Chapter 909 0904 [Buddha’s tooth, Buddha bowl, Buddha relics]
The capital of the State of Ceylon is Polonnaruva, which was occupied by the Chola Dynasty for a long time.
After the restoration of the country was successful decades ago, the city was renamed "Victory King's City".
The king in the city of Victory is called Vaishyabhaha.
This guy has no political acumen at all!
When his grandfather succeeded in restoring the country, the official religion on the island was Brahmanism. His grandfather and father were both committed to reviving Buddhism - Brahmanism was too powerful, and even the official support for Buddhism was difficult to suppress, and there were a large number of people in the army.
Brahmins.
In fact, half of the temples Yu Yunwen saw at the harbor belonged to Brahmanism.
Just when Buddhism could compete with Brahmanism, Vaishyabhava succeeded to the throne.
This guy cut off his hands and feet as soon as he came up and madly suppressed the Buddhist group that supported the royal family.
Not only did they forcibly take back all the treasures given by my grandfather and father from the Buddhist temple, they even sent all the Buddha's teeth, bowls, and relics to the south instead of giving them to the Buddhist temple in the capital for safekeeping.
The reason is very simple. In the battle for the throne, the monks in the capital did not support him...
As a result, the monks and the king were separated from each other, Brahmanism rose again. The place became divided and divided, and the army was no longer reliable.
The soldiers that the king could rely on turned out to be Tamila mercenaries who believed in Brahmanism.
The Tamila people are from South India and are not indigenous to Sri Lanka.
At this moment, artillery bombarded the city wall, and this group of mercenaries finally showed their "loyalty".
A mercenary officer hung a basket out of the city and was brought to Zhu Xiaozhong: "We are Tamila people, but we are hired by the king. If you give us enough money, we will immediately open the city gate and even help you attack the palace!"
South Indian merchants translated immediately.
Zhu Xiaozhong sneered: "Cut off his ear and put it back to send a message. If the defenders resist to the end, after the city is broken, everyone will be killed without leaving a trace!"
Two screams rang out, and the officer covered his bloody ears and ran towards the city wall in panic and fear.
After a while, the shelling continued.
"Open the city gate, open the city gate!" the mercenary general shouted hurriedly.
Just when the Domilo mercenaries were entering the city, a Sinhalese general came with his troops: "They want to surrender to the enemy, kill them and seize the door!"
There is still shelling outside the city, and there is already internal strife inside the city.
The Tamila people from South India who believed in Brahmanism fought with the Sinhalese people, the indigenous people of the island who believed in Buddhism.
King Vaishyabhava was so frightened in the palace. He was even more frightened when he learned that his army was in internal strife. He took a group of palace guards, called his wife and children, packed up his gold and silver treasures, and prepared to run away.
The Prime Minister Vadagamoni dissuaded him and said: "Your Majesty, it was not us who attacked the Ming Dynasty, but Parakarama who did not obey the king's orders. Now you can send people out of the city to negotiate and say that we are willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. In this way, both
By preserving the Victory City, we can also gain protection from the Ming Dynasty, so that local nobles do not dare to rebel!"
"Yes, yes, as long as they are willing to withdraw their troops, I am willing to give half of my treasure and surrender to the Ming Emperor from now on!"
King Vaishyabhava reacted suddenly, pointed at the Prime Minister and said, "Go out of the city to negotiate in person."
This prime minister is not afraid of death. He was also a fierce general when he was young.
The two kings of the Kingdom of Ceylon, Taizu and Taizong, were both ruthless and violent men, and the ministers they left behind were naturally very fierce. Unfortunately, the third king was incompetent, which led to disunity throughout the country, and all local nobles became separatist forces.
State Minister Vadagamoni said: "Before the negotiations, the rebels in the city need to be eliminated."
"I will hand over all the palace guards to you and quickly destroy the Tamila rebels!" Vaishyabhava said.
The defenders in the city have been huddled together, and there is no one to defend the city wall.
The Ming army did not have any decent siege equipment. The only ladders they had were dozens of ladders, which were made from the wood of houses in nearby villages when shelling the city walls.
"Climb the wall!"
But they saw two thousand Ming soldiers, carrying more than a dozen wooden ladders that could fall apart at any time, charging towards the city wall at full speed.
A few people climbed ladders there, while the majority stood guard outside the city, throwing arrows into the city to cover the friendly forces.
The first ones to climb up were the melee soldiers, followed closely by other soldiers. They did not rush into the city randomly, but stayed in place waiting for the follow-up friendly troops, and gradually began to occupy an entire section of the city wall.
The defenders in the city also decided the winner. The rebel mercenaries were at a disadvantage and were retreating in panic towards the Ming army.
The Ming army divided its troops and left the city wall, and one of them ran to occupy the city gate.
Seeing the routed troops fleeing, the Ming army general Dai Daquan shouted: "Those who rush into battle will die!"
There is no translation, so I can't understand.
The rebels were overjoyed when they saw the Ming army defeated. After all, they rebelled because they were afraid of death and wanted to surrender to the Ming army.
"Raise the gun. Fire!"
"Pull the bow. Release it!"
"Raise the gun!"
Flintlock muskets and crossbows began to fire in turn, and the spearmen also squatted in the front row with their guns raised.
The rebels were instantly defeated and dozens of people were killed or injured. They were so frightened that they quickly turned around and fled in the opposite direction. A large number of the defeated troops collided with each other and were attacked from both sides by the Ming and Sinhalese soldiers.
