Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

For Zuo Rong, no matter what form the doctrine takes, he will not lose anything. Instead, he can take advantage of this trend to sweep across the entire Han Dynasty.

Heroes are like rolling waves, and they will eventually pass away.

But as long as Buddhism can sweep across the entire Han Dynasty, it will be able to take root thoroughly.

Buddhism was originally introduced from the Western Regions. In Zuo Rong's view, there are no rules that cannot be changed from the ancestors.

The doctrines that our predecessors were able to change can be changed back by later generations.

Thinking of this, a hint of secret joy flashed quietly in Zuo Rong's eyes.

And as long as Li Ji intends to use doctrine to fool the people, Zuo Rong's situation can be immediately turned from danger to safety.

Perhaps Zuo Rong always hoped that every believer could ascend to heaven early and enjoy the blessings of the next life, but Zuo Rong had not yet enjoyed the blessings of this life, so how could he be willing to go to the next life so soon.

When Li Ji heard what Zuo Rong said, he pondered for a moment, a look of delight appeared on his face, and he said.

"Does Lord Zuo really think so? Are you willing to follow my wishes to modify the doctrine and spread it widely?"

Zuo Rong was even happier and said, "This is my blessing, how dare I not obey?"

"Good, good, good! Buddhism has Lord Zuo, so it will prosper forever."

Li Ji said this, and then signaled Xu Chu with his eyes.

Immediately, Xu Chu turned around and went into the back hall, took out a cotton plant grown in a flowerpot, and placed it in front of Zuo Rong.

Zuo Rong was a little confused about this. He didn't know what cotton was, nor did he know what Li Ji meant.

Li Ji pointed at the cotton and spoke.

"This plant is called cotton. It is of great benefit to the country and the people. However, its flowers cannot be eaten to fill the stomach. Therefore, when I wanted to let the people plant it, I encountered great resistance. So after thinking for a long time, I thought that if I wanted to let the people plant it on a large scale, I had to rely on the power of religion."

At this moment, there was something strange in Zuo Rong's eyes when he looked at Li Ji... and a feeling of having found a like-minded person.

According to rumors, Li Ji was also a benevolent gentleman with a noble and flawless character. He loved the people like his own children and was widely loved and supported by the people.

What Zuo Rong didn't expect was that Li Ji was even more cruel and ruthless than himself.

Zuo Rong just wanted to squeeze money out of the believers. Those who had money could give money, those who didn't have money could give food, and those who had nothing could give free labor to help build Buddhist temples and accumulate merits.

This made Zuo Rong feel that his actions would be criticized by the Buddha after his death. Unexpectedly, Guo Shihou was a real Buddha who wanted the people to change their crops to cotton.

For the common people who rely entirely on a few acres of land for their livelihood throughout the year, if they plant cotton this year, they will starve to death next year. If they immediately send a group of believers to the paradise, wouldn’t this be a huge achievement and merit?
But out of caution, Zuo Rong asked carefully, "I wonder if Uncle Liu knows about this?"

Li Ji glanced at Zuo Rong and said.

"If Lord Zuo can't do it, you can just say it. I believe that after Lord Zuo returns to heaven, the Buddha will send other people with wisdom to preach in the world."

This made Zuo Rong put away some of his little thoughts immediately. He smiled awkwardly and did not dare to ask any more questions.

“The effect I want is that even if the previous generation starved to death because of cotton planting, they died with a satisfied smile, and the next generation will regard this as a great encouragement and continue to devote themselves to cotton planting like their fathers…”

After a pause, Li Ji lowered his eyes and spoke. "It would be best if even the corpses after death were willing to become fertilizer for growing cotton. Do you understand?"

Hearing these words, Zuo Rong felt a chill in his heart.

In the past, Zuo Rong always felt that he was inhuman enough. Unexpectedly, when he stood in front of Li Ji today, Zuo Rong suddenly felt that his humanity was so brilliant and strong.

Li Ji stroked the cotton with one hand, his eyes gentle as if he was looking at some treasure, and said lightly.

"In addition, the doctrine that Lord Zuo had previously revised is obviously flawed. What he said about the world being full of suffering and the need to escape from the world as soon as possible, isn't that promoting a world-weary outlook? This is inappropriate."

