Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3582: Two Horses Drinking from the Spring

The city of Chang'an was shrouded in drizzle in late spring in March. Fei Qian looked up and saw the gates and chiwen on Zhuque Street, which seemed to be spewing out green smoke in the drizzle.

Because the matter of Zuo Ci was rather sudden, Fei Qian did not hold any grand welcoming ceremony, but quietly entered from the south gate of Chang'an and went straight into the city.

The reason why we started from the south of the city instead of the east was simply because the gate in the south of the city opened the earliest.

The morning in Chang'an is still full of vitality.

Even though it was drizzling, there were still pedestrians on the streets early in the morning. Shops and businesses could not hang banners on rainy days, but they still put up signs to indicate that they were open for business.

The smoke from cooking mixed with the drizzle, like a layer of gauze covering the city of Chang'an, hazy and beautiful.

Fei Qian mixed in with the black-armored cavalry and walked along Zhuque Street. When he passed Chunming Gate, the copper bell on the eaves of the doorplate was shaken by the wind blowing through the street, making a dull sound, which was not as crisp as before, causing Fei Qian to glance at it sideways.

If they just randomly chose someone to be the Pope, that would be simple. Fei Qian wouldn't need to come back in person, and he wouldn't even need to meet the new Pope. He could just let Xun You submit a list, and then Fei Qian would take a cinnabar pen and tick the name he liked...

But can this meet Fei Qian's needs?

Obviously impossible.

After Zuo Ci fell ill, Fei Qian had already considered the issue of the Pope, but at that time Cao's army was the primary conflict and he had no time to deal with these matters. Now that Zuo Ci suddenly died, he felt a little embarrassed.

It is normal that Zuo Ci was in poor health, which is completely contrary to what is portrayed in history.

I have never seen anyone who takes drugs live a long life!

What's more, Zuo Ci not only took drugs, but when he was young, he relied on his intelligence to eat and drink for free and overeat, which also damaged his foundation. No matter how much he wanted to remedy it when he was older, it was impossible to save him.

Just like when you self-direct too much, there will inevitably be problems. Don't think that there are no symptoms in your twenties, wait and see when you are in your thirties or forties. Eating jujube and wolfberry soaked in water every day is of no use. It's like the copper bell on the doorplate that has been caught in the rain. Although there seems to be no change on the outside, there is a problem inside.

The same is true of the Five Gods Church.

There was already a problem with Qiao Bing last time. If we fail to choose a successor to Zuo Ci now, there is a possibility that problems will arise again. It will be troublesome to fix it later, and it may not be fixed well.

When Fei Zhen and Xun You received the news, they left the Cavalry Officers' Residence and waited in the square in the rain to be greeted.

"The Cavalry General has returned!"

The usher's singing startled the swallows and sparrows that were taking shelter under the eaves.

Fei Qian went straight into the front square, then dismounted, patted the horse's neck, took off his wet raincoat, and asked the guards to take the horse down to rest and wash. He strode forward, glanced at Fei Zhen who was standing in front with his head raised, and walked towards Xun You who was wearing a dark-colored robe with wide sleeves that was a little mottled by the wind and rain, "The affairs in Guanzhong are complicated in front of the army, Gongda has worked hard."

Xun You bowed quickly, and was pulled up by Fei Qian, and then walked into the government gate, leaving Fei Zhen, who seemed to be lost in thought, behind...

After entering the government hall, Fei Qian did not say anything about going to wash and rest, but simply changed into dry clothes, combed his wet hair, and sat at the head seat, listening to Xun You's orderly report.

Fei Zhen sat aside, also with his back straight, listening with a serious face, but the small glances he would glance at Fei Qian from time to time still revealed Fei Zhen's current complicated mood.

Fei Qian was not doing this on purpose to show off to Fei Zhen, he was just used to it.

Sometimes Fei Qian would think of the actors in later generations, who enjoyed the glory and wealth under the spotlight, while at the same time crying and asking for some private space. Life is really like a play.

You know, everything has a price. If you want so much, why not go to heaven?

