Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

In Fengchen Palace, Liu E put down the official documents sent from the border and breathed a sigh of relief.

Ever since the Liao Kingdom changed its emperor, there has been a lot of turmoil in the country. A few kings surnamed Yelu came on stage, trying to make the new emperor who usurped the throne unhappy.

The new emperor was not soft on his hands, and with the backing of hundreds of thousands of troops, he fought fiercely with several great kings.

The people of the Liao Kingdom were so busy fighting with their teams that they couldn't spare manpower to collect even the Song Kingdom's New Year's Coins this year.

In two or three years, it seems that they will be unable to go south.

However, Liu E couldn't take it lightly. It was uncertain when the Khitan people would regain their vitality.

Song State must sharpen its minions before Liao State recovers.

Speaking of minions, Liu E thought of Kou Zhun and his new army again.

This new army has been training for more than half a year, and the results are not known. Anyway, the money was spent a lot, and all the 30-year-old coins saved this year can't fill the hole.Others are an army of iron, but Kou Zhun is an army of silver.

Some time ago, the little emperor went to see it, and said that the army was well-organized, disciplined, and ordered and prohibited, which looked very decent. The implication was to ask Liu E to allocate more money to his master for military training.

How did Liu E not know that strengthening the army is the first big thing, but he really has no money in his hands.

The little emperor also wanted to save money from the palace on a whim, but there is no place in the palace that is not frugal now, not to mention anything else, just talk about her, the queen mother, when the late emperor was here, she would change several sets of clothes one day?Now I only change one set a day.

With the exquisitely crafted costumes, Liu E cherished them so much that she could wear them twice more.Calculated, there are less than [-] sets of clothes a year. Compared with those eldest princesses, they are extremely stingy.

Not only the clothes, but the rest of the food and clothing expenses, she has told, just enough is enough, don't prepare more, so as not to waste.

If you want to be frugal, how else can you be frugal?Since then, the palace will not wear clothes or eat?

The emperor was still young, so he didn't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt were expensive.

Alas, it is difficult to be in charge of the family, and it is even more difficult to be in charge of the royal family.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is coming."

Liu E raised her head: "The emperor is here? Come in quickly."

The little emperor came in wearing his crimson gauze robe that had been washed several times.

This outfit was worn by the little emperor when he went back to the Nanqing Palace. He said that the clothes on his body were dirty, and Princess Di changed into the clothes of the son of the Nanqing Palace.

The little emperor and the son of the same family had a deep friendship, and they refused to change the clothes after they came back. After washing them several times, they were still wearing them.

The little emperor walked up to her and performed a mother-child family salute.

Liu E smiled and said, "I heard that Mr. Fan has finished reading Tai Zu's memoir?"

Recently, the little emperor liked to get close to a courtier named Fan Zhongyan. Liu E felt that there was nothing wrong with it. This Fan Zhongyan was a man of integrity and full of knowledge.

Zhao Yiyi nodded: "Hui Niangniang has finished listening."

Liu E asked: "After listening to the real record of Tai Zu, does the emperor have any insights?"

Zhao Yiyi said: "Emperor Tai Zu is really a great hero."

Liu E smiled: "There are so many emperors in ancient times, which one is not a great hero."

Zhao Yiyi said: "Madam, I heard from Mr. Fan that Emperor Tai Zu once gave a banquet to Daxiangguo Temple during the Changchun Festival."

Liu E nodded: "It's true, what's the matter?"

Zhao Yiyi said: "My son thinks, Madam's Changning Festival is coming. Madam protects me, adjudicates political affairs, and has worked hard. I want to give a banquet to Daxiangguo Temple on Madam's Changning Festival, so as to spread Madam's virtue far and wide."

Changning Festival is Liu E's birthday. Liu E designated her own birthday as Changning Festival after she was in power.

Liu E is of course happy that the emperor wants to celebrate his birthday, but...

"Is it too extravagant?"

Zhao Yiyi said with a smile: "In the past, the feast was held in the palace during the holy festival, but this year it is just a different place. It is expected that there are vegetarian dishes in Daxiangguo Temple, and the price of vegetarian dishes must be cheaper than wine and meat. This is not only not extravagant, but also It's more frugal."

