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The year 394 A.D., that is, the nineteenth year of the Taiyuan Dynasty, was a year of turbulent changes in the situation in the north.

And this year is also a dark tide for Jiangdong.

The battle between the prime minister has reached a fever pitch, and there has even been a major event that shocked both inside and outside.

Zhongshu Ling, and the leader of the Chinese army, Wang Guobao, has always been the confidant of Sima Daozi, the king of Huiji.

I don't know why, recently, I suddenly took the initiative to show favor to Sima Yao, the Son of Heaven.

According to the grapevine, the reason why Wang Guobao 'jumped ship' halfway was because he was worried about becoming the next 'Yuan Yuezhi'.

As the saying goes: if there is a fire at the city gate, the fish in the pond will be affected!

From the fourteenth year of Taiyuan Dynasty, the contradiction between Sima Yao and Sima Daozi gradually appeared, and entered the dispute between the main minister, and now this dispute has lasted for several years.

During this period, first Sima Daozi's confidant Yuan Yuezhi was ordered to be killed by the Son of Heaven.

Immediately afterwards, Sima Daozi was not to be outdone, and launched a counterattack after Yuan Yuezhi was killed.

personally drove Fan Ningyuan, a confidant of the Son of Heaven, out of Beijing and demoted him to Yuzhang Taishou.

Yuan Yuezhi was killed and Fan Ning was demoted, which made the people in the court tremble, for fear that the next unlucky person would be himself.

Even Xu Miao, who has always relied on Sima Yao in the court, did not dare to openly oppose Sima Daozi in order to protect himself.

It was in this context that Wang Guobao chose to alienate Sima Daozi and threw himself into the arms of the Son of Heaven.

Even in order to show that he broke off with the old master, he deliberately contradicted Sima Daozi in the court.

was so angry that Sima Daozi lost his face, and directly denounced him as a villain, and almost pulled out his sword to kill Wang Guobao.

Originally, Sima Yao still had some suspicions that Wang Guobao had bad intentions, but now he no longer had any doubts and quickly accepted Wang Guobao.

For the Son of Heaven, Wang Guobao's investment in him undoubtedly greatly weakened Sima Daozi's position in the center.

However, Sima Yao may not have imagined that everything in front of him was just a play performed by Sima Daozi and Wang Guobao.

It turned out that the endless dispute between the prime minister not only made the government and the opposition miserable, but also made Sima Yao and Sima Daozi physically and mentally exhausted.

Especially recently, both Sima Yao and Sima Daozi's bodies have become weaker and weaker.

Both want to knock each other down as soon as possible and then take power to themselves.

So, Wang Guobao secretly offered a poisonous plan to Sima Daozi.

He first pretended to vote for Sima Yao, the Son of Heaven, and then tried to get rid of the Son of Heaven after gaining the trust of the other party.

The crown prince Sima Dezong is an idiot who is even more stupid than Emperor Hui of Jin.

Therefore, as long as the Son of Heaven dies, the power of the court will inevitably fall into the hands of Sima Daozi.

Because he knew this, Sima Daozi readily agreed to Wang Guobao's plan.

So, a conspiracy to try to kill the Son of Heaven was carried out silently.

Except for Wang Guobao and Sima Daozi, the whole court was kept in the dark.

……

While waiting to get the goods, Huan Qian and Bian Fanzhi took the opportunity to visit Guzang.

After a few days, the two of them were most impressed by the magnificent school and Taoist temple.

In the eyes of the two, it is natural to attach importance to education.

But Hexi vigorously supported the New Heavenly Master Dao, but they couldn't understand the deep meaning.

Since ancient times, political power and religion have been in a relationship of mutual exploitation and antagonistic struggle.

In many cases, religion has developed with the help of political power.

When the relationship between the two becomes complicated or even antagonistic, religion can pose a great threat to the regime.

On the other hand, if religion loses in the struggle, it will inevitably be forced to carry out reforms to meet the needs of the new situation.

Taking Jiangdong as an example, although the Five Bucket Rice Road was popular among the high gates and the imperial family, even the Son of Heaven himself was influenced by it.

However, even so, the imperial court will not not not only not restrict the development of Wudou Rice Road like Hexi, but also give strong support.

Isn't it rare that most people don't worry about religious backlash?

In fact, where did Huan and Bian understand that the reason why Wei Shuo vigorously supported religion was, on the one hand, because the characteristics of the regimes in Hexi and Jiangdong were different.

The politics of the Southern Dynasties had obvious characteristics of weak monarchs and strong ministers, and they were in this state almost always from the establishment of the regime to its demise.

One of the products of this political instability is that the imperial power will never allow one party to be powerful.

