As Lin Yang spoke, the two men's aura grew stronger and stronger. Moreover, due to their different physiques, Kou Zhong cultivated the Yang Scroll of the Longevity Technique, while Xu Ziling cultivated the Yin Scroll of the Longevity Technique.
The two, one yin and one yang, one dynamic and one static, complement and cooperate with each other. Now, under the guidance of Lin Yang, an expert who has cultivated all seven volumes, the progress is quite significant.
And so it happened, in just a short while. When Kou Zhong awoke again, he found the world had changed drastically.
"Huh, why do I feel like I can see so many things all of a sudden? The world seems brighter. And I can perceive things much further in my mind too," Kou Zhong said curiously, talking on and on like a baby.
"Then do you feel that the world has become more colorful?" Shi Long suddenly asked with concern.
"yes."
"So now you can use your mental power to observe a range of tens or even hundreds of feet around you, right?"
"That's right, Master Shi, how did you know?" Kou Zhong asked curiously.
"Grandmaster, this is a grandmaster!" Shi Long congratulated.
However, there was a hint of bitterness in his voice as he spoke. Unlike Lin Yang and the other two, he had personally watched Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling grow up. Therefore, the contrast was all the more striking.
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Chapter 78: A highly technical and skillful campaign to suppress Buddhism
"Haha, Feipeng, you're really amazing! The people you arranged during the last reincarnation are still useful now. That's truly incredible!" Zhang Lu said happily.
Since making up his mind to establish a terrestrial kingdom in this world, Zhang Lu has put in a lot of effort and has learned a lot about these feudal lords.
The Yangzhou Alliance, for example, has a large population of over 400 million. Its military strength is formidable, with 100,000 men, mostly simple farmers—that's more than enough!
With this foundation in place, Zhang Lu planned to defeat Xiao Xian outside the city, then form a marriage alliance with the Song clan, easily unifying the entire area south of the Yangtze River. With such a significant advantage, Zhang Lu believed he was certain he could unify the entire country.
"Master, let me say this first: I want all the talents in this world. Your Zhang family is wealthy and powerful, you don't need so many, but I'm different. Besides, this world will belong to you in the future, so don't compete with me for it," Lin Yang said calmly.
This is essentially laying out the unpleasant truth upfront. Otherwise, after all the hard work of helping Zhang Lu unify the country, how much benefit would I gain myself?
Upon hearing this, Zhang Lu nodded without hesitation.
"It's alright, all these talents are yours, Feipeng. Moreover, I will leave you a blessed land in this world. At the same time, I will bestow upon you the title of Imperial Preceptor. You are welcome to come and go as you wish," Zhang Lu said with a smile.
For Lin Yang, gaining hundreds, even thousands, of talented individuals at once is a good thing for the entire Wu Kingdom.
(If the entire world is unified, and Zhang Lu, as the ruler of the world, agrees to let Lin Yang leave with his talents, the fees for the Reincarnation Land will be very low. Only in this way is it possible to bring in talents on a large scale. Otherwise, each talent would have to be accompanied by a large amount of luck points, and if the number is too large, it will be a losing proposition.)
"Then what do you two, Wenji and Shi'a, want?" Zhang Lu continued to ask.
Upon hearing this, Cai Yan smiled faintly and said, "My answer is simple. Just give me a blessed land, plus all the books in this world, and make copies of them."
"Well, I also need a blessed land, and then... never mind, I'll just be like Wenji." After thinking for a while, Shi A said with some annoyance.
With the price agreed upon, it was time to get down to business: how to suppress Buddhism? After all, unifying the world didn't seem too difficult at this point.
(It's not difficult at all. With the various advantages of the main world and the territory south of the Yangtze River as a base, no matter how powerful Li Shimin is, he will basically only fail. The only difference is the time it takes. Of course, the premise is that the south is unified first.)
“Well, speaking of which, I was born into a Taoist family. Therefore, I have done a lot of research on religion. I’ve also read quite a few Buddhist scriptures. I’ve also read some Buddhist scriptures from this world. Putting aside other aspects, they are really too good at bewitching the people.” Zhang Lu shook his head helplessly.
This is also a weakness of Taoism. Compared to Buddhism, Taoism is too aloof and out of touch with reality. It's entirely an elitist system.
Taoist priests themselves are elites.
The targets of the Taoist priests' work (and deception) are still the elite.
The ultimate goal of Taoist priests—immortality—is still more alluring to the elite. This is because the desires of ordinary people remain focused on gold, silver, power, and beautiful women.
Is this elite model good or bad? Of course it is. Because the workload is not large; you only need to persuade (or fool) the elites. Then, you will obtain a large amount of resources and do whatever you want.
Just like Confucian scholars who successfully transformed the doctrine of unification into their own by means of piracy and historical revisionism.
Over the years, through the tireless efforts of Taoist priests, longevity has been successfully transformed into a concept unique to Taoism.
Almost every discussion of immortality inevitably involves Taoism. It can be said that if this is achieved, Taoism will be completely free from the risk of extinction. Regardless of Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, or Emperor Taizu of Song, they would all be asked the same question: Do you desire immortality?
"Leaving aside the merits and demerits of Buddhism, let's just talk about its doctrines. Whether it's reincarnation or enduring being bullied, they are all very beneficial to rulers in keeping the people ignorant," Lin Yang sighed.
This can be considered a limitation of the classical feudal era, where rulers treated the world as their private property and hoped to pass it down from generation to generation.
The world is vast, but one's own position is paramount! Naturally, this leads to the expectation that ministers are all idiots, generals are all cowards, and the people are all lambs.
The emperors of the Song Dynasty basically thought this way, and they acted accordingly. The result was that this vast Central Plains dynasty was destroyed by barbarians!
Therefore, as long as the times remain unchanged and it is still the classical feudal era, it is basically impossible to eradicate Buddhism.
It can fool the people, and it's very effective. Any ruler who isn't completely insane would be willing to leave behind such a religion.
Therefore, in Lin Yang's view, the suppression of Buddhism was a very technical matter, a matter that required a lot of skill, and it could not be done in a simple and crude way.
"Hehe, why go so far afield? The Buddhist sects of this world aren't so easy to destroy. Just at the upper echelons, there are four great monks, who might already be four grandmasters. After all, the martial arts knowledge they gained from our world is really effective for them," Shi A reminded him.
“Yes, and there’s also Abbot Liaokong of Jingnian Temple, who is probably already a Grandmaster. Then there’s Ning Daoqi, that Daoist thief, and many other hidden forces. All of these together, there are quite a few,” Zhang Lu added.
Indeed, Buddhism cannot be destroyed at will. They will resist, especially in the Tang Dynasty; just look at the formidable martial power wielded by these great monks.
Every county town has at least one temple. Every temple has at least several dozen monks who do not engage in production, but spend their days drinking, eating meat, fighting, and practicing martial arts.
These monk soldiers are mostly physically strong and powerful, far superior to ordinary soldiers. With a little training, they can become a force capable of deciding the course of a battle.
The number of monks in all the temples in the south alone, including all the soldiers, is at least tens of thousands. Keep in mind that this is the number of elite troops, not a ragtag bunch that could be easily made up.
What constitutes elite troops? Just look at the Qi Family Army and the Yue Family Army, and you'll know what elite troops are. At this moment, Xiao Xian, who commands 200,000 troops outside the city, might not even have 20,000 elite soldiers!
In the south alone, there are tens of thousands of monk soldiers. So, what about the whole country? There must be at least thirty or forty thousand. If so many monks are not handled properly, they will amount to tens of thousands of terrorists.