"Brother Fa, please draw a picture of a peacock climbing high for me," the old monk said modestly and kindly.

Emperor Jianwen saw the old monk's kind-faced look and extraordinary demeanor. He couldn't help but feel good about it. He looked at the piece of silver on the stone table again. It was heavy. If you save a few flowers, it would be enough for a person to live for half a year. He was very fond of the old monk.

Gratitude also arises spontaneously.

"Master, I would be embarrassed, but since there is no other color, I can only draw a black peacock for you." Emperor Jianwen said as he licked the ink with his pen and spread the paper.

The old monk smiled slightly: "It doesn't matter. I think about Mrs. Li in the Later Tang Dynasty. She sat alone in front of the window on a moonlit night. She saw the bamboo branches and leaves outside the window under the moonlight, and their shadows were reflected on the window paper. She felt that it was wonderful, so she took a

She started writing and traced the shadow of bamboo on the window with ink. At dawn the next day, Mrs. Li saw that the bamboo drawn with ink on the window paper had a unique charm, so she came up with "ink bamboo".

The bamboo is not black at all. Everything has its own charm, and it has nothing to do with color."

Emperor Jianwen liked reading since he was a child, and he respected the learned people very much. When he was the emperor, there were many great Confucian scholars and officials around him, such as Fang Xiaoru. Therefore, the old monk's words made him feel like he had met a close friend.

It felt like, in addition to my good impression of the old monk, I also had a sense of intimacy.

When Emperor Jianwen entered the state of painting, he seemed to have temporarily forgotten his extremely miserable situation and everything around him. With his brush strokes and dots, a peacock with both form and spirit appeared on the paper.

When he was in the palace, peacocks were one of his favorite subjects. From a very young age, he began to copy Song Huizong's original "Peacock Picture". Such precious originals could only be seen in the imperial palace.

arrive.

The old monk took the painted peacock and looked at it carefully.

As an emperor, he has a unique condition for learning painting - he has the opportunity to see and copy the original works of masters of all generations. This is very important for the mention of painting skills. Therefore, in Chinese history, there are many paintings by emperors.

Very good. The most famous is of course the outstanding painting master Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. In addition, Zhu Di’s grandson Emperor Xuan Zhu Zhanji is also a super professional painting master. Even the last emperor Puyi was imprisoned in the Soviet Union in 1945.

He once bribed a Siberian guard with a painting he painted.

Therefore, Emperor Jianwen's paintings are by no means comparable to those of ordinary painters. The old monk couldn't help but admire him while looking at them. However, he was not just to appreciate Emperor Jianwen's painting skills, he was looking for the mysterious figure in the paintings.

He observed the details carefully. When he saw the detail he wanted to see, although he had expected it in advance, when he actually saw it, he couldn't help but feel a strong shock in his heart.

The old monk carefully put away the painting. At this time, he seemed to be very excited, but he tried his best to suppress it and said to Emperor Jianwen in a calm tone: "Brother Fa is indeed a superb painter. The price of your painting is much higher."

I have this ingot of silver, but I only have this, and I hope Brother Dharma can drive with me to the temple to get more."

When Emperor Jianwen heard this, he felt flattered and said hurriedly: "Thank you very much, master, for your kindness. This is enough. I am already grateful, so I won't bother you by going to your temple."

The old monk still smiled kindly and said: "Then I will accept the disrespect, but my temple is very close. I have a hungry look on your face. If you don't mind the simplicity of the temple, you can follow me to the temple to have some vegetarian food."

, and tell me a little about it, how about it?"

Emperor Jianwen was really hungry and couldn't hold on anymore. He saw more and more people gathering around him, and they all looked at the old monk and the young monk curiously as they talked. He was worried that if there were spies from the imperial court, it would be bad.

So he agreed to the old monk's invitation, steeled himself, quickly packed up, and followed the old monk to separate the crowd and walk to the temple.

As expected, the temple where the old monk lived was not far away. After turning two corners, it was on a hillside not far away. Emperor Jianwen followed the old monk and walked quickly. He was surprised to find that the old monk acted like this.

He is agile and walks very fast, his breathing is steady and he doesn't pant at all. However, at such a young age, he can't help but breathe while walking at such a speed.

The temple is not big, but it is very clean and tidy. There are only six or seven monks inside. When they saw the old monk coming back, they all clasped their hands and saluted. It turned out that the old monk was the abbot of this temple.

The old monk first asked people to quickly prepare a fast meal for Emperor Jianwen. Because it was just after noon, there were a lot of leftovers from the fast meal made at noon. He warmed it up a little and served it quickly. In order to make Emperor Jianwen eat less, the old monk

Feeling constrained, he and the other young monks temporarily withdrew, leaving Emperor Jianwen alone in the room.

This was the most filling, fragrant and relaxing meal that Emperor Jianwen had during his escape. For some reason, this temple gave him an inexplicable sense of security.

He devoured the vegetarian food like a whirlwind, sweeping away the table full of vegetarian food, leaving not even a grain of rice or a drop of vegetable soup. After eating, he wiped his mouth, burped, and felt endless emotions in his heart.

