, but if it is used to maintain debt circulation, it can allow Pei Yuan to have a relatively relaxed period of time.

Of course, the pressure of the debt settlement day is also not small. This time when he goes to the south of the Yangtze River, he has to find a way to get a few hundred taels of silver to reduce the debt ceiling first.

The Da Ci'en Temple is said to have a history of a thousand years, and it was extensively renovated during the Chenghua period.

That year, a very strange thing happened.

Ninghe King Zhu Meiyi suddenly reported to the emperor, "Oh no, something went wrong!"

What happened?
It turned out that a monster appeared in the palace of Prince Hejian. This monster often possessed the statues of gods and princes, and demanded wine and meat from everyone, otherwise it would threaten to burn down the palace.

As a result, this matter lasted for two years. One night, the palace was caught off guard and was burned down by the monster.

——"Records of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty": "There was a fire in the Ninghe Palace of Jinfu. Since the 17th year of Chenghua, a demon had appeared in the palace, appearing as a statue of a god or a prince every night. When he demanded wine and meat, he would set fire to the palace. On the night of December 18th of the 18th year, the palace was burned down without leaving any clothes or utensils."

This sudden and bizarre incident immediately aroused an unforgettable memory for Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty.

That was a few years ago, a monster appeared in the capital.

"On the Gengxu day of the seventh month of the twelfth year, a black specter was seen in the capital. Men and women were sleeping outdoors, and a creature with golden eyes and a long tail, shaped like a dog or a raccoon, appeared. It carried a black gas into the window and went straight to the secret room, where people fainted. The whole city was in panic, and people took up swords, lit lanterns, and beat drums to chase it away, but they could not catch it." "History of Ming Dynasty·Five Elements Records"

"Black spots hurt people, and the will of heaven condemns them, which is very obvious." "The Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty"

The Qing Dynasty spent nearly a hundred years renovating the history of the Ming Dynasty, and its reliability is questionable. However, there is substantial circumstantial evidence for this matter.

This person is called Yin Zhi.

He served as Hanlin scholar and Minister of War during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty.

Being able to become a Hanlin scholar at least shows that he is one of the smartest scholars in the country, and being able to become the Minister of War and a member of the inner circle of the empire shows that he is also a capable and skillful person.

Such a smart and shrewd man recorded this incident in detail in his "Jianzhai Suozhuilu".

He wrote at the beginning.

I didn't believe it at first, but later.

——"I didn't believe it at first."

"At that time, many men and women slept outdoors in the alleys..."

"... Suddenly, a thing carrying a black cloud came out, and it entered through the window, even in a secret room..."

"… the hands and feet, the head and face, the abdomen and back were injured and yellow fluid came out. When I woke up, I felt the injuries, but they were not very painful…"

"...Every city had injured people, and they all complained to the city's military commander. The inspector arrested and interrogated them and found evidence, and then reported everything to the emperor."

If a single piece of evidence is not enough to support a case, there is always circumstantial evidence besides the circumstantial evidence.

And this circumstantial evidence even contributed to a famous scene.

Wang Ao wrote in "Zhenze Changyu".

"It moved like the wind, suddenly and without a steady flow, sometimes hurting people's faces, sometimes biting people's hands and feet, and there were dozens of them in one night. Sometimes it was in the east of the city, sometimes in the west, sometimes in the north and south, spreading rumors and frightening people. One day, when the emperor was attending court at Fengtian Gate, the guards were suddenly startled, and the two classes of officials were also in chaos. The emperor wanted to get up, but Huai'en held it down, and it calmed down after a while." This passage mentioned an incident. This monster even suddenly appeared when Emperor Xianzong was attending court at Fengtian Gate. Witnesses included palace guards and civil and military ministers.

Emperor Xianzong wanted to get up and hide, but Huai'en, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, held him down, thus stabilizing the situation.

So is Wang Ao a reliable person?
This brings us to his identity.

