Han Hai Tang Ergui

Chapter 198 Dayun Temple and Buddha Relics

More than ten miles northeast of Shule City, this is the site of Shule Dayun Temple.

In the past ten years, Saktu, who relied solely on the Tianfang religion to unify people and distinguish between the enemy and the enemy, brought serious disasters to Shule Dayun Temple.

This Buddhist temple built in the first year of Tianshou in Wuzhou, that is, AD 690, was gradually destroyed by various man-made disasters under the connivance of Saktu.

The Dayun Temple occupies a very large area. It took 18 years to complete the new Buddhist temple at the time, given the strength of the Tang army in the Western Regions at that time.

It is said that there are hundreds of Buddhist houses and thousands of monks. There are more than a dozen Chuandubo specially used to place Buddhist relics. The rest of the Buddhist halls are majestic and brilliant. can hear.

Of course, if it was only used as a Buddhist temple, Tang Ting would not have spent so much manpower and material resources to build it.

Shule Dayun Temple is actually the Tang court's weapon to control people's hearts in the Western Regions.

Since its completion in the first year of Wuzhou Tianshou, the Tang court has continuously transferred a large number of Buddhist scriptures and eminent monks from the Central Plains to Dayun Temple.

For more than a hundred years, the monks in the Western Regions and Dayun Temple have been presided over by eminent monks from Han.

Before being transferred to Dayun Temple, these great virtuous monks would first study in Luoyang, the capital of the gods, and they would also be received by Wu Zetian.

Back then, Empress Zetian promoted Buddhism in the capital of gods, and monks from all walks of life were naturally grateful to her. After arriving in Shule, their loyalty to Tang Ting was almost full.

At that time, in the Buddhist center of Dayun Temple in Shule, the commonly used Buddhist scriptures were in Chinese characters, and the scriptures were chanted in Chinese. The eminent monks from Dayun Temple were often sent to Buddhist temples in important towns in the Western Regions such as Kucha and Khotan. Serve as host.

This is using religion to engage in Sinicization and identity recognition!

This is also the best moment for Buddhism in Chinese history. The government and religion need each other. Of course, Wu Zetian also needs to suppress the royal family of Li.

Therefore, Buddhism, which was suppressed by Taoism for hundreds of years in the Li and Tang Dynasties, suddenly flourished in the Wu Zhou period. The so-called [-] temples in the Southern Dynasties were incomparable with the Buddhism in the Wu Zhou period. The prosperity of Buddhism at this time was almost becoming a state religion. .

Therefore, the control of the Western Regions by the Tang Dynasty was much higher than that of the Han Dynasty due to the combined forces of the military, culture and religion.

This is also after the Anshi Rebellion, the Bai family of the king of Qiuci in the Western Regions, the Yuchi family of the King of Khotan, the Xue family of the King Ningyuan (Bahana), the Pei family of the Shule King, and the Long family of Yanqi all sent troops to the east to join the King of Qin. The reasons for characters like Bai Xiaode, king of Changhua County, and Yuchi Sheng, king of Wudu County.

Because they really regarded themselves as people from Tang Dynasty, and regarded Datang as their motherland.

At the same time, this is also an important factor why the Anxi four-surnamed royal family resolutely stood on the side of the Anxi army to fight against the Tubo people even though the Tubo people believed in Buddhism. reason.

Of course, no one expected that such a villain as Saktu would appear among the Uyghurs. The Shule Dayun Temple, which was once the most dazzling pearl of the Tang Dynasty in Anxi and still played a major role after the Tang Dynasty withdrew from the Western Regions, was given by him. destroyed.

In front of the Dayun Temple ruins, which is also the Moer Pagoda ruins that can still be seen in later generations, Li Shengtian was standing at the front wearing a blue-black emperor crown, and Zhang Zhao was also wearing a purple county royal robe, standing behind him. Location.

After him two, Master Daozhen from Shule Dayun Temple, Master Titsigu from Suiyebulana Great Buddha Temple, and Master Sinhala Rama from Khotan Royal Family Qusadana Great Buddha Temple were all present, three of them Stand side by side with Daozhen as the leader.

Further behind are the officials of the Khotan center, the governors of various places and Amozhi.

