The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 303 What is the value of your existence?

Looking at the silent crowd, Chen Jingke said: "Where are the hundreds of schools of thought in the pre-Qin period now?"

"The four great schools of Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism and Taoism, the Mohist school quickly perished within a hundred years after the unification of Qin."

"Legalism also declined subsequently, and Taoism can only rely on Confucianism to survive."

Zhang Yuchu and others are a little embarrassed. Taoism was born out of Taoism, but it has not made much contribution to the promotion of Taoist knowledge.

"Hundreds of schools of thought can perish, even as strong as Mohism and Taoism, Taoism and Buddhism can also disappear."

"Buddhism and Taoism did not exist before the Western Han Dynasty, and there is no need for them after the Ming Dynasty."

There was some commotion in the crowd, but it soon became quiet.

"Do you know why hundreds of schools of thought died out and the Mohist Way declined?"

"Do you think that Confucianism was too strong and defeated them?"

"I just live too many good lives and don't want to endure hardship."

"What I see is how you harm the country and its people, how you hollow out the country's foundation, and finally exacerbate conflicts and lead to the country's demise."

Other factions also expressed their willingness to serve the Ming Dynasty.

The point is, they still need to work.

Of course things are not that simple, but never underestimate the potential that people have when they are desperate.

So he changed the topic, took a book from Jiang Wei, and said:

Over the past thousand years, many dynasties have destroyed Buddhism and Taoism. Those dynasties have disappeared, but our two families, Buddhism and Taoism, still exist.

"But you must prove your worth to the court and give the court a reason for your existence."

"Not just for the barbarians, but also for the ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty."

Everyone wants to save face. They were hostile just now. It doesn't matter how you humiliate them.

A smile flashed in Chen Jingke's eyes, what he wants is your fear.

Zhang Yuchu said with shame: "What Chen Ban has taught me is that we in Taoism will regain the courage of our ancestors and preach to the world."

"Then let me ask again, what use are Buddhism and Taoism to the court?"

"What really determines their rise or fall is not how they are, but whether the court needs them."

Chen Jingke spread his hands and said, "Look, isn't it great now?"

"A hundred years ago, Changchun Ziqiu Chuji, a real person, went to the Western Regions to meet Genghis Khan at the age of seventy-four, and gave Quanzhen the opportunity to prosper Taoism."

Zhang Yuchu's expression was also very solemn.

Only the content of praising the contributions of ancestors was specially added.

"The content in this book is what the court needs you to preach."

Now that the other party has surrendered, it would be too disrespectful to humiliate them.

If they don't change, then Chen Jingke wouldn't mind finding a religion that is obedient and easy to use.

"Whether it is Buddhism or Taoism, there is never a lack of courage to preach. It just depends on whether you are willing or not."

Chinese civilization has been passed down for thousands of years, and there are too many options.
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Seeing that his goal was achieved, Chen Jingke said nothing more, saying that going too far was not enough.

"Whatever doctrine stipulates that you should be quiet and do nothing is bullshit."

The content template of this book is a teaching material written by Zhu Xiongying to educate the people.

"Amitabha." Fazheng announced the Buddha's name in a low voice.

In order to survive, the Buddhist and Taoist families will inevitably modify their teachings to make themselves more aggressive.

"And the new religion is more obedient than you and can contribute more to the court."

"Amitabha." Fa Zheng said solemnly: "Thank you, donor, for your guidance. Our Buddhist religion is willing to go deep into the people and promote our emperor's benevolence."

"Taoism does not lack such righteous people. If Master Zhang didn't preach, where would Taoism come from?"

Zhang Yuchu also immediately expressed his position: "Taoism can take action immediately, please Chen Bandu and wait and see."

"Don't reverse the relationship between cause and effect. It's not that the imperial court cannot do without you, nor is it that the imperial court needs your help."

"If the court needs it, they can prosper. If the court doesn't need it, they will decline or even die."

"The court doesn't ask you what method you used, only the final result."

If it were from the beginning, the Buddhist and Taoist families would definitely sneer at it.

However, looking at Bi Liangjie and others who were harmless to humans and animals next to them, they only felt heavy in their hearts.

"I tell you, this idea is wrong."

"Back then, the Buddhist sages spread Buddhism from Tianzhu to China step by step."

"Master Xuanzang walked tens of thousands of miles and spent seventeen years to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures from Tianzhu."

Chen Jingke said with disdain: "At least now I don't see how Buddhism and Taoism are of any use to the court."

"Don't think you are so important. Without you, a new religion will appear and take your place."

The reason why Zhu Biao's version was not used is because that version contained a lot of foreign content, as well as content about Christianity and Islam.

Right now, there is no need for ordinary people to know about these things.

