Destiny Only Han

"Belief?"

Zhou Yafu asked.

"Yes, faith." Zhu Su nodded seriously, and then asked: "Have you heard of New Buddhism?"

Zhou Yafu thought for a while and said with some uncertainty: "New Buddhism? Could it be that Fan Nasi and Lu Tai, the son of King Lu, created that sect?"

Zhu Su seemed to have remembered something funny. He raised the corners of his mouth and said softly: "Exactly."

Zhou Yafu remained silent.

Zhu Sui suppressed his smile and said seriously: "Don't underestimate them. The new Buddhism spreads very fast, and there are countless believers. Even in this place where Buddhism originated, there are many believers!"

"Here, in order to distinguish Buddhism from New Buddhism, our people call New Buddhism New Buddhism..."

"The entire Sunga village where our boundary marker was moved is filled with Protestant believers! I heard that they are planning to build a Buddhist temple in the village, so they can worship there every day..."

Zhou Yafu was suddenly stunned.

At this moment, he inexplicably remembered what Liu Ying once said.

Fans are forcing the original work to death!

He frowned and said: "I used to serve as the Southern Colonel under the command of Hu Donghu General Hu Zhonglang, and I had heard about New Buddhism. But even if they are as ignorant as the Donghu people, only one or two tenths of them are religious. This is the place where Buddhism originated. Why Will so many people convert to the new Buddhism?”

Zhu Shu thought for a few seconds and said with some hesitation:

"Perhaps it's because the gods worshiped by the Donghu people are different from those of New Buddhism?"

"Anyway, here in Xin Yueyang County, New Buddhism and Buddhism have the same origin, and there has been a big debate between the old and new Buddhists here, and the New Buddhism is better! Therefore, the abbots of Jinlong Temple who belong to New Buddhism outside the city have been elected one after another. The tongues of seventeen Buddhist masters fell off..."

"Moreover, Sunga's current taxation is very heavy. The more they work, the more taxes they pay. Many Sunga people simply lie down and bask in the sun all day long. As long as they have rice to cook at home, they will never go out to work or do business..."

"So, the so-called Protestant doctrine of sincerity leads to spirituality. There is no need for ascetic practice. You only need to pray to His Majesty...well, if you pray sincerely to the Lord Buddha, you can be reborn in bliss and no longer suffer in the world. This dogma is more in line with the ideas of the Sunga people... …”

Zhou Yafu's face was filled with an expression of "Oh, I can't help but be like this".

After being silent for a few seconds, he asked: "According to what you said, the Sunga people are no longer working. Will it affect the cotton and rice orders of Han Dynasty here this year?"

He wasn't too worried about the latter.

The Xunjia people no longer sell food to Han merchants, and their farms in Mengzhou Duhufu and the fertile fields in Anhai Duhufu that mature two years and nine times will not affect the Han people from being full to eating well. …

After all, the rice, which is harvested three times a year, does not taste good and is basically used as feed.

But cotton is different.

The cotton textile industry in the Han Dynasty was booming. What is important is that the cotton cloth produced was not only used by the people of the Han Dynasty, but most of it was exported to overseas countries.

Therefore, the textile factories are like bottomless pits, and the demand for cotton is endless.

If the Sunga people stop growing cotton, the people all over the world will have nothing to wear!

And establishing a royal paradise where everyone has food to eat and clothing to wear is the lifelong pursuit of scholar-officials regardless of which school of thought!
Therefore, the Sunga people do not grow cotton. This is not only because the textile factory owners of the Han Dynasty do not agree, but also the Manchu officials of the Han Dynasty will never agree!

After hearing Zhou Yafu's words, Zhu Shu replied: "It is definitely affected. But the impact is not big."

Zhou Yafu asked again: "It doesn't have much impact? How come it doesn't have much impact?"

"Come on, come on, sit down and talk slowly." Zhu Shu pulled Zhou Yafu to the Pianhua Hall, turned around and asked: "Coffee, or tea? You are here at the right time. Li Shi just gave me some high-quality goods a few days ago. Yizhou County coffee and Pu'er tea..."

Zhou Yafu shook his head: "Just plain water."

When Liu Ying was the crown prince, she once hung several paintings in the study room of the East Palace.

They say, drink cold water in winter; cross the broken bridge at night.He can endure the pain of swallowing air and swallowing bitter drinks; he can bear the cold and sweep snow, and he can put out fires by taking the heat.There is no fan in the summer, no umbrella in the rain, and the spirit of eternity is renewed day by day...

Zhou Yafu regarded this as his life creed. Although he was a young man who slept among flowers and willows, he was not greedy for food and drink.

Zhu Su shook his head and said nothing. He just sat down with Zhou Yafu in order.

Well, Zhou Yafu is the master.

After a while, several attendants served tea and then slowly left.

Zhu Shu said: "You have just arrived and don't know enough about Sunga. The people there are divided into four classes. The highest class is Brahmin, the priest; the second is Kshatriya, both monarch and warrior; the third class is Barbarian. Houses are those engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, industry and commerce and other production undertakings; and finally there are Sudras, who are tenant farmers or slaves."

"In addition, there is a fifth class called Dalits. This class of people has the largest number of people, but they are worse than slaves and are untouchable."

“But now Vaishyas and Shudras don’t want to work, so Dalits are allowed to engage in agriculture...”

"This is why I said Dahan's commercial orders are not affected very much."

"After all, Dalits were not allowed to engage in legitimate occupations in the past, so after King Sunga promulgated the new policy, in His Majesty's words, Dalits became so popular that production efficiency increased to an unprecedented high..."

