Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 179 The Tense Second Year of the Chuigong Era

The appearance of this stone immediately caused a sensation throughout the government and the public.

"The emergence of the Yellow River Map and the Luo River Book" are signs of the appearance of a sage.

In particular, the eight large vermilion characters above, "The Holy Mother descends upon the people, and the imperial enterprise will be forever prosperous," prompted ministers to submit memorials of congratulations, saying that such an auspicious omen from heaven was because the Empress Dowager's "imperial enterprise surpasses that of mending the heavens, and her maternal virtue is as great as that of the earth."

This seemingly serious scene made Li Xian a little uneasy.

"What a load of rubbish about auspicious omens!"

Liu Jianjun scoffed and said, "Look at that, what was the name of the person who presented the auspicious omen? Tang Tongtai, right? Isn't that an auspicious name? Plus, where is this person from? Yong'an County, that place name goes together with 'Yongchang Imperial Cause' written on that stone!"

"A person born in an auspicious place and discovering an auspicious object is just like Qiaoqiao opening the door for her mother, and her mother has arrived home!"

"What are the chances of such a coincidence in this world?"

It must be said that Liu Jianjun's words reassured Li Xian a lot, but he still had doubts: "Then... what about the words on the stone?"

Liu Jianjun slapped his thigh: "You just wait!"

Then, the next day he brought over a stone, which was just an ordinary white stone, but it also had eight large characters in vermilion on it: "The handsome Liu family builds an army".

This time, Li Xian was completely at ease.

But then, I couldn't help but chuckle.

Liu Jianjun is really something...

But no matter what, news from Luoyang continued to pour in.

The official name for the stone was "Treasure Map," which was later changed to "Heaven-Sent Treasure Map."

Following this, court officials said that the auspicious stone falling from the sky meant that Empress Wu had combined the roles of emperor and holy mother into one. Thus, Empress Wu officially gave herself the title "Holy Mother Divine Empress" and proclaimed it to the world.

This time, even Li Xian felt a bit ironic.

While the emperor was still on the throne, the empress dowager actually called herself "Divine Emperor," which was an unprecedented and bizarre event.

At the same time, news also arrived of a series of actions taken by Empress Wu.

The previous Feng Xiaobao, or rather Xue Huaiyi, was commissioned by Empress Wu to build the Mingtang.

This so-called Mingtang is a sacred building in Confucian classics. Legend has it that the earliest Mingtang was built by the Yellow Emperor himself. It could reach the heavens above and the people below.

According to the "Zhou Li·Kao Gong Ji", the emperor receives his mandate from heaven and governs the people on behalf of heaven. Therefore, all grand ceremonies such as court assemblies, sacrifices, celebrations, and the selection of officials should be held in the Mingtang (Hall of Brightness) in order to facilitate communication between heaven and man.

Therefore, people throughout history have associated the Mingtang with the emperor's status, which led to the saying "the emperor sits in the Mingtang".

This is the Mingtang that Xue Huaiyi built.

Empress Wu's intentions were already obvious.

"Who knows how long this thing will take to build? Since the end of the Han Dynasty, no emperor has ever actually stayed in the Mingtang. The architectural style of the Mingtang has been lost. Who in later generations knows how to build the Mingtang?"

Liu Jianjun took it in stride, saying, "I reckon she'll go all out with the most extravagant and luxurious things she can do, which will just be a waste of money and resources!"
"Your mother is about to start building momentum. The three schools of thought that are currently prevalent in our Great Tang are Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. She can't do anything about the fact that your Li family has revered Taoism as their ancestor. Now, the construction of the Mingtang is, to put it bluntly, just to fight for a legal basis."

"We've got Confucianism sorted out; the rest will probably be Buddhism."

Sure enough, just as Liu Jianjun had said, after the major renovation of the Mingtang, Empress Wu began to make use of Buddhism.

She organized a Buddhist seminar in Luoyang to discuss whether there was any passage in Buddhist scriptures that recorded that women could govern.

Then, through the tireless efforts of Xue Huaiyi and the monk Faming of Dongwei Temple, they finally found a classic, a Buddhist scripture called the "Great Cloud Sutra", also known as the "Great Cloud Sutra of Great Perfection of Thought".

The Great Cloud Sutra tells the story of a celestial maiden: "The Buddha told the celestial maiden Pure Light that the celestial maiden would transform into a sage, and would take a female form to rule the kingdom."

