In the end, Chen Jingke canceled all subsequent punishment plans against Wang Xiuqi. It was not that he had softened his heart or that he had other concerns, but that it was no longer necessary.
Six days after the incident, Yang Tianlu brought him a message: "Wang Xiuqi is dead."
Chen Jingke's face suddenly turned cold and he said, "Give me an explanation."
Yang Tianlu hurriedly explained: "Last night...well, his valley road broke after that."
"It's just that no one found him at night. When he was found in the morning, he had a severe intra-abdominal infection and was already dying."
"We gave him a lot of allicin but it had no effect, and he died in the morning."
Chen Jingke stared at him expressionlessly.
Yang Tianlu had no choice but to say: "The body is parked over there. You can take a look."
Chen Jingke then said, "No, I believe you. Just dispose of his body. There is no need to keep the five villains alive."
Yang Tianlu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Okay, I'll have someone deal with it right away... What about the other insiders?"
Chen Jingke said calmly: "I had no intention of concealing this matter, so there is no need to silence me."
Yang Tianlu breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew that Chen Jingke would not do this, he could only feel at ease after hearing from An.
"Okay, I'll have them dealt with right now."
When he left, Chen Jingke's face suddenly turned sad.
It's not because of the emptiness after revenge or anything, but because he didn't expect Wang Xiuqi to die in this way, which really gave him an advantage.
As I said, plans can't keep up with changes.
But considering that he was a man, this way of death was humiliating and tragic enough.
It is not known whether this incident will be recorded in official history, but it is likely that relevant records will appear in unofficial history.
I don’t know what future generations will think when they see that King Taiyuan’s repair of the Qigu Road broke down and died.
Anyway, Chen Jingke felt relieved.
Anyway, this matter has come to an end.
The trial regarding the Taiyuan Wang family is still going on, to be precise, the arrest operation is still going on.
There are also many descendants of the main lineage of the Wang family who are studying abroad, and those who have escaped while traveling need to be arrested one by one.
Because of Wang Xiuqi, although his lineage was a branch lineage, it also enjoyed the same treatment as the main lineage and was wiped out in one fell swoop.
Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment and the Yushitai are jointly interrogating them to find out the Wang family's crimes.
In fact, everyone knows that Wang's removal is inevitable.
The reason why we still need to investigate is just to make this operation appear more legitimate.
As for whether incriminating evidence can be found, that's something you don't have to worry about at all.
Every wealthy family is full of shit, it's just that no one cares about it.
I really want to touch them, the crime is too easy to prove.
Just when everyone in the world was paying attention to the Taiyuan Wang family's assassination of Prince Edward, Confucianism suddenly made a big move.
Several great Confucian scholars praised Laozi in public for his feat of preaching to the West and converting Hu into a Buddha, believing that he had set an example for educating the common people.
Not long after, another great Confucian publicly expressed his admiration for Laozi's translation of the Hu Jing, calling it the Fourth Taoist Sutra.
The core three classics of Taoism are: Daode Zhenjing (Laozi), Chongxu Zhenjing (Liezhu), and Nanhua Zhenjing (Zhuangzi).
Up to now, these three classics are not only Taoist classics, but also one of the core classics of Chinese civilization. This shows their high status.
Confucianism elevates "Laozi Hua Hu Jing" to the same level as the Three True Sutras, and its purpose is self-evident.
Anyone who is not stupid knows that Confucianism and Taoism have joined forces.
After hearing the news, the Buddhist leaders who were meeting at Longtian Temple were all dumbfounded.
Faline, who sat at the top and worked hard to reconcile the conflicts between the leaders of various families, looked several years older.
Looking at the people who were looking at each other, he smiled bitterly and said: "That's good, we don't have to argue about this anymore, Amitabha."
After saying that, he got up and walked out.
Daoxin, who had not said a word from beginning to end, finally spoke: "Amitabha, there are still important things in Shuangfeng Mountain that I need to go back to deal with, so I'll say goodbye."
After saying that, he got up and left with his disciple Hongren, leaving only the stunned Zhiwei, Zhiyan, Huiyuan and others.
After leaving Longtian Temple, Hong Ren asked: "Master, do we really want to go back?"
Dao Xin asked in reply: "Why don't you go back and stay here? I didn't want to come when I came. Various sects have been arguing over doctrines for hundreds of years. The estrangement between them is no less than the conflict with Taoism. It's useless to try to form an alliance in a hurry.
difficulty."
"The Taoists have been preparing for an offensive for several years, but they will not give us time to prepare. We have already lost this battle before it even started."
