So to be fair, the Daxiangguo Temple is now like the Zhao Song royal family, with basically only the huge ancestral residence left that has some economic value.

The only difference is that the monks in the Daxiangguo Temple cannot travel all over the country like the Zhao Song officials. After all, they are more hardworking and never stop weeding. Therefore, the Xiangguo Temple, which is located on the east side of the Imperial Street and covers a huge area, is still in excellent condition. I think its value for real estate development should be better than that of the Zhao Song Imperial City.

Therefore, in line with the principle that a thief never leaves empty-handed, Emperor Zhao decided to forcibly requisition the Xiangguo Temple, which had more open space and rooms, as a military camp, specifically for Kaifeng prefect Chen Gui to purchase various military weapons and equipment for city defense. Then the monks of the Xiangguo Temple should also use their cooking skills to cook and boil water for the civilians and soldiers.

Of course, seeing the master chef's panic-stricken look, Zhao Jiu didn't do anything extreme. He just said that the country was in danger and Tokyo City might even face siege, so everyone should tolerate each other for the country.

When the two rivers are recovered one day, Zhao Jiu will naturally return the right to use Xiangguo Temple. He may even open a branch temple in Yanjing to expand the scale of the industry... He even left a signed document with his signature.

At the end of the document, the four words "Cangzhou Zhaojiu" are becoming more and more beautiful.

What else could the master chef of Daxiangguo Temple do? He could only hold the document in his hands, read a few Buddhist verses, and then recount the hundreds of years of respect the Zhao Song royal family had shown to Xiangguo Temple.

Of course, these words are definitely expressing the determination to live and die with the country, rather than reminding Emperor Zhao that the Buddha cannot be deceived. Otherwise, what else?

You must know that although the current Tokyo City is much more lively than last year, the number of male civilians added together is definitely not as many as the 200,000 soldiers in the imperial camp.

What's more, there are already tens of thousands of imperial troops stationed near the city of Tokyo.

Not to mention, after all, an official promised to branch out the temple and even gave the document, right?

So, that evening, Emperor Zhao turned the world upside down and personally rang the famous morning bell of the Daxiangguo Temple. Both parties were delighted. After Zhao Jiu's family enjoyed a world-famous vegetarian meal from the Xiangguo Temple, they also said goodbye and left with satisfaction.

After leaving Xiangguo Temple, perhaps because he felt that the results of begging at Xiangguo Temple were not enough, Emperor Zhao set out again the next day. However, he only took Mrs. Wu with him for travel convenience. He headed west from Tokyo and then turned slightly south in Xijing, apparently heading for the ancestral home of Zen Buddhism, Dengfeng Shaolin Temple.

By the way, unlike the unfortunate Daxiangguo Temple, Shaolin Temple is located in Shaoshi Mountain, and many of the Jin army members are Buddhists, so it did not suffer from systematic burning, killing, and looting.

Not only that, or it can be said that it is quite the opposite. Shaolin Temple has gradually risen and grown since the Tang Dynasty, and now it has reached its peak. Not only does it own more than 10,000 acres of farmland, but the temple base alone covers 540 acres, with thousands of towers and pavilions and thousands of monks.

Even as early as the reign of Emperor Renzong, Shaolin Temple had taken the initiative to open a branch in Tokyo City in an attempt to compete with Daxiangguo Temple.

Moreover, the temple has a long tradition of practicing martial arts and has countless tenant laborers. Ordinary soldiers, thieves and robbers either fear religion or the powerful strength of Shaolin Temple and often find this place troublesome. In addition, Shaolin Temple has superb means, and during the war, there were people in Dengfeng City to deal with secular matters. No matter whether they were monks or laymen, or people from Song and Jin, as long as there were troops passing through, they would be treated with courtesy and expression, so even harassment was rarely encountered.

Therefore, when Emperor Zhao came to pay homage to the mountain this time, the two commanding officers Niu Gao and Da Cui, plus the imperial guards led by Yang Yi Zhong himself, surrounded him with thousands of soldiers. Naturally, the abbot and many monks in the temple were alarmed. They hurried out of the mountain gate to greet him, feeling terrified.

After all, no one is a fool. This official scraped the Taoist gold powder in Mingdao Palace, took over other people's temples for military use in Xiangguo Temple, and there were rumors that he almost slept on straw and tasted gall in the palace. He moved from Dengfeng to Shaoshi Mountain early.

In addition, as everyone knows, the imperial court is now facing severe financial difficulties due to military expenses, so that even if the southeast continues to provide food and silk, the civil and military officials of the imperial court are still receiving half-salary... Then, I would like to ask, which great monk would not be extremely cautious?

Sure enough, when the two sides met, the monks of Shaolin Temple knelt down to welcome the official into the temple. Before they even entered the mountain gate, the abbot took the initiative to express his intention to share the country's worries.

Upon closer questioning, it turned out that they had to donate tens of thousands of dan of stored grain, three large boxes of gold and silver, and nearly 200,000 strings of cash!

Such a skill and such decisiveness naturally made Emperor Zhao feel deeply moved. It was worthy of being the world's number one temple that had lasted for 1,500 years. Such vision, stature, and decisiveness seemed to be three times stronger than Kim Bu-sik!

He was so embarrassed that he even wanted to scrape off the gold powder.

Of course, in order to protect such an ancient temple, Emperor Zhao continued to demand two hundred martial monks to join the army in front of the mountain gate, and took over five thousand acres of land outside Dengfeng City, together with the tenants, as military settlements. At the same time, he also asked Shaolin Temple to try its best to ensure the basic food rations for the refugees from Hebei who passed through Dengfeng City.

After all, as Emperor Zhao said, the military and civilians are one, monks and laymen are one family, and only when the Song Dynasty has strong soldiers and horses and prosperous people can it better protect the Shaolin Temple, the common precious property of the Song Dynasty.

Although several masters of Shaolin Temple were somewhat stunned by this, they still tried their best to express their understanding and approval from the perspective of Buddhism.

Thus, the host and the guests were happy again.

However, the next day, when Emperor Zhao was preparing to burn a stick of incense to the Buddha in the main hall for the sake of the grain, money, and fertile fields full of crops, one of the noble ministers who was accompanying him could no longer tolerate it.

"Officials!"

Not long after returning from Yangzhou, the Grand Chancellor Zhao Shi?, who had been forced to follow this trip, suddenly stepped out of the line in a serious manner, obviously waiting for this opportunity. "How can you come to Xijing and not visit the imperial tomb first, but worship Buddha first?"

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