Diqin Designer

Chapter 329: Master Moye Arrives at Baiyue

After the New Year celebrations, Daqin returned to its normal course and continued to move forward in an orderly manner along the path of strength and prosperity.

On December 15th of the second year of the Qin Emperor's reign, the Qin Empire sent an envoy to Wusun. This was the first time the Qin Empire sent an envoy to the countries in the Western Regions, but it would definitely not be the last.

In history, the Qin Dynasty had limited direct communication with the Western Regions due to its short reign and foreign policy. However, because of Li Nian's existence, the Qin Dynasty in this world realized the important value of the Western Regions to the Qin Dynasty, and its foreign policy changed greatly.

Even though we cannot effectively control the Western Regions at present, we can still send an envoy to communicate with the countries in the Western Regions, make friends with them, and obtain some news about the Western Regions.

Get to know the Western Regions first, so that when you have accumulated enough strength to take action in the future, you can use it directly without having to rush to understand it when you need it.

On January 10th, the second Xianyang examination was held. This time, there were more candidates taking the exam than the previous one. First of all, the demonstration in the first session was extremely good, which gave enough face to the candidates who were on the list.

As the saying goes, “Once your name is on the list, it will spread throughout the world.” Now, even in remote villages, people know that the top three names in the Xianyang examination are called “Zhuangyuan”, “Bangyan” and “Tanhua”?
That number one scholar was truly extraordinary. He could ride a horse and tour around Xianyang City, and was also given clothes and a banquet by the Emperor. What an honor that was!

Of course, some people did not come for the appreciation of the First Emperor, but were dissatisfied with the top three winners of last year's Xianyang examination: those people were not as talented as me, but they were able to make the list and become famous all over the world. If I were to take their place, I would definitely get a higher ranking than those people.

When there is no tiger in the mountain, a group of stupid monkeys dare to claim to be the king. Well, I will go out of the mountain and go to Xianyang to let the world know who the real talent is.

Secondly, the various changes that have taken place in Daqin over the past year have changed many people's original impressions of Daqin.

Many wise men in the opposition did not like the original way of governing the country of the Qin Dynasty. They thought it was too harsh and cruel, and was not the way a normal country should govern. Therefore, they were resistant to the Qin Dynasty and were unwilling to be officials of the Qin Dynasty or work for the Qin Dynasty.

But in the past year, the Qin Dynasty, which had always advocated severe laws and punishments, has actually relaxed its policies. Although in fact, the laws and regulations are more numerous and detailed than before, the punishments have become much lighter. People will no longer be fined one shield or one armor at will, and they will no longer impose cruel corporal punishments on criminals at will. The laws have become milder.

The Qin Dynasty also reduced some taxes and labor service to give people hope for life.

From these many changes, people of insight realized that Daqin was developing in a good direction. Daqin was in a period of drastic changes, and this change might be unprecedented.

This makes them excited. This unprecedented change will create what kind of country? Will it be stronger than the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties in the past? Will the country last longer than the Zhou Dynasty?

The reason why a change is a change is because its outcome is still uncertain. No one knows where it will go, and the uncertainty of the outcome also means that there is a lot that can be done.

They naturally want to participate in this unprecedented change. If they miss it, they will regret it for the rest of their lives.

They want to display their talents and shine in this great change, experience and observe it personally, and record this change.

As a result, many people who had been on the sidelines during the first Xianyang examination came to participate in the second Xianyang examination, resulting in a surge in the number of participants in the second session.

Hearing that so many people came to seek advice, the First Emperor looked both happy and depressed.

The good news is that after this round of exams, Daqin will have a group of talents available. The bad news is that there are actually many talented people in the world, but they just don’t want to work for Daqin. They would rather leave their talents in vain than be used by him and Daqin.

Now that Daqin has changed, these people have taken the initiative to come forward and serve Daqin, proving that Daqin was indeed not very popular in the world in the past.

If the Xianyang Examination is carried out a few more times according to this model, it will sooner or later become a routine of the Qin Dynasty and become the Qin version of the imperial examination.

Although the second Xianyang examination was more prestigious than the first, Li Nian did not pay much attention to it. Although there were more people in the second session, the regulations stipulated that it should be conducted according to the first session he designed. He only participated in the final ranking of the top ten in each list.

In March, Liuying Academy welcomed its second batch of new students. This time, the new students were still hundreds of children of appropriate age selected from the old Qin people.

Li Nian's plan for the Liuying Academy is to have a five-year academic system. After five years, except for those with extremely outstanding performance who can continue their studies, the other children will graduate and be assigned to various positions that need them.

These are all very smart children, but unfortunately, born in this era, many of them are destined not to be able to go through elementary school, junior high school, high school, and then university like students in later generations.

Because of the current situation in Daqin, it is impossible to give them so much time to study in school. Unless their talents are extremely outstanding, they will only study in the academy for five years before being assigned to positions where Daqin needs them to play a role.

Li Nian has high expectations for them, hoping that in these five years, their academic level can reach that of junior high school students in later generations, or even touch the level of high school students.

