Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 909 0904 [Buddha's Tooth, Buddha's Bowl, Buddha's Relics]

The capital of Ceylon was called Polonnaruva, which was once occupied by the Chola Empire for a long time.

After the country was successfully restored several decades ago, the city was renamed "Victory Royal City".

The king of the Victory City was called Viśvaha.

This guy has no political sense at all!

When his grandfather successfully restored 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 it was difficult to suppress it even with official support, and there were a large number of Brahmans in the army.

In fact, half of the temples that Yu Yunwen saw in the harbor belonged to Brahmanism.

Just when Buddhism was able to compete with Brahmanism, Vaisyapa came to the throne.

As soon as this guy came to power, he cut off his own hands and feet and frantically 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 the Buddha's tooth, bowl, and relics to the south instead of handing them over to the Buddhist temples in the capital for safekeeping.

The reason was simple. In the battle for the throne, the monks in the capital did not support him...

As a result, the monks and the king became alienated, Brahmanism rose again, the local areas became fragmented, and the army was no longer reliable.

The only soldiers the king could rely on were the Brahman mercenaries named Tamila.

The Tamil people are from South India and are not native to Sri Lanka.

At this moment, artillery bombarded the city walls, and this group of mercenaries finally demonstrated their "loyalty".

A mercenary officer came out of the city with a basket hanging in his hand and was brought before Zhu Xiaozhong: "We are from Tomilo, and we are hired by the king. If you give us enough money, we will open the city gates immediately and even help you attack the palace!"

South Indian merchants translated immediately.

Zhu Xiaozhong sneered: "Cut off his ears and send him back to pass on the message. If the defenders resist to the end, kill them all after we break into the city!"

Two screams were heard, and the officer covered his bloody ears and ran towards the city wall in panic.

After a moment, the shelling continued.

"Open the city gate, open the city gate!" the mercenary general shouted hurriedly.

Just as the Tamil mercenaries were opening the city gates, a Sinhalese general came with his troops and said, "They are going to surrender to the enemy, kill them and seize the gates!"

There was still shelling outside the city, and internal strife had broken out inside.

The Brahmanic people of South India, the Tamil people, fought against the Buddhist Sinhalese, the indigenous people of the island.

King Viśvaha was terrified in the palace, and was even more terrified when he learned that his army was in internal strife. He took a group of palace guards, his wife and children, packed up his gold and silver treasures and prepared to flee.

Prime Minister Vadagamoni dissuaded him, saying, "Your Majesty, it was not us who attacked the Ming Dynasty, but Parakalama who disobeyed the king's orders. Now we can send people out of the city to negotiate and say that we are willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty. In this way, we can not only preserve the Shengli Royal City, but also get the protection of the Ming Dynasty, so that those local nobles will not dare to rebel!"

"Yes, yes, yes, as long as they are willing to withdraw their troops, I am willing to give up half of my treasures and submit to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty from now on!"

King Viśyapaha suddenly reacted and pointed at the prime minister and said, "You go out of the city in person to negotiate."

This prime minister was not afraid of death. He was also a brave general when he was young.

The two kings of Ceylon, Taizu and Taizong, were both ruthless and aggressive, and the ministers they left behind were naturally very fierce. Unfortunately, the third king was incompetent and led to the disunity of the whole country, and the local nobles all became separatist forces.

Prime Minister Wadagamoni said: "Before negotiations, we need to destroy the rebels in the city."

"I will leave all the palace guards to you, quickly wipe out the rebels of Tomila!" said Vishayavaha.

The defenders in the city were fighting each other, and no one was defending the city walls.

However, the Ming army had no decent siege equipment. The only dozens of ladders they had were made from the wood they dismantled from houses in nearby villages when they bombarded the city walls.

"Climb the wall!"

However, more than 2,000 Ming soldiers, carrying more than a dozen wooden ladders that could fall apart at any time, rushed towards the city wall at full speed.

A few people were climbing the ladders there, while most were guarding outside the city, shooting arrows into the city to cover their friendly forces.

The first to climb up were the melee soldiers, followed by other types of soldiers. They did not rush into the city recklessly, but stayed where they were and waited 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 outcome. The rebellious mercenaries were at a disadvantage and were retreating in panic towards the Ming army.

The Ming army split up and left the city wall, and one of the troops ran to occupy the city gate.

Seeing the fleeing soldiers coming, the Ming general Dai Daquan shouted: "Anyone who rushes into the battle will die!"

There is no translation and I can't understand.

The defeated rebel soldiers were overjoyed to see the Ming army. After all, they rebelled because they were afraid of death and wanted to surrender to the Ming army.

"Raise your guns. Fire!"

"Draw the bow. Release!"

"Raise the gun!"

Flintlock rifles and crossbows began to fire in turn, and the pikemen also half-crouched and raised their guns to the front row.

Dozens of rebels were killed or wounded in an instant, and they turned around and fled in the opposite direction. A large number of fleeing soldiers collided with each other and were attacked from both sides by the Ming army and the Sinhalese army.