"How should we change it? Please tell me, Lord Guoshi." Zuo Rong replied quickly.

Li Ji thought for a while and replied.

“When suffering and pleasure exist in balance in every life, one has enjoyed great pleasure in the previous life, so he suffers in this life. The more he suffers in this life, the more he will have the opportunity to enjoy greater pleasure in the next life.”

Suddenly, Zuo Rong's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but praise loudly.

"Wonderful!"

At this moment, Zuo Rong suddenly felt an inspiration like diabetic diabetic patients, and felt that the previous teachings were still too narrow.

Li Ji only said this one sentence, but it integrated the mysteries of reincarnation, cause and effect, yin and yang, balance, pain and joy, etc., and directly pointed out the essence of the doctrine on how to make believers willing to give everything.

As long as the “cause” is placed in the previous life, then it can also explain why believers suffer in this life;

As long as the "fruit" is put in the next life, believers will feel that all their efforts will be worthwhile.

"The Duke of Guoshi has such wisdom, could he be the reincarnation of the real Buddha?" Zuo Rong said tentatively in ecstasy.

Li Ji couldn't guess what Zuo Rong was thinking.

As long as Li Ji showed any ambiguity, Zuo Rong might decide that Li Ji's golden statue was some kind of wise Buddha.

There are so many people who have become Buddhas in Buddhism.

However, Li Ji simply disdained to leave his name in history in this way, and even felt that doing so might become a stain on himself.

"Don't do unnecessary things."

Li Ji said this lightly, then stood up, waved his sleeves and walked out the door without looking back.

"Two days! Lord Zuo only has two days. If you can't come up with a doctrine that satisfies me within these two days, don't blame me for sending Lord Zuo to seek guidance from the Buddha in person."

After Li Ji walked out of the door, the guards who were originally guarding behind Zuo Rong untied the chains on Zuo Rong, then followed him out and closed and locked the door.

At this moment, there were only Zuo Rong and the cotton plant in this room.

In addition, there were also writing brushes, ink, bamboo slips, and some water and dry food on the table on the other side. Obviously, Li Ji had expected that Zuo Rong would not refuse, so he had prepared all this in the house early.

If Zuo Rong could give Li Ji the results he wanted within two days and demonstrate his awareness of the times and his ability to spread religion, then Li Ji would use Zuo Rong.

One thing that has never changed is that there is no place for Zuo Rong to stay in Yangzhou or even in the Han Dynasty as Li Ji has prepared.

There were only two possible outcomes for Zuo Rong: either he went to see the Buddha himself, or he went overseas to send more people to see the Buddha.

Two days later, when Zuo Rong appeared in front of Li Ji with three volumes of bamboo slips filled with writings, Li Ji read the contents of the bamboo slips from beginning to end.

At this moment, Li Ji had to admit one thing, that is, some things really need to be done by people like Zuo Rong who have no bottom line, greedy and despicable.

The doctrine that Zuo Rong re-compiled in two days not only honestly summarized Li Ji's ideas, but also summarized the key experiences of Buddhism's missionary work over the years and expanded it a lot.

There was no need for Li Ji to point it out directly, Zuo Rong defined cotton as a Buddhist flower, whose pure white flowers could comfort the turbid souls in the secular world and cleanse the filth in the souls.

Only by using cotton as a ferry can we cross the distance between the secular world and the paradise.

In this way, a fairly reasonable religious explanation can be given for why cotton, which seems to have no benefit to the believers themselves, should be planted.

If you don’t grow cotton, you can’t even enter reincarnation, let alone receive blessings in the next life.

Moreover, the doctrine also extends to hell, claiming that souls that remain in the secular world and cannot be liberated will turn into evil ghosts and demons, suffering eternal torture that is a thousand times more cruel than falling into hell and from which there is no escape.

In short, if you don't grow cotton, you'll die.

No one with a conscience could write such a doctrine.

In addition, the rest of the doctrines are generally focused on preaching suffering and using blessings in the afterlife to comfort people's hearts.

After reading it, Li Ji raised his eyes to see Zuo Rong kneeling obediently and listening attentively.

