Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 228 Sitting and talking

Qiu Yuzi, who originally wanted to be lazy and leave the boring matter of the Cultivator Conference to his disciples, was numb.

Yes, he threw the matter to Zhao Yian with the idea of ​​asking Zhao Yifu to help at the critical moment.

Is this wrong?

This is how things work in official circles.

but……

He underestimated the power that Zhao Yifu would bring after his intervention.

He originally wanted to get those people in the cultivation world to keep quiet and not interfere with the Danqing Sect's plans.

As a result, after Zhao Yifu went there, all these spineless people actually joined him and kept urging him to quickly launch the Northern Expedition!
This... He couldn't quite understand this world anymore.

Didn’t that group of people dislike the Danqing Sect for being full of officialdom and not having any spiritual cultivation at all?

As a result, after he asked the two little guys who came back from Fancheng, he was completely speechless.

He killed an opponent on the spot to establish his authority, then publicly conferred the title of City God on him to demonstrate his power. He then expressed his feelings to appease the opponent, and publicly cut off his own flesh and blood to demonstrate his morality.

Wow, with such a series of moves, it’s no wonder that the entire southern cultivation world has to kneel down.

Qiu Yuzi just felt that it was not a bad idea to let Zhao Yifu come to the court. His ability to win over opponents and turn them into friends was simply amazing.

Most importantly, doing so not only made those people feel profitable, but also solved some governance problems in the Northern Expedition.

At least the cities occupied during the Northern Expedition no longer had to worry about not having the protection of the City God, which played a very important role in quickly and steadily governing the occupied areas.

And just at this time, "Fancheng Agricultural Book" was also delivered to him.

When I opened the pages of the book, I saw that the ink was not even dry yet, and the fragrance of ink hit me in the face.

He flipped through it quickly, and with just a glance from his Yang Shen, he could know the contents.

They are all very down-to-earth descriptions of hydrology and geography, and some traditional methods to increase production are also eye-opening.

“What a great book.”

But his expression had turned bitter.

This is indeed a good book. Anyone who gets this book, as long as he can read, can farm well without worrying about the harvest.

But this means that his workload has increased.

He scratched his head and thought, forget it, I should just go and take care of government affairs. I have been staying here even though my cultivation has been reduced. Isn't it just to get things done?
He had already decided that after the Northern Expedition was successful, he would find a way to put all his affairs aside, have a good rest, and enjoy the peaceful days.

……

Zhao Yifu's sleeves were like a "printing press", spitting out sheets of white paper with fresh ink.

One hundred and thirty-two pages bound into one volume are the Fancheng Agricultural Book.

In front of him, two cats were threading the needle with their claws, and had already bound about fifty volumes.

Zhao Yifu nodded with satisfaction, sent someone to take the fifty volumes first, and instructed, "Tell Wu Dun to find some work for the scholars in the village. Each of them will have a copy of this agricultural book, and be responsible for reading and teaching it in various places."

"From now on, the farmers' mastery of agricultural books will be counted towards their annual examination scores."

With just one word from him, a bunch of people will naturally run around for it.

At this moment, a message came from Qianli Painting: [Little Taoist, last time you took me to see the mountains and rivers in my dream, is there any way to do it again?]

Zhao Yifu asked curiously: [Are you bored staying in the palace again?]

Ying Cong said, "It's mainly because I recently found fragments of Emperor Daozong's diary in the imperial archives. I saw that he often traveled around the world with Prime Minister Jin in his dreams."

Zhao Yifu knew at a glance that this guy must be restless again.

He said: [Okay, wait a minute, I'll ask for you.]

So he went straight to the newly built City God Temple in the center of Fancheng and found Master Yuanxiu, who had become the "temporary City God", to inquire about the matter.

Grandmaster Yuanxiu also felt quite melancholy after hearing this, as if the younger generations were continuing along the path he had once walked.

He smiled and said, "Go to the Dharma Transmission Grotto. There is a technique called 'Walking Like a Dream'. Just go find it and learn it."

Zhao Yifu asked in surprise: "I learn?"

