People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 703 Empress Wu, Luck Lost

In the Zichen Palace, Empress Wu casually flipped through the memorabilia in front of her.

This is the performance of the king of Nanchang to enshrine the Buddha. Empress Wu admitted in her heart that this is indeed a good way. Buddhism has been spread in recent years and its influence is expanding day by day.

In the entire Chang'an City, more than half of the households worship Buddha and Bodhisattvas.

The continuous expansion of Buddhist influence is not a good thing for Datang.

Because Buddhism is not as controlled as Taoism.

Taoism, from the Taoism of the Spring and Autumn Period to the Five Dou Rice Religion at the end of the Han Dynasty, has been mixed with the world for countless years.

Even Dao Patriarch Patriarch was named Emperor Taishang Xuanyuan by the emperor.

But the influence of Buddhism is expanding day by day, not to mention Taoism, and even in Empress Wu's view, if Li Tang did not respect Lao Tzu as his ancestor, Buddhism would have already surpassed Taoism.

Controlling Buddhism is now an imminent issue for the imperial court.

……

At the beginning of the year, Tubo tried to arouse the anger and desire of the Buddhist family, thereby influencing the decision-making of the court.

But unfortunately, Tubo miscalculated the influence of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, and also miscalculated the Tang monks' desire for Tianzhu relics.

The Buddhism of the Tang Dynasty is forming its own center.

"The Buddha entered the Tang Dynasty, the Buddha of the Tang Dynasty." Empress Wu looked up at Li Zhi, and said softly, "Your Majesty, this matter should be done in the morning rather than in the evening."

Li Zhi glanced at the memorial, nodded, and said, "If you win this battle, I will confer Buddhahood."

Empress Wu hesitated for a while, but finally nodded and said: "The Buddhism side is Wushu, this is the Taoism side. If you can't give a proper explanation, I'm afraid you won't easily accept it."

"What can't be explained?" Li Zhi looked sideways at Empress Wu and said calmly: "In the late Han Dynasty, Buddhism said that 'Laozi entered the barbarians and became a pagoda', and later there was the "Laozi Transformed Hu Jing". In this case, at that time, , Emperor Taishang Xuanyuan turned Hu into a Buddha, and today, I inherit my ancestors and enshrine Xuanzang as a Buddha, why not?"

Empress Wu suddenly smiled wryly, and said: "Your Majesty said so, the Taoist sect has calmed down, but the Buddhist sect may be blown up again. The "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing" has always been denied by the Buddhist sect."

"Meiniang, you and I are familiar with history books. We should know that when Buddhism was introduced into China, it often followed Huang Lao Taoism. Now that Buddhism is at its peak, we have to abandon our original intention. I don't like this kind of behavior." Li Zhi said A trace of indifference flashed in his eyes.

Hu Hua dispute.

When Buddhism was first introduced into China, it was once regarded as a kind of Huanglao immortal art; Buddhism also attached itself to the Yellow Emperor and Laozi in order to combine with Chinese beliefs and spread.

At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Hua nonsense was widely popular.

There is a god in the west, and he is called Buddha.

The theory of gods, Buddhas and immortals is not without evidence.

By the time of the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism had already had a certain influence in China, so nonsense began to appear against it, and even believed that Tao was not as good as Buddha.

At this time, the "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing" appeared, saying that Lao Tzu went out of Yangguan in the west, passed through the Western Regions to Tianzhu, turned Hu into a Buddha, and taught Hu people, so Buddhism came into being.

Over the years, disputes between Taoism and Buddhism, and disputes between Yi and Xia have occurred frequently.

In the third year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty, Shamen Yancong wrote a volume of "On Debate on Education" with 25 articles in total, denounced Laozi as nonsense.

In the fifth year of Xianqing in the Tang Dynasty, the recluse Jingtai and the Taoist Li Rong were ordered to gather in Luo Palace to debate the authenticity of "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing". Not possible.

