After Zhou Xing left, Xue Huaiyi poked his head out from behind the screen and tiptoed out. When he saw the look in Wu Zetian's eyes, his heart turned cold. Wu Zetian's eyes were very clear, and she seemed to be deep in thought. She was clearly thinking about something.
Sex was something that was very particular about mood. It wasn't like someone who had been thirsty for many years. Furthermore, for a woman like Empress Wu, love was just a spice to her. When she had her own considerations, why would she care about the love between a man and a woman?
Xue Huaiyi had served her for many years and knew her temperament well. Seeing her like this, he knew that he had no chance of being her guest today. Thus, he unhappily bid farewell to Empress Wu. Wu Zetian smiled apologetically at him and said gently, "Master, I have matters of state to consider. You should go back first and come visit me in two days."
Xue Huaiyi perked up and said, "Yes! The Empress is busy with state affairs and must take care of her body. Then … Huaiyi will take his leave first. "
Xue Huaiyi was about to leave when he suddenly remembered what Yang Fan told him. He hurriedly turned back and said, "Oh! Oh right, Empress, Huaiyi has another matter that I would like to seek your approval on. "
Wu Zetian supported her chin with her palm and was deep in thought. When she heard him speak, she slightly raised her eyes and smiled, "What else does Master want to say?"
Xue Huaiyi said, "Empress, every year during the Lantern Festival, the palace will hold a grand celebration with various games such as cuju and bow-striking. Huaiyi has also formed teams for bow-striking and sumo wrestling. During the Lantern Festival, if I can win a smile from the Empress, it will be a token of my sincerity. However, Huaiyi's teams have just been formed and are not familiar with the competitions of the strong teams. If they were to lose miserably, it would be a loss of face. As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy. Huaiyi wants to compete with the teams that have won in the past so that the disciples can get used to it. "
Wu Zetian smiled, "It's rare for you to show such sincerity. Alright, who do you want to compete with?"
Xue Huaiyi's Kuju team was notorious for not abiding by the rules. Once they started a match, they would use sneak attacks, sprinkle lime, kick the groin … They simply did everything they could think of. Everyone in the capital knew about the White Horse Temple's bad style. Everyone knew about it.
If Xue Huaiyi still wanted to have fun and find a few teams to relieve his boredom, with his power, he could find a few influential families and force them to compete with him. However, if he wanted to perform well in the palace, he needed real ability. If he wanted to compete with a truly strong team, he could not use force.
Huaiyi said, "I would like to invite the Princess's sumo wrestlers from the palace, the palace cuju masters from the palace and the palace to compete from the palace to the palace to to Palace.
Wu Zetian laughed, "Master's appetite is not small. You specifically challenge the strongest team of the Tang dynasty. Aren't you afraid of losing?"
She smiled and pondered for a while, then said, "The Imperial Guard's Ju Striking Hand? Sure. When I get back, I will instruct Qiu Shenji to send the troops that are preparing to participate in the Shangyuan Ju Striking Hand to White Horse Temple to have a match with you. In the palace, no problem. In a few days, bring your cuju masters to the palace and compete with them. I will tell Wan 'er to arrange it. But Taiping … "
Wu Zetian sighed softly and said, "Taiping hasn't been in a good mood recently. I don't think you should go and try to avoid this obstacle. There are many sumo masters in the Imperial Guard. Let Qiu Shenji send them to you."
…
Xue Huaiyi rushed back to White Horse Temple and immediately gathered a group of monks to explain the empress' intention to them. In order to work together, the original abbot of White Horse Temple, the current elder of West Hall, Sanshan, was also invited. Sanshan, Sanjie, Santhin, Faming, Fazheng, Zhengjue …
Every one of them was a famous and virtuous monk. In order for Buddhism to suppress Taoism and become the number one religion in the Central Plains, each of them became a charlatan and accompanied Feng Xiaobao, the ruffian, to change the scriptures.
What the Empress meant was that there was no need to be secretive or bashful. She should directly say that she was the ruler of humanity who had come to the human world under the Buddha's decree. In other words, she was the Pure Light Goddess. However, the goddess did not have a high status in the Buddhist world. She was clearly not worthy of Wu Zetian's position as the ruler of the Tang dynasty.
Therefore, after a discussion among the monks, they decided to make some changes to the Great Cloud Sutra. In the Sutra Notes, it was stated that Empress Wu was the Maitreya Buddha in her previous life. She received the decree of Sakyamuni and was reincarnated as the ruler of the world.
In the Sutra Notes, Monk Zhengjue directly translated the Sanskrit into "The one who stole only the clouds is surnamed Wu" and "This is the Divine Emperor's mother descends upon all nations and gives birth to millions of people". In a very blatant manner, he used the name of Buddha to make the Divine Emperor with the surname Wu to proclaim himself as the emperor and "mother descends upon all nations".
At that time, Wu Zetian was in control of the court. As a woman and the Empress Dowager, the two biggest problems she faced if she wanted to proclaim herself as the emperor were the problem of her womanhood and surname. The emperor had always regarded himself as the Son of Heaven. If Empress Wu became the emperor, it would be the will of Heaven. All these problems would naturally be solved.