Li Ji's gaze made Zuo Rong's heart skip a beat, and he suddenly felt nervous that his fate of life and death was about to be revealed.

“It’s still a little rough, but overall it’s pretty good!”

As Li Ji finished speaking, the nervousness and anxiety in Zuo Rong's heart instantly dissipated, and was replaced by incomparable excitement and ecstasy.

Become!

It’s finally done!

God bless me, Buddha bless me!!!
Zuo Rong was so excited that his face turned as red as a cooked shrimp head, and then he asked Li Ji respectfully.

"Then may I ask you, Lord Guoshi, where should I start to spread Buddhism again in Yangzhou?"

"Yangzhou?!"

Li Ji's question stunned Zuo Rong, and then he had a bad premonition.

Immediately, Li Ji continued speaking.

"Did Lord Zuo misunderstand something? I don't think I ever said that I support Lord Zuo's missionary work in Yangzhou, right?"

Zuo Rong widened his eyes, recalling the two days in which he had worked sleeplessly and painstakingly to revise the doctrine. He was so angry that he felt as if a hot current was about to surge out of his chest.

At this moment, Zuo Rong suddenly had evil thoughts and wanted to die together with Li Ji who was playing tricks on him.

However, when Zuo Rong noticed Xu Chu standing beside Li Ji, and Xu Chu had one eye fixed on Zuo Rong with an unusual expression, he put one hand on the sword at his waist.

In an instant, Zuo Rong's expression became obedient and docile.

The arm that Xu Chu showed was so thick that it was almost as thick as Zuo Rong's waist. This instantly extinguished the evil thoughts that had just arisen in Zuo Rong's mind, and he apologized with a cautious smile.

"Then I wonder what the doctrine that the Duke of Guo asked me to change means?"

"There are barbarians in the Wa country who refuse to obey the king's rule. They are not worthy of being treated with kindness and justice, nor can they be held accountable to common etiquette. Therefore, I want to let Lord Zuo to educate them. Under the name of religion, I want to let those barbarians bathe in the light of the Han Dynasty."

After a pause, Li Ji looked at Zuo Rong and asked, "What does Lord Zuo think? Do you have any objections?"

A smile uglier than crying appeared on Zuo Rong's face. He clasped his palms together and lowered his head.

"I am willing to go."

"Well, well, well, now that Zuo Rong has crossed the sea to the east, and brought with him holy cotton, Japan will surely enjoy the blessing sooner rather than later, and will be grateful for generations to come."

Li Ji clapped his hands and laughed, then without waiting for Zuo Rong to put forward any conditions or requests, he shouted towards the door.

"Come here, escort Lord Zuo to the ship, and have him write a list of the fifty monks, and then take them on board to be sent to Yingzhou."

"Is this... so urgent?"

Before Zuo Rong could even react, he was lifted up by two burly guards, one on each side.

"Millions of Japanese people have been drowning in the sea of ​​suffering for many years. They have long sought a way to escape but have not been able to do so. It just so happens that they are all Buddhist believers. This matter involves a wide range of issues and should not be delayed. Please hurry up, Lord Zuo..."

After a pause, Li Ji's originally gentle tone became more playful as he spoke.

"Also, I hope Lord Zuo will not do anything unnecessary. The Buddha is the Buddha, but Lord Zuo is not the only monk chanting the sutras. It would be fine to replace him with someone else."

"And Japan also has its own rules. What I hope Lord Zuo can do is to integrate the mysteries of Buddhism into the Japanese system. The specific details of how to cooperate will be clear when Lord Zuo arrives in Yingzhou."

Zuo Rong's eyes were still wide open. He felt that the amount of information he suddenly received was too huge, so he was still in a daze.

By the time Zuo Rong came to his senses, he had been sent to a giant sea ship, with four men protecting him at all times.

It was not until this moment that Zuo Rong realized that Li Ji had never intended to let him stay in Yangzhou from the beginning, and that the doctrine he had reformulated was also prepared for the purpose of controlling the so-called Japanese country.

No, it should not be called control, but the use of religion to make those Japanese actively grow cotton for generations. (End of this chapter)