The Heian period was an extremely important era for the Japanese nation.
If the subsequent shogunate period shaped Japan's samurai class and completed the final shape of culture, then the Heian period was the foundational era of Japanese culture.
What Japan showed in later generations was completely different from the fact that its next-door neighbor, Lee Korea, regarded itself as Little China. The cultural temperament that was independent to a certain extent was established during the Heian period.
This era had a huge impact on the politics, economy, social life, culture and art of Japan in later generations. Especially in terms of culture and art, it is not an exaggeration to call it unique.
However, whenever a dynasty places special emphasis on economy, culture and art, it means that it really doesn't have much to commend it in other aspects, especially the value of force.
Right, Song Dynasty.
Of course, this is also the case in our country, the Japanese people.
During the Heian period, the power of Japan was constantly flowing between the emperor and his family.
At the same time, Buddhist religious forces also occupied a large amount of land and had private soldiers. By the late Heian period, they even became a powerful force that could threaten secular rule.
As for the samurai class who held great power during the shogunate period, they were just tools for the emperor and the Grand Duke's family to compete for power.
In this political atmosphere, what is most taboo? What is most taboo is for outsiders to suddenly become a third force and overturn their original rules and gameplay.
It's like the fighting between the foreign relatives and eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Once the local powerful people who have the troops in their hands enter the game, the game will no longer continue.
Therefore, during the Heian period, whether it was the emperor, the Fujiwara family Sekihaku, or the later emperor who came to power, they implemented a strict policy of isolation and non-exchange with the outside world.
Not only was the policy of sending envoys to the Tang Dynasty abolished, but even after the king of Goryeo established his country, he wanted to have a family affair with the Japanese country, but the Japanese people were so disrespectful that they could not reply.
Internally, the Emperor, the Emperor of France, and the public family were all deliberately suppressing the growing samurai class, preventing these vulgar guys who could only kill people with swords from gaining a high status.
They would even connive at the temple monks and soldiers to split and suppress the samurai class.
In general, for Japan, the Heian Period was like the Song Dynasty that arrived early.
The ruling class is ruthlessly exploiting the country, the nobles (mainly civil servants) are in a state of intoxication, and the people at the bottom are living in hell.
But at the same time, the economy was developing rapidly, culture and art were flourishing, and the handicraft industry underwent earth-shaking changes after absorbing a large number of advanced technologies brought back by envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty.
The extreme suffering of the poor peasants at the bottom and the extravagant desires of the nobles have benefited the citizens of the big cities to some extent.
Therefore, if you don’t look at the countryside and only look at a few large cities, it can barely be called a prosperous era.
And in this seemingly okay situation, as emerging local small estate owners and a martial arts group who are gradually mastering the sword, they are firmly suppressed at the bottom of the ruling class, and their status is even lower than that of monk soldiers in Buddhist monasteries.
This. This is completely incompatible with the Central Plains!
The Central Plains was a country where brutal warriors were first in power during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and then the entire society collectively turned to the elite and the military.
In the Japanese country, there were nobles and gentlemen, but only after the warriors could no longer stand it, they overthrew the ministers, and then a society in which the samurai class held great power was formed.
This inversion directly led to the very different destinies of the two countries a thousand years later.
If in the 19th century, the Western powers were faced with a China where warriors were not regarded as thieves but heroes, and with the size of China, they could pull out a semi-modern army of 3.5 million, and the Europeans would be able to gnaw at it.
Can't come down.
....
Murong Nobunaga came to inspect the area around Busan Port in October. At that time, Busan Port was still just a small port with a population of only a few hundred, and it was surrounded by desolation.
Historically, it would not become the largest port on the Korean Peninsula until the Lee Dynasty's Joseon period.
The reason why Murong Nobunaga came here was of course not because he knew that Fushan would develop greatly in the future, but because this harbor, blocked by mountains, archipelago barriers, and close to the Japanese country, was a very suitable logistics base for conquering the Japanese country.
