In fact, the situation was worse than what Abbot Bao Zhi had imagined.
For a long time, the people's anti-Jin sentiment was much stronger than that of the imperial court. After all, unlike the imperial court, the common people's wish was very simple — to protect their families and loved ones. When the Jin soldiers went south, many of the Song people were anxious. Many of them donated money, food, and goods. Some even volunteered to join the army or formed teams to fight against the Jin soldiers.
Now that Yue Fei and Fangzheng led the Song army to the north, they won the hearts of the people. Many people hoped that the Jin Kingdom would be completely destroyed. Only then could they be at ease. Otherwise, who knew if the Jin soldiers would attack them again after a few decades.
If the Jin Kingdom sent someone to ask for peace, the common people would understand. They might even mock the Jin soldiers for being so scared that they came to beg for mercy.
But why did you, a monk from the capital, come here to meddle in this?!
The Jin Kingdom was so close to being destroyed. Why did you come to the emperor and say that the common people are the most important? I'll spit on you!
After all, Fangzheng had broadcasted the entire debate to every corner of the Great Song. Almost all the citizens of the Great Song had seen the phenomenon from the sky and heard the debate between Abbot Bao Zhi and Fangzheng. In the hearts of the common people, of course, they were inclined to support Fangzheng!
After all, just like what Fangzheng said, you eat, drink, and dress well every day. But when you serve the country, you start to say that a monk should stay away from the mortal world?
Coward! Traitor!
For a time, the entire Great Song started criticizing the Buddhist temples. Naturally, the Benevolence Temple was the first to bear the brunt of the criticism. The angry people smashed the main door of the temple, and even the Buddha statue inside was smashed. They even set the entire temple on fire. In the face of the people's violence, most of the magistrates and runners looked on coldly without saying a word. They acted as if they didn't see anything.
Their reasons were very reasonable. It was difficult to go against the will of the people. Besides, your abbot said that a monk should stay away from the mortal world. Since that's the case, you don't care about the mortal world, do you? Don't talk about smashing a few temples, even if you want to chop down a few monks, isn't it still a difficult task for you?
For a time, even the monks became the target of scorn and everyone wanted to beat them up. After all, traitors and traitors were much more despicable than invaders. They were contributing money and effort to the frontlines, but they were eating and drinking well behind the frontlines. How could they drag us down?!
Under this kind of pressure, many monks grew their hair and returned to secular life. Some were forced to do so, but there were also some who were greatly disappointed in Buddhism. Even many of the local gentry and merchants who used to worship Buddha also severed their relationship with Buddhism and no longer had any contact with it. It could be said that ever since Buddhism was introduced to the Central Plains, there had never been such a crisis!
What made the monks even more bitter was that Abbot Bao Zhi could not do anything in the face of such a public opinion!
If he was a politician, he could just lie through his teeth and say that this was the work of the devil and that every word he said was false.
But the problem was that monks didn't lie!
This was not the real world, but a Xianxia world. It was really possible to cultivate to become an immortal, and it was the same for these monks. If they could not strengthen their faith, it was equivalent to their cultivation being destroyed, and they would become useless!
Take Fahai for example. Because he could not refute Fangzheng's mockery of him saying that he "lay down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot", his cultivation was greatly reduced. After he spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted, Fahai's power was less than 10%. He was still lying in bed like a vegetable, unable to get out of bed.
If Abbot Bao Zhi dared to go against his conscience and deny what he had said, it would be equivalent to throwing away the saying "a monk does not lie". This would also cause his state of mind to be unstable, and he might explode on the spot at any time.
Therefore, he did not know what to do now that he had become like this.
After this "live broadcast", the reputation of Abbot Bao Zhi and Buddhism was completely destroyed among the people, but the reputation of Yue Fei and Fangzheng instantly rose to the top. Fangzheng, in particular, was already quite prestigious among the mortals. The story of how he wiped out tens of thousands of Jin soldiers with a flip of his hand had long been told by storytellers in various restaurants. It was almost as popular as the story of Guan Yun and Zhang Wen killing Hua Xiong while drinking wine.
