"My son, can I still trust you?"

Zhang Hao was sitting on a bed, and when he said this, two people were kneeling in front of him.

The commander of the Jinyi Guards, Zhang Liecheng, Marquis of Yecheng. The deputy commander of the Jinyi Guards, Zhang Lieming.

Zhang Lieming put his head on the ground, wishing that he wasn't even there now.

Zhang Liecheng was so frightened that he almost collapsed on the ground. The words "my son" in Zhang Yan's mouth definitely meant him, not Zhang Lieming.

"My son is guilty of death! But my loyalty to my lord has never changed for a while.

Fourteen years ago, you gave me a mouthful of food to the child who was about to starve to death in the desert in the middle of the river. From that time on, I swore to serve you with my life."

After finishing speaking, Zhang Liecheng gave a bitter smile and said, "How could a child who could be bullied by everyone become the adopted son of the world's supreme being and enjoy wealth and honor that he could not even imagine, betray his father?"

Zhang Gao stared at Zhang Liecheng, and Zhang Liecheng faced Zhang Gao's scrutiny calmly.

This is not Zhang Zhao being meddlesome, but what happened just now is indeed a bit too shocking for an emperor like him.

Zhang Gao once confidently believed that he was a rare hero in the world and that everyone around him had received great favors from him, so his safety should be foolproof.

But today, the appearance of Master Cixian broke Zhang Gao's proud protective shell.

A monk, or a monk of unknown origin, could actually appear only a few feet away from him without his knowledge.

If this is an assassin with a crossbow, Zhang Yan will explain it today!

When he thought of this, Zhang Hao's inner anger surged like heaven.

I think back then in Honnōji Temple, Oda Nobunaga was so aggrieved that he was killed by others.

Damn you! If the Central Plains Buddhism hadn't still had expectations for him, Zhang Yan, they would have just carried out a revolution in Xiangji Temple.

The more he thought about it, the more angry he became. Zhang Ji pointed at Zhang Liecheng, "Even now, you are still flaunting your filial piety and loyalty, but your father was almost killed on the spot because of your negligence."

Hearing the word negligence spoken by Zhang Hao himself, Zhang Liecheng finally burst into tears, tears welling up in his eyes.

"My lord, please punish me for your capital crime."

How to prevent such a thing from happening again, Zhang Yan thought a lot in his mind when Master Cixian left.

The best way, of course, is to completely drive away all the personal guards except Han people, leaving only the guards from all ethnic groups in Hexi who believe deeply in the Six Methods Sect.

They regard Zhang Gao as the true god, and their interests are completely consistent with Zhang Gao's, and they will not be infiltrated by Central Plains Buddhism at all.

But Zhang Gao rejected this option with great perseverance.

This step must not be taken any further.

If this continues, those pro-army soldiers in Longyou, Hexi Province who believe deeply in the Six Dharma Sect will really become Yenicherries.

Moreover, the conflict between sects or ideas at this time was still very fierce, especially the cultural conflict between Confucianism and Buddhism with a Tianzhu flavor. It can be said that there was no concession at all.

The fight between the two sides even led to the extermination of Buddhism in Huichang a hundred years ago. This can be seen from the fierce attitude of Han Yu, the Confucian leader who supported the extermination of Buddhism, towards Buddhism.

Zhang Yan has not unified the world yet. If he attaches too many religious elements to his body at this time, he will immediately be at odds with Confucianism, which is full of strange power and chaos. It will severely damage the sage king Ming Dynasty that Zhang Yan is working hard to create.

Main image.

Zhang Gao heard someone say before that Confucian culture is the choice of all Chinese people, and that the exclusive respect of Confucianism in all dynasties is just to conform to the human heart.

At that time, Zhang Hao scoffed at this and thought it was complete nonsense, but now it seems that it is not completely unreasonable.

Ever since Buddhism was introduced from Tianzhu at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, religious (philosophical) contradictions in China have been very acute, and there has been no shortage of believers in all dynasties who want to establish an earthly Buddhist kingdom to cause trouble.

