Chapter 268 Wheel King
Li Xian?
Is he the famous general of Northern Zhou who conquered Yuanzhou many times? Another famous general of Northern Zhou.
Although Li Xian was not able to be ranked as the general during the reign of Yuwen Tai, who was full of brilliant stars, he was named the general of all states during the reign of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, Yuwen Yong.
Those who can leave their names in history are obviously extraordinary people.
Su Ze was in a good mood. He held Yu Jin's hand, looked at Li Xian and said:
"Good boy! I heard that you once met an old man named Bai Hao who read your face and said that you could be one of the Three Dukes. Is that true?"
Li Xian looked at Su Ze in surprise. When he was a child, he met a mysterious old man who read his fortune. This matter was only spread in the countryside. How did Su Ze, the General of Pingxi, know about it?
Although Li Xian's grandfather had served as the commander of Gaoping Town before it was changed from a town to a county, his father had died when he was fourteen years old. Li Xian had to raise his younger brothers and sisters alone and support his mother. The family had already fallen into decline.
It was probably County Magistrate Yu who mentioned this matter in his letter to General Su. Li Xian felt warm in his heart and quickly bowed down to Su Ze.
Su Ze asked again:
"I heard that Li Lang was persuaded by his fellow villagers to study when he was young. Li Lang once said that you don't need to learn too much, just understand the general principles and make up for your own deficiencies. It's enough to just remember the principles of loyalty and filial piety in your heart."
This time Li Xian was shocked!
Even fewer people knew that he was persuaded to study than that he could read faces. He was also sure that Yu Jin didn't know about it, so how did General Su know about it?
Su Ze said:
"Remember loyalty and righteousness. This is the first priority for a minister. Li Lang has known the importance of loyalty and righteousness since he was a child. He will surely be one of the Three Dukes in the future."
"But to be an able minister, one also needs to study."
Su Ze waved his hand, and Su Liang, who followed him, opened the bookcase. Su Ze picked out a military book, handed it to Li Xian, and said:
"The troubled times are coming, so we should read more."
Li Xian took the military book with gratitude and paid a solemn tribute to Su Ze as if he were his commander.
Su Ze accepted Li Xian's gift calmly, and with Yu Jin's introduction, he met with the officers and officials of Gaoping, while Su Liang distributed the rewards.
Su Ze was secretly happy in his heart. This was the advantage of traveling through time early.
Guan Ni is a famous character in history books, but now he is just a younger brother in front of Su Ze!
He is not even considered a younger brother. Although Li Xian is already 19 years old, he has not yet been crowned and has never entered into an official career. Su Ze, on the other hand, is the General Pingxi of the imperial court and has made great military achievements in Guanxi.
It was an honor for Li Xian to treat Su Ze with the etiquette of a son or nephew. Many people in Gaoping County were waiting to be favored by Su Ze.
When Su Ze gave a book to Li Xian, people began to praise Su Ze for his support of young people.
The officers around Yu Jin all looked at Li Xian with envy and jealousy.
Su Ze was also very satisfied as he had found a talent right after entering Gaoping.
In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, Li Xian did exactly as he said in his childhood, and would remember the words loyalty and righteousness for the rest of his life.
He once helped Yuwen Tai raise Yuwen Yong. During the reign of Yuwen Yong, the Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, the powerful minister Yuwen Hu was monopolizing power and many ministers defected to Yuwen Hu. If it were not for Li Xian's protection, Yuwen Yong's situation would have been even more dangerous.
Li Xian spent his entire life guarding Hexi for the Northern Zhou Dynasty, resisting attacks from the Tuyuhun and Qiang peoples, and his own military capabilities were also strong.
After meeting Li Xian, Su Ze asked Yu Jin:
"Where are Wanqi Chounu and Suqin Mingda?"
Su Ze asked, and two warriors who were not wearing armor and carrying no weapons were pushed out.
According to Yu Jin's introduction, the middle-aged man with untied hair was Wanqi Chounu, and the other man with curly hair was Su Qin Mingda.
These two men are generals under Gaoping’s commander Hu Chen.
However, although they are under Hu Chen's command, they all have their own tribes, and their relationship with Hu Chen is delicate, not a solid master-servant relationship.
Unlike the solid lord-servant relationship among scholars, warriors often have a looser relationship of loyalty.
The loyalty of middle and low-level military personnel was not strong. For example, when Liu Yu was in the Northern Palace Army, he was loyal to Liu Laozhi. But later, when Liu Laozhi wanted to defect to Huan Xuan, Liu Yu was unwilling to continue following Liu Laozhi, so he took his troops and withdrew from Liu Laozhi's team.
No one thought that there was anything unkind about Liu Yu's behavior.
Wanqi Chounu and Su Qinmingda actually have a similar relationship with Hu Chen.
So when discussing the situation in Gaoping, Su Ze's advice to Yu Jin was to split and disintegrate Hu Chen's troops.
Given the situation in Gaoping City at that time, continuing to imprison Hu Chen might force the entire Gaoping County to revolt.
