Chapter 730: Withdrawal of troops and preparations for westward advance
"By God's blessing, the emperor issued an edict saying that there is a traitor in front of me disguised as an eminent monk, secretly assassinating me."
"Thanks to the blessings of the ancestors of the Ying family, although I was slightly injured, I was not seriously injured. The thieves are rampant, and we need to warn the world with heavy rules."
"Having heard the emperor's wrath, millions of corpses were laid down, and blood was shed for thousands of miles. I took the champion as my commander, led more than 400,000 tigers, and went south to conquer Buddhism."
"Today, the head of hundreds of thousands of Buddhist disciples, the leader of the Pure Land Sect, personally went to Chang'an to apologize and clarify the misunderstanding. The assassin was a Buddhist traitor. Although he was related to Buddhism, his crime did not lie with Buddhism."
"I feel the loyalty of the leader of the Pure Land Sect, who sacrificed one person's death in exchange for the survival of hundreds of thousands of Buddhist disciples, and since God has the virtue of a good life, I will no longer pursue this matter."
"I have ordered the champion to lead his army back to the north, release the captured Buddhist disciples, and bury the dead monks with honor."
At the gate of the Southern Expedition camp, the eunuch who delivered the edict read out the imperial edict loudly, and said to Lin Ze with a smile on his face: "Please accept the edict from the champion."
Lin Ze bowed slightly, stepped forward to receive the imperial edict, and said with a serious face: "I obey the edict."
Immediately afterwards, Lin Ze turned around, looked at Han Xin and others, and said calmly: "Your Majesty has a decree. This is just a misunderstanding. I ordered you to go back and gather the army immediately. There must be no mistakes."
"The captured monks must be put back intact so as not to make things difficult for His Majesty."
Led by Han Xin, Zhang Han, Li Xin and others all bowed their hands and said, "No."
Lin Ze nodded with satisfaction: "It's all gone."
Li Xin suddenly took a step forward, bowed and said in salute: "I would like to inform you, Lord Marquis, that I am currently confused about something, and I need to ask Lord Marquis to clarify it."
Lin Ze glanced at Li Xin and said indifferently: "What's the matter?"
Li Xin looked puzzled and said: "In addition to arresting monks this time, many Buddhist believers have also been arrested. May I ask Lord Marquis, how should these people be dealt with?"
Lin Ze was stunned for a moment, opened the imperial edict in his hand, read it carefully, and pretended to be angry: "Li Xin, Li Xin, you are really going to pose a problem to me. His Majesty's edict did not mention this matter. What do you want me to do?"
answer?"
Li Xin quickly apologized and said with a smile: "Master Hou is wise and powerful, he will definitely be able to come up with a good solution."
Lin Ze looked thoughtful when he heard this and said: "Those believers often preach that they can turn the pain in this life into blessings in the next life. They must have been extremely unfortunate in this life. How about just sending them to reincarnation? It is considered a good deed."
Li Xin immediately held his head high and said, "General, I will obey."
In May of the fifth year of Qin II, Hou Linze, the champion of Qin, led his army back to the north. By now, the land of South Vietnam was in ruins, and there was no human habitation for hundreds of miles.
…
On an unnamed peak, Lin Ze watched the Qin army meandering forward on the winding mountain road with complicated emotions.
If possible, he really doesn't want to withdraw his troops.
Lin Ze himself has neither good nor bad feelings towards Buddhism.
But from the perspective of the Qin State, he would definitely not want to take a breather if he could kill a force like Buddhism that had the power to make big things happen and jumped out to cause trouble at every turn.
The world is very big, and Lin Ze originally wanted to wait to see other places after solving the troubles of Qin's thousands of miles of territory.
Byzantium in the west, snowfields in the north, a resort island to the east, and the other half to the south, although I don’t know if there is another half in this world yet.
In his previous life, he couldn't go anywhere because he had no money. In this life, Lin Ze wanted to make up for it in another way.
Unfortunately, current conditions do not allow it.
It wasn't because Lin Ze missed Qin so much that he couldn't bear to leave.
But the temptation of immortality was in front of him, making it difficult for him to move.
Ever since he learned that Confucianism supported Liu Ji and Buddhism supported Zhao Tuo, Lin Ze instinctively felt that the immortality of Qin would definitely bring him unexpected benefits.
