After the end of the Zen seal, Li Shimin still maintained a high mood, and even deliberately gave himself a holiday along the way, most of the government affairs were handed over to the eldest grandson Wuji and Fang Xuanling and others, as for himself, he relaxed and enjoyed the scenery along the way, when he encountered some places of interest, he would also take Li Xiu and others to take a look, and sometimes even left some inscriptions.

It can be said that since Li Shimin ascended the throne, this is the first time Li Xiu has seen him relax himself so much, but this is also a good thing, after all, people are not machines, it is impossible to be in a high level of tension all the time, and it is also appropriate to relax occasionally, especially in the case of Li Shimin.

The return journey is still very calm, there are officials from all over the country to arrange accommodation on the road, but there is no need to suffer anything, and this section of the area from Mount Tai to Chang'an is also the most elite area of Datang, all the way to see is the scene of rich officials and stable life, which also makes Li Shimin more assured, from the inside to the outside are filled with a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

On this day, Li Shimin and his entourage finally arrived in Luoyang, which is the capital of the Tang Dynasty, although it is not far from Chang'an, and even Li Shimin personally beat it down, but since Li Shimin ascended the throne, he was busy with government affairs all day long, and he didn't have much time to go out, so the number of times he came to Luoyang was also only a handful.

Speaking of Luoyang, we can't fail to mention a place of interest, that is, the Longmen Grottoes near Luoyang, although in the Tang Dynasty, the scale of the Longmen Grottoes was still very small, and even according to Li Xiu's knowledge, the grottoes excavated in the Tang Dynasty accounted for more than sixty percent of the Longmen Grottoes, the Northern Wei Dynasty accounted for three percent, and the rest of the other dynasties together accounted for one percent, so Li Xiu can see now only one-third of the scale of the grottoes in later generations.

However, the Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous era of Longmen Grottoes, especially in the period before Li Shimin restricted Buddhism, because the world was peaceful, the people were also very wealthy, coupled with the prosperity of Buddhism, so the number of newly excavated grottoes on the Longmen side was also very large, some of these grottoes were donated by temples, and some were privately funded, but more were funded by the emperor and nobles, such as the caves of the Northern Wei Dynasty, many of which were ordered to be built by Emperor Wu of Wei, and the role of these caves is also diverse. For example, praying for blessings, warding off diseases, wishing and so on.

But just a few years ago, Li Shimin followed Li Xiu's advice and imposed restrictions on both Buddhism and Taoism, confiscated the land of many temples and Taoist temples, and forbade them to lend money again, and even limited the number of monks.

Originally, in Li Xiu's mind, with the weakening of Buddhism and Taoism, the excavation of the Longmen Grottoes will definitely be affected, and even some grottoes will be stopped because of this, but what he never expected is that although the strength of the two religions of Buddhism and Taoism has declined, the impact on the construction of the Longmen Grottoes is very limited, and even the scale has expanded compared with before.

Later, Li Xiu learned that although he limited the scale of Buddhism and Taoism, he could not immediately change people's beliefs, Buddhism and Taoism have a large number of believers, these people can not go to the temple to offer incense and vows, but the influence of religion on them has penetrated into life, such as someone in the family is sick or died, some people will spend money to build a few grottoes in Longmen, in order to pray for their families.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that Li Shimin only limited the scale of Buddhism and Taoism to prevent them from holding too much land or wealth in their hands, thereby causing social instability, but did not completely ban the two religions, in fact, it is impossible to ban them, and even some royal ministers still believe in Buddhism, and the Tang Dynasty is actually very tolerant of religion, as long as they do not affect the stability of society, then the imperial court is too lazy to care about them, such as digging Longmen Grottoes, although the scale is very large, but people are willing to pay, There was no reason for the imperial court to intervene either.

Li Xiu also has an indifferent attitude towards the construction of grottoes in Longmen, although it is a bit of a waste of social resources, but this is also a good thing, after all, the art and humanities of the Tang Dynasty can be recorded, so that future generations can understand some of the situations of this era from the side.

Li Shimin has long heard of the name of Longmen Grottoes, he used to pass by Longmen here several times, but did not take a closer look, after all, he did not enjoy the scenery at that time, now it is not easy to relax, so he arrived in Luoyang on the second day, he brought Li Xiu, the eldest grandson Wuji and other ministers, in addition to Li Tai also accompanied to Longmen Grottoes.

There is nothing to see about the grottoes that are being built or have just been completed, but those grottoes that were built in the Northern Wei Dynasty aroused Li Shimin's interest, because many caves in the Northern Wei Dynasty were built by the emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, not only the scale is grand, but the statues in the caves are also very beautiful.

When the next group of people walked and admired the carvings in the Longmen Grottoes, Li Shimin liked calligraphy, and when he encountered some Wei tablet carvings, he would stop to copy them, and when he encountered a particularly interesting stone tablet, he would also let people rub it down, so that he could take it back to the palace to enjoy it at all times.

"Huh? Why wasn't this grotto completed? However, when he walked to one of the grottoes, Li Shimin suddenly showed a surprised expression and said, because the grotto in front of him obviously belongs to the style of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but there are only a few less important Buddha statues, and the space reserved in the main position is only roughly carved, and it is known that it is not finished at a glance.

"Emperor Qiqi, this is Binyang Cave, divided into three caves in the south, middle and north, it was originally built by Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty for his father Emperor Wei Wen to make merits, but later the court of the Northern Wei Dynasty changed, and the official who presided over the construction here died of illness, so only the Binyang Middle Cave was completed, and the other two caves were not completed, and the one where we are located is the Binyang North Cave." As soon as Li Shimin's words fell, Li Tai immediately stood up and replied.

Li Tai once presided over the completion of the "Chronicles of the Mountains", and he is also very familiar with the geography of the mountains and rivers in the world, places of interest and historic sites, and he often comes to Luoyang to play, and even has a special mansion in Luoyang, of course, there is an important reason in addition to this, so that he is also a treasure of the situation here in the Longmen Grottoes, and even from the beginning of coming here, he also intends to bring Li Shimin here, in order to give his father a "surprise".