knife

Chapter 811 The Battle of Anfu Temple (1)

Zhu Zhe pushed open the temple gate, stepped over the high threshold, and went inside.

Compared to the houses we've seen along the way, this temple, named Anfu Temple, is the best building. It must have been a very popular place of worship in the past.

But now, not a single monk can be seen.

War not only harms ordinary people, but it also affects monks and nuns.

The Buddha statues in the main hall were still resplendent in gold, and the incense burner in front of the offering table was full of incense ash. However, the offering table was now covered with a thick layer of dust, and incense was scattered around it, indicating that the people here had been gone for a long time.

Zhu Zhe walked over, picked up three incense sticks, took out a tinderbox from his pocket, lit them, put them in the incense burner, and then bowed to the Buddha statue.

"General, you're a Buddhist too?" a captain who followed him in said with a smile.

Zhu Zhe shook his head: "I don't believe it. The Protector-General said, 'My fate is in my own hands, not in the hands of Heaven,' and I wholeheartedly agree. If I don't even care about Heaven, why would I believe in Buddhism?"

"Then the general even burned incense and paid his respects to him?"

“After all, we’ve entered someone else’s home!” Zhu Zhe said. “It’s just a matter of etiquette. We’ll set up camp here today; the terrain is quite good.”

The captain laughed heartily and nodded, saying, "Understood! The central command headquarters will be located in this temple!"

"Of course!"

In fact, people outside the pass originally revered Buddha, but Li Dachui was not interested in them.

Outside the Great Wall, temples could exist, and temple property could exist, but they still had to pay taxes. If they dared not pay taxes, Li Dachui would send troops to confiscate the temples. Originally, temples also served as money lenders, but after Li Dachui established himself in the Beiting Protectorate and set up banks affiliated with the Beiting Protectorate, this money-making business of the temples was also cut off.

The monks were naturally furious, but what could they do when the knife was in someone else's hands?

Who was the most disappointed person in the area outside the Great Wall under Li Dachui's rule?

Of course, it's the head monk.

Their lives have gone from carefree and leisurely to miserable and miserable.

When superiors have certain preferences, those below will follow suit.

Li Dachui didn't believe in Buddhism, and Xiao Changche was even less so. With these two like this, even if their subordinates still had some reverence for Buddhism, they would never dare to show it.

As time went on, the temples outside the pass became increasingly unable to operate, and those that remained could only struggle to survive. However, the original ascetic monks were not affected.

Li Dachui actually had no prejudice against these people.

In the end, everyone understood that Protector Li was not against Buddhism; he was against those fat, greasy monks who made money their life's work.

Young generals like Zhu Zhe naturally follow Li Dachui's lead.

Now that the army has arrived, even if there were monks inside, Zhu Zhe would not hesitate to take it as his central command post.

Zhu Zhe was once a renowned martial arts prodigy. He reached the seventh rank of Xuan Yuan in his early twenties. Before Ding Er Gou appeared, Zhu Zhe was undoubtedly the most powerful young man.

But Ding Ergou was too monstrous. Whether in martial arts training or leading troops into battle, Ding Ergou completely suppressed Zhu Zhe. In a fit of anger, Zhu Zhe signed up to join Fang Xiaomao's recruitment of people to enter Sichuan.

Whether assisting Wu Defang in reorganizing the Shu army in Shu or later reorganizing the army in the eight towns of Jiangnan, Zhu Zhe has made outstanding military achievements and is now a deputy general commanding three thousand men.

Now, whether in martial arts cultivation or military position, he has caught up with Ding Ergou.

However, he was not satisfied with himself because he was four years older than Ding Ergou. That bastard Ding Ergou was only twenty years old this year, yet he already had the cultivation of a seventh-rank peak general, and had even found a talented wife, but they didn't have a son and a daughter.

Therefore, Zhu Zhe felt that if he wanted to surpass this guy, he needed to at least reach the eighth rank in martial arts cultivation earlier, and at the same time make greater contributions and be promoted to lieutenant general as soon as possible. Only in this way could he stand tall in front of that bastard, otherwise he would always be inferior!

The war in Liyang County has ended, but due to the military's strict blockade, no news has leaked out, so people still believe that Liyang County is simply under tight blockade.

It's no wonder that outsiders think that way. After all, if Liyang County, with its 70,000 to 80,000 people, really lost the battle, some people would have escaped. Such news couldn't be kept secret.

The problem is that of those 70,000 to 80,000 people, apart from a few thousand prisoners, the rest were all dead.

Zhu Zhe, a trusted confidant who came from outside the pass, was chosen at the last moment to lead the team into Liyang County.

Four or five thousand able-bodied men entered the city to collect corpses. They entered as part of a suppression effort, precisely to prevent these men from causing an uprising.

To be honest, not to mention those young adults, even Zhu Zhe himself was a little apprehensive.

From that day on, whenever he saw those guys in white, he would unconsciously want to take a detour.

Zhu Zhe had been a seasoned warrior on the battlefield for many years, killing one blow at a time. But Kong Yuan and his men killed city after city. The key was that when you're facing something unseen and intangible, even Zhu Zhe, who always believed his fate was in his own hands, felt a profound sense of powerlessness.

too frightening.

He is now ordered to lead his troops to garrison in the direction of Majiadian, which is fifty miles away from Danyang City. Several other troops are also setting off at the same time. Tens of thousands of troops from the eight towns of Jiangnan are beginning to lay a large net around Danyang. Once Chang Lei leads his troops to Danyang, this net will suddenly tighten.

Yesterday, news came that Lin Yunqi of Zhongli County had led his troops back to Danyang County, which means that the final hunt is about to officially begin.

With this battle over, the war in the State of Chu was essentially over.

The rest was just some cleanup work, which Zhu Zhe had no interest in. He preferred to head north immediately to participate in the attack on Luoyang, in order to support the decisive battle in the north.

In Zhu Zhe's view, there was not much pressure in this battle.

Chang Lei's previous actions were indeed quite impressive. If it weren't for the actions of Kong Yuan and others in Liyang County, the armies of the eight towns in Jiangnan would indeed be in trouble now.

Of course, if it weren't for this, Lin Yunqi would never have given up Zhongli County so easily.

Now, Chang Lei is unknowingly stepping into a trap. Even a renowned general, whose fame resounds throughout the land, is completely unprepared for an event like the one in Liyang County.

Because this is beyond everyone's comprehension.

Before Zhu Zhe witnessed all of this firsthand, he absolutely did not believe that Kong Yuan and his group, who spent their days in secluded rooms and kept themselves tightly wrapped up, could actually have such destructive power.

Despite Zhu Zhe offering incense to the Buddha statue during the day, once the entire army had set up camp, he unceremoniously tore down the Buddha's altar and used it as his bed for the night.

As long as he can sleep, Zhu Zhe is the kind of guy who can fall asleep the moment his head hits the pillow.

Even when he couldn't sleep, he would stay up for several days and nights without closing his eyes, yet he remained energetic.

He had originally thought he could sleep soundly until dawn again today.
But in the middle of the night, the rapid sound of horses' hooves woke Zhu Zhe from his sleep.

When the scouts stepped into the temple gate, Zhu Zhe had already gotten up and was waiting for them.

"General, enemy activity detected!"

(End of this chapter)