Now that the emperor enshrined Buddha, if Da Ci'en Temple agreed, it would be tantamount to acknowledging the "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing". Since then, Buddhism has always been inferior to Taoism.

……

"I recognize the 27th brother. When a Buddha enters the Middle Earth, he becomes the Buddha of the Middle Earth. Xuanzang was conferred with this intention. Everyone can become a Taoist, and everyone can become a Buddha. In this way, the world will be peaceful." Li Zhi said indifferently. A single sentence expressed his intention.

Balance, Taoism and Buddha balance.

Although Li Zhi has the ambition to enshrine Buddhism, it still has to fall on the balance of Buddhism and Taoism.

"The concubine always feels that there is something inappropriate about this matter, but there is nothing she can't figure out." Empress Wu pushed the memorial to Li Zhi, shook her head with a wry smile.

Inexplicably, Empress Wu had a feeling in her heart that if this matter really happened, if there was anything, it would be thrown away.

"What else could it be? If it weren't for the chaos caused by the King of Nanchang, Taoism and Buddha would still be calm. After spending a lot of effort to deal with this matter properly, Buddhism and Taoism would not have changed much. It would be futile." Li Zhi saw it clearly at a glance. The pros and cons of this matter.

"But the good thing is that your Majesty got it after all." Empress Wu rolled her eyes at Li Zhi angrily.

Li Zhi pursed his lips and smiled lightly, "Feng Buddha, it feels good just thinking about it."

At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and then Wang Fulai entered from the outside, and then put a secret book in the center of the imperial case.

Li Zhi nodded towards Empress Wu, who then picked up the memorial and read it carefully. After a moment, Empress Wu said: "Your Majesty, the secret guard reports that the King of Nanchang will go to Da Ci'en Temple today, which was decided five days ago. , Ming Chongyan followed the King of Nanchang to inquire about the details of the construction of Qiuyuan in Tubo; as for Chengsi, someone did see him appearing in Qujiang Pond at six o'clock."

Empress Wu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Now that there is evidence to prove that Wu Chengsi has nothing to do with the matter of goodness and regrets, then the suspicion on him can be completely eliminated.

Li Zhi nodded slightly, flipped through the memorial, and said softly: "Then this matter is really like what 27 Lang said, someone has been staring at him and Chengsi, it's strange, staring at 27 Lang is understandable, after all he Recently, I often fight against Tubo, but why are you staring at Chengsi?"

Li Zhi seemed to have thought of something, and turned to look at Empress Wu.

Empress Wu sighed lightly, shook her head slightly, and said, "Maybe Chengsi has some reason to be discovered by the Tubo people. If this matter is found out by the King of Nanchang, there will be another storm if it is not done well."

"At the beginning about Li Jingye, I felt this way. It seems that someone is plotting against Li Jingye, and now someone is plotting against Chengsi?" Li Zhi couldn't help but frowned, and said in a low voice: "The incident at the beginning was the work of the King of the East China Sea. Handwriting, now this matter, could it be the handwriting of the King of the East China Sea?"

"It's not the same." Empress Wu shook her head slightly, and said, "This time the handwriting seems to be more direct, and there is not too much color of grievances. Therefore, the concubine guessed that it should be a replacement... It is strange that there is a relationship with the King of the East China Sea. People with the same hands and feet."

"Demon Gate." Li Zhi relaxed all of a sudden, and said with a sneer, "Those mice in the gutter rarely jumped out."

Although Momen is a big Tang Shushu, they seldom directly charge forward.

The Tianyin Sect and the King of the East China Sea are all banners pushed to the foreground by them.

Li Zhi said calmly: "Let 27 Lang deal with this matter. Anyway, Cheng Si has been grounded, so let 27 Lang entangle with the Tubo people. What the ministries continue to carry on, don't worry about it."

"Here!"

……

Great Mercy Temple.