Liu E nodded: "The emperor has a heart."

It has to be said that it was a great temptation for her to imitate Emperor Taizu and give a banquet to Daxiangguo Temple.

This is Emperor Taizu!

In the past, only the emperor's birthday could be given a banquet at the Daxiangguo Temple. Now, as the empress dowager, she can also enjoy this honor, which made her feel a little itchy.

And this was proposed by the little emperor, not her own request.What does this mean?This shows that the little emperor is as in awe of himself as before, and it is impossible for the ministers to stop himself from overstepping.

Liu E is happily preparing for her birthday.

On the day of the Changning Festival, all officials went to the temple to offer incense, and the son of heaven gave a banquet to the Xiangguo Temple to offer incense on behalf of the queen mother.

During a burst of singing and dancing, Liu Exun was so drunk that he didn't notice the meaningful flirtatious glances between the little emperor and Fan Zhongyan.

At the end of the banquet, Liu E smiled and asked Zhao Yiyi: "The emperor is lucky to visit the Xiangguo Temple, has he ever seen the Tathagata?"

Her original intention was to give Zhao Yiyi a chance to flatter her. If Zhao Yiyi was on the road, she should follow up with a sentence, but she saw the ear of Guanyin Bodhisattva.Even if Zhao Yiyi didn't catch up with this problem and said that he didn't see the Tathagata, it seemed that the emperor was innocent, the empress dowager was very kind, and the mother and son of the Tian family lived in harmony.

But Zhao Yiyi looked serious: "My son is in the Daxiangguo Temple, but I only see the golden statue, but not the Tathagata."

Liu E was so excited that she was eight points drunk.

She had a vague premonition that this birthday was not going to be peaceful.

"What does the emperor say?"

Under Liu En's command, the music at the banquet stopped. All the officials put down their wine glasses and looked at each other, wondering what the emperor was going to do at the Queen Mother's birthday banquet.

Zhao Yiyi got up and left the table, and stood still in front of Liu E: "My son thought that the Daxiangguo Temple is a century-old temple, and it is naturally a first-class solemn and solemn place in the world. Holding a banquet here is enough to show your mother's virtue. But my son walked all the way today, and only saw the monks of Daxiangguo Temple wearing silk and satin, with children serving them when they came in and out, the courtyard of the monk's house was resplendent and magnificent, and the fast food was even more exquisite than the imperial banquet in the palace. Can such monks practice sincerely?

"I heard that there are three treasures in Buddhism, one Buddha, two dharmas, and three monks. There are such monks in Daxiangguo Temple, how can they promote Buddhism? What is enshrined in the Daxiong Palace is not the real Buddha, but a cold golden statue."

After speaking, Zhao Yiyi looked directly at Liu E.

Liu E nodded slowly: "Okay, the emperor is fine."

Zhao Yiyi said: "Your Majesty..."

Liu E waved her hand: "I'm tired, let's drive back to the palace."

Zhao benefited silently.

Liu E got up and was about to leave, but turned her head and shouted to the monks who were serving in fine clothes, "Think carefully about what the emperor said!"

The emperor and the queen mother got up and drove back to the palace, but the monks of Daxiangguo Temple couldn't fall asleep.

From the presiding officer to the capital monastery, the supervisory monastery, the Tidian, the head of the abbot, to the weina, the waiter, the secretary, and the chief seat, all gathered in the presiding monk's room.

The few words the emperor said today gave them a deep sense of crisis.

The emperor obviously felt that their lives were too good, and that they were not like serious monks, so he was not happy.

But what kind of life they live, what does it have to do with the emperor?They wore silks and satins in the temple, ordering the little novice monk around, so what happened to the emperor?No matter how many little novice monks they summoned, they could not compare to the emperor's palace maids and eunuchs. Is the emperor worthy of being angry about it?

He also said that if he only saw the golden statue but could not see the Tathagata, it seemed that the emperor was very enlightened. They all lived in the same city of Bianliang, who didn't know who!

When the current emperor was the second son of the Eight Princes' Mansion, it was not that they had never seen him.I came to worship the Buddha with his mother, Princess Di, and I didn't see how sad he was at that time, but every time I came, I ordered a large table of vegetarian food. The belly was round, and I especially loved the golden silk steamed buns in their temple. Before leaving He even pestered his mother to take a drawer back to the palace.

