Chapter 782 Unifying the South (Part 1)

The monk Lekong and the four Dharma protectors who witnessed the complete destruction of the Pure Mind Zen Sect from beginning to end made the five people spit out a large mouthful of blood. Hundreds of years of hard work were destroyed in an instant, and Lekong couldn't help but feel a little regretful at this moment. He closed his eyes and kept chanting the Buddha's name in his heart.

As for the four Dharma protectors, what kind of Buddhist demeanor did they still have at this time? They cursed and even cursed Shen Fei, but soon their voices stopped abruptly, and the soldiers guarding them directly sealed their mouths.

"Zi Ling, now is not the time to be soft-hearted. What is their purpose? You should know it?"

While Shen Fei was dealing with the Pure Mind Zen Sect, the battle in Luoyang City was in full swing. Kou Zhong held the moon in the well and looked at Xu Ziling, who was holding a long sword and had a hesitant expression. After chopping an enemy away with a knife, he said coldly.

"I understand."

After being reminded by Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling exhaled lightly, and his eyes immediately became firm. In terms of personality, Xu Ziling was a little indecisive compared to Kou Zhong, but once it was time to make a decision, Xu Ziling would become very decisive. From the sword in his hand now, this can be confirmed. You must know that under normal circumstances, Xu Ziling would not use a sword.

On the battlefield, if you want to kill the enemy more effectively, it is naturally much better to have weapons than to be bare-handed. After all, this is not a battle for hegemony in the martial arts world. Not to mention Xu Ziling, even Zhu Yuyan and Shi Zhixuan would also take weapons on the battlefield.

Before Xu Ziling took action, he had already thought it through. The reason why he hesitated before was because his opponent was protecting the monks in the temple, so he hesitated.

Xu Ziling, who had stabilized his mind, was merciless in his actions.

"You Chuhong, are you crazy? Do you know what you are doing?"

A middle-aged man with disheveled hair looked at You Chuhong who was ruthless and yelled angrily. As a noble family, after these people sneaked into Luoyang, they naturally started to contact the noble families in Luoyang as soon as possible to prepare to rebel. As one of the four major families, Dugu Clan was naturally the first contact.

In the eyes of these people, there must be some unknown reasons why Dugu Clan surrendered to Shen Fei. It was definitely not voluntary. After all, the policies formulated by Shen Fei greatly weakened the power and interests of the noble families. Small families were okay, but those big families would never be willing to give up the power and interests in their hands.

As one of the four largest families in the Central Plains, how could Dugu Clan be willing to lose the interests in its hands? It must be said that this idea is very correct. Dugu Clan naturally did not voluntarily surrender to Shen Fei, but unfortunately, these people miscalculated one thing, that is, Dugu Clan did not have the courage to betray Shen Fei.

Submission to Shen Fei would only reduce the benefits. The Dugu clan could still maintain their status and luxurious life, but once they betrayed, it would be the day of the Dugu clan's demise. In this case, it was too easy to choose.

After that, You Chuhong played along with them, pretending to cooperate with them, and then sold them to Shen Fei.

As for the Song clan's submission to Shen Fei, these people didn't care too much at all. After all, they and the Song clan were not the same kind of people. The choice of the Song clan was obviously just betting on Shen Fei.

"Of course I know what I'm doing, but you probably don't understand who you are against. Let's go." When You Chuhong spoke, she did not pause at all. The jade cane in her hand hit a person's chest directly. Under the burst of true energy, the sound of broken bones sounded. The man's chest was directly sunken under this blow, and a big hole almost burst out of his chest.

"A good bird chooses a tree to roost in. Let's go, Cui Laosan."

After recovering from her old injury, You Chuhong's martial arts improved greatly. Now, even Zhu Yuyan dare not easily claim victory. For You Chuhong, the current situation is the best. Apart from anything else, the existence of Dugu Feng is enough to guarantee the future status of the Dugu family.

In the future, the status of the Dugu clan will no longer be the bottom. Even if it cannot surpass the Song clan to become the first of the four major clans, it will surpass the Yuwen clan and the Li clan to become the second.

This time, in order to win the battle in Luoyang City, Shen Fei did not bring any masters when attacking the Jingnian Zen Sect. All of them were sent to deal with those who sneaked into Luoyang.

"Now tell me your choice, Master Fahai. My patience is limited. The future fate of Buddhism is decided by you today."

In the Zen room of the abbot of the White Horse Temple, Shen Fei stared at the old monk with white hair and beard in front of him and asked him to make the final choice. Because of the unique Dharma name, Shen Fei looked at this person carefully. It's a pity that this is not Jinshan Temple, otherwise it would be more like it with a golden bowl.

