At this time, on the grassland, each tribe has its own self-confident gods, and has its own totem that belongs to its own tribe. Shamanism is the overlord of the steppe right now!

Unfortunately, this shamanism has never been a unified religion. They are dependent on their tribe and seem to occupy the entire grassland, but in fact they are a rabble of scattered sand.

Under the offensive of the two armies of Buddhism and Taoism backed by the Great Song Dynasty and presented a cluster scale, almost in the blink of an eye, half of the right to speak of faith on the Monan grassland was taken away. However, shamanism has a deep foundation and a strong popular base, even if it is defeated from the beginning, it is easy for Buddhism to defeat shamanism in the "frontal battlefield", but it is difficult to wipe out the enemy's guerrilla army - if you want to completely eliminate it among the tribes, it is a war that will last for a long time!

In this case, the belief of the various tribes in Monan is a hodgepodge of Buddhism and Taoism, and they inadvertently have the same effect as the people of the Central Plains.

Most of the people in the Central Plains believe in Buddhism and Taoism, and a large part of them worship together with gods and Buddhas.

After all, if you are a human being, you will inevitably encounter three disasters, birth, old age, sickness and death, or have many selfish desires that cannot be satisfied and cannot be used by outsiders, and it is extremely difficult to achieve that wish with the ability of manpower.

In this way, worshipping God and seeking Buddha is naturally a choice.

As for worshipping the Buddha and Bodhisattva while worshipping the mountain god and the dragon lord of the land, it is normal for ordinary people to speak to all sentient beings. Many people refer to them as 'immortals' in general terms, but they don't understand how fiercely the Buddha and Tao fought in the past.

For them, there really is no need to know this history. They are just in a heart of awe, all the gods and goddesses worship each other, what mountains to climb, what firewood; What temple to enter, what to recite the scriptures.

After all, from the perspective of the history of Chinese beliefs, the current Zhao and Song dynasties were an era in which the struggle between them was put aside and the three religions (Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism) converged.

It's not that there will be no major conflicts between the three schools of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism since then, that's nonsense. This kind of "confluence" cannot hide the rejection and struggle between them at all, but the general climate of the 'integration' of the three has been formed, and each of them has clearly defined their social positioning.

For example, the complete sinicization of Buddhism. (Here I have to praise Lin Lingsu for being awesome, Guanyin Master, Venerable Arhat, are all names given by Lao Lin to the bald heads.) ）

So much so that hundreds of years later, it is not uncommon for Chinese to play the great convergence of Buddhism and Taoism and enshrine the Jade Emperor and Shakyamuni together.

And now the people of the grassland and the people of the Central Plains are not the same in terms of faith?

Everyone is all the way, and all the gods worship!

Therefore, regardless of whether someone is indignant or dissatisfied in their hearts, the prairie in the south of the desert is already lined with temples and Taoist temples, and incense is continuous.

These monks and Taoists were supported by the power of the Central Plains court, and at the beginning of entering the grassland, they were in a very transcendent position.

And then compete for believers, Buddhism or medicine diagnosis and treatment, relief of suffering, or play some 'supernatural' means, and then boast and tell stories, the two families are real experts, and they are the heritage accumulated in thousands of years.

Catching gods and ghosts, subjugating demons and removing spells, and routines are all set in one, where can the uncivilized savages of shamanism be compared?

So that as soon as you enter a certain tribe, you will soon be able to open a 'market', and as for being able to attract some loyal believers, it is inevitable.

For example, in a new city called 'Jiuyuan' built by Zhao Song in the north of the Hetao, the Buddhist temples and Taoist temples in the city were not prosperous.

The location of Jiuyuan City is not a miracle, and when the Khitans ruled this land, there was no city here at all.

Even if Zhao Gou regarded Jiuyuan as Baotou, he could not immediately turn it into a prosperous regional economic center of gravity. At first glance, people would think that Zhao Song valued more geographical advantages.

It is close to Yinshan Mountain in the north, the Yellow River in the south, the Gobi in the west, and Datong in the east.

The unique geographical advantages make Jiuyuan City a great value in terms of geography and terrain against the southward movement of northern nomads.

Controlling this place, relying on the benefits of the Hetao Plain, and stationing a large army, can deter the north and south of Yinshan.

Once there is a change in the grassland and a war breaks out, the soldiers and horses here can cross the Yin Mountain in a short time and go straight to the hinterland of Monan.

In this way, nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses were hoarded in Jiuyuan City alone. So much so that up to now, there are no more people (immigrants) inside and outside the city than there are soldiers.

Of course, in addition to immigrants and garrisons, there were also many visitors from the grasslands, as Jiuyuan City was one of the many new trading places opened up by the Zhao and Song dynasties. The trade area outside the city, which occupies a large area compared to the Jiuyuan City, is only not small, and people come and go every day, in and out, so lively.

And almost half of these steppe people who came in and out of the trade area had already fallen under the knees of the Buddha.

The reason is simple, they have the most contact with Han Chinese merchants and are the most affected!

In addition, the people who can 'walk' out of the tribe are the high-level or high-level followers of the tribe, the former is easier to civilize, they have a flexible brain, and they know how to "perform" in order to get closer to Zhao Song.

And their followers are good at the top and very bad at the bottom!

There is a Taoist temple built in the south of Jiuyuan City.

The scale is not large, counting the front and back yards, it is just a three-entry house. There are more than a dozen wing rooms, seven or eight Taoist priests, and this is definitely a small Taoist temple in the Central Plains.

The materials used in the courtyard are also very simple, and many of the doors and windows inside are logs and not painted.

But this is not surprising, and the Taoists live a hard life.

In fact, not only are they not bitter, but their small lives are more nourishing than the garrisons of Jiuyuan City.

Every fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, every Sanqing Christmas, Patriarch's Christmas, and other festivals, there are a large number of good men and women holding all kinds of incense money to send over.

The high value of them is like a herd of cattle and sheep or a horse on the steppe, and the cheap one is felt and sheepskin.

But no matter how high or low the price is, everything will be a huge number when multiplied by a rather large product number!

Don't say that it is seven or eight Taoist priests and Taoist children, the Lord is to expand the "soldiers" under his command tenfold, which can also be easily beared.

Who called Kuhara City a trading place?

It doesn't make sense that their incense is not vigorous.

Many of the grassland people who came to worship the gods were still nobles of the tribe, and they often came in an endless stream, not to mention, many of them were really religious.

The reason is that the master of this Taoist view is a good hand at pretending to be a god and a ghost.

When he first arrived, he was ahead of his competitors - the big bald head, and performed a good trick of "spontaneous combustion of incense and candles", which suddenly attracted many grassland believers, and even the soldiers and civilians in Jiuyuan City were in awe of it.

But what about the facts? This is just a trick of Buddhism and Taoism to fool people.

What incense candles spontaneously combust, what white paper blood marks, as well as the oil pot under his hands, the blessings of the gods, etc., that is just a routine.

But these ghost tricks pretending to be gods and ghosts have made great contributions in the process of spreading the Dharma and propagating the Dharma in Buddhism, and they also gave Zhao Gou an unexpected joy!

It would be wonderful if this could assimilate the people of the steppe in faith!