The clever ones among the fleeing soldiers fled to both sides of the street, knelt down next to the houses and begged for mercy, and no one knew who they were surrendering to.

After the Sinhalese soldiers broke through the fleeing soldiers, they wanted to charge towards the Ming soldiers. Prime Minister Wadagamoni hurriedly shouted: "Retreat, let them retreat, I want to go over to negotiate!" It was too late.

The Ming army, which had already reloaded its ammunition, took turns firing again, this time targeting the Sinhalese soldiers.

Flintlock rifles and crossbows fired alternately, and the Sinhalese soldiers in the front row fell one after another. The few who were able to rush forward were stabbed by the pikemen.

Moreover, the city gates had been opened, and more and more Ming troops came to join the attack, with two groups even going around to other streets to encircle the enemy.

Just as the prime minister gave the order to retreat, the Sinhalese soldiers, who were already stunned, subconsciously turned around and retreated.

As they retreated, the retreat turned into a rout.

"Chase!"

The Ming army's sword and shield men, spearmen and crossbowmen rushed out, but the flintlock men stayed behind to reload bullets.

"Da da da da..."

With the sound of horse hooves, more than two hundred Ming cavalrymen rushed into the city gate.

Wadagamoni stood at the edge of the street, with a group of palace guards behind him, and the defeated soldiers kept running past him. Seeing that the situation had collapsed, he 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 and were chasing and killing the fleeing enemy soldiers all the way to the outside of the palace wall.

Zhu Xiaozhong rode a horse and quickly arrived outside the palace: "Who is the Lord of Xilanchi?"

The South Indian merchant translator shouted, "The king, come out and speak."

The king had already hidden himself in the palace, trembling as he held his wife in his arms.

Wadagamoni stood on the top of the city wall and shouted: "I am the prime minister. We are willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty and offer some wealth. Please leave the Victory City."

Zhu Xiaozhong said angrily: "Let the king speak in person!"

In desperation, Vadagamoni could only send someone to invite the king.

King Viśayapaha was dragged here. He was so frightened that he could not speak clearly: "I...I...I am the king, I...I am willing to surrender!"

Suddenly, he became fluent and said to the remaining soldiers who had fled into the palace: "Put down your weapons and open the gates of the palace."

The prime minister hesitated to speak, but finally did not stop it.

The king was brought before Zhu Xiaozhong and knelt down, kowtowed and said, "Mercy! Mercy!"

The prime minister was speechless and said, "General, calm down. The army that attacked you before was not the king's army. The man was called Parakalama, the king's uncle. He did not obey the king's orders and often blackmailed the king. The entire northeast and east 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 should prepare the letter of credence and tribute, and you should also send a prince as an envoy to wait for me to return to the Ming Dynasty. Also, I suffered heavy losses when I sent troops, and you need to compensate for the military expenses."

"Of course, I will give you 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. They are all presented to the Ming emperor!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the prime minister and the soldiers all changed drastically.

Those are Sakyamuni’s teeth, relics and rice bowl!

Today they are all in Sri Lanka and have not been stolen by foreigners. Later, the Buddha's bowl and relics disappeared, and the Sinhalese only recovered the tooth.

Why was the king willing to offer the Buddhist 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 was a Kalinga from Bengal - she was a Brahmin.

As for the king, he had long been dissatisfied with the monks.

Anyway, the Buddhist treasure had been thrown to the south by him, and he would never enshrine it in a Buddhist temple in the capital. It was just right to present it to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty now, which would please the suzerain state and disgust those damned monks.

After listening to the translation, Zhu Xiaozhong was shocked and asked, "Sakyamuni's treasure?"

"It is Sakyamuni." The South Indian merchant confirmed.

It is one thing that Emperor Zhu did not believe in Buddhism, but it is another thing that he brought Buddhist treasures back to the country.

Zhu Xiaozhong's blood boiled, and he nodded and said, "Very good, as long as you send the Buddha treasure as soon as possible, I don't need your treasure."

There are many transport ships in the Ming fleet, and they can trade along the way, so the king’s treasure is not lacking.

"Thank you, General, for your kindness!" The king kowtowed frantically.

Zhu Xiaozhong looked at the officials and soldiers opposite him, and felt that if he did not send troops to protect the king, the king would be in great danger: "Let all your soldiers hand in their weapons, and I will send troops to garrison the palace to protect you."

The king said, "The Buddha treasure is in a temple in the south. I will send troops to retrieve it immediately."

Zhu Xiaozhong smiled and said, "I'm afraid it's difficult to retrieve it. I might as well take you there to avoid any accidents caused by running back and forth."

"Okay, okay!" The king didn't care about anything as long as he could save the dog's life.

To be on the safe side, Zhu Xiaozhong took the king's entire family away, as well as the abbots of all the Buddhist temples in Shengli Royal City.

(End of this chapter)