There is a pagoda inside the White Horse Temple.

"Amitabha, I agree." After a long pause, Fahai, who had been counting the Buddhist beads with his eyes closed, finally opened his eyes, sighed deeply, and nodded to agree to Shen Fei's conditions.

"Master is indeed a great monk, I'll leave it to you next."

After getting Fahai's nod, Shen Fei immediately turned around and led his men away. It is difficult to completely destroy Buddhism, but it can be divided. In fact, there are different factions within Taoism. Ning Daoqi's side is considered to have betrayed Taoism. There are also considerable factions within Buddhism.

The two largest factions are naturally the South and the North. The dispute between the North and the South is very serious in this era. The aristocratic families, Buddhism, and Taoism all have problems in this regard.

The Song clan and other aristocratic clans can't get along, and this is also the reason. Among the four major clans, except for the Song clan, which is located in the south, most of the others are located in the north.

There are many reasons for this, but there are only two main reasons. One is that the Five Barbarians' Rebellion in the past caused heavy casualties to the Han people in the north. Now, most of the people in the north are mixed-blood, and even the Li clan has the blood of the Hu people.

The other is naturally the large-scale development of the south, which has shifted the center of the Central Plains. Chang'an used to be the first strategic location. It can be said that as long as Chang'an is occupied, the world can basically be obtained. However, with the development of the south, the shortcomings of Chang'an were immediately exposed, especially the development of Luoyang and the emergence of the Grand Canal, which made Luoyang's status immediately close to Chang'an.

The current Central Plains can basically be divided into the north with Chang'an as the main one, and the south with Luoyang as the main one. Only by occupying these two places can you be qualified to compete for the world. People in other places are basically foils.

However, the south has just been developed after all, and it is naturally much weaker than the north. In addition to the Song clan, which is an old aristocratic clan, most of the people in the south are emerging aristocratic families, even the Buddhist sect is the same.

"Wow, this number really makes people wonder what to say."

Three days later, the Luoyang riot was basically quelled. Because Shen Fei arranged it properly, the damage in Luoyang was not too great. It was just a few streets that were destroyed. After all, the opponent's strength was not weak. However, compared with the loss, the harvest was huge.

Originally, because of the previous policies, he began to lack some resources. It was not money, but food and other living materials. He was thinking about whether to take out the materials he brought. As a result, this harvest solved the urgent need.

"Speaking of which, Wang Shichong is really pitiful. If he dared to do this, what would it matter if he was besieged by Li Shimin?"

Perhaps it was the war era, and the temples and the homes of the aristocratic families stored a large amount of materials. This harvest was enough to support him for a year. With this year, the modern high-yield grain he brought could be harvested.

Such a large amount of materials made Shen Fei feel sorry for Wang Shichong again, and at the same time, Shen Fei further understood Buddhism and found that he was still a little too gentle.

This is just the necessities of life. If you add the wealth, it will be even more. The wealth gained from the Jingnian Zen Sect alone is enough for him to pay for half a year's military expenses. This is the army under his command now, not the army under Wang Shichong's command.

If you add other things, there will be enough military expenses for several years.

"Announce it."

In Luoyang City and outside the city, there were many people who were very dissatisfied with the destruction of temples such as the Jingnian Zen Sect. As for the destroyed aristocratic families, it seems that no one cares at all.

However, after they saw the wealth, materials, and land occupied by the Jingnian Zen Sect announced by the Datang Daily, plus Shen Fei's special calculation of how much money a monk of the Jingnian Zen Sect would spend in a day, and how valuable the monk's robes, Buddhist beads, etc. on his body were, the dissatisfaction immediately disappeared.

Even if some people are extremely stubborn and don't believe what is written in the Datang Daily, they will stop talking immediately after seeing the mountain of treasures piled up on the ruins of the Jingnian Zen Sect. Seeing is believing.

In addition, Shen Fei distributed all the land belonging to the Jingnian Zen Sect to the refugees who fled to Luoyang, and his fame was at its peak for a while.

"I originally wanted to build a small town, but now it seems that this is a bit wasteful. It is better to build a school."

The location of the Jingnian Zen Sect is extremely excellent, and the surrounding scenery is pleasant. After overlooking the local situation, Shen Fei immediately decided to abandon the town and build the first academy of the Tang Dynasty there.

"Next, it's time to deal with them, first of all, that Bu Chen."

The establishment of the academy does not require Shen Fei to worry too much. One order will be enough. After that, it is time to deal with Le Kong and the four Dharma protectors. The reason why he captured them alive is for this, that is, public trial.