Faming and Fazheng were responsible for making up various prophecies. Once these things were spread, the common people would be very willing to believe them. The prophecies they made up were very short in order to make it easier to spread. Each prophecy explained one problem, such as the reincarnation of the Maitreya Buddha as a woman, or the change of the surname Li to the surname Wu.
The two eminent monks, Sanshan and Santhin, were responsible for collecting auspicious signs and warnings from various places. They forcefully linked them to Wu Zetian becoming the emperor. Not only did they list in detail all kinds of strange signs that appeared in various places in the Tang dynasty, such as a stone with a red heart, a rooster that could lay eggs, a stone that appeared in the Luo River, and so on. They even included earthquakes. They said that these were warnings from Heaven and should be the evidence of Empress Wu becoming the emperor.
Great Master San Jie became the chief editor. He was responsible for the final collation and proofreading of the things made up by these eminent monks.
Speaking of which, although Xue Huaiyi was ignorant and incompetent, his imagination was far beyond that of an ordinary person. He was lying on the bed alone, drinking wine and humming a little tune. Suddenly, he slapped his head. He actually thought of an idea to help Empress Wu.
He thought of a little song. The name of this song was "Lady Wu Meiniang". "Lady Wu Meiniang" was a song that had existed for a long time. During the Sui dynasty and the early Tang dynasty, some records of palace banquets mentioned that this song was sung to liven things up. Apart from the fact that the name of this song coincided with the title "Lady Wu" bestowed upon Wu Zetian by Taizong, the two had nothing to do with each other at all.
Xue Huaiyi was also humming a tune randomly. When he was humming this tune, he thought of it. When Xue Huaiyi brought up this idea, Great Master San Jie expressed his approval. Hence, he made up an easy-to-understand lyrics to accompany this tune. Xue Huaiyi then arranged for people to sing it in the marketplace.
With such a large group of monks busy in the meditation room, it was necessary to have someone by their side to take care of them. Moreover, they also needed someone who knew how to read. All the monks in the temple who were free were all sent over. Because there was a shortage of manpower, and Monk Yizhuo was literate, Xue Huaiyi also found him to be a strong man.
Yizhuo was a Daoist. When he saw these sanctimonious Buddhist monks spouting nonsense, Daoism's position was in jeopardy. His heart ached and he felt very uncomfortable. Therefore, during the day, Yizhuo served the monks with soup and water, watching them spout nonsense. At night, he would use charcoal and waste paper to carefully record everything he saw and heard during the day.
He even gave the things he wrote a name, "Records of the Birth of the Great Cloud Scripture". After writing a page, he would go into the pagoda forest and find a secret place to hide it. He would write it every day, waiting for the day when the ugly faces of these high monks would be exposed to the world.
Those high monks would never have thought that they would have a Daoist spy by their side. Every day, he would be unscrupulous and even indulge in his writing …
…
Writing the scripture was not an easy task. Although they forcefully linked the matter of the Pure Light Goddess with Wu Zetian, to win the trust of the world, the more meticulous and realistic the scripture was, the better it would be. Once it was written, it had to be reconsidered. This was a long process.
Xue Huaiyi was illiterate. In the beginning, he was able to chat with them enthusiastically, but later on, even Xue Huaiyi was confused. Gradually, he began to feel bored, so he entrusted this matter to Sanjie, Faming, and a few other eminent monks, while he went to watch the disciples do the Cuju.
Wu Zetian had agreed to let the imperial guards practice and compete with them. With an internal decree, Qiu Shenji, who was in Mengjin, naturally agreed. How could the Empress' decree be disobeyed? Moreover, Qiu Shenji's bow-striking experts were selected from the various imperial guards. They all had a certain background. Although the White Horse Temple was notorious, they would not dare to do anything too vile to compete with these people.
Qiu Shenji was a bow-striking expert when he was young. When Li Shimin introduced bow-striking in the Tang dynasty, he was one of the main bow-striking experts in the Tang dynasty's imperial guards. Although he was old now, he was still good at it. Every year during the Lantern Festival, the imperial guards would participate in the bow-striking competition. He was the one who coordinated the bow-striking experts from each imperial guard and trained them together. In modern terms, he was the chief coach of the imperial guard's bow-striking team.
We've seen too many officialdom dramas. It seems that high officials and nobles are more serious than the next, more serious than the next. It's like this in the officialdom, and it's also like this in life. To their friends, colleagues, and relatives, they all put on the airs of an official all day long, living like they're not human at all. In fact, when they drink, dance, talk and laugh, they are no different from us. They also have many personal hobbies.
Qiu Shenji was a person who loved bow-striking. In his original plan, because the Lantern Festival was approaching, he had already planned to communicate with the other imperial guards to transfer their bow-striking experts and gather them together for training. Now that the decree from Empress Wu came, it was convenient for both sides.
However, because the people he transferred were from various imperial guards, it would take a few days to gather them together. Xue Huaiyi waited for two days, but Qiu Shenji still did not send anyone over. He could not wait any longer, so he took his people to the palace to find Shanghai Wan'er.
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