My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 369 I, Bailian, Tutu

There were bursts of miserable cries from the Zhao family's ancient house in front of them.

A white cloth was hung in front of the door of the Zhao Mansion, and the filial sons and grandsons of the Zhao family were kneeling on the ground in the courtyard.

When the boy inside the door saw Liu Zhen arriving, he came over quickly, handed a piece of white cloth, and then called Mr. Zhao to receive this famous person in the town.

After all, these days, the status of Ming Dynasty's famous literati still has some status.

What's more, he is an official registered in the imperial court.

In the Zhao family, only Mr. Zhao, who originally joined the imperial court, and Mr. Zhao, who had just filled the official vacancy and was about to take office, were of equal status and could receive him.

Reception by other people will only make these scholar-bureaucrats feel that they have been slighted, and will cause unnecessary trouble to the family.

Liu Zhen put a white cloth over his head and handed the slightly shabby gift to the Zhao family's helper, who was actually a domestic servant, with an awkward expression.

However, the oncoming Mr. Zhao didn't seem to care about the value of Liu Zhen's gift.

Although the atmosphere here is miserable, women and children are crying together.

But Mr. Zhao still tried his best to restrain the sadness in his eyes in front of Liu Zhen.

Be respectful and courteous in your words and deeds.

Although most of the scholar-officials in the Ming Dynasty were useless people who "talked about their hearts and minds with nothing at all, and threw themselves into a lake to report to the king before they died."

But because of the Confucian ethics cultivated by studying hard for a long time, and the inner belief and awe in etiquette and law.

It still allows them to maintain the most basic rules of speech and behavior according to the teachings of the saints and the constraints of etiquette when facing the most terrifying situation.

"Master Liu can come, I think my father Jiuquanxia will also feel emotional..."

Mr. Zhao and Liu Zhen chatted for a while.

During this period, several servants came to ask him questions.

But he raised his hand to let him retreat first.

Liu Zhen was naturally familiar with the polite ways in which scholar-bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty cultivated friendships with each other, and took the opportunity to talk to him and comfort him.

Although it was a funeral, it was obvious that the dead Mr. Zhao was not as good as the living Liu Zhen.

Mr. Zhao has a very enthusiastic attitude towards Liu Zhen.

As expected, the two of them talked about Mr. Zhao's aftermath.

After hearing Liu Zhen say that the White Lotus Sect was in rebellion recently, he was ordered to return to his hometown to serve the court.

When Liu Zhen expressed his hatred for the rebellious party and his shock at the news of Mr. Zhao's death.

Young Master Zhao let out a long sigh.

He pointed to the Liaodong monks in the back hall who had long been under Liu Zhen's eyes, using various musical instruments and instruments for rituals.

Said.

"Recently, the imperial court has been conducting a sweep of the Jurchens on the border. Many bandits and bandits have taken the opportunity to cause trouble. I heard from the Qintian Prison officials who were patrolling in Liaodong that many evil spirits have crossed the northern border and fled into the interior to cause trouble. In order to avoid causing trouble, I specially asked The eminent monks from the Pure Land Sect on the nearby mountains came to rescue my father’s soul, so that it could ascend to the land of bliss in the west and be protected from evil spirits..."

Young Master Zhao said, looking at Liu Zhen in front of him, as if he was trying to figure out Liu Yushi's true intention.

If Gao Lin saw this scene, he would realize that the relationship between the two is not as they show, it is just a matter of contemporaneity and hometown friendship.

But there is a deeper entanglement in it.

"A senior monk from the Pure Land Sect?" Liu Zhen said.

Pure Land Sect, at this sensitive moment, is not a very pleasant word.

After all, the imperial court has ordered the White Lotus Sect rebels to be hunted down and exterminated from all over the place, even though Buddhism has repeatedly stated that it has nothing to do with those Luo believers who are a mixture of hundreds of schools.

But anyone with a discerning eye knows it.

These were the thieves who instigated the Red Scarf Army uprising in the late Yuan Dynasty and the Tang Saier uprising in Yongle.

Its origin is a relatively radical branch of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism that believes in the incarnation of Maitreya.

The reason why Buddhism pretends to be confused and labels these White Lotus sect demons as Luo believers who were introduced to China from the Western Regions and has a clear relationship with these White Lotus sect demons has its own considerations.