This means that, according to legend, this celestial maiden was a king's wife in her previous life, then she was reborn as a Bodhisattva, who was then reborn as a woman who ruled a country, and finally this woman transformed into a Buddha.

However, the content of this scripture was too obscure, so Empress Wu sent Xue Huaiyi to organize a group of monks to write annotations for the Great Cloud Sutra, making it easy to understand so that ordinary people could read it.

The commentary was soon completed and was called "Dayun Jing Shu".

What makes this book remarkable is that it combines the popular folk worship of Maitreya with scriptures that promote female rule. According to Buddhist teachings, "Maitreya" means "compassion" and universal salvation of all beings, and is the "future Buddha" who will succeed Shakyamuni Buddha in the future.

Maitreya has been widely worshipped and is very popular among the people since the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Therefore, the Great Cloud Sutra Commentary now combines the stories of Maitreya Buddha and the Pure Light Goddess, saying that the Empress Dowager is Maitreya incarnate and will surely replace the Tang emperor to become the ruler of the world. Maitreya Buddha will incarnate as the Empress Dowager to become the emperor and eventually become a Buddha.

Such is the Buddha's will; it must not be disobeyed.

Empress Wu was very satisfied with the publication of the Commentary on the Great Cloud Sutra. She immediately promulgated it throughout the country and ordered that a Great Cloud Temple be built in each prefecture, with each temple housing a copy of the Great Cloud Sutra, which would be explained by eminent monks.

In a short time, the Great Cloud Sutra and its commentary spread throughout the country, from the Bohai Sea in the east to the quicksand in the west, from the Five Ridges in the south to the Gobi Desert in the north.

Thanks to the hype from Buddhists, the public opinion surrounding the female lead's rightful place in the female lead's position has reached a new high.

……

Li Xian had never felt that he was living under such a huge wave.

This was the first time I had ever felt the terrifying power of Empress Wu, who could turn the world upside down with a flick of her wrist.

In just six months, even the city of Chang'an was filled with the decadent Buddhist chants of the Great Cloud Sutra. This sound was everywhere, making him feel inexplicably irritable and suffocated, as if the whole world had suddenly become a different place for him.

Inside the Prince of Pei's residence, Li Xian found himself increasingly drawn to Liu Jianjun's small courtyard.

He was far from the main street of the Prince's Mansion, so he couldn't hear the sounds of bells, drums, and chanting.

“The birth of Maitreya, the Holy Mother Divine Emperor…” Li Xian murmured to himself, his expression bitter: “Is this world still the world of the Li Tang dynasty?”

Liu Jianjun, on the other hand, remained calm: "To be honest, there's no use in getting anxious now."

He somehow got hold of some melon seeds, roasted them with salt until dry, and cracked them in his mouth, saying in a nonchalant tone: "Your mother's combination of moves has made her understand Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Now everyone in the world is talking about how she is the reincarnation of Maitreya and should be the ruler of the world."

“Xianzi, you must understand that everything she is doing now is like building a huge, magnificent stage, with gongs and drums beating loudly, the actors performing their best, and the audience cheering.”

"But no matter how high the stage is built or how loud the opera is sung, it is still just a play. What matters is what the audience thinks."

Li Xian looked at Liu Jianjun: "What do you mean?"

Liu Jianjun spat out the sunflower seed shells in his mouth, patted the salt on his hands, and said nonchalantly, "What she's doing now is just creating public opinion. In the end, it's because she's guilty. After all, for her, becoming emperor as a woman is something that has never happened before in history."

"If she really had the confidence to be ordained by Heaven, would she need to engage in these mystical things? With the Luoshui stone tablet and the Great Cloud Sutra, the bigger the show, the more it shows that she is not confident."

"The more high-profile she becomes, and the more eager she is to use this supernatural power to prove her legitimacy, the more she will arouse the resentment and vigilance of truly discerning people."

Liu Jianjun tossed aside the bowl of melon seeds in his hand, his gaze fixed intently on Li Xian.

"Especially you members of the Li Tang imperial family and those old ministers who are loyal to Li Tang, you may not dare to speak out now because of the situation, but the seeds of discontent have already been sown. She has now caused public outrage and resentment... well, maybe it hasn't reached that level yet, but at least the signs of 'public resentment' have already appeared."

"So, at this stage, we don't need to do anything; we can just sit back and watch her rise to prominence."