Thanks to the Japanese country's own isolation, Murong Nobunaga easily concealed the news that Wang's Goryeo had been basically destroyed.
When the raid is launched next year, those idiots in Heianjing will be beaten directly.
The sound of trampling horse hooves sounded, and under the escort of ten white-robed and silver-saddled Akihiro, Zhao Pu, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy at Shangshutai and the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, appeared in the eyes of everyone, wearing a blue crotchless shirt.
Still thirty steps away, Zhao Pu reined up his horse and walked to pay homage to Murong Nobunaga. He called him "King" and treated Murong Nobunaga as a subordinate treats a king.
"Zhao Pu, I didn't expect that my father would be willing to let you come over, so I have no worries!" Murong Nobunaga was naturally very satisfied when he saw Zhao Pu being so respectful.
Everyone knows that Zhao Pu is a close confidant of the saint who was promoted from a humble position. In addition, this person has a somewhat aggressive personality and has always been vaguely arrogant towards officials at the same level or even slightly higher.
The fact that he is willing to treat Murong Nobunaga so respectfully today is enough to prove his position in the heart of his saintly adoptive father.
Although Zhao Pu is aggressive, he is a very tough person. Murong Nobunaga is now in Dazhou, and he is a giant Buddha that no one can offend.
Although Zhao Pu couldn't understand why the Holy Emperor valued the conquest of Korea and Japan so much, he understood the simple truth that he should respect whomever the Saint valued.
Here, before Zhao Pu could answer, Murong Nobunaga took a few steps forward and helped Zhao Pu up, "Does the saint have anything for you to bring here to warn me?"
Zhao Pu saluted again and replied with a smile: "The sage didn't say anything else. He just said that the king will definitely remember the agreement between father and son."
Murong Nobunaga sighed with emotion, "Father, my father has a far-sighted vision, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people. Please rest assured, father, that Nobunaga will fulfill his instructions no matter what."
What could Zhang Yan ask Murong Nobunaga? It was nothing more than comparing the Japanese country to Goguryeo in the past.
He also made it clear to Murong Nobunaga that he did not care whether Nobunaga's son would separatist power in Japan, nor did he care whether Murong Nobunaga's descendants would no longer pay tribute to the Central Plains.
Chang's father spent a huge amount of money to bring Murong Nobunaga to Korea and make the Japanese king. His only request was to eradicate the independent culture that had begun to form in these two places and the independent consciousness that they would soon have.
As long as Murong Nobunaga can change the customs of these two places and finally make them the same as those of the Central Plains, it will be a great achievement.
When the population of the Central Plains becomes prosperous and millions of people immigrate to each of these two places, then Chinese culture will truly have no worries in East Asia.
In front of such a grand background, everything else is just minutiae. No matter how you change it, the meat will rot in the pot.
As for Zhao Pu's visit to North Korea, it was Murong Nobunaga's request to Zhang Gao.
The elder hopes that Zhang Yan can send a capable minister to Seoul to help him temporarily handle political affairs.
Because in the coming time, Murong Nobunaga needs to concentrate on gathering the horse and infantry troops in the Busan Port, training the naval forces, and waiting for the conquest of the Japanese country next year.
In Zhang Yan and Murong Xin's plan, the Japanese country must be the top priority, and the priority is far above North Korea. After conquering the Japanese country, Murong Nobunaga will definitely be in charge of Ping'an Capital.
Moreover, the Japanese state was not as easy to conquer as Goryeo, because Goryeo’s population was mostly concentrated on several plains on the west coast.
One or two decisive battles with the main force can solve most of the problems, and then kill some of the nobles, exile some of them, and recruit some more, which will basically stabilize the overall situation.
The Japanese country was different. It was a large place, with many manors and castles, and its sense of autonomy was far superior to that of Goryeo, where the Wang family, as a royal family, had to call themselves Han people.
The war of conquest of the Japanese country was destined to be a small-scale but high-intensity war that lasted for several years or even more than ten years, not to mention that the Kanto region, which was the base of the former Detong Shengshenzhou, needed to be developed.
