Chapter 112: Qianlong Temple
Li Chenglin stood up and said, "Changsheng Brother, I know you have excellent martial arts skills and are not afraid of these bullies. But after all, you are one person, and these bullies are a group of people. As the saying goes, two fists are hard to beat four hands. We have already finished our meal, why don't we leave now?"
Li Changsheng smiled and said, "We can't leave anymore. They have already arrived."
Li Chenglin was startled and looked up at the way. Apart from the rows of bare poplar trees with fallen leaves by the Danjiang River in the distance, there were no figures. On the slope across from Danjiang, there is an old man in rags chopping firewood. The river flows leisurely, with waves of cold crows.
Li Chenglin looked at Li Changsheng with confusion. Li Changsheng said, "The mountain ditch behind us is blocking your line of sight. I heard the sound of their hooves. There are about a dozen horses, about five or six miles away from here, and they will arrive here soon. Stay here, keep an eye on your father and the dark horse, so they won't be frightened. I'll stop them on the way."
Li Changsheng arrived at the road formed by the Danjiang River embankment, and he looked around, surrounded by the flat Danjiang River impacting the small plain. If these villains ride horses around him, it will be a threat to Li Chenglin and his father. Once they take Li Chenglin and his father as hostages and deal with them on their own, it's like a mouse crawling onto precious porcelain. You have to hit the mouse with a stone, but you're worried that the stone will break the porcelain.
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Not far away was a small red brick temple by the roadside, which caught the attention of Li Changsheng. He thought it was better to take Li Chenglin and his father over to the temple for shelter and come out alone to stop these bad people.
The three of them led the big black horse into the small temple, and it turned out to be Qianlong Temple. It is said that Emperor Liu Xiu of the Han Dynasty hid here when he was pursued by the rebel army Wang Mang. So later generations built this temple here to commemorate this event.
Qianlong Temple is a small temple that covers an area of about half an acre. The small scale of the temple indicates that there are not many believers. Usually, when there are many followers in a temple, the income of the monks is higher. Monks will use the money donated by their followers to build temples in a magnificent and majestic manner. This will attract more believers to come. However, as long as it is a temple, even if it is very small, the monks inside will not live too hard. It's the people around who work hard. Only in this way can monks recite scriptures for believers, help them live a prosperous and happy life in the next life, and encourage them to donate money.
As people become more greedy, their souls become increasingly lonely. They came to the temple to pray to the statue of Buddha, hoping that Buddha would make them rich, make them government officials, make them healthy, and give them the most beautiful women. The more believers there are, the richer the temple becomes.
Li Changsheng approached the golden statue of Buddha in a low-key manner. He lit a wooden stick made of rosin and inserted it into the copper stove in front of the Buddha statue. Then silently pray, asking Buddha to bless the country with peace, the people with happiness and health, and the parents with longevity. After praying, Li Changsheng donated ten silver coins to the wooden box next to him, and then said to the little monk who was guarding the box with his eyes shining, "I want to see the abbot master in your temple."