Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 910 0905 [Someone gave a beautiful woman in return]

In the cabin, a group of civil servants gathered around the Buddhist treasure and examined it.

Yu Yunwen muttered, "Have you seen the one in China before?"

"As for teeth, they should all be similar," said Hu Quan.

Cheng Yu gave a detailed introduction, saying: "I specifically consulted a local monk. He said that when Sakyamuni passed away, the Buddha's relics were divided into eight parts and taken away by eight kings for worship. Later, India suffered many disasters and many of the Buddha's relics were destroyed and lost."

"Only two teeth of Buddha were left. The monks cut open their own flesh, sewed the teeth into their flesh and took them out of India. One went northwest and the other went southeast."

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

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

Cheng Yu said: "Please go to the Star-pulling Room for now and offer sacrifices together with the other sea gods. They will surely bless us to return home safely."

Among the three Buddhist treasures, the Buddha's tooth has clear records and sources.

As for the Buddha's bowl and Buddha's bone relics, they are not recorded in the scriptures. They may have been taken out with the Buddha's tooth, or they may have been forged by later monks. In any case, they have been enshrined in Ceylon.

Everyone held the Buddhist treasure and carefully went to the Star-Pulling Room to put it away.

There are quite a lot of gods and Buddhas here.

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

Zhu Ming originally wanted to standardize and unify the belief in the sea god, but the navy and sea merchants all came from coastal provinces. They believed in different sea gods, and often there were several gods in one city, so the officials really didn't know which one to choose.

As for Zhu Ming alone, he tends to promote Mazu.

The reason is simple, Mazu is a woman. In the vast ocean, people are terrified and helpless, and female gods are more likely to comfort people.

After this ocean voyage is over, Zhu Ming will upgrade the title of Mazu.

Only when the title level becomes higher can Mazu's divine power be enhanced, and more people among the people will be willing to believe in her.

"Buddha above, please bless our Ming fleet and ensure a safe journey and return home." Everyone knelt and burned incense and worshiped.

After worshipping the Buddhist treasures that had just been offered, everyone also worshipped other sea gods.

Then, go do things happily.

The Buddha's tooth has returned to China, what a great achievement!

Currently, there is also a Buddha tooth in Shandong.

It was obtained by Master Wukong (the prototype of Sun Wukong) when he went on a journey to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures. During the Five Dynasties, it fell into the hands of Meng Zhixiang, Shi Jingtang and Zhao Kuangyin respectively.

It was then enshrined in Tongxu County for prayers. Shen Kuo staged a miracle of the Buddha's tooth appearing. Song Shenzong quickly sent people to bring it back to Kaifeng, but it was taken to the Prime Minister's Residence by Wang Anshi.

Wang Anshi handed over the Buddha's tooth only after the Buddha's tooth pagoda in Daxiangguo Temple was completed.

The tooth was taken away by Emperor Shenzong's fourth brother and taken to Shandong by Zhao Shichang, a member of the royal family. The Buddha's Tooth Pagoda in Shandong was built over several decades and buried in the underground palace during the reign of Emperor Huizong.

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

……

Zhu Xiaozhong said: "Once the tooth is taken away, the king will surely die."

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

Zhu Xiaozhong explained: "I led the troops to escort the king to get the Buddha's treasure, and the monks in the temple all glared at me. When I left the temple and walked on the street, the people of the whole city surrounded me. If I didn't have elite troops, I'm afraid those monks and people would have started a fight. This king has no prestige to begin with. Once we leave, someone will definitely rebel. And there is a good reason for rebellion, that is, the king has donated the Buddha's tooth."

Cheng Yu asked, "Do we need to divide our troops and stay here to protect the king?"

"There is a saying that you can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can never be on guard against thieves for a thousand days," Zhu Xiaozhong said, "This place is too far away from the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible to station troops here for a long time."

Yu Yunwen said: "Let the king immediately produce the letter of credence and the tribute, and we can take the two princes with us. Once the king is killed, we can escort the princes back to restore the country and seize the throne as the suzerain. The reason we take the two princes with us is to prevent one of them from dying of an accidental illness."

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

Hu Quan asked, "Are you not going to fight the uncle king who attacked us this time?"

Zhu Xiaozhong said: "Let's not fight. Once we leave, he will most likely be the one who rebels. When we return, we will bring troops and completely subdue this small country!"

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

No matter what was said, the king agreed immediately and only asked that the Ming army leave as soon as possible.

Three days later, the Ming fleet set sail.

There was an additional letter from the country 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 and had children, and his wife and children were taken away. The other was fourteen years old and had not yet married.