But if Hu Chen and his subordinates were released, the entire Gaoping County would rebel.
So Yu Jin only released Hu Chen, but continued to detain Wanqi Chounu and Su Qin Mingda.
Wanqi Chounu and Su Qinmingda were cursing at first, cursing to the jailer that Hu Chen would lead his troops back to rescue them, and that by then all the officials in Gaoping City would be killed without a burial place.
But the result was that after Hu Chen left Gaoping City, he had no intention of rescuing the two. He took his tribe to Jingzhou. After raising an army in Jingzhou, he went directly to Huazhou without even looking at Gaoping County.
This made Wanqi Chounu and Su Qinmingda very angry.
At this time, Yu Jin also extended an olive branch, ready to surrender them, and the two of them took the opportunity to express their willingness to surrender.
However, the two were still very stubborn and did not formally pledge allegiance to Yu Jin, so when Yu Jin met Su Ze this time, he did not give them weapons and did not allow them to wear armor.
Wanqi Chounu is actually not ugly.
With his hair disheveled and his eyes glaring, he looked like an angry lion, and was intimidating to look at.
In history, after Hu Chen's death, Wanqi Chounu inherited his identity as the leader of the Guanxi rebels. He once established a system and ascended the throne, sweeping across the entire western region of Guanzhong. Xiao Baoyin was completely unable to pacify the rebellion. Finally, when Erzhu Rong took control of the court, he sent the elite troops of Erzhu Tianguang and Heba Yue into the pass, and only then was Wanqi Chounu beheaded.
You have to know that the soldiers led by Erzhu Tianguang at that time were the strongest army under Erzhu Rong that suppressed the six prefectures and dominated the world. The fact that Wanqi Chounu was able to fight against them already showed his strength.
However, Su Ze was not particularly enthusiastic about Wanqi Chounu.
There is no way. According to historical records, Wanqi Chounu was very fond of pretending to surrender and had used this trick to repeatedly deceive Xiao Baoyin.
This is not Su Ze looking at people through tinted glasses.
For example, Hou Jing’s evaluation in history books was very bad, but Su Ze still used him with confidence.
Because Hou Jing is a smart man, and he is Su Ze's confidant with a promising future in Su Ze's group, it is impossible for him to betray Su Ze at this time.
Moreover, Su Ze was also confident that as long as he was alive, Hou Jing would never rebel against him.
Historically, before Gao Huan's death, Hou Jing guarded Henan alone and never thought of rebelling.
Hou Jing's current status and identity determine that loyalty is his only choice.
Su Ze selected him from the six garrison soldiers, taught him the art of war, and asked him to lead the troops. If he betrayed Su Ze, wouldn't he be criticized by the world? Who would use him if he dared to betray his benefactor?
Su Ze believed in Hou Jing's choice.
But Wanqi Chounu is different.
Wanqi Chounu had never been submissive to himself, and he was not loyal to Su Ze or Yu Jin.
Su Ze also had a general under his command. Compared with Li Xian, Wanqi Chounu was so inferior.
Su Ze will only use Wanqi Chounu after he has proven his loyalty and value.
After saying a few words to comfort them on the surface, Su Ze, Yu Jin and his group headed towards Gaoping City in a mighty manner.
-
Chen Qingzhi returned to Jiankang from Beixuzhou. As the only bright spot in the Southern Liang's muddled northern expedition, Xiao Yan still asked the court to warmly welcome Chen Qingzhi's return.
The people of Jiankang, unaware of the truth, thought that Southern Liang had won a victory and took to the streets to celebrate.
Some people who understood the truth a little bit only knew that no land had been occupied on the front line, and it seemed that this northern expedition, which was all talk and no action, ended in failure.
Only a few people who understood the truth knew how many soldiers died in this child's play northern expedition, how many soldiers remained in the north as slaves forever, and how many families in southern Xuzhou lost husbands, fathers, and sons.
However, for the prosperous city of Jiankang, the war in northern Xuzhou was just a topic of conversation after dinner.
When Chen Qianzhi returned to Jiankang, there was another big event to celebrate.
The nine-story pagoda of Tongtai Temple is about to be completed!
Monk Bian Ji, who followed Chen Qingzhi south into the city, was also surprised by the lingering sound of Buddhist temple bells in the Jiankang city of the Southern Dynasty.
There were so many Buddhist temples in Luoyang during the Northern Wei Dynasty that even a book called "Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Luoyang" could not remember how many there were.
The Buddhist temples in Southern Liang were no less impressive. When he was at the city gate, Bian Ji saw the towering pagoda of Tongtai Temple, which was even more eye-catching than the tallest wooden pagoda of Yongning Temple in Luoyang.
When they were about to enter the city, Chen Qingzhi said to the monk Bianji:
"Master, our dynasty is different from the north. If you want to spread the Dharma in Jiankang City, you must keep a few things in mind."
Chen Qingzhi himself was also a devout Buddhist. They traveled together on the journey and were soon convinced by Bian Ji.
