It is not difficult to see from this example that in order for a religion to gain power over the regime, the first thing is to get the support of the secular regime, so that it has room to proselytize, and secondly, the secular regime declines, and the sect has a large number of believers. That's when religion can turn spiritual leadership into secular influence.

Of course, it is not difficult to understand that there was no such thing as clerical subversion in ancient China.

Like the Orthodox Church of the Eastern Roman Empire. It has a deep tradition of civilization, and it will not easily allow the religious forces in its territory to threaten its rule. More critically, there is no influential religious doctrine and church in China that has a single "messenger on behalf of heaven".

In other words, it is impossible to transform the spiritual influence of the clergy into a secular influence at the right time.

On the contrary, the supreme emperor of secular power, that is, the Son of Heaven, who has always been known as the son of God, the so-called monarchy of heaven, I am ordered by heaven, there is a religious meaning here, and at the same time, if there is a drought in the sky, there is a tradition of the Son of Heaven sacrificing and praying for rain, and part of the divine power is given to the emperor, which is also the divine righteousness that affects religion.

In China, the emperor is the embodiment of the integration of political power and theocracy, so religion has never been involved in the political field in China, and it has to be said that this is a kind of luck.

Of course, it is not without precedent to use religion to subvert the regime, the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhang Jiao founded Taiping Dao, with millions of believers.

But in the end, it was destroyed, because the religion founded by Zhang Jiao had too deep significance in entering the WTO. As a result, the Taiping Sect could not really develop.

Millions of believers were poor people, who did not have the support of the rulers, and therefore did not have the support of the middle and upper classes, and had too few resources at hand for war, and at the same time, the doctrine of opposing the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty made it necessary to stand out from the current dynasty until it was extinguished.

Without the support of the regime, this thing would not have been possible.

"The minister thinks that if you don't believe it, the emperor, we can do an experiment." Zhang Nan said with a smile.

"Experiments? What experiments to do? Comrade Li Er asked with some puzzlement.

"We can take Tibet as an experiment to see if this religion is as powerful as the minister said." Zhang Nan said with a smile.

In fact, when Songtsen Gampo did not ascend to the throne, Buddhism had not yet entered Tibet.

The traditional belief in Tibet is the Yongzhong religion, which has long incorporated many elements of primitive Buddhism that grew up on its own. He also worships the gods of nature, and there are professional mages.

These nature worship, ghost worship, totem worship, as well as divination, taboos, witchcraft, blood sacrifices, etc., are all important characteristics of the primitive religion that was originally popular in Tibet.

Primitive religions placed great emphasis on exorcism and taboos. The ritual of warding off evil spirits is performed with a cleansing of the body, followed by the burning of juniper wood and herbs, which is the climax. According to Chinese historical records, small prayer activities must kill sheep, dogs, and macaques, and large prayer activities must kill horses, cows, dogs, donkeys, and human sacrifices. Although with the rise of the religion, family sacrifices of ordinary people were rarely held and replaced by models, but this tradition was still preserved in the homes of Zampu and nobles. It was not abolished until after the great prosperity of Buddhism.

It is true that Buddhism began in Songtsen Gampo, but it was not the flourishing period of Buddhism at that time, in fact, Bon still dominated until the succession of Qili Sulong, and although Buddhism was spreading, it did not gain the upper hand.

Therefore, Zhang Nan felt that it was not impossible to do an experiment with Tubo at this time.

"What experiments do you want to do, you can talk about it first." Li Er asked with interest.

"It's simple, since the emperor doesn't believe that this religion has such power, then let's use religion to destroy Tibet." Zhang Nan said it lightly, but there were already bursts of surprise in the court.

Even Li Er, who has always believed in Zhang Nan on weekdays, has an unbelievable look on his face.

"Qingquan, you are talking wildly." Li Er sat on the dragon chair and looked at Zhang Nan with some disbelief and said.

"The minister doesn't think this is a wild talk, the emperor, you don't believe the minister, it's just that you haven't seen a country destroyed by religion." Zhang Nan said.

"Qingquan, are you so sure?" Li Er still did not believe that a single religion could destroy a country, and in Comrade Li Er's view, this was very unrealistic.

At least this seemingly very unrealistic way is not directly defeated by force at all, after all, it is obvious to attack by force, and if you can't hit it, you can't fight it.

"Your Majesty, you will know if you try it, and you don't need money to try it anyway." Zhang Nan said.

"Tell me what you want to do?" Li Erdao.

"It's very simple, first and foremost, go to them in large numbers and recruit believers. With a certain base of believers, we will be able to gain the attention of their Tibetan officials, and when the time comes, we will be able to gain their support, and then turn the teachings we have given them into the state religion of Tibet. ”

Zhang Nan said very surely.

"Qingquan, can you guarantee that those people in Tubo are willing to believe this teaching in your mouth?" Fang Xuanling asked with some disbelieving.

"Haha, of course, the kid dares to ask Lord Fang, what does Lord Fang think, who has the most people in this Tubo?" Zhang Nan asked.

"This ......" was asked so suddenly by Zhang Nan, Fang Xuanling, a famous strategist, had no idea for a while, who is the most popular?

"Of course, they have the most people, and without the people, how can a country be a country?" Zhang Nan looked at Fang Xuanling and was speechless for a while, and he also asked himself directly, after all, his relationship with Fang Xuanling was good.

Fang Xuanling nodded, agreeing with Zhang Nan's statement.

"Then ask Lord Fang again, who has the most people among these people?" Zhang Nan continued to ask.

"Naturally, they are poor, the country of Tibet is not a rich country, even their nobles have a hard time, let alone the common people." Without waiting for Fang Xuanling to answer, the eldest grandson Wuji answered Zhang Nan's question.

"Oh? It seems that the eldest grandson knows a lot about Tubo, and even knows so well what kind of life their nobles live. Zhang Nan also quipped.

"In the early years, the old man also dealt with those Tubo people, not to mention the aristocracy, that place is a bitter and cold place, and the grain is not easy to grow, so the life is naturally not so nourishing." The eldest grandson Wuji explained.

"That's right, since you said that the life of the Tubo people is not satisfactory, then my sect can make them live happily, do you think they will believe in my sect?" Zhang Nan said with a smile.