The Great Arcanist Who Traveled Through the World of American Variety Shows.

Chapter 430: Lü Dongbin: Destroying mountains and temples? I’m a Taoist expert!

"You also distributed land?" Guo Jue said in surprise, looking at the herdsmen in front of him.

"Haha, sir, you don't think we don't know how to farm, do you?" the herdsman said with a smile.

Guo Jue smiled awkwardly. Before coming here, he did not know that herders also farmed. In fact, the nomadic people in Hexi were half-farmers and half-herders. You know, before the Han Dynasty, most of the people living in Hexi, Longyou, and Xiliang were Qiang people, and the Qiang people were a semi-nomadic and semi-farming people.

When Richard formulated the system of Hexi, he took this into full consideration. The soldiers here were also half-farming and half-herding. All the soldiers here were armored cavalry, and the Liangzhou horses were rampant all over the world and would bloom again in the hands of the Great Zhou.

The Zhou Dynasty's military system was a semi-hereditary system. After the father retired, his son would become a military soldier.

In order to prevent the quality of the Fu soldiers from declining, every Fu soldier household must pass an assessment in every generation to be able to inherit the Fu soldiers. If they fail to pass the assessment, their original Fu soldiers quota will be temporarily cancelled. In the next three years, they will be assessed every year. If they still fail, their hereditary qualification will be cancelled, their tax exemption qualification will be cancelled, and some of their land will be taken back.

In other words, if they want to have the qualification of Fubing all the time, they need to train two people in each generation. Fubing is exempted from taxes for three generations, and Fubing can only separate after three generations. No one is willing to separate in advance because of the exemption from taxes and labor service.

In order to ensure that they do not have to pay taxes, the soldiers in the government would try their best to avoid splitting up into households. Only in this way can the strength of a family of soldiers be guaranteed not to decline, and there will be at least two people in each generation who can pass the assessment of the soldiers in the government.

Richard didn't know how long this system could be implemented, but it could be guaranteed to last at least within three generations.

And Guo Rong will definitely live a long life this time, and this system can be maintained for at least 150 years. As for the future, it will depend on the wisdom of future generations.

In Liangzhou, it cost almost no money to distribute pastures and livestock to the soldiers and herdsmen. The pastures originally belonged to the tribal chiefs, and the cattle and sheep also belonged to those tribal chiefs.

As for whether there is corruption here, of course there is. But the corruption of officials here is completely different from the exploitation of tribal leaders in the past.

In the past, the tribal chiefs exploited the herders and used them as slaves. They had no pastures, no cattle or sheep, and had to work for the chiefs, and they could only compete with the animals for food.

Although there are still corrupt officials who exploit people now, it is much better than the serf-like oppression of tribal leaders. After all, no matter how much you exploit, it is not as good as the oppression of tribal leaders. I can only say that this world is a rotten world.

In contrast to the previous oppression by tribal chiefs and Uighur nobles, the herders of various tribes actually developed a sense of belonging to the Great Zhou. At least the Great Zhou allowed them to live a good life.

In their eyes, these officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty were the great rulers.
After talking with these herdsmen for a while, Guo Jue had a general understanding of this place. What surprised him even more was that these herdsmen spontaneously helped the Great Zhou maintain its rule here.

These herdsmen would immediately inform the government if they found other tribes approaching. These herdsmen even looked forward to being called up by the army for the Western Expedition. In the past, they were serfs, and the tribal leaders would call them up for major battles. Now that the imperial court has allocated them pastures and land, these herdsmen are very willing to go on the expedition.

What's more, there are rewards of money and food for going on the expedition. If you are lucky and make military achievements, you will also be rewarded with grassland, land, cattle and sheep. Compared with the past, it is much better.

All I can say is that it all depends on the support of my peers.

Because Zhou implemented the Baojia policy on the grassland, the chiefs and tribal leaders on the grassland now hated Zhou. In the past, the Tang Dynasty model was to recruit these nomadic peoples by granting them official titles and making promises, but never said that killing the tribal heads would give benefits to the lower-level herdsmen.

As a result, when they arrived in the Zhou State, not only did they not give them any benefits or official positions, but they directly distributed their cattle, sheep, and pastures to the peasants.

How could these unruly tribal leaders bear this grievance? They directly led the tribe to rebel again. The Western Expedition Army, which had long been on guard against them, would not tolerate them. These were all military achievements!

The tribal leaders, nobles, and chieftains were killed, and the pastures, cattle, and sheep were distributed to the lower-level herdsmen. The imperial court established the Baojia system, with one hundred households forming a Jia, and each of these herdsmen provided one person to help each other and live together.

