Monk Yuantong was also a peculiar monk. Bawu was originally disgusted with this monk who ate his own offerings. Seven households had to support a monk, which was not a small expense.
The Buddhist temple enshrined by the Bawu family has not yet been completed, and tax collectors often come to check on it, with the intention of extorting money.
If it weren't for the fact that Ba Wu's family had no surplus food, and my mother was forced to death by the tax collector, seeing Ba Wu's stunned appearance, the tax collector didn't dare to push too hard, so he had to leave with a few harsh words.
However, Monk Yuantong was always smiling. He built the Buddhist temple by himself when he had nothing to do. He never asked Bawu for food, but only worked for alms by himself. After a while, Bawu didn't dislike Monk Yuantong that much anymore.
In addition to living in the Batu family, Monk Yuantong would also hang out at the homes of nearby people when he had nothing to do.
Monk Yuantong helped others with farm work, chatted with the people, and often told stories to the elderly and children. He soon became the most popular person in the neighborhood.
Bawu didn't dislike such monks, but Monk Yuantong had figured out the situation in this area.
The Tubo East Road commanded by Shang Qixin'er was not originally Tubo territory.
This place was once called Tuyuhun, and the people who originally lived in this land were the Xianbei people.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, the Murong clan of Xianbei founded a country in this area, and the country was named after Tuyuhun, the ancestor of the Murong clan. The Northern Zhou Dynasty at that time called it Xianbei Tuyuhun.
Tuyuhun of Xianbei surrendered to the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After the Sui Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Tuyuhun did not continue to surrender to the Sui Dynasty.
The Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty attacked Tuyuhun many times. However, due to the high altitude and complicated terrain, the armies of the Sui and Tang Dynasties were unpopular here. They did not achieve much results several times and only allowed Tuyuhun to become a vassal. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the rising Tubo offensive
Tuyuhun.
The Tubo people, who were also in power on the plateau, quickly wiped out Tuyuhun. The royal family Murong fled to Hedong in the Tang Dynasty and asked for help from the Tang Dynasty.
However, the Tang Dynasty sent troops several times, but the results were not ideal. The Tubo people had too much advantage in fighting on the plateau, and the Tuyuhun royal family had no hope of restoring their country, so they gradually integrated into the Tang Dynasty.
The princes and nobles fled, but it was impossible for all the Xianbei people who originally lived in the Tuyuhun area to escape.
After the Tubo people occupied this area, they divided it into a host road and appointed Da Lun, the prime minister of Tubo, to come out of town to manage it.
Today's host is Shang Qixin'er, who is the most proficient in sinology in Tibet. He was appointed to the east of Tubo because he also had the idea of seizing the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
Monk Yuantong wandered around Bawu's manor and gained some understanding of the East Tubo Road.
After the Tubo people came to this area, they adopted a very clever way of governing.
Tuyuhun was originally a kingdom of the Xianbei people, but the Qiang and Di people have also lived in this area for generations.
During the Xianbei dynasty, these Qiang people were naturally at the bottom of society and were often bullied and enslaved by the Xianbei people.
But when the Tibetans came, they began to appoint castle owners and manor owners, who were of course Tibetans.
However, these castle owners and manor owners would also appoint local people to manage them, such as the castle owner's tax collector. For example, the Bawu family originally had an old housekeeper.
The Tubo people promoted Qiang people and Di people to serve as officials and rule over the Xianbei people, who were the original owners of this land. As a result, the contradiction between the Xianbei people and the Qiang people became more and more serious.
In the end, the Xianbei and Qiang people were as powerful as fire and water, but they both obeyed the rule of the Tubo people.
For example, in Bawu's manor, Bawu's family is a Tubo family. Among the seven families ruled by his family, six are Xianbei and only one is Qiang.
However, the Qiang people are responsible for raising horses for the Bawu family, and their status is higher than that of the six Xianbei farmers. Therefore, during the lecture, Monk Yuantong discovered that the Xianbei and Qiang people hated each other, and both wanted to please Bawu, the owner of the manor. .
Monk Yuantong couldn't help but sigh, wouldn't Daiying, a thousand years later, be playing what the Tubo people were playing?
Unexpectedly, Tubo started playing the divide and conquer strategy so early, and the results were pretty good.
In addition to the Tubo, Qiang and Shi people, there are also people from other ethnic groups nearby, these are Han people and slaves of other races.
The Wenmo people were the lowest class in Tubo. Most of the Wenmo people in the Tuyuhun area were plundered from the Tang Dynasty by the Tubo people.
These slaves had no hope in life and were used as consumables in various manors. For example, in Bawu's manor, there used to be two Han people, Wen Mo. They usually farmed and worked, but when the Tubo people were fighting, they still Serve as the vanguard of civilian laborers and slave camps.
Only a very small number of slaves could perform meritorious service in the war and obtain the status of free citizens.
Tubo attaches great importance to military merit. If Tubo wants to change his identity and class, military merit is the only way to change his status.
Therefore, when Yuantong visited, he discovered that almost from top to bottom, Tubo was filled with war fever.
