It is said that the abbot of Qingniling Temple was a monk from Mount Emei. But she did not promote Buddhism in Qinling. It may be because she was not good at studying Buddhism. Otherwise, how could she befriend Taoists of unknown faction? As a disciple from Mount Emei, such a thing is a taboo nowadays.
There were many Taoist temples in Mount Emei at first. At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Buddhism used Mount Emei as the dojo of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva and soon squeezed out Taoism. Now, Taoist temples still exist in Mount Emei, but they are in many conflicts with Buddhism.
Jingniang's disciples certainly don't care about these things. They claim to be Taoists, but in fact they are a bit out of place. The abbot of Qingniling Temple should pay attention to these things, but now she doesn't seem to want to care about them; the temple is on the verge of bankruptcy, and perhaps she thinks that preventing a bunch of women from starving to death is the most important thing.
Now the two nuns had come to Sanguan from hundreds of miles away to repay the favor of the Taoist priest Jingniang. Then they were involved in worldly affairs and were asked to describe the terrain and climate of Qingniling.
Although Guo Shao had a fear of unknown things such as gods and ghosts, he did not believe in any religion, and he would use them as long as they were useful, regardless of whether they were nuns or Taoist nuns. He was only concerned with making military achievements and waiting to marry the second sister of the Fu family.
According to the nuns' description, Qingniling is actually in a very good location, being on the Chencang Road, but it is the most difficult section of the northern section of the Shu Road; it is located forty miles south of Guzhen.
The Shu Road first extended along the Jialing River. After reaching Fengzhou, it was difficult to cross the dangerous and turbulent Jialing River. So the route was changed to the west, passing through Guzhen and then Qingniling. Qingniling is a place with high mountains and heavy rain, and the road is difficult to travel. In fact, it is the most dangerous place and many major battles have taken place there. Not only is it difficult to capture, but it is also difficult to walk over the mountain when there is nothing to do.
Guo Shao listened to the nun's difficult narration and thought that Qingni Ridge was to the south of Guzhen and was not part of the battle target for capturing Qinfeng. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The group of women came north along the Shu Road and discovered eight military camps to the north of Weiwu City. This information was very useful to Guo Shao.
The two groups of troops sent out earlier have returned, and Guo Shao and the generals have agreed to return to Fengxiang. But before leaving, he decided to consolidate the two footholds of Lao Luo's family in Qingniling Temple and Tangcang Town to establish a stronghold.
This is a simple intelligence system, with the headquarters in Chencang, the end point of the Shu Road. A private house was rented and temporarily guarded by Luo Yanhuan and two personal soldiers. There are two bases, one is Qingniling Temple, where Jingniang's men pretend to be Buddhist lay disciples; the other is Tangcang Town, which is no longer guarded by strong personal soldiers, but by two slaves of Li Chuyun's family disguised as merchants, who are in collusion with Luo Laotou. Li Chuyun's slaves are not soldiers at first glance, which makes it easier.
It was the first time for everyone to see that sending spies could be done this way; before, when the generals wanted to find out military information, they either asked the peddlers passing by or sent scouts to find out the situation temporarily. Undercover agents were really unknown in the army, so Guo Shaocai had to arrange it himself. This was easy, and you could maintain this simple organization by spending money to support it; as long as the reward was reasonable, there were people everywhere who were willing to take this risk.
On the way, Zuo You couldn't help but praise Guo Shao in front of Yang Biao and others: "The lord is good at using people, whether it's Taoist nuns or servants, they can all be put to use." I thought of the battle in Wuqi Town again, and the lord was able to quickly organize the disorganized wounded soldiers and even the elderly, weak, women and children into a powerful force, which was admirable.
Luo Mengzi disagreed and said: Last time I told the general that my elder brother was best at seizing opportunities, otherwise the brothers would have died in the battle of Hedong, and Shi Yanchao would not have survived.
Just after returning to Fengxiang Inn, Guo Shao found someone looking at him from the window of the wooden building. Perhaps it was an instinctive reaction formed by his archery training, and he paid extra attention to the commanding heights with a wider field of vision, so he immediately discovered the young lady of the Li family hiding behind the window.
Then everyone on both sides looked up following Guo Shao's gaze. He was the leader of the group, so naturally his every word and action would easily attract the attention of the people accompanying him. However, at this time, people did not see anything, only a window with a bamboo curtain still swaying gently.
Just like when everyone suddenly looked back in the hall of the Li Mansion in Bingzhou, no one saw her. The Li family lady always moved so quickly.
Even a blind person could see what Lady Li was thinking, not to mention Guo Shao, the person involved. But Guo Shao could only play dumb. If it weren't for Empress Fu's promise to him, he would have thought Lady Li was not bad.
Then everyone went back to their rooms. Jingniang and Guo Shao walked together. As soon as they walked up the wooden stairs, they ran into Li. Li stood in front of them, lowering her head and her face flushed. Guo Shao and Jingniang were both stunned. Guo Shao hurriedly bowed and greeted them.
Li said softly: I have washed the robe that Guo Dushi gave me to wear in Bingzhou, and I am returning it to you.
