Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

For Ze Rong, no matter what form the doctrine took, it would never be a loss. On the contrary, he could ride this wave and sweep through the entire Han Dynasty.

Heroes and valiant individuals are like rolling tides, destined to eventually fade away.

But as long as Buddhism could sweep through the entire Han Dynasty, it would be able to take root completely.

Originally introduced from the Western Regions, Buddhism, in Ze Rong's view, had no inviolable ancestral laws.

Doctrines that could be changed by predecessors could be changed back by later generations.

Thinking of this, a hint of secret joy quietly appeared in Ze Rong's eyes.

Moreover, as long as Li Ji intended to use the doctrine to fool the people, Ze Rong's situation could immediately turn from danger to safety.

Perhaps Ze Rong often hoped that every believer could ascend to paradise early and enjoy the blessings of the afterlife, but Ze Rong had not yet finished enjoying the blessings of this life, so how could he be willing to go to the next life so quickly?

When Li Ji heard Ze Rong's words, he pondered slightly, and a look of joy appeared on his face, saying.

“Does Prefect Ze Rong really think so? Are you willing to follow my instructions to modify the doctrine and spread it widely?”

Ze Rong was even more delighted in his heart, saying. “This is a blessing for this humble monk, how dare I disobey?”

“Good, good, good! With Prefect Ze Rong in Buddhism, it will surely prosper.”

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

Immediately, Xu Chu turned and went to the back hall to take out a cotton plant cultivated in a flowerpot and placed it in front of Ze Rong.

Ze Rong felt somewhat bewildered by this, neither recognizing the cotton nor knowing what Li Ji meant.

Li Ji then pointed to the cotton and said.

“This thing is called cotton, and it is of great benefit to the country and the people, but its flowers cannot be eaten to satisfy hunger. Therefore, I want the people to plant it, but I have repeatedly encountered great resistance. So, after much deliberation, I believe that if I want the people to plant it on a large scale, I can only rely on the power of religion.”

At this moment, a strange look appeared in Ze Rong's eyes as he looked at Li Ji… as well as a feeling of finding a kindred spirit.

Rumor had it that Li Ji was also a benevolent gentleman, with a noble and flawless character, loving the people like his own children, and widely loved and supported by the people.

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

Ze Rong was just thinking about squeezing oil from the believers, those with money contributing money, those without money contributing grain, and if that wasn't enough, contributing free labor to help build Buddhist temples and accumulate merit.

This made Ze Rong feel that his actions would more or less be criticized by the Buddha after his death. He didn't expect that Marquis Guoshi was an even more true Buddha, wanting the people to change their grain crops to cotton.

For the people who completely rely on a few acres of thin land for a living year-round, planting cotton this year means starving to death next year, immediately sending a batch of believers to the Western Paradise. Wouldn't the achievements and merits soar?

However, out of caution, Ze Rong carefully asked. “I wonder if Uncle Liu Huang is aware of this matter?”

Li Ji glanced at Ze Rong and said.

“If Prefect Ze Rong cannot do it, you can say so frankly. I believe that after Prefect Ze Rong returns to paradise, the Buddha will also send other people with wisdom roots to descend into the world to preach.”

This made Ze Rong immediately put away some of his petty thoughts, smiling sheepishly and daring not to ask any further.

“The effect I want is that even if the previous generation starves to death because of planting cotton, they will die with a satisfied smile, and the next generation will regard this as a great inspiration, continuing to devote themselves to cotton planting as their fathers did…”

After a pause, Li Ji lowered his eyes slightly and said. “It would be best if even their corpses after death would willingly become fertilizer for cultivating cotton, do you understand?”

These words made Ze Rong's heart turn cold.

In the past, Ze Rong had always felt that he was inhuman enough, but he didn't expect that standing in front of Li Ji today, Ze Rong suddenly felt that his humanity was actually so bright and strong.

