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

Chapter 431: The Spread of Buddhism and Taoism to the Western Regions
Taoism looks very gentle now, and many Taoists are practicing alchemy and don't care about external affairs. However, if you really regard Taoism as a harmless little white flower that is harmless to humans and animals, you are totally wrong.

It is said that the White Lotus Sect is a troublemaker, and has been a professional rebel since its appearance. The Zoroastrianism Sect also had the Fang La uprising. But in front of the Taoist sect, these two are just younger brothers.

How many people did their uprising involve? How much impact did it have? Just like the White Lotus Sect, which rebelled for so many years but failed to occupy even one province, the Fang La uprising affected a wider area, but was still quickly quelled.

What about Taoism? The Yellow Turban Rebellion directly attacked the Eight Prefectures of the Eastern Han Dynasty, swept millions of people, and formed the Thirty-Six Sects of the World, which directly led to the rapid demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Later, Hanzhong was controlled by the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, and Zhang Lu directly became a local lord.

In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sun En, the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, swept through Kuaiji, swept across the Three Wus, and besieged Jianye. If it hadn't been for Liu Yu, the makeshift team of the Eastern Jin Dynasty might have been overturned.

It was precisely because of Taoism's repeated rebellions that it suffered heavy blows from those in power since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Taoist leaders then began religious reforms and gave up armed uprisings. In order to suppress Taoism, those in power began to vigorously support Buddhism.

Later, Buddhism grew increasingly powerful, and then there were the Three Wus and One Zong incidents of destroying Buddhism. After being taught a lesson several times, Buddhism began to restrain itself, and this gradually led to the formation of the later Buddhism and Taoism.

Now suddenly a Dashi sect appears and directly says that except for it, all others are evil gods. How can the Taoist sect tolerate them? They must show these barbarians what it means to destroy mountains and temples!

"The imperial court is going to march to the Western Regions?" Lu Dongbin asked.

"Well, the army has rested in Hexi for two years and has stockpiled a large amount of supplies. Various camels are also ready, and we will set out soon!" Richard said.

"I will go back now and train those brats in skills, so that they won't lose their skills when they get there!" Lu Dongbin said immediately.

"Wait a minute, Taoist friend!" Richard said with a smile, "This time it's a matter of the human world, but if you use some spells or witchcraft on Fang, please help me."

"You don't have to do anything, just break their spells and witchcraft!"

"Okay, okay. If those evil Maoshen cults dare to interfere, this old Taoist flying sword will definitely teach them a lesson!" Lu Dongbin said bluntly.

Hearing Lü Dongbin's words, Richard couldn't help but mourn for those people. Lü Dongbin was now the strongest man in the world. His sword skills were number one in the world, and even a true god could not be his opponent.

"But fellow Taoist, you also have to help me!" At this moment, Lu Dongbin suddenly said.

"What do you want me to help you with, fellow Taoist?" Richard asked.

"There are not many promising disciples in the Taoist sect now. I know that you are good at teaching disciples, so I would like to ask you to stay and teach them a few!" Richard was about to speak when Lu Dongbin said, "We don't need you to teach them how to practice, we just need to make them stronger."

"I heard that you have a magic medicine that can increase wisdom. Don't be stingy! If you don't agree, I won't leave and will bother you every day!"

"Okay, okay, I will never be stingy!" Richard smiled helplessly and said, "When the time comes, just take those disciples to the Taoist temple outside the city. I will prepare the elixirs!"

"But this elixir has its limits. If it doesn't work, don't blame me!"

"Of course!" Lu Dongbin nodded immediately. He drank the tea on the table in one gulp, and asked Richard for a large gourd of spirit wine brewed from the Well of Eternity, and then left with a satisfied look on his face.

Richard smiled slightly and put away the magic gourd in his hand. This magic gourd obtained from Shuten Douji was very useful. It could gather spiritual power and turn ordinary water into fine wine with some spiritual power.

Richard poured some water from the Well of Eternity into the wine, and the resulting wine was extremely extraordinary. He had invited Lu Dongbin to drink it last time, and he had been thinking about it since then. This time, he took the opportunity to ask for a large gourd.

This kind of spiritual wine is full of spiritual power and can quickly restore mana. The first use can directly increase a lot of mana, and it also has the effect of removing hair and cleansing marrow.

After Lü Dongbin left, Richard took out various materials and made a batch of magic potions. The function of these magic potions was to improve intelligence. This was the kind of magic potion Lü Dongbin wanted. At the same time, some spirit wine was added, which had the effect of removing hair and cleansing marrow.