However, the military merit system can only maintain the enthusiasm of some people. Although the entire Tuyuhun area has been occupied by Tibet for nearly a hundred years, it is still very unstable.
This is also the reason why Shang Qixin'er asked seven families to support a Buddhist temple. He wanted to use religion to make up for the missing links in the rule of the Tubo people.
The monks sent to various places together with Yuantong were either Han monks who escaped from the Tang Dynasty or Tianzhu monks who came from Nepal.
They taught the people to obey the rule of the Tubo people, and only by doing good deeds in this life can they enter the Western Paradise.
I have to say that Shang Qixin'er is also a smart person. In Tuyuhun, the Tubo people are the foreign rulers, the Xianbei and Qiang people are the indigenous people, and the Han people and slaves from the Western Regions are the oppressed people.
This area has no sense of identification with Tibet. Although they rule this area, the largest population in Tuyuhun is not Tibetans.
By vigorously promoting Buddhism and weakening the resistance of other local ethnic groups, this is what Shang Qixin'er wants to do.
Yuantong mingled with the monks and came to Bawu's manor.
However, unlike other monks, besides chatting and researching in people's homes, Yuantong spent the rest of his time not preaching. He just allowed people to gather together and tell them about the difficulties they encountered in their lives.
The area where Bawu is located is a relatively remote and desolate area. Although Shang Qixin'er requires every household to support a monk, except for Yuantong, all the other monks stay with Shang Qixin'er to please this host. I won't come here until the construction of the Buddhist temple is completed.
So this became an opportunity for Yuantong. He visited hundreds of households and held more than a dozen grievance meetings. Gradually, these grievance meetings became a gathering of accusations against the Tibetan people.
The cruel Tubo nobles and greedy tax collectors held grievance meetings one after another. Yuantong gradually awakened the resistance consciousness of these people.
Under the rule of the Tubo people, even if you work for them, you will become the lowest-level "Guizhou" at best.
However, in the past few years, the Tubo people have been mobilized to fight, and a few of them have been able to come back alive.
The biggest dividend of the war was taken by the nobles at the level of castle owners and manor owners.
However, this time the war against the Tang Dynasty failed, and even many manor owners were on the verge of bankruptcy. However, the castle owners still exploited everyone vigorously, and the tax collectors came more diligently.
Bawu had just sent away the tax collectors, and summer was about to come. Because of the war, the crops could not be planted in time. When the tax collectors come again, what should they take to pay the summer tax?
Seeing the return of Monk Yuantong after a long journey, Bawu didn't understand why this monk was different from the monk he had seen around the castle owner.
He neither recited sutras nor performed Buddhist services. He didn't care about money or fame. He hung out with the mud-legged people every day. Bawu even saw him helping farmers with farm work.
However, this monk never bothered him, and he was not like the monks around the castle owner who would pull people to teach him every time they saw him.
Regarding this strange monk, after Bawu talked with him once and the other person kept talking about "liberating Buddhism", Bawu started to stay away from him.
"Master, do you want to have dinner together?" Bawu thought of the tax collector's face today and felt a little annoyed. He suddenly wanted to chat with Monk Yuantong.
Monk Yuantong called the Buddha's name and said with a smile: "Manor Master, what's bothering you?
Bawu sighed and said: "Today the tax collector came again and talked about the construction of the Buddhist temple. He said that it must be completed in the summer. The noble castle owner built a gorgeous Buddhist temple in Tianjun City. I heard that
The Buddha statues are all covered with gold. Have you ever seen the great monk?'
Yuantong nodded and said, "The Buddha statue is several feet high. There are incense and candles lit in the temple. The Buddha's light is really shining!"
Bawu showed a longing look and continued: "Is this what the Western Paradise looks like? If you accumulate virtue and do good deeds, can you go to the Western Paradise?'
Bawu originally scorned the theory of ghosts and gods, but after returning from the battlefield last time, Bawu lost the courage of a warrior and instead favored the theory of ghosts and gods.
Yuantong put his hands together and said: "Owner of the manor, instead of thinking about going to the Paradise of Paradise in the West after death, why don't you build the Paradise of Paradise on earth?
Yuantong continued: "The place where the castle lord of Tianjun City lives is no worse than the Buddhist country mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures. There are hundreds of slaves from various ethnic groups, worshiping the castle lord and his family. There are gorgeous Buddhist temples in Tianjun City.
The comfortable castle, as well as the endless supply of cattle, sheep and highland barley, are almost the same as the Buddhist country in the Buddhist scriptures.'
Bawu was stunned for a moment. He remembered that before he went to the front line, he once lived in the castle owner's manor. Bawu also wanted to establish meritorious deeds and become a retired warrior like the castle owner, and be granted a larger territory.
But this time, during the Battle of Jinshan Pass, he saw the cruelty of war.
Yuantong continued: "But the food and clothing for the castle owner were all collected by the tax collectors from hundreds of manor owners. This Buddhist country on this earth is not only flowing with milk and honey, but also with blood and tears.