Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

For the newly accepted guides, you can't just threaten them blindly, it's best to coax and threaten them.

During their stay in Luoyang, Zhu Ming even summoned Dong Mingshou several times to ask the Buddhist master of Dali for advice on Buddhism.

Well, it's mainly because I'm a little interested in exploring Dali's esoteric Buddhism.

Indian esoteric Buddhism is divided into early, middle and late periods.

Early esoteric Buddhism was introduced to China during the Western Jin Dynasty and is commonly known as "mixed esoteric Buddhism".

Tang esoteric Buddhism originated from the middle esoteric Buddhism, also known as "pure esoteric Buddhism". It not only has Mahayana precepts, but also participates in the mutual integration of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

Tibetan esoteric Buddhism belongs to the late esoteric Buddhism, and the specific situation is not convenient to comment on.

Dong Mingshou practiced Dali esoteric Buddhism, which also originated from the middle esoteric Buddhism, also known as "Yunnan esoteric Buddhism". It was first introduced from Myanmar, then integrated with Dali's local religion, and later incorporated a lot of Tang esoteric content.

In general, Dali esoteric Buddhism belongs to the orthodox Mahayana Buddhism, but it is mixed with things that need to be discussed-it was not until the Yuan Dynasty that it was forced to become standardized.

"Master, you are indeed a master of profound Buddhist teachings," Zhu Ming said to Dong Mingshou after asking him about Buddhist teachings several times. "The practice rituals of Dali Esoteric Buddhism should be more civilized. Do you understand civilization?"

Dong Mingshou understood: "I will follow the teachings of the Holy Emperor."

Zhu Ming nodded and said: "In addition to the practice rituals, some sayings must be abandoned, such as the 'Twenty-five Surnames of Monks'."

Emperor Zhu actually knew this?

Dong Mingshou was shocked and knelt down and said: "This matter must wait until the Ming Dynasty sends troops."

"Yes." Zhu Ming agreed.

The "Twenty-five Surnames of Monks" is the foundation of Esoteric Buddhism in Yunnan, and it has appeared since the Nanzhao Kingdom period.

That is, Guanyin Bodhisattva came to Dali from India and selected twenty-five big surnames such as Duan and Yang to teach sentient beings with the exoteric and esoteric methods of Esoteric Buddhism. Only they can bring stability and happiness to the people. Therefore, these twenty-five big surnames are born "superior people" in Yunnan.

No matter how much the Gao family suppressed the Dong family, they dared not really take action against the Esoteric Buddhism, because they were also one of the twenty-five major surnames.

Esoteric Buddhism has been tied to the Dali Kingdom, providing legitimacy for the Dali king to rule.

It is also tied to the Dali nobles, providing legitimacy for the nobles to be the superiors.

Does it have a strong sense of déjà vu?

Caste system!

Dali Esoteric Buddhism is also known as Acharya Buddhism. It was originally the product of the combination of Mahayana Buddhism and Brahmanism. You can get married and have children, the Dharma is passed down from father to son, and various rituals are similar to primitive religions.

The Gao family is actually very embarrassed now. The twenty-five major surnames supported by Esoteric Buddhism have always been mainly Duan and Yang.

Now the Gao family is the only one in power. Supporting Esoteric Buddhism is supporting the Duan and Yang surnames, and not supporting Esoteric Buddhism is equivalent to denying itself.

For Zhu Ming, directly banning Dali Esoteric Buddhism will bring a lot of messy troubles. If the Dali Esoteric Buddhism is reformed and the "Twenty-five Surnames of Monks" are deleted, the theoretical foundation of the rebellion of the great families can be cut off, and the great families can be pulled down from the altar of "superior people".

Zhu Ming also said: "Master, you can visit the eminent monks in the East and West Capitals and study their methods more. In the future, the Dali Esoteric Buddhism will turn to praying for the people to eliminate disasters and pray for the souls of the dead. In addition, you cannot be crowned when you receive the precepts, and learn the precepts ceremony of Xianzong."

"This..." Dong Mingshou felt very embarrassed.

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "If I didn't care about the Dong family, I wouldn't tell you so much."

As soon as these words came out, Dong Mingshou instantly understood.