If possible, Lin Ze would like to destroy Buddhism and Confucianism in one fell swoop, allowing the world to live in peace and prosperity, waiting for good things to come.
The fact is that Lin Ze cannot, or is unwilling to do such a thing.
First, Lin Ze cannot destroy Buddhism and Confucianism.
Secondly, Lin Ze could not defend Qin.
Just like this time, even if Buddhism does not offer any benefits, Lin Ze can hold on for at least another half month and kill all the hundreds of thousands of monks and believers he has captured. He cannot stay in South Vietnam for long, waiting for a palm move to fall from the sky and kill him.
Shoot to death.
In the same way, Lin Ze would not try to tease Confucian again, lest in a few months, a mighty wave of righteousness would cross thousands of mountains and rivers and turn him into ashes thousands of miles away.
Lin Ze will no longer cling to the Qin Kingdom. He will be busy here and there every day, waiting for Liu Ji to lead the Confucianists and Zhao Tuo to lead the Buddhists to break through Chang'an and cut him into pieces.
So after Lin Ze got the benefits, he simply quit.
The eunuch and the imperial edict were prepared by Lin Ze before he came to South Vietnam.
For ordinary soldiers, arresting and releasing Buddhist people is actually very harmful to the morale and morale of the army.
That's why Lin Ze issued an imperial edict in the name of Hu Hai. As for whether the soldiers would call Hu Hai a coward, what does it have to do with Lin Ze?
In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, even if Lin Ze is a champion, he cannot be greater than His Majesty.
Hu Hai has taken the blame.
After the imperial edict was made public, Lin Ze ordered military officers at all levels to strictly urge the Qin army to release the prisoners and return to the east, west and north on the grounds that they were acting in accordance with the edict.
The soldiers of the Qin army, holding their breath, had no choice but to obey their orders.
In just three days, all 400,000 Qin troops left the field and rushed to Chang'an.
Next, Lin Ze will take them into the Western Regions on the pretext of conquering the Byzantine Empire and watch the world change.
After the incident in South Vietnam was over, Lin Ze rushed back to Chang'an without stopping.
According to Qin law, the commander cannot leave the army privately and act alone.
But Lin Ze had no inhibitions at this time.
Even Hu Hai was imprisoned in the "big prison" in Xianyang Palace and was not allowed to be free. Who could control him?
…
In the Prime Minister's Mansion, Chen Ping was dealing with seemingly endless government affairs. When he saw Lin Ze walking in, he immediately threw away the memorial in his hand, bowed and said, "Meet Uncle Master."
Lin Ze waved his hand to indicate not to be too polite, then he pulled up a chair at random, sat on it, and said with a serious face: "From today on, these government affairs will be delayed as long as possible, and all the focus will be on the Western Region."
"It is a pity that the grain, grass and military equipment in the treasury are left to grow moldy in the warehouse. Let's arrange for reliable personnel to send them to various cities in the Western Region and store them for future use."
Chen Ping heard this and asked: "Uncle Master, do you plan to transport all the grain, grass and weapons in the treasury?"
Lin Ze glanced at Chen Ping with a strange look on his face, shook his head and said, "How can this happen? There are millions of ordinary people in Chang'an City. If the weapons are gone, there will be nothing, and the food and grass will be gone. How can you let them live?"
"Leave half of it, eat less, and wait until the autumn harvest. I guess it won't be a big problem."
Chen Ping nodded seriously and said: "What my uncle said is absolutely true, my nephew should act accordingly."
Lin Ze thought for a while and said: "The main purpose of entering the Western Region this time is to conquer the Byzantine Kingdom in the far west. The journey is long and the transportation of arms is not easy. In order to save costs, it is necessary to recruit half of the generals from the Shaofu to accompany the army."
"For the same reason, half of the doctors from the Imperial Hospital are recruited to serve as military doctors to prevent the soldiers from becoming acclimatized."
Chen Ping nodded: "My nephew has taken note of it."
"Arrange for someone to copy the martial arts and martial arts skills above the earth level, and then use them as rewards to give to ministers who have made meritorious deeds."
"good."
"An additional 300,000 civilians were recruited to build roads in the Western Region to facilitate the march."
"good"
…
Lin Ze talked non-stop for half an hour, going through everything he wanted to move to the Western Region, including people.
Compared with the Central Plains and Guanzhong, the Western Region is too barren. If he doesn't "rob the rich and give to the poor," what will Lin Ze do to compete with others?