Water Margin people

Chapter 1425: The picture shows the dagger

"Your Majesty, why are you forcing Buddhism so hard? Each sect is actually doing well, and each has its own strengths!"

Dao Ji asked, he didn't understand why Sun Lei kept forcing Buddhism. After years of reform, Central Plains Buddhism no longer posed much of a threat to imperial power. It was just a little greedy now.

"I need a religion that is aggressive enough!"

Sun Lei looked at Dao Ji and said.

"I don't understand!"

Dao Ji was even more confused. Didn't Sun Lei want to control and suppress Buddhism? Why did he want an aggressive religion at the same time? This was quite contradictory.

"You should know Baoguang Tathagata Deng Yuanjue, he is now preaching in Xixia. Xixia was originally a Buddhist country, but it was more inclined towards Tibetan Buddhism."

"My Qi State will continue to conquer and expand. In the future, we will face various foreign races, where there will be strong religions. I can conquer their bodies, but it will be difficult to eliminate their religion unless I kill them all."

Sun Lei looked at Dao Ji and smiled.

"It's still a religious war!"

Dao Ji finally understood Sun Lei's idea. The country conquered the land, and religion ruled the people's hearts. This was a real double blow. It was necessary to completely occupy a place, both physically and spiritually.

"You are responsible for religion, and war is our business. As I said before, if you can't win, we will just go up and kill everyone. We will definitely win anyway! This is what we call those who believe in me live, and those who don't believe in me die!"

Sun Lei said with a smile.

Dao Ji just felt cold all over. Sun Lei's smile was very warm, but he felt icy cold.

"I am walking myself into the tiger's mouth!"

Dao Ji was silent for a long time before he said this. He did not regret coming here, but he felt funny about his own thoughts. He actually wanted to rely on his limited Buddhist practice to convince Sun Lei. He had no idea that Sun Lei had such a big plan before. He just felt like a frog in a well.

"Didn't Sakyamuni cut off his flesh to feed eagles and feed tigers? You should learn from this! Think about how to increase your aggressiveness."

"Take this and have a look. It contains records of some foreign religions such as Brahmanism (Hinduism), Dashiism (Islam), Nestorianism (Christianity), Hebrewism (Judaism), etc."

"And this is the record of several debates between Indian Buddhism and Brahmanism. Indian Buddhism is really useless. It was defeated miserably in several debates."

Sun Lei clapped his hands, and Chai Jin came over with a stack of books. These were the information collected by the navy during the looting in the South China Sea.

“So many religions!”

Dao Ji was a little surprised when he saw those books.

"Study it carefully. These religions are not simple. If Buddhism is a hunting dog, these are jackals and tigers. Any one of them is enough to crush Buddhism!"

Sun Lei said bluntly that Deng Yuanjue alone was not enough to preach, and Dao Ji was a good choice.

"Your Majesty, Taoism and Confucianism are not bad either, why don't you let them go!"

Dao Ji looked at Sun Lei and asked, among the three major religions in Central Plains, why is Sun Lei focusing only on Buddhism?

"Taoism is too idle. People are just idle all day long. They can't do this job and can only play a supporting role. Confucianism is good, but Confucianism needs cultural support. A bunch of savages can't speak the language, not to mention that it takes a long time to learn Confucian knowledge. How can Confucianism spread?"

Sun Lei spread his hands helplessly. It's not like he hadn't thought about using Confucianism and Taoism, but these two schools of thought had too many limitations, so only Buddhism was suitable.

Dao Ji now finally understood that he had really walked into the tiger's mouth and had delivered himself to the tiger's door, while Sun Lei had now revealed his true intentions without any concealment.

"Brother, I didn't expect you to have this plan!"

Lu Zhishen whispered beside Sun Lei.

"You think I'm you? You eat and drink all day long. Tomorrow I'm going to march west, so I have to prepare!"

Sun Lei said that the biggest problem of the Western Expedition was not the enemy's military strength. With Qi's current military industrial strength and military combat power, there would be no problem in dominating the world.

The biggest problem of the Western Expedition was religion. Unlike the Central Plains, the West was not a royal society but a religious society, and religion could only be defeated by religion or by killing people completely.

"You've already said it, I'll take charge!"

Lu Zhishen chuckled.

"Brother, it's getting late!"

Lin Chong was returning from patrol with a group of soldiers. It was already past midnight, and if they didn't rest, it would be dawn soon. "Rest!"

Sun Lei nodded. He had said everything that needed to be said today. What happened next depended on Dao Ji.

The next morning, Sun Lei walked out of the tent yawning.

"Pack up and get ready to go!"

Sun Lei looked at Zhu Wu and said.

"Your Majesty, Daoji has been reading all night!"

Chai Jin whispered to Sun Lei.

"Let him be. We'll find some monks to study with him later!"

Sun Lei said that relying on Dao Ji alone would definitely not be enough, but gathering the strength of the entire Central Plains Buddhism should be able to do it.

The convoy set off again and arrived directly outside the city of Hangzhou.

As soon as he arrived at the city gate, Sun Lei saw two gangs fighting.

The government officials quickly arrived at the scene and took the two gangs away.

"What is this for? A welcoming ceremony?"

Sun Lei was a little stunned when he saw all this. He had passed through many cities along the way, and Hangzhou was the most interesting one.

Chai Jin went straight forward to ask some questions before coming back.

"Your Majesty, it's said that the salt merchants are fighting! One group is from Yangzhou, and the other group is from the local salt merchants. The price of salt has dropped recently, and some Yangzhou salt merchants can't stand it anymore, so they came forward to pick a fight!"

Chai Jin replied that unlike Hangzhou and Yangzhou, the official salt was sold by designated merchants.

"You want to play with me with just this little ability? You really overestimate your own abilities!"

Sun Lei smiled and said that it had only been a few days and the salt merchants were beginning to be unable to hold on.

"They are just some merchants. How dare they compare the brilliance of fireflies with the blazing sun!"

Chai Jin said with a smile.

The group quickly entered the city and arrived at an inn near the prefectural government office, which had already been booked.

After everyone checked in, Cheng Wan'er couldn't wait to take her child to see her father.

"Don't worry, your identity will be exposed if you go there! Besides, my father-in-law should be very busy right now. Those people who were fighting at the city gate must be in court now."

Sun Lei grabbed Cheng Wan'er and persuaded her.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Wan'er stopped awkwardly. It would be inappropriate for her to go over at this time.

"I'll send someone to invite my father-in-law over later. The government office is too conspicuous, and we can't let our whereabouts be exposed!"

Sun Lei reminded him that there were many people and spies in Hangzhou City, and there were countless people watching in the prefectural government office. If he went there suddenly, it would definitely attract attention.

"How can I let my father come to see me!"

Cheng Wan'er said in a coquettish voice.

"You are the imperial concubine, and this is a temporary palace. If there is anything inappropriate, I will arrange a good banquet!"

Sun Lei said with a smile.

"Ok!"

Cheng Wan'er nodded heavily and agreed.

At this time, in the Hangzhou government office, there were screams and the bailiffs were beating the prisoners on the ground with water and fire sticks.