Intelligence is very important to those Taoists, as it enables them to practice better, while hair removal and marrow cleansing can directly improve their qualifications and even help them advance to the first level of guiding techniques.

Because they are going to destroy mountains and temples, the Taoists will naturally need a large number of Taoists to defend the way and protect the law. When great Taoists go there to preach the Dharma, they will naturally have disciples to protect them.

If those people cannot understand the teachings of the great practitioners, then let them have a taste of the fists and kicks of the disciples and guards.

Taoism is a law, and boxing is also a law.

Soon, more than a month later, a large number of monks and Taoists came to Kaifeng City. Guo Rong personally ordered Buddhist and Taoist monks and great virtues to enter the palace to preach. Dozens of monks and Taoists met Guo Rong in the palace.

Just when these monks thought that they were invited this time because the emperor had changed his mind and wanted to spread Buddhism, they were all eager to try. However, after they arrived, the emperor had no intention of discussing the Dharma with them. Instead, he asked: "Dear masters, the court plans to open up the Western Regions. Are you willing to go there to spread the Dharma?"

Hearing this, several monks were slightly stunned. They had never thought about this problem at all. The Taoist priests next to them had already been reminded by Richard, and they bowed and said quickly: "It is our duty to spread the Dharma!"

"We, the Taoist sect, are willing to destroy mountains and temples for Your Majesty and eliminate the evil!"

At this time, the Buddhist monks who reacted said one after another: "Your Majesty, we are also willing to serve the court, spread the Dharma, and will never fall behind!"

"Your Majesty, the Buddha's teachings are boundless. We are willing to save those barbarians!"

Guo Rong was very happy to see everyone's expressions, and immediately said: "Well, well, well, you are all indeed the pillars of the country. Then it is up to you to spread the Dharma in the Western Regions!"

Guo Rong immediately waved his hand, and a team of palace servants brought ten sets of brocade cassocks and ten sets of Taoist golden silk purple robes, which were given to the Buddhists and Taoists respectively, and they were given the titles of Zhenren and Master. All the honors that should be given were given to them.

Then these eminent monks and great virtues were sent out of the palace.

Next, Buddhism and Taoism immediately began to prepare. Although Buddhism and Taoism had declined somewhat after the reorganization, it was not difficult to select a thousand monks. What's more, the court had specially issued a thousand certificates of ordination and stated that after these monks and Taoists went west to preach, the court would issue another thousand certificates of ordination.

This is good news for both Buddhism and Taoism. You know, since the last rectification, there are less than 3,000 monks with certificates in Buddhism and Taoism. Now the number has increased by 2,000. Although only 1,000 of them must go west, this also makes Buddhism and Taoism excited.

After the Buddhist sect was reorganized, although a large number of monks returned to secular life, even among them, many monks still believed in Buddhism. With the help of these monks, a large number of martial monks were quickly gathered together.

Almost all large temples have their own teams of warrior monks, with as few as forty or fifty people and as many as hundreds of people. These monks do not engage in production, but instead train their muscles all day long. After putting on armor and weapons, they become good soldiers after some training.

Now they were recalled and trained again, and immediately became Buddhist monks. Guo Rong even prepared leather armor and weapons for the monks, even bows and arrows.

It can be said that although these people’s military strength is not as good as that of the elite, ordinary troops are nothing but trash in front of them.

Richard also prepared the magic potion according to the agreement with Lu Dongbin. For this reason, he named these magic potions "Golden Elixir Jade Liquid". Because after adding the spirit wine, these magic potions looked like the color of beautiful jade, and there was a faint golden light on them.

After the Taoists drank the elixir, the effects were immediate. Their wisdom increased, allowing them to learn quickly. Their hair removal and marrow cleansing also helped them advance in their guiding techniques.

It can be said that the strength of these Taoists has all been raised to a higher level.

These Taoists and monks stayed in Kaifeng for more than a month, and then took the imperial edict given to them by the court and started their journey to the Western Regions.

These imperial edicts clearly stated that it was the Emperor of the Great Zhou who ordered them to go to the Western Regions to preach, and if they encountered obstacles, they could ask the army for help.

Each monk was equipped with a wooden stick with copper-coated ends. Although it was made of wood, a hit from the stick could open the top of the head and create a window in the sky for those evil spirits.

The Taoists' weapons were a bit more mixed, some had eight-sided Han swords, some had Tang swords, and some used the same weapons and equipment as the monks.