The reason for this is largely because the original Buddhist thought was completely foreign to India, and was naturally incompatible with the Chinese culture that had been integrated and inherited as early as the Spring and Autumn Period.

So who is resisting Buddhism? Not Taoism, not Legalism, not to mention Mohism.

It was Confucianism that resisted Buddhism and finally eliminated the waste and retained the essence from the Tianzhu culture brought by Buddhism, taking its essence and discarding its dross.

Only Confucianism, which advocates the unity of nature and man, practices secular government, promotes ancestor worship, and sets KPIs for gods and Buddhas, can carry this banner.

At this time, it was this critical period of integration, and it was also the reason why after the Three Martial Arts and One Sect destroyed the Buddhist Zhongzhou Shizong, future generations would no longer need to destroy the Buddha.

Because after that, Buddhism was completely integrated into Chinese culture, and the three schools of thought, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, were basically unified in the general direction. There was no major religious conflict in the entire Chinese culture.

Zhang Yan is also a secular person, and he can only follow the choice of history - to promote Confucianism to a high platform and complete the historical mission that was historically undertaken by Zhou Shizong Guo Rong, but now can only be completed by him.

"Saint!" Li Xiaojie walked in quickly from outside.

"Yuhou An Sizhong, the third general of Feihu, the third capital of the left camp of the Right Divine Power Guards, who was on duty last night, suddenly disappeared. Also disappearing with him were two close troops of the Left Divine Power Guards.

An epidemic broke out in General Feihu's camp, and more than thirty people were unable to get out of bed."

"Sure enough, it's the Right Divine Power Guards!" Zhang Yan's face turned livid. He thought for a long time. The ones who might have problems among the pro-army would only be the Left and Right Divine Power Guards, which were composed of the former Imperial Guards of the Later Jin Dynasty. The Left and Right Divine Power Guards were composed of local tyrants from Hebei and Henan.

The Qianniu Guards, as well as the left and right Leopard Tao Guards composed of Hedong soldiers and Youyun heroes.

Because these are the only soldiers of the Six Guards, were they formed by Zhang Yan after he entered the Central Plains? Together with the Central Plains and Youyun, Buddhism has always been popular in Hedong, and they are most likely to be infiltrated by the Central Plains Buddhism.

Among the three pro-armies who followed him to Xiangji Temple, the Lin Guards on the right and the Longxiang Guards on the left were all from Longyou, Hexi.

The middle lieutenant of Lin Wei on the right will be Li Cunhui, and the middle lieutenant of Long Xiang Wei on the left will be Fan Quan. These are Zhang Gao's closest confidants and can never be bribed.

Then only the You Shenwei Guards are left. More than 60% of the soldiers are composed of the former Imperial Guards of the Later Jin Dynasty. There may be problems.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Zhang Hao asked in a low voice.

Li Xiaojie quickly shook his head, "General of the Right Divine Power Guards, Uncle An Yuan Jiao Jixun has already blocked the news, and is now kneeling outside the door to plead guilty. No one else knows except Uncle An Yuan's personal guards."

Zhang Yan trusted Li Xiaojie very much. He even gained Zhang Yan's trust more than Zhang Liecheng and Zhang Lieming.

Zhang Liecheng has a character flaw and cares too much about power and reputation. Under the current circumstances, he may hide something in order not to lose points in front of Zhang Yan.

Zhang Lieming may be influenced by the Zhang family of Shazhou.

Only Li Xiaojie was born in Dangxiang, Yuanzhou. His grandfather Li Zhongchao and his father Li Siyi were among the first batch of old people to follow Zhang Zhi into the pass.

Although they were coerced to follow the Guiyi Army into Guanzhong to quell the rebellion, Li Zhongchao and his son completely surrendered after the war.

Now the party members of Li Zhongchao's tribe have moved to Lingzhou, a place with abundant water and grass. There are more than 20 officers in the clan who are above the general Yuhou. They all believe in the Six Methods Sect and are deeply bound to Zhang Gao.

Li Xiaojie himself was brought to Liangzhou by Zhang Yan when he was eleven years old. He has always lived with Zhang Yan and was raised in the palace longer than Yang Jiye.

