Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 300: The Jedi Heavenly Passage Outside the Territory

In the thirteenth year of Qin

After a long journey, the Qin envoys finally arrived in Xinxia.

He was ordered by the king to present a letter to Xinxia, establish formal relations with it, and report and compile statistics on the major events that had occurred between Qin and Xia over the past decade.

this method,

It can also be regarded as "inheriting Zhou rituals."

Nearly a thousand years ago, when Zhou Dynasty was just established and Chengzhou was not yet built, the princes had to work hard to farm the land.
In order to prevent the seeds of the Chinese nation from being overwhelmed and occupied by the barbarians from all directions,
In order to unite the power of the various countries and let the descendants of the various countries know better and more clearly what their ancestors have done for this country,

The princes would regularly exchange intelligence and state affairs.

To prevent a country from being destroyed one day and its historical texts from becoming unrecognizable ashes.

Therefore,
If any country had foreign war or internal strife during the Spring and Autumn Period but failed to inform its neighboring countries in a timely manner, it would be reprimanded and cause serious diplomatic problems.

And now,
As branches that emerged from the Xia Dynasty and came to work hard outside the territory, what was the difference between the situation faced by Xinxia and Ying Qin and that of the first princes a thousand years ago?

therefore,

When Ying Pijiang led his followers to leave Xinxia to search for the "promised land",
The old but wise King Xia summoned him and gave this young man the following instructions:
“Don’t forget your roots.”

Xinxia was only separated from the other Xia states by the Western Regions, and had also been carrying out a “talent introduction” program with the latter that lasted for a hundred years.

Therefore, although Xinxia has taken root outside the region, it has generally not been contaminated by the customs of Sindhu.

But what about Ying Qin?

We can’t import “talents” from Xinxia, right?

Ying Pijiang knew the other party's worries.

He made a solemn promise, "How dare I forget everything about my homeland?"

"If Qin Ying had let his hair down and wore his clothes on the left side, he would have lost his destiny and would never be able to return to the ancestral land of the Xia Dynasty to worship his ancestors!"

The barbarians have a ruler.
It is worse than having nothing in the Xia Dynasty!
Ying Pijiang also could not tolerate his descendants letting their hair down, wearing barbarian clothes, and using Rongdi customs to worship him.

then,

In the previous covenant,
Xinxia and Yingqin picked up the ancient consensus again:
"Zhu Xia is close to us, we can't abandon it!"

Now, after many years,

The Qin State, which had already established a firm foothold in the West Sea, finally returned to Xinxia with the past alliance in hand.

The new King of Xia received the envoy who came out of Xin Xia and followed Ying Qin to build a great career.

There was a friendly smile on his slightly plump face, revealing a bit of the shadow of the previous king.

He sat on the throne and greeted the envoys who had come from afar, "My dear Qin State, who is based on the other side of the West Sea, how are you?"

The messenger said, "My king has conquered many lands, educated many barbarians, and made the Rongdi of the West Sea know the wisdom of the Chinese."

"These are all the internal and external events since our country was re-established. Please verify them with Xinxia."

The King of Xia accepted this generous gift and ordered the historian to compile the experiences of the New Xia over the past decade and exchange them with Ying Qin.

"You and I are two countries that have become brothers."

"In the vast outer world, if brothers cannot trust each other, who can we rely on?"

After everything is done,
King Xia held a grand banquet to celebrate the successful restoration of Qin outside the territory and the long-standing friendship between the two countries.

The two sides first drank, then sang and danced, and finally suddenly talked about the first king of Xinxia, who was posthumously named "King Wen".

"When my king sent me here, he asked me to ask about King Xia Wen's health. He said that as a junior, I had received such preferential treatment from him, but I couldn't do anything to help him. It was really a pity."

So saying,

The messenger himself began to cry.

He was a descendant of the Qin people who was born in Xinxia, and had witnessed the great achievements of the previous kings in eliminating internal strife and resisting foreign humiliation.

When we set out from Qin,
The messenger also wanted to:
The old King Xia had always been in good health, and when he sent Ying Pijiang away, he was still in high spirits.

Although more than ten years have passed, who knows, maybe the other person has a long life and is still alive?
What can I do?
It is extremely rare to find a monarch in the world who can live beyond the age of eighty.

And hearing the messenger's words,
King Xia also missed his father.

He was a benevolent and talented heir who was fully cultivated by the late king. His parents were very loving to each other, and nothing shocking or outrageous had ever happened in the late king's harem.

Therefore, he had a simple filial piety towards King Wen of Xia, and even cried bitterly at the funeral of the former king.

right now,

Naturally, he also shed tears along with the messenger.