Le Kong, Fan Qinghui, and Ning Daoqi, these three people are the ones Shen Fei decided to publicly try. He wants the world to know that even if they are great masters, if they dare to collude with foreign enemies, they will definitely die.

"I wonder if anyone will come to rob the execution ground."

In this era where becoming a monk can escape all crimes including murder and arson, the public trial of a Buddhist monk has an impact that can be imagined. As the Tang Daily made this matter public, people in the entire Central Plains who knew about this matter were talking about it. This is simply offending Buddhism to death.

If you say it is the Tang King of Shen Tang, then it's okay. He is a lunatic. Yes, in the eyes of many people, Shen Fei is a lunatic, especially those who have always been in high positions. They don't understand why this Shen Tang King would offend these families for a group of low-class people.

It is obviously such an excellent system of the Nine-Rank System, but it is completely abandoned.

"Damn it."

In the Cihang Jingzhai of Emperor Ta Peak, Fan Qinghui looked at the newspaper in his hand that announced the crimes of Monk Kong and the four Dharma Protectors, and smashed the stone table of the pavilion with an angry palm.

Fan Qinghui was extremely angry at this time. A series of plans that should have gone smoothly changed immediately after this disciple of the Taoist Tianzong came into the world.

Luoyang's plan to elect an emperor on behalf of Heaven was over before it even started. It even caused a huge loss to Luoyang's Buddhist power. Nearly half of the temples and the Jing Nian Zen Sect were destroyed, and some people in Buddhism began to question her.

Not to mention that after the Duzunbao incident broke out, Song Que personally took action and killed three Buddhist masters in Lingnan. The damage to these three masters was not a big deal. After all, they were not top masters. The key was Song Que's attitude.

In addition, Ning Daoqi was injured in the defeat of Song Que, and Shi Qingxuan was shaved bald and returned to Cihang Jingzhai, asking about the origin of Cihang Jingzhai, and questioning her. In addition, Bi Xiuxin's death made Shi Qingxuan Out of control, even Fan Qinghui was a little overwhelmed by this series of events.

"It seems that the South has no choice but to give up. It must speed up the pace of unifying the North. If this is not possible, it can only divide and rule."

After taking a few deep breaths, Fan Qinghui forced himself to calm down, and then began to think about the current situation. The destruction of Jing Nian Zen Sect, coupled with Ning Daoqi's current strength regression due to Tao Xin, it was impossible to stop Song Que. .

In this way, Shen Tang, who had the support of the Song clan, had no one to resist him in the south. It was impossible for Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, Shen Faxing and others to stop the Song clan's army.

As for Li Mi's attack on Luoyang now, after Shen Tang Lightning captured Zhu Jie's army, Fan Qinghui was not optimistic about Li Mi's actions at all. This was not only her opinion, but also Li Shimin's opinion.

If those who sneaked into Luoyang could successfully assassinate Shen Fei or seriously injure him, there might be a chance. Otherwise, with the high walls and deep walls of Luoyang, Li Mi would have no choice but to return without success as long as he could not escape.

Because of Shen Fei's appearance, the exchanges between Li Shimin and Fan Qinghui became more frequent. Although Li Shimin wanted to let Li Clan attack Luoyang while Li Mi was attacking Luoyang, it was a pity that this plan was rejected by Li Yuan.

It's not that Li Yuan doesn't see the threat from Shen Tang, but because if he sends out a large army to attack Luoyang, Liu Wuzhou and others in the north may steal his current hometown Chang'an. Liu Wuzhou has attacked Li clan before. When he was in Chang'an, he sent troops to steal his hometown Taiyuan. If he hadn't reacted quickly, Liu Wuzhou would have almost succeeded.

At the same time, Liang Shidu also coveted Li clan's territory.

"It seems that I have to let that person go, but before that, I need to meet Li Shimin first."

After Fan Qinghui sorted out the current situation, he immediately looked in a certain direction and murmured in his mouth. It is indeed very cool to sit in Cihang Jingzhai and watch the world under her control. However, it is a pity that the current situation does not allow her to do this.

"Hey, divide and conquer?"

In the palace of the Prince of Qin in Chang'an City, Li Shimin looked at the topographic map of the Central Plains and couldn't help but sigh. Limited by his own identity, even if he was a genius in the sky, he would not be able to make the decision in the Li clan. Now the Li clan is Preparations for the crusade against Liu Wuzhou were in full swing. Under such circumstances, naturally they could not divide their forces to attack Luoyang.

In contrast, Shen Fei is completely free to play his part, and he has a huge Song clan behind him to support him unconditionally. With the strong alliance, once Li Mi is defeated, other forces may have to consider surrendering.