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

“In addition, the doctrines previously modified by Prefect Ze Rong clearly have flaws. What about the secular world being full of suffering and hardship, and one should quickly escape and transcend the mundane? Isn't that advocating a misanthropic view? That is inappropriate.”

“How should it be changed, please instruct Marquis Guoshi.” Ze Rong quickly replied.

Li Ji thought for a while and replied.

“Suffering and joy should exist in a balanced manner in all lifetimes. One enjoyed paradise in the previous life, so one will suffer in this life, and the more suffering one endures in this life, the more opportunities one will have to enjoy greater joy in the next life.”

Immediately, Ze Rong's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise.

“Wonderful!”

At this moment, Ze Rong suddenly had a feeling of inspiration like a burst of urination, feeling that the previous doctrines were still too narrow.

Li Ji only said such a sentence, but it integrated the mysteries of reincarnation, cause and effect, yin and yang, balance, suffering and joy, and directly pointed to the essence of the doctrine of how to make believers willingly give everything.

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

And as long as the “effect” is placed in the next life, then believers will feel that all the efforts will be valuable.

“Marquis Guoshi has such wisdom roots, could he be a true Buddha reincarnated?” Ze Rong said tentatively, overjoyed.

Li Ji, however, could not guess Ze Rong's thoughts.

As long as Li Ji showed some ambiguous thoughts, Ze Rong might create a golden statue of Li Ji and define him as some kind of wisdom Buddha.

There are too many worldly people who have become Buddhas in Buddhism.

However, Li Ji was too lazy to leave his name in history in this way, and even felt that it might become a stain on him.

“Don't do unnecessary things.”

Li Ji said lightly, then got up, flicked his sleeves, and walked towards the door, saying without turning his head.

“Two days! Prefect Ze Rong only has two days. If you cannot come up with a doctrine that satisfies me within two days, then don't blame me for sending Prefect Ze Rong to personally ask the Buddha for guidance.”

After Li Ji walked out the door, the personal guards who had been guarding Ze Rong behind him untied the chains on Ze Rong's body, then followed and retreated, and incidentally closed the door and locked it from the outside.

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

In addition, there were also writing brushes, ink, bamboo slips, and some clean water and dry food prepared on another table.

Obviously, Li Ji had already anticipated that Ze Rong would not refuse, so he had prepared all of this in the house early on.

If Ze Rong could give Li Ji the results he wanted in two days, showing his awareness of the times and his ability to promote religion, then Li Ji would use Ze Rong.

One thing that has never changed is that neither Yangzhou nor even the Han Dynasty has a place for Ze Rong to stay prepared by Li Ji.

Ze Rong has only two endings: either go to see the Buddha himself, or go overseas to send more people to see the Buddha.

Two days later, when Ze Rong appeared in front of Li Ji with three fully written bamboo slips, and Li Ji read through 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 a person like Ze Rong who is both unscrupulous, greedy, and despicable.

The doctrines that Ze Rong had re-fabricated in two days not only honestly summarized Li Ji's intentions completely, but also summarized the main points and experiences of Buddhism's many years of preaching, and also expanded and extended a lot.

Without Li Ji explicitly pointing it out, Ze Rong defined cotton as the Buddha flower, and its pure white, flawless flower can entrust the turbid souls in the secular world and wash away the filth in the souls.

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

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

If you don't plant cotton, then don't even think about getting the blessings of the afterlife, you can't even enter reincarnation.

Moreover, the doctrine also extends to hell, claiming that souls who stay in the secular world and cannot transcend will turn into evil ghosts and demons, suffering ten thousand times more cruel and inescapable eternal torment than falling into hell.

In short, if you don't plant cotton, then you can just wait to die.

People with a little conscience can't write such a doctrine.

In addition, the overall aspects of the other doctrines are also mainly about promoting suffering, using the blessings of the afterlife to appease people's hearts.

After Li Ji finished reading, he raised his eyes to look at Ze Rong, who was kneeling respectfully below, posing as if he was listening.

Li Ji's gaze made Ze Rong's heart jump involuntarily, and a sense of tension arose that his life and death fate was about to be revealed.