The ministers of Xinxia also put down their wine glasses and delicious food, raised their sleeves and recalled the kindness of the late king.

So on the second day,

The King of Xia took his envoys directly to the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices to the previous king.

He ordered the priests in the ancestral temple to organize people and sing the songs that the late king loved most during his lifetime, and then placed the letter from the Qin Dynasty in front of the late king's spirit tablet.

After the envoy felt sad, he noticed the special person standing in the corner of the Xinxia Temple.

The Qin Dynasty also had ancestral temples.

And like Xinxia,
In order to preserve the characteristics of the Xia people under the impact of foreign barbarians, they strictly followed the Zhou rituals in many aspects and always emphasized their roots.

Therefore, the buildings of both sides look no different, the only difference is the people serving in them.

“…Who are these people who shaved their heads?”

The messenger pointed at the monks who were wearing robes and chanting scriptures with their heads bowed, and quietly asked his friends beside him.

The friend said, "These are the monks that the king accepted from the south."

Some years ago,
The Maurya Empire, located in the south of Xinxia and occupying vast areas of central and southern Sindhu continent, broke out in civil strife.

The ministers murdered the monarch and then openly usurped the throne, and the country suddenly fell apart.

Xinxia took the opportunity to move south and seized the Ganges region previously occupied by the Maurya Empire, bringing the entire basin of the two major rivers under its control.

As for places further south,

The climate there was hotter, there were fewer rivers, the rainfall was not very sufficient, and the number of barbarians was even larger, so they were abandoned by the rulers and ministers of Xinxia.

Such a shabby place,
So many disgusting barbarians,

What other use can they have besides disgusting Xinxia?

When King Wen of Xia was alive,
He once expressed bitter hatred towards the barbarians who lived on the same continent with him.

He accused the human-like barbarians:
"These guys don't have the looks to be lovable, nor the brains to be able to relate to other people."

"I have neither outstanding talents nor intelligence; I am neither courteous nor tolerant."

"If you let them do their work without someone standing by with a whip and a knife, there will be no order and no plan."

"Even if we drive them as slaves, the energy required to manage them is unbearable!"

At the beginning of the new summer,

Because of the sparse population, they have to find ways to endure all of this, and even absorb the rare simple people among them to become one of their own.

But when it came to the time of King Wen of Xia,

Xinxia is now fully grown, so why should she worry about so many things?
So when the Maurya Dynasty in the south intended to launch an attack to seek benefits while the civil strife in Xinxia had just been quelled and the country had not recovered enough, King Wen of Xia personally led an army to defeat it, and built many tall mausoleums on the site of the battlefield.

He didn't want any more Sindhu people to appear in Xinxia.
Even if those barbarians came to Xinxia, they could not hold high positions and could only be middle and lower class people.

The Maurya Empire suffered a great defeat and lost all its remaining national strength, resulting in a situation of "powerful ministers killing the king and the country falling apart".

Xinxia didn't care about it at all.

King Xia Wen simply gave the order indifferently:
We must strictly control the southern border of Xinxia to prevent the Sindhu barbarians from entering and polluting the water and soil of Xinxia.

These guys are going to cause chaos.

You have to stay in your own cesspool and not come out to disgust the gentlemen of Xinxia!
With his authorization, the defending soldiers could use force to expel those who attempted to cross the border.

The new king ascended the throne, inherited King Wen's policies, and also rejected the Sindhu barbarians.

But three years ago, the small separatist kingdom in the south suddenly declared Brahmanism as the state religion, cracked down on the ascetics, and destroyed the temples where the monks lived.

In order to escape such persecution,
Some monks walked along the long southern border of Xinxia and finally found a loophole. They smuggled into the country of Xinxia and tried every means to meet the King of Xia.

Among those monks, there was one who understood the new Xia culture.

When faced with the impatient King Xia who was about to order the barbarians to be taken out of the Meridian Gate and beheaded, he simply bowed his head and said:
"The method I teach can reach the netherworld. Praying for the deceased king can help him ascend to the paradise."

"I wish to perform rituals and recite scriptures for the late king day and night, so that he can attain the joy of ascending to heaven and fulfill your filial piety."

After hearing this, King Xia fell into deep thought.

He had some understanding of the teachings of the ascetics and knew what the "reincarnation" they advocated was.

King Xia didn't really believe this.

But the human heart has a soft spot after all——

If reincarnation and the underworld really exist,

How is his father doing over there?

He was worried about such things and thought of his relatives.

then,

The King of Xia was finally persuaded by the monk and accepted some monks to come to Xinxia for refuge. He also allowed them to enter the ancestral temple of the previous kings and pray for the ancestors of Xinxia.

