Two days later, Prince Li Bing of the Holy Tang Dynasty, accompanied by officials from the East Palace, went to the White Horse Temple outside Luoyi City as scheduled to offer incense.
Before setting off, Murong Xue made an excuse, saying that due to various plans to manage the Jinhe River, important official documents in the imperial capital have been exchanged frequently recently, so someone must be left on duty in Ziwei Palace, forcing them to shoulder the responsibility of guarding. Shan Tingxian, the Huangmen servant, was in the city looking after his family.
Murong Xue was the official of the East Palace and the leader of all the subordinate officials. His orders were naturally effective. Although Shan Tingxian was not happy in every possible way, he could only watch Murong Xue take Lao Jianhua and seven or eight others. Guards, set out with the prince.
Everyone rode horses or cars, and with little effort, they arrived at the historic temple outside Luoyi City.
The presiding abbot of White Horse Temple, Monk Liao Chen, had received a notice from the government the day before that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was personally coming to offer incense and perform a memorial service for the late Queen, so he led the monks out of the mountain gate before dawn. Welcome outside early.
Seeing the imperial chariot arriving at this time, Elder Liaochen stepped forward quickly, shouted the Buddha's name, and greeted Li Bing and everyone else. Li Bing quickly returned the greetings politely, and then, led by Liaochen, he walked into the temple.
The White Horse Temple in Luoyi, like the Daci'en Temple in the imperial capital, is a royal temple. All expenses are supported by the court. It is said that the Li family is the largest number of pilgrims in the temple. In addition to the usual fees, the emperors and royal nobles of the past dynasties would also give extra gold and silver from land to the temples to enrich their treasury. Therefore, temples such as Baima Temple or Ci'en Temple rarely receive ordinary pilgrims on weekdays and appear to be very quiet.
Accompanied by other eminent monks, Li Bing came to the Main Hall, offered incense and candles according to Buddhist rituals, chanted the mantra of blissful rebirth, and paid homage to his mother, Queen Huilin.
By the time all rituals were over, it was already almost noon.
According to custom, the prince had to stay in the temple to finish his vegetarian meal before setting off to return. While the kitchen was still preparing the vegetarian meal, Liao Chen invited Li Bing and a group of subordinate officials to the meditation hall at the back for tea.
Everyone sat down in the room and chatted while drinking tea. The topics also revolved around Buddhist scriptures and Zen philosophy. Whether it was Prince Li Bing, Murong Xue, or Lao Jianhua, they all read poetry and books and were no strangers to Buddhist classics. Liao Chen, on the other hand, was an eminent monk who had attained Taoism and had a deeper understanding of this. Therefore, they chatted with each other very well, and each time they had insightful insights, which attracted applause from others.
Murong Xue saw the opportunity and asked Chen: "Elder, I heard that your temple has countless collections, including the "Dongshan Dharma Notes" written by the fourth ancestor Daoxin and the "Prajna Paramita" written by Zen Master Shenxiu. "Heart Sutra", I wonder if it is true?"
Liao Chen smiled slightly when he heard the words, nodded and said: "Amitabha, what the donor asked is indeed true. These two supreme classics are the treasures of this temple, and they are currently stored in the Sutra Collection Pavilion at the back."
Li Bingchong believed in Buddhism, studied Buddhism since childhood, and was very pious. After hearing what Monk Chen said, he suddenly became interested: "Oh? Master, I wonder if this disciple has the chance to see the Buddha's treasure?"
"That's good, that's good," Liao Chen, who of course likes princes and nobles who are devout Buddhists like the prince, said happily: "Since His Highness has opened the Chrysostom, it is fate. I will go and get the classics and ask Your Highness to read them. "
Murong Xue applauded in her heart and said quickly: "Elder, please be patient. Your Highness, Lord Lao, as the Prince of Xima and in charge of the Economic Bureau of the East Palace, why not let him accompany the master and take a look at what other classics there are in the Sutra Pavilion. You can invite them together."
Li Bing couldn't help but wonder when he heard this. Although Lao Jianhua was officially worshiped by Prince Xima of the East Palace Bureau of Economic Affairs, the so-called scriptures of the Secretary of Economic Affairs refer to Confucian and Legalist classics on state governance, not Buddhist scriptures. It seemed that he was asked to make this trip specifically. A bit nondescript.
But then again, as an official responsible for the cultivation of arts and sciences in the East Palace, things like finding books to read should really be handled by Jianhua.
Therefore, he didn't pay too much attention and nodded casually.
Seeing that the prince agreed, Lao Jianhua had nothing to say, so he quickly stood up and held his hands in his hands, said "obey", and left the meditation room with the abbot master.
As soon as Lao Jianhua left, Murong Xue couldn't help but become nervous. According to the plan he had agreed with Tao Yuan, the raid on Lao Jianhua was likely to happen on the way to the Sutra Pavilion. Therefore, while Murong Xue continued to chat with Li Bing, she quietly paid attention to the movements outside.
Sure enough, just a moment later, the sound of a fierce fight suddenly came from behind the meditation hall without any warning. All of a sudden, shouts, curses, footsteps, and the clash of weapons could be heard all of a sudden.
The guards guarding the Zen room immediately became furious and guarded Prince Li Bing as if facing a formidable enemy. Murong Xue, on the other hand, jumped to the door of the Zen room and looked out through the window lattice to see what was going on.