According to the views of those eminent monks in the late Yuan Dynasty. Today's Taoism has experienced successive failures from the end of the Han Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, seven hundred years of uprisings and then suppression, and the founding of the country and then annihilation by warlords.

Most of them have lost their ideals and are completely ruined.

There are still some Taoists who have incomplete Taoist skills, do evil in the local area, and make some evil sacrifices to confuse the people and ask for worship. Most of them have no formal establishment in Taoist sects.

Rather, it is a small-scale gathering of forces based on family traditions or secret transmissions between masters and disciples.

He only wanted to make some illegal living using Taoism and make some money to support his family. He was not a good person and was not taken seriously by the court at all. He did not even need the government to take action. The local squire with some local bravery could capture him.

Therefore, after the Taoist sect was incorporated by the imperial court, its status as the number one rebel in the empire had been gloriously transferred to the Buddhists who were originally the target of the regime's united front to suppress the Taoist uprising.

However, compared with the number one rebel in the empire in the past, various Taoist sects called themselves Heavenly Masters, led by followers who wanted to establish political power and came from all walks of life in the empire.

The situation facing Buddhism is more complicated.

Because he still enjoys the support from the imperial court, he is just dissatisfied because of the reduced treatment due to the absence of Taoism, the empire's mortal enemy.

Most of the eminent Buddhist monks and living Buddhas are actually not very determined in their desire to establish an earthly Buddhist kingdom.

Except for a few extremists, most Buddhists only occasionally lament that life is getting worse and worse during the off-season.

The vast tracts of land and millions of slaves owned by Buddhism during the Northern and Southern Dynasties can now only be imagined in dreams.

After sighing, he ate as usual and went to bed.

The day passed like this.

Except for extreme sects such as the White Lotus Sect, most Buddhists do not want to engage in any kind of movement. They rise up to fight with the imperial army with real swords and guns to fight for the world.

However, although most Buddhists do not want to have anything to do with the White Lotus Sect, it does not mean that they are against the White Lotus Sect.

This is somewhat similar to the attitude of the Buddhist forces in Han towards the Tantric Buddhism in Tibet.

Although Chinese Buddhism scorned the practice methods of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism and regarded them as heretical evil practices, they still used their influence in the Central Plains to continuously appease these Tibetan Tantric Buddhism on behalf of the imperial court.

Through the tea-horse trade, resources were continuously delivered to various Buddhist countries in Tibet.

To maintain the rule of Buddhism in Tibet.

After all, unlike in ancient times, the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were separated, with clear division of labor and no interference.

Confucianism and Taoism are responsible for helping rulers collect taxes and recruit volunteers to organize political power.

When Huang-Lao's theory failed within the imperial court, the Taoists who were expelled from the imperial court were responsible for acting as local rebels and causing trouble for the ruling group.

Making prophecies, rumors, and conspiracies every day——

This made the rulers, including Emperor Sui Yang and Li Shimin, all tired of it.

I wish I could just send the Xuanjia Iron Cavalry to send all these monsters who took money from the Turks to see Mr. Sanqing.

However, Li Shimin and Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty did not suppress Taoism blindly.

For example, in the early Tang Dynasty, Taoism created prophecies such as "Golden Sword Liu" and "Nv Zhuchang" among the people.

Li Shimin did not hesitate to go on a killing spree for his own rights, and immediately ordered the possible fulfilers of the prophecy, Liu Lancheng, the representative of the clan, and Li Junxian, the leader of his imperial army, to be executed.

Although when Buddhism was introduced to China, the political power was completely controlled by Confucianism.

However, Buddhism took advantage of the conflict between Confucianism and Taoism to play both sides, reconcile the conflicts between the two schools, and then show favor to both sides and take advantage of both sides.

But now the challenges faced by Buddhism in Ming Dynasty are much more difficult than before.

After the Mongols occupied China, what about Luoism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, Manichaeism, Islam, Hinduism——

A mess of foreign sects all poured into China along the Silk Road and the Mongols' powerful post system in Eurasia, and then directly confronted the flourishing Buddhism at that time.

In fact, there are still many people in Buddhism who are very grateful to the White Lotus Sect for some of the behaviors they did in the late Yuan Dynasty, which Zhu Yuanzhang thought were a bit extreme.

Those from other places come to Dayuan (Ming Dynasty) to beg for food!

It’s long overdue to be properly pictured!

(End of this chapter)