Therefore, Murong Nobunaga planned to stay around the Busan Port from now on to prepare for the conquest of the Japanese country, and after that, he planned to move the capital to Pyongyang.
As for North Korea, Murong Nobunaga left Zhao Kuangyin with 15,000 horse and infantry troops to guard Seoul to prevent a small number of die-hards from causing trouble. Zhao Pu was appointed as the Right Prime Minister of Yan State, responsible for handling government affairs.
As for the future, if there are no major changes, Hao Daer will prepare to divide his country of Yan into two in a hundred years.
Give North Korea to the second son in Hu's womb, and let the second son marry his sister, the daughter of Qi Duke Zhang Qinan and Pei Yuan's son Pei Quanfu.
Qi Duke Zhang Qinan is the eldest daughter of Queen Cao Yanxi and the direct cousin of Murong Nobunaga.
Hao Daer has always regretted that he is not of Zhang Yan's blood, but if his son can marry the granddaughter of his aunt and adoptive father, it will be a dream come true to some extent.
As for the Japanese country, of course it was to be left to the eldest son Hutou.
....
In fact, the relationship between Korea and Japan was not completely closed to the point where even a ray of wind could not blow through.
Just like when Murong Nobunaga blocked Anton and Goryeo a few years ago, almost all people and things are unable to communicate, but there is still a kind of person who can communicate infrequently.
That is the monk.
Sitting kneeling in front of Murong Nobunaga were three monks from Japan.
During this era, the Japanese government blocked the route to Goryeo, and no ports were allowed, so no ship could go out to sea.
The only exception to this are the monks who have private ports.
These three monks went to sea from the private port of Kitakyushu Iki and arrived at the sea outside Fushan.
The leading monk called himself Pingtong and came from Todai Temple in Heijo. The three of them came to Fushan specifically to see Murong Nobunaga for one thing, and that was to ask for help.
The reason is very simple. In today's Japanese Buddhism, the mass line like Yixiang Sect has not yet appeared. Monk Yanshou, one of the founders of the White Lotus Sect, has just held back his strength and boarded the Cangming River to go to North America.
The other Huayan Sect, Tiantai Sect, etc. are no different from those in the Central Plains. They are all Mountain Buddhism.
The so-called Mountain Sect is a generalization by later generations. Generally speaking, it refers to the Buddhist sect that built temples deep in famous mountains and rivers.
But in Japan at this time, Buddhism, under the direct control of the nobles and ministers, already had its own land, its own armed forces, and could even collect taxes from various counties.
You ask such Buddhist forces to build temples deep in famous mountains and rivers? Will they?
Therefore, even though Buddhism in China has great Buddhist blessings such as Master Jianzhen and Master Kukai, it is destined to be impossible to grow in the Japanese country because it completely goes against the political customs of the Japanese country.
At the end of history, Japanese Buddhism, Shintoism and Bushido merged and lost their religious dominance.
There are some who can be left in future generations, and most of them have been reformed. The only few who are basically normal have only empty reputations and no faith.
But at this time, Japan's ambitious monks saw another Buddhist sect that could change their destiny - the Six Methods Sect.
The Six Methods Sect is good! It doesn’t respect famous mountains and rivers. It emphasizes being a helper rather than a helper. Saying "Supreme Heaven" and "you are my brother", emphasizing great kindness and compassion to one's own people, and often engaging in physical salvation for enemies.
Although a lot of Confucianism is mixed into these Six Methods Sect, such as the Gongyang Sect, which emphasizes great revenge, and the Guliang Sect, which emphasizes great justice and honoring the king, both of them are incorporated here.
But in the past, Huayan Sect, Tiantai Sect, etc. also mixed a lot of Central Plains cultural content. What does this matter?
This kind of teaching was too tempting for Japanese Buddhism, so Monk Pingtong didn't want to test Murong Nobunaga at all and made his request directly.
