After giving instructions to Wang Caozhi, Ouyang Rong became the shopkeeper and returned directly to Xunyang City.

Wang Caozhi was there at the Xunyang Grottoes, so he was quite relieved.

Ouyang Rong can keep an eye on every little sign of trouble.

This kid is very clever. Every time Ouyang Rong goes by, he always appears when he should and doesn't appear when he shouldn't. Observation of movement and positioning are two skills that he has fully tapped. Liu Lang has them all.

Not necessarily comparable.

And I don’t know what happened. It seems that every time Wang Caozhi is mentioned in chat, Liu Lang always has a look of awe and admiration for him.

It was also thanks to Wang Caozhi that we were able to discover the sneaky and suspicious thin-faced man this time.

In short, this guy is a fucking talent.

Ouyang Rong laughed.

On the way back to Xunyang City, I happened to have some free time.

Ouyang Rong took out the piano-shaped Mohist sword box from under his seat and stroked it with his palm.

He nodded slightly.

The sword box was intact and had not been touched.

However, Ouyang Rong still closed his eyes and felt it.

His face was slightly startled.

[Takuzu]'s mood is a little low, it seems because... there is no fight, no chance to have fun.

Realizing this, the corner of Ouyang Rong's mouth twitched slightly.

"You really don't think it's a big deal..."

Shaking his head and putting away the sword case, Ouyang Rong shook out three Burning Sky Thunders from his sleeves and put them all under the seat.

Put them together with three small bamboo tubes containing spiritual ink.

After doing this, Ouyang Rong closed his eyes and entered the merit tower.

Above the little wooden fish, the numbers in blue-gold fonts have grown a bit.

[Merit: five thousand five hundred and eighty-eight]

Ouyang Rong remembered that he had more than 4,300 merit points before.

This wave has increased by nearly 1,300 merit points.

In the Tower of Merit, he frowned slightly and stood quietly, unconsciously stroking the round little wooden fish with his palm.

Ouyang Rong recalled it carefully.

The reason why I frown is because the increased merit values ​​are far from matching the value of Donglin Buddha.

Even strictly speaking, the completion of the Donglin Giant Buddha has not gained any merit.

According to the normal growth rate of his merit points in the past, plus the sporadic merit points contributed by Rong Nushi in the "merit experience package" in the past few days, it is estimated that there are about two hundred merit points.

Deducting the 1,300 merit points is equivalent to saying that just because the Donglin Giant Buddha was completed, more than 1,100 merit points were added.

Ouyang Rong clearly remembered that these more than 1,100 merit points only increased after the first ray of sunlight shone on the head of Donglin Buddha at dawn in the morning, creating a dazzling golden light effect.

It can be said that it was Rong Zhen, Nanny Song, Yi Qianqiu and other people present who witnessed the "miracle of golden light" who admired and appreciated it and contributed it to him.

Because the better and more perfect the Donglin Buddha is, the greater the contribution of everyone who contributed, and the greater the rewards for the saints and the Zhou court.

If these are excluded, the merit increase of the simple landing of the Buddha is almost negligible, far from matching its specifications, and not worthy of the time and energy Ouyang Rong spent on it.

Especially compared with the previous projects such as Dickong Gate, Broken Wing Canal and Twin Peaks that he presided over, they are even more sparse.

After settling the account, Ouyang Rong couldn't help but touched his chin and muttered:

“Is it because it’s not very effective and not as beneficial to the country and the people as I thought before? Or is it because it looks good and doesn’t benefit the people at all?

"Or is it that the construction of the Broken Wing Canal is an exception in itself? Is it that they are so effective that they have skyrocketed their merits and raised my expectations? In fact, is this the Donglin Giant Buddha now standard?"

Ouyang Rong's tone was doubtful, with a look of thinking on his face.

In fact, he had noticed before that the people of Xunyang had very complicated feelings towards this giant Buddha. After experiencing the collapse and burning of the Xingzifang Buddha, they did not have much expectation and admiration for the Donglin Giant Buddha, and even felt uneasy.

Few objections.

Anyway, most people are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Perhaps this is also the reason why the merits provided by the Buddha do not increase as much as expected.

From the perspective of people's livelihood in Xunyang, it has no immediate effect on improving people's livelihood, at least not in the short term. It is more like a dispensable performance project that is easily complained about by the people in private.

If the truth is like this, after the completion of the Donglin Giant Buddha, Ouyang Lianghan's merits were not reversed. Thank God, and the fellow villagers showed mercy.

