Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In the cabin, a group of civil servants gathered around the Buddha to examine it.

Yu Yunwen murmured: "Have you seen the one in China before?"

"The teeth should be about the same," Hu Quan said.

Cheng Yu explained in detail: "I specifically asked a local eminent monk for advice. He said that when Sakyamuni passed away, the Buddha's relics were divided into eight parts and taken away by eight kings for enshrinement. Later, India encountered many legal disasters, and there were many Buddha relics. There is destruction and loss.”

"There were only two Buddha's teeth left. The monk cut his skin and flesh, sewed the Buddha's teeth in the flesh and took them away from India. One went to the northwest and the other to the southeast."

"The Buddha's tooth in the Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng was probably the one that was taken to the northwest (Pakistan). The Buddha's tooth in front of us was taken to the Lion Kingdom in the southeast."

Yu Yunwen clapped his hands and praised: "From now on, the two Buddha teeth will be in Ming Dynasty."

Cheng Yu said: "For the time being, please go to the Qianxing Room and worship with the many sea gods. It will help us return home safely."

Among the three Buddhist treasures, the Buddha Tooth has clear records and origins.

As for the Buddha bowl and Buddha bone relics, they are not recorded in the scriptures. It may have been brought out with the Buddha's tooth, or it may have been forged by later generations of monks. Anyway, it has been enshrined on the island of Ceylon.

Everyone held the Buddha treasures and carefully went to the star-drawing room to put them away.

There are quite a lot of gods and Buddhas here.

There is Emperor Zhenwu, King Tongyuan, King Guangling, God Baogai, Dragon King, Mazu... Now the tooth of Buddha Sakyamuni is temporarily enshrined.

Ju Ming originally wanted to standardize and unify Poseidon beliefs, but both the navy and maritime merchants came from coastal provinces. The sea gods they believe in are not the same, and there are often several gods in a city. The officials really don't know which one to choose.

As far as Ju Ming is concerned, he tends to promote Mazu.

The reason is very simple, Mazu is a woman. In the vast sea, people are scared and helpless, and it is easier for female gods to comfort people's hearts.

After this ocean voyage is over, Ju Ming will upgrade Mazu's title.

Only when the title level becomes higher can Mazu's divine power be improved and more people will be willing to believe in it.

"Sakyamuni Buddha, please bless our Ming Dynasty fleet to have a smooth journey and a safe return to the country." Everyone knelt down and offered incense in worship.

After worshiping the Buddha that had just been brought in, everyone also worshiped the other sea gods.

Then, do things happily.

The return of the Buddha's tooth to the motherland is a great achievement!

Currently, there is also a Buddha tooth in Shandong.

It was sought back by Master Wukong (the prototype of Sun Wukong) when he was seeking scriptures. During the Five Dynasties, it fell into the hands of Meng Zhixiang, Shi Jingtang, and Zhao Kuangyin.

Then he was enshrined in Tongxu County to pray for blessings. Shen Kuo came to the scene where the Buddha's tooth appeared. Song Shenzong quickly sent people to welcome him back to Kaifeng, but Wang Anshi took him to the Prime Minister's Mansion.

Wang Anshi did not hand over the Buddha's tooth until the Buddha's Tooth Pagoda in Daxiangguo Temple was completed.

The fourth brother of Song Shenzong took away the Buddha tooth and was taken to Shandong by the clan member Zhao Shichang. The Tooth Relic Pagoda in Shandong was built for decades and was buried in the underground palace during the middle period of Song Huizong's reign.

If the current Buddha tooth is brought back, the two Buddha teeth with detailed historical heritage will be reunited in the Ming Dynasty!

…

Zhu Xiaozhong said: "Once the Buddha's tooth is taken away, the king will definitely die."

"Why do you say that?" Cheng Yu asked.

Zhu Xiaozhong explained: "I led the troops to escort the king to get the Buddhist treasures, and all the monks in the temple looked at me angrily. When I left the temple and walked on the street, people from the whole city gathered around me. If I hadn't had elite soldiers, I'm afraid those monks and people would have already Take action. This king has no prestige. Once we leave, someone will rebel. And there is a good reason for the rebellion, because the king has sacrificed the Buddha's tooth."

Cheng Yu asked: "Are we going to divide our troops and stay here to protect the king?"

"You can only be a thief for a thousand days, but there is no reason to guard against a thief for a thousand days," Zhu Xiaozhong said. "This place is too far away from the Ming Dynasty, so it is impossible to station troops for a long time."

Yu Yunwen said: "Let the king immediately produce his credentials and tribute, and we can take the two princes on the road. Once the king is killed, we can escort the prince back to regain the country and seize the throne as the suzerain. The reason why we took away the two princes The prince is to prevent a prince from dying of illness unexpectedly.”

"Hahaha, I think so too." Zhu Xiaozhong laughed.

Hu Quan asked: "Won't you fight the king's uncle who attacked us this time?"

Zhu Xiaozhong said: "Don't fight. Once we leave, he will most likely be the one to rebel. When we return, we will bring our troops back to completely conquer this small country!"

After the discussion, Cheng Yu went to negotiate with the king.

No matter what he said, the king agreed and only asked the Ming army to leave as soon as possible.

Three days later, the Ming fleet set sail.

There was an additional letter of credence on the ship, and from then on Xilanchi became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

There were two more princes, one was eighteen years old, had married a wife and had children, and his wife and children were also taken away. One is fourteen years old and has not married yet.