The little smarties in the defeated army fled to both sides of the street, kneeling close to the houses to beg for mercy, not knowing who they were surrendering to.
After the Sinhalese soldiers broke through the defeated troops, they still wanted to charge towards the Ming soldiers. The Prime Minister Vadagamoni hurriedly shouted: "Get back, let them get back, I want to go over and negotiate!"
late.
The Ming army, which had already finished loading their bombs, took turns to fire again, this time targeting the Sinhalese soldiers.
Flintlock muskets and crossbows fired alternately, and the Sinhalese soldiers in the front row fell one after another. The few who could rush over were stabbed by spearmen.
Moreover, the city gate has been opened, and more and more Ming troops are coming to join. There are even two Ming troops going around other streets to outflank them.
Just as the Prime Minister ordered to retreat, the Sinhalese soldiers who were already stunned subconsciously turned around and retreated.
Withdrawing and retreating becomes a rout.
"Chase!"
The Ming saber and shield bearers, spearmen and crossbowmen rushed out, but the fusiliers stayed to reload their ammunition.
"Da da da da..."
There was a sound of horse hoofbeats, and more than two hundred Ming cavalry rushed into the city gate.
Vadagamoni stood on the edge of the street, with a group of palace guards behind him, and the broken soldiers kept running past him. Seeing that the situation collapsed, this man could only lead his troops back to the palace, because the palace still had a city wall.
The Ming cavalry had already surpassed the infantry, chasing and killing the enemy's broken troops, all the way to the outside of the palace wall.
Zhu Xiaozhong rode a horse and quickly came outside the palace: "Who is the Lord of Xilanchi?"
The South Indian merchant interpreter shouted: "The king comes out and speaks."
The king was already hiding in the palace, holding his wife and shivering.
Wadagamoni stood at the top of the city and shouted: "I am the Prime Minister of the country. We are willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, and we will also offer some goods and ask you to leave the Victory King's City."
Zhu Xiaozhong said angrily: "Let the king himself speak!"
In desperation, Vadagamoni could only send someone to invite the king.
King Vaishyabhaha was dragged over. He was so frightened that he could not speak clearly: "I...I...I am the king, I...I am willing to surrender!"
Suddenly, he began to speak fluently and said to the remaining soldiers who fled into the palace: "Hurry up and put down your weapons and open the gate of the palace."
The Prime Minister hesitated to speak, but finally did not stop him.
The king was brought to Zhu Xiaozhong and knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly: "Spare your life! Spare your life!"
The Prime Minister was speechless and said: "General, calm down. The one who attacked you before was not the king's army. That man's name is Parakarama, and he is the king's uncle. He does not listen to the king's orders, and often blackmails the king. The whole country
The northeastern and eastern parts of the country are his territory."
"I will send troops to punish him," Zhu Xiaozhong asked, "Are you willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty?"
"Yes, yes!" This time it was the king who answered first.
Zhu Xiaozhong nodded and smiled: "Very good. You have prepared credentials and tributes, and a prince as an envoy, waiting for me to return to the Ming Dynasty. Also, I have suffered a lot of losses in sending troops, and you need to compensate for military expenses."
"Definitely, I am willing to offer half of the treasure in the palace!"
Perhaps because he was afraid that the Ming army would not leave, the king actually said: "There are also Buddha's tooth, Buddha's bowl, and Buddha's relics, all of which are dedicated to the Ming Emperor!"
As soon as these words came out, both the Prime Minister and the soldiers' expressions changed drastically.
Those are Gautama Buddha’s teeth, relics and rice bowl!
Now they are all in Sri Lanka and have not been snatched away by foreigners. Later, the Buddha's bowl and Buddha relics disappeared, and the Sinhalese only took back the Buddha's tooth.
Why is the king willing to sacrifice the Buddha treasure?
Because he believed in Buddhism on the surface, but was actually a Brahmin. This was also the fundamental reason why the sangha did not support him during the battle for the throne.
His mother is a Kalinga from the Bengal region - his mother is a Brahmin.
For this king, he had long been dissatisfied with the monks.
Anyway, he had thrown the Buddha to the south and killed it instead of enshrining it in the Buddhist temple in the capital. Now it is appropriate to present it to the Ming Emperor, which can not only please the suzerain country, but also disgust those damn monks.
After Zhu Xiaozhong listened to the translation explanation, he was shocked and said: "Sakyamuni's Buddha treasure?"
"That's Gautama Buddha." The South Indian merchant confirmed.
It was one thing for Emperor Zhu not to believe in Buddhism, but it was another thing to bring the Buddhist treasure back home.
Zhu Xiaozhong's blood surged all over his body, and he nodded and said: "Very good, as long as the Buddha treasure is delivered as soon as possible, I don't need your treasure."
There are many transport ships in the Ming Dynasty fleet, which can be used for trade along the way. There is really no shortage of the king's treasure.
"Thank you, General, for your kindness!" The king kowtowed frantically.
Zhu Xiaozhong looked at the officials and soldiers opposite and felt that if he did not send troops to protect him, the king would be in trouble: "Let all your soldiers hand over their weapons, and I will send troops to garrison the palace to protect you."
The king said: "The Buddha treasure is in the temple in the south. I will immediately send troops to retrieve it."
Zhu Xiaozhong smiled and said: "I'm afraid it's difficult to get it back. I'll just take you there to avoid any accidents while running back and forth."
"Okay, okay!" The king didn't care about anything, as long as he could save a dog's life.
To be on the safe side, Zhu Xiaozhong took away the king's family and the abbots of all the Buddhist temples in Victory City.