From here, it seems that we can also see the role of a good reputation.

The people of Xunyang do not blame Ouyang Rong as the governor, and may even understand him very well.

Because behind the Donglin Buddha is the saint from Luoyang, they cannot be blamed, and Ouyang Rong, as the governor, cannot disobey him.

So everyone's emotions are more complicated.

Ouyang Rong sighed softly when he thought about the thought of not increasing his merits.

In fact, Ouyang Rong also asked himself, and even asked Rong Zhen, whether the Giant Buddha should be built and whether it was worth building.

Rong Zhen's attitude is categorical, except that she is a person close to Her Majesty the Queen and is loyal.

Rong Zhen also firmly told him that the Donglin Giant Buddha could reverse the situation on the southwest front. It could help the court firmly stabilize the Jiangzhou and Hongzhou front lines, and then become the ballast stone for the rich southeast rear.

Ouyang Rong did not comment at the time about Rong Nu Shi's painting.

He actually has a longer-term consideration.

It's cultural and artistic.

There are some things in this world that will benefit the present generation and benefit the future.

Some things are useless for the present, but they will be beneficial for the future.

There are also some things, even if the sin is in the present time, the benefit will be in the future.

Looking at it now, there is a high probability that the Donglin Giant Buddha is not the first or the third type.

But the second kind.

The Donglin Buddha itself is not important, what is important is the construction of Xunyang Grottoes driven by it.

The Xunyang Grottoes have never had only one main grotto or only one Buddha statue standing there.

From the moment Ouyang Rong planned it, he did not regard it as a simple construction overnight, but as a long-term shared project that will be continuously filled by future generations.

In the planning of Xunyang Grottoes, there will be hundreds of large and small grottoes and nearly a thousand large and small Buddha statues, because each grotto can accommodate multiple small Buddha statues.

Even these numbers are still to be determined, and they can be added in the future, just by extending to the left and right river banks.

But this is definitely not something that can be accomplished overnight.

Ouyang Rong only built the core main grotto and the largest Buddha statue.

It was like leaving a blank picture scroll to everyone, and he only made an inscription on it as the beginning.

The Donglin Giant Buddha will play a leading role, and it will inevitably attract major Buddhist temples in Jiangzhou, Jiangnan, and the world to build statues here and spread their Buddhist dharma. They will try their best to leave the most exquisite stone carvings, paintings, and other techniques of their respective Buddhist schools.

Xunyang City is an eye-catching place in the world with connections in all directions and rivers converging.

And it’s not just about spreading Buddhism. The cultural and open atmosphere brought by celebrities in Kuanglu Mountain and Xunyang has made Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism merge here.

Working together to build a perfect Xunyang Grottoes will never become a solitary show for each family. It is destined to be a place where hundreds of flowers compete for beauty, and bright sparks will shine on the cliffs of the grottoes on the north bank of Shuangfengjian.

By then, the Xunyang Grottoes, located on the north bank of Shuangfengjian, will probably become the peak of stone carving skills at that time and a treasure house of some kind of art.

From this perspective, the significance of Xunyang Grottoes is no less than that of Zheyi Canal.

Future generations may see this in the history books: "In the third year of Wei Zhou Tianyou's reign, the emperor's order could not be resisted, and Xun Shou Ouyang Rong built a giant Buddha on the north bank of the river, where the Xunyang Grottoes began."

Although Ouyang Rong didn't care much about this false reputation, many people, such as the Empress of Zhou, did.

This saint wants people a thousand years from now to know that this is her face when they look up at the Buddha.

She doesn't care about the rest.

But Ouyang Rong cares about other things.

Sometimes, a famous poem can make a building famous for thousands of years, and even the name of a place that has never been visited will be known to the world a thousand years later.

This is the cultural fame of a city and a place. It is a source of pride for local people, and their sense of belonging comes from cultural consensus.

The same is true for Xunyang Grottoes.

From this perspective, its significance to Xunyang City in Jiangzhou may really be worthy of the phrase "Benefit for a long time to come".

Ouyang Rong's vision was very far-sighted, some of which he couldn't even tell others. He mentioned it to Rong Zhen once, but she also had only a partial understanding of it. She didn't know whether he understood it or not. She only remembered that day, after Rong Zhen listened, she looked at him with a somewhat confused look.

change……

Because of this, he was mentally prepared for the feedback that the little wooden fish had almost zero merit this time.
To be continued...