December 25, 573 A.D., is an unforgettable day for the entire Northern Zhou Dynasty, especially for Buddhism and Taoism, and it is even more unforgettable for this day. This day will be engraved by history and play a pivotal role in the development of history.

Beginning on December 20, the six-day debate between Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism finally ended with the victory of the Northern Zhou Emperor Yu Wenyong.

During the five-day debate, neither Taoism represented by Zhang Bin nor Confucianism represented by the hundred officials of the imperial court could defeat Buddhism represented by Zhixuan. When most people thought that the debate would end with the victory of Buddhism in the previous cases, Woo Wenyong came to the front desk to personally confront Jihyun and distinguish between right and wrong.

Whether it is Buddhism, Taoism, or Confucianism, it is the summary and overview of all things in the world after exploring and thinking about society. To be precise, there is nothing superior or inferior between them, but they are just different doctrines and different systems.

In the era of natural disasters and wars in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when the Han culture was destroyed by ethnic minorities, Buddhism was more able to give people spiritual support, and with the strong support of the rulers for the needs of the rulers, Buddhism became the most powerful sect in the entire Chinese land. The Buddhist teachings not only analyze the psychology and social life of the people at the moment, but also are very systematic, so they have won the final victory in every debate.

Zhang Bin, a person who specializes in trading metaphysics, is a defeat for Shang Zhixuan, how can Yu Wenyong, a half-way monk, win? Although Yu Wenyong was defeated gorgeously, how could he be defeated as the king of a country?

Buddhism has long become a thorn in Yuwen Yong's eyes, but several debates about Buddhism have been victorious, making Yuwen Yong famous. This time, Yu Wenyong made up his mind not to destroy Buddhism and vowed not to give up.

Under his strong oppression and the reprimand of the ministers, Zhixuan had to bow his head and admit defeat, and accepted the holy decree helplessly and humiliatingly, and Yuwen Yong won the debate with the power of the emperor.

Because Taoism lost to Buddhism in the debate, Yu Wenyong, in order to show fairness, issued an edict banning Buddhism and Taoism, ordering "the scriptures to be destroyed, the Shamen and Taoist priests, and the people to be returned." and forbid all silver rituals, and remove all that is not contained in the rituals. At this point, a vigorous and vigorous anti-religion movement that shocked the world began.

"Boom!"

The gilded Buddha in the Daxiong Treasure Hall, which is nearly six meters high, in the wailing of countless monks, finally under the efforts of hundreds of soldiers, pushed the gold mountain and fell to the ground like a jade pillar, the roar was deafening, and the ground trembled uncontrollably, stirring up a piece of flying dust.

The Buddha statue that was once and now high up, overlooking all living beings, accepting countless men and women who believe in the worship of men and women, the compassionate Buddha statue fell, and the golden body was shattered into countless pieces. Looking at the broken head of the Buddha statue again, the compassionate smile was still there, but for some reason, Yang Lihua suddenly felt a chill down her spine, which made her involuntarily lean towards Xingxing.

"Brother Xing, how do you know that Your Majesty will ban Buddhism and Taoism?" Yang Lihua stood behind a yellow-faced monk and whispered in his ear, her eyebrows frowning slightly, her eyes full of doubts and curiosity, and a trace of regret.

At this time, Yang Lihua was dressed in a black monk's robe, and her cloud-like hair had disappeared, revealing her white scalp, and she was a delicate little novice. It is also thanks to Yang Lihua that she is only thirteen years old at this time, and she has not yet fully developed, wearing a slightly loose monk's robe, even if she doesn't wear makeup, she doesn't have to worry about being recognized as a woman dressed as a man.

"Yuwen Xiangui is the general of the Zhu Kingdom, how can he find a wife for a mere civilian? Ahem, there must be a demon when things go wrong, I just made a bold guess, ahem, sure enough, ......" The yellow-faced monk was happy, and he watched the Praetorian Guards under the leadership of Yu Wenxian destroy the Buddha statue and demolish the Yiying building of the Fuying Zen Temple, while tilting his head sideways and whispering.

Happy that his fair face had been dyed sallow yellow by his homemade potion, and his slightly stiff back, which coughed lightly from time to time, looked a little sickly, and it was difficult for people to associate him with the personable and handsome young man he used to be.

At this time, the square in front of the Daxiong Hall was already crowded with people. Fuying Monastery was built in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, has been hundreds of years, not only covers a vast area, the history is also very long, there are about 10,000 monks who have become monks here, which is really an extremely astonishing number.

Under Yuwen Yong's edict, although countless monks were dissatisfied, they had to bow their heads when they faced the wolf-like soldiers brought by Yu Wenxian, and could only helplessly watch the place where they lived be destroyed little by little, burying all the bitterness and resentment deep in their hearts.

Yu Wenxian gathered all the monks, one was to agree to make a book and order them to be returned to the world, and the other was to carefully search for the whereabouts of Happy Happy.

Recently, the news that the thief was happy to appear in the city wearing a monk's robe has spread everywhere, coupled with the scandal that appeared in the Buddhist gate a few days ago, the resistance of the people in the city to Yuwen Yong's extermination of the Buddha has been reduced a lot, which also makes the implementation of Yuwen Yong's policy much faster.

