The midwinter of the thirteenth year of Yanxing has finally arrived. Over the past few days, the winter snow has been covering the mountains, and the peaks of Luliang Mountain, the pine forests and the official residences on the mountain roads are all shrouded in silvery white. Since September, all participating armies have returned to their respective defense areas one after another, and the originally bustling streets have returned to their former glory. The ground is covered with broken branches weighed down by the heavy snow. Occasionally, one or two foraging foxes or raccoon dogs pass through, hurriedly walking through the snow, giving those who see it a sense of silence and emptiness.
Chen Chong and his group walked slowly forward in the knee-deep snow.
Chen Chong was among the last of the armies to leave Pingcheng, because after capturing Danhan Mountain, he discussed with Liu Bei how to deal with it, and finally decided to hand over Danhan Mountain to Tuoba Liwei and named him the Great Chanyu. Allow him to return to the country. Just to change the country's name to Huan, another Yunbei Changshi Mansion should be set up in Danhan Mountain, with a garrison of 5,000 people under its jurisdiction, and Chen Deng would be temporarily in charge. All affairs in the country should be fully prepared and then communicated to the Ba Mansion. As a result, when everything was done, I realized that it was already November.
Walking on the snowy road, Chen Chong couldn't help but think of the scene of heavy snowfall when he first came to Xihe more than ten years ago. Then I thought again, what happened to the victims I rescued in Lishi? Are the folks left behind by Bai Bo having a hard time? Now that I was passing by Yangchangcang and there was nothing major going on for the time being, my desire to go back to Xihe and take a look suddenly became stronger.
After making up his mind, he sent a letter to Zhong Yao, Liu Bei and his family, and then went to the bend of the river with a few students who had nothing to do.
After not visiting for more than ten years, Chen Chong's memory of Hequ has long been forgotten. Sometimes he even recalls the past and deliberately thinks about the appearance of the ferry, but it seems to be covered with a thin but insurmountable layer of fog, which makes him It is difficult to obtain only scale feathers. But when I saw the meander of the river again, the mist immediately dissipated, and the gentle and round hills, the groups of withered yellow reeds standing on the riverside, and the thin silvery ice on the river surface soon met the memories of the past again.
Although there were many similarities, there were also many differences. After crossing the ferry, Chen Chong saw a wine shop on the side of the road, owned by a Hu man with blue eyes and brown hair. Everyone had a meal of mutton here, and then We drove to Meiji. Along the way, we could see many pagodas and Buddha statues among the rocks along the road. They were all carved and enshrined by the Huns who believed in Buddhism.
When the horse arrived at Meiji, Liu Bao wore a bearskin robe and went out of the city to greet him. Since they were looking for old friends, the group did not enter the city for a banquet, but walked around the city. In the wind and snow, it can be seen that the Meiji Market, which was busy in the past, has now become dilapidated. Liu Bao said that this was due to the attack by bandits two months ago, but Chen Chong could also see that the years of war have indeed affected people’s livelihood. Somewhat withered.
Therefore, he smiled at Liu Bao and said: "When I first came to Meiji, I exchanged my sword for 10,000 lambs, 10,000 sheep, and 1,000 oxen from your country. Now that I think about it, it's actually not worth it. It's probably Lao Dan. Yu gave me some thin noodles. In three years' time, I will return you one hundred thousand sheep and goats. Think of it as repaying the kindness of the old Shanyu!" Liu Bao was naturally grateful.
The next day, Chen Chong walked south along the west bank of the river until he reached Washi. When they saw the frozen water, they turned westward. The winding mountain road was like the past. Chen Chong himself did not remember how he walked there. Yes, but it happened to be over again, as if it was just a short moment. And after this short and long moment, he saw the two cities of Yuan Yang and Yuan Yin facing each other across the water, as well as the smoke-filled countryside outside the city.
While walking on the road, a voice suddenly asked hesitantly on the side of the road: "Excuse me, is this Chen Shijun?" Chen Chong turned his head when he heard the words and found that it was a one-armed old man sitting in front of the hut. , squinting his eyes to look at himself, but his tone was uncertain.
Chen Chong didn't think he was familiar. Maybe he was an old fellow? With this thought in mind, Chen Chong slowly reined in his horse and stepped forward to talk: "I am Chen Chong, what can I do for you, old man?"
When the old man saw him approaching and confirmed his identity, he immediately showed a heartfelt smile. He did not answer first, but turned to the village and shouted: "It's the old envoy! It's the old envoy who's back!" Like honey, a group of people in the village instantly gathered and surrounded Chen Chong. Some guards were quite cautious, but Chen Chong still asked them to retreat and walked with the villagers. After all, after living in Chang'an for a long time, he had not experienced this feeling of being one with the people for a long time.
The people surrounding Chen Chong included men and women, old and young, and they all told Chen Chong their origins. It turns out that this area is full of victims who were resettled in the first winter after Chen Chong took office in Xihe. They were moved here only after the land grant order was executed. When it came to this, everyone thanked Chen Chong profusely, and some even took out the wooden signs that Chen Chong had issued back then and looked proud.
Chen Chong felt happy at first, but he soon discovered that among the more than a hundred people in the house, apart from the old, weak, women and children, there were only about a dozen strong men, and all of them had injuries. The good ones were missing a few fingers. The bad one even lost his entire right leg. When he asked about the reason, the local people all said that it was due to fighting in the army. In the entire Bingzhou, almost 70% of the men had the experience of joining the army, especially the people in Xihe County. However, the people in the village were not sad because of it. Instead, they were proud of it when talking about the war. They praised Chen Chong: "The old envoy's military skills are unparalleled, he is the best in the world!"