Fei Qian holds a high position, so naturally he has to bear the price of being in a high position.

Those guards who came back with Fei Qian can now take a relaxing hot bath, have a good meal, and sleep soundly in bed. However, Fei Qian can only listen to Xun You's report in the meeting hall, and he cannot be distracted. He must understand, think, and give feedback in the shortest time possible.

Why should this be done?

It was because Fei Qian was the General of Cavalry and the leader of the entire Guanzhong political group.

To some extent, religion is the drama of this era, so choosing the right actors is of course very important. Otherwise, it would not be good to produce a series of scenes involving death screams.

As the pile of documents on the desk grew higher and higher, Xun You also briefly recounted what had happened during this period of time...

Fei Qian nodded.

The situation in Guanzhong was not much different from what Fei Qian had originally estimated.

The people are relatively safe and everyone is busy with their own lives.

Those who make a fuss are often the "public intellectuals".

Public intellectuals in the narrow sense are actually good. They usually have five basic characteristics: academic background and professional knowledge; a basic bottom line of universal values; maintaining personal independence and a just stance; having a strong critical spirit; and being able to express true opinions on important public affairs.

This is what is meant by "public intellectuals" in the true sense, but in fact, in most cases, public intellectuals in a broad sense will cover up the voices of public intellectuals in a narrow sense, making the information received by the public completely different.

As long as there is a media that gives public voice, there will be "public intellectuals".

Even if there was no Qinglong Temple of Fei Qian, there would be Miaozhulin of Xu County. Going back further, the Party-Faction Dispute in Luoyang Academy can actually be seen as a manifestation of "public intellectuals".

Public intellectuals cannot sit still.

This is also a drawback of the feudal dynasty. Since the king’s orders do not go to the countryside, then what is the point of “going to the countryside”?

Perhaps religion in feudal dynasties was something better than these "public intellectuals".

"Public intellectuals" are too high and mighty. Religions that are down to earth are more suitable for the needs of the people. However, there is also a prerequisite: being "down to earth"...

Ghosts, gods, and faith are also a tool.

This is not to say that Fei Qian is blaspheming the gods, but in Fei Qian's cognition, ghosts and gods should be super-dimensional beings, just like humans against ants.

Do people care about ants worshiping the ant king in their nests, or tapping their antennae against each other and performing some mysterious dance to worship and please the gods like humans?

Obviously impossible.

Occasionally, some zoologists and botanists, in order to study ants, deliberately stabbed the originally fat and big ant king with a probe and then "appointed" a certain ant to succeed the throne...

Can we say that this new ant king has inherited the will of heaven and become the son of heaven? It is almost like this ant has declared himself to be the biological son of the zoologist! He began to threaten that if heaven does not change, then he will change heaven!

What would this zoologist do if he understood the language of ants and heard the announcement of the new ant king?

As for the power of faith and worldly merits, to be honest, would a person care about the faith of ants, or accumulate any merits from ants?

So from this perspective, religion and faith are just human entertainment.

So, does mankind need religion?

Yes, but no. When I was young, I didn’t review before the exam, and I didn’t study well. I would ask for help from all the gods and Buddhas the day before the exam, or even an hour before the exam, and pray that the test paper I received would contain all the questions I knew, and I would guess all the questions I didn’t know correctly! Then when the test paper came, I would be so angry that I said all the gods and Buddhas were bullshit!

After growing up, I encountered many heart-breaking and immoral things, such as toxic milk powder, Sudan red, plasticizers, gutter oil, why support, etc. Anyway, many things refreshed Fei Qian's moral bottom line. In summary, "people's hearts are not as good as they used to be, and the world is going downhill." It feels like anything that hurts the world can be done for money. Frankly speaking, Fei Qian didn't know much about religion at that time, but he intuitively believed that the reason why "human nature is degraded and morality is corrupted" is because of the lack of religious beliefs and the lack of fear. Without fear, you will naturally dare to do anything immoral.