Yes, only if Emperor Zhu valued himself would he talk a lot, which could actually preserve the future wealth of the Dong family.

However, Dong Mingshou still had a little calculation in his mind, such as deleting the twenty-five surnames of monks and then preserving them by word of mouth. And change the statement again, that is, the twenty-five surnames are helping the Zhu family to defend the land, and Emperor Zhu is the master of destiny in Yunnan, so as to gradually bind Dali Tantric Buddhism to Emperor Zhu.

In this way, it is possible to please Emperor Zhu without breaking up with the other twenty-four surnames.

Even if Emperor Zhu blames him, Dong Mingshou can push it away completely, claiming that those are all folk rumors.

When the current Emperor Zhu dies and is replaced by a less powerful Emperor Zhu, the relevant rumors will be unrestrained, and even the descendants of the Dong family can be rewarded by the court.

Wishful thinking!

Once the Yunnan region is stable, Zhu Ming will completely prohibit the monks there from marrying and having children. At that time, the Dong family will be given two choices, one is to return to secular life as a wealthy gentry, and the other is to become a monk to practice meditation - although the Dong family can select different sons and daughters to be monks and laymen, the hereditary status passed down from father to son is broken.

…

In the Dali Kingdom, Shicheng County (Qujing) could not be recovered, and was completely occupied by the thirty-seven barbarian tribes.

In fact, the Thirty-Seven Barbarian Tribes is just a general term, and some Barbarian Tribes have not rebelled for a long time. For example, the Bailu Tribe lives in Chuxiong, Gao Liangcheng's old nest, and is willing to send troops to help the Dali court fight.

Many chieftains of the Ziqi Kingdom, which was destroyed by Yang Zaixing before, fled there and dared not come back, and now they have all joined the "Thirty-Seven Barbarian Tribes" - they are originally from the same roots.

Among them, the Mile Tribe and the Shizong Tribe are the strongest.

After they conquered Shicheng County, they directly announced the establishment of the Luoluo Kingdom, of course, they can also be called the Lulu Kingdom. Anyway, they are all transliterations.

The chieftain of the Mile Tribe is the king, and the chieftain of the Shizong Tribe is the prime minister, and the capital is Shicheng (Qujing).

According to the place names of later generations, its territory includes: Qujing, Xuanwei, Pu'an, Shizong, Songming, Luxi, Mile, Luliang, Luoping, Xundian and other cities and counties.

It's just a tribal federation.

The slogan of Luo Luoguo was to demand that the Duan clan of Dali abdicate and return to power.

When Duan Siping founded the Dali Kingdom, he borrowed troops from the Thirty-seven Barbarians to conquer the country. As a result, they soon turned against each other and sought cooperation with wealthy families. The barbarian tribes became the targets of their exploitation and oppression.

"It's interesting."

Ju Ming looked at the report sent back by Qianzhou and suddenly felt extremely funny.

The Luo Luo Kingdom established by the Thirty-seven Barbarians actually sent their envoys north to request the Ming Dynasty to be canonized... They seemed to know little about the outside world, they only knew that the Ming Dynasty was very powerful and wanted to rely on the Ming Dynasty to fight against Dali.

Daming naturally did not give a reply.

In order to reconcile internal conflicts, Luo Luo Kingdom once again sent troops in the autumn.

Kunming is in emergency!

This was the Gao family's home base. Under the pressure of all the Gao family clan factions, Gao Liangcheng was forced to agree to let his nephew Gao Zhenshou take command.

For a time, there was no shortage of military rations, and the Gao clan princes sent troops one after another.

In late autumn, the morale of the barbarian coalition forces, which had been unable to attack Kunming for a long time, had declined to the extreme. The chiefs of each tribe were clamoring to withdraw their troops and go home for the winter.

Gao Zhenshou led tens of thousands of troops to Kunming, and the barbarian coalition forces were defeated for hundreds of miles.

After a great victory and many captures, Gao Zhenshou ordered the withdrawal of troops.

His younger brother Gao Zhenming asked in astonishment: "Brother, won't you take the opportunity to take back Shicheng County?"