The tributes were mainly gems, which Zhu Xiaozhong personally went to the treasury to select, as well as ambergris and other treasures.

"This gem is really big." Yu Yunwen praised.

"Here comes the scale, here comes the scale!"

Cheng Yu personally picked up the small scale, put the sapphire on the scale, looked at the scale and said, "It's almost half a catty."

Zhu Xiaozhong smiled and said: "When we return, we will lead the troops to attack the palace. There will be a lot of treasures there. Moreover, we will root out the rebellion and help the prince restore the country and succeed to the throne. It will be fair to take away most of it."

Hu Quan complimented: "The general is honest and upright in his work, which is really admirable."

…

Only half a month after the Ming Dynasty fleet left, the news that the Buddha had been taken away quickly spread throughout the island of Ceylon.

Balakaramabahu took the opportunity to start a rebellion. He led dozens of warships and headed straight for the Victory King City after landing.

The king was not well prepared and did not reorganize his troops. He still indulged in pleasure in the palace.

In order to save time, Balakaramabahu personally led 500 elite soldiers and arrived outside the royal city at an incredible speed. He said to the soldiers guarding the city: "The king has abandoned the Buddha. If you are loyal to him again, you will all go to hell after death. If I become the king, I will build many Buddhist temples and ban Brahmanism. Officials and soldiers are only allowed to be Sinhalese, and all foreigners will be expelled..."

Before the shouting was over, the gate of the royal city slowly opened.

The monks also came after hearing the news, picked up their weapons and surrendered to Balakaramabahu.

Everyone rushed to the palace and met the prime minister on the way.

The prime minister said, "Come with me."

Prakhara Ramabahu immediately promised, "I am the king, and you are still the prime minister."

When attacking the palace, no soldiers were used.

The palace guards opened the city gates themselves, and then bloodbathed the entire palace, killing all the king's family.

The killing quickly spread throughout the city, and the Sinhalese Buddhists gathered and rushed to various Brahman temples. They killed Brahman monks when they saw them, robbed treasures when they saw them, and smashed statues when they saw them.

After destroying the Brahman temples, they turned their spearheads to ordinary believers.

If they were from a different race, they would be killed immediately.

If they were from the same race, they would be forced to convert.

With the Victory King City as the center, similar killings quickly spread to other cities and villages.

The number of deaths was countless!

The new king, Parakhara Ramabahu, therefore enjoyed supreme prestige. He took the opportunity to train an army of all Buddhists, and then went to conquer other lords in the name of "protecting religion".

The morale of the religious army was high, and they burst out with amazing fighting power.

Moreover, the Buddhist monks of the hostile forces volunteered to act as internal support for them.

During the siege, monks rebelled in the city, and welcomed the religious army into the city. Then, they started killing the Brahman temples in the city.

In just three months, Parakalama Bhakhu unified the entire island.

He captured the Brahmans who refused to convert and the surviving foreigners on the island to build roads and water conservancy facilities.

Then he reformed the military, legal and tax systems, strengthened centralization, and encouraged the development of agriculture and commerce.

During the reform, rebellion broke out again.

Parakalama Bhakhu defeated two rebel forces in succession. In order to divert domestic conflicts, he ordered local nobles to send troops and cross the sea with him to fight the Chola Dynasty in South India.

The Chola Dynasty's fleet lost more than 20 ships in one battle, and three coastal port cities were looted.

Not only was the economic loss serious, but also a large number of civilians were taken away.

These South Indian civilians were taken to Ceylon to mine, build roads, and build dams. Those who survived for more than half a year were blessed by Lord Shiva.

Under the governance and conquest of the new king, Sri Lanka unified religions and ethnicities, agriculture and commerce flourished, and the army had unprecedented combat effectiveness.

…

However, at this time, the largest territory in the Indian subcontinent was the Chalukya Dynasty.

The previous king was called Vikramaditya VI.

Under the rule of this Vikramaditya, the territory reached its peak. If his vassal states were also counted, the Chalukya Dynasty almost controlled half of India.

This generation of kings was called Sumitra III.

Not too stupid, nor very wise, as a king, he was quite decent.

However, he had been fighting with the Chola Dynasty.

Fighting back and forth, both sides won and lost, and Sumitra III won more.

But it seriously consumed the national strength, and the vassal states became independent one after another, and went downhill with the mortal enemy Chola Dynasty.

Sumitra III sat in the palace, playing with a linga statue in his hand.

"Your Majesty, this is a letter from the Ming Dynasty," said the prime minister Jayasanha. "They sent the letter and left, saying that they would return this winter."

Sumitra III asked, "Where is the Ming Dynasty?"

Jayasanha said, "The Ming Dynasty is Zhendan (China), which was the former Song Dynasty. The former Song Dynasty was destroyed and replaced by a new king."

Sumitra III asked again, "What did the king of the Ming Dynasty say in the letter?"

Jayasanha said, "The king of the Ming Dynasty greeted your majesty and gave you silk as a gift. There is a kind of velvet silk that feels like a girl's skin when touched."

Sumitra III became interested: "Bring that silk quickly."

Soon, a piece of velvet was presented.

Sumitra III was more and more pleased as he touched it: "The Great Ming King is generous and friendly, so I cannot be too stingy. Prepare three beautiful virgins and choose a Lingaprabha monk as an envoy. When the Great Ming fleet returns, they will go with them to visit the Great Ming King. Also, prepare some gold and ivory, part of which will be given as a state gift, and part of which will be used to buy this velvet."