Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 218: Destroy Buddhism and Taoism, Xu Jie returns!
The mystery of Buddha's light.

The one-eyed stone Buddha was born.

This alarmed everyone in the capital, and naturally also alarmed Zhang Juzheng's cabinet. The four cabinet ministers temporarily put aside their government affairs and came to Yuxi Palace to meet the emperor.

When Lu Bing and Zhang Yuangong responded to the imperial edict and came to the audience, the four cabinet ministers were sitting on embroidered cushions in pairs beside them. When they noticed their arrival, they immediately turned sideways to look at them.

The emperor sat high on the dragon throne, quietly overlooking Lu and Zhang. This picture, which symbolized the pinnacle of power in the world, made Zhang Yuangong kneel down from a distance.

Lu Bing was still able to walk until he reached the center of the hall, bent his knees, and said, "Long live the emperor!"

The eyes of the emperor and the ministers were all on Lu Bing. Zhang Yuangong breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief and followed the crowd in praising the emperor.

Zhu Houcong raised his hand and said, "Stand up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Lu Bing and Zhang Yuangong stood up.

Zhang Yuangong stood with his head bowed, his body slightly leaning forward and sideways, as if listening to orders.

Lu Bing stood solemnly, his eyes level with His Majesty's chest, and said in a serious tone: "Your Majesty, the miracles outside the East and West Gates were all deliberately created by the Buddhist sect to create panic. Now, the seven people behind the scenes have all been brought to justice. This item is the legal evidence."

Lu Bingliang took out a bracelet with seven relics. The relics were obtained from the cremation of an eminent monk. It was like he was carrying the head of a criminal.

Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian and Li Chunfang all knew how precious the relic bracelet was. Even though they were cabinet ministers and were used to seeing rare treasures, they couldn't help but envy it.

Real treasures always become more valuable as time goes by. Like this string of relic bracelets, it has an extraordinary story. If it is sold, it can ensure that generations of descendants will have no worries about food and clothing.

For handling a case, he was awarded a family heirloom. Lu Bing's luck is really enviable.

Zhu Houcong nodded and signaled Lu Bing to put away the relic bracelet. The Jinyiwei had killed too many people, so many of them suffered from psychological trauma. Lu Bing, the commander-in-chief, had been asking people for help and medicine. As the emperor, he knew about this and asked the Imperial Hospital and Li Shizhen to treat them.

However, external injuries are easy to treat, but heart disease is difficult to cure.

Lu Bing often came to Yuxi Palace to meet the emperor, including yesterday. Zhu Houcong discovered that in just one day, Lu Bing's complexion and spirit were much better, and his face looked gentler.

I think it is related to this relic bracelet, so I will keep it in the Jinyiwei so that Li Shizhen and other imperial doctors can refer to it.

"Tell my elders what the people from the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism did after they came to Beijing." Zhu Houcong said.

Buddhism is wise, and those great masters all have empty eyebrows.

These cabinet elders have experienced ups and downs in officialdom for decades and are extremely smart. After hearing about what happened outside Dongzhimen and Xizhimen, they knew that someone was deliberately making trouble.

Moreover, one cannot escape from the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

According to reports from local government offices, the great sages of Confucianism, great masters of Buddhism, and great immortals of Taoism have either arrived in the capital or are not far from it.

The three religions came here on orders from the emperor. The so-called New Year's blessing is just a cover, as anyone would know. Everything must be based on the order of the three religions.

The way to rank the three religions is to sit down and discuss the Dao. Since it is a discussion of the Dao, the emphasis is on "discuss", so there must be an agenda.

However, the decision-making power on the order of the three religions lies in the hands of the imperial court, or more precisely, in the hands of the emperor.

The cabinet needs to formulate seemingly fair but biased agenda based on the emperor's attitude towards the three religions.

Therefore, the real purpose of Zhang Juzheng's cabinet's audience was to ask for the emperor's will. Zhu Houcong did not respond to the cabinet's request just now, but asked the cabinet to wait for Lu Bing's arrival and wait for Lu Bing to tell about the three religions.

"The minister obeys the order."

Lu Bing accepted the order, then bowed to Zhang, Gao, Hu, and Li, and said, "Sir, I don't need to elaborate on what the Buddhist sect did, but when the Taoist masters came to Beijing, they often received invitations from the court officials before they even arrived in the capital, including the ministers and vice ministers of the six ministries."

The foundation of Buddhism is among the people, while the foundation of Taoism is in the imperial court.

"If the superior likes something, the subordinates will like it even more."

The current emperor worships Taoism and will allow some officials who are good at taking advantage of opportunities to follow him in practicing Taoism and offering sacrifices.

Those officials who already worshipped Taoism and practiced fasting and prayer became even more unscrupulous.

According to the observation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, half of the court officials had contacts with Taoism.

When Zhang Juzheng's cabinet changed color, Lu Bing slowly uttered the names of some court officials related to Taoism, "Minister of War Liu Ziqiang, Right Vice Minister of Revenue Xu Yangzheng, Right Vice Minister of Rites Guo Pu..."

As Lu Bing spoke, Gao Gong's face became more and more unsightly. The officials mentioned, Liu Ziqiang, Xu Yangzheng, and Guo Pu, were all his close friends.

It is not a fault to associate with Taoism, but if Taoists can become officials among the nine ministers of the court, it is a fault at this time.

Gao Gong, who was impatient, was about to stand up and try to defend his friend, but Zhu Houcong waved his hand to stop him.

Waving your hand doesn't mean rejection, but it means there's no need to say anything.

As I said, it is not wrong for people to have a belief. Letting Lu Bing talk about the activities of Taoism is just to show the influence of Taoism in the court.

In addition, when the Taoist master was on his way to Beijing, he clashed with the Buddhist master and "commanded" the local government to drive the Buddhist master away from preaching, which also proved the influence of Taoism in the local area.

If a force has the power to "eliminate dissidents" in both the court and local areas, it proves that it poses a threat to the imperial power.

Obviously, the Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Houcong would not allow such a powerful person or force to exist.

Just like this, the demise of a powerful sect may make the Taoist sect seem somewhat innocent, but the ugliness in Taoist temples is only slightly less than that in Buddhist temples, only slightly less.

Buddhism is greedy, Taoism is also greedy, even if they perish, they deserve such a result.

Xu Yangzheng, Liu Ziqiang, Guo Pu and others, especially Guo Pu, have always been famous among the people and in their hometown. The "Renyi Lane" which has been circulated in the court and the country for a long time and even passed down to later generations, "What's the harm in giving him three feet?", was written by Guo Pu.

But Zhu Houcong had an impression of Guo Pu, not just that, but he also had some understanding of his son Guo Can.

This person, who was called Ji Si Tai Sui in later generations, also known as Tai Sui Xingjun, is a legendary divine being.

Taoist books have sixty Jiazi in their system. The god who takes charge of the misfortunes and blessings of the world rotates every year. This god is called Taisui of the year, commonly known as Suijun.

As Guo Pu, Guo Can and the Guo family are revered as the sixty-year gods by Taoism, there is no need to say much about their relationship with Taoism.

But Liu Ziqiang, Xu Yangzheng and Guo Pu were all very smart and knew what kind of situation to choose.

The corruption of Taoism must be resolved.

After letting Zhang Juzheng learn about Taoism, Lu Bing paused and finally talked about Confucianism. He looked at Zhang Juzheng for a long time, almost staring at him, and then said, "Lord, we have a distinguished guest today..."

(End of this chapter)