After hearing this, the Qin envoy, although grateful for the King's filial piety, could not help but say:
"The ancestral temple is such a sacred place. Will it be desecrated if we allow foreigners to come?"

The friend sighed and said, "Who made that monk so sharp-tongued?"

"The king realized what had happened afterwards, but he couldn't just take back the order."

Changing orders every day,

This is not what a qualified monarch should do.

What's more, they are just some monks.

Just let it go!

But the envoy was still on guard, "The religions of foreign barbarians are always bewitching!" "Qin and Zhao both inherited the bloodline of Zhuanxu, how can we not be more cautious about this?"

His tone was a little sharp, and his face seemed to be filled with memories and a bit of anger.

My friend was curious about his reaction.

So the messenger turned around and told his friend about similar things that had happened since the founding of the Qin Dynasty.

The barbarians from outside the territory are always difficult for gentlemen to understand.

Compared to the gentlemen of the Xia Dynasty who have "practicality" engraved in their bones and blood, people outside the region mostly have a fanatical love and pursuit for "worshiping gods".

What should you do if you encounter a problem?
Just worship God!

As for the final problem that was not solved?
That can only mean that when worshiping the gods, one does not kowtow enough and the offerings are not rich enough.

As for whether you have tried hard enough to solve the problem?

please,

I have worshiped God devoutly.
Why do I have to work so hard?

And in this case,
The more remote and desolate the place is, the more common it is, and the higher the status of the monks who worship it.

Therefore,
When Qin destroyed the state called "Colchis", the priests there were not frightened at all.

They even approached Ying Pijiang with confidence to negotiate terms with him, telling him how noble and powerful their gods were.

As the new ruler, Ying Pijiang should share power with them.

If not,

His rule will definitely not be stable!

The former naturally ignored them and arranged them as slaves to build water conservancy facilities.

When the water conservancy repairs are completed,
The land in the river valley was sufficiently developed, the first bumper harvest of grain was obtained, and the rule of Qin was initially consolidated.

Some local people who had behaved well and were "registered" as citizens of the West Sea Qin State also cheered, simply celebrating that they could finally have enough food to eat and no longer have to go hungry.

Under the temptation of food,
They followed the system of the Qin Dynasty, participated in the celebration of the so-called "First Year of Qin", and ignorantly bowed down to the new "god":
Yandi Huangdi, Shennong and Suiren,
It was an existence they had never heard of.

But those foreigners who conquered them all bowed down devoutly, so I guess they must be very powerful gods.

Although the Qin Dynasty claimed that these were their ancestors, not the gods they knew,
But what does that matter?

As long as you can protect yourself, that's enough!

For this,

After Ying Qin, he preached:
"The good harvest is not only due to the protection of our ancestors, but also due to the efforts of the people themselves!"

"If you don't take action yourself, your ancestors and gods will be of no use to you!"

Such words shocked many Qin people who had not yet been fully educated.

The former sacrifices that were not cleared out due to the shortage of manpower, the current slaves are dissatisfied and declare:
"How can we attribute the good harvest to those foreigners, those foreign gods?"

"This is obviously our Colchis land!"

"They say we have to rely on ourselves. Haven't we tried hard before?"

“So, this year’s bumper harvest should be a divine manifestation!”

Still in shackles,

However, they still followed the customs of the past and attributed all the good results to themselves, claiming that it was their tolerance and generosity and their persistence in praying for Qin that attracted the mercy of the gods.

As for why, when Colchis was still alive and the priests were still honorable, they did not achieve such prayer effects?
Do not ask!

The reason is that the sacrifice was not there, so the gods did not hear it!
Or maybe the gods were a little slow to react.
The divine grace that should have been bestowed on Colchis mistakenly fell on Ying Qin!
They even tried to stir up the remaining forces of Colchis in an attempt to launch a rebellion.

Ying Pijiang suppressed them.

But the priests of Colchis have been caressed by the gentlemen of China and integrated into the earth, but the priests in the surrounding areas have not yet!

There are many people who use gods to elevate their status and can eat free luxurious meals just by reciting a few scriptures!
The people from outside the country have not received any education and have long-standing customs, so they are easily deceived and instigated by them.

Ying Pijiang therefore summoned his ministers to discuss the matter.

He said firmly, "I will not betray the ancestors of the Chinese nation and surrender to the barbarians from outside the territory!"

Our ancestors worked hard to create a bright future for their descendants.
Why shouldn’t these descendants be grateful?
Moreover, Ying Pijiang felt that
Even if you want to believe in and worship gods, you should worship the gods of the Xia Dynasty!
He himself is a bit "divine" in this regard!

Why worship the gods of barbarians?
Just because they have more people?

