Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 284 What the enemy fears most is what we must do! [Seeking monthly votes]

Buddhism pursues perfection, Taoism pursues transcendence, while Confucianism pursues righteousness and integrity.

The so-called "righteous spirit" refers to a kind of upright spirit cultivated over many years with justice and morality. This power enables a person to remain calm and composed no matter what changes they encounter, reaching a state of "unmoved mind".

Mencius's proposition that "wealth and honor cannot corrupt, power and force cannot subdue, and poverty and hardship cannot sway" is a concrete manifestation of the noble spirit of righteousness.

Now, Zhou Yi was somewhat surprised to find that Xin Qiji, who was only eighteen years old, could mobilize righteous energy. Shouldn't this be something that only a great scholar with gray hair could use?

But that's fine too, at least we don't have to waste our merits. I just wonder if Xin Qiji's righteous spirit will run out soon. Maybe we should have him recite Wen Tianxiang's "Ode to Righteousness" every day?
"Ode to Righteousness" is a long poem written by Wen Tianxiang after he was captured. It elaborates on the concept of righteousness and promotes it. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, scholars often talked about righteousness, which originated from Wen Tianxiang.

Unfortunately, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were very few scholars who were willing to sacrifice themselves for their country like Wen Tianxiang; most of them only thought about their own interests.

When the court favored scholars, they would clamor for special privileges; when it didn't, they would readily kneel before foreign tribes and act as collaborators. They were utterly shameless.

As Zhou Yi was venting his frustrations, a light drizzle was still falling in the Yimeng Mountain base area of ​​the Southern Song Dynasty, and everyone was looking at Xin Qiji with admiration.

Especially the refugees who came along; they originally just wanted to beg for food, but they never expected to witness the birth of a savior.

At this moment, without saying a word, everyone unanimously made up their minds that they would follow Young Master Xin for the rest of their lives!

The light rain continued until noon. At lunchtime, Xin Qiji announced that one person would be selected from each group to form a cavalry patrol team, responsible for patrolling the surrounding area for security and setting animal traps in the mountains to increase the base's income.

Upon hearing this, everyone expressed their willingness to participate. Even Xin Qiji's younger brother, Xin Youzhi, had his eyes light up, hoping to become the patrol team leader.

However, Xin Qiji did not agree and instead planned to have the patrol team compete internally.

Only by winning from within can we gain the respect and trust of the people.

Of course, being strong in physical combat is not enough; one must also be intelligent. Simply put, one must be proficient in both academics and martial arts, and not be one-sided in any area.

The selection of this one person from among four thousand people has made all the members of the Xin family eager to try, and the refugees have not given up either... They could have directly appointed a member of the Xin family, but Xin Qiji was willing to give everyone a chance, so there was no question that they had to do their best and not let down the trust of Young Master Xin.

Don't underestimate this small patrol team. To join, you first need to build good relationships with the people in the production group and gain their respect. This inadvertently gives everyone the opportunity to communicate with each other.

After the production team finished their internal discussions, the patrol team held a skills competition. Each person represented a production team, which naturally fostered a sense of collective honor.

Once the patrol captain is selected, the people of the entire base area will undergo a baptism of collectivism.

In times of chaos, this can generate strong cohesion and greatly improve production and daily life.

After the meal, while the various production groups were busy selecting patrol team members, several elderly refugees approached Xin Qiji and respectfully bowed:
“Young Master Xin, it is our honor to follow you. Unfortunately, we are just itinerant storytellers, unable to do anything but carry heavy loads. We feel guilty about staying here and eating and drinking for free. We would like to contribute to our base. We plan to go to the surrounding counties and prefectures to recruit people for our base. Do you agree?”

Xin Qiji naturally agreed, but he felt that going like this wouldn't be appropriate, so he said:
“Stay a few more days and learn more about the new changes here. I’ll find some storybooks from Master that are suitable for telling stories. You can turn them into jokes and tell them to people from other places.”

In ancient times, there was no internet or print media, so many strange tales and anecdotes were spread by itinerant travelers.

In the novel "Water Margin", Song Jiang became famous because he often helped those who traveled the Jianghu (江湖, the world of martial arts and outlaws). Over time, his reputation spread throughout the country, and every hero wanted to worship him.

While the real Song Dynasty wasn't quite as exaggerated, it wasn't too far off either. Xin Qiji planned to find some story collections suitable for ancient times, such as the "Three Words and Two Slaps," and have storytellers tell them to outsiders.

Of course, the story is just the outer packaging. To portray the Yimeng Mountain base area as a paradise, no matter what the story is, the image of the Yimeng Mountain base area must be presented in a high-class and positive way.

Let's come up with some catchy sayings, such as "He who has not been to Yimeng Mountain is not a true hero," "If you're not a real hero, don't go to Yimeng Mountain," and "The Yimeng Mountain area has beautiful scenery, and every household has a full granary."

With diligent efforts in spreading the word, the Yimeng Mountain base area will soon become famous, attracting many desperate people and curious, ambitious individuals.

No matter who you are, you will be attracted by the Dazhai model of eating and working together.

Everyone, regardless of social status or wealth, does what they are good at, naturally separating the exploiting class from the landlord class. This allows for the promotion of the ideal of "land reform" – an ideal that the ancients had never realized.

Ancient emperors were cursed by the equal-field system; whenever they proposed distributing land to the people, they would soon "die unexpectedly."

