My personal opinion on Gensokyo

Love can also have such thoughts.

After hearing the Lord Goddess' explanation, Shang Yang stopped asking questions. However, the power of love is undeniable. Putting aside the unknown realm of love's resistance to objective laws, the mere fact that love is an immortal species is already a formidable quality.

Driving the carriage leisurely on the roads of Luoyang, Shang Yang narrowed his eyes and looked at the Paradise and Tongtian Palace that he had visited with love fifty years ago, which were still standing in the Eastern Capital Luoyang.

Perhaps it was some kind of butterfly effect, and these two buildings were not burned down as they usually were in history, which is a good thing.

Shang Yang of course knew where Ai was anxious to take Kaguya. She wanted Kaguya to go with her to see the magnificent Tower of Heaven.

Shang Yang and his companions did not plan to stay overnight in the eastern capital Luoyang tonight. Although it was not a rushed journey, Shang Yang and his companions still hoped to reach the Tang Dynasty's capital Chang'an as soon as possible.

Shang Yang left behind several anthropomorphic figures made by the Lady of the Lord God, which could establish long-distance spiritual connections. After inputting the commands to form a commercial base into them, Shang Yang drove the carriage to the exit of heaven to wait for Ai and Kaguya.

After the two got into the carriage, Shang Yang drove the carriage out of the eastern capital Luoyang and headed towards the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an.

As soon as they left the city, Shang Yang took out a remaining anthropomorphic figure from the Causal Mystery Space, let it take over the job of driving the carriage, and he himself got into the carriage.

In the carriage, because of the bumpy ride, Kaguya and Ai did not take out their books and computers. Kaguya also knew about the existence of Miss Main God. Originally, Miss Main God planned to install a "client" in Kaguya's spirit, but as a Penglai native, Kaguya of Penglai Mountain refused to change her spirit, resulting in the "client" being unable to be installed. Miss Main God is doing her best to overcome this problem.

The two girls were chatting casually. Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Moon City found what she saw and heard after coming to the Tang Kingdom very interesting.

Closing the folding fan in her hand with a snap, Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Moon City sighed.

"Just now in the Eastern Capital Luoyang, I took a close look, especially the giant tower that Ai took me to. Although it doesn't look like the technologically advanced city of the Moon People, it has a more majestic and imposing aura. If this country ever acquires technology similar to that of the Moon People, I believe the city they build will surely be even more magnificent than the Moon City."

Ai had never thought about these things. For Ai, knowing the cause and effect of Shang Yang coming to this world, she was already prepared to travel to thousands of other worlds with Shang Yang in the future. The future would be an unknown life that would never be boring. This special trip to Luoyang was also a farewell. From then on, Ai had no connection with her life as a human being. Ai would live forever with Shang Yang as an immortal non-human alien.

In fact, Shang Yang was the same. This time he came to the Tang Kingdom, to the Tang Dynasty, to pay homage to his homeland in another world and to the pride he had always had in his homeland.

The capital of the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an.

Chang'an seemed to be three times more lively than Luoyang. Tang people, people from the Western Regions, Silla people, Japanese, Turks, Tiele people, Uighurs, and even Persians, Romans, Arabs, etc., all gathered and lived harmoniously in Chang'an, the great and open imperial capital of the Tang Dynasty.

Outstanding generals from different ethnic groups pledged their loyalty to the Tang Dynasty and fought to defend the Guangrao territory of the Tang Dynasty.

It was not just the outstanding generals of the Tang Dynasty. Generals from the grassland ethnic groups pacified Liaodong for the Tang Dynasty, generals from Silla opened up Central Asia for the Tang Dynasty, and generals from the Western Regions defended the territory of the Western Regions for the Tang Dynasty.

Chang'an, the magnificent capital of the Tang Dynasty, is the greatest city of this era. When Shang Yang came to Chang'an, he felt that the atmosphere of Chang'an was particularly comfortable, and the whole Chang'an was filled with the atmosphere of dreams.

Chang'an, long-lasting peace and stability.

Chang'an is the capital of every Chinese dream, and the Tang Dynasty is the homeland of every Chinese dream.

Five thousand years have passed, and the dream is endless. When I dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I can hear the poems left behind.

The nostalgia and pride for his homeland in his previous life made Shang Yang intoxicated with the great and magnificent Tang Dynasty Chang'an City and indulged in this magnificent dream.

"...Shang Yang, what's wrong?"

Ai looked at Shang Yang and asked softly.

"Ah? Nothing, just a little emotional."