Grandmaster Yuanxiu said, "Why don't you let the emperor learn it? Will he be able to learn it?"

That makes sense.

Zhao Yifu hurriedly ran to Moshan again with his Yang Shen.

After hurriedly saying hello to Senior Shi Ling in Moshan, he went into the bookshelf and started browsing.

After he became a Yin God, he discovered that the Moshan Cave of Dharma was actually very suitable for reading directly with the Yuanshen.

Now he found the target with just a glance of his mind, and he didn't even need to open it. He could understand the content by directly reading the spiritual light of the secret scroll.

Then he hurriedly said goodbye to Shi Ling and ran away in a hurry again.

Shi Ling shook his head helplessly upon seeing this, wondering why young people nowadays always seem to be busy doing nothing.

Zhao Yifu studied it for a while and found that this secret method was actually a hypnosis technique.

No wonder he was asked to come and learn...it was just to let him hypnotize Ying Cong and bring him out!

But wouldn’t doing so lead to backlash from humanity?
Then Zhao Yifu went to find Master Yuanxiu again with his questions and got a very amazing answer.

Just like how he used the 'Boundless Universe Technique' to distort space and bypass the protection of human destiny, Patriarch Yuanxiu actually bypassed this thing by making the emperor dream.

The specific method is to let the emperor dream that he has become an ordinary person, and then separate a strand of consciousness that regards himself as an ordinary person, so that he can travel around the world in his dream.

Even if there was a problem with this strand of consciousness, it didn't matter at all, because for the emperor it was just a dream. Even if dreaming was tiring, could it be considered an injury?
Zhao Yifu really admired the master's brilliant moves. To be honest, he felt that compared to this talent, the current leader Qiu Yuzi was really a little bit behind.

Now that he knew the method, Zhao Yifu was ready to put it into action.

So what is the medium of hypnosis?
Of course it’s Qianli Painting! Master, these are all matching!
Ying Cong really couldn't stand the loneliness anymore, and after a moment he said, "I'm ready, let's get started."

Monkey is anxious, monkey is anxious.

Zhao Yifu followed the instructions, using ink-splashing techniques to create a spiral motion on Qianli's painting, and then incorporated some obscure ideas into it.

Ying Cong didn't react at all.

After a while, a handsome middle-aged man in brocade clothes emerged from the spiral animation.

When Ying Cong came, he simply regarded himself as an ordinary rich man.

"Little Taoist priest, tell me what you are doing now?"

This rich man was too active, asking questions all over the place.

Zhao Yifu said, "I was just about to go trim the hooves of the cows when I heard two of them were very lame. I have to take care of them."

The rich man immediately said that he wanted to see it too.

Then, he became obsessed with the cow's hooves, watching Zhao Yifu cut off the cow's hoof keratin one knife after another, and then let out a satisfied exclamation when the cow juice splashed out when the lesion was cut open.

There is no doubt that he fell in love with hoof trimming.

"Little Taoist priest, I didn't expect watching this thing to be so relaxing. What do you say I should do the same when I get home?"

Ying Cong asked a soul-searching question.

If Zhao Yifu gave a bad answer, he would become a treacherous minister.

He answered calmly, "This is dirty and smelly. Just look at it. You won't be able to handle it yourself."

Ying Cong nodded in understanding and thought that was right. He should just take a look.

However, at this moment, Zhao Yifu suddenly sensed something, turned his head to look at Ying Cong and said, "I have a distinguished guest coming, you..."

He wanted to persuade Ying Cong to go back.

However, Ying Cong misunderstood and said, "It's okay. I'll go with you to meet him. I wonder what kind of person he is to be treated as a distinguished guest by you."

Zhao Yifu had no choice but to agree.

The next moment, cats on night watch on the surrounding walls howled.

Zhao Yifu shouted, "Don't be so rude. Why don't you welcome the guest in?"

The cats quickly opened the door.

Then, on the dark street outside the courtyard gate, an old monk was walking towards them unsteadily, carrying a fruit basket.

