Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1071 1066 [Dali Mingguogong]

You cannot just threaten the guide you have just accepted. It is most appropriate to use a combination of coaxing and intimidation.

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

Well, mainly I am interested in exploring Dali Esoteric Buddhism.

Indian Tantric Buddhism can be divided into early, middle and late periods.

Early Esoteric Buddhism was introduced to China during the Western Jin Dynasty, commonly known as "Miscellaneous Esoteric Buddhism".

Tangmi originated from the middle period of Esoteric Buddhism, also known as "Pure Esoteric Buddhism". It not only contains Mahayana precepts, but also involves the mutual integration of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

Tibetan Buddhism belongs to the late esoteric Buddhism, and it is difficult to comment on its specific situation.

Dong Mingshou practices Dali Esoteric Buddhism, which is also derived from the Middle Esoteric Buddhism, also known as "Yunnan Esoteric Buddhism". It was first introduced from Myanmar, then integrated with the local religion of Dali, and later incorporated a lot of Tang Esoteric Buddhism.

Generally speaking, Dali Esoteric Buddhism belongs to the orthodox Mahayana Buddhism, but it is mixed with some debatable things - 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 Buddhism several times. "The practice rituals of Dali Esoteric Buddhism should be more civilized. Do you understand civilization?"

Dong Mingshou understood and said, "I will follow the instructions of the Holy Emperor."

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

Emperor Zhu actually knew this?
Dong Mingshou was horrified and knelt down immediately, saying, "This matter will have to wait until the Ming Dynasty sends troops."

"Okay." 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, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva came to Dali from India and selected 25 families such as Duan and Yang to teach sentient beings with the esoteric and exoteric teachings of the esoteric Buddhism. Only they could bring peace and happiness to the people. Therefore, these 25 families were born to be "superior people" in Yunnan.

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

The Esoteric Buddhism had been tied to the Dali Kingdom, providing legitimacy for the Dali king's rule.

It was also tied to the Dali nobles, providing legitimacy for them to become the superiors.

Is there 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. People can get married and have children, and the Dharma is passed down from father to son. The various rituals are similar to those of primitive religions.

The Gao family is actually in a very awkward situation now, as the Duan and Yang families have always been the main families among the twenty-five major families supported by the Esoteric Buddhism.

Today, the Gao family is the only dominant family. Supporting Esoteric Buddhism is tantamount to supporting the Duan and Yang families, while not supporting Esoteric Buddhism is tantamount to denying itself.

For Zhu Ming, directly banning Dali Esoteric Buddhism would bring a lot of messy troubles. If Dali Esoteric Buddhism was reformed and the "Twenty-five Surnames of Monks" were deleted, it would cut off the theoretical basis for the rebellion of the big clans and at the same time pull the big clans down from the altar of "superior people".

Zhu Ming added: "Master, you can go visit the eminent monks in the Eastern and Western Capitals and study their methods. In the future, the Dali Esoteric Buddhism will turn to praying for the people to eliminate disasters and for the souls of the dead. Also, you cannot receive the ordination when you receive the ordination. You should learn the ordination ceremony of the Exoteric Buddhism."

"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 were spoken, Dong Mingshou suddenly understood.

Yes, only Emperor Zhu values ​​himself, so he would talk so much, which can actually preserve Dong's future wealth.

However, Dong Mingshou had a plan in mind, such as deleting the 25 surnames of monks and then keeping them through word of mouth. He also changed the statement to say that the 25 surnames were helping the Zhu family to defend the land, and Emperor Zhu was the master of the destiny of Yunnan, so as to gradually bind Dali Tantric Buddhism to Emperor Zhu.

In this way, one could please Emperor Zhu without falling out with the other twenty-four surnames.

Even if Emperor Zhu blamed him, Dong Mingshou could deny it completely, claiming that those were just folk rumors.

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

Think beautiful!
Once the Yunnan region stabilizes, Zhu Ming will completely prohibit the monks there from marrying and having children. At that time, Dong will be given two choices: one is to return to secular life and become a wealthy gentry, and the other is to become a monk. Although Dong can select different sons to become monks and laymen, the hereditary status passed down from father to son will be broken.

……

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

In fact, the 37 Barbarian Tribes were just a general term, and some of them had not rebelled for a long time. For example, the Bailu Tribe lived in Chuxiong, Gao Liangcheng's old nest, and was willing to send troops to help the Dali court fight.

Many chiefs of the Ziqi State, which was previously destroyed by Yang Zaixing, fled there and dared not return. Now they have all joined the "Thirty-Seven Barbarian Tribes" - they are of the same origin.

Among them, the Maitreya tribe and the Shizong tribe are the strongest.

After they conquered Shicheng County, they directly announced the establishment of Luoluo State, which could also be called Lulu State. Anyway, they are all transliterations.

The chief of the Mile tribe was the king, the chief of the Shizong tribe was the prime minister, and the capital was set in Shicheng (Qujing).