Therefore, at this time, Li Xiaojie is the most reliable.

"Call the imperial physician and order Zhao Jinfang to come and ask him to personally lead people to find out what's going on with the disease in You Shenwei Guards. As for Jiao Jixun."

Zhang Hao was a little undecided, because he now didn't trust the Youshen Weiwei. Who knew if Jiao Jixun was involved in anything.

"Uncle! You must summon Uncle Anzhou immediately to comfort you. Perhaps their intention is not to test your attitude towards Buddhism, but to punish you!"

Zhang Lieming, who had been keeping his head on the floor tiles, saw Zhang Hao hesitate and immediately lowered his voice and shouted.

Zhang Hao glared at him angrily, "What is your identity? Do you know what killing the heart is?"

Zhang Lieming was so frightened that cold sweat fell from his face, but he still said to Zhang Hao tremblingly: "How can a general be attached to his hair without skin? My nephew's surname is Zhang!"

Zhang Yan withdrew his gaze from Zhang Lieming, closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"Zhang Liecheng immediately went back to Tokyo to sort out those among the Jinyi guards who had anything to do with Buddhism. We also wanted to find out those who believed in Buddhism, but we had to do it in secret and not to alert others.

Zhang Lieming, you go to Chang'an City, find Luo Yuer, and ask him to bring Changguo Town.

On Xiaojie, go and tell Jiao Jixun to come in, and then ask someone to inform Li Gu and Zhao Pu."

Jiao Jixun felt as if his feet weighed ten thousand kilograms. Li Xiaojie didn't know An Sizhong's background yet, but he knew very clearly.

Just based on the surname An, we know that An Sizhong must be from Shatuo, but he is just a fake Shatuo among the three tribes of Daibei.

The four generations of An Si Chong's ancestors were all warriors. His great-grandfather also served as a personal attendant of Li Jinwang's father, Li Guochang.

Now that such a big thing has happened, the relationship between the saint and the warriors of Daibei and Hedong is a bit delicate. If this matter involves all the pro-army and forbidden soldiers who are from the warrior class of Daibei and Hedong, then it will be really big trouble.

.

Jiao Jixun, whose mind was in turmoil, followed several royal guards into the inner hall, and soon saw the emperor standing in the room. The emperor was talking to Li Gu and Zhao Pu.

As soon as Jiao Jixun came in, the emperor saw him. There was no thunderous anger. Of course, he didn't immediately ask someone to take him down. He didn't even blame him.

"The results are here! Don't be nervous. I know that this matter has nothing to do with you. Someone is coming to drive a wedge between you and me. Sit down and tell me, where did An Sizhong come from? I am not kind to him."

Hearing this, Jiao Jixun burst into tears. What a good emperor! He encountered such a great danger, but he didn't even blame him, and he could still look so kind.

You must know that Zhang Shengren is not a king with little power like Shi Chonggui.

To put it bluntly, even if Shi Chonggui encountered this kind of thing, it is certain that a number of people would die, not to mention a mass killing.

"I, Jiao Jixun, am ashamed of my faith in the saint, and deserve to die! But I must say that many soldiers in the army, such as Pao Zeduo, have great respect for the saint. It is rare to see someone like An Sizhong who harbors evil intentions."

"You!" Zhang Hao couldn't help but reach out and click on Jiao Jixun a few times.

This famous minister who was known as a Confucian general in history and who made many great achievements has always been treated as a tool. It may have something to do with his temper.

Is this what you, a sin-stricken person, can say? It’s rare for you to say it yourself, but you have to bear the responsibility. If An Sizhong really comes out again, just by these words, Zhang Yan can be justified and legal

Cut off Jiao Jixun's head.

But such a capable and daring general was exactly what Zhang Gao wanted.

Moreover, after receiving Zhang Lieming's reminder, Zhang Yan also thought clearly.

He realized that Buddhism alone certainly did not have such great energy, at least when it was punished by Chai Rong in history, they did not have such a resistance ability.
To be continued...