As long as Murong Nobunaga conquered Japan and was willing to give half of the sixty-six kingdoms of the Seven Paths to Japanese Buddhism and make the temple a de facto vassal, they would be willing to cooperate internally.
In addition, Murong Nobunaga was recognized as the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and all the Buddhist disciples and monk soldiers in the Japanese country could be used by Murong Nobunaga and become his followers.
Murong Nobunaga took the invitation card handed over by the monk and looked at Monk Pingtong with a sneer, "Master's understanding of the Six Dharma Sect seems to be only superficial!
My soul is that the Buddha was afraid that the Supreme Heaven would not be able to deal with the evil demons and heretics in the lower realms, so he ordered Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva to give up his original state and use three parts of his supernatural power in the lower realms to become the adopted son of the Supreme Heaven to help the Supreme Heaven spread the Dharma and protect it.
Regardless of whether Japanese Buddhism recognizes it or not, the true position of the deity’s soul will not change in any way.
On the other hand, if you recognize God, you can be saved, but if you are blinded by a leaf and do not recognize God, you need to be careful that Buddha also has fire!"
At this point in the timeline, Hao Daer's temperament and state of mind have actually changed dramatically.
Before entering Anton and completely destroying the Khitan on his own.
Murong Nobunaga was a great man and a good commander who admired Zhang Yan very much and was brave in battle.
He is the little Mengchang and Murong Baipao who are so righteous in the hearts of people all over the world.
He was a great hero who spoke uprightly and reprimanded Shi Chonggui for being unfilial at Shi Jingtang's funeral.
However, after several years of independent development, it is not that Murong Nobunaga has completely changed his personality, but that his domineering power as the leader of a country and his pride from blood and religion have begun to gradually increase.
Just kidding, after a small-sized Li Erfeng attained divinity in a place with a strong religious atmosphere, he was only a hair away from leaving the realm of mortal beings.
Therefore, in the eyes of Murong Nobunaga, the only way out for Buddhism in Japan is to eat pots of pulp to welcome the king.
Through surrender and surrender, you gain the opportunity to seize power within the scope allowed by him.
Rather than holding a list and bargaining with him here.
"Master, you think that I, Murong Nobunaga, am a three-year-old child? Even Pingcheng and the capital belong to you. If this is the case, why do you need to send a large army across the sea? Why don't you just manage these two thousand miles of land in Korea?"
Wang Pu looked at Murong Nobunaga with some worry. He was afraid that Murong Nobunaga would become furious and drive away the Japanese monks or execute them.
As Murong Nobunaga's most trusted advisor, Wang Pu was one of the few people who could clearly feel Murong Nobunaga's changes.
However, after hearing what Murong Nobunaga said, Wang Pu breathed a long sigh of relief.
This kind of thing is inherently a matter of constant back and forth. As long as the road is blocked without taking the first step, then we can talk about it.
Monk Pingtong looked at the furious Murong Nobunaga, and had the same idea as Wang Pu. Pingcheng Kyo was Nara, and they really wanted it.
Because Pingcheng Jing represents the period of time that Japanese Buddhism misses the most. At that time, they could even transcend the ministers and influence the national affairs to a considerable extent.
Unfortunately, after Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heijōkyō, Heijōkyō, which was known as a city full of temples, lost its political status, and Buddhism also lost its ability to influence government affairs.
"North Korea has two thousand miles of land, but I, the Land of the Rising Sun, have five thousand miles of land. How can a king be dissatisfied with having too much land?
And if there is no self, it is almost impossible for a Bodhisattva to rule these five thousand miles of mountains and rivers, except for idiots and dreams. But with our support, it only takes 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers to rule the Kingdom of the Rising Sun.
The poor monk only needs half of it, is that still much?"
Murong Nobunaga's heart moved, and he suddenly realized that the monk opposite him, or of course the entire Japanese monks, may have been in contact with the Six Methods Sect, and they judged that Murong Nobunaga must have intended to get involved in the Japanese country, but he did not know that he was planning to get involved in the Japanese country next year.
Send troops to conquer.
