******
After Qin Mu returned to Chang'an, officials and people naturally celebrated. Qin Mu once again held a ceremony to present captives in the Taimiao, continuously raising his own prestige and paving the way for the upcoming judicial reform.
Looking back at the emperors throughout history who maintained the status quo, they were always restrained by the ministers in the court because of their lack of prestige. Therefore, any reform they wanted to implement was always met with resistance. Either it failed halfway through, or it simply died in the womb. In the past two thousand years, there have been very few successful cases.
Therefore, centralization is necessary. At this time, there are no powerful enemies around the Qin Dynasty, and the people's livelihood is thriving. Qin Mu's civil and military achievements are admired by the world, and his prestige has reached its highest point.
The use of the presumption of innocence in the early stages of building momentum has achieved good results.
More importantly, after nearly two years of hard work, the "Da Qin Law" has been compiled.
Therefore, Qin Mu decided not to wait any longer and, relying on the power of a great victory, immediately launched the judicial reform that he had been considering for nearly half a year.
The first step is to train the Tongzhi and County Magistrates of each state and county.
Each province set up a training center in the provincial capital to allow these officials to collectively study the "Da Qin Law" and at the same time select some officials with rich experience in judging cases to give them lectures.
After passing the assessment, they will immediately return to take over the judicial power of the various states and counties. Those officials who are really not suitable for judicial work will be transferred.
This move adopted Sima An's strategy of gradual differentiation, separating the judicial power originally belonging to the local chief officials and distributing it to their deputies.
In this way, the voices of opposition were immediately reduced by half. At least these Tongzhi and Xiancheng, as the beneficiaries, firmly supported the judicial reform.
However, once the imperial edict was issued, it still caused an uproar among officials all over the world. Qin Mu was mentally prepared for this. As long as there was no resistance, the uproar would be fine. After a while, all the voices would eventually subside.
In the Wuying Palace, Qin Mu summoned Huang Lianshan, the commander of the Night Guards. After dismissing his attendants, he said to him, "Lianshan, you must strictly monitor the local officials during this period to prevent any accidents. Do you understand?"
"I obey your order."
"Focus on monitoring those officials who are colluding with each other and are the most vehement in opposing judicial reform. Investigate them thoroughly for me. If there are any illegal acts, collect evidence of their violations and submit it to me as soon as possible."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Qin Mu has secretly decided that in order to implement this major judicial reform, he will not hesitate to use the night prison, just like Zhu Yuanzhang did, to set up an imperial prison and get rid of those officials who are most opposed.
Afterwards, Qin Mu lavishly rewarded the victorious soldiers and further won the support of the military.
In order to better control the situation, Qin Mu immediately asked Su Jin to prepare for the return to Nanjing after rewarding the army. The tens of thousands of troops that were dispatched from Nanjing to the north last year will return to Nanjing with the emperor.
These tens of thousands of newly victorious troops escorting the imperial carriage from Xijing back to Nanjing must have been a huge force, and a deterrent to the officials along the way.
Before returning to Nanjing, Qin Mu asked the Buddhists and Taoists to hold a grand ceremony to pray for the late emperor of the Qin Dynasty in order to fulfill his filial piety.
This is actually a disguised way of seizing the moral high ground.
In this era, the word "filial piety" has an extraordinary meaning. Most dynasties ruled the country with filial piety, and even the emperor could not challenge filial piety.
People all over the world admire filial sons very much. Even if a person breaks the law, if he is a filial son, officials will often give him a lighter sentence because of his filial piety.
At this time, Qin Mu showed his filial piety to the people of the world, which would help him further win the support of officials and the people.
After the grand blessing, Qin Mu officially met with the Fourth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen, the Fifth Panchen Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, as well as more than 20 monks and Taoists including Master Faqing and Xuanjizi of Dacien Temple.
In the Xuan Zheng Hall, Qin Mu sat high on the steps, and through the veil that covered his face, he glanced at the twenty or so most prestigious monks and Taoists in the hall. Finally, his gaze stopped on the 79-year-old Fourth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen.
Luosang Chokyi Gyaltsen's beard and eyebrows were all white. Qin Mu said slowly: "As a foreign sect, Buddhism can take root in China. In my opinion, the main reason is that it adapts to the needs of dissemination and integrates well with the Central Plains culture, which is why it has achieved today's success.
The Panchen Lama should understand that if Buddhism cannot be well integrated with the culture of the Central Plains, it is doomed to be difficult to be accepted by the officials and people of the Central Plains. More importantly, Buddhism is to guide people to be good, and it itself should be extraordinary and otherworldly;
If anyone confuses politics and religion, covets worldly gains, and uses the name of gods and Buddhas to exercise worldly rule, I will tell him clearly today that he has crossed the line. No matter who it is, as long as he crosses this red line, he will be punished most severely. "
Luosang Choekyi Gyaltsen's white eyebrows trembled involuntarily. He clasped his hands together in greeting and chanted the Buddha's name continuously.