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This sentence made Chen Changchong hurt. He picked up a three-year-old child and looked at the admiration in these people's eyes for him. He suddenly thought to himself: "Even if I unify China, will it really matter?" Is it worthy of all the people in the world?" He couldn't answer this question himself, because it is meaningful only when the people in front of him recognize it.
He decided to spend the night here and eat porridge and vegetables with the villagers. Looking around, Chen Chong felt a little comforted that although there were few cattle and sheep in the stables of the people, there were many chickens and ducks. Compared with the predicament of begging and having no clothes in Xihe, it was still much better.
During the meal, Chen Chong asked again whether the administration of township and county officials was clean and peaceful. The villagers replied that the virtuous should be rewarded if they were sentenced to prison, and those who collected taxes would be punished by violence. Chen Chong was thinking about gains and losses, but unexpectedly, the villagers asked Chen Chong if he heard that Xijing was prosperous and could he accept one or two children as his disciples and go to Chang'an to broaden his horizons. Chen Chong wanted to decline politely, but when he saw the earnest eyes of the villagers, he could not say any words of refusal. There were not many children in the school, and even fewer were literate. Finally, Chen Chong selected a nine-year-old boy named Zhao Qiu as his student. Because he could memorize "Xiaoya" in "Poetry", he gave it to the good "Poetry" first. 》Deng Zhi taught him.
After accepting his disciples in public, Chen Chong felt depressed and couldn't express it to the villagers, so he asked what the scenery was like here. He wanted to explore the wild and express his feelings. The villagers said that a Buddhist temple was built five years ago between the Shenmu Peaks three miles to the south. It was quite effective. The surrounding villagers often went to the temple to pray. The old envoy may wish to take a look.
In the past few years, due to Liu Bei's support, there have actually been many more Buddhist temples in Guanzhong and Taiyuan. However, most of the organizational layout is Baima Temple, which is not new, but mountain temples are very rare. Chen Chongde suddenly became interested after hearing this, and turned to the students and said: "Building a temple and cultivating in a busy city is not a skill. Only if you can endure loneliness in the mountains can you understand some of the true principles."
So early the next morning, before dawn, Chen Chong and his party bid farewell to the villagers and walked south led by Zhao Qiu. Although the villagers had said that the mountain road was steep and difficult to navigate, it was only when Chen Chong reached the foot of Shenmu Peak that he realized how dangerous it was. Standing at the foot of the mountain and looking up at the mountain wall, he saw that the mountain to the west was rising vertically, with no snow at all. You can still stand more or less, and there seem to be dots of white ink splashing among the gray stone cliffs. Looking up, you can only see the billowing white clouds washing away the mountainside, and you can't tell where is the cloud and where is the snow.
The way up the mountain was on another small peak next to Shenmu Peak, but the horses couldn't go up. Lu Yi didn't want to be tired, so he volunteered to take care of the horses at the foot of the mountain. The others laughed and went up the mountain separately. After about an hour of climbing and climbing, everyone passed through layers of white clouds and was covered in fog. Finally, they saw a suspension bridge composed of dozens of ropes, extending from the end of the small peak to the sacred tree. On a bluestone pillar on the peak, the outline of the mountain temple can be vaguely seen.
At this time, the rising sun emerged from the sea of clouds, illuminating the mountains with glory, and everyone suddenly felt a sense of openness. They rested for a while by the bridge, looked at the red sun, and then walked along the rope bridge one by one. This was regarded as entering the mountain temple.
There is a stone tablet next to the stone pillar with the word Baiyun written on it, which should be the name of the temple. Behind the stone tablet, there is a hall dedicated to Buddha statues, three thatched houses for living, and a small vegetable patch. There are also a few plum blossoms planted on the cliffs, which have already bloomed. Zhao Qiu told Chen Chong that there was only one monk in the temple, and he built the rope bridge, Buddha statue, lobby, and thatched cottage all by himself. After hearing this, Chen Chong couldn't help but become more curious about this person, thinking: Even among the monks I know, there are probably no more than five who are so pious. How can there be such a strange person here?
With this mentality, he walked to the lobby and knocked on the door to greet him. The door creaked open, and Chen Chong saw a face emerging from the clear light. The two looked at each other, both of them were shocked and couldn't help but take two steps back.
When the students saw Chen Chong looking over with blank eyes, his eyes slowly condensed, and then looked back at the monk with an indifferent expression, and then heard him slowly say: "Go to Baiyun Temple on Shenmu Peak to seek for the suffering of Bodhi and Nirvana. Unexpectedly, people There is such a person as a master in this world.”
The monk was skinny and dressed in linen clothes, but he still maintained an extremely strong figure. When he walked out of the hall, no one around him could compare with him. But seeing a kind of embarrassed dejection on his face, he said to Chen Chongtan: "The fallen leaves are just returning to their roots. I don't care what the dragon head says about nirvana or not."
When Chen Chong heard this, he turned around and left without replying. He didn't expect to see an old friend of Bai Bo here today. Should I send someone to kill him? The thought only lingered for a moment and then dissipated. As time passed, Chen Chong couldn't help but sadly discovered that the hatred in the past was like ice and snow, which would turn into running water as long as he looked at it for a moment.
On the way down the mountain, the students followed Chen Chong without knowing why. Looking around, the scenery has not changed, the morning light is still shining, everything is covered with clouds, and when he saw this scene, his heart was filled with melancholy. He thought silently: People born in this world may not have an inch of pure land, but Because of this, I had to force it.
(End of the journey in Haoli)