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

Just a tribal federation.

The slogan raised by the Luoluo Kingdom was to demand that the Duan family of Dali abdicate and return power.

When Duan Siping established the Dali Kingdom, he sought military support from the 37 barbarian tribes. However, he soon turned his back on them and sought cooperation with the powerful families. The barbarian tribes became the targets of their exploitation and oppression.

"interesting."

Zhu Ming looked at the report sent back by Qianzhou and suddenly felt it was extremely funny. The Luoluo Kingdom established by the thirty-seven barbarian tribes actually sent envoys to the north to request the Ming Dynasty to confer a title... They seemed to know little about the outside world, only that the Ming Dynasty was particularly powerful, and they wanted to rely on the Ming Dynasty to fight against Dali.

Naturally, the Ming Dynasty did not give any response.

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

Kunming is in emergency!
This is the Gao family's old nest. Under pressure from all the Gao family factions, Gao Liangcheng was forced to agree to let his nephew Gao Zhenshou take charge.

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

In late autumn, the morale of the barbarian coalition forces, which had been attacking Kunming for a long time but failed, had declined to the extreme, and 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.

It was a great victory and a lot of spoils of war, but Gao Zhenshou ordered his troops to withdraw.

His younger brother Gao Zhenming asked in astonishment: "Brother, aren't you going to take this opportunity to retake Shicheng County?"

Gao Zhenshou shook his head. "In the entire Shicheng County, only the county town is controlled by the imperial court. The rest is the territory of the barbarians. Every time the barbarians rebel, they besiege there. This time, the residents of the county town were slaughtered. There is no benefit in taking it back. Instead, we have to send troops to guard it and continuously transport military rations to consume it."

"If we don't take back Shicheng County, the situation will be completely ruined in the future!" Gao Zhenming was a little anxious.

"Let's quit while we're ahead," Gao Zhenshou said. "Although the barbarians were badly defeated, the main forces of the Maitreya and Shizong tribes did not suffer too many casualties. It's not so easy to recapture Shicheng. If we lose..."

Gao Zhenming finally understood what it meant.

For Gao Zhenshou, defeating the barbarian coalition was not the goal, but to use the prestige of the great victory in suppressing the rebellion to force Gao Liangcheng to resign from the position of prime minister.

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

Losing territory doesn't matter, but the prime minister and the title must be obtained.

Gao Zhenshou comforted his brother and said, "When I become the prime minister, I will personally take charge of Dali City. You stay in Shanchan (Kunming) and take charge of the military power here. The two of us brothers will work together to govern the country. Why worry about Dali not being able to strengthen its military? When the time comes, it will be as easy as taking something from a sack to send troops to recapture Shicheng County."

"Brother, you are really far-sighted!" Gao Zhenming exclaimed in admiration.

A swarm of insects.

Historically, this family also likes to play infighting.

When his elder brother died, his younger brother immediately rebelled and forced his nephew to give up his title and position. A few years later, another nephew rebelled and drove his younger brother off the throne.

The successive internal conflicts led to the continuous loss of Dali Kingdom's territory in the east, north and south.

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

However, Gao Zhenshou left his brother Gao Zhenming in Kunming to guard the city without asking the court for permission, while he himself led the army back to Dali City.

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

"How dare you be so presumptuous and rude!" Gao Liangcheng shouted angrily.

Gao Zhenshou ignored him and said to the king: "Your Majesty, after returning to Dali, I came to see you without resting, so I didn't have time to take off my armor."

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

"Devote all I have to the cause, and never stop until I die!" Gao Zhenshou pronounced the word "die" loudly.

Duan Zhengxing was horrified when he heard this and didn't know how to respond.

Gao Zhenshou said: "Your Majesty, although the barbarian soldiers have been defeated, they may rebel again next year. Shanchan (Kunming) still needs a great general to guard it. My brother Zhenming can take on the important task."

Duan Zhengxing didn't dare to make a decision and looked at Prime Minister Gao Liangcheng.

Gao Liangcheng clenched his fists and said nothing.

Gao Zhenshou said again: "Your Majesty, the soldiers of the three armies have returned victoriously and are now camping outside the city. Please issue an imperial decree to reward them."

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

"Reward, reward them all!" Duan Zhengxing said hurriedly.

Gao Liangcheng remained silent and was still unwilling to give up the position of prime minister.

After half a month, soldiers outside the city suddenly started clamoring, saying that rewards and punishments were unclear and they wanted to enter the city to seek an explanation.

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

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

First, a high volume of transactions will result in the loss of the position of Prime Minister, but the title of Duke can be retained.

Second, Gao Liangcheng must retire to Chuxiong and not set foot in Dali City again, but he can take away the wealth he has plundered in his half life.

Third, Gao Liangcheng's only legitimate son must become a monk. He can convert to Tantric Buddhism, marry and have children, but he cannot become an official again.

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

(End of this chapter)