I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 606: Becoming a Monk and Returning to Secular Life
The aristocratic families and the various schools of thought are the places with the most money and grain in the world. Even the 99% of ordinary people only account for 10% of the money and grain, while the top 1% of the aristocratic families and the various schools of thought account for 90% of the money and grain in the world.

However, it is much more difficult to touch them than to touch the money and food of ordinary people, because the aristocratic families and the various schools of thought can really shake the ruling position of the Great Xia court.

No one in the Pingzhang Palace dared to respond to Shi Changsheng's words. The Queen Mother looked around the palace with her phoenix eyes and suddenly sneered, "My lords are always well-educated. For now, can you teach me how to raise food?"

Many ministers still did not speak, but just glanced at Shi Changsheng. The meaning was very simple: whoever raises the problem should solve it. Since you, Shi Changsheng, have pointed out that having money without food is not enough, then you, Shi Changsheng, should solve this problem.

Shi Changsheng gritted his teeth and bowed, "Now that Great Xia is in a food shortage, why don't the court issue an edict to the local aristocratic families and ask them to donate a little. When the food shortage is resolved next year, the court will make up for it?"

Before the Queen could answer, Mei Qingchen, who had now been promoted to deputy director of the Central Bank, interrupted and said, "Master Shi, have you forgotten the famine in the previous dynasty?"

The Jiazi famine that Mei Qingchen mentioned occurred in the State of Qi more than 400 years ago. At that time, Qi also suffered a severe drought, and the ruler of Qi also wanted to alleviate the disaster by borrowing grain from local aristocratic families.

However, when his policy was promulgated, it instead triggered a food rush throughout the State of Qi. Not only was there no rice in the disaster-stricken areas, but even the areas that were not originally affected were monopolized by local aristocratic families. This eventually led to many disasters such as the "Nine Courtyard Disaster" and the "Jia Zi Change", which resulted in the State of Qi becoming impoverished and weak, and its strength was at the bottom among the Five States. Even the emergence of Zhuge Dan could not save Qi from its decline.

Shi Changsheng shook his head. "I don't agree with what you said, Lord Mei. Back then, the noble families of the five countries intermarried with each other, so that although the noble families of Qi were in the country, their hearts were abroad. But now the whole world belongs to Xia. If we explain the pros and cons to the noble families, they will still be able to make a decision."

Mei Qingchen sneered, "Master Shi, you think too highly of the noble families in the world. Why don't you collect grain from the court first to experiment? I am willing to contribute grain with Master Shi, leaving only one family's food supply, to see how many loyal officials there are in the court?"

When Shi Changsheng heard what Mei Qingchen said, he immediately became anxious.

In the past, Mei Qingchen was known for his integrity. He lived in a small courtyard and had only two servants under him. He also had to worry about his useless son Mei Juncang. Now that Mei Juncang is with Zhou Tieyi, Mei Qingchen can feed the whole family.

With Mei Qingchen's stubborn temper, he could even eat only one meal a day and his wife eat two meals to support the court. But could Shi Changsheng, the Minister of Revenue who owned thousands of acres of fertile land, be the same as Mei Qingchen?

After all, the knife only hurts when it cuts one's own body, so Shi Changsheng was naturally anxious, but on the other hand, it also shows how unreliable it is for the court to pin its hopes on the kindness of the aristocratic families.

When the Queen Mother saw that Shi Changsheng and Mei Qingchen were about to quarrel, a ray of white moonlight enveloped the two of them to prevent them from wasting time in the Pingzhang Palace. Right now, there were people in need of disaster relief every minute and every second, and the Queen Mother was unwilling to waste time on the court's factional struggles.

The entire court is without Zhou Tieyi and the Emperor of Daxia. Other forces have been suppressed twice by Zhou Tieyi and the Emperor of Daxia. It is completely her one-man show. There is no point in engaging in party struggles, at least for the time being.

Suddenly, a person at the back said, "I have a plan to resolve this crisis."

Everyone looked at him sideways. The person who spoke was Zhang Songyue, a walking official in Pingzhang Palace. A few months ago, he and Gao Wencan were regarded as young talents promoted by the Empress Dowager. Gao Wencan did show some potential, especially in the matter of unsealing the Renslaughter Taoist sect. Although he did not do it completely, he at least completed the main part and was successfully promoted to the third rank of a famous family. The third rank already means he is a big figure who can influence the world.

"explain."

The Queen's tone was more casual with her cronies.

Zhang Songyue did not say it directly this time, but bowed again and said, "This is a vicious plan. Please ask the Queen to dismiss the attendants and only leave the core ministers. The ministers also need to swear in front of the Queen not to spread this matter, otherwise the world will be in chaos."