It made Qiba "? SiN" start to feel sad. Shang Yang came back to his senses and said with some emotion.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, Shang Yang, who was immersed in the magnificent dream of the Tang Dynasty, calmed down again.

Chang'an, a restaurant in the West Market.

Just like in Luoyang, Shang Yang sent out several anthropomorphic figures who could connect mentally over long distances to establish a commercial base. Then Shang Yang, Ai, and Kaguya came to the West Market and found a restaurant for dinner.

Along the way, Shang Yang left anthropomorphic figures and some gold in major cities, allowing them to accumulate industries.

Before coming to Chang'an, when the three got off the boat in Yangzhou, Shang Yang hid his identity and went to meet the 54-year-old monk Jianzhen with the Japanese monks who came with the fleet.

However, what Shang Yang did not expect was that Monk Jianzhen actually had some Buddhist skills. Although it was insignificant compared to Shang Yang's, it was not easy for Monk Jianzhen to practice Buddhism to this extent when it was difficult for humans in this world to master magical powers.

The monks from Japan finally persuaded the monks of Jiulingliu Temple to allow Monk Jianzhen to go to Japan to spread Buddhism. Now Monk Jianzhen had applied to the governor of Yangzhou for permission to go to sea, but Shang Yang knew that all of Monk Jianzhen's six voyages to the east were "smuggling" without official support from the Tang Dynasty.

When Monk Jianzhen made his sixth voyage to the East, Shang Yang planned to find ways to get the official recognition of the Tang Dynasty for Monk Jianzhen's voyage to the East to spread Buddhism.

Of course, it was not that Shang Yang was moved by the spirit of Monk Jianzhen's voyage to the East. Monk Jianzhen's voyage to the East was the opportunity that Shang Yang had been waiting for for decades. As long as this condition was met, Shang Yang could naturally influence Japan's myths and beliefs.

As for the method to get the approval of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Shang Yang has almost made preparations.

In the following months, Shang Yang, Ai and Kaguya began to travel around the Tang Kingdom on their own. There was nothing else to do anyway. According to Shang Yang's original plan, they would have to stay in the Tang Kingdom for three or four years before returning to Japan. However, the main god lady, who had perfected the anthropomorphic humanoid remote control mechanism in advance, made the three change their plans.

So, after staying in the Tang territory for several months, Shang Yang, Ai, and Kaguya boarded a Tang ship bound for Japan near Yangzhou, just like when they came.

However, it seems that Shang Yang and his two companions were quite lucky. They did not encounter any maritime accidents during their two consecutive boat trips. In that era, traveling between the Tang Dynasty and Japan was still very dangerous. In history, Monk Jianzhen made six successful voyages to the East, and he did not reach Japan on the previous five occasions due to shipwrecks and other situations.

Yoshinoyama, hot spring resort.

"Finally home!"

With a cheer, Kaguya rushed in and hugged her computer happily.

"I miss you so much..."

Before leaving, Kaguya covered the entire hot spring resort with the power of eternity, so there was not a speck of dust left, and it remained the same as when the three of them had just left.

He took out the huge luggage bag, which was enough for two people, from the Causal Mystery Space and threw it into a corner of the main hall. Shang Yang also sat on the tatami. He said that he would worry about the luggage bag and other things after he woke up tomorrow. He had not slept well after being on the boat for more than a month. As Kaguya said, she was very accustomed to being on the boat. Shang Yang and Ai did not feel dizzy, but sleeping in the cabin was very uncomfortable. They swayed back and forth, making the three of them a little insomniac. Ai even had some dark circles under her eyes. She went to her room to catch up on her sleep without even coming to the main hall.

Lying on the table, Shang Yang also wanted to catch up on some sleep. The celestial demons didn't seem to have the mental fortitude of the Penglai people. He would deal with it after waking up...

However, before the young man lay down for long, he was shaken up by Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Moon City.

"Shang Yang, prepare a barbecue tonight to celebrate our return home."

Kaguya happily requested as she rocked Shangyang.

"I want to eat barbecue!"

"...You've become a foodie too?"

Shang Yang raised his head helplessly, supporting his head with his hands, watching Kaguya complain listlessly.

"What are you talking about? I just want the three of us to sit by the hot spring and eat barbecue together at night, facing the moon."

Kaguya said unhappily.

“It feels more like home this way.”

“…I’ve never heard of someone finding the feeling of home by eating.”

Shang Yang continued to complain.

However, the young man also thought this was not bad.

So, at night, white smoke rising from the hot spring village floated into the night sky.