Zhou Yafu smiled and nodded.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and asked: "When I was in Chang'an, I once heard Monk Fan say that all living beings are equal in Buddhism. Their ancestor named Shi Shimei advocated the equality of the four surnames..."

"So, how can Sunga still have caste distinctions?"

Zhu Su shook his head: "It is true that such a statement is true. But that was many years ago."

"King Sunga was originally a minister of the Maurya Dynasty, who committed regicide and usurped the throne. In order to promote his righteousness in winning the country, he said that all the perverse things done by the previous Maurya King were bewitched by Buddhists." "Since then. After that, King Sunga became close to Brahmanism and distanced himself from Buddhism. That is to say, with the support of King Sunga, the caste system that existed in the northern places was revived again."

"This also led to the rapid expansion of Protestantism in Sunga..."

When he said this, he suddenly lowered his voice and approached Zhou Yafu: "I heard from people that the Crown Prince of Xunjia, Agnimitra, who went to Han Dynasty to be a hostage, is a devout Buddhist. For this reason, there is always a relationship between father and son. There was a conflict."

"It is said that the benevolent government that allowed Dalits to farm was his suggestion. For this reason, the Brahmins hated him to the bone, and many Buddhists were looking for ways to buy weapons and armor everywhere, preparing to support Agnimitra in launching a coup..."

"Huh?" Zhou Yafu asked, "How did you learn about such a confidential matter?"

Zhu Su smiled and said: "You have forgotten, I used to work at Shangxiantang Overseas Weapons Company, and was arranged by my father to serve as a county magistrate here last year..."

"So, I naturally have my own channels to get the news!"

Zhou Yafu remained silent.

The guys from Shangxian Tang who sell weapons and armor overseas are getting more and more outrageous. Now, in addition to muskets and artillery, they even sell large siege equipment like trebuchets in their sales list!
If you continue like this, you will shoot yourself in the foot sooner or later!

While the two of them were silent, an assistant official ran in from outside, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, there is a man outside the door who claims to be the imperial envoy and asks to see the Protector..."

Zhou Yafu frowned and asked: "Is it the interviewing envoy or the deputy envoy?"

Officer Zuo Er replied: "He is the interviewer, but he did not carry the scepter that symbolizes his identity. He only brought seven or eight followers..."

Zhou Yafu looked at Zhu Shu and said, "That person should be Liu Yingke, the second son of King Chu. You come with me to greet him."

Zhu Su nodded, but muttered in confusion: "Why did he come to our Xin Yueyang County?"

As Zhou Yafu walked out, he looked at him with a cute look and said, "Is there a possibility that he is here to find me, the Protector?"

....................................

After a while, Zhu led Zhou Yafu and Liu Yingke back to the flower hall.

Only this time, the person sitting in the main seat was Liu Yingke.

Zhou Yafu asked: "Young Master came to see your subordinate. What's the urgent matter?"

Liu Yingke replied seriously: "His Majesty ordered me to go south to find out the people's feelings. I was poisoned as the last stop. But the purpose is not to check the people's customs here, but to investigate a theft case."

Zhu Su asked: "Who is so bold to commit a shocking crime that even alarms His Majesty? I am a little curious, what exactly did the thief steal from my big man?"

Liu Yingke replied softly: "Textile machine."

Zhou Yafu was startled and asked eagerly: "Seriously?"

Liu Yingke nodded: "Seriously. But it's not the Leizu-type high-speed textile machines used by the Han textile industry today, but the water-driven wooden spinning machines and looms that His Majesty made in his early years."

Zhou Yafu breathed a sigh of relief.

He leaned back in his chair and asked, "Then find out who did it?"

"That's why I came to look for you without taking a moment's rest." Liu Yingke lowered his voice: "The thief is none other than King Sunga's son, Agnimitra. It was he who bribed merchants with heavy sums of money and handed over some semi-public information to the public. The design drawings were secretly brought out from the Han Dynasty."

"Now, according to the clues I have, he ordered people to build a workshop in the upper reaches of the Ganges River, and prepared to spin and weave the cloth himself to sell, instead of selling cotton to Han merchants."

Zhu Su smiled: "So, this is his way to die!"

Zhou Yafu nodded and said nothing.

Zhu Shu looked at Liu Yingke and continued: "The second young master came from afar and didn't know why. King Xunjia and the crown prince are now having a dispute over their beliefs, and the two sides are at war with each other."

"It won't be long before another good show of father and son fighting will be staged here, following the regicide of the subject!"

"So, you and I can just sit back and watch them kill each other."

Liu Yingke frowned slightly.

After all, what he wanted to do was to question King Xunjia. If he didn't wait for him to go and question the crime, the two fathers and sons would be beaten into dog brains. Where would he go to accumulate merit?

You know, he is not Liu Jiao's eldest son, and the throne has nothing to do with him!

Therefore, if he has no merit and cannot be reused by Liu Ying, then he will have to rely on others in the future!
After understanding this, Liu Yingke said seriously: "When I left Chang'an, His Majesty asked me to thoroughly investigate the textile machine theft case. Now that I have some clues, how can I just wait here?"

Zhou Yafu asked: "Then what are your plans?"

Liu Yingke replied: "The day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, I will set off to Huashi City to question King Xunjia! In this way, we must be polite first and then fight, so that we can live up to your majesty's trust!"

Zhou Yafu was stunned.

Two words came to his mind.

condemn.

Soldiers first and then soldiers.

This means that he may have to return to Shixin County as soon as possible to prepare for war...

In an instant, although Zhou Yafu's face looked as usual, he became excited in his heart.

Without him, everyone in the Han Dynasty would be war-mad...