In the fourth year of Zhengde, he served as the Minister of Revenue, the Prince's Tutor, and the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace. Together with Li Dongyang and Jiao Fang, he was one of the most powerful three cabinet members in the empire.

Does this famous scene mentioned by Wang Ao in the book give you a vague sense of familiarity?

You can compare this paragraph.

——"Infinite changes caused chaos in the Heavenly Palace, and the Thunder General's divine soldiers could not be caught. At that time, the gods gathered the Great Sage together, but could not get close to him. The noise and fighting had already alarmed the Jade Emperor. So he issued an order, ordering Youyi Lingguan and Yisheng Zhenjun to go to the West to ask the Buddha to subdue him."

This is the famous scene of the havoc in Heaven in the Ming Dynasty novel Journey to the West.

Some people may wonder, isn’t this nonsense?

Although scholars have their own way of expressing connotations, they can't force it. Although there are some similarities in the previous part, the Jade Emperor went to the West to ask Buddha to subdue him. Don't you reflect this?

Then we have to talk about how Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty handled this matter.

Coincidentally, the person responsible for solving this matter was the most powerful eunuch during the Chenghua period, the Western Factory Governor Wang Zhi!
Not long after this incident, when Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty saw the secret letter from Ninghe Prince Zhu Meizhen, he immediately thought of him being beaten by a monkey (crossed out in the text) and being frightened by a black spot.

In panic, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty could only seek the power of faith.

So he called the Dharma King of the Secret Teaching and asked expectantly, "Saint monk, are those sex techniques you taught me also a kind of Buddhist Dharma?"

The King smiled and said, "Of course."

Emperor Xianzong then felt relieved and ordered the commander-in-chief, Li Jin, the Prince's Grand Tutor and Marquis of Xiangcheng, to lead 10,000 soldiers to rebuild the Da Ci'en Temple.

The Da Ci'en Temple also became more prominent because of this. Even the Taoist Yun Weilin, who was the founder of the Da Ci'en Temple, had a higher rank than Cheng Zhihu and was the general flag bearer.

Pei Yuan was only seconded by Captain Han. He might be able to bully a small flag by borrowing the power of another. But he might not be able to scare people in places like Da Ci'en Temple.

He wanted to let Cheng Zhihu's son go first to help out, so after thinking about it, he said it immediately.

"In that case, tell your son to wait for me in front of the Da Ci'en Temple early tomorrow morning. Captain Han and I have agreed to meet at the Pacification Office at noon tomorrow, so don't waste any more time."

Cheng Zhihu understood and offered, "Don't worry, sir. I will have my son greet them. After you finish your questions, a carriage will take you directly to the Pacification Office."

Pei Yuan laughed, stood up and was about to leave.

Pei Yuan put the brocade box containing the celadon porcelain bottle into his sleeve, and thought that buying incense sticks would also cost a little money. Based on the simple idea of saving as much as possible, he asked casually, "By the way, what are the requirements for burning incense in this bottle?"

Cheng Zhihu was puzzled and said casually.

"It's nothing special, just ordinary incense sticks will do."

The monk who came in to see him off said hurriedly.

"Don't bother looking for it, my benefactor. How can the temple be without these things? The agarwood, precious candles, and yellow paper given by the emperor yesterday are still left. I will ask someone to prepare them now."

When Pei Yuan heard that it was a gift from the emperor, he thought to himself, it wouldn't hurt to use some good things of this magical thing, right?
The agarwood, precious candles and yellow paper bestowed by the emperor are all top-notch items and are not shabby enough to be used for offering sacrifices to heaven.

He immediately smiled at the monk who was in charge of reception.

"The monk is indeed knowledgeable. Thank you for your concern."

The monk in charge of reception heard the word "many" and groaned in pain. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "I will report this to the abbot and bring all of them to you."

Seeing the receptionist's response, Cheng Zhihu felt quite honored, even though he was ignorant and didn't understand the wit, and couldn't help but look at him with satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)

previouscatalognext