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

Chapter 423 Old Zhu has gone astray, he's actually using Confucius as bait! [Seeking monthly votes]

Last time I went to Hunyuan Palace, I heard that other worlds also have temples dedicated to the Immortal Master Yiyuan. Zhu Yuanzhang's petty landlord mentality kicked in again... Since they have them, our Great Ming must have them too, we can't be outdone.

Zhu Biao thought for a moment and said:
What about a monistic view?

"Kaiyuan World has been repaired, and Princess Taiping and Li Dan have moved in."

"What about Yiyuan Palace?"

"The area where Zhao Xu of the Northern Song Dynasty is located is under construction."

"Surely there won't be any problems with Yiyuanlou and Yiyuange?"

"The Later Zhou and Western Han Yuan Emperors have already taken the lead. Emperor Wu built the Yiyuan Terrace, Ban Chao built the Yiyuan Temple, and even Confucius is building the Yiyuan Academy."

We've almost finished developing the three-character version, and now we're starting to move towards the four-character version.

Zhu Biao racked his brains and suddenly had an idea:
"How about we build the One Yuan Immortal Mansion in our Great Ming Dynasty? We can order both Buddhism and Taoism to worship it together, and manage the religion under the guidance of the immortal. If there are any disobedient people, the court can also intervene to prevent the religion from running amok."

Although Zhu Biao is only fourteen years old, he has been exposed to management from a young age and has his own insights into it.

We must neither impose a high-pressure policy on religions nor allow them to develop blindly and unchecked. We should take advantage of the positive aspects of religions that encourage people to do good, and resolutely prevent them from engaging in rampant money-making and political interference.

Only in this way can society be stable and religion not get out of control.

To put it simply, ever since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty last year, civil and military officials, as well as all the monks in Yingtian Prefecture, have been running around advocating for the reconstruction of Yuhuang Temple, where Zhu Yuanzhang once became a monk.

Yuhuang Temple is located in Fengyang County. When Zhu Yuanzhang was fifteen years old, he was desperate and became a monk after being ordained by Master Gao Bin. During this period, he was dismissed for two or three years due to famine, but then returned to Yuhuang Temple to continue being a monk.

At the age of twenty-four, Guo Zixing raised an army to start a rebellion. The Imperial Temple was destroyed in the war. Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about where to go, he received an invitation letter from his childhood friend Tang He, hoping that he could join Guo Zixing's army to work together for a great cause. Only then did Zhu Yuanzhang join the army and eventually become the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has just been established, the monks are getting restless. They are trying their best to link Emperor Zhu's ascension to the throne to the protection of Buddha, hoping to make Buddhism the state religion. They even brought up Master Gao Bin, which is tantamount to putting Emperor Zhu in a very difficult position.

Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang did rebuild Yuhuang Temple and appointed Master Gao Bin as the National Preceptor, but he changed the location to Jiuhua Mountain and renamed the temple Longxing Temple... With the name and location changed, the only remaining connection to the original Yuhuang Temple was Master Gao Bin.

There's no need to do that now. Just build the One Yuan Immortal Mansion and have Gao Bin chant scriptures inside. If any of the civil and military officials have any objections, they can talk to the gods of the Thunder Department. Anyway, these gods are very willing to communicate.

Zhu Biao began to worry about the cost of repairing the One Yuan Immortal Abode:

"Father, there is a war in the north, and you want to exempt the north from taxes. What should we do if the officials in the court protest?"

Zhu Yuanzhang weighed the Hunyuan Palace token in his hand and quickly came up with an idea:

"I will find an opportunity to get all the officials to donate money for the repairs, without touching a single copper coin in the national treasury."

The grand court assembly began early the next morning. This was the first court assembly after the New Year. Apart from generals such as Xu Da and Chang Yuchun who were fighting in the north, almost everyone who could attend was present.

The story of Zhu Yuanzhang's encounter with immortals at Jiming Mountain is now well known to the court officials, and the news has also spread in Yingtian Prefecture that the descendants of Confucius are not direct descendants of Confucius.

