Diqin Designer

Chapter 315: Tanmo Lidi Observations

The mayor, named Youzhan, kept introducing Tanmolidi to Yao Zhi and others along the way, and asked them various questions from time to time. For example, he said to Yao Zhi and others at this moment: "Tanmolidi is a good city. The residents of the city all believe in Buddhism and are good. There is no stealing, robbery, or fraud, and everyone can live in peace and happiness. May I ask how to deal with the crime of stealing, robbery, or fraud in Daqin?"

These words made Yao Zhi and others feel a little disgusted. This person was not asking questions sincerely, but treating them as ignorant barbarians. He was showing off the good things about Tanmo Lidi to them and comparing it with Daqin to highlight the happiness and beauty of Tanmo Lidi.

But is it true that in Tammolidi, as the mayor of the city said, there is no stealing, no fraud, and everyone can live in peace and happiness?

Yao Zhi glanced at the figures at the distant street corner and felt that those figures seemed to be frightened by his gaze and quickly hid back in the shadow of the corner.

Those were not people who were monitoring and following them, but a group of ragged civilians. Although it was just a quick glance, Yao Zhi saw that those people hiding in the shadows were thin and had dark skin.

Yao Zhi did not use these people to slap the mayor in the face. He retracted his gaze and replied calmly: "If you commit the crime of stealing, robbery or fraud in my Great Qin, there will be corresponding laws to punish you!"

After getting Yao Zhi's answer, the mayor of the city laughed, and the people from the Peacock State who were accompanying him also couldn't help laughing. The answer from this Qin general showed that the Great Qin State still had theft, robbery and fraud, which was inferior to their Tammo Lidi who had no theft, robbery or fraud.

This is normal. It is said that the Qin Kingdom was still in a period of ignorance and barbarism. It had never listened to the Buddha's teachings or been enlightened by the Buddha. It was nothing compared to them.

The mayor of the city smiled and said, "General Yao Zhi, rest assured. I believe that sooner or later, the Great Qin Kingdom will become a good country like our country!"

What he meant was that when Buddhism spread to Daqin, it would help Daqin get rid of barbarism and ignorance and lead Daqin onto the same path as them.

Who wants to be like your country? Besides, your country is a good country, and the Qin Dynasty is an evil country. Who set the standard?

Yao Zhi complained in his heart, but said: "Thank you for your kindness, Mayor. I hope that there will be no robbery or fraud in the Qin Dynasty one day!"

After hearing this, the mayor became even more enthusiastic and continued to introduce the city to Yao Zhi and others, talking about the history of the city, the scale of the city, and occasionally even some news related to the Peacock Kingdom.

"Several decades ago, the great King Ashoka visited Tamralidi. It was under the blessing and guidance of the great King Ashoka that Tamralidi became so glorious today. Unfortunately, I was still young at that time and never met the great King Ashoka! Now that I am the mayor of Tamralidi, I have the responsibility to make Tamralidi continue to be great!"

At this point, the mayor changed the subject and sighed, "Tanmo Lidi is not the most prosperous city in our country. Huashi City is the real prosperity. There are buildings in clusters, palaces in groups, carpets woven with gold threads, doors made of white jade, scholars and wealthy businessmen from all over the world, and all kinds of delicacies and fine wines. It is hard to describe it in words. When General Yao Zhi arrives, you will know."

The mayor looked at Yao Zhi, meaning that Hua City will definitely shock you country bumpkins, and that your Great Qin Kingdom definitely doesn't have such a big and good city.

Yao Zhi was too lazy to refute the mayor, but instead followed his words and smiled: "Listen to what the mayor said, then Yao will have to take a serious look when he arrives at Huashi City!"

When the banquet started, Yao Zhi and others gave them the gifts they brought. These Qin people came as envoys and must have brought treasures, but they did not think that the treasures of the Qin people were that good.

But when they opened the gift boxes sent by Yao Zhi and others, they were all attracted. The gifts were still the same things: glass products, bronze ware, wood carvings, and pottery.

The Qin Dynasty's pottery-making skills were quite good, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to produce the Terracotta Warriors that have been passed down to later generations, which spanned two thousand years. Therefore, before the mission, Li Nian asked the delegation to bring a batch of pottery products as gifts.

Wood carvings and bronze ware are not very attractive, but glassware and pottery products have attracted all the Peacock people. The pottery products are lifelike, and the glassware are precious and eye-catching at first glance.

The peacock people were so amazed by the gift that they could not even move their eyes away. The person who received the gift held it in his hands and looked at it carefully.