Today's event, which brings together almost all the real power figures in Shule, Khotan, is about rebuilding Dayun Temple.

Of course, by the way, we also need to dig out the treasure of Zhongzheng, which is buried in the underground palace of Dayun Temple and guarded by Anxi Army and Dayun Temple.

After a loud bang, Cao Shishi and Cao Yanming ran over from a distance on a green horse.

He was wearing a vermilion round neck uniform, he was the son of a noble family, he looked good, and his riding skills were even more superb, immediately the audience applauded enthusiastically.

In fact, today's Cao Yanming dressed up deliberately, because on weekdays, he is completely unkempt.

In his own words, he studies Shenhuo Lei every day, and comforts a group of little orchids who are waiting to be fed at night, so where is the time to put on makeup!

Today, he deliberately dressed up because Zhang Zhao had given him a lead. Li Shengtian's second daughter, Princess Tianxi, was sixteen years old and never married, because her status was too embarrassing.

After receiving the promise of Zhang Zhao and Li Congde's marriage, Cao Yuanxin actually intended to release his former rival in love.

Because Zhang Zhao's promise is equivalent to completely strengthening Li Congde's position, and even Li Shengtian cannot be easily shaken.

With King Zhang's ability, in the foreseeable future, it is absolutely impossible for Khotan Jin to lose this close ally.

With Zhang Zhao's support, although Princess Tianxi can still be favored by Li Shengtian after her mother loses power, her mother and younger brother, including the princess herself, can no longer pose the slightest threat to Cao Yuanxin and Li Congde.

But Cao Yuanxin was still a little uneasy, so under Zhang Zhao's advice, Cao Yuanxin married Princess Tianxi's mother to Cao Yanming before releasing her.

For everyone, it is good for everyone that Princess Tianxi is married in Khotan, far away from the power center of Khotan Jin Kingdom.

Cao Yuanxin can feel at ease, and Princess Tianxi's mother and younger brother can finally enjoy their wealth with peace of mind.

Because apart from Princess Tianxi, her mother and younger brother are not favored by Li Shengtian.

At the same time, for Cao Yanming, although he didn't know what Princess Tianxi looked like, judging from Li Shengtian's appearance, it was impossible for him to be ugly.

And marrying a princess of the Li family can be said to be the ultimate pursuit of Cao Jiaerlang for the other half. This is a dream!

Even if this princess was not born to a daughter of the Cao family, it was a pleasant surprise for Cao Yanming.

In the end, it is also beneficial to Zhang Zhao, because Cao Yanming is very important to him now.

Because Cao Yanming's ability is really strong, and now he is not alone in researching gunpowder.

Cao Yanming now has more than 20 people under his command, of which [-] people are gunpowder apprentices, and the rest are skilled craftsmen in charge of gunpowder production.

Gunpowder is difficult to achieve standardization in this era. The thickness of charcoal, the quality of saltpeter and sulfur, and the precise ratio of money all require rich experience to make up for it.

The gunpowder mixed by a novice and a veteran is completely two extremes.

Cao Yanming's apprentices, whom he and Zhang Zhao took turns teaching, as well as dozens of skilled workers, were extremely important in Zhang Zhao's combat system.

Moreover, the three directions proposed by Zhang Zhao, sugared gunpowder, flour gunpowder and granulated gunpowder, are all tackled by Cao Yanming.

Because Zhang Zhao can roughly recall these three directions that seem to enhance the power of gunpowder, it is not bad.

He didn't even know how the granules of gunpowder came from?Sugar and flour (he wasn't sure) would go well with gunpowder, he had heard too.

As a monarch-like character, Zhang Zhao didn't have the time, and probably didn't have the talent to study gunpowder.

Therefore, Cao Yanming could only do all of this, so he arranged for him to marry Li Shengtian and his second daughter, Princess Tianxi, etc., all in order to win over this cousin and uncle.

"Son of the Great Sage, Your Majesty, the Huolei Ya has already blasted open the gate of the Zhongzhen Treasury, Liu Du Yuhou and Shi Jiangtou are leading the digging!"

The location of the Loyalty Treasury is actually just under the Moore Pagoda, but it is not very easy to dig because it is in the underground palace under the pagoda.

The main function of the treasure map is to mark the entrance of the underground palace and the direction of the tunnel.