Don't think they didn't see it, he secretly ate all the golden silk steamed buns on the main table of the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet today!

After all, I still don't understand what kind of crazy the emperor is smoking.

Hearing what they said became more and more outrageous, the abbot couldn't help but said: "Enough! Shut up!"

There was a moment of silence in the monk's room.

The abbot couldn't help sighing: "You guys! You are stupid! You don't understand!"

All the monks lowered their heads: "Please teach me, Master."

The abbot said: "Because you don't study, you don't have any knowledge. How long has it been difficult for the three martial arts and one patriarchal law? You don't know anything!"

The monks hurriedly said, "Could it be that the current emperor wants to destroy Buddha?"

"Three martial arts and one sect were punished by heaven after exterminating Buddha, isn't he afraid of retribution!"

The abbot shook his head and sighed again: "The power of heaven is unpredictable, who knows."

Looking in the direction of the Daxiong Palace: "Since ancient times, emperors have destroyed Buddhas for nothing more than a Buddha statue. In the world, gold and silver are the most precious, and copper can be used to make money. In the prosperous age, dignitaries used gold and silver to cast Buddha statues, and they were not stingy. But in troubled times, The emperor was thinking about the Buddha statue again. Alas, it must be known that the Buddha does not regard gold and silver as valuable, but the people of the world value gold and silver. They want to cast gold statues for the Buddha, and they also want to destroy the Buddha statues to get gold and silver. Back and forth, it will only increase the evil. fruit."

A monk asked cautiously: "Master, is it a chaotic world now?"

The abbot glared at him fiercely: "Being a teacher is just an analogy!"

The monk shrank back.

The abbot said: "We are born to practice, but we will inevitably be fettered by the secular world. Forget it, it's better not to toast or eat fine wine. Since the emperor misses this golden statue, let him take it."

The monks said anxiously: "Master, how can this be done?"

The abbot sneered: "Why can't it be done? Does it mean that the emperor must issue an edict to kill all the monks in the world, so that you will know how powerful it is?"

The monks said nothing.

The abbot said: "Anyway, I still have some face, I will write a letter tomorrow, begging the emperor to take away this life-threatening golden statue."

"From now on, I will only cultivate myself behind closed doors, and don't care about worldly affairs."

In the afternoon of the next day, craftsmen were sent from the palace to take away the Buddha statues and cast them into copper coins to enrich the treasury.

That's right, it is said to be a gold statue, but in fact it is just a layer of gold on the surface, which looks like gold, but it is actually copper inside.

Copper is also not solid copper, but hollow.

Such a huge-looking Buddha statue is actually no more than one hundred thousand catties of copper.

The usual copper coin weighs five catties, and this Buddha statue can cast [-] copper coins.

The current price of rice is [-] Wen a shi, and [-] copper coins can buy [-] shi of rice, which is enough to feed an army of [-] people for a month.

Eunuch Liu, who was sent by the palace to supervise the work, told the craftsmen with a smile: "Be gentle with your hands and feet, don't scratch the Buddha statue, the layer of gold on it will take about ten catties to scrape off."

Then she turned her head and said to the abbot: "The queen mother in the palace also practiced Buddhism. She often taught us that it is the heart that cultivates the Buddha, not the external things of the body. Don't dare to build such a Buddha statue that consumes people's energy. You will be condemned by God. If you are willing, even if you carve a Buddha statue out of wood, the Buddha will be happy. The gold and copper must be used elsewhere.”

The abbot recited the Buddha's name: "Excellent."

Liu En watched the people take away the Buddha statue in the Daxiong Palace, and swept away all the other big and small Buddha statues in the Daxiangguo Temple, and then said with a smile: "In the future, if there are good men and women who come to pay homage to the Buddha and offer incense, but the Golden Buddha is gone, that's a good time." But what should I do?"

The abbot said: "The old monk told them that the Buddha is in their hearts."

Only then did Liu En nod in satisfaction: "The Great Monk has profound Buddhist teachings."

He also said: "The abbot's wonderful insights should be widely publicized, so that all the monks in the world can understand."

The abbot clasped his hands together: "Amitabha."