"Wei Chen obeys the order~!"
Li Zexuan smiled, but he was dissatisfied in his heart. He resisted the urge to complain and bowed to accept the order.
"Hmm~!"
Li Er nodded with satisfaction. Perhaps other kings would strangle unknown new things without any hesitation, but as a pioneering and enterprising Holy Lord, Li Er's first thought was not to strangle, but to kill Li Zexuan's new things. The usefulness of knowledge has been developed to its extreme.
As for whether Li Zexuan would threaten his rule, Li Er had not worried about this at all. He had confidence in himself, and he also had confidence in his ministers and generals.
The only thing that disappointed him was that the magical world Li Zexuan mentioned was not the fairy world. So do gods exist?
Li Zexuan thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, one thing I can be sure of is that there are absolutely no so-called gods above the nine heavens. Above the sky is the vast expanse of space. There are countless planets like the earth suspended in the space. Dreams In that world, their technology has been able to reach places hundreds of thousands of miles away from the ground, so Wei Chen is very sure that there are no true immortals in the sky~!"
Li Er looked ugly and said: "Is this really true~?"
"It's true~!"
Li Zexuan saw that Li Er seemed not to give up on seeking immortality, so he continued:
"My master spent his whole life pursuing the path of immortality, but in the end he achieved nothing and still died. Before his death, he once said to his ministers: Everyone in the world wants to live forever. From kings to ordinary people, everyone regards the extension of life as their deepest dream, but... Not knowing immortality itself is the biggest joke.
Buddhism requires annihilation, Taoism requires inaction, and Confucianism seeks righteousness in exploration, taking different paths to reach the same goal. In the end, it turns people into stone. Turtles live long because they are slow, trees live long because they are immobile, and only stones last forever.
Killing human desires, destroying human relations, cutting off the five senses, and blocking hearing, is this still a human being? I don't know the cold and heat, I don't know the fragrance and smell, I don't know right from wrong, I have no thoughts of family and country, I have no concept of family affection, I have no joy, I don't know the joys and sorrows, what is the difference between a rotten tree?
The reason why human beings are different from beasts is that we have thoughts, understand etiquette, understand family ties, can work, create, transform the world, create the world, and make everything in the world for our use. This is the duty of human beings.
Going beyond one's own abilities in an attempt to pursue the elusive eternal life, but not knowing that God has already arranged it. If you want to live forever, you have to turn into stone. It's ridiculous that the world is as ignorant as a moth flying into a flame! "
Yan Lide and Empress Changsun breathed a sigh of relief, secretly praising Li Zexuan for his general knowledge and understanding of things. They felt that at this point and with so much sufficient evidence, Li Er should no longer have any unreasonable thoughts about immortality~ ?
Facts have proved that this is indeed the case. Li Er felt his heart go cold after listening to a long paragraph of Li Zexuan's words. After being silent for a long time, he sighed quietly and said: "What was recorded in your "Journey to the West" earlier? The gods, Buddhas and ghosts are all fabricated~?”
Li Zexuan was shocked. People said that Li Er suppressed Buddhism and respected Taoism. He didn't expect that he would read such "deviant" novels. He had not published "Journey to the West" as a book before and sold it, mainly because of Li Er's concern for Due to the attitude of the Buddhists, he was worried for a while that Li Er would come to settle a score with him after reading this novel, but he did not expect that Li Er not only "secretly" read it, but also did not trouble him.
In fact, this is all his own overthinking.
Later generations spread that Li Er suppressed Buddhism and emphasized Taoism, mainly because the Li family respected Laozi Li Er as their ancestor and respected Taoism, which was beneficial to the orthodoxy and sanctity of the Tang Dynasty imperial power. But in fact, Li Er did not have much ill feelings towards Buddhism. On the contrary, the entire The Li family has many connections with Buddhism.
Li Er's boyhood was a period when Buddhism was popular all over the country. At that time, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, their father and son, believed deeply in Buddhism. "People all over the world followed the trend and admired it. There were hundreds of times more Buddhist scriptures among the people than the Six Classics."
The influence of Buddhism has penetrated into all social strata and all aspects of social life. At that time, worshiping Buddhism had become a common trend inside and outside the imperial court. Of course, the Li family, a large aristocratic family, is no exception.
In the second year of Daye, nine-year-old Li Er suffered from eye disease. Li Yuan personally went to Chang'an Caotang Temple to worship Buddha for blessing. After Li Er recovered from his illness, Li Yuan built a stone Buddha and sent it to the temple for worship. These had to leave a mark on Li Er's young mind. Later, he never forgot this experience in his childhood. He once wrote a poem to praise Kumarajiva, the founder of Caotang Temple, to express his respect and remembrance of the eminent monks of the previous generation.
The Li family respected Buddhism in the early days, which can also be seen from the nicknames of Li Yuan's sons. Li Jiancheng's nickname was Bishamon, and Li Yuanji's nickname was Sanhu. These are names related to Buddhist culture, although Li Er's nickname is in the history books. There is no relevant record, but it is certain that it is also related to Buddhism.
In the third year of Wude, Li Er, who was still the king of Qin, was ordered to conquer Wang Shichong in the east, and the following year he fought in Songluo. Thirteen monks including Zhi Cao, Hui Jue and Tan Zong who were stationed at the Baigu Village of Shaolin Temple captured Zheng General Wang Renze in one fell swoop and presented him to the Tang army. Li Er took advantage of the situation and defeated Wang Shichong. This is the famous incident of the Thirteen Monks rescuing the Tang King. As a result, Li Er became very fond of Shaolin Temple and Buddhism.
However, during the Xuanwumen Incident, Buddhism secretly helped Li Jiancheng. This made Li Er very angry afterwards and he also had a slight dislike for Buddhism. At the beginning of the founding of Li Tang Dynasty, he once respected Laozi as the ancestor, so Li Er simply proposed The policy of "Taoism first, Buddhism second" was adopted.
But so far, he has not issued any government decrees that are obviously aimed at Buddhism. During the Tang Dynasty, the Li family pursued a policy of coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and Li Er was the founder of this policy.
"Uh~! Back to Your Majesty, the plot in "Journey to the West" was indeed made up by Wei Chen~! I hope Your Majesty won't take it to heart. After all, seeking immortality is just an illusory delusion~!"
Li Zexuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with cupped hands.
"That's all~! I came here today to see how your academy is preparing, not to discuss with you about seeking immortality."
Li Er waved his hand in a subtle way and said. Only then did he notice the huge sand table in the room. He glanced at it and suddenly said in surprise: "Li Zexuan, what is this~?"
Previously, he and Empress Changsun only heard Li Zexuan's description of the dream outside the door, but did not hear Li Zexuan and Yan Lide's previous discussion of the academy's drawings.
Li Zexuan was secretly scolding Li Er for being shameless. There was no one else who could forcefully explain this time. When he heard Li Er ask, he replied:
"Your Majesty, this is the Yanhuang Academy designed by Wei Chen. Next, I will trouble Yan Shangshu to send some skilled craftsmen to build it on the Yunshan Mountain in Meicun~!"
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