Liu Jianjun shrugged and concluded, "And you have to see it clearly and remember it."

“She is now extremely powerful. To confront her head-on would be suicidal. What we need to do is accumulate strength and wait for the right opportunity.”

"Waiting for the right opportunity?" Li Xian smiled bitterly. "Waiting until when? Until she really sits on that throne and reigns supreme?" "It's hard to say."

Liu Jianjun lowered his voice, "Xianzi, think about it, how old is she this year? Over sixty, right? This kind of torment, this mental and physical exhaustion, even an iron body can't withstand it, while we are still young, and time, in a sense, is on our side."

"The older she gets, the more likely she is to become senile. If she's an old tiger, are we afraid to stroke her whiskers? As long as she makes a mistake, we can seize the opportunity to strike her deadly."

"Right now you should be worried about something else: your mother's big move may be on the horizon."

"A big move?" Li Xian asked, puzzled.

"All the trouble your mother caused before was for the sake of legality, but this empire ultimately belongs to your Li family. Your Li Tang imperial family is the last obstacle before she officially ascends the throne."

Liu Jianjun paused, walked to his awning, picked a cucumber, didn't wash it, took a bite, and sighed, "Swallows fly in, pecking at the imperial grandson!"

……

really.

As soon as the cotton in Chang'an City began to sprout in the new year, Empress Wu took advantage of the "Heaven-sent Treasure Map" to make a fuss. She issued an edict saying that she would personally go to the Luo River in December to hold a ceremony to receive the map, and then offer sacrifices to Heaven to thank it for bestowing the treasure map upon her.

It was specifically requested that the governors and prefects of each prefecture, as well as members of the Li Tang imperial family and their relatives, gather in Luoyang before the ceremony.

This is clearly a trap.

Li Xian was in a state of utter confusion.

Empress Wu's intentions were as clear as day. At this point, summoning the Li Tang imperial family to Luoyang would inevitably lead to an unpredictable outcome.

"What else can we do? Go ahead. Your mother is at the height of her power right now. Openly disobeying orders is like throwing an egg against a rock." Liu Jianjun remained unconcerned.

“But… going to Luoyang at this time would be like a lamb entering a tiger’s den, with the odds of survival being against us… perhaps we should feign illness and not go?” Li Xian thought Liu Jianjun was too bold.

"Pshaw! Your mother gave the order three months in advance, and yet your illness just happened to flare up in December? Isn't this blatantly telling the world that you, Prince Pei Li Xian, don't acknowledge her as the Holy Mother Empress?"

"What do you call this? This is like her just looking for an excuse to make an example of someone, and you just offered your neck up. It's incredibly touching."

Liu Jianjun chuckled and patted Li Xian on the shoulder, saying, "Alright, don't worry, I'll go with you."

Li Xian was immediately relieved.

……

Empress Wu summoned all officials to Luoyang in December, and it's only September now. Liu Jianjun isn't in a hurry. He goes back and forth to Su Liangsi every day to arrange the new season's cotton harvest and the sale of cotton cloth.

He said that as cotton cloth was gradually sold, especially after Di Renjie "invested," cotton cloth from Chang'an began to be sold to Jiangnan. Luoyang would get the news sooner or later, so he needed to discuss the "origin" of the cotton with Su Liangsi.

He instructed Su Liangsi to claim that the method of spinning cotton into cotton cloth was taught orally by a knowledgeable old man in the Western Regions and successfully developed by a skillful craftsman under Su Liangsi's command.

The Dayi Valley Ecological Park will remain a secret for the time being, and the government has funded the construction of several empty sheds to disguise it as an official cotton textile workshop in order to explain the origin of the cotton cloth.

The empty shed contains some "old-fashioned" spinning wheels, which are fine for dealing with possible surprise inspections, but they can't withstand close scrutiny.

Liu Jianjun said that at this juncture, no one would delve into this matter. Compared to the whole world, Yongzhou was too small, Chang'an was too small, not to mention a workshop located in Dayi Valley at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain.

In addition, Liu Jianjun expanded the cotton ecological park by several hundred acres.

However, this time it was not an expansion; they simply had someone fence off the area downstream of the dam, saying it was a livestock area to raise chickens and ducks and to improve the meals for the workers at the cotton ecological park.

Since no construction was required, and it was simply a matter of enclosing hundreds of acres of wasteland, Su Liangsi easily obtained the approval for him.