Li Xuan was walking in the empty courtyard, when Ming Chongyan suddenly said: "If Pindao remembers correctly, there should be another case on the prince's body. Now, can these two cases be combined and dealt with together?" ?”

Li Xuan looked at Ming Chongyan in surprise, then shook her head slightly and said, "My lord, the previous case was used to communicate news, but the current case is used to trigger the court's decision to send a message to Ming Chongyan." Contradictions are used, although there are some traces, but it is not easy to find the mastermind behind the scenes, if you and I spend too much energy on this case, I am afraid there will be opposites, this case, just leave it to Di Renjie to be responsible."

How could Li Xuan fail to see that this incident was aimed at him and Wu Chengsi.

If he hadn't mentioned the matter of conferring Buddhahood at that time, which delayed the time, then maybe he would be the one who discovered Shan Wuhui's body.

Then find out Wu Chengsi, when the time comes, let alone Empress Wu, even Li Xuan herself will have to suspect that he is secretly plotting against Wu Chengsi.

Therefore, for this case, Li Xuan did not intervene in anything that could be found, and left it to Di Renjie to be responsible.

"This Di Si Cheng may have caught the eyes of both the Queen of Heaven and His Majesty at the same time." Ming Chongyan stood at the entrance of the courtyard and suddenly spoke.

Li Xuan nodded slightly, and then said: "Di Huaiying was born in Taiyuan, Bingzhou, and he is from the same hometown as the Queen of Heaven. His Majesty was also named King of Jin in his early years. Di Huaiying is a talent born out of His Majesty's fiefdom, so he naturally needs to take care of him. The most important thing is that others are capable and loyal, so it is normal for His Majesty and the Empress to love them."

Li Xuan was granted the title of King of Nanchang, and if there are talents from Nanchang, he will take care of them.

The same goes for the emperor.

"Then let's see how far this Prime Minister Di Si can investigate the case now?" Ming Chongyan sighed softly and walked into the guest house.

Inside the guest house, Di Renjie and the subordinates of Dali Temple were rummaging through boxes and cabinets.

Everyone is not an idiot, since someone has been eyeing Wu Chengsi and started to attack Shan Wuhui, it shows that this matter is definitely not that simple.

Wu Chengsi enshrined his own father and uncle privately. Although the Empress Dowager did not like it, the way of human relations, Empress Wu did not like it, and she could only dislike it.

You can reprimand and dislike Wu Chengsi, but you can't punish him for it.

Words of resentment and hope must be approved by the emperor.

But now it seems that the emperor did not intend to severely punish Wu Chengsi.

This incident alone cannot disturb the situation of the government and the opposition, and the other party has other purposes.

Li Xuan stood in the middle of the courtyard, frowning and thinking carefully. The king of the East China Sea is dead. Secretly planned.

Is it someone hiding in the court?

Li Xuan shook his head slightly, those people in the court, you let them steal something, that's no problem, but let them take the initiative to plot against Li Xuan and Wu Chengsi, they don't have the courage, after all, the more they do, They are more likely to be exposed.

There are people from Tubo, as well as the Demon Sect.

Demon Cult...

"I found it." Di Renjie called out, calling Li Xuan and Ming Chongyan in together.

Then suddenly saw a hidden pit dug out underground in the center of the room.

Inside were some gold bars, copper coins, money orders, a sharp short knife, and a small book the size of a palm.

"Is this Master Shan Wuhui really an eminent monk?" Ming Chongyan froze.

Li Xuan waved his hand and said, "Don't be so hasty to jump to conclusions, come and fetch some charcoal."

"Here!" Someone left soon.

Li Xuan took out a piece of silk from her bosom, took the small book and passed it on, and then opened the first page, on which was directly written: "Chang'an Du Shi, Du Yuanding, in July of the first year of Shangyuan, three thousand Go ahead, kill Chang'an Webster..."

With a "snap", Li Xuan directly closed the chapter, and looked at Ming Chongyan with an ugly expression: "My real man, what should we do about this matter?"

(End of this chapter)