It has always been a taboo in the palace to dismiss the attendants to discuss and plot. However, the emperor today is truly comparable to the emperor of Daxia, and he also knows Zhang Songyue's character and will not act without a purpose, so he dismissed the others and only left a few people such as the Minister of Revenue.

Then the cold moonlight enveloped the space and time at that moment. They didn't need to swear an oath. As long as they dared to reveal what happened today, the Queen Mother would definitely feel it.

Seeing that the Queen Mother had made preparations, Zhang Songyue had no more worries. "Nowadays, the world's grain can only come from aristocratic families and various schools of thought. I personally think that aristocratic families cannot be moved rashly, so we can only move various schools of thought. Among the various schools of thought, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are the three largest. However, Confucianism governs the world, Taoism is quiet and inaction, and only Buddhism is unclear with Western Buddhism, and occupies the most fertile land in the world, and the people donate the most. We should start with Buddhism, convert monks into laymen, and divide the land equally."

Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism all enjoyed special treatment in Daxia. All three had tax exemption systems. Confucianism was reflected in the numerous officials in the court and academies throughout the world.

The court officials needed to govern the country and were most closely connected with the aristocratic families, so without touching the aristocratic families, it was impossible to touch Confucianism.

Taoism advocates tranquility and inaction. Its own method of cultivation, whether it is the previous Taoist Tianxiang lineage or the current Zhou Tieyi Five Immortals lineage, is conducive to production. Therefore, Taoism can not only produce and sell itself, but also supply food.

Now, those who can provide grain are the bosses. Since Taoism can form a virtuous circle, the court should not easily break this virtuous circle from its perspective, otherwise it will not only force the Taoists not to hand over grain, but may also further reduce grain production.

Therefore, only Buddhism was left among the top three. Buddhism practices the method of universal salvation, which means that both I save others and others save me. Therefore, the incense in Buddhist temples has always been more prosperous than that of Taoism, and the money and grain collected are also more. Killing the Buddhism will naturally ensure the food security in the world for a period of time, just like Zhou Tieyi cut off the food supply to the nine western provinces last year.

But there is a direct problem, that is, the Queen of Heaven practices Buddhism!

Everyone present had seen many storms and waves, so even after hearing Zhang Songyue's "treasonous" remarks, they did not rush to refute him, but looked at the Queen Mother.

The person most influenced by this policy proposal is the Queen Mother, so they don't need to be in a hurry.

The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes slightly. Judging from the implementation of this plan, it was indeed very feasible. Nowadays, due to the division of Buddhism, the power of Buddhism itself was weakened by half. In addition, the Nanda Temple was closed, and the Qinglian Temple was fully prepared to deal with the disaster of the sea of ​​blood, so the overall strength was reduced by half again.

The Queen Mother is left to practice Buddhism. Although the monkhood has the greatest impact on her, these influences are not only bad, but also have good sides. For example, the Queen Mother can take the opportunity to integrate the power within Buddhism, allowing the sects that do not submit to her to become monks and return to secular life, and allowing the sects that obey her to continue practicing Buddhism.

“How to change from a monk to a layman?”

The queen asked the most crucial question.

Zhang Songyue replied, "It only takes two people to change from a monk to a layman."

"Which two people?"

"The master of Daming Palace is Taoist Wuming, and the Minister of Buddhism is Zhou Tieyi." The Queen Mother and Zhang Songyue asked and answered each other, and the faces of the ministers kept changing.

When Zhang Songyue said the names of these two people, everyone looked as if they had expected it.

It is indeed as Zhang Songyue said, with the help of these two people and the cooperation of the Queen Mother in governing the court, this feat could be accomplished.

There is no need to say much about the Lord of Daming Palace. Everyone in the world knows that he does not like Buddhism. If he had the opportunity to return to secular life, he would do his best. Now that the Lord of Daming Palace is supervising the war against Buddhism in the west, it is even more legitimate for him to return to secular life.

But the remaining Minister of Buddhism Zhou Tieyi is a difficult task.

Although Zhou Tieyi is nominally the Minister of Buddhism, he also has many conflicts with Buddhism. But now Zhou Tieyi has not been heard from since he entered the sea of ​​blood. How can we get Zhou Tieyi's support on this matter?

Zhang Songyue also knew what the ministers were thinking, so he continued, "As for the Daming Palace Master, Queen, you only need to send a secret letter of authorization, and the Daming Palace Master will definitely cooperate with the court."

"As for Zhou Shangshu, he traveled eastwards to the sea of ​​blood and his whereabouts are unknown, but if the teacher has his work, the disciple will do the work; if the father has his work, the son will do the work."

Zhang Songyue turned his head and looked at Mei Qingchen, who had just used rhetoric to pressure Shi Changsheng. The meaning was self-evident. This matter would ultimately fall on Mei Juncang's head. Mei Qingchen could convey this information back on behalf of the court.

