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Yizhi's explanation was quite reasonable, leaving Lingjiao unable to retort. She said bitterly, "My Holy Church has been banned by the imperial court for thousands of years, so it's no big deal if there are a few traitors occasionally."
Calling the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty a "traitor" was already an unforgivable crime of "great disrespect", and according to the "Han Law", the punishment should be death penalty or above; however, when Wen Lingjiao, as the saint of the Tianzun Sect who intended to rebel, privately visited the adopted son of King Youyan, how could she care about the "small" crime of great disrespect
Thinking of this, Yizhi became more talkative. He smiled and said, "Just now, the young lady mentioned that the Tianzun Sect has lasted for nearly a thousand years, and the desire to change the dynasty has never died. They may have conspired in the city or raised banners in the wilderness, but how many times have they succeeded? And the people they rely on are nothing more than illiterate fools or foolish women who follow the crowd, and at most some unscrupulous merchants who are rich but unkind. When have they seen talented people in literature and martial arts wholeheartedly serve them?"
"It's not surprising at this time. My master Su Luzhi has already discussed this. I wonder if you are interested in listening to me talk a little more."
When Zhongli Kuang talked about the origin of Tianzun Sect, although he disagreed with its doctrine, he highly praised its founder, Suluzhi, as a prophet and wise man, who was as good at perceiving human nature as Laozi and Sakyamuni. Yizhi was therefore very interested in the doctrine of Tianzun Sect, and wondered how they could justify such absurd words, so he smiled and said, "I think Suluzhi must be the Persian sage. I would like to hear more about him."
Wen Lingjiao had often heard and talked about the teachings of the Tianzun Sect, so she calmed down and said, "The first master of the Holy Sect, Suluzhi, was originally a great noble in Persia. In terms of power and status, he might be comparable to the current Prince of Youyan. However, the first master neither enjoyed fine clothes and delicious food nor thought about fighting for power. His only desire was to relieve the suffering of the people. The first master read a lot of ancient and modern books and mastered the classics of various schools. By the age of 28, he was already the greatest scholar in the Western Regions. However, he could not find the right way, so he gave up his noble status and traveled around the world. This travel lasted for 20 years. During these 20 years, I The Master slept in the open air and survived many life-threatening situations, but still could not help the righteous path. Instead, he became more confused and had to return to Persia. On his way back, four Persian bandits recognized his noble identity and kidnapped him, and then demanded a ransom from the Persian court. However, the Master had been away from home for 20 years, and his family power had declined. No one in the court remembered him, let alone paid a ransom. So among the bandits who kidnapped the Master, some were angry and wanted to kill him with a knife, some were blinded by the benefits and intended to continue kidnapping, some were discouraged and planned to abandon him in the wilderness, and some still had a conscience and advocated releasing him and returning home.
"Then all kinds of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, as well as good and evil choices among living beings, were displayed before the master's eyes, which finally made the master realize the truth. That night, the Lord of Heaven appeared in his dream and taught him the secret of heaven: 'When chaos first began, all things were inanimate, except for the two gods of good and evil. The good one was the Lord of Heaven, and the evil one was called the Earth Demon. The two gods fought for hundreds of millions of years, with no winner. In order to overwhelm the Lord of Heaven, the Earth Demon took the filthy things on the ground and made puppets in his own image. However, these puppets were extremely evil in nature. Not only did they not listen to the orders of the Earth Demon, but they also turned against their masters. The Earth Demon then used his magical powers to destroy all the puppets. So when the Earth Demon made another puppet, he added three parts of the filth on the ground and one part of the purity in the sky. This is the origin of mankind.'
"The master was shocked and said, 'We think we are the most intelligent creatures in the world, but we are created by the devil and do all kinds of evil things. Why don't we send down punishment from heaven to destroy mankind?'
"The Heavenly Lord said, 'No. At the beginning of the universe, there was chaos and no good or evil. Some say good and evil were mixed together. At some point, the good rose to become the heavens and the evil fell to become the devils. Human nature is a mixture of good and evil, similar to the nature of the universe and heaven, so it should not be destroyed lightly.'
