"Your Majesty, I have an important matter to report."
"This matter is grave, so I dared not speak of it before the ministers."
Pei Xiu spoke in a low voice.
Cao Mao asked curiously, "Is it about Sha Province? Speak freely."
Frowning, Pei Xiu said solemnly, "More and more people are embracing Buddhism. While investigating Long Hui and the others, I discovered that all the local monarchs have converted to Buddhism. They all support monks and force their people to provide the monks with money..."
"They also expend vast amounts of labor building Buddhist pagodas, grant large tracts of cultivated land to monks and temples, and even give them commoners as servants..."
"It is not just Sha Province. Many monks have now appeared in Liang, Yong, Liang, and even Yi. The great clans throughout the Central Plains frequently invite monks into their homes, admiring their scriptural scholarship..."
As Cao Mao listened to Pei Xiu's account, there was not the slightest surprise in his eyes.
This was barely the beginning.
Monks had arrived in the Central Plains back in the Former Han. After all these years of cultivation, their influence was growing ever greater. Of course, it could not yet be called extensive; it was only substantial over in Sha Province, while they remained at a disadvantage in the Central Plains.
But in the years to come, they would grow faster and faster, even enough to arouse the wariness of northern emperors.
Take the celebrated "Northern and Southern Dynasties enthusiast of little essays," Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, Tuoba Tao.
This fellow had felt that Buddhist influence had grown too great, even affecting his national strength. In a fit of fury, he launched a sweeping campaign to eradicate Buddhism.
The result was that the Son of Heaven flew into a rage,