Zhao Yifu brought Ying Cong's dream body to the door to greet him, "Master Puji, why are you here?"

The person who came was actually the monk Pu Ji.

However, he did not come in his real body, but his soul left his body after nightfall, and he brought a basket of fruits.

Monk Puji chanted a compassionate Buddhist name and said, "I was deeply moved when I heard about your great aspirations. But there are still some things I don't understand, so I wanted to ask you for advice."

Zhao Yifu looked at the old monk in surprise, making sure that the old monk was serious.

In other words, this is someone who is really thinking seriously about the feasibility of what he said before.

He stepped aside to welcome the old monk in and said, "Master, your words are too polite. It's not really asking for advice. Let's just discuss it with each other."

Monk Puji walked into the courtyard, picked up the fruit basket and said, "This is my first visit. These are wild fruits from the mountain behind Zhengjue Temple. Although they are useless to you and me, eating them can improve hearing and vision and improve health for ordinary people."

Zhao Yifu laughed heartily when he saw it and said, "Master, you are too polite. This is a spiritual fruit."

As he said that, he took the fruit basket and put it aside.

As a result, Ying Cong was attracted by the spiritual energy of the spiritual fruits in the fruit basket, and actually moved closer to it with a greedy look.

Zhao Yifu said unhappily, "You're used to eating delicacies from land and sea, so why are you acting like this?"

Ying Cong said nonchalantly, "How can they be the same? This is a spiritual fruit!"

Zhao Yifu said helplessly, "Okay, I'll have someone deliver the fruit basket to you later."

Ying Cong agreed shamelessly.

The monk Puji asked curiously, "My friend, who is this donor..."

Zhao Yifu said, "Oh, this is a good friend of mine in the mortal world. Master, just call him a rich man."

Upon hearing this, Monk Pu Ji nodded, and actually didn't see anything wrong with it.

This is the power of "Walking Like a Dream". Because Ying Cong dreamed that he came to Zhao Yifu as a "rich man", even if a Yangshen strongman saw him, he would only think that he was a "rich man".

Monk Puji nodded and said, "It seems that the connection between your sect and the ordinary world is really close."

Ying Cong was not shy. He asked, "Master, what is it that brings you to this little Taoist priest? Tell me about it. Perhaps I can offer some advice."

Monk Pu Ji was surprised again. He didn't expect that this "rich man" would directly call Zhao Yi Fu, a top figure in the spiritual world, "little Taoist priest". It seems that this "friend" is really worthy of his name.

He said: "I, Puji, a poor monk, recently had a conversation with you about my life aspirations, and I was quite touched."

"I have aspirations to help the world and rescue people from disasters, but when the time comes, I don't know where to begin. I can only focus on my own feet and do my best to help those in need."

"But Mr. Zhao has proposed a very good idea. He wants all people to receive an education, learn a skill that can support their families, understand morality and etiquette, and be able to think about right and wrong."

"This 'rich' donor, do you have any opinion on this?"

This monk Puji is quite humble and can be patient with ordinary people like "rich people".

Ying Cong was stunned for a moment, and then his first reaction was: "If that's the case, then doesn't that mean the talents of the Great Xu Dynasty are endless?"

As expected of an emperor, this is what he is thinking subconsciously.

Monk Puji nodded and said, "What little friend Zhao said the other day resonated deeply with me. He said he wanted to make 'all the holy kings in the billions of China'!"

Zhao Yifu's eyes widened.

It was too late for him to seal Pu Jiseng's mouth.

Good fellow, saying 'everyone is the emperor' in front of the emperor...

He turned and looked at Ying Cong.

The emperor, who was dreaming of being an ordinary person, immediately began to chew on it carefully after hearing it.

Then he said, “Okay, that’s a good point.”

“It would be a wonderful scene if everyone could chat freely about national affairs.”

It’s wonderful that Ying Cong dreamed that he was an ordinary person, so he thought about the problem from the perspective of an ordinary person.

Also, because he was the emperor, he didn't have so many rules and regulations in his subconscious mind, so he didn't feel angry at all because of such outrageous remarks, but felt very excited instead.