Guo Shao took a look and saw that she had nothing in her hands. He thought: returning something is a good excuse to meet someone naturally. This trick is still used in modern times. However, Li seemed a little awkward. Since she was returning something, she didn't even take it. Guo Shao had the illusion that he was in love, but his mind was still clear: love in ancient times was definitely not something that could be talked about casually.
It was just one more thing. Her face was deliberately and carefully made up; the clothes were also new. The upper body was made of light red silk material, with narrow sleeves and a short jacket, and a floral silk ribbon, which was called a shawl at that time; the skirt was slightly darker in color, with a small floral pattern like pomegranates, creating a sense of layering.
But for Guo Shao, as long as the face is not ugly, the clothes are fine; what he cares most about is the figure and temperament of the woman. At this time, his eyes were quickly attracted by Li's bulging chest. He had been out of Beijing for nearly two months and had not known the land of tenderness for a long time, so it was easy to be aroused.
It was almost October, and the weather in Guanzhong was already quite cold, so people wore thicker clothes. Women at that time did not have bra support, and Han people's clothes were also loose, so breasts that could hold up several layers of thick clothes would never be too small. Guo Shao did not like breasts that were too small. Besides, Li's face was also very beautiful, with a roundness of weak bones and plump muscles. However, in terms of figure, Jingniang was the most exaggerated and attractive, but she deliberately concealed it and was usually cold, so Guo Shao did not dare to act rashly.
He was stimulated by Li's soft words, and shamelessly imagined a pair of white and big jade rabbits in his mind. At this time, Li said softly: Come with me to get your robe. There is a tear in it, and I have sewed it for you.
Guo Shao stood there without moving.
Li turned around and said, "Come on." Her tone was as if she was coaxing and tempting him.
Guo Shao thought for a moment, then called to Jingniang: Please help me get that dress.
He was just congratulating himself on his witty response, but unexpectedly, Li's face was full of grievance, and she said directly: You have been away from Fengxiang for a total of 32 days, I counted them all, it feels like 32 years have passed. What's wrong with me? Why don't you pay any attention to me
Guo Shao was speechless, thinking that she was not bad, but Fu Ermei should be better. If they didn't have to take responsibility, of course both of them would be good.
At this moment, Jingniang walked up and said to Li coldly: Don’t you want to return the clothes
Such a cold sentence made Li Shi stunned. Perhaps she realized that there was another woman beside Guo Shao. It was not that Jing Niang was not easy to be noticed. She was tall and not someone who was easily ignored. It was just that she had not said a word before, as if she was indifferent. Li Shi really didn't want to care about her.
Li did not confront Jingniang, but took Jingniang back to the house to get something in frustration.
So Guo Shao and Jing Niang went to the guest room on the other side one after the other. Jing Niang threw his clothes on the bed and was about to leave when she couldn't help but turned back and asked: Why don't you accept the kindness of Mrs. Li
Guo Shao pondered for a while and asked: "Jingniang, have you ever heard of Master Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty?"
"Yeah." Jingniang responded casually and stood there waiting for him to continue speaking.
Guo Shao sighed and continued: Xuanzang is a great monk of the Tang Dynasty, so he is called Tang Monk. Tang Monk went to India to seek Buddhist scriptures. Legend has it that he went through 81 difficulties along the way. I don’t think they are all difficult. Some are dangerous, and some are temptations. The monsters on the road heard that eating Tang Monk’s meat can make them immortal, so many monsters want to harm him. However, some female monsters just like him and want to seduce him. There is also a queen of the Kingdom of Women, who enjoys endless wealth and is very beautiful, and wants Tang Monk to stay and share the country with her. But in the end, Tang Monk was unmoved.
Jingniang listened carefully and said: This is the first time I have heard Xuanzang talk about such a strange thing when he went to India. Why was he not moved? Do you want to say that he has seen through the world and that the four elements are empty
Guo Shao shook his head and said: After Tang Monk obtains the sutra, he can become a Buddha. Compared with such a good thing as becoming a Buddha and living as long as the sun and the moon, the beautiful Queen of the Kingdom of Women is not worth mentioning. So those temptations could not move him at all.
Jingniang became more and more curious about Xuanzang's enlightenment.
Guo Shao nodded and said: This is what the legend says, he retrieved the scriptures to save all living beings, benefited all living things, and then he also became famous and enlightened to become a Buddha. A happy ending for everyone.
Jingniang understood and nodded as if she had realized something. Then she shook her head again: What does that have to do with your rejection of the Li family lady? What do you want to get, just like Xuanzang who has attained enlightenment and become a Buddha
Guo Shao felt that this Saint Lady had not posed any threat in recent months, but she was not someone he could trust unconditionally. As promised by the Queen, he did not tell anyone, not even his brothers Yang Luo.
Besides, Jingniang has completely ignored Zhao Kuangyin recently, and even ignored the affairs of the Taoist temple. She came to follow him. Guo Shao could probably guess that he would be responsible for ruining her innocence, but how exactly she wanted him to be responsible? Guo Shao didn't believe that Jingniang was willing to be a concubine.
So he casually said: You will understand it later.