Shang Yang, Ai, and Kaguya's life in Mount Yoshino did not change at all. However, through the arrangement of this trip to Tang State, with the help of the future knowledge hidden in Shang Yang's mind and the various luxury goods production methods provided by the Lord God, the nearly one hundred anthropomorphic figures who stayed in Tang State began to accumulate funds rapidly, expand the scale, and then accumulate funds even faster in the commercial bases established in various states and counties of Tang State. Coupled with the mutual help between the anthropomorphic figures, the economic power held by the anthropomorphic figures increased little by little.

At the same time, dozens of anthropomorphic figures who were indistinguishable from humans forged identities, participated in the Tang Dynasty's imperial examinations, and entered official careers.

In 753 AD, the 12th year of the Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and the 4th year of the Tenpyo Shoho reign of Emperor Koken of Japan.

The eighth day of the eleventh lunar month.

Chang'an, the residence of the wealthy Shang family in Chang'an.

Shang Yang picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and looked at the dozens of people present in the hall. They were young or old, strong or thin, all different. They sat around the huge long table, looking expressionlessly at Shang Yang who was sitting in the main seat.

They are all representatives of wealthy businessmen from all over the place, all in anthropomorphic form. In the past twelve years, the seedlings originally planted by Shang Yang have grown into a big tree, and a towering tree at that. Many wealthy businessmen in many places have even been ostracized and framed because they threatened the interests of local families.

However, this actually illustrates the rapid development of anthropomorphic tycoons.

Shang Yang arrived in Chang'an early this morning. He flew here alone.

"Tell me about the situation."

Putting the teacup on the table, Shang Yang asked calmly.

For twelve years, Miss Lord God has been continuously optimizing the performance of these anthropomorphic figures. To this day, although they are still a long way from possessing souls, these anthropomorphic figures have already acquired a certain logical ability and are able to perform tasks such as intelligence analysis.

"On the seventh day of the sixth month of the twelfth year of the Tianbao era, An Lushan, the military governor of Pinglu, Fanyang, and Hedong, declared that he had received an imperial edict to purge the imperial court and raised an army in Fanyang, bringing with him 150,000 troops, claiming to have 200,000, and marching towards Taiyuan."

One of the figures said indifferently.

Shang Yang heard this and nodded, indicating that he understood.

"In other words, I asked you to find ways to force An Lushan to rebel, and you succeeded?"

"This has a lot to do with the Lord."

A human figure took over, and after Shang Yang showed obvious interest, it continued.

"In the tenth year of the Tianbao era, the Lord entered the Western Regions. At that time, the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Jiedushi Gao Xianzhi's army was engaged in a fierce battle with the Black Caliphate (the Abbasid Caliphate of the Arab Empire) at Hengluo Si. Just as Gao Xianzhi's army was about to be defeated, the Lord used his magical powers to blow up dust and sand at the Caliphate coalition, helping Gao Xianzhi's army to turn defeat into victory. Upon returning to the capital, Anxi Jiedushi Gao Xianzhi was highly valued by the Sage. Furthermore, the Sage had become suspicious of An Lushan, the Jiedushi of the Three Garrisons. Therefore, he issued an edict to replace An Lushan with Gao Xianzhi as the Jiedushi of Fanyang, one of the Three Garrisons. Frightened, An Lushan hastily launched an uprising."

"So that's it."

Shang Yang nodded thoughtfully.

"By the way, how are the preparations for those humanoids going?"

"Please rest assured, my lord. Everything is ready."

Another figure answered.

"Ah."

Shang Yang nodded again.

"Then just wait."

After that, bad news came one after another. Taiyuan fell, Hedong Road fell, and Hebei Road fell. Each piece of bad news made Li Longji, the sage of the Tang Dynasty, regretful and deeply hated why he did not kill An Lushan with one sword. Because of historical changes, compared with the An Lushan Rebellion in history, and because the Tang army managed the Western Regions and Central Asia more smoothly, this time the Central Plains was even more empty than during the An Lushan Rebellion in history.

However, a few days later, Geshu Han, the governor of Hexi, introduced a mysterious young man to the current sage. All the officials in the court knew nothing about what the sage talked about with the young man. They only knew that when the mysterious young man left, the sage personally escorted the young man out of the Daming Palace and was very grateful.

Soon after, something shocking happened. An Lushan, the governor of three towns who led the army to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, and his general Shi Siming were suddenly killed mysteriously. However, their heads appeared out of thin air in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. The saint used these two heads to offer sacrifices to the heaven.

Afterwards, while An Lushan's sons were fighting for the position of Jiedushi of the Three Towns, the Tang Dynasty's frontier generals who received the news one after another all led their elite troops to quell the rebellion and quickly wiped out all the An Lushan rebels.

Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty court also underwent a series of changes. Prime Minister Yang Guozhong was dismissed from office, and countless central officials in the court were demoted and investigated. They were all replaced by young officials who had performed well in various prefectures in recent years.

The Anshi Rebellion, which originally caused the Tang Dynasty to decline, was put down in just a few months in the history of this world.

Afterwards, the Yangzhou monk Jianzhen requested the saint to allow him and his disciples to go to the East to preach. The saint was very impressed and copied a volume of the Diamond Sutra by himself and gave it to Jianzhen. He named him "Master Crossing the Sea" and sent officials to Yangzhou to build a large ship for the eastward voyage to Japan. He also gave him countless Buddhist statues, scriptures and treasures, and wrote an imperial edict, ordering the King of Japan to treat Master Jianzhen with courtesy and to entrust all Buddhist affairs in the country to Master Jianzhen.

Monk Jianzhen accepted the imperial edict with tears in his eyes and vowed to succeed in his missionary work and make Japan a new Buddhist pure land.

At the same time, businessmen and wealthy people from all over the country also donated money and materials to help Monk Jianzhen travel east.

On November 16 of the same year, the mighty eastward crossing fleet, escorted by the Tang Dynasty navy, set sail from Yangzhou and headed for Japan.

"...This multitude of monks, dozens of times greater than those originally present in history, will have an absolute advantage over the Buddhist schools within Japan. After Monk Jianzhen's death, I, having already planted numerous pawns among the monks, will fully seize control of Japanese Buddhism. By then, I will utilize Buddhism's powerful communication power to develop and perfect Japanese Buddhist culture, spreading Buddhist faith to every corner of Japan. Countless new myths and legends will be born, and the monsters given 'places' by myth will be blessed by the myths and receive a surge of faith, giving rise to countless more monsters."

On a large Tang ship sailing eastward, Shang Yang, who was traveling as a merchant, explained part of the plan in detail to Ai and Kaguya.

"The plan was a success."

Kaguya asked doubtfully.

"But I don't understand, even if faith creates a large number of monsters, what will it do?"

"This point will be kept secret for now."

Shang Yang did not answer Kaguya. Instead, he turned around and left the cabin and walked onto the deck under the puzzled gazes of Ai and Kaguya.

Shang Yang raised his head and looked at the bright moon on the sea. He sat cross-legged beside the guardrail, looked down at the reflection of the moon in the sea, which was swaying constantly because of the waves, and thought about this action.

"The birth of myths and legends, and the utilization of the power of faith, require time to slowly wait. Helping the Tang Dynasty manage the Western Regions and Central Asia will make their strategy more successful. By beheading An Lushan and Shi Siming, the An Lushan Rebellion was nipped in the bud, leaving behind anthropomorphic bureaucrats and tycoons completely under my control. Influence the Tang Dynasty court, and use this seed to guide the Tang Dynasty's development back on track."

Shang Yang raised his head again and looked up at the starry Milky Way, which was extremely clear and shocking because there was almost no light pollution.

"When the time is right and the Tang Dynasty is on the right track, we will release our influence and let the Tang Dynasty develop on its own."

"This is also the hope I can give to the Tang Dynasty, my hometown in my dreams."

PS1: I made a lot of changes today...new readers will be ecstatic.

PS2: The settings I wrote five years ago are sure to have omissions and inconsistencies. I will try my best to improve them.

PS3: Five or six years ago, I was so smart. (Incoherent)

Volume 2: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter: Chapter 50: The City of Demons and Ghosts

Thinking of this, Shang Yang shifted his gaze to the front left of the ship he was on. There was a large Tang ship that was much larger than the ship Shang Yang was on. It was the core of this eastward crossing fleet. It was the ship for spreading Buddhism that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty personally selected for Monk Jianzhen - Bodhidharma, which means that Bodhidharma once crossed the sea to preach in China.

Monk Jianzhen and his disciples were on that boat. Now, Monk Jianzhen should be chanting scriptures with his disciples in the cabin.

Looking at the brightly lit ship, Shang Yang recalled the scene half a year ago when he met Monk Jianzhen in Yangzhou, who had failed in his five attempts to cross the sea to the east.

Half a year ago, Yangzhou, Daming Temple.

After taking a quick glance at the magnificent temple in front of him, Shang Yang stepped into the temple. Today was the day when the eminent monk Jianzhen from Jiangnan would give a lecture on Buddhism. Shang Yang could not even stand in front of the temple gate. The people nearby were all crowding into Daming Temple, so Shang Yang followed the crowd into Daming Temple.