Therefore, once the Wudou Mi Sect shows signs of becoming a big player, it will be immediately suppressed by the imperial court, just like Sun Tai was demoted to Guangzhou a few years ago, and even several backbones of the Wudou Mi Sect have not been reused by the imperial court.

And Hexi is different, Wei Shuo has absolute dominance in Hexi, not to mention the Wudou Rice Sect, even the family has to surrender.

It was precisely with absolute power in his hands that he dared to make a move to support the New Heavenly Master Dao.

In addition, after the improvement of Cheng Gongxing and Kou Qian's master and apprentice, the new Heavenly Master Tao has been completely different from traditional Taoism.

The master and apprentice of Cheng Gongxing and Kou Qian knew very well that all of them, including most of them, were very wary of religious intervention in the world.

In this context, in order to adapt to the changing situation, the two took the initiative to carry out a comprehensive reform of Taoism.

First, the original five-bucket rice road and its branches in the north were cleaned up and rectified, and the traditional five-bucket rice road was abandoned, and it was renamed "Zhengyi Mengwei Dao", commonly known as the new heavenly master road.

Second, the "Lingbao Sutra" and the "Shangqing Sutra" were absorbed into their own classics to form a three-cave classic system.

Third, the organizational structure was reformed, and the system of "governance" and "sacrificial wine" gradually shifted to the system of Taoist temples and Taoist priests.

In particular, the third reform abolished the traditional hereditary sacrificial liquor system and effectively prevented the growth of religious power.

In addition, the construction of a new dojo is equivalent to bypassing the original governance, making the rotten hereditary system lose its original soil, which is more conducive to the selection of talents, and also accelerates the internal reform of the order.

At the same time, after the construction of the Taoist hall, people can participate in religious activities in the nearby Taoist hall without having to go back to the farther original rule, which is conducive to the popularization of Taoism.

Moreover, the original system of "governance" and "sacrificial wine" was a kind of zhengjiao unity system, which was easy for religion and political power to conflict in terms of jurisdiction and methods.

After turning to the Taoist hall and Taoist priest system, the separation of church and state was relatively well realized, and the relationship between Taoism and the political power was greatly improved.

Even in order to cater to the needs of the capital, the two have also created many new classics.

It not only proclaimed that the Hexi regime had been approved by the Great Heavenly Venerable, but also denied the old Wudou Rice Dao, Buddhism Dao, and Qingshui Dao, especially the Wudou Rice Dao, which was about to rise up in the south.

It was the implementation of the above-mentioned reform measures that allowed the New Heavenly Master Dao to successfully gain the support of Hexi.

As a result, in just a few years, it has now become the largest religion in Hexi, laying a solid foundation for ushering in its prosperity in the future.

On this day, in order to explore the Tao of the new Heavenly Master, Huan Qian and Bian Fanzhi came to visit a Taoist temple.

"I heard that the New Heavenly Master Tao spreads to every corner of Hexi, and more than half of the people in Hexi believe in this religion."

"And those Hulu who were conquered by Hexi will only be accepted by Hexi if they believe in the Tao of the Heavenly Master."

The closer you get to the New Heavenly Master, the more dense the flow of people becomes, and I don't know what is inside the temple, which attracts countless people to rush inside.

Although they couldn't get a full glimpse of it, they could stand outside and glance at it from a distance, and the two were still shocked by the scene inside the Taoist temple.

I saw that there were almost thousands of people gathered in the Taoist temple, and they all knelt there with solemn expressions, facing the statue of the Great Heavenly Venerable in the center.

Suddenly, as a bell rang, thousands of people began to pray together.

"Great Heavenly Venerable, you are the Great Father!"

"We need you, we can't live without you for a moment, only by snuggling up to you tightly, can we have satisfaction and rest in our hearts."

"Great Tianzun, we thank you!"

"For in these dark times you are the only light, seek your true light to cast out the darkness of our hearts and make us holy."

"Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable ......"

After reciting, thousands of people suddenly knelt down, facing the statue of the Great Heavenly Venerable, and bowed to the ground.

After a while, the believers got up to the sound of the bell, their faces full of satisfaction and comfort.

They bowed to each other, greeted each other, and then began to disperse in an orderly manner outside the Taoist temple.

A long time has passed, and Huan Qian and Bian Fanzhi have not recovered from the shock.

"This ...... What's going on? ”

"You ask me? Who goes, I ask? ”

"The fact that the New Heavenly Master Dao can have today's grand occasion is not unrelated to the support of most of the capital."

"It's no wonder that half of the capital's guards are Hulu, but there is very little turmoil."

"It turns out that religion brings everyone together, and it seems that you and I have underestimated this big protector."

"What if you underestimate it? At present, Nanjun is fair and asks for the other party, and he doesn't dare to turn his face with it at all. ”