"The Master clasped his hands and said, 'God is indeed kind and loving! Then how can we stand between heaven and earth?'
"The Heavenly Lord said: 'Human nature is divided into four parts, three evil and one good. The evil is anger, stupidity, and resentment, and the good is benevolence. Only by eliminating evil and keeping good, and replacing evil thoughts with benevolence, can we obtain blessings from heaven!'
"The master asked again, 'How can we abandon evil and follow good? Please enlighten me, Heavenly Lord.'
"The Heavenly Venerable said: 'You may spread the words of the Heavenly Venerable throughout the world. However, mankind is deeply sinful. If there are four people, one will not believe, one will pretend to believe, one will believe but then betray, and the remaining one will be a good believer. If you spread the word in this way, when half of mankind are good believers, the Heavenly Venerable will descend to the world and lead everyone to defeat the demons, cleanse the universe, and create a paradise.'
"The Master was at a loss and said, 'The great cause of preaching is so difficult. How can I expect to see the day of success?'
"The Heavenly Lord said, 'Absurd! The Heavenly Lord is the most virtuous and benevolent, and his power is boundless. How can it be impossible for him to succeed?'
“The Master prostrated himself on the ground and dared not speak.
"The Heavenly Lord said again: 'Do not have two minds. You are the teacher of all people, second only to the Heavenly Lord in dignity. If you die on the way, the Heavenly Lord will surely resurrect you after the mission is accomplished, grant you eternal life, and be admired by all generations!'
Listening to Wen Lingjiao's story, Qiu Yizhi drank the pre-rain tea in the cup, as if breathing the wind and drinking dew, which made him feel indescribably comfortable and happy, so he continued: "Since this is the doctrine, then the predecessor Suluzhi must have preached to the four robbers after waking up, and three of them must have followed, and one left. As the Tianzun Sect expanded day by day, the Persian court would certainly not tolerate it and would send people to capture Suluzhi. Among the three people who followed Suluzhi at first, one must have pretended to believe, and one believed but then betrayed, so the two accused the predecessor, and Suluzhi was martyred. The remaining one must continue to preach, so that the Tianzun Sect has been passed down to this day."
Wen Lingjiao smiled and said, "Young Master is indeed very smart. He must be destined to be with the Holy Church. Why don't you join our church? Once the Holy Church succeeds, your fame and success will be incomparable to that of a mere altar master like Wang Tong."
Yizhi said: "Miss, you are too kind. According to the teachings of Tianzun Sect, I wonder if my Emperor Taizu is a fake believer? Or is he a believer who then rebels?"
"What you said, sir, is a serious crime of disrespect." Wen Lingjiao laughed again.
Qiu Yizi seemed not to have heard and continued, "According to the teachings of the Heavenly Lord, why don't your disciples just concentrate on preaching and wait for the Heavenly Lord to come? Why go against the court and fight against the stone with an egg?"
At this point, Wen Lingjiao suddenly put down the tea bowl in her hand, with an indescribable expression on her face, and said: "To be honest, sir, the Heavenly Lord has already come to the world, and the day when he will lead his followers to pacify the world and bestow blessings on the people is now!"
Yizhi smiled and said, "Since the Tianzun Sect spread to the Central Plains, there have been countless people who have raised armies and plotted rebellion, and among them, there are also quite a few who claim to be the reincarnation of the Tianzun. If they are really the Tianzun, they must have boundless magical powers, so how could they fail? In my opinion, the Tianzun that the girl is talking about is just a person who seeks fame and reputation and talks nonsense about destiny."
