Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1257 Epilogue : Prince Laszlo: It turns out that my ancestors are from the Ashina clan
Imperial meeting.

Liu Ji, the Minister of Religious Affairs, is giving a report.

The Religious Institute of the Ming Dynasty was formerly the Buddhist and Taoist Affairs Bureau.

The current rank of the Institute of Religious Affairs is half a level lower than the Tongzhengyuan, Duchayuan, and Privy Council, and half a level higher than the Dali Temple, Honglu Temple, and Taipu Temple.

It is under the jurisdiction of: the Buddhist Records Department, the Taoist Records Department, the Scenery Records Department, the Muslim Records Department, and the Miscellaneous Records Department.

Liu Ji pointed to the world map and said:
"India is a mess, and it can be said that education has failed. No matter what sect is introduced, the Indian countries are happy to accept it, but once it enters, it changes. The descendants of the Ming Dynasty, the Tianzhu Kingdom, brought Confucianism to the Indus and Ganges River basins, but Confucianism has already been Brahmanized there."

"The Indian Viceroyalty also tried to spread Christianity, but Buddhism, Taoism, and Nestorianism were all Brahmanized! In some places in northern India, the Arabic religion (desert religion) that was introduced earlier was also completely Brahmanized."

"Take the Muslim religion in India for example. Among its followers, there are six major castes and dozens of sub-castes."

"As the Ming dynasty's influence in India grew, Buddhism was accepted by more and more Indian princely states."

"Buddhism originated in India, so there was no difficulty in converting it to Brahmanism. Among the seven most important Buddhas of the Kalpa of Virtue, four were of the Kshatriya caste, and three were of the Brahman caste."

"The Buddhist scripture 'Vinaya-vibhaṭaka' even states that untouchables are not qualified to become monks."

"..."

Liu Ji talked about a lot of Indian shit, and finally came to the conclusion: the indigenous people of India can believe whatever they want, and the Ming Dynasty should stop messing around. But they should pay attention to the beliefs of the Han people who migrated there, and increase the number of Confucian temples and schools.

Then, Liu Ji talked about the Seven Rivers Protectorate:

"In the Seven Rivers Basin and the Syr Darya Basin, all religions are loyal to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Son of Heaven, Son of Heaven, these sects all recognize the Supreme God as Haotian Shangdi. They just use different names."

"Even the Muslim sect of Islam acknowledges that the Ming emperor is the son of the Supreme God."

"Last year, two more tribes on the vast grasslands of the Seven Rivers Protectorate converted to Muslim Islam. Although they did so due to tribal conflicts and tried to gain support from the court, the court's original intention was also that as long as they converted to Muslim Islam, they should be sided with."

"In this way, there will be more and more Muslims. Those tribes that convert to Muslims will even take the initiative to attack heretics. After a few decades, all the herdsmen in the Seven Rivers Protectorate will firmly believe that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is the son of the Supreme God."

Liu Ji then pointed to the northern part of the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea:
"Going further west, the Kipchaks are actually the Khazars of the Tang Dynasty. Most of them used to believe in Shamanism. The imperial court sent high-ranking monks of the Nestorian Church in the northern desert to preach there, and it has achieved great results so far."

"The current Kipchaks are all Nestorians who respect the Emperor of Ming. In the belief of the nobles and herdsmen, only the King of Kipchaks appointed by the Emperor of Ming is truly qualified to rule them."

Liu Ji continued to point to the northern Black Sea:

"Now, the Cumans have also taken the initiative to submit and become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty."

"The imperial court should send a large number of Nestorian monks to the Cuman tribes to spread Nestorianism and Buddhism, replicating the practices of the Cuman tribes. Most of the Cumans are shamanists, so it is relatively easy to spread the religion."

Liu Ji then pointed to Hungary:

"This country is in trouble. They have accepted Christianity. Although Christianity and Nestorianism have the same origin, they have developed into completely different sects."

"In recent days, I have been communicating with the diplomatic attachés who did not enter the Sifang Pavilion. Most of them are officers and soldiers, and some are slaves. What they say is still very credible."

"There are roughly five major forces and groups within this country (Hungary)."

"The biggest power is the king, who has been using the authority of Germany to suppress Christian monks and local nobles. Germany was named by Emperor Taizong himself, and the literal translation is the Holy Roman Empire."

"The second largest group is the local nobles, who try to use the monks to establish their own regimes, curb or even undermine the king's power."

"The third largest group is the common people. Many of them are unwilling to give up their nomadic life. They also find it difficult to understand why the nobles want to settle down and farm, and why they accept Christianity. In the past two or three hundred years, many common people have even revolted to resist Christianity."

"However, there are more and more people settling down to farm, and their number has exceeded that of the herdsmen who oppose Christianity."

"The fourth largest group is the Christian monks. They have always had fierce conflicts with the people, and they are increasingly arguing with the king and the nobles."

"The fifth largest group is the Cumans. Cuman nomads continued to migrate westward and were accepted by the Hugela (Hungarian) nobles, becoming an important source of soldiers for the king and nobles."

"The current king has taken very radical measures to consolidate power. He has retained the nobles' fiefs, but has ordered them to demolish their castles. He has persuaded more people to settle down and move into towns, but the results have been extremely limited."