These were all minor matters, so Li Xian let him do as he pleased.

In addition to these existing basic tasks, Liu Jianjun also began to study the process of pressing cottonseed oil.

But he seemed to know nothing about oil pressing. He spent half a month groping around in his small courtyard, but still made no progress.

Finally, Li Xian couldn't help but ask, "Is it really that difficult to extract oil from this thing? I've seen you handle all those strange and unusual gadgets quite well."

Liu Jianjun was frowning at a pile of cottonseeds and simple wooden tools when he heard this. He looked up, his face smeared with black ash, and said irritably, "It's easy for you to talk when you're not in the situation. I know cottonseeds can be pressed for oil. The principle is roughly to use pressure to squeeze out the oil. But the specific process, how to roast the seeds, what temperature to use, what tools to use for pressure, and what pressure is appropriate..."

"Forget it, this can't be rushed. Oil pressing is a technical job that requires specialized equipment and skilled craftsmen. It's a waste of my time to just sit here and figure it out."

Li Xian thought for a moment, still looking puzzled, and asked, "Then why don't you find a professional craftsman to try it?"

Liu Jianjun was stunned, as if he hadn't reacted yet.

Li Xian frowned and said, "Since you're sure this stuff can be pressed for oil, but you don't know how to do it, what's the difference between you doing it and someone else doing it?"

"Since there's no difference, why don't you just send this stuff to a craftsman who specializes in pressing oil and let them do it?"

"Don't worry about how others exploit you, just let them do it. If they succeed, they'll be rewarded; if they don't, they won't blame you. It's better than trying to figure it out on your own, right?"

Then, Li Xian saw Liu Jianjun suddenly slap his forehead: "Damn! You're right! It's better to find a few oil-pressing craftsmen than for a novice like me to do it!"

Li Xian couldn't help but laugh.

Only at this moment did Li Xian realize that Liu Jianjun was still a simple and honest young man.

Liu Jianjun was quick to take things in stride and instructed Aisha to handle the matter.

Since Aisha joined her grandfather in the disaster relief efforts in Qingshan, she has been increasingly valued by Liu Jianjun.

In Liu Jianjun's words, "I could tell when her grandfather said she wanted to do her part. On the one hand, this young girl really wanted to do something practical. On the other hand, her grandfather felt that she would grow old and lose her beauty one day, and he was worried that if I abandoned her then, she would have gained nothing."

"So, I will try to let her do some things that she is capable of doing. Firstly, it is to appease Old Master Bai, and secondly, we are indeed short of people, and I can feel more at ease using my own woman."

Li Xian asked curiously, "When Aisha grows old and loses her beauty, will you really throw her away?"

Liu Jianjun acted arrogantly at the time: "Of course, who am I, Liu Jianjun? I can pass through a sea of ​​flowers without a single petal sticking to me."

But Li Xian thought he was just bragging again.

After handing over the task of pressing cottonseed oil, Liu Jianjun quickly shifted his attention away from oil pressing and began arranging matters after his departure for Luoyang.

"My dear son, as we head to Luoyang, we need to make some arrangements for the affairs of the Prince's residence. We need to leave a few reliable people to guard the place and prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation. I have a list here that you can refer to."

In the days that followed, on Liu Jianjun's advice, Li Xian began to quietly arrange the affairs of the Prince's Palace.

He promoted several officials who were calm, experienced, and whose families were all in Chang'an to be in charge of daily management.

More stringent records were kept for the safekeeping of important items such as storeroom valuables and deeds to estates. At the same time, several absolutely trustworthy elders were secretly instructed to keep an eye on the movements inside and outside the mansion, and if anything unusual happened, they could send someone to secretly transmit a message to Luoyang.

All of this was done discreetly, with Li Xian striving to maintain the usual tranquility of the Prince of Pei's residence.

At Liu Jianjun's suggestion, he would occasionally attend some trivial poetry gatherings and banquets, but in public, he always showed a polite and respectful attitude towards the various "auspicious omens" and "grand events" coming from Luoyang, and never showed any unusual behavior.

The atmosphere in Chang'an became increasingly subtle as winter approached and the deadline for going to Luoyang drew near.

Some perceptive individuals have already sensed the underlying tension. Travel between the royal palaces and the residences of certain high-ranking officials seems to have become more frequent, but also more discreet.

In early November, Li Xian's two uncles came to visit again.

……

(End of this chapter)