At the same time, the imperial court established many gathering places similar to Wubao on those grasslands. These Wubao were very small, and the walls were only four or five meters high. Although they were very simple, they were enough to resist other pastoral tribes on the grasslands.

These forts were built with rammed earth and wood, and were not large in area and were not difficult to build. The court simply sent some officials who knew how to build a city to assist them in building the forts.

These forts were also Hexi’s first line of defense against the northern grasslands.

One hundred herdsmen formed a Jia, and one Jia built a fort. Hundreds of forts could accommodate more than 100,000 herdsmen. The grassland nomads wanted to attack these forts, but they could not defeat them if they had too few people, and they would suffer heavy casualties if they had too many people. The grassland tribes were not good at attacking cities, even for rammed earth forts. Moreover, even if they captured the forts, the gains would not be enough to offset their losses.

Hundreds of forts were like nails nailed into the grassland. With the support of the imperial court, it would be difficult for the Khitans and Dangxiangs to conquer them even if they assembled a large army. After all, how many people would they lose if they attacked one fort after another?
This is the method that Tsarist Russia used to deal with the Cossacks in the past. Tsarist Russia used fortress tactics, constantly built fortresses on the grassland, and eventually completely occupied the grassland and conquered the Cossacks.

This method is not without its disadvantages. The first is that it is time-consuming. It took Tsarist Russia nearly two hundred years to conquer the steppes. The second is that it is very expensive.

Richard did not intend to use this method to occupy the grassland, but to use it for defense, so the investment would be much smaller. As long as the first fort discovered the enemy and lit the beacon, Liangzhou would assemble a large army. At that time, the initiative of both offense and defense would be in the hands of Zhou State.

Guo Rong also thinks this method is very good. If it is really effective, it will be difficult to invade the grassland in the future.

The craftsmen sent by Richard helped these herdsmen build forts. At least three wells were dug in all the forts. Sheep pens, cattle sheds and horse stables were planned. At the same time, the herdsmen were told how to live in the forts to prevent them from neglecting hygiene and getting sick with plague.

The imperial court controlled these forts with materials such as salt, tea, and ironware. In order to prevent these forts from being wantonly exploited by officials below, Richard specially set up a horse market outside the city, which would be controlled by the royal caravan.

All these herdsmen were dispersed and assigned to a tribe, with the emperor as the Khan of the tribe. All the herdsmen were the emperor's private tribe and also the emperor's private soldiers.

The Heavenly Khan of the Central Plains cannot have his own tribe? So these herdsmen are the private tribe of the Great Zhou Emperor, the great Heavenly Khan.

The trade between these tribes was also managed by the royal caravans, and the profits from the caravans belonged to the royal family, and of course the taxes still belonged to the court. According to this model, the royal family could control tens of thousands of herders.

Every year, the royal family would give some cloth, salt and meat as rewards to some of the herdsmen who performed well.

If this continues, these herders will soon be assimilated into Han Chinese culture. If this continues for two or three generations, this place will be completely settled, and the Han Chinese population will completely dominate.

In addition to these, Richard also plans to promote Buddhism and Taoism in Hexi and the Western Regions. The political and military problems in the Western Regions can be easily solved, but religious problems also need to be solved.

In order to solve the religious problem, the Arabs used massacres to force people to convert to the Arab sect. This time, Richard planned to use economic means to cooperate with Buddhism and Taoism. For those people in the Western Regions, they basically have to believe in something. So if you don't occupy the high ground of faith, others will.

It just so happened that Buddhism and Taoism were hiding in the Central Plains day by day, either fighting among themselves or occupying farmland, lending at high interest rates, and collecting offerings from believers. Although Richard and Guo Rong had dealt with Buddhism and Taoism by rectifying Buddhist and Taoist teachings, these Buddhist sects would definitely make a comeback in the future.

Richard simply sent them to the Western Regions to preach, so that they would not be idle in the Central Plains.

So Guo Rong ordered all the Buddhist and Taoist masters to go to the capital city of Bianliang. Even Lu Dongbin heard about these things and came to ask Richard.

"Fellow Taoist, this time the Lord is gathering all the Buddhist and Taoist masters in Bianliang to arrange a battle between the two religions?" Lu Dongbin asked.

"It's been a long time since we last met, Mr. Lu. I wonder where you are having fun?" Richard did not answer, but asked Hu Sanniang to pour tea for Lu Dongbin.