But compared to these stories, Fangzheng's performance in the "live broadcast" was more acceptable to the ordinary people.
Most people originally thought that Fangzheng should be like the immortal in their imagination, the kind of person who was high above the masses and spoke in a vague manner. He looked like an immortal, but he was actually a thief and a prostitute. That's right, just like Abbot Bao Zhi.
But after watching the "live broadcast", people were surprised to find that this "immortal master" not only looked very young, but also spoke humorously and was quite down-to-earth. Unlike many officials who could not understand what they were talking about after a long time, they could completely understand what Fangzheng meant! Not to mention that this immortal master had such skills, but was still a man of character, which made the ordinary people even more impressed.
This was also done on purpose by Fangzheng. As the producer, he had fought against many haters and trolls on the internet. It should be known that not everyone could afford to support a public relations department. The company did not even have enough slave farmers during its initial stage, so who would have the leisure to quarrel with haters? Therefore, Fangzheng basically rolled up his sleeves and went into battle bare-chested. He went all the way from the country to the foreign countries. He knew better than anyone when it came to talking to people and talking to ghosts.
In fact, in Fangzheng's opinion, fighting against these monks was really not challenging at all. They only knew how to talk back and forth, and they completely relied on beating around the bush to make people dizzy. This kind of trick could not be compared to the Little Ring Movement of the later generations, which was the doctrine of protecting women and Ren Quan. These people really stuck to their hearts and would not repent no matter what you said. They would not turn back even if they ran into a wall. They were better at playing double standards than anyone else. If there were a hundred Abbot Bao Zhi, he would still vomit blood and die.
It was a pity that there was no internet in this era. Otherwise, with Fangzheng's online violence, these Buddhist temples would directly disappear from the Central Plains without a trace.
Fighting against the Buddhist temples was just something that Fangzheng did casually. Now that the foundation of public opinion had been laid, he could also guess that Buddhism would not be satisfied with its failure and would definitely make a comeback. But at the moment, he did not care about this. He continued to lead the army all the way north and continue to deal with the Jin soldiers.
However, what Abbot Bao Zhi said previously made Fangzheng more cautious. It was obvious that, as he said, this was a copy of King Wu's conquest of Zhou. At that time, the Clan of Enlightenment helped King Wu to conquer Zhou. Now, the Jin soldiers might also be assisted by extraterrestrial immortals.
However, considering that both Buddhism and Taoism were prevalent in the Jin Kingdom, Fangzheng did not know which side would dare to make trouble for him. But he did not care.
If they were not afraid of death, they could come. He was only short of a black kylin. With a one-eyed blindfold, he could send them to heaven!
But what Fangzheng did not expect was that they came faster than he expected.
Although there was no Song soldiers to help, Fangzheng easily took down Yan Jing with the help of his subordinates and Yue Fei. Then, he went all the way north and directly attacked the capital of the Jin Kingdom, Huining Prefecture!
However, soon after they set off, a strong wind suddenly arose. Closely after that, the sky was filled with dazzling brilliance as a huge golden light ball broke out of the clouds like the sun and blocked in front of the airship army. Then, the light gradually faded, and a tall figure emerged from it.
He was golden all over and sat on a pure white lion. He held an umbrella in his right hand and a mouse in his left. He wore a crown on his head and looked dignified.
With his appearance, the whole world seemed to have lost its sound. Not even a cloud could be seen in the surroundings.
Then, the man opened his mouth and his voice suddenly rang through the sky like a great bell.
"I am Vaunted Heavenly King of the North. May I ask Immortal Master Fangzheng to come out and meet me?"
Sure enough, when he heard this, Fangzheng snorted coldly.
It was really like sending firewood from a thousand miles away. The gift was light but the sentiment was heavy …
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