Chen Qingzhi planned to introduce Monk Bian Ji to the Emperor of Southern Liang after meeting Xiao Yan in the future.
However, what Chen Qingzhi was worried about was that the monk Bian Ji always made shocking statements and put forward theories that were contrary to mainstream Buddhism, yet he was able to justify them.
In order to prevent Bian Ji from talking nonsense in Jiankang and leaving a bad impression on Xiao Yan, Chen Qingzhi instructed:
"The original source of Buddhist scriptures in our dynasty is the 'Essentials of the Scriptures' compiled by your majesty, who summoned all the monks. In the future, when monks debate with others, they can only use the scriptures in this book."
Bian Ji was a little depressed. Wouldn't this be detrimental to his performance?
"In the 517th year of Tianjian ( AD), your majesty issued an imperial decree that animals could not be sacrificed in the ancestral temple to crack down on smuggling, and that imperial physicians were not allowed to use animals as medicine."
Bian Ji put his hands together and said:
"Your Majesty is kind-hearted. Good, good."
Chen Qingzhi added: "Your Majesty has also prohibited monks from drinking alcohol and eating meat. If someone reports this, they will be expelled from the monkhood. In serious cases, they will be handed over to the judicial authorities."
Hearing this, Bian Ji's face became sad again.
Chen Qingzhi knew that Bian Ji was a person who did not abide by the rules, and he was afraid that Bian Ji would be arrested for not abiding by the rules, so he gave him a special reminder.
"If you have the opportunity to see His Majesty in the future, you must address His Majesty as the Emperor Bodhisattva. Remember this."
Bian Ji had a strange look on his face, but Xiao Yan was not simply calling himself a Bodhisattva. In the 18th year of Tianjian, he received the Bodhisattva precepts in the palace and formally used the Bodhisattva precepts to cultivate himself. He was recognized as a Bodhisattva by the entire Southern Liang Buddhist community.
However, from this perspective, Xiao Yan's behavior was not entirely nonsense.
In fact, from the fact that Xiao Yan changed the era name to "Pingbong" last year, we can see Xiao Yan's ambition to unify the world.
The Tongtai Temple, which was under construction, had a name that meant "Hua and Yi are in harmony", which also reflected Xiao Yan's idea of unifying the world.
It’s just that Xiao Yan chose a path to unification that was completely different from his predecessors.
He did not choose the victory of conquest, the cultural victory of cultural assimilation, or the technological victory of technological leadership. Instead, he chose the option that no one even chose in the Civilization series of games - religious victory.
Since the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the north and the south have been in chaos for hundreds of years, and countless people have claimed to be emperors. Not to mention those who called themselves emperors, there were countless people who called themselves the Emperor of Heaven or the Emperor of Heaven. The title of emperor was really worthless.
The Southern and Northern Dynasties had coexisted for more than a hundred years, and people had become accustomed to the days when there were emperors in both the North and the South.
It can be said that in this era, whether it is the North unifying the South or the South unifying the North, there is no natural legal rationality.
During this longest period of division in Chinese history, the country had long lost its legal basis for unity.
Xiao Yan took a different approach from Buddhist scriptures and found a legal basis for the unification of the world - the Wheel-Turning King.
The Chakravartin is the king of all kings, the ruler of the whole world, and the "holy and wise ruler who should rule the world."
Moreover, this is the consensus among monks and Buddhists in both the north and the south.
Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Dynasties once translated Buddhist scriptures. The "Maitreya Sutra" translated by Kumarajiva, the Buddhist master of the Northern Dynasties at that time, recorded in detail the Chakravartin and the conditions for his birth.
Before the Chakravartin is born, seven treasures must appear in the world - the wheel treasure, the elephant treasure, the horse treasure, the pearl treasure, the jade maiden treasure, the main treasure, and the treasure of the army.
The Chakravartin does not conquer the world by force, but governs it with virtue.
However, the Northern Wei emperor also knew that his virtue was insufficient, and Emperor Xuanwu only dared to secretly replace the face of the Chakravartin statue with his own face in the Yungang Grottoes.
But for Xiao Yan, who considered himself to be "a man of unparalleled merit", all this was not a problem.
He was ordained to become the Bodhisattva Emperor because the prerequisite for "changing careers" to the Wheel-Turning King is "Bodhisattva".
Now that he has become a Bodhisattva, over the years, the "Wheel Treasure" and "Horse Treasure" have appeared in the world. Xiao Yan only needs to accumulate merits and wait for all the seven treasures to appear in the world, then he can become the Wheel-Turning King and the king of all people in the world.
The above is the real purpose of this Bodhisattva Emperor, but no one knows whether he became obsessed in the later period.
The completion of the pagoda in Tongtai Temple finally dispelled Xiao Yan's unhappiness caused by Xiao Zong's escape.
At this time, another eunuch brought good news -
There was a monk named Bodhidharma from India who sailed across the ocean to come to China to spread the Dharma.
Upon hearing the news, Xiao Yan became even more excited and immediately summoned Bodhidharma.
(End of this chapter)