Some scholars were devastated, but others thought it was a good thing that His Majesty met with Confucius. Rather than listening to the nonsense from those people in Qufu, they thought it was better to ask Confucius directly.

After all, Confucius not only did not contribute to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, but also called on scholars across the country to rebel against the Ming Dynasty.

At the start of the court assembly, some people submitted petitions to plead for the innocence of the Kong family, while others, instructed by Song Lian and other court officials, requested a thorough investigation of the Kong family... Song Lian was Zhu Biao's teacher and was deeply involved in the drafting of the Ming Dynasty's system, making him a relatively central figure in the court.

Ever since witnessing Zhu Yuanzhang kill Kong Kejian at Jiming Mountain, he knew that the nameplate of the Kong family in Qufu would be taken down sooner or later. Rather than trying to stop a chariot, he might as well go with the flow.

After all, going to Qufu to learn from Confucius is nothing compared to having a direct conversation with him across time and space.

The first grand court assembly of the Lunar New Year should have been used to discuss the key points of the upcoming policies and to debate the issues of food supply and weaponry with the military leaders of the Ministry of War.

Unexpectedly, the two sides immediately engaged in a heated discussion about Confucius.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw this but did not stop it. Instead, he sat up straight and watched the group crosstalk performance attentively.

Once the argument had subsided, Old Zhu waved to the eunuch.

Soon, two eunuchs carried a 40-inch color photograph framed in a wooden frame into the court. The photograph was simple: a picture of Zhu Yuanzhang and Confucius.

One of them was dressed in the Ming Dynasty imperial robes, and the other was dressed in the Zhou Dynasty cloth robes with wide sleeves; both of them held tokens from the Hunyuan Palace in their hands.

The moment the high-resolution color print was displayed, the courtiers were stunned. Song Lian stepped forward and tentatively asked:

"Your Majesty, whose portrait is this...?"

He guessed the other person's identity, but thought it impossible, so he could only ask Zhu Yuanzhang for confirmation. Zhu Yuanzhang said triumphantly:

"When we last visited Hunyuan Palace, Confucius happened to be there as well. The immortal took a picture of us and printed it out with the new color printer... If you have any questions about Confucianism, I can pass them on to Confucius and ask him to answer them."

This caused an uproar among the court officials.

Regardless of whether they supported the Confucius family of Qufu or advocated for the reckoning of the Confucius family, they all knelt down and kowtowed to Confucius.

After everyone had finished paying their respects, Zhu Yuanzhang continued:

"The Immortal is currently using a color printer to print out ships of various styles. Once the blueprints are available, the Ministry of Works will begin shipbuilding, and the Ministry of War will establish a navy. Once the navy is fully operational, it will be sent out to conquer foreign tribes... I know that you advocate benevolence and righteousness, and that those who love war will perish. But what I want to say is that in a few years, the island nation of Japan will lead its army to set foot on the land of China and massacre the people of Yingtian Prefecture, killing a total of 300,000 people... From today onwards, whoever mentions benevolence and righteousness will be the mortal enemy of these 300,000 people!"

The people living in Yingtian Prefecture were all high-ranking officials and nobles of the Ming Dynasty. When they heard that 300,000 people had been massacred by the Japanese, the courtiers were more shocked than when they saw a picture of Confucius.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand again, and two eunuchs carried in a huge map, which marked the locations of the countries that Confucius had suggested conquering:
"The Immortal and Confucius have already pointed out the goals for our Great Ming. Now, it is up to us to find a way to achieve these ten goals. For each country we conquer, the officials who participated in the conquest will have the opportunity to build a statue on the foreign land for future generations to admire, and may even receive a personal letter of encouragement from Confucius. If there are any stubborn and unyielding individuals who try to stop us, I will also follow Confucius's instructions and unleash my thunderous fury."

Now, the ministers fell silent. The map clearly showed that the territory was vast and the world was very large. Relatively speaking, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was not particularly prominent, and was even a little small.

A photograph and a map were enough to rouse the court officials to their senses, prompting them to offer advice and strategies for conquering the ten kingdoms, striving to complete the task assigned by Confucius as soon as possible and obtain his personal letter.