Two thousand people marched towards the Western Regions and soon arrived at the base of the Western Expedition Army. At this time, the Western Expedition was almost ready. As soon as Guo Rong's imperial edict arrived here, the Western Expedition Army announced its oath to march west.

The army set out in a mighty force. After two years of rest, the army had adapted to the climate here. At the same time, during this period of rest and stockpiling food and grass, the army was also collecting a large amount of information about the Western Regions.

After regaining Hexi, the imperial court began to send some merchants to the Western Regions in an attempt to open up the Silk Road. At the beginning, the Silk Road was relatively smooth, and the countries in the Western Regions did not block the caravans.

It can be said that these Western Regions became prosperous mainly due to commerce. Commerce was very important in these countries, so the caravans sent by the Zhou Kingdom were not blocked and were even welcomed.

However, after crossing the Pamir Mountains and entering the west, the situation changed a little. The road to India was not bad. Although it was a bit difficult, it was safe and passable. But continuing to go west, it was a different story.

Central Asia was still in the midst of war at that time, and many places directly demanded that the goods be sold to them, and merchants were not allowed to go west anymore.

Some even killed the caravan and stole the goods.

Faced with this situation, Guo Rong was very angry and wanted to kill all those people, but this place was almost ten thousand miles away from the Central Plains, supply was difficult, and there were a large number of Western countries in between. Even if he wanted to attack with a large army, he couldn't do it in a short time, so he could only endure it for now.

After the Western Regions Protectorate is re-established, we will show those countries our true colors.

The army did not set out on the westward expedition with all 30,000 troops. In fact, continuing west from Dunhuang is the desert Gobi. Although there are many oases in the desert, these oases can only accommodate a few thousand troops at a time.

So the Western Expedition Army began to pass through the Hanhai in batches. This section of the Hanhai Desert stretched for thousands of miles. Fortunately, after the desert was Yizhou. Here there was abundant water and grass. The Western Expedition Army could be said to have been unstoppable all the way.

At this time, the Western Regions were weak, the Western Regions Huihe were no match for the Zhou army, and Khotan had already secretly submitted to the Zhou. With the help of Khotan, Gaochang Huihe were no match.

The arrival of the imperial army quickly reminded these small countries in the Western Regions of the time when the Western Regions were ruled by the Tang Dynasty.

Armies marched westward in wave after wave, and wherever they passed, the countries in the Western Regions were unable to resist. After the Gaochang Uighurs surrendered, the army that marched westward encountered the Karakhanid Khanate.

At this time, the power of the Karakhanid Khanate had not yet reached its peak in history. The rise of the Karakhanid Khanate was also due to the so-called holy war call. With the continuous support of a large number of fanatical believers and the craftsmen of the Arabs, the weapons and equipment of the Karakhanid Khanate were rapidly improved.

Even so, it took the Karakhanid Khanate more than ten years to unify the Western Regions, and now facing the more powerful Zhou Kingdom, it is no match at all.

The Zhou Kingdom's crossbow formation and powerful elite cavalry made the Karakhanid Khanate unable to resist.

The Karakhanid Khanate began to change its religion and embraced the Arab religion, which directly led to dissatisfaction among the people who originally believed in other religions. In particular, the exclusivity of the Arab religion made the Karakhanid Khanate unstable.

If the Karakhanid Khanate is given another ten years, once it has stabilized its internal situation, its strength will increase rapidly.

A large number of jihadists who believed in the Dashi religion came and eventually defeated Gaochang Huihe, Khotan, and Guiyi Army. In the end, Gaochang Huihe and Khotan were annexed, while Guiyi Army took the opportunity to be annexed by Xixia.

After that, there was a war between Xixia and Karakhanid Khanate. Xixia defeated Karakhanid Khanate, but due to pressure from Song Dynasty, it was unable to move westward. Karakhanid Khanate was hurt by the war and did not dare to move eastward.

Now with Richard, history has changed drastically. The Zhou Dynasty army marched into the Western Regions in a mighty manner. The Karakhanid Khanate was simply unable to resist and lost a large amount of land. In addition, some other believers who were dissatisfied with the Arab religion caused chaos within the country, so the Karakhanid Khanate could only retreat to the northwest.

After successfully gaining a foothold in the Western Regions, Buddhism and Taoism also began to officially spread their religion there.

The Western Regions originally believed in Buddhism, and the spread of Buddhism was very smooth, while Taoism was not so good. However, with the support of the army, Taoism also developed rapidly.

The Taoist sect even began to use a lot of "Taoist magic" to attract believers. These methods immediately opened up the situation for Taoism and began to spread in the Western Regions.

(End of this chapter)