Before, Zhou Tieyi had always been disgusted with Buddhism and had several conflicts with Buddhism. As for Zhou Tieyi's camp, they actually held a negative attitude towards Buddhism.

In the past, Zhou Tieyi could be contacted at any time, and Zhou Tieyi's camp naturally followed Zhou Tieyi's lead, but now Zhou Tieyi cannot be contacted, so a core member of Zhou Tieyi's camp must make a judgment to mobilize the resources within Zhou Tieyi's camp.

Mei Juncang is Zhou Tieyi's eldest disciple. This identity can influence the strength of Zhou Tieyi's camp when Zhou Tieyi cannot be contacted.

It is a universal consensus that disciples are the continuation of the Taoist tradition and are more important than sons.

Mei Qingchen was about to speak when Zhang Songyue smiled and said, "I remember that Mei Bianxiu's compilation of the Great Xia Tian Xian has not been completed yet. The Queen Mother might as well summon Mei Bianxiu back to the capital."

This is the irresistible offer made by Zhang Songyue!

There is no greater grace in the world than the grace of achieving enlightenment.

Previously, due to the elimination of Zhou’s party, Mei Juncang had to leave Beijing for refuge before he could successfully complete the compilation of the [Daxia Tianxian] and enter the third rank.

His path also stopped at the fourth rank, and there were only two people in the world who could allow Mei Juncang to encounter the [Daxia Tianxian] again: the Emperor of Daxia and the Queen of Heaven.

If the Queen agrees and is willing to exchange it with [Daxia Tianxian], then for Mei Juncang personally, this would be in the best interests of him.

Therefore, even if Mei Qingchen wanted to help his son mediate, when it came to such an important matter as the Dao, he could only let his son decide for himself.

The Queen smiled and looked at Mei Qingchen, "I'll leave this matter to you, Lord Mei."

······
In a small courtyard by the Luo River, in a closed courtyard, a ruler floats in front of Mei Juncang. The whole material of the ruler is green jade, and it is engraved with the laws of the Legalists. The words on it are constantly changing, from [The Law of the Five Emperors] to [The Law of the Great Yan]. The evolution of each law reveals the changes in humanity in the world. If it can be used well, it is a powerful tool that can directly change humanity.

Zhou Tieyi snatched four second-grade secret treasures from Garuda Yuanqian. It was useless for him to keep these second-grade secret treasures, so he gave one to each of his three disciples.

Among them, Mei Juncang's Legalist's [Ruler for Warning] is a famous treasure, but it was lost in the Heluo battlefield for three hundred years and was only seen again today.

With the help of the second-grade secret treasure of the Fa family, Mei Juncang's aura continued to improve. Combined with his previous accumulation, he quickly completed the transformation from the fifth grade to the fourth grade.

He suddenly felt something in his heart and opened his eyes from his meditation. The green jade on his waist shone brightly. This was the piece of jade that Mei Qingchen had been playing with for many years. It had gathered his strong and righteous spirit. Now that Mei Qingchen was a third-rank official, he could naturally inform his son of some things through this piece of green jade.

Mei Juncang picked up the jade, and his righteous spirit formed a vague image of Mei Qingchen. Mei Juncang picked up the ruler, which intensified the righteous spirit of Mei Qingchen in the room, making the image of Mei Qingchen more solid, and at the same time transmitted his own image back.

Both the father and the son were silent for a while. Although they did not become enemies in the end, many things happened and formed a hurdle that would take time to resolve.

Finally, Mei Qingchen smiled with relief, "It seems that you have made progress in your practice."

Mei Juncang lowered his head, "This is all the teacher's plan."

Mei Qingchen raised his head and looked at the sky. "The only right thing I did that day was to hand you over to him for discipline. My long-cherished wish to uphold the Holy Path has now seemed to be in vain. It is like losing something in the evening but gaining something in the evening. However, there are some things he can plan for you, but there are some things you need to decide for yourself."

Mei Juncang frowned and asked, "What does father want to say?"

Mei Qingchen lowered his head again and looked at his son. "The Queen Mother asked me to pass on a message. If you are willing to help the court change from a monk to a layman, then the court is willing to give you the Great Xia Tian Constitution to edit again to help you break through to the third rank. This is the best and possibly the last chance. Of course, I am only passing the message to you. No matter what decision you make, I will help you get the best result. The Queen Mother can't wait any longer. She hopes to get an answer within one day."

After saying this, Mei Qingchen did not continue to influence his son's judgment. His image slowly dissipated into the air, and his righteous spirit returned to the jade and lurked again.

Mei Juncang received such shocking news. He first sat on the bed for a few breaths to digest it, and then took out a cloud scroll with a mantra written on it [The Mantra of the Free Heavenly King].

(End of this chapter)