At this moment, his mood was a little complicated.
Obviously, the chaotic and noisy movement outside was not in line with the action plan Tao Yuan had introduced to him before. According to Ni Linsi's idea, the raid on Lao Jianhua should be carried out under very secretive conditions. The master's attack should be short and powerful, and the labor thief should be captured cleanly before he could react and call for help.
But the current situation sounds like a melee!
Murong Xue couldn't help but secretly become anxious, and an ominous premonition instantly enveloped his heart.
What happened? Why did Tao Yuan and the others make such a loud noise?
At this moment, although Prince Li Bing was still sitting where he was, the expression on his face had become very solemn. Li Bing clenched the armrests of the chair tightly with both hands, and kept glancing at the guards around him, and finally looked at Murong Xue standing at the door with a rather surprised and uncertain expression.
Obviously, the prince was scared.
Murong Xue wanted to go over and comfort Li Bing, but he was not sure what the situation was outside now, let alone whether the prince's safety was still within control. If something unexpected happened, he and a few guards alone might not be able to protect Li Bingzhou.
After about a stick of incense, the sounds of fighting and shouting behind them finally subsided.
Not long after, two people walked over from a distance outside the Zen Hall door, and surprisingly they were Lao Jianhua and Shan Tingxian!
Murong Xue was really surprised that Lao Jianhua came back safe and sound. Shan Tingxian, who was supposed to stay in Ziwei Palace in Luoyi, also appeared at the White Horse Temple at this time, which made him feel that something was wrong!
The two men strode closer, crossed the threshold of the Zen room, and nodded to Murong Xue at the same time. Then they came straight to Prince Li Bing. Shan Tingxian knelt down on one knee and loudly reported: "Your Highness, just now An assassin appeared in the temple, and the minister and others strangled him with all their strength, disturbing the Holy Master. Please forgive me, Your Highness."
When Li Bing heard what he said, he was so frightened that he quickly asked: "Ai Qing, where did the assassin come from? What's the situation outside now?"
Shan Tingxian introduced in detail: "Your Highness, a total of eighteen assassins have been found so far, and none of them have slipped through the net. They were all killed by the ministers and their brothers. As for their origins and identities, they are still unknown."
"Eighteen, there are actually so many?" Li Bing was surprised: "Didn't they catch anyone alive?"
Lao Jianhua explained from the side: "Your Highness, those assassins are all very powerful in martial arts. It is really not easy to capture them alive. There were two injured and captured, but at the last moment, they all secretly swallowed the hidden corpses. Poison in his mouth, he committed suicide out of fear of sin."
Hearing this, Li Bing nodded silently, and then looked at Shan Tingxian strangely: "Aiqing, weren't you ordered to stay at Ziwei Palace before? Why did you come here again?"
"Your Highness, please forgive me," Shan Tingxian replied quickly: "Not long after your Highness set off this morning, Taifu came to Ziwei Palace. He heard that Wei Chen was responsible for staying behind, and became furious on the spot. He rebuked that no matter how important the official documents from the imperial capital were, The safety of His Highness is not as important as it is, and there is no need to leave the ministers there to look after the house. It is enough to send a clever chamberlain. His Royal Highness, the prince, has a body of thousands of gold, and there must be no mistakes, otherwise the heads of the ministers and the whole family will be held accountable. . In this way, Wei Chen had no choice but to lead a large number of guards to come to White Horse Temple to accompany him."
Lao Jianhua continued from the side: "Thanks to the urging of the Grand Tutor, Shan Shilang and the others were able to arrive in time and detect the traces of the assassin. Otherwise, if those desperadoes had found the opportunity, they would have harmed His Highness at all. , I will not be able to escape the blame even if I wait for ten thousand deaths. Now that all the assassins have been subdued, and hundreds of guards are protecting the White Horse Temple, His Highness is safe."
Li Bing listened to Lao Jianhua's words and was lost in thought for a while. Then he looked at Murong Xue next to him and said coldly: "Murong Zhan."
"I'm here." Murong Xue was slightly startled, her heart beating rapidly.
Li Bing's tone seemed a little cold: "It seems that you are still far less thoughtful than Mr. Xie. Before, you left Ting Xian on duty in Ziwei Palace, but he sent Ting Xian out of Luoyi City to escort him, leaving one behind and the other out. In the meantime, a large number of desperate assassins happened to appear, what a coincidence."
Murong Xue heard the dissatisfaction in the prince's words and quickly knelt down and prostrated on the ground: "Your Highness, please forgive me. It is indeed my carelessness and improper arrangements. Please punish me."
Li Bing ignored Murong Xue who was lying on the ground and turned to ask Lao Jianhua: "How is Master Liaochen? Are you injured?"
"Your Highness, please rest assured. Abbot Liaochen and the monks in the temple are not injured, but they are inevitably a little frightened." Lao Jianhua responded lightly.
"What a sin!" Li Bing slapped the armrest and stood up angrily: "The anniversary of the death of my mother has been messed up like this! I will never let it go. Tingxian, I ordered you to be responsible for investigating this case, and find out everything within ten days. The identity and purpose of the assassin, please report the details of the case to me!"
After that, Li Bing flicked his sleeves and walked out of the meditation room angrily. Lao Jianhua, Shan Tingxian and others quickly followed behind, leaving Murong Xue alone kneeling on the spot.