It was not until the Han Dynasty that Fei Qian not only experienced the Yellow Turban Rebellion personally, but also witnessed the people who were submissive under the brutal and tyrannical Xiliang soldiers. Later, he met Zuo Ci and began to deeply understand Taoism and other religions. Only then did he discover that China had no "real religion" since ancient times, only primitive beliefs and spiritual sustenance.

Ancient Chinese folk beliefs are a unique hodgepodge in the world, a mixture of heaven and earth worship, ancestor worship, ghost worship, saint worship, etc. This thing is a mixture of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as well as earlier shamanism, and has characteristics such as regionality, dispersion, and spontaneity. However, compared with "real religion", this kind of belief has neither founders, doctrines, theories, nor classics, systematic organizations, or clergy.

But this does not mean that a religion can grow and develop as long as it sets up an organization.

There is inevitably competition between religions; there are also huge essential differences between religions themselves.

Fei Qian felt that monotheism was somewhat like a frog in a well, and that polytheism, if not properly controlled, would most likely fall into mutual accusations, denigration, or even a situation where the clergy's confusing narrations would lead to greater confusion among believers...

Therefore, if Fei Qian wants to develop the Five Gods Church, he must first have a positioning.

Simply put, it solves the problem of "who am I" that is bound to arise in the process of people growing up.

Monotheism can clearly solve the question of "Who am I?"

It's like the emperor declaring himself the Son of Heaven.

By answering this question, the status of the class is determined, and a group of people who believe in the same god can establish a common identity. First, it is easy to manage and establish social order; second, they can form a group to fight monsters and work together to accomplish great things...

Therefore, when Fei Qian negotiated with Zuo Ci, he abolished the chaotic system of various gods and spirits, and directly proposed the theory of the Five Gods, namely the God of the East, the West, the North, and the Center, with the God of the Center as the leader and the God of the Four Directions as the next. It is similar to monotheism, but it also accommodates the polytheistic system.

In fact, the most brutal person in the religious system who divides identities is not the one carrying the wooden frame, but the ancient Asan religion. Caste determines Asan's identity in the world, and what is more terrifying is not the so-called low caste, but the "Mleccha" born in the barbaric land without caste. Therefore, the Asan instilled "divinity" into the body of a "Mleccha" in the barbaric land, regardless of whether it is a man or a woman, in their cognition, this is not a sin at all.

As a result, Buddhism, which was born later, wanted to get rid of the limitations of the caste system on the one hand, but could not find a suitable anchor point on the other hand. As a result, many contradictions arose within Buddhism and it was unable to justify itself. It talked about asceticism, sudden enlightenment, self-nature, and selflessness. There was almost no standard answer that could be expressed directly in human language. It could only clasp its hands together and say, "It cannot be explained."

Secondly, the second benefit of religion becoming a system is that it can cultivate a rare type of soldier called "Missionaries".

There were already Buddhist practitioners in the Han Dynasty, but these practitioners did not spread, or make the whole of China, or even the whole world believe in the Buddha's beliefs. Of course, this is also related to China's local political system. Every emperor with a little bit of brains knew about the affairs of King Zhou and King Zhou. So, although they believed in Buddhism, if they really wanted to replace the emperor with gods and Buddhas, not only would the emperor be unwilling, but his ministers would also be unhappy.

But as for "missionaries", Fei Qian thinks it is possible.

A unified organizational structure and a unified system of gods can cultivate stronger core competitiveness in religious communication.

Just like someone carrying a wooden frame, it seems that they have an innate mission to "fight counterfeiting and defend rights"...

Especially the aliens in the wooden frame sect, or the primitive form, these people think they are "part of a great cosmic plan", but this privilege belongs only to their own people, and outsiders have no right to participate. The reason for this is ultimately related to the level of human cognition of the world in different historical periods.

There was a group of ants, well, a group of frogs, who thought that the well they lived in was the whole world, so they invented a unique frog god, claiming that this true god had given the most fertile land at the bottom of the well to this group of frogs, and that this true god only loved this group of frogs and would not love other species. For example, loaches, eels, etc., would definitely not be saved.