As Liu Ji spoke more information, the important officials in the cabinet and the government began to discuss.

That is, Hungary, Cuman, and Kipchak were used as the three lines of defense to prevent the eastward expansion of Christianity. Hungary, in particular, had good agricultural conditions and was suitable as a religious shield for the Ming Dynasty.

This is very similar to the positioning of Dayuan. The purpose of supporting Dayuan is to prevent the eastward expansion of the Desert Religion.

The result of the discussion between the Ming Dynasty's emperor and his ministers was: If Hungary was willing to convert to Nestorianism, in addition to giving them old-fashioned firearms and helping them build a navy, they should also be taught advanced farming techniques.

These things don't cost too much money, they are mainly technical support, but they are likely to reap huge rewards. If the Hungarian king is unwilling to convert to Nestorianism, then he can preach to the Cumans who have migrated west to Hungary. These Cumans believe in shamanism, and it is easy to spread Nestorianism with a little bit of benefits.

Moreover, the Cumans were an important part of the Hungarian army. If they were completely converted to Nestorianism, they could force Hungary to change its religious policy.

Another way is to spread nationalism through epics.

Let the king, nobles and common people of Hungary believe that their ancestors were Turks who migrated westward from China.

This isn't complete bullshit.

Hungary's attempt to curry favor with powerful people before its founding was not an empty promise. Three of its original ten tribes belonged to the Khazars - the rulers of the Khazars were descendants of the Turkic Ashina family.

The truth is that a branch of the Turkic Ashina family migrated westward, conquered the Black Sea and the northern part of the Caspian Sea and established the Khazar Khanate. The tribes belonging to the Khazar Khanate continued to migrate westward.

Three Khazars and seven Magyar tribes formed a new alliance of ten arrows, claiming to be descendants of the Turkic royal family, and conquered a large area to establish Hungary.

……

Prince Laszlo soon received more favorable treatment.

The imperial court specially sent three officials to take him on a tour around Luoyang City.

One of them was a historian who was responsible for explaining the tourist attractions, and he would mention the Tang Dynasty and the Turks from time to time.

Back at Sifang Pavilion, the historian took out a world map.

This map omits the South Pacific, America and Australia, and does not mark mountains, rivers and cities in detail.

"These places used to be the lands of the Tang Dynasty and the Turks."

The historian began to recount the deeds of the Tang Dynasty and the Turks when they were at their peak, and emphasized that the Tang Dynasty and the Turks were both Chinese. The conflict between the two was like a fight between brothers over family property.

The historian said: "After the fall of the Turkic Khanate, most of the remaining Turks have now become Han Chinese. You are the descendants of the Turks who migrated westward."

"What is the Ashina family?" Laszlo asked curiously.

The historian said: "The Ashina family is a Turkic royal family. The Khazar Khanate was founded by a branch of the Ashina family. Its territory is probably the territory of the present-day Kipchaks and Cumans."

The historian took out another Byzantine historical document and said, "This is an Eastern Roman history book. I finally found it two days ago. The historical document records the origin of your ancestors. Seven Magyar tribes and three Khazars formed the Ten Arrows Alliance to expand the territory and establish a country. If you don't believe it, you can go to the Eastern Roman Empire to look for historical records. There must be some in the Great Library of Constantinople."

"In other words, I might be a descendant of the Ashina family, a royal family of the Turkic people?" Laszlo was somewhat surprised, yet extremely excited at the same time.

Hungarians were often regarded as barbarians by the Holy Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.

But who doesn’t want to have an awesome ancestor?
Laszlo has the blood of the Holy Roman Empire and the French princess, but that is only the maternal bloodline, the paternal bloodline has always been a nomadic barbarian, and now the paternal bloodline has finally become a royal family.

The historian continued to deceive and try to brainwash Laszlo.

Laszlo was willing to believe this kind of brainwashing.

He looked at the world map in front of him, imagined the glory of the Turks in the past, and gradually came to regard it as the glory of his ancestors.

The historian also said that other countries, such as the Seljuk Empire, were a branch of the Turks. There are also many Turkic nobles in the current Arabian Kingdoms, including the Mamluk Dynasty.

The more he talked, the more awesome Laszlo felt the Turks were, and the more proud he was of the royal Turkic blood in his body.

The historian began to talk about Chinese history again, saying that the Turks were also descendants of the Chinese Miao people, and that the ancestral home of the Ashina family was in Gansu. He also said that the court had decided that when Laszlo returned to China, he could go to Gansu to pay homage to his ancestral home.

During the casual chat with Laszlo, the historian learned that French literature and the Holy Roman lifestyle were now popular among the Hungarian aristocracy.

So the historian went to meet Queen Mother Ye and suggested that some costumes and dramas be sent to Hungary.

"Your Highness, there will be a science ceremony tomorrow that is held every few years. Countless scholars from the Ming Dynasty will gather here. Your Highness, would you like to attend the ceremony?"

"Can I go too?"

"Of course. There are many great scholars there. Any one of them can be a court scholar in the West, but there are countless of them in our Ming Dynasty."

"Are there any scholars who can build firearms and warships?"

"Haha, of course there are, and a lot of them."

(End of this chapter)