It won't be too late to tell them this slowly after they recognize the Chinese identity.

What's more, it seems a bit inappropriate to let Buddhists and Taoists promote Christianity and Islam, even if they say bad things about others.

After the two parties negotiated the terms, the atmosphere at the scene eased, and the hearts of the Buddhist and Taoist families were half relieved.

Why only put down half of it?

Because there are still new religious laws that have not been promulgated.

Just looking at Chen Bandu's attitude, we can tell that the new regulations must be very strict.

However, when they actually saw the new regulations, they discovered that they were indeed strict, but by no means harsh.

Not to mention deliberate suppression.

On the contrary, it is very humane.

What is strict is that it regulates the scope of power of religious people.

For example, you can perform rituals to liberate the souls of the dead, but you are not allowed to sell talismanic water, magic medicine, etc. for healing diseases.

Otherwise, it will be regarded as an illegal crime, and as long as caught, the person will be exiled in the lightest way and executed in the worst case.

"When people are sick, you can comfort them and then advise them to go to a doctor for treatment."

Regarding usury, we have implemented a blanket policy. Lending money to the people is not allowed, and interest-free lending is not allowed.

"Either give it to the people for free, or you can keep the money in your pocket and spend it however you want."

"There is no problem in building temples more luxuriously and gilding the bodies of gods and Buddhas."

"If we find you lending money to the people, even if it's just a penny, we will ban the temple directly."

"All temples, temples, monks and Taoists will be severely punished in accordance with the law."

A monk asked: "Is this too harsh? If the people encounter difficulties..."

Chen Jingke smiled and said: "Monks should be compassionate. The Buddha even cut his flesh to feed the eagles."

"When you see people in distress, shouldn't you help them for free? Why do you want others to pay you back?"

The man suddenly stopped talking.

Chen Jingke continued: "To tell you a little trivia, do you know how the pawn shop came about?"

Some of the well-informed monks had lowered their heads in shame, while many more showed doubts.

"It was the monks who had money and nowhere to spend it, so they played the trick of buying low and selling high, so they had pawn shops."

"Ah? This..." All the monks were shocked at first, and then they were all ashamed.

Chen Jingke spread his hands and said, "Look, this is religion."

"In order to put an end to such dirty behaviors that tarnish the sanctity of gods and Buddhas, the new law stipulates that religious business is strictly prohibited."

"Of course, we can't block all your roads. Reading fortune-telling, selling talismans, and the like are still allowed."

"Besides the above, no other businesses are allowed."

"But when something was discovered, the temple was banned, and all the monks in the temple were exiled to the bitter cold places on the border."

"Of course, you can give money to worldly people and let them lend it."

"As long as you don't get caught."

"But the new regulations stipulate that if the person colludes with you, he should take the initiative to confess to the court."

"Then he will be absolved of all sins, and all the money will be his."

Upon hearing this rule, many monks' faces froze.

Never underestimate people's greed when it comes to money. When the amount is large enough, even your own son will be unreliable. Not to mention other people.

In the future, if Buddhism and Taoism want to use White Gloves to make money for them, White Gloves will immediately go to the Religious Office to report them.

This time all roads were completely blocked.

In addition to the above, the new regulations also impose strict restrictions on the number and scale of temples, as well as the number of monks.

If it exceeds the limit, the result will be very simple and it will be banned.

I won't give you another chance at all.

Strict restrictions are also given on the land owned by the temple.

In addition to the land allocated to them by the imperial court, they are not allowed to purchase additional land, and any violation will be punished.

Religious properties also have to pay taxes. If tax evasion is discovered, people from the tax inspection department will come to trouble them.

"As I said before, if you have money, you can use it to gild the bodies of gods and Buddhas, and you can use it to eat, drink and have fun."

"Even if you take the money to go to the Qin Lou and Chu Pavilion to be cool, the court won't bother you."

Everyone's expressions were a little unnatural.

Of course they knew it was a joke, but the joke was not funny at all, especially in this situation.

But no one dared to stand up and accuse.

“Of course, if you use the money to preach and expand your influence, that’s okay too.”

In fact, this is also a purpose of restricting religious property, forcing them to use excess money for expansion.

There are also other measures, which basically limit the size of religious personnel and property.

It was very strict, and the punishment measures were also very severe. They were banned at every turn and all the people were exiled to the frontier.

Chen Jingke also knows that if you hit a stick, you will get a sweet date.

Some incentive measures are also given.

For example, Buddhist and Taoist families could send representatives to serve in the Department of Religion to assist the court in managing religious affairs.

In fact, Taoists send people to teach Taoism, and Buddhists send people to manage Buddhism.

As long as they do not violate the above laws, they will be given autonomy to a certain extent.

After all, controlling them too harshly would not be conducive to their development.