Gao Zhenshou shook his head: "In the entire Shicheng County, only the county town is controlled by the imperial court. The rest are the territory of the barbarians. Every time the barbarians rebel, they besiege it. This time, the residents of the county town were slaughtered and they could not be recaptured. What's the benefit? Instead, we have to divide our troops to guard there and continuously transport military rations for consumption. "

"If we don't take back Shicheng County, the situation will be completely corrupted from now on!" Gao Zhenming was a little anxious.

"Just accept it when you see fit," Gao Zhenshou said. "Although the barbarian soldiers were defeated, the main force of the Maitreya and Shizong tribes did not suffer too much. Shicheng is not so easy to recapture. If we are defeated..."

Gao Zhenming finally understood what it meant.

For Gao Zhenshou, defeating the barbarian coalition forces was not the goal, but to use the power of victory to suppress the rebellion and force Gao Dao to resign as prime minister.

If the attack on Shicheng County fails, all previous plans will be in vain.

Losing the country does not matter, but the prime minister and the title must be obtained.

Gao Zhenshou comforted his younger brother and said: "When I become the Prime Minister of the country, I will personally take charge of Dali City. You stay in Shanchan (Kunming) and take control of the military here. We two brothers will work together to govern the country. Why worry that Dali cannot have a strong army? When the time comes, come back. Sending troops to recapture Shicheng County is just a matter of searching for something."

"Brother is really far-sighted!" Gao Zhenming marveled.

A swarm of insects.

Historically, the family has also been fond of engaging in internal strife.

When his elder brother died, his younger brother immediately rebelled and forced his nephew to hand over his title and status. A few years later, another nephew rebelled and ousted his younger brother.

Continuous internal strife led to the continuous decline of Dali's territory in the east, north and south.

Especially in the east, Kunming has directly become a border city.

However, it was said that Gao Zhenshou left his younger brother Gao Zhenming to guard Kunming without consulting the court, and he himself led the army back to Dali City.

Duan Zhengxing, the new king of Dali, was frightened. Gao Zhenshou came to see him wearing armor and a sharp knife hanging from his waist.

"How dare you be so overbearing and rude!" Gao Liangcheng scolded angrily.

Gao Zhenshou ignored him, but said to the king: "Your Majesty, after I returned to Dali, I came to see you without rest, so I had no time to remove my armor."

Duan Zhengxing's face turned pale and he quickly comforted him: "You are really a loyal minister."

"Dedicate yourself to death—and that's it!" Gao Zhenshou read the word "death" loudly.

Duan Zhengxing's heart trembled when he heard this, and he didn't know how to respond.

Gao Zhenshou added: "Your Majesty, although the barbarians are defeated, they may rebel again next year. Shanchan (Kunming) still needs a general to guard it, and my brother Zhenming can shoulder the important task."

Duan Zhengxing did not dare to make the decision and looked to the Prime Minister Gao Liangcheng.

Gao Liangcheng clenched his fists tightly and said nothing.

Gao Zhenshou added: "Your Majesty, the soldiers of the three armies have returned triumphantly. They are all camping outside the city at this moment. I would like to ask your Majesty to issue an imperial edict and reward you."

The implication is that Dali City has been surrounded by heavy troops.

"Reward, reward everyone!" Duan Zhengxing said quickly.

Gao Liangcheng remained silent, still unwilling to give up his position as Prime Minister.

It took half a month, but suddenly there was a noise from soldiers outside the city, saying that the rewards and punishments were unclear and they wanted to go to the city to ask for an explanation.

Gao Liangcheng finally couldn't stand it anymore. If he continued to be the prime minister, there would probably be a mutiny outside the city.

The two met for secret talks and finally reached a compromise.

First, high-volume transactions can lead to the loss of the position of Prime Minister, but one can keep the title of Duke.

Second, Gao Liangcheng must retire to Chuxiong and is not allowed to step into Dali City again, but he can take away the wealth he has collected for half his life.

Third, Gao Liangcheng's only legitimate son must become a monk. You can convert to Tantric Buddhism, marry and have children, but you can no longer run away and become an official.

As Gao Liangcheng left with his soldiers, Gao Zhenshou became the Prime Minister of Dali and was awarded the title "Ming Guogong"...