At the same time, the Japanese did not realize how ferocious the Zhou generals were, so these monks wanted to come to have early contacts and stimulate Murong Nobunaga. They just wanted to take advantage of the situation and regard Murong Nobunaga as a helper.
Therefore, in the face of helpers, the monks only asked for the temple to be transformed into a manor, the monks to be aristocratic, and then half of the territory to be used as a Buddhist kingdom. In their view, this was already a huge concession on their part.
As a result, Murong Nobunaga immediately changed his attitude. He seemed to think seriously for a moment, and then quickly shook his head.
"Master Pingtong, monks must not lie. The decline of Buddhism in Japan has not happened in a day or two. If I only need 10,000 or 20,000 troops to achieve this, why do you need to give me the territory of the thirty-three countries?
I have some interest in spreading the Six Methods Sect to Japan, but I still need to talk openly and honestly."
The meaning of Murong Nobunaga's words was that he had already seen that the monk opposite was just a pawn who came to explore the way, and he may not even be from Todai Temple, but even so, he still showed his willingness to talk.
.
Sure enough, when Monk Pingtong heard Murong Nobunaga's words, he said in fluent Tang accent: "Bodhisattvas know the truth with their wise eyes. After this little monk goes back, he will definitely have a real great virtue and come back to talk to the Bodhisattva."
The young monk can only say that the Japanese warriors were oppressed by the ministers just like us Buddha believers."
....
It was late at night, and the three Japanese monks, led by the monks of the Liufa Sect arranged by Murong Nobunaga, went to a nearby temple to rest. Murong Nobunaga was still discussing with Wang Pu, Wang Jing, Gao Song and others.
Wang Pu is worthy of being a master of strategy. With extremely limited information, he came up with a more credible clue.
"The interests of the Japanese monks must have been greatly damaged compared to the past, but now that hundreds of years have passed, they have not lost everything. They have long been accustomed to their current status, so the possibility of causing trouble is not high.
But the warriors of the Japanese country were really suppressed.
Ever since the Battle of Baijiangkou in the Great Dynasty in the past, which made it clear to the Japanese that the force they relied on was useless in front of the Central Plains Celestial Empire, the Japanese military preparedness began to decline.
Because the Japanese king discovered that he sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to closely inquire about the news of the Tang Dynasty. If something happened, without anyone else, these envoys to the Tang Dynasty would be able to dispel the anger of the Tang Dynasty to a certain extent.
At the same time, the country of Japan closed itself off and behaved well, like a young wolf that not only does not bite, but is also quite friendly to people.
Use obedience and obedience as a cover to try not to appear in the sight of the Tang army.
This policy was very successful. From then on, no one in the Tang Dynasty regarded the Japanese country as a threat and raised troops against them.
But it also caused a serious consequence, that is, the status of warriors began to decline rapidly.
I think these people are not necessarily monks, because there is a difference between warriors and monk soldiers in Japan.
The monk soldiers have money and status, while the samurai have nothing, so the latter are most likely to cause trouble.
Even they are not from Heijōkyo, but are samurai from Hizen Province in Saikaidō just across the street from us, or from Nagato and Iwami in Sanguido."
The kingdom of Japan does not refer to a country, but to a county, which is similar to a prefecture, and a road is equivalent to a province.
Saikaido is where Kyushu Island is located, and Sanyodu is the side of Honshu Island close to the mainland.
Murong Nobunaga walked back and forth for two steps, and then said: "Uncle Wen is right. The monks in the Kinei area have a higher status, and they are fighting fiercely with each other and have no subordinates. It is impossible for them to come and contact us so quickly, and still be naked."
Expressing surrender.
It is indeed more likely that the careerists among the oppressed Western samurai west of Saikaidō and Sanguinō would have such motivation."
Takamatsu raised his hand and said, "In this case, the king must accept them and subdue them even more. The people in Kinei have benefited, and neither warriors nor monks can be trusted."
But poor Western warriors can still be recruited. Although they have little courage, they are excellent for collecting Japanese intelligence!"