As a result, Pu Ji monk looked up to him. After all, there were very few mortals who had such courage.

What surprised Puji monk even more was that Ying Cong quickly raised another question: "If we do this, won't it be easy for empty talk to harm the country?"

"Also, if everyone can discuss state affairs, does that hinder the court's rule?"

He paused and added, "I'm not speaking for the court, but because any policy will always have winners and losers, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. However, if the criticism of the losers prevents the implementation of a policy that outweighs the disadvantages, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of this law?"

Monk Puji was delighted and said, "That's right, that's exactly what it is."

"I also feel that something seems amiss. I can't figure it out myself, so I came here to ask... As expected, anyone who can associate with Zhao Xiaoyou is no ordinary person."

Zhao Yifu smiled and said, "This is naturally a problem. So I think we must have a team that can first fully understand the purpose of the policymakers and explain these things in detail to the people so that they can fully understand the policy."

"At the same time, we should open up public opinion and supervise officials...at least it will be useful for a while."

Ying Cong frowned and said, "Little Taoist, you are thinking about a very new court system."

He finally saw it.

He opened his mouth to speak, and suddenly thought of something...

He said, “I think I understand your idea!”

This time, Pu Ji Seng really had no say, because he had no management experience at all and naturally could not understand the mystery.

Ying Cong pondered for a moment, then said with a wistful expression, "A hundred years ago, Great Xu was defeated by the Liao Kingdom, leaving only half of its territory. During this process, those northern nobles didn't even offer a single ounce of resistance. After Emperor Dao Zong's death, they all defected to the Liao Kingdom. How despicable..."

"Little Taoist priest, you must have seen the drawbacks here, so you want to change something, right?"

Zhao Yifu said, "That's one of their purposes. Those scholars were attached to the imperial court, yet they stole its power."

"Once the center is damaged, the entire bureaucratic structure loses its owner, and if anyone can continue to protect their interests, they will bring the entire structure down with them."

Ying Cong said with a grim expression: "Using public resources for personal gain is truly despicable."

"Little Taoist priest, do you think that Da Xu really lost his moral integrity?"

"After all, thousands of years ago, apart from that chaotic era of warlords fighting each other, there has never been a Central Plains dynasty that easily lost half of its territory to the barbarians."

"In the past, no matter how chaotic the Central Plains dynasties were, they were always able to repel foreign invasions."

Zhao Yifu was also interested in exploring the issue. He said, "To answer this question, we need to carefully study who was in power in the previous Central Plains dynasty. A comparison will naturally yield results."

Ying Cong looked a little strange after hearing this. He said, "Are you saying that the royal family with the surname Ying is not okay?"

Zhao Yifu laughed heartily and said, "It doesn't really matter who the royal family is. Let's see who rules the world together with the royal family."

Ying Cong was stunned for a moment, then thought carefully, and then he came to his senses.

He said: "It is the nobility, the nobility that has been passed down for thousands of years."

"They have their own armed forces and land. It's like a country within a country."

"Could it be that the turmoil in previous dynasties was caused by this?"

Zhao Yifu said, "But when foreign invaders come, they will mobilize their own forces and fight to the death. This is because they have a share in this country, so they naturally want to protect it."

"What about Da Xu from a hundred years ago?"

Ying Cong said, "Aren't the literati and officials also the de facto aristocrats of our Great Xu?"

"We, the Great Xu, treat the nobles so well, yet they still want to betray us?"

Zhao Yifu said: "In the past, the nobles owned their own land and armed forces. They could easily influence the country's politics, and even the emperor could not easily offend them."

"But today's scholar-officials, everything they have is given by the emperor. The power they hold comes only from the court, or in other words, from the word 'official'."

"As long as they can continue to hold office, they don't care where they go."

"The nobles of the past resisted foreign invaders because the people they plundered were their property."

"The current scholars and officials are turning to foreigners because they want to preserve their greatest assets... In the final analysis, it's all about self-interest."