"The reason why I came here is just to make a last-ditch effort because we are of the same Buddhist lineage. Since we still can't agree, there's no need to talk anymore. It's better to go back."
Hongren said: "What will we do in the future? Do we really want to see the Taoist plan succeed?"
Daoxin suddenly stopped and asked, "What is Buddha?"
Hongren didn't know why he asked this question, but he still replied: "Buddha is..."
Daoxin interrupted him and said: "Buddha is a fart."
Hongren was dumbfounded and couldn't believe that Master would insult the Buddha with such vulgar words.
The disciples who came with them were also dumbfounded. Is the host mad?
After cursing, Daoxin seemed to have taken off some shackles, his whole person became different, and he laughed and said:
"Actually, I've wanted to say this for a long time. Buddha is a piece of shit."
"You are a Buddha, I am a Buddha, and he is a Buddha. Every plant and tree is a Buddha."
"So I said Buddha is a piece of shit, am I wrong?"
Hongren showed a thoughtful expression, and after a while he suddenly realized it. He clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, thank you Master for your guidance, the Buddha is indeed a piece of shit."
Daoxin said happily: "Haha, okay, you will be the master of Zen after I die. Let's go back to the mountain."
When Fa Lin learned about Daoxin's departure, she was completely disheartened and immediately announced her retreat.
This also means that this Buddhist conference has completely failed.
Unwilling to be reconciled, the leaders of other sects found another place to hold meetings and negotiate, but no one could convince anyone, no one was willing to give in, and no one wanted to sacrifice themselves to help others.
Every meeting ended up turning into a battle of wits, and everyone broke up unhappy in the end.
Gradually, more and more people realized that it was impossible to reach an agreement and withdrew from the conference.
Seeing this, the remaining people had to admit defeat, and in the end, a seemingly massive Buddhist leaders' conference ended hastily.
However, the Buddhist leaders did not expect that the consequences of the failure of this conference would be more serious than they imagined.
There are many people paying attention to this Buddhist conference, and everyone is waiting for them to come up with a specific counterattack plan to give Buddhism a head-on blow.
Some of these people are watching the excitement, some are dissatisfied with the royal family, some do not like Taoism, some do not like Chen Jingke or Sun Simiao, and there are also followers of Buddhism...
In short, everyone who is well-informed is paying attention to this matter.
When the news came out that Fa Lin was in retreat and Daoxin had returned to the mountain, Xiao Yu was so angry that he cursed: "A bunch of bald donkeys are still fighting among themselves when they are about to die."
Gao Shilian, Changsun Wuji, Yu Zhining and other distinguished officials from the Guanlong clan all shook their heads, and then completely gave up the idea of supporting Buddhism.
Almost all Guanlong people believe in Buddhism under the influence of their ancestors, even Li Shimin and Changsun Wugou himself are no exception.
Because of the appearance of Chen Jingke and Sun Simiao and the establishment of Zixiao Temple, some people's beliefs were shaken.
But most people still believe in Buddhism from the bottom of their hearts. In this dispute between Taoism and Buddhism, they prefer Buddhism, and they often complain in private that Taoism is aggressive.
It was just that Zixiaoguan was at its peak, and the emperor also expressed his attitude. They did not want to offend the talents and did not express it publicly.
In actual actions, they still held back on everything and gave opportunities for Buddhist activities.
Otherwise, given the intensity of control over religion in the Tang Dynasty, it would have been impossible for so many Buddhist leaders to gather in Chang'an.
But as a result, these monks didn't pay attention to this opportunity at all and actually started fighting among themselves. This was really disappointing.
The performance of religious leaders has a huge impact on believers.
At this moment, many people have decided to completely distance themselves from Buddhism. Such a religion is not worthy of their belief.
When the Buddhist conference failed, the leaders of various schools wanted to take this opportunity to visit the powerful people in Beijing and increase their presence, but they were rejected one after another.
Even if some people received them out of face, they would just talk about it and never talk about serious matters.
At this point, even the most obtuse person realizes something is wrong.
However, it was too late to regret.
Daoxuan, Huiyuan, Zhiwei and others sighed, stopped doing unnecessary things, and returned to the temple with their disciples, preparing to face the next round of attacks.
There are also some leaders of small sects who are not willing to give in and visit and lobby everywhere, trying to obtain the protection of dignitaries.
They even made various promises, such as: when your feudal kingdom is completed, we will do our best to help you build it, etc.
However, the nobles who were interested in this kind of promise before were unmoved this time.