Although Yizhi always hated those who pretended to be gods, he saw that Wen Lingjiao had extraordinary behavior and unconventional speech today, which was definitely not comparable to a stupid country woman. Therefore, when describing the so-called Tianzun, he used the words "seeking fame and reputation" and "talking nonsense about fate", which was not too derogatory. Wen Lingjiao was a little angry after hearing this, and said, "Sir, don't talk nonsense. My Tianzun has always lived in seclusion, how could he be a person who seeks fame and reputation? He has always been responsive to everything he says, how can he be said to be talking nonsense about fate?"
Yizhi suddenly thought of something, clapped his hands and laughed, "Your religion always claims that believers should be kind, but for hundreds of years they have always hoped to build a paradise. This is foolish; after being reported, they often rise up and take advantage of the situation. This is resentful; the young lady must be furious after hearing what I said. This is anger. Since you have committed these three evils, how can you be devoted to your religion?"
After hearing Qiu Yizi's paradox, Wen Lingjiao certainly couldn't get angry, otherwise it would be like the saying "anger can be called fury". She lowered her head and racked her brains to find words to refute, but she couldn't refute it no matter how hard she tried. Even her cheeks, as white and smooth as mutton-fat jade, turned red.
Yizhi found it funny, but couldn't bear to see such an extraordinary woman being left without a way out, so he said slowly, "Your visit today has solved many of my doubts. But not only can't you convince me, but you may not even be convinced. I still say that I will not embarrass you today. Please go back home and take care of yourself in the future, and don't continue to help the tyrants!"
After hearing Yizhi's words, Wen Lingjiao resumed her usual gentle and calm demeanor, and said with a smile: "Young Master, you are magnanimous and knowledgeable. It is worthwhile for me to come to your door today." After that, she bowed slightly as a courtesy, and stood up and said, "Talking with you is like drinking fine wine. I don't realize I'm already drunk. It's late now, so I won't bother you any more. I have a good relationship with you, and we have a long way to go. Let's talk about it later!"
Yizhi was reluctant to leave, but he couldn't force him to stay, so he stood up, bowed slightly, and told Ruishou to see him off. It was past the twilight hour, and everyone was starving. Even the big white dog named "Lulu" couldn't stand the hunger and ran out of the doghouse, shaking its long silver-white hair and looking around. Wen Lingjiao saw it, took a piece of meat jerky half the size of a palm from the maid, and handed it to Lulu's mouth. The dog sniffed it with its nose, bit the meat jerky impatiently, swallowed it without chewing, and grinned greedily as if begging for the next meal. Its extremely fluffy tail shook desperately behind it, causing Wen Lingjiao to cover her mouth and laugh.
Qiu Yizi, who was standing in front of the hall, was stunned when she saw this scene.
An express horse carrying a small apricot-yellow flag galloped all the way into Guangyang City, and the imperial edict ordering the Prince of Youyan to send troops south was finally delivered.
The reason why this edict involving urgent military affairs arrived nearly a month later than Zheng Rong and Zhongli Kuang had expected was not because the court was worried that the Prince of Youyan's Mansion would lead to the growing power of the vassal kings if they led the army southward, but because the Ministry of War in charge of this matter and the Secretariat that issued the edict were supervised by two princes respectively, and they would not tolerate the other party's success and kept blaming each other. If it were not for the fact that the Tianzun Sect had started the uprising in Henan, and if it was delayed any further, they might attack Luoyang, otherwise it would be unknown when this edict would be delivered.
The whole story reached Zheng Rong's ears, and the Prince of Youyan sighed again. However, since the imperial court had issued an edict, the Prince of Youyan's Palace could not delay like the imperial court. Fortunately, all preparations for the expedition had been completed. So the two princes Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen and the two generals Cui Nan and Wei Hu each led 20,000 elite troops from the west and south to Henan Road to quell the Tianzun Rebellion, while the two brothers Zheng Miao and Qiu Yi studied military affairs with the two generals Cui and Wei.
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PS. This chapter was very tiring to write. Basically, I created a new religion based on Zoroastrianism. As for the prototype of the founder of the religion, Suluzhi, it was a combination of many philosophers such as Peter, Sakyamuni, Confucius, etc. It was really tiring... (To be continued)