There are many historical sites in the suburbs of the imperial capital.
Although at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, many people felt that this imperial capital was not as good as the ancient capital Nanjing, which occupied the prosperous land of Jiangnan, and was inferior to Chang'an, which occupied the natural barrier of Guanzhong and was renamed by Emperor Taizu, and emotionally, they were unwilling to make Dadu, which was once occupied by the Mongols, the imperial capital, but all of them could not resist the insistence of Emperor Taizu.
Emperor Taizu was a restless man. Although he could not travel around the country at will, he still traveled all over the capital, leaving behind countless legends. He also made many famous places that were not very famous become places where tourists flock to.
For example, Lingguang Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty, and then destroyed and rebuilt many times during the Liao and Jin Dynasties.
"At that time, Emperor Taizu led people to Longquan Temple in disguise and visited the Zhaoxian Pagoda handed down from the Liao Dynasty. He stayed in the pagoda for a night. It is said that during that night, Emperor Taizu dreamed that he had lost a tooth. The next day, he called the abbot of the temple and said he wanted to dig up the pagoda. Of course, the monks refused, but later they panicked when they heard that the emperor was coming."
"As a result, Emperor Taizu ordered the Ministry of Works to bring in skilled craftsmen, and they dug out the tooth relic of the Buddha!"
At this moment, standing in front of the rebuilt Zhaoxian Pagoda, which looked majestic and magnificent, Zhu Ying, bathed in the autumn sun, said with great joy: "Because of this, Emperor Taizu later set so many rules for those Buddhist temples and monks, but no one dared to say anything, because that was not dug out of the mud, it was a stone coffin dug out by a bunch of monks under the instructions of the craftsmen!"
"When the monks finally unearthed the Buddha's tooth relic, each side of the wooden box had inscriptions written by Monk Shanhui. The news spread far and wide, and countless devout men and women came to pay homage..."
Listening to Zhu Ying's story of Taizu's search for the Buddha's tooth, Zhang Shou couldn't help but secretly suck his teeth. Taizu, the senior, actually dug out the Buddha's tooth that had been sealed for more than a thousand years in advance. The purpose of digging it out was not only to add a layer of halo to himself as the reincarnation of the Buddha, but also to put a tight ring on the Buddhist temples and monks. What a shrewd plan...
Compared to digging for other treasures, this one is much more clever!
"Because of the discovery of the tooth, Emperor Taizu made a stroke of his pen and Longquan Temple became Lingguang Temple. Other ancient temples and monasteries in the three nearby mountains were also found, and Emperor Taizu added and repaired some more, making a total of eight, so they are called the Eight Great Places. Because Lingguang Temple has the tooth, it ranks first."
When Zhang Shou first went up the mountain, he discovered that the Chang'an Temple in the Eight Great Places had disappeared. However, considering that the Chang'an Temple was also destroyed and never restored to its original appearance, let alone opened to the public, he did not find it strange. After all, it was politically correct to choose Lingguang Temple, where Emperor Taizu miraculously found the tooth of the Buddha, as the first place.
As for the other ancient temples and new temples, their numbers were moved forward one by one. This minor problem doesn’t matter at all.
Zhang Shou, who had just been looking out from an empty spot on the side of the pagoda, looked at the endless stream of pilgrims in Lingguang Temple and asked in a low voice, "There are so many people here, why don't we go in another day?"