Will they chant scriptures to deceive the people?
Hei Yi responded to his words, "Faced with such a situation, we should follow the example of Emperor Zhuanxu!"

Zhuanxu,

He was one of the Five Emperors of Xia.

He has made many achievements, but the one most praised by the world is the "Jedi Tiantong".

In that ancient and barbaric era,

In that era when all the Chinese gentlemen were ignorant and vulgar,
In that era when human sacrifice was prevalent and people believed that ghosts and gods absolutely ruled the world, and wizards were the agents of ghosts and gods, they should be high above and enjoy the offerings of the people on behalf of ghosts and gods.
Emperor Zhuanxu shouted angrily at the priests:
"No!"

"Human affairs should be decided by humans!"

Even if there is a sacred thing,
They cannot decide people's fate!
The authority of the emperor of the world,
We must not let a group of people who do nothing and just talk nonsense get involved!
then,

He issued the "Jedi Tiantong" order, prohibiting wizards from claiming to be "God's spokesperson".

Since then,

A person who can communicate with the gods of heaven and earth,
There is only the emperor in the world.

Zhuanxu's descendant, Dayu, also continued his ancestor's attitude towards this.

When the flooding river brought disaster to too many places and caused countless people to fall into despair and think that the world was about to end,
Dayu stood up and fulfilled his ancestors' promise.

"People should do people's work!"

"I have hands and feet, but ghosts and gods are invisible and formless. Can't I accomplish great deeds comparable to them?"

With a mortal body,
To be on par with the gods!
Coincidentally,

Both Qin and Zhao are descendants of Zhuanxu.

Therefore,
Ying Pijiang agreed with Hei Yi's words and promulgated the decrees of the Xia Dynasty for thousands of years to the barbarians under his rule.

There will inevitably be turmoil afterwards.

But Zhuanxu did not bow to the wizard.

Dayu did not bow to the flood.
Why should they bow to the sacrifices of the barbarians?
Anyway, this area,

From now on, there can only be one person in charge!

Ying Pijiang wants to be the one who "follows the will of heaven and rules this place"!
Even if you want to worship God,
It also requires his consent!

"……you're right!"

“This kind of thing really can’t be left alone.”

After listening to the various struggles that Qin Dynasty had with religion in the West Sea region, my friend was also silent for a while.

Finally he said, "I do need to make a suggestion to the king."

When King Xia heard what he and the Qin envoy said, he stroked his beard and sighed:
“It’s very difficult to ban it completely.”

People always feel anxious.

So faith is necessary.

What's more, the land of Sindhu has been permeated by this kind of atmosphere.

The upper class of Xinxia still upholds the virtues of a gentleman.
But ordinary people actually worship Buddha after offering sacrifices to their ancestors.

Who gave birth to Buddhism?
Before the new summer?
This is not a problem that can be solved by simply building a wall on the border to prevent monks from the south from coming in.

of course,

When some pointed-headed monks demanded “no more offering sacrifices to ancestors, but serving Buddha wholeheartedly”, they were often beaten up in return.

joke!

It is Buddha’s honor that gentlemen worship him!
As a monk, you do not think about how to promote the glory of the Buddha and save the suffering of sentient beings, but instead criticize sentient beings for worshipping the Buddha in the wrong posture.

If I don’t hit you, who else should I hit?
Therefore,
Although some people in Xinxia believed in Buddhism or other religions, they did not betray their ancestors. They even relied on the power of "Anxunsi" to add Chinese characteristics to the religion originated from Sindhu, and developed many customs that the local monks did not even know about.

When monks who are familiar with the scriptures run into these new believers, they are easily overwhelmed by their self-righteousness:
“Is that right?”

The monk raised a question.

"What's wrong with this!" the believers said, "Trust me, no one knows this better than me!"

This is also the main reason why King Xia did not issue an order to ban the phenomenon of people worshiping Buddha.

after all,

Gentlemen in various parts of China may believe in religion.

But it is unlikely that a gentleman would believe in religion.

"But I will still restrict them."

The monks do not engage in production, but live on alms and offerings from believers. They also advocate giving up worldly affairs and becoming a monk...

These are all contrary to the morality of the Xia people.

King Xia didn't want to see it either.

One day, the monks will flourish.

The people of Xinxia all ran to become monks, abandoning their ancestors and relatives.

this kind of picture,

It would be best to appear in another country!
The King of Xia only wished that everyone in the neighboring countries would be a monk.

One of the ministers even joked about this: "No matter how good a monk is, he is still better than a Brahmin!"

The monks also emphasized the importance of awareness and obedience.

This is not the case for the Brahmins who have been revered for generations!
King Xia laughed and said, "Yes, I would rather accept Samanas than those Brahmins!"

(End of this chapter)