The most attractive rule for both Buddhism and Taoism is that the new rules cut off the possibility of the introduction of foreign religions.

Except for the religions and gods approved by the Ming Dynasty, any other religions are regarded as cults and evil gods and will be severely punished.

Combined with the previous policy, it almost acquiesced to the orthodox status of Buddhism and Taoism in the Ming Dynasty.

Except for these two families, other religions are not allowed to preach in Ming Dynasty.

The Buddhist and Taoist families naturally understood this truth, and their faces showed joy.

This benefit is too great.

Bi Liangjie and others on the side did not change their expressions.

Chen Jingke had already talked to them before that the belief in Mazu appeared too late and the strength of the followers was too weak.

There is not even a decent scripture, let alone any fasting and ritual precepts.

Integrating his beliefs into Taoism is a matter of mutual benefit.

We are not afraid that the Taoist church will restrict the development of Mazu belief. The organizational form of the Buddhist and Taoist churches is very loose.

Not to mention that unity matters, even within each faction, they actually work in their own way.

No one can interfere with anyone else.

In addition to the above, there are some other reward and punishment systems.

For example, in order to facilitate missionary work, they were given the right to travel.

If you go on a missionary trip overseas, you can travel on a ship or even a warship for free.

For example, if the education work is done well in a certain place, the court will give corresponding rewards.

Usually, some additional ultimatums are given, or permission is given to build a few more temples, etc.

All in all, it took almost a day to finish talking about this.

Afterwards, Chen Jingke did not pretend to be polite and directly announced the adjournment of the meeting.

The Buddhist and Taoist families said nothing, got up and left one after another.

Naturally, they were not satisfied with this result, but it was within the acceptable range.

But everyone knows that the days of sitting and counting money are gone forever.

After walking out of the gate, the Buddhist and Taoist families gathered together and agreed on a time to discuss what to do next.

It's okay to say that Buddhism's teachings emphasize joining the world and saving all sentient beings.

All it takes is a slight adjustment.

Taoism is the most troublesome. It emphasizes being in the world and being quiet and inactive.

I have never been very enthusiastic about preaching, and I only like believers whether they believe it or not.

If you want to preach in the world, there are too many things that need to be changed.

But don’t underestimate their missionary abilities.

These great masters know all the tricks used by wild Taoists to deceive people, but they just don't bother to use them.

And this kind of trick can indeed deceive people.

In previous lives, Christian missionaries often took technological products to some relatively closed and backward places to fool local chiefs.

It can be said that the two have similar approaches but similar approaches.

After watching everyone leave, Chen Jingke also let out a long sigh.

The matter was finally completed successfully.

At least for now, things are looking good.

Jiang Wei said with admiration: "Chen Bandu cut and beat him today, flattening and rounding the masters of the Buddhist and Taoist families. He really makes me admire him."

This flattery is really a bit blunt.

Chen Jingke laughed dumbly and said, "Thanks to Commander Chiang's assistance, without your reputation of suppressing Fusi, I still wouldn't be able to suppress them."

Jiang Wei said humbly: "We don't have any reputation. We are just hawks and dogs running errands for His Majesty."

Chen Jingke took out a wad of treasure notes from his arms, handed it to him and said:

"Everyone has worked hard today. Let's take it and treat everyone to a cup of tea."

Jiang Wei quickly said: "Chen Bandu, you are too polite. We are just doing our duty. How dare we take your money."

Chen Jingke smiled and said: "Take it, I asked His Majesty for this money this morning, and everyone knows about it."

Jiang Wei then stretched out his hand to take it and said: "Brothers on my humble duty, thank Your Majesty for the reward, and thank Chen Bandu for taking care of it."

Chen Jingke looked at Jiang Yu with a respectful face, and couldn't help but sigh when he thought of his past behavior.

Naturally, he is not a good person. On the contrary, he has done countless bad things.

However, the bad things he did were basically done for the royal family.

If we really want to count, he can't be blamed.

Moreover, he has few small thoughts, is very clear about his position, and works conscientiously and responsibly.

He is a very qualified fighter.

It's just that the commander of the Jinyi Guards, who is born to take the blame, may not be able to escape the fate of the rabbit and the dog.

I wonder if he can avoid such a fate.

Thinking of this, Chen Jingke shook his head and threw the thought away.

Forget it, everyone has his own destiny.

If he chooses to sit in this position, he should have such a consciousness, why should he worry about it?

At most, if something happens in the future, I will help him within my ability.

For example, keep his family small.

Of course, the premise is that he can always maintain this clear understanding and not follow Mao Xiang's old path.

Afterwards, Chen Jingke didn't waste much time and got up and returned to the palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang and the others are still waiting for him.

(End of this chapter)