Jambudvīpa, Tang Dynasty, Hanyuan Hall of Daming Palace.
After the ceremony, all civil and military officials reported on their affairs in turn, and then Li Hong discussed the matter with the other ministers.
After the discussion of the current affairs was over, Li Hong turned to Prime Minister Yu Jiang and asked, "My dear minister, do you know the Supreme Realm Hongqing's Fang Jian?"
"Master Hongqing Fang Jian?" Yu Jiang was a little surprised when he heard this and bowed respectfully, "Why is Your Majesty asking about this person?"
Li Hong said expressionlessly, "Last night, a deity from the upper realm, who claimed to be Fang Jian, the Heavenly Court Justice God and whose Taoist name was Hong Qing, appeared to me in a dream."
"Huh?" Yu Jiang was very surprised and said, "Master Hongqing is indeed an immortal official from the upper realm, but he is in charge of the laws of heaven. Why would he appear to Your Majesty in a dream?"
In fact, after Fang Jian was blocked by Zhang Liang last night, he did not show his divine form at all, but appeared directly in front of Li Hong in his true form.
However, Li Hong at that time could no longer distinguish whether it was reality or a dream, so he just thought that it was the appearance of the Holy Master Hongqing in his dream.
Yu Jiang has been honored by the Heavenly Court, just like Wei Zheng in the past. Emperor Li Hong and important officials in the court must know about this.
So if you want to ask about the upper realm, you naturally have to ask Yu Jiang.
Li Hongdao said, "Master Hongqing appeared in my dream and asked me to destroy Buddhism and exclude Shu County from it, saying that he owed a favor to Samantabhadra Bodhisattva of Mount Emei."
"So you're here to repay a favor." Yu Jiang smiled faintly.
Li Hong looked at Yu Jiang and asked, "What do you think, my dear?"
Yu Jiang's expression straightened upon hearing this, and he then said, "Your Majesty, since this is the request of Master Hongqing, Your Majesty may as well agree to it."
"Oh?" Li Hong asked, "Is there something special about this Master Hongqing?"
Yu Jiang stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, please listen to me and I will tell you slowly."
So Yu Jiang briefly recounted the series of major events that took place from the time Fang Jian took office as the God of Duanjie Mountain to the death of the Chaohu Dragon King and his family.
However, he could only give a brief account. After all, his immortal official position was still only Yaoxun, and he could only know the general idea of some events in the Heavenly Palace, but not the details.
But despite this, Fang Jian pacified Xihua, suppressed Baotanhua Bodhisattva, drove Buddhism out of Dongsheng Shenzhou, assisted the Heavenly Court in clearing out the external demons, weakened the Taoist forces in Dongsheng Shenzhou, and especially exterminated the Chaohu Dragon King and his family, which shocked Li Hong.
"This Master Hongqing is such a legend." Li Hong was amazed after hearing this and said with emotion: "I am really ignorant."
Yu Jiang smiled faintly. It’s not that I’m ignorant. You are the Emperor of Man. It’s normal that you don’t know about the affairs of Heaven.
At the same time, Li Hong thought of Yu Jiang's description of Fang Jian executing the Chaohu Dragon King and his family...
No wonder his eyes are so scary. It’s creepy just thinking about being secretly watched by such a statue.
"In that case, let's do Master Hongqing a favor." Li Hong said with a smile.
Li Hong then said to Yu Jiang, "My dear minister, please draft an imperial decree to Shu County, ordering the governor to suspend the destruction of Buddhism. This destruction of Buddhism will not include Shu County. However, you must not allow Buddhist disciples from other places to enter Shu County. Anyone who disobeys this order will be executed!"
"As you wish!" Yu Jiang bowed.
"Wait a minute." Just as Yu Jiang received the order, Li Hong said, "The edict should clearly state that the Immortal Hongqing has shown his grace and that I, in gratitude for the Immortal Hongqing's merits in protecting the people, have followed the Immortal Hongqing's order to exclude Shu County from the destruction of Buddhism.
However, all Buddhist temples in Shu County must surrender their temple property and land, and are prohibited from admitting any more people within ten years."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Yu Jiang bowed and accepted the order.
Soon after, the imperial edict was drafted. After Li Hong affixed the imperial seal on it, he immediately sent it to Shu County at an express speed of three thousand miles.
When this edict was delivered to Shu County, the entire Shu County was shocked.
Shu County has always had a large number of Buddhist believers. After the decree to destroy Buddhism was issued, many people in Shu County went to the government to plead, hoping that the government would show leniency.
The governor of Shu County was also troubled by this, but the imperial edict had to be obeyed, so the progress of destroying Buddhism in Shu County was now halfway through.
When the imperial edict arrived, the governor of Shu finally breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ordered an end to the destruction of Buddhism. The monks who had been driven out were also sent back.
...
Mount Emei, Sheshen Cliff and Sheshen Temple.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, who was sitting on the lotus platform, opened his eyes, and his originally compassionate face was immediately filled with smiles.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva turned around and said to his senior disciple Jingna, "How do you do with the favor of the three wonderful golden lotus seeds?"
As a Taiyi Xuanxian, Jingna knew about this matter as soon as the imperial edict was delivered to Shu County.
At this moment, Jingna looked at Samantabhadra Bodhisattva with reverence, then put his hands together and chanted "Amitabha Buddha", and then said: "Master, your calculations are wonderful."
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm so clever, but rather that this Hongqing Zhenren has enough respect to convince the Human Emperor to do him a favor."
Jingna said, "In this way, my Shu County Buddhism will be the only preserved heritage in the Tang Dynasty."
"That's right," said Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, "As long as the Buddhist sect of Shu Commandery exists, it will be much easier for our Dharma to return eastward and re-enter the Tang Empire in the future."
As soon as Samantabhadra Bodhisattva finished speaking, a beam of Buddha light suddenly fell outside the main hall of Sheshen Temple.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva immediately raised his hand and looked outside the hall, and then saw a monk wearing a black cassock and with the level of Golden Immortal Taoism walking into the hall.
When Jingna saw this person, he immediately stepped forward, clasped his hands together, and bowed, saying, "Venerable Rahula."
The visitor was none other than Rahula, one of the ten great disciples of Sakyamuni and the 'best in secret practices'.
Rahula returned the greeting by chanting the Buddha's name to Jingna, then came before Samantabhadra Bodhisattva and bowed, saying, "Rahula greets Samantabhadra Bodhisattva."
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