Time Travel: I am the idle king Li Shen and Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty

After Li Shen finished speaking, Wang Xuance raised a different opinion.

He felt it wasn't appropriate for the Prince Ji's residence to handle this matter, since they weren't members of the sect; it would be better for the sect to do it.

"If they're not convinced, then beat them until they are. Besides, didn't I say before that I also have faith, and I even appointed you two as my left and right protectors? Have you forgotten?"

Li Shen reminded him. He belongs to a religious sect.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xuance immediately wore a bitter expression, wishing he could disappear into a crack in the ground. The sect that Prince Ji mentioned was completely fabricated—the Money Sect, and the fact that he had appointed the two of them as his left and right protectors was utterly ridiculous.

"Your Highness is right. I am honored by Your Highness's patronage to become your protector. I will certainly spread your teachings and recruit more believers."

In stark contrast to Wang Xuance, Wang Hongfu immediately looked at Li Shen with obsequiousness.

He doesn't care about any religious sect; as long as Prince Ji is happy, that's all that matters.

"Yes, very good. Those who trust me will be rich and powerful." Li Shen nodded seriously.

Seeing this, Wang Xuance had no choice but to speak up and offer a reminder:

"Your Highness, this sect is probably not suitable. If His Majesty finds out..."

"So what if I know?" Li Shen muttered guiltily, then looked up and asked:

"Then which religious sect do you think would be most suitable to do this?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xuance quickly replied:

"Your Highness, His Majesty follows Taoism, especially the Maoshan sect and the Shangqing sect. Back then, Wang Yuanzhi, the tenth generation patriarch of the Maoshan sect, supported His Majesty and called him the Emperor of Peace, which garnered him a lot of support."

After His Majesty ascended the throne, he greatly praised Wang Yuanzhi, not only issuing an imperial edict to commend him, but also building a Taiping Temple for him in Maoshan.

Although the project was not yet completed, Grandmaster Wang Yuanzhi ascended to immortality, which is enough to show how much His Majesty valued it.

"He's already ascended to immortality, what are you still saying? Do you think he can come back from the celestial realm?"

Upon hearing that the person was dead, Li Shen curled his lip, thinking that it must have been some kind of expert.

Wang Xuance ignored him and continued:

"Your Highness, Grandmaster Wang Yuanzhi has passed away, but he still has disciples who are equally valued by His Majesty. The eleventh generation Grandmaster of the Shangqing School is named Pan Shizheng, who has inherited Wang Yuanzhi's mantle."

He returned to Mount Song to cultivate Taoism, and carried forward the Shangqing School. He was summoned by the Emperor on many occasions.

Therefore, I believe the Shangqing School is the most suitable.

“Pan Shizheng? Shangqing School…” Li Shennian uttered these two names, completely ignorant of them.

He only knows that he now follows Taoism, which may be related to their ancestor, whose authenticity is unknown.

Moreover, he also knew many famous Taoist temples in Chang'an.

But the specifics aren't as clear as Wang Xuance described.

"This Master Pan is currently in Songshan, which means I need to meet with him. But what if he doesn't know how to adapt?"

"I can't force him to do anything, otherwise His Majesty will find out and I'll be beaten again."

Li Shen raised his question: it's possible to ask him, but these religious people have eccentric personalities, what if they disagree?

Wouldn't that be incredibly embarrassing for me?

“Your Highness, if you wish to see him, simply send an invitation. Mount Song is not far from Chang’an,” Wang Hongfu said.

"Your Highness can go to Longxing Temple and ask if they can contact Master Pan Zhengzong."

In fact, I think it is not necessary for Master Pan to take the lead; any Taoist with some reputation can do so.

"If Buddhism and Taoism both respond, other religions will have no choice but to step in."

Wang Xuance offered his opinion.

"Hmm, what you said makes some sense. Let's send someone to investigate this Pan Shizheng first, and then go to Longxingguan after the New Year."

If they're willing to help then, it will save me a lot of trouble.

Li Shen thought about it and agreed with Wang Xuance's words.

If he doesn't have to show up himself, that would be ideal; he hates trouble and the less trouble he has, the better.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will send someone to inquire." Wang Xuance accepted the order.

"Old Wang, how many sects are left in our Great Tang Dynasty?" Li Shen then asked Wang Hongfu.

Wang Hongfu took out a small notebook, searched for a while, and then looked up and replied:

"Your Highness, according to our records, in addition to Buddhism and Taoism, there are also Nestorianism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and others."

However, the number of them was relatively small, with only Nestorianism developing relatively rapidly.

But that was before. Starting last year, we imposed restrictions on Nestorianism and destroyed many of their gathering places.

They also spread some rumors, and now Nestorian Christianity is not as powerful as it used to be.

Li Shen frowned, he hadn't expected that some religions from later generations would have been introduced to China so early.

Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism both originated from Persia, as mentioned in the novel *The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber*.

Li Shen still remembers the Fire Worship Order, and Xiao Zhao too.

"They began to suppress the Yici Leye sect and manage the Shuhu people, especially in Guangzhou Port in the south."

Do not let them grow in number. If any of them are disobedient, inform the Guangzhou Governor's Office to kill them directly.

If anything goes wrong, just say it was ordered by me.

In this era where human life was cheap, killing a barbarian was incredibly easy, and the Tang Dynasty would not even bother to convict him.

Unless you've done something that would incur divine wrath, such as mass slaughter or eating human hearts and livers.

Otherwise, the imperial court would never have gone to such lengths for a barbarian.

"Yes, I'll take care of it right away." Wang Hongfu nodded in agreement and wrote it down in his notebook.

"You must all remember that those who are not of our race will surely have different hearts. As long as they are not subjects of our Great Tang, they are not worthy of pity."

"Life and death are none of our business." Li Shen looked at the two of them.

"We will heed His Highness Prince Ji's teachings." The two rose and bowed.

Li Shen finally finished the hangover soup, and Lu Dingniang got up, took the bowl, and went out.

Li Shen wiped his mouth and then said:

"Alright, let's talk about the betting competition now. How many companies in Chang'an are offering betting services?"

This was the matter that Li Shen cared about the most. Five million guan was not Li Shen's goal. Having witnessed the madness of others, Li Shen naturally knew how profitable betting could be.

Wang Hongfu flipped through a few more pages of his notebook, then answered:

"Your Highness, we have discovered about a dozen families so far. The largest are the Five Families and Seven Noble Families, followed by the Meritorious Noble Families."

His Highness the Prince of Wei and His Highness the Prince of Jin were also among them.

Some small, unlicensed gambling dens also secretly gamble on football.

"Hehe, just as I expected, such a big piece of meat can definitely catch a lot of fish, even Li Tai and Li Zhi have taken the bait."

Li Shen chuckled upon hearing this; he had already guessed it would be like this, as it wasn't some secret recipe.

"Your Highness, not only Prince Jin and Prince Wei, but also some princes and dukes have participated, just not on the same scale as Prince Wei and Prince Jin."

This has led to a 40-50% reduction in our numbers this year.

Wang Hongfu said.

(What I'm writing isn't nonsense; there really are so many sects, and there are even some I haven't mentioned, such as the predecessor of the White Lotus Sect.)