Chapter 1090: Wandering Knights!【3】

It was night.

West of Luoyangcheng.

White Horse Temple.

In the seventh year of Yongping of the Eastern Han, Emperor Ming, Liu Zhuang, dreamed of a golden man flying around the palace, which sparked his interest in Buddhism.

Consequently, he dispatched the Gentleman Cai Yin, the Erudite Disciple Qin Jing, and others to Tianzhu to seek the Dharma.

According to records such as the "Records of Miraculous Signs" and the "Biographies of Eminent Monks," in the tenth year of Yongping, Cai Yin and Qin Jing returned to Luoyang with the Central Tianzhu monks She Moteng and Zhu Falan, carrying Buddhist scriptures and statues.

To commemorate the contribution of the white horse that had traveled the long distance to transport the scriptures, the temple was named "White Horse." As for the character "Temple" (Si), it originated from the Court of State Ceremonial (Honglu Si), as the first place the Western monks resided upon arriving in Luoyang was the Court of State Ceremonial.

Thus, the White Horse Temple got its name.

Over the course of more than a hundred years, the White Horse Temple had grown from occupying only a few mu of land at the beginning to occupying several hundred mu today through continuous expansion.

And over these hundred-plus years, more monks from Tianzhu came to the Eastern Han to reside at White Horse Temple.

Every year, the imperial court allocated large amounts of money and grain to provide for the monks of White Horse Temple.

From the few monks in the seventh year of Yongping, the number of monks in White Horse Temple had grown to about a thousand over the past hundred-plus years.

Under the night sky, the vermilion walls surrounding White Horse Temple separated the temple from the outside.

Inside and outside the walls felt like two different worlds.

Luoyangcheng had a population of nearly one million, but the population residing within the city itself was only one hundred thousand.

Most of these were high-ranking officials, nobles, and imperial relatives.

The remaining majority of the common people resided outside the city walls of Luoyang.

Therefore, Luoyangcheng was not only prosperous within the city.

The area surrounding Luoyangcheng was also exceptionally prosperous.

Wealthy merchants and powerful clans were everywhere, all surrounding this capital city of Luoyang.

Although night had fallen, there was no such thing as a curfew outside Luoyangcheng.

Under the cover of night, the area outside Luoyangcheng was far more prosperous than inside the city.

Anything you could think of could be found here; there was nothing you couldn't get.

Under the feet of the Son of Heaven, the powerful and wealthy were as numerous as ox hair, and where there were people of the upper class, there were naturally people of the lower class to serve them.

Exhausting work, dirty work, work that couldn't see the light of day, and all sorts of filthy transactions all required people to act as proxies.

Therefore, the area outside Luoyangcheng was also a mix of dragons and snakes, with wandering knights everywhere.

Wandering knights—to put it nicely, they were people who upheld justice.

To put it bluntly, they were the hoodlums of this era.

Of course, the wandering knights who could make a living in Luoyangcheng, under the feet of the Son of Heaven, and who were famous, were all wandering knights who relied on the wings of power.

Water transport, smuggling, running brothels, gambling dens, human trafficking, livestock...

Anything that required some means to accomplish was inseparable from these wandering knights who served the powerful.

Of course, the vast majority of this money would eventually end up in the pockets of the powerful.

Only a small portion would flow into the hands of the wandering knights.

Even this small portion was a figure unimaginable to ordinary commoners.

And these wandering knights would use this money to gradually strengthen themselves, contact more powerful figures, and obtain more resources.

Forces composed of such wandering knights were as numerous as ox hair outside Luoyangcheng.

At this moment, in the center of a prosperous area where residents were concentrated west of White Horse Temple, there was a huge mansion occupying over a dozen mu of land.

It couldn't really be called a mansion.

Because whether looking at the courtyard walls or the construction of the houses, not a hint of luxury could be seen.

Low, half-person-high earthen courtyard walls.

And the houses in the courtyard were mostly built of adobe mixed with straw; there wasn't a single decent piece of bluestone.

There were quite a few houses scattered throughout the huge courtyard.

But there were no decorations like pavilions or towers.

There were only huge round tables in the courtyard.

Among the adobe houses surrounding the courtyard walls, there was a slightly larger adobe house.

An oil lamp was lit inside, and the firelight was bright.

From time to time, a few wandering knights with short blades tucked into their waists, chests open, and disheveled hair would stroll around the courtyard as if patrolling.

From the lit room, the wanton laughter of women and the cheers of men could be heard from time to time.

And there was a courtyard wall between the front of the courtyard and the back courtyard.

In the middle of the courtyard wall was a vermilion-painted gate.

At this moment, the gate was tightly shut, and at the entrance stood four tall, sturdy, and fierce-looking strong men.

Each of them carried a horizontal blade in their hands.

The back courtyard and the front courtyard were basically the same width, but there were far fewer houses in the courtyard, and the layout was more refined.

At this moment, a light carriage was parked in the courtyard.

A man wearing a purple brocade robe with a scar on his right cheek pushed open the door of one of the rooms and walked out.

Behind him followed a middle-aged man wearing a black robe, dressed like a scholar.

"Second brother, tell the brothers to stay alert, don't cause any trouble for me."

"If there is any movement around, keep your ears pricked up."

"Also, tell those scouts we sent out to keep their eyes peeled."

"If there is anything unusual, or any unfamiliar faces, report it immediately."

Li Yu nodded: "Don't worry, big brother, nothing will go wrong. Within a radius of several li to the left and right, they are all our people."

The scarred man did not relax his vigilance.

"It's better to be careful. This was entrusted by the big shots above. If there is even the slightest mistake, let alone you and me, our ancestors for eighteen generations will suffer along with us."

The middle-aged scarred man said as he walked outside, and within a few steps, he left the courtyard.

The courtyard was located near a busy market.

Not far from the door was a prosperous street where wine shops, gambling dens, and brothels were highly concentrated.

People of all kinds were crowded onto the long street, which was illuminated by the lights of the shops on both sides.

The pedestrians on the long street were of all shapes and sizes, some in bright and beautiful clothing, others in coarse cloth and straw sandals.

Duan Yu sat in a wine shop on the second floor in the middle of the long street, looking down at the long street below.

And Duan Liuqing sat opposite Duan Yu.

"Master, it has been found out," Duan Liuqing said in a low voice: "The person is in the hands of a local hero. That person is named Li Hu, a famous wandering knight in this area, with hundreds of men under his command, controlling the nearby brothels and gambling dens." ===== CHAPTER 1092 =====