If it happened in other places, if they were so disrespectful to their own king but so respectful to a monk, then there would be at least a few loyal people of the dynasty who would stand up and say a few words for the sake of dignity even if it meant losing their own heads.
But after Li Xiang observed around, he found that no one in the entire Nanzhao Kingdom felt that what he had done was wrong. Instead, many people had happy expressions on their faces. They thought that they had just shown such respect to Master Jinghong, and that was all that mattered. As for getting along with the King of Nanzhao, it would be fine.
"This is truly unheard of and unseen. Your Highness, your actions just now must have been intentional. If this happened in the Tang Dynasty, and the Emperor suffered such humiliation, I would make him bleed to death on the spot, even if it meant losing my head."
After the convoy left Tianlong Temple, all the officials of Nanzhao Kingdom followed behind. Su Dingfang rode his horse next to Li Xiang's carriage. This guy really couldn't help it. Along the way, he felt that this country was too strange. A monk could actually rank ahead of the king. What was the reason?
"Just say this to me once and forget it. During our time in Nanzhao, you must also respect these monks. At the same time, tell the people below that they can disrespect local officials, but they must respect these monks. If anyone makes a mistake, don't blame me for beating them severely."
Li Xiang had a smile on his face, as if he had just won a victory. If other countries are willing to develop in this way, then we must give them a push. If Chang'an City is like this, don't even think about you getting killed on the spot. I will chop all these people to death in advance. All under heaven belongs to the king. If a monk dares to ride on my head, keeping him alive will be my greatest shame.
"Don't worry. We can see through this little trick. With your encouragement, they will definitely spread it widely these days. Especially the monks in Tianlong Temple. They want to praise themselves to the sky. And I don't know what the King of Nanzhao is thinking. He actually advocates Buddhism so much. If a conflict comes one day in the future, won't he be pushed off the throne by these believers?"
If it comes to the ruler of his country, Su Dingfang would not dare to comment casually even if he has a good relationship with Li Xiang. No one may care about this now, but if you go downhill in the future, this sentence may cost the lives of your entire family, and it will be too late to regret it then.
But if it comes to commenting on other royal families, Su Dingfang has no such scruples. The main reason is that he followed Li Xiang in his campaigns, and he has wiped out countless royal families. Weren't those people more glorious than the royal family of Nanzhao? But under our sword, he dared not go south even if he was told to go north.
Just like yesterday, after returning to the guesthouse where he was staying, Li Xiang kept everyone out of the door, saying that he had gained some profound insights in the temple today and would not meet with everyone for the rest of the time. He wanted to think carefully about everything that happened today in his residence.
When Li Xiang said this, many Nanzhao officials were moved to tears. They did not expect that the Crown Prince from the Tang Dynasty would have such a high interest in Buddhism. He even spent nearly half a day to comprehend all this. It showed that he really wanted to worship Buddha, and was not just following the crowd like some people.
The Prince of Zhennan was convinced. Li Xiang wasn't out to harm them, but was drawn to Buddhism. He was puzzled. Many people in Nanzhao believed in Buddhism, so why did the heir from the north also believe in Buddhism? Could Buddhism really be so alluring?
In addition to this, Li Xiang also specially invited more than a dozen monks from Tianlong Temple and asked them to chant scriptures and worship Buddha outside his residence, saying that he wanted to fall asleep listening to the Buddha's music.
This made the people around him even more convinced. As a senior actor, Li Xiang certainly understood what it meant to act out a full set. If he had not invited these dozen monks, the persuasiveness of the performance during the day might not have been high. But if they fell asleep listening to Buddhist music, it would be completely different. This showed that they were convinced from the bottom of their hearts, which was far beyond the officials of Nanzhao Kingdom.
In addition, Li Xiang also sent people to deliver a large amount of rewards to Tianlong Temple. Of course, this cannot be called a reward. As a devout believer, Li Xiang took out this money to serve the Buddha.
Five thousand taels of gold...
When they heard this number that night, they were all shocked. Tianlong Temple had received the largest donation in its history, and it also came with a handwritten letter from Li Xiang, which contained more than ten pages. Of course, most of it were copied Buddhist scriptures. If Li Xiang were asked to express his own experience, he would not be able to write so much even if he was beaten to death.
Master Jinghong believed from the bottom of his heart that Li Xiang must be a true Buddhist, otherwise he would not have caused so many troubles. The monks in the temple also thought this was an excellent opportunity for publicity, so that night, a large number of monks left Tianlong Temple. They were going to other temples to communicate, in fact, to publicize all this.
As for the officials of Nanzhao Kingdom, they seemed to be excited and spread all this throughout the city. For a time, the reputation of Tianlong Temple rose, and when many monks walked on the streets, many people saluted them.
Li Xiang knew very well that his stay in Nanzhao would not be long, only one month at most. In addition to collecting information from here, he also had to find their weaknesses. Now that their weaknesses had been found, he would vigorously promote Buddhism and let all the people believe that the Tang Dynasty had the same ideas as them. Then these people would devote themselves to the faith without hesitation. As for social production, it would probably be even slower.
"Take this to Master Jinghong of Tianlong Temple and tell him that I plan to spend another 20,000 strings of cash to build more temples outside the royal city. I hope Master Jinghong can find enough disciples to serve as abbots."
When Li Xiang woke up the next day, he immediately took out a letter and asked Zhang Jiuli to deliver it to Master Jinghong. Qian Ping was a disabled person, and even if such a person came to the temple, he would be looked down upon by Master Jinghong. But Zhang Jiuli was different. This was the formal court compound of the Tang Dynasty, so he had to appear more important than Qian Ping. Didn't he have to perform a full show?