Several capable emperors in the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty proposed or discussed the concept of equal land distribution, but they all died young, and several generations of them could not even reach a lifespan long enough to receive a retirement pension.

Guo Rong, during the Five Dynasties period, proposed the equal land system for the whole country, but died of illness less than a month later; Zhao Kuangyin also had this idea in his later years, and not long after, the sound of an axe falling to the ground was heard in the palace.

Later emperors, if they had even a little ambition, would die young. For example, Zhao Xu not only died himself, but his son and daughter also died one after another. Not to mention living, their bloodline was not allowed to exist.

Land was the lifeblood of the landlord class, but Xin Qiji insisted on starting with the land... What the enemy fears most is what we must do!
When Li Qingzhao woke up inside Hunyuan Palace, she found that it was already evening.

She rubbed her face, feeling that her reputation was ruined. Getting drunk was one thing, but to be knocked out by a small cup of aged vinegar was another. How was she supposed to get along here after this? With Gongsun Da Niang's big mouth, she would definitely spread the word throughout the entire Tang Dynasty immediately.

She shuffled outside in her slippers and saw Zhou Yi cooking porridge in the kitchen. She walked over with small, quick steps and asked in a low voice:
"Master, did I talk nonsense or do anything indecent while I was sleeping?"

She was terrified that she would repeat her previous feat of hugging Zhou Yi's neck and talking nonsense.

Zhou Yi poured the marinated shredded meat into the cooked rice porridge, stirring as he spoke:

"No, I slept soundly. Wash your hands and get ready for dinner. I just bought some fried dough sticks from Uncle Wu. Tonight we'll have congee with preserved egg and lean pork."

Li Qingzhao nodded obediently, washed her hands, and began setting out the bowls and chopsticks, preparing for dinner.

At the same time, in the Kaiyuan World of the Tang Dynasty, Yiyuan Temple was also having dinner. Li Chengyi's chef prepared dishes such as twice-cooked pork, boiled fish, spicy chicken, and salted braised pork belly, which made everyone very happy.

Sima Chengzhen exclaimed in admiration:
"The art of cooking is truly wonderful. I am so fortunate to be able to taste such delicious food in my old age. I can say that my life has not been in vain."

Granny Gongsun shoveled a mouthful of rice into her mouth and said:
“Old man, you still have thirty years to live. How can you enter old age thirty years early? Seventy years old is the age to make a name for yourself. You can’t just lie down.”

Sima Chengzhen: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Goodness, is this how young people educate the elderly these days?

Li Chengyi served Princess Taiping a bowl of winter melon and pork rib soup and respectfully asked:

"Auntie, there's a military parade at Mount Li tomorrow, which is what the Immortal Master called the grand military review. Aren't you going to go?"

Princess Taiping said:

“If I go, your third brother’s legs will tremble. You go, take your camera, take lots of pictures, and let me see if the Tang army is truly mighty.”

Li Chengyi was waiting for this very sentence:

"Auntie, just you wait and see, I guarantee the photos will be both handsome and domineering... Master Qinglian, could you find the AFP filter for me? I want to try it out to see if the Tang Dynasty filter suits me."

On the day Li Longji received the black iron token, Li Chengyi swore a solemn oath before him, promising not to covet the throne, and only then were his restrictions relaxed.

In the past, they held various sinecure positions that only required them to receive a salary, but now they can participate in some high-profile ceremonies.

For example, Li Chengyi is among those invited to the upcoming martial arts competition at Mount Li.

After the meal, Princess Taiping watched several clips of modern military parades on her tablet and said to Li Chengyi:
"Let your third brother do something like this sometime in the future. All personnel should be rigorously trained, and siege equipment should be mounted on giant vehicles and driven past the city gate. At that time, all the envoys from various countries to Tang Dynasty should be summoned to intimidate them."

Li Longji had just ascended to the throne and his power base was not strong, so he had to use this method to intimidate Li Longji.

Once he has straightened out the court, there's no need for him to explain anything. This emperor, who is determined to shed the label of a half-emperor throughout history, will launch a series of wars, expand his territory, and promote immigration.

During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the national treasury had so much money that it couldn't be spent, which was perfect for the immigration project.

Like Emperor Wu of Han, who conquered a place and then sent people there to occupy it, squeezing out the living space of other ethnic groups as much as possible, once this was achieved, the club of emperors of all ages would have one more person.

While the war was being discussed here, in Daxingshan Temple, Yi Xing was very puzzled by the act of suppressing Buddhism. What puzzled him even more was that the abbot and the head monks of the temple all supported this measure.

Not only Daxingshan Temple, but also other ancestral temples of other sects, such as Huayan Temple and Daqinglong Temple, responded to the call of the imperial court, donated all the land under their names to the court free of charge, dismissed their servants, and quietly chanted scriptures every day, not caring about worldly affairs.

A group of people asked an old monk:

"how so?"

The old monk said:

"The purpose of Buddhism is to persuade people to do good, not to fool the people. There are too many scoundrels in Buddhism. If this is not changed, there will be a catastrophe within a hundred years. Rather than waiting for the catastrophe to come, it is better to cut the cocoon and be reborn."

Upon hearing the word "catastrophe," Yi Xing immediately thought of the "Emperor Wuzong's persecution of Buddhism" he had heard at Yiyuan Temple:
"Grandmaster, I heard about the future at the One Yuan Temple..."

The old monk remained as calm and composed as ever.
"That's your destiny. You don't need to tell me. Go to Yiyuan Temple more often; your future lies there..."

(End of this chapter)