The monk Puji chanted a Buddhist name: "The world is bustling with people all seeking profit."

He had no say in this 'discussion' and could only interject a few words of emotion when others could understand.

This discussion was completely in an area he was not good at, but he was happy with it.

Ying Cong smiled bitterly and said, "Then what should we do? Should we go back to the old path of dividing the world into fiefdoms?"

Zhao Yifu said: "That would be a step backwards. We have to move forward."

Ying Cong asked, "Relying on... the common people of the world? So you want 'a holy ruler for all the millions of people in the Divine Land'?"

Zhao Yifu said: "Haha, that's just my assumption."

"If we can thoroughly enlighten the people and let them know the current state of the country."

"Then even if individual officials want to ally themselves with the enemy for their own selfish interests, they will be opposed or even resisted by the people."

"By then, the scholar-official group will no longer be able to hijack the court's governance system."

Zhao Yifu couldn't help but shake his head when he said this. He said, "Maybe it's a little idealistic, and I don't know what it will turn out like in the future, but right now this is the best solution I can think of."

"No, perhaps I shouldn't have considered a long-term, one-step approach. I just need to focus on 'enlightening the people' and then leave the world stage to future generations to perform on their own."

Ying Cong was stunned when he heard this. He chewed over Zhao Yifu's words and felt that they made a lot of sense.

He said, “That’s absolutely right.”

"Before, because knowledge and power were in the hands of a few, heroes could determine the direction of an era."

"But this era has clearly come to an end. Let's spread knowledge and power to the greatest extent possible, and let those who gain knowledge and power decide for themselves how to proceed in the future."

Monk Puji clasped his hands together and chanted the Buddha's name, then said gently, "Well done, well done. The two donors have made such a great wish to save all sentient beings. It has enlightened me."

"You two are truly destined to be with Buddha."

Zhao Yifu and Ying Cong looked at each other and said helplessly, "We are just like-minded. Master, are you planning to have us join the Buddhist sect as well?"

Monk Puji was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "How could that be? I just felt that I had a great time talking to you two, and that you two share many similarities with me."

Ying Cong asked curiously, "Isn't Buddhism about letting go? How is it similar?"

The monk Puji said, "Buddhism lets go of selfish desires and pursues the kind of universal love you two share. Otherwise, how could I possibly make the bodhisattva vow to help all living beings?"

Zhao Yifu smiled and said, "That's right. In fact, whether it's Buddhism, Taoism, or Confucianism, the original intention is to guide people to be good."

He said this, calculated the time and said: "Rich man, you came here in a dream, you can't stay too long."

"It's time to go back now."

Ying Cong was in high spirits, but upon hearing this he could not help but feel a little regretful. He said, "What a pity! I still want to hear more of the master's profound ideas."

Monk Puji smiled and said, "It's not a profound theory. If you are willing, how about we meet here with Mr. Zhao to discuss the Dao again in the future?"

Ying Cong replied, "Okay, then it's settled."

He was delighted, and of course he did not forget to add, "By the way, little Taoist priest, don't forget to send my fruit basket to me."

Zhao Yifu rolled his eyes at him and said, "I see. You're really annoying."

Ying Cong laughed "hahaha" and disappeared on the spot.

Monk Puji also smiled and said enviously, "I can see that your friendship is very sincere."

Zhao Yifu said: "Treat others with sincerity, and others will treat me with sincerity."

Monk Puji sighed, "I really hope to see the world you describe with my own eyes. But what would the Great Xu Imperial Family think of this?"

Zhao Yifu said, "There is no eternal dynasty in the world. At least for a long time to come, the interests of the royal family of Daxu are actually consistent with the interests of the common people. That is enough."

Monk Puji said, "I'm afraid there are villains around the emperor."

Zhao Yifu hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should just say, "Everyone around the emperor is my people"?

Forget it, I won’t say anything more. After all, if I say that the Danqing Sect is full of treacherous ministers, it means that the sect is full of treacherous ministers.

He could only sigh in agreement and said, "Perhaps this is also one of the disadvantages."

(End of this chapter)