It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang cleverly used Confucius to create a pretext, not only diverting the court's attention but also unifying thought.

As for the construction of the Yiyuan Immortal Mansion, before Emperor Zhu could elaborate, the court officials enthusiastically donated 100,000 taels of silver. Several dukes even used their power to pressure others, lest the officials donate more than they did.

They discussed the construction of the Yiyuan Immortal Mansion with great enthusiasm, and no one mentioned the Confucius family in Qufu anymore... When no one pays attention, all the privileges and preferential treatment naturally cease to exist.

Inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi sat in front of the printer, carefully organizing the printed ship structure diagrams and construction plans. He had bought a lot of paper and printed thirty copies of each type of ship so that people in different worlds could learn from them.

As for how each world is constructed, Zhou Yi doesn't concern himself with that; aside from the Ming Dynasty treasure ship serving as the flagship, other ships can be freely combined.

During the Ming Dynasty, due to over-logging, it was impossible to find particularly tall trees in the southern coastal areas, so the Ming Dynasty's treasure ships all used riveted masts.

However, the Book of Changes can provide a place with great trees, namely Taiwan. During the Dutch colonization, there were still many ancient trees on the island, which were excellent for shipbuilding.

After driving out the Dutch, Zheng Chenggong even used Taiwan as his rear base for retreat.

We can now land on the island ahead of time, cut down trees, build ships, construct a deep-water port, and prepare to harvest the world in the future.

At the laminating machine, Xi Shi laminated the blueprints one by one, so that the blueprints could be preserved for a longer time and that the burning of the blueprints for the Ming Dynasty treasure ship would not happen again.

Wu Zetian entered carrying a pot of tea made with small green tangerines, and filled the teacups for Zhou Yi and Xi Shi:
"Master, when we go to the city tomorrow, could we stop by the wholesale market to buy some potatoes and sweet potatoes? Everyone online says that winter is coming and we should prepare for winter storage. Shouldn't we also store some vegetables?"

Zhou Yi felt it was unnecessary, but he could buy some to give to Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Che.

It's just May in the Martial Emperor World and the Hongwu World has just finished celebrating the New Year. Both are times when land reclamation and planting are needed. Planting some potatoes and sweet potatoes will help increase production.

Zhou Yi glanced at the calendar and said to Wu Meiniang:

"I'm not busy these days. Remember to go to town and buy Li Mingda a few sets of winter clothes so she doesn't catch a cold as soon as she arrives... She's at the age where she's growing, and you're making her suffer. That's not good."

Wu Zetian smiled gently:
"If I don't make her suffer, how can she feel the Immortal Master's love?"

The Book of Changes: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

So this wave is in the atmosphere, huh?

Xi Shi also laughed:

"The immortal was slow to realize the truth. If he hadn't met my sister, he would have been deceived countless times."

Zhou Yi opened his mouth, realizing that what he said was indeed true:
"Who told me to be a college student with such clear eyes... As the saying goes, even after half a lifetime away, one can still be a boy at heart. The innocence of youth cannot be concealed."

While Zhou was touting the innocence of college students with two beautiful women, in the world of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu wore bright silver armor and a plain white robe, rode a white Akhal-Teke horse, and carried a bright silver spear... On his first battlefield, he did not use the horse spear given to him by Li Shimin, but rather the bright silver spear that Zhou Yi ordered for him online.

Emperor Huizong was stunned by this look:
"Brother, you look exactly like Zhao Zilong reincarnated, but swords and spears have no eyes, so let's not take the risk, shall we?"

Zhao Xu laughed heartily:
"Since you've compared me to General Zilong, then I naturally have to emulate him and fight my way in and out seven times!"

After traveling such a long way, we finally encountered the Western Xia army. If we didn't kill them to our hearts' content, we would be wasting the five steamed buns we ate at each meal.

With this in mind, Zhao Xu spurred his horse and led the imperial guards, all mounted on white horses, in a surprise attack on the Western Xia army opposite them...

(End of this chapter)