Judging from these gifts, the Great Qin Kingdom might not be an ignorant and barbaric country as they thought. It might be a powerful and civilized country, not inferior to their Maurya Kingdom.

At the same time, they also thought of what was described in the letter sent back by Master Moye. Is it possible that what these Qin people said about the Qin State is true?
The Great Qin Empire really had hundreds of cities and tens of millions of people!

But this thought only appeared in their minds for a moment, and they quickly rejected it: How is it possible? If the Great Qin Kingdom really has hundreds of cities and tens of millions of people, wouldn't it surpass their Peacock Kingdom?
Their Maurya Kingdom is the most powerful and civilized country in the world, without a doubt. These Qin people must have exaggerated the situation of the Qin Kingdom!
But the Qin Empire should be a civilized country, that is certain, but it is not as powerful as these Qin people say.

The Peacock people, who thought they had seen through the thoughts of Yao Zhi and others, felt relieved again: Although the Great Qin Kingdom was good, it was still a long way from their Peacock Kingdom!

After the banquet, Yao Zhi and his companions returned to the resting place arranged by the mayor. Someone asked, "Ambassador, why don't you tell these foreigners about the power of our Great Qin?"

Others were also somewhat indignant. They were actually looked down upon by a bunch of barbarians. These barbarians were even showing off in front of them, with an expression that said, "We are the Celestial Empire and know a lot, while you are barbarians from foreign lands and have little experience." They were showing off how good their public security was, how big their city was, how civilized and polite their people were (Buddhist), how rich their food was...

It was so funny, how rich could those mushy foods be, and how could they be called delicacies? They just had more spices, and were far inferior to the Qin Dynasty.

At that time, many people were fed up with what they heard and wanted to fight back, but were stopped by Yao Zhi and others.

Hearing this question, before Yao Zhi could answer, Gan Yu had already laughed and said, "They are so arrogant that even if we tell them about the strength of the Qin Dynasty, they will not take it to heart and will think that we are just bragging."

"Today, these Peacock people will come to the dock to greet us. They already knew we would be here, and they probably already knew some of our situations."

Everyone understood what Gan Yu meant as soon as they thought about it. Master Moye must have passed some of their news back to Tanmo Lidi before. Then, this group of people might also know some of the news about Daqin that they told Master Moye.

Gan Yu continued, "But today the mayor still deliberately showed off to us, which shows that we don't believe what we say, so what's the point of you talking to him again?"

Just like the Yelang Kingdom and the Dian Kingdom in history did not believe that the Han Dynasty was greater than them, if they knew how powerful the Han Dynasty was, they would still ask questions like "Who is greater, Qin or me?" But after listening to Gan Yu's words, everyone was still unhappy and wanted to let these Peacock people know how powerful the Qin Dynasty was: You are the barbarians!
At this time, Yao Zhi smiled and said, "In fact, this matter is also beneficial to us and Daqin. They are arrogant and think they are the best in the world. They will not be very vigilant against us, which is convenient for us to act. If in the future..."

Yao Zhi lowered his voice and said, "If the Great Qin is at war with the Peacock Kingdom, it will help them relax and facilitate the Great Qin's advance here."

After hearing these words, everyone's eyes lit up and their unhappiness disappeared. It was good that these people were arrogant. They looked down on the Qin Dynasty and would not be on guard against it. When the Qin Dynasty sent troops, it would be a good opportunity to open a big hole for these guys.

As if they had seen Tanmo Lidi being conquered by the Qin, they watched the Qin army enter the city with expressions of astonishment, bewilderment, and despair: Is this really the Qin army? Aren't they a bunch of barbarians? Why are they so powerful?
Moreover, the people of the Peacock Country believed that the Great Qin was not as powerful as they were, and they would also develop a tolerant and condescending mentality: We are the Celestial Empire, and when the small country of the Great Qin comes to pay us a visit, we certainly cannot lose face, and we must show them the courtesy of a great country towards a foreign country.

No matter what the envoys from the Great Qin or other small states want, we must do our best to help them and give them the best. We must not lose the face of the Celestial Empire in front of the envoys from foreign states.

If we don't do the best, they will go back to Qin and think that our Peacock Country is not that good. We can make our own people suffer, but we must not lose face in front of foreign countries.

Everyone nodded after understanding Yao Zhi's intention. Although they were unhappy about being shown off in front of the Peacock People for a while, they thought that the benefits they could gain would make the slight dissatisfaction negligible.

At this time, one person said, "Today when I was in the city, I found something strange. There were a few people looking at us at the corner of the street, but when I looked over, they quickly hid in the shadows of the corner."