The tribute was mainly gems, which Zhu Xiaozhong personally selected from the treasury. There were also other treasures such as ambergris.

"This gem is so big." Yu Yunwen exclaimed.

"The scales are coming, the scales are coming!"

Cheng Yu personally picked up the small scale, placed the sapphire on the scale plate, looked at the scale mark and said, "It's almost half a pound."

Zhu Xiaozhong smiled and said, "When we return, we will lead our troops to attack the palace. There are a lot of treasures in it. Besides, we have eliminated the rebellion and helped the prince to restore the country and succeed to the throne. It is fair to take most of it."

Hu Quan complimented him: "The general does things in an upright and aboveboard manner, which is truly admirable."

...Only half a month after the Ming fleet left, the news that the Buddhist treasures had been taken away quickly spread throughout Ceylon.

Parakramabahu 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 on high alert and was unable to reorganize his troops, and continued to indulge himself in the palace.

In order to save time, Parakalama Pathu 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 remain loyal to him, you will all go to hell after death. If I become the king, I will build many Buddhist temples and ban Brahmanism. Only Sinhalese officials and soldiers will be allowed to serve, and all foreigners will be expelled..."

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

Upon hearing the news, the monks also rushed over, took up arms and surrendered to Parakaramapahu.

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

The Prime Minister said, "Come with me."

Parakalama Bahu immediately promised: "I will be the king, and you will still be the prime minister."

When attacking the palace, they still didn't lose a single soldier.

The palace guards personally opened the city gates, then massacred the entire palace and killed the king and his entire family.

The killing soon spread throughout the city, and Sinhalese Buddhists gathered together and rushed to various Brahmin temples, killing Brahmin monks, stealing treasures, and smashing statues.

After destroying the Brahmin temples, they turned their attention to ordinary believers.

If it is a foreigner, kill it immediately.

If they are of the same ethnic group, they will force them to convert.

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

The death toll is countless!
The new king, Parakalama Bhagavan, enjoyed supreme prestige. He took the opportunity to train an army composed entirely of Buddhists, and then went to conquer other lords in the name of "protecting religion".

The morale of the Crusaders was high and they displayed amazing fighting power.

Moreover, Buddhist monks from hostile forces volunteered to act as their internal supporters.

During the siege, monks rebelled in the city, and joined forces with the outside world to welcome the religious army into the city. Then, they started killing the Brahman temples in the city.

In just three months, Parakramabahu unified the entire island.

He captured all the Brahmins who refused to convert, as well as the surviving ethnic minorities on the island, and took them to build roads and water conservancy facilities.

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

During the reform period, rebellion broke out again.

After defeating two rebel forces in succession, Parakramabahu ordered local nobles to send troops and cross the sea with him to South India to fight the Chola Dynasty in order to divert domestic conflicts.

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

Not only were the economic losses severe, but a large number of civilians were also taken away.

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

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

……

However, at that time in the Indian subcontinent, the dynasty with the largest land area was the Later Chalukya Dynasty.

The previous king was called Vikramaditya VI.

Under the rule of Vikramaditya, the empire reached its peak, and if his vassal states were included, the Chalukya Empire controlled almost half of India.

The king of this generation was called Sumitravara III.

He is neither too foolish nor too wise, just an average king.

However, he was always at war with the Chola dynasty.

They fought back and forth, with both sides winning and losing, and Sumitravara III won more.

However, it severely depleted the country's national strength, and its vassal states became independent one after another, and the country went downhill along with its arch-rival, the Chola Dynasty.

Sumitravara III was sitting in the palace, playing with a linga statue in his hands.

"Your Majesty, this is a letter from the Ming Empire," said Prime Minister Jaya Senghe. "They handed it in and left, saying they will return this winter."

Sumitra III asked, "Where is the Great Ming Kingdom?"

Jayasaṅgha said: "The Great Ming Kingdom is Zhendan (China), which was the former Song Kingdom. The former Song Kingdom was destroyed and replaced by a new king."

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

Jayasanha said, "The King of Ming has sent his regards to your Majesty and presented you with a gift of silk. There is a kind of velvet silk that feels like the skin of a young girl when touched."

Sumitra III became interested and said, "Quickly bring that silk."

Soon, a piece of velvet was presented.

Sumitra III was more and more pleased as he touched it: "The King of Ming is generous and friendly, so I cannot be too stingy. Prepare three beautiful virgins and choose a Lingaprabha monk as an envoy. When the fleet of Ming returns, they will go with them to visit the King of Ming. 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."

(End of this chapter)