, I originally planned to imitate Duke Huan of Qi and prepare for a comeback, but seeing that my uncle Zhu Di was obviously much better at governing the country than me, and the country was becoming more and more stable, it seemed that the possibility of me making a comeback was getting smaller and smaller.

However, even if he could regain his country, so what? A person's happiness may be a full meal when he is hungry, and a sip of cold water when he is thirsty. This is enough. He wants to find a place more and more.

He could live his life peacefully without thinking about taking back the country and becoming an emperor again. He was fed up with this kind of life of being frightened all day long.

Just when he was thinking wildly, he heard the old monk knocking on the door outside and asking: "Brother Fa, is the rice enough? I'll give you some more."

Emperor Jianwen finally regained his composure and quickly stood up and left his seat. As he opened the door, he thanked him repeatedly and said that he was full and there was no need for it.

After chatting for a while, the old monk said that he had a Zen room for painting in the backyard, and he wanted Emperor Jianwen to help him look at the paintings. Of course Emperor Jianwen agreed repeatedly. So Emperor Jianwen went to the backyard with the old monk.

This Zen room is at the very back of the temple, and it is built on a high hillside. When you climb this hillside, you can have a panoramic view of all the rooms in the temple. And outside the courtyard wall, there is a very high hillside.

, this house can be considered to be close to the mountain.

Emperor Jianwen felt that such a terrain was very unusual, because as long as he stood at the door of the house, he could have a bird's-eye view of everyone entering and leaving the temple. This was the most advantageous defensive terrain.

After climbing several steps, we entered the house. Because it was backed by a mountain, only the light from the front could penetrate, so the house was a little dark.

After entering the room, Emperor Jianwen found that there was no young monk here, and the old monk even poured the tea himself. After sitting down, the old monk personally poured a pot of fragrant tea for Emperor Jianwen. The old monk walked to the door and looked out.

He looked at it, then closed the door, suddenly turned around, walked a few steps to Emperor Jianwen, bowed at the end, and said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being slow to punish my sin."

Emperor Jianwen was stunned by this sudden scene. The tea cup in his hand fell to the ground with a bang and shattered into pieces. After a while, he regained his composure and stammered: "Master, are you kidding?

There...is there any emperor there?"

At this time, the old monk was kneeling on the ground, looking very calm. He replied respectfully: "I knew from the emperor's every move just now that the emperor must be a royal nobleman, because I also lived in a certain prince's house for several years.

Know the rules of the royal family and the descendants of the royal family. Everything you say and do must follow the rules. They have been trained since childhood and cannot be easily changed. Especially the painting "Peacock Ascending" that the emperor painted just now

"Picture", I know that the emperor must have copied the original work of Song Huizong, because if ordinary people painted this kind of painting, they would draw the peacock's right foot raised, because most people hold the pen in their right hand, so it is easier to draw. And only

In "Peacock Climbing" painted by Song Huizong, the peacock's left foot is raised first, because only Song Huizong observed that the peacock always raised its left foot first when climbing high."

Emperor Jianwen was even more surprised after hearing this. He didn't know what the background of this old monk was, but he knew so much about all aspects of the royal family.

Emperor Jianwen still didn't want to believe it easily, but said perfunctorily: "Master is really mistaken. I am just a wild monk in the countryside. Who am I to be an emperor? As for painting, there are many masters among the people, and Song Huizong is not the only one who has this attainment."

"

The old monk did not take over Emperor Jianwen's words, but continued according to his own thinking: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I have no intention of doing anything bad to Your Majesty. If I really had treasonous intentions, I would not have invited His Majesty to the temple to entertain him, but would have reported the matter directly."

I am an official. I apologize for the offence, but there is a black mole on the emperor's left foot. If you really are not the one, can you let me take a look?"

After a few words, Emperor Jianwen was speechless. After a long silence, Emperor Jianwen let out a long sigh and said: "Master, please get up. Master really has extraordinary eyesight. Now that I have seen through it, I have nothing to say. But now

What kind of emperor is he if he is as frightened as a bereaved dog?"

After speaking, Emperor Jianwen began to cry with infinite sentimentality, and his crying became louder and louder, as if he was venting something. The old monk also fell on the ground, weeping in pain along with him.

The two of them suffered like this for a long time, and then slowly stopped.

The old monk said sadly while wiping his tears: "The traitor Zhu Di was so ruthless that he cut the corner of the mouth of Fang Xiaoru, the former minister beside the emperor, and then tore it to the ear. It was so terrible. This was all because Fang Xiaoru finally became the emperor and cursed the traitor Yan for his rebellion. Zhu Di

Angry and humiliated, he arrested all the disciples of his clan. Every time he caught a person, he was brought to

In front of him, Fang was completely indifferent and didn't even raise his head. Zhu Di actually listed Fang Xiaoru's friends and disciples as one clan, and combined the clans into the "ten clans". A total of 873 people were executed. Fang Xiaoru was executed by Lingchi, with the first knife
Chapter completed!