"I originally thought they were monitoring us, but I saw that these people were small, dark-skinned, and the clothes they wore were worn and dirty. Their features were so obvious that they didn't seem to be sent to monitor us."

That can't be said to be wearing clothes, it can only be said to be wrapped up to cover the body.

Another person said, "I saw it too! These people look different from the city chief, Master Maya and others. I guess they are low-caste people from the Maurya Kingdom."

When everyone heard this man talk about "caste", they all fell silent. The Maurya Kingdom was really weird. On the one hand, there was Buddhism that spread the idea of ​​equality of all beings, but on the other hand, there was this strange caste system that divided people into different classes based on their origins.

As far as they knew, this surname system was even more outrageous than that of the princes and nobles of the Qin Dynasty. In the Qin Dynasty, one could climb up based on merit or talent, but under this surname system, if you were born into a low caste, you would be a low caste all your life, and there was almost no possibility of change.

What's even more outrageous is that the people of the Maurya Kingdom don't seem to think there is anything wrong with this, which means that they can believe in Buddha while maintaining the caste system.

This is simply unbelievable. It can only be said that the people of Peacock Country are not like normal people. Yao Zhi and others had no idea that even in the modern times, the people of Peacock Country could still maintain the caste system while entering the modern era. The key is that the lower castes still actively maintain it and don't think there is anything wrong with it.

Another person said disdainfully: "Is this what the mayor meant by saying that there is no stealing or fraud here, and everyone can live in peace and happiness?"

Another person laughed and said, "Maybe others don't even consider those people as human beings? They are human beings, and others are not human beings, but it is because there is no stealing, no fraud, and everyone can live in peace and happiness."

This may seem like a joke, but if you think about it carefully, this possibility cannot be ruled out, and it is even very likely.

Yao Zhi said: "Just send someone to investigate. Perhaps this will become another breakthrough for the Peacock Nation."

The others nodded. The Peacock Kingdom had many breakthroughs. They believed that the biggest one was the influence of Buddhism. Although the main purpose of Buddhism was to guide people to be good and it had good aspects, it also made the Peacock people lose their sharpness and lowered their vigilance.

While Yao Zhi and others were discussing the matter, Guru Maya, Guru Kalisha, the mayor of Ucchan city and others were also discussing the matter.

Looking at the exquisite glassware in front of him, Youzhan sighed: "The Great Qin Kingdom can make such exquisite and pure things. Even if it is not as good as us, it should not be underestimated. The great Ashoka has been gone for more than ten years. Now it is the son of Prince Junala who is in power..."

When Prince Junala's son was mentioned, the expressions of everyone in the room became serious: after the death of Ashoka of the Maurya Dynasty, because Prince Junala was blind, a grandson of Ashoka named "Dasharasha" succeeded to the throne. However, Dasharasha died a few years ago, and the throne returned to Junala's son.

But this grandson of Ashoka and son of Junala was not easy to get along with, especially for those who believed in Buddhism, because he did not believe in Buddhism, but Jainism.

For Buddhists in the Maurya Kingdom, Ashoka was a great king. During his reign, he believed in Buddhism and worked hard to promote Buddhism, allowing Buddhism to flourish in the Maurya Kingdom.

But there was one thing Ashoka did not do well: he did not eradicate other religions in order to promote Buddhism. Instead, he made generous donations to Brahmanism and Jainism.

This resulted in the fact that although Buddhism was the state religion during the time of King Ashoka and the largest religion in the Maurya Empire, Buddhism was not without crisis. Now the crisis has become a real threat: the current king of the Maurya Empire does not believe in Buddhism, but in Jainism.

King Ashoka believed in Buddhism and made it flourish. Now King Maurya believes in Jainism, so he can also make Jainism flourish.

This made the Buddhists in the Maurya Empire feel dangerous. Ashoka could tolerate other religions while promoting Buddhism, but this might not be the case for Ashoka's grandson who believed in Jainism.

They had to find a way to save themselves and not let the threat become a real disaster that would befall them. The people of Daqin showed them a way: spread Buddhism to the Daqin Empire!

If this can be accomplished, it will be their achievement in spreading Buddhism and influencing the whole country, and they will surely gain great reputation in the country. Then, even if the grandson of King Ashoka wants to settle accounts with them, he will be afraid.

Even if the grandson of King Ashoka doesn't care and insists on promoting their Jainism and eliminating their Buddhism, they still have a way out: if the Peacock does not want to keep Buddha, then they will go to the Qin Dynasty!

(End of this chapter)