During the Three Kingdoms period, heroic generals emerged one after another, and troubled times often gave birth to all kinds of characters. Some are admirable for loyalty, and some are sinister and cunning. Although Cao Cao has many conspiracies, he is also good at selecting talents, which shows that evaluating a person cannot start from only one aspect. Sometimes, it is really embarrassing that those treacherous villains become "ambassadors" of Buddhism.
In that war-torn era, Lu Bu was nicknamed "the slave of the three surnames", although he was excellent in martial arts, he was not welcomed. And the person to be said below is not well known to the world, but he is even more "shameless" than Lu Bu, specializing in mutilating those who have shown kindness to him.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a man named Zhenrong who was unknown among many generals. When he was young, he managed the affairs of a county under Tao Qian. Once, he was ordered to transport grain to Xuzhou, but after learning the purpose of the grain, he did not deliver it as agreed, but seized it privately. Subsequently, he built a Buddhist temple in Xiapi City, forced the people to chant sutras day and night, and forced nearby monks and nuns to come. He stipulated that those who prayed in the Buddhist temples he built were exempt from forced labor. As a result, thousands of believers poured in and became followers of Zhenrong. Zhenrong even held a Buddhist meeting with hundreds of millions of dollars, which shows his fanaticism for Buddhism.
In the years of war, Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou on a large scale, and the people in the city fell into panic. Zhen Rong knew that he could not resist in front of Cao Cao, so he fled to Guangling County with more than 10,000 men. During the banquet, he found that Guangling County was rich in products, so he had bad thoughts. In the end, he took the opportunity to murder Zhao Yu, the guard of Guangling County, plundered property, burned, killed and looted like a bandit, and then fled with his subordinates.
While fleeing, Zhenrong defected to his former colleague Xue Li. Although Xue Li knew about Zhenrong's conspiracy methods, out of the affection of his colleagues, he failed to prevent it, and eventually became a victim of Zhenrong. Then, Zhu Rong defected to Yangzhou to assassinate Liu Xuan. Although the advisors dissuaded him many times, saying that Zhenrong was capricious and could not be trusted, Liu Miao still accepted him as a minister. Liu Miao sent Zhu Rong to assist Zhu Hao, a benevolent person. However, Zhen Rong framed Zhu Hao and usurped his position. Liu Miao was very angry when he learned about it, and sent troops to attack Zhenrong, but Zhenrong's troops were defeated, and he fled into the mountains, where he was finally killed by the local people, and the head was sent to Liu Xuan.
The funny thing is that this little-known Zhenrong, although he has no affection at both ends, became the leader of Buddhism in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The temple he built was a pivotal figure in the local area and had a profound impact on the development of Buddhism. He even took a series of measures, such as exempting believers from paying taxes, to create favorable conditions for the spread of Buddhism in the region.
However, Zhenrong's life is full of contradictions. Although he embraced Buddhism, his personal actions violated the precepts of Buddhism, repeatedly pointing butcher knives at those who had shown him favors. His insidious, cunning, ruthless side contrasts sharply with his contributions to Buddhism. Although his actions have left a magnificent chapter in the development of Buddhism in history, they have also made people have mixed evaluations of him.