The reason is very simple. Are there complete eggs under the overturned nest?
Under the offensive of Taoism, the big Buddhist sects can still survive by relying on their deep family background, but small sects like theirs will most likely not be able to escape the attack.
If you can't even pass the current hurdle, your future promises will be just a piece of waste paper.
The abandonment of the nobles also completely caused Buddhism to lose the chance to make a comeback.
Taoism has also been paying attention to the Buddhist conference, even more than anyone else, so they knew about the failure of their alliance at the first time.
Tian Shiwen danced excitedly: "What kind of good students can the foreign pagan religions teach? Failure is inevitable. Only our Chinese religion is the strongest."
Chen Jingke felt funny in his heart. Fortunately, Tian Shiwen was a Taoist believer. If he believed in Yinjiao and Christianity, he would definitely be the best candidate for the Archbishop of the Inquisition.
After everyone laughed for a while, Li Chunfeng said: "There is news from the Confucian side that they have done what they should do and asked us when we will fulfill our promise."
Chen Jingke said with a smile: "The framework of the academic and political system has been established. All that is left is to slowly improve it. This is a matter of time and effort."
"The top priority is the imperial examination system, which is related to the country's selection of scholars. It must be completed as soon as possible."
"The Saint is very dissatisfied with the current speed of construction and has already considered changing the leadership. The new Minister of Rites will most likely be Bachelor Kong."
This matter is still confidential for the time being, and Li Chunfeng is not qualified to know, so this is the first time he has heard of it.
Then he suddenly realized: "I see... That's right. Bachelor Kong has single-handedly presided over the academic and political system. He has made outstanding achievements and should have been promoted."
"He also participated in the construction of the imperial examination system. To this day, the imperial examination and academic administration are still one and the same in many places."
"It is most appropriate for him to be the Minister of Rites and continue to preside over the construction of the imperial examination system."
Having said this, he laughed and said: "So even without our support, he has a high probability of becoming the Minister of Rites."
"Zhenren is very calculating. I wonder what Bachelor Kong's expression will be when he finds out."
This is the advantage of having a good relationship with the royal family. You can know many things in advance that others don't know, and then make plans.
But when it comes to Kong Yingda becoming the Minister of Rites, Chen Jingke can only say: "Without us, he only has a half chance, but with us, he has a 90% chance."
"Moreover, I may not be able to make him become the Minister of Rites, but if I have the ability, he will definitely not be... That's enough."
Li Chunfeng was silent for a moment and then said: "What the real person said is true. I think it was because Xuesheng Kong understood this truth that he cooperated with us."
Chen Jingke smiled and said nothing more, but instead said: "Send the message to everyone, be prepared to launch the final offensive against Buddhism, and don't give the other party a chance to breathe."
"This time we must complete our efforts and turn Buddhism into a branch of Taoism."
Tian Shiwen waved his fist and said, "Okay, I'll send a message to everyone right away."
Chen Jingke warned again: "At the same time, I have to tell them that I don't want to see some disharmonious things happen. If anyone dares to step on the line, don't blame me for being rude."
Tian Shiwen said with murderous intent: "Don't worry, real man, I will keep an eye on them. Whoever dares to cheat on this matter, I, Lou Guan Dao, will be the first to not let them go."
Chen Jingke naturally believed in him. Even Laozi's Hu Jing was compiled by dozens of generations of Louguan Taoists. Who dares to doubt their hatred towards Buddhism?
After hundreds of years of struggle, they are about to achieve a staged victory. If anyone dares to hold back, they really dare to risk their lives.
It can be said that except for his small plot against Chen Jingke at the beginning, he has been on the front line of the battle with Buddhism since then.
Not only are they fighting against Buddhism, but they are also monitoring Taoism’s internal affairs to see who is not doing their best, and even colluding with Buddhism.
The various Taoist sects actually know this, and basically no one dares to go against it.
This is one of the reasons why Chen Jingke can remotely control the work of various factions while sitting at the gate of Zixiao Temple.
After talking about this matter, Chen Jingke added: "There is one more thing. This matter is still top secret for the time being. Please don't tell anyone."
Tian Shiwen and Li Chunfeng's expressions became serious and they said, "Don't worry, real person, we will never disclose any information to the outside world."
Chen Jingke then said: "The list of the first enfeoffment has been determined, and the decree will be issued soon."
"There are only five people in this group. They are used as examples to win the trust of the people in the world. I don't need to elaborate on their importance."
"Taoism must be well prepared and cooperate with the court and the princes and kings to build the feudal country as soon as possible."