As time went by, a frog escaped from the well and jumped into the pond. For some reason, the frog betrayed the original frog god and announced that the loaches and eels in the pond could be saved when the well collapsed and the pond dried up as long as they believed in the pond god. So, the rebellious frog was killed by the frog in the well, but was worshipped by other frogs, loaches, eels, etc. in the pond and became the savior of the pond. Later, a dog came and thought that the frogs, loaches, eels and other animals in the mud were too dirty and that they were clean because they had hair. So, the dog changed the frog god and announced that only those who believed in the new hairy god could go to heaven, otherwise they would become hot pot ingredients!

The reason why the dog can only think of hot pot is because the dog has only seen hot pot. After all, the dog does not know what the universe is, what the galaxy is, and does not know if there is really a true dog god, who has to rule over a huge world with a diameter of at least 930 billion light years and more than 1 trillion stars. Will he still insist that the dog god is omnipotent, combining with his left hand and gathering with his right hand...

Therefore, as human knowledge improves, the power of religion becomes increasingly smaller. However, during the stage of the advancement of the feudal dynasty, Fei Qian felt that religion was still a tool with considerable power, and it was naturally impossible to let it go easily.

Fei Qian looked up at the rain pouring down in the courtyard, and at the crouching horned beast on the corner of the eaves raising its head to pierce the rain curtain. He suddenly remembered the way Zuo Ci drew talismans with cinnabar in Qingyangsi many years ago...

The old Taoist who liked to pretend always liked to drag the last stroke of the spell very long, as if he wanted to hook some invisible secret. I wonder if he could truly understand the secret and see the past and the future before he died?

"Taoist Jinghong is holding a fast and offering sacrifices in the Wufang Taoist Temple."

Xun You said in a low voice.

Jinghong is Zuo Ci's disciple.

Zuo Ci was an immortal in the human world, not a nobleman, so he didn't have any formal disciples before. The Taoist children who followed him were mostly children of refugees. Jinghong was Zuo Ci's more formal disciple in Sichuan and Shu.

Are you holding a vegetarian or religious ceremony?

Fei Qian's eyebrows raised slightly.

What is "fasting"?

As the name suggests, "zhai" means "clean" and "pure". It means that before offering sacrifices, one must bathe and change clothes, abstain from meat and wine, and not sleep in the house, to show the solemnity of the offeringer.

The meaning of "jiao" is sacrifice...

Zuo Ci passed away. Did they prepare for the fasting and offering ceremony with the rituals of "bathing, changing clothes, not eating meat or drinking wine" etc.? Or did they just hold the ceremony without any preparations?

No matter which answer it is, there are obviously some problems.

Xun You continued, "According to the rules of the religion, the new headmaster should observe mourning for seven days, wait for the Tianshu Palace's Ziwei star to shift, and choose an auspicious time..."

Fei Qian suddenly reached out and stopped Xun You from finishing his words, "Let's see who he is."

Xun You was stunned for a moment, then responded yes.

Xun You was also a smart man, so as soon as Fei Qian mentioned it, he immediately thought of the problem and felt a little ashamed.

Xun You was obviously not very interested in the religious system. After all, Confucius did not talk about strange things, so this was normal. However, looking at Fei Qian's attitude, it seemed that he attached great importance to Zuo Ci and the Five Gods Religion...

This forced Xun You to start re-examining his previous attitude and practices.

Xun You thought Fei Qian came back just to deal with those "public intellectuals" who spoke out, but he didn't expect...

Fei Qian thought for a moment and asked, "It seems that there is another person beside the Left Sect Leader, called Qingniu..."

Xun You nodded and said, "Master Qingniu went on a journey some time ago. Should we have someone call him back?"

Fei Qian frowned, "No need."

Xun You's eyes moved slightly and he lowered his head in response.

One is Jinghong, the other is Qingniu. Both names seem good, but Taoist Zuo Ci, your disciple does not seem very reliable...

What to do?

Fei Qian pinched the beard on his chin and suddenly had an idea.

It is the same whether you are driving one sheep or two sheep.

"Gongda, how about sending some people to the Qinglong Temple to announce that we are going to elect a new leader of the Five Gods?"