This broken underground palace was reinforced with strips of stone, and the entrance could not be found, so it was difficult to dig it from other places.

It was originally built as Dayun Temple to collect the legendary Sakyamuni Buddha relics, Buddha's birthday bed and Buddha bowl. It is difficult to enter without knowing the internal structure.

"Master Titexigu, Master Daozhen is old and frail, and the rest of the monks are determined to return east with the vice king. From then on, you will have to take care of the rebuilding of Dayun Temple!"

After unearthing treasures such as the Zhongzhen Treasury and Buddhist relics, the reconstruction of Dayun Temple will begin immediately.

Li Shengtian, like the Tang court back then, hoped to raise Shule Dayun Temple again as a means of cultural export for Khotan Jin Kingdom.

"The poor monk will follow the will of the emperor, and will try his best to rebuild Dayun Temple and restore the glory of Shule's thousand-year-old Buddhist kingdom!"

Titesigu and a group of monks under him no longer hate Zhang Zhao, but are quite grateful to him.

Because Zhang Zhao didn't lie to them, he actually asked them to rebuild Dayun Temple.

Originally, Titexigu thought that the rebuilding of Dayun Temple would be led by Master Daozhen, but in fact, Master Daozhen stayed in the prison of Saktu for five or six years. His health was very poor and he might collapse at any time.

Most of the monks of Dayun Temple who were found later had already returned to vulgarity, and those who were still persisting were almost all descendants of the Anxi Army, and they had already decided to return with Zhang Zhaodong.

Therefore, the reconstruction of the Dayun Temple will be entirely undertaken by Tite Xigu and his monks in the Brana Great Buddha Temple.

Compared with Suiye, Shule's status in Anxi is much higher. At the same time, in front of Shule Dayun Temple, Suiye Bulana Buddhist Temple is just a small local turtle, and there is no comparison between the two.

Titesigu, who has received such a great benefit, of course will not hold grudges against Zhang Zhao.

"Get up, get up, hurry up and get ready for the Buddha ceremony!"

After a while, Cao Yanming rode over to report again. At this moment, he was ecstatic and disregarded etiquette, because the most important treasures in the loyalty treasury this time, Shakyamuni Buddha's relics and Buddha's birthday bed, had never been seen before. It was lifted out of the underground palace.

As soon as the words fell, Li Shengtian took a deep breath, and took the lead in singing the "Buddha's Walking Sutra", which extols the life and deeds of Sakyamuni Buddha.

Around hundreds of monks wearing various black clothes and robes, knocked on the wooden fish and other magic tools in their hands together, and then walked towards the entrance of the underground palace.

After walking several hundred meters, the entrance of the underground palace, filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke, appeared in front of everyone.

Liu Zaisheng, Shi Chongmin and others knelt on the ground and proclaimed the Buddha's name. A Khotan official lifted a multicolored glazed box above his head, and walked up to Li Shengtian on his knees.

In the treasure box, seven Buddhist relics were shining dimly with colorful light.

Uh!To say something disrespectful, Zhang Zhao felt that the Buddhist relics did not look like the crystallization that could be burnt out after death, but rather like the colorful things left after the failure of burning glass.

However, Shakyamuni Buddha is no longer an ordinary person, I can understand.

"Buddha's birthday bed! This is the Buddha's birthday bed!" When everyone knelt to welcome the Buddha's relic, Master Sanzang pointed to a somewhat old but well-preserved baby bed and shouted with tears streaming down his face.

"Mrs. Maya passed away seven days after giving birth to my Buddha, and was brought up by my aunt Mahapajapati. This is what Mrs. Daai Dao personally built for my Buddha."

Zhang Zhao, who was kneeling on the ground, couldn't help touching his chin again. Why does this Buddha's birthday bed look like a Central Plains style?

Isn't Buddha a Nepalese?
Regardless, Zhang Zhao turned his attention to the Buddhist relics in the colorful glazed box, and there were three Buddhist relics that belonged to him.

He will use these three Buddhist relics to recover the Dayun Temple in Liangzhou for his own use, and then use the Dayun Temple in Liangzhou to recover Gamo in Liangzhou, which is later the Liugu Department of Tubo.

(End of this chapter)