Lü Dongbin looked at Hu Sanniang beside Richard, then looked at Richard and said with a smile: "Fellow Daoist, you are very interested. This is a fox that has been practicing for three hundred years."

"Haha, fellow Taoist, it is a three-tailed fox in your eyes." Richard said, "This is a fox I met when I was traveling in Japan. I took it in because it looks good. I want it to stay by my side and help me practice!"

Lü Dongbin listened to Richard's words and looked at him strangely, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, he could only say, "Daoyou's cultivation method is different from that of ordinary people! I can't compare to you!"

"Hahaha!" Richard laughed and said, "Don't you think it's beautiful? In terms of beauty and temptation alone, how many people can compare to the fox tribe?"

"The fox clan is so talented that humans are not as good as them." Lu Dongbin shook his head and said.

"So, with such a good condition, we should naturally take advantage of it!" Richard said with a smile: "With such a beauty in front of us every day, once we get used to this stunning beauty, it will be easier to overcome the emotional or sexual calamities in the future, right?"

"Or, it can be used to test the character of the disciples. Why not?"

When Lu Dongbin heard Richard's twisted logic, he subconsciously nodded, and then he suddenly realized that after three hundred years of temptation from the fox demon's beauty, how many people could withstand it, except for those talented disciples and old practitioners?

If one's self-control is weaker, one would be completely bewildered on the spot.

"Fellow Daoist, you haven't told me why the Lord has summoned the masters of the two religions here this time?" Pure Yang Zhenren Lu Dongbin cleared these distracting thoughts from his mind and said.

Richard picked up the tea that Hu Sanniang had just brought, made a gesture of invitation to Lv Dongbin, then took a sip of the tea and said, "It's actually nothing serious."

"Don't worry, fellow Taoist. This time we're not going to have a debate between the two religions."

The debate between the two religions is actually also called the debate between the three religions. It is a debate between the three great masters of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Almost every debate is very loud and powerful. It can greatly enhance the influence. However, it is also easy to make Buddhism and Taoism become like water and fire.

The world was finally at peace, and Lu Dongbin didn't want to start a conflict between the two religions.

"What's that for?"

"The imperial court rectified the Buddhist and Taoist precepts, and took the opportunity to purge a large number of fake monks and Taoists, and demolished a large number of temples and Taoist temples. The emperor thought that these great monks were idle anyway, so he prepared to give them some tasks."

"Arrange things? Arrange what things?" Lu Dongbin asked.

"It's very simple, let them go and preach!" Richard laughed and said, "Over the years, the Buddhists and Taoists have stayed in the Central Plains to enjoy themselves, and have no intention of spreading our Chinese culture abroad."

"For hundreds of years, they have been complacent and have lost their ambition to make progress. That is why so many evil people have mixed in, oppressing the people and deceiving the court. So I wrote to the court and asked these monks and Taoists to go to Hexi, the Western Regions and even the West to preach and promote Buddhism and Taoism!"

Hearing this, Lu Dongbin was silent for a long time. My goodness, who came up with this idea? It was really mean. Those great monks were all over 60 years old. They went to the grasslands and the Western Regions to preach. Nine out of ten times they would not come back.

And this cannot be said to be a bad thing. After all, this is a missionary work. Even Lu Dongbin knows that many people will go there even if they know this.

"What do you think, Brother Lu?" Richard asked.

"Spreading the Dharma is of course a good thing!" Lu Dongbin nodded.

"I'm glad you understand!" Richard said with a smile, "This time, the imperial court will send a large army to spread the Dharma, and the monks and Taoists who spread the Dharma will just follow the army."

"A large army escort?" Lu Dongbin asked in surprise.

"Of course!" Richard said, "There is now an invasion of the Arabs in the Western Regions. These Arabs are extremely cruel and xenophobic, and they are also very inflammatory. The army is about to march west, and they will definitely have to confront these people, so the court plans to use Buddhism and Taoism to replace the Arabs."

"Daqin Religion? I wonder what its teachings are?"

"Haha, their doctrine is monotheism, which means that except for their god, all other gods in the world are false gods!"

"The barbarians are courting death!" Hearing Richard's words, Lü Dongbin was furious and said, "How dare a barbarian hairy god speak so arrogantly!"

"Do you really think that I am cultivating myself and won't destroy mountains and temples?!"

Richard raised his lips and said, "That foreign hairy god said that those who believe in him can enter paradise, and those who don't will go to hell!"

"It is indeed the evil god who is worshipping the gods and destroying mountains and temples. Our Taoist sect will do anything for him!" Lu Dongbin said immediately.

(End of this chapter)