Happy and wise did not continue to hide in the attic, but disguised himself and blended in with a group of dejected monks, with his current appearance, he was confident that he would not be discovered by Yu Wenyong.

Compared with Yang Lihua's slightly nervous, surprised, and regretful mood, she was happy but calm as usual. Zhou Wu had known that he had already known about the destruction of the Buddha, and he did not feel surprised at all. Although he is happy to practice the "Recipe for Eternal Life" and has some belief in metaphysics, after all, he comes from the era of science, and he is far from the blind worship and trust of the ancients for gods and Buddhas.

From the Fuying Zen Temple, when the monk annihilated the people's daughters and attracted Yu Wenxian to deal with it, he was keenly aware that Yu Wenyong was going to make a big move. Sure enough, next, there were countless incidents in Chang'an City, which were undoubtedly related to Buddhism.

Although the matter between the Liu family and Qingfeng was planned by Yu Wenxian, some subsequent evil things related to Buddhism were not all framed by Yu Wenxian.

Because the conditions are too superior, the development of Buddhism has swelled to an extremely terrifying level, and they have occupied countless resources for survival, and have become veritable social moths.

At that time, the disciples of Buddhism did not produce, but they occupied a lot of fertile land, they did not pay taxes, did not have to serve in the military service, but enjoyed the supply of the imperial court, the worship of the people, which brought a great burden to the social state and the people at the bottom. Because of these conditions, countless people have joined Buddhism, they don't have any Buddha in their hearts, all they want is to survive. In this way, Buddhist disciples are not firm and benevolent people, and there are naturally many cases of male thieves and female prostitutes.

Historically, after Zhou Wu invaded Yecheng and overthrew the Gaoqi regime, he continued to implement the policy of exterminating Buddhism. In the entire territory of the Northern Qi Dynasty, more than 40,000 Buddhist temples were destroyed, and more than 3 million monks were returned to the army. Three million people, what is that concept? In the turbulent and deprived population of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, three million people were not only enough to sweep the world, but also how much wealth could be created.

It can be said that Zhou Wu's destruction of Buddha conformed to the trend of history and was the inevitable product of the intensification of the contradiction between royal power and religion. It is precisely because of Yuwen Yong's ban on religion that countless productive forces have been liberated, and it can be regarded as the peak of the feudal era, and then laid a solid foundation for the development of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Yang Lihua was already smart and happy, and he understood it after just mentioning it, but he was still a little confused by Yu Wenyong's somewhat drastic approach, so he asked again: "Brother Xing, why did Your Majesty want to destroy the Buddha!" ”

"Buddhism only eats and doesn't work, how can Yu Wenyong tolerate it? What's more, if Yuwen Yong wants to unify the world, he needs a large number of soldiers and grain and grass, and these two Buddhism have a lot. Happy paused, seemingly inadvertently looked around, and found that no one paid attention to the two of them, and his voice was lowered, "Earlier, there were rumors among the people that 'black clothes are kings', and the influence of Buddhism is unprecedentedly huge, and it has threatened the imperial power, which is not allowed by any emperor with great talents, so it is inevitable to destroy Buddha!" ”

Yang Lihua's eyes suddenly widened, and she almost exclaimed. Although she is smart, after all, her experience is still shallow, and she is in the game, so her understanding of the feudal era is naturally not happy, comprehensive and detailed. As soon as I heard what I was happy to say, the shock in my heart can be imagined.

After a long time, Yang Lihua's mind regained her calmness, and looking at the hot work of the Praetorian Guards, she then asked: "Brother Xing, what should we do next, do we want to take advantage of the chaos to escape?" ”

"No, that's too dangerous, we don't need to do anything, as long as we listen carefully to the arrangements of the imperial court!" Happily smiling and shaking his head imperceptibly, he whispered.

Yang Lihua was stunned, but she didn't ask again, but stood quietly behind Xingxing, looking at the dilapidated Fuying Zen Monastery with a dejected expression.

Yu Wenxian led nearly 30,000 Praetorian Guards, and it took only one day to smash all the Buddha statues in the huge Fuying Zen Temple, and all the scriptures and books were burned. As for the buildings in the temple, not many of them have actually been demolished, which shows that Yuwen Yong is still a very simple person, more than a step stronger than Gao Wei's extravagant faint monarch.

Chang'an City, as the capital of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, no one dares to disobey the yin and the yang. It took only five days for Yuwen Yong to issue an edict banning religion, and the temples and Taoist temples in the city were almost swept away. There are nearly 300,000 monks and Taoist priests who have been ordered to return to the laity, and there are countless lands and property. These gains made Yu Wenyong unbearably happy, with money and people, he was one step closer to the dream of unifying the world.

No matter how painful the monks were, how they cursed Yuwen Yong, the long river of time is still flowing in its own way, and the New Year of 574 AD finally came in the nervous and panicked mood of the people of Chang'an City.

At the beginning of the new year, there was once again a shocking news in Chang'an City: Yang Lihua, the crown princess who had been missing for more than half a month, finally appeared, but she had been dead for a long time.