“It's still a bit rough, but overall it's quite good!”

As Li Ji's words fell, the tension and anxiety in Ze Rong's heart instantly dissipated, replaced by unparalleled excitement and ecstasy.

It's done!

Finally done!

Heaven bless me, my Buddha protect me!!!

Ze Rong was so excited that his face was as red as a cooked shrimp head, and then he respectfully asked Li Ji.

“Then may I ask Marquis Guoshi, where in Yangzhou should this humble monk begin to re-preach Buddhism?”

“Yangzhou?!”

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

Immediately, Li Ji continued to speak.

“Has Prefect Ze Rong misunderstood something? I don't seem to have ever said that I support Prefect Ze Rong preaching in Yangzhou, right?”

Ze Rong widened his eyes, recalling the sleepless nights he spent modifying the doctrine, so angry that a surge of heat seemed to be surging out of his chest.

At this moment, Ze Rong had a sudden evil thought, intending to perish together with Li Ji, who was playing with him.

However, when Ze Rong noticed Xu Chu standing beside Li Ji, and Xu Chu had already fixed his eyes on the abnormal Ze Rong, one hand pressed on the sword at his waist.

Instantly, Ze Rong's expression became docile and obedient, smiling cautiously.

Xu Chu's exposed arms were almost as thick as Ze Rong's waist, which instantly extinguished the evil thoughts that Ze Rong had just generated, and he smiled cautiously.

“Then I wonder what Marquis Guoshi meant by having me modify the doctrine?”

“There are uncivilized barbarians, the Wa people, who do not submit to the king's authority. It is not worth treating them with benevolence and righteousness, nor can we expect them to adhere to common etiquette. Therefore, I intend to have Lord Zuo Rong carry out this task of civilizing them, using the name of religion to allow these uncivilized people to bask in the light of the great Han.”

After a pause, Li Ji turned his gaze to Zuo Rong and asked, “I wonder, Lord Zuo Rong, what do you think? Do you have any objections?”

Zuo Rong's face revealed a smile more unsightly than crying. He pressed his palms together and lowered his head, saying,

“This humble monk is willing to go.”

“Good, good, good! Now that Zuo Rong is going east, and also carrying sacred cotton, it will surely allow the Wa people to enjoy blessings early and be eternally grateful.”

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

“Someone come! Send Lord Zuo Rong onto the ship, and also have Lord Zuo Rong write a list of fifty monks, who will also be taken on the ship to Yingzhou.”

“This… so soon?”

Zuo Rong hadn't even had time to react before he was lifted up by two burly guards, one on each side.

“The millions of Wa people in Wa have been mired in suffering for many years, longing for a way to transcend, but unable to find it. It is fitting that they all become disciples of the Buddha. This matter is far-reaching and should not be delayed. I urge Lord Zuo Rong to act quickly…”

After a pause, Li Ji's originally gentle tone gained a hint of playfulness as he said,

“Furthermore, I hope Lord Zuo Rong will not do anything unnecessary. The Buddha is the Buddha, but the monks who chant scriptures are not limited to Lord Zuo Rong alone. Replacing him would not be a problem.”

“And the Wa also have their own rules. What I hope Lord Zuo Rong can do is integrate the mysteries of Buddhism into the Wa system. As for how to cooperate specifically, everything will become clear when Lord Zuo Rong arrives in Yingzhou.”

Zuo Rong's eyes were still wide, feeling that the sudden influx of information was too much, leaving him in a state of confusion.

By the time Zuo Rong fully regained his senses, he had already been sent onto a giant sea vessel, accompanied by four men who were constantly protecting him.

It was only at this moment that Zuo Rong realized that Li Ji had never intended for him to stay in Yangzhou from the start, and that the doctrines he was asked to revise were prepared to control the so-called Wa.

No, it shouldn't be called control, but rather using religion to make those Wa people willingly grow cotton generation after generation. (End of Chapter)