“Master Panchen Lama, I say this not because I have any prejudice against Tibetan Buddhism, but as the Son of Heaven, I have my own bottom line. I say it again, no matter who it is, do not touch my bottom line.
I have several requirements for Tibetan Buddhism. First, it should strengthen exchanges with Central Plains Buddhism and strengthen integration with Central Plains culture. Second, it should persist in guiding people to be good and not mix with worldly politics. "
Luosang Chokyi Gyaltsen had been in Chang'an for a long time, but the Emperor of Qin had never received him and his wife. He already had a bad feeling, and when they met today, he felt the awe-inspiring power of the Emperor, which made him feel cold all over.
In this situation, he and Awang Losang Gyatso quickly expressed their willingness to do as the emperor said.
Qin Mu was not afraid of their hypocrisy. He implemented the conscription system on various Tibetan tribes, which greatly weakened their strength. Even if they were unwilling, they could not cause any big waves again.
What's more, the Yellow Sect has only been dominant in Qinghai-Tibet for a few years. Now Qin Mu has decided to treat the five major sects of Tibetan Buddhism equally and impartially.
If any of the five major factions were to cause division, it would be much easier to deal with.
After hearing the opinions of Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen and Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, Qin Mu's expression eased and he continued, "Since the Tang Dynasty, first the Muslim religion has continued to expand eastward, and now Christianity and Catholicism are also constantly encroaching. Our traditional Buddhism and Taoism are facing unprecedented pressure.
The leaders of both Buddhism and Taoism were present. If they were indifferent to this, they would become sinners of their respective sects. As the saying goes, brothers quarrel within the walls, but they should defend themselves against external insults. Tibetan Buddhism should strengthen exchanges with the sects in the Central Plains, speed up the integration with the Central Plains culture, and jointly resist the encroachment of other sects.
Taoism, as a religious sect that originated in the local area, must also play its own role. I believe that the main reason why Taoism is constantly declining is that it is too closed and self-contained, focusing only on its own cultivation and failing to combine it well with the concept of saving the world.
As far as I know, when Christianity is preaching, it will actively cure diseases and save lives, and even set up some church schools to teach knowledge. With these visible good deeds, it is easy to gain the recognition of ordinary people.
Taoism should seriously reflect on itself. Laozi's teachings are profound and extensive, and Zhuangzi's teachings are also magnificent. Taoism should absorb the essence of Laozi and Zhuangzi's teachings and spread their teachings. Stop pretending to be mysterious. No matter how much you pretend, it is just a minor path. Only by using Laozi and Zhuangzi's teachings can Taoism take the main path. Do more things that benefit the people. A person who is respected is always more likely to be recognized by those around him for his beliefs. "
Xuanjizi and several Taoist masters present were slightly embarrassed by what Qin Mu said. Taoism was indeed the most rampant in terms of pretending to be gods and playing tricks, and all kinds of behavior had fallen into the obscene level.
Although those deceptive charlatans can cheat people out of their money, their vision is inevitably looked down upon. Looking at the major religious sects in the world, they are generally quite grand, and this is exactly what Taoism lacks.
Taoism originally had two god-like figures, Laozi and Zhuangzi, whose teachings were no worse than those of Confucius and Mencius. However, Taoism itself gradually abandoned and turned away from the two philosophers and fell into decline. This is truly a tragedy for Taoism.
This was a very strange meeting. In the past, when the emperor met with the great monks of Buddhism and Taoism, they mostly talked about scriptures and preached. However, Qin Mu did not talk about that at all. He just talked about how Buddhism and Taoism should position themselves and what obligations and responsibilities they should fulfill.
The eminent monks and Taoist priests present had to take these words seriously, because he was the emperor. Past events in past dynasties had repeatedly shown that whichever school the emperor favored would surely prosper. If the emperor was dissatisfied with any of the Buddhist and Taoist schools, then his days would be difficult.
"The warriors of our Great Qin have opened up a lot of territory, and will continue to do so in the future. Many of these places now believe in Islam or Christianity. I hope that all the monks and Taoist priests can see this and follow the footsteps of our Great Qin warriors to change the beliefs of the people in those places."
After repeated discussions, Master Faqing and others had already made a plan for this. After Qin Mu finished speaking, he immediately came out to express his intention to send people to Southeast Asia to spread Buddhism.
Qin Mu smiled faintly and said, "That's great, that's great."
************************
ps: I sincerely ask for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. It’s so cold these days and it’s really not easy to stay up until midnight. Brothers and sisters, please give me some encouragement!
.(To be continued..)
...