In April, after several months of travel, Gan Yu and others finally arrived at the territory of Baiyue with the Tammo Lidi delegation.

Looking at the dense forest ahead, Gan Yu smiled and introduced to Master Moye: "After passing through this forest, we will reach the land of the Baiyue tribes. Baiyue is the name given by our Great Qin to the tribes in this area. They are not a country or a tribe, but a group of tribes."

"The land ahead is the Yuechang tribe of the Baiyue tribe. The Yuechang tribe is one of the Baiyue tribes that have friendly relations with our Great Qin. They have lived here a long time ago. We will meet them when we get there."

After listening to Gan Yu's introduction, Master Moye and the monks who accompanied him were filled with curiosity, excitement, and anticipation. The Yuechang tribe was obviously a tribe they had never come into contact with before, which meant that they might be able to spread the Buddha's wonderful Dharma to them!
This is a wild land, but it is also an undeveloped fertile land for spreading Buddhism. How wonderful it would be if the people here could learn and believe in Buddhism and listen to the wonderful voice of the Buddha?

Seeing the expressions on the faces of these Tammolidi people, Gan Yu had no idea what these monks were thinking. They must be thinking of spreading Buddhism to the Baiyue people.

Gan Yu also felt a little curious and wanted to know what the scene would be like when the monks from Tammo Lidi preached Buddhism to the Baiyue people.
"Excuse me, Master Gan Yu, how far is this place from Daqin?"

Master Moye did not forget that the Baiyue tribes here were not their ultimate goal, but the Great Qin Kingdom was. They came all the way from Tamolidi to spread Buddhism to the Great Qin Kingdom, not to these barbarian tribes here.

Of course, if it can be done easily, Master Moye doesn't mind doing it.

Gan Yu said: "From here, we will pass through the Luoyue tribe, then the Xiou land, and head north to enter the territory of our Great Qin. According to Gan's estimation, we should be able to reach Great Qin within a month!" It will take another month to reach Great Qin. Great Qin is really far away from them, but he is looking forward to the scenery of Great Qin that he will see in a month:

I hope that the great Qin Kingdom will have enough population and land to allow them to successfully spread Buddhism and open up another land for Buddhists!
Master Moye did not ask any more questions, and everyone continued to travel through the mountains and forests. When they walked out of the dense forest, Master Moye saw many people appearing in front of them.

These people were thin, with slightly dark skin, and were somewhat similar to the people from the tribes in the Jindi area, but their clothes were different, and they were more ferocious than the people from Jindi.

This should be the people of the Yueshang tribe mentioned by the Qin people!
Master Moye guessed in his heart that when those people saw the Qin man, their faces were immediately filled with smiles, and the leader even came forward and greeted the Qin man Gan Yu enthusiastically.

This person spoke a language that Master Moye could not understand, but Master Moye could understand the language of the Qin people, so he guessed that what he said was: Welcome back all the envoys from the Great Qin!

Master Moye was not surprised that the people of the Yueshang tribe appeared here, because before they arrived at this area, the Qin people had already sent people ahead to scout the situation ahead and to notify the people of the Yueshang tribe.

After communicating with Qin Ren Gan Yu, this person's eyes fell on him. Master Moye then heard Gan Yu introduce: "This is Master Moye. These are monks from Tamolidi, the Peacock Kingdom. Monks are a group of people who devoutly believe in gods and Buddhas!"

Master Mahaye bowed to the man and said, "I am Mahaye, a poor monk, and I am honored to meet you, the benefactor!"

Gan Yu then introduced this person in Peacock Mandarin, "This is the leader of the Xiling tribe of the Yuechang tribe, Yezhuo. His tribe lives to the west of the Yuechang tribe. When we return from the west, we will first encounter the tribe of leader Yezhuo. Leader Yezhuo has come here specially to welcome us."

The man also returned the greeting, speaking in a language that Master Moye did not understand, but guessed that his intention was to tell them his name and welcome them.

As expected, language barrier is the first obstacle to communication. Master Moye now very much hopes that there is a universal language that people from all over the world can speak.

After a brief introduction, led by the leader of the Yueshang and Xiling tribes, everyone arrived at a residence.

This is a city that Master Mahayoga and the monks of Tamolidi have never seen. In fact, it should not be called a city. It would be more accurate to call it a tribal gathering place or a mountain village.

Compared with Tanmo Lidi, this city can be described as simple and backward. The buildings are mainly made of wood and bamboo, with a simple style, which is very different from the buildings in Tanmo Lidi.

From this city and the buildings in the city, one can tell at a glance that this place is still barbaric and backward, far inferior to their Maurya Kingdom. It seems that it is really the Buddha's will that brought them here to spread Buddhism to these ignorant barbarians and free them from ignorance.

The people in the city were the same as those they had seen before, thin, with slightly dark skin, and wearing simple and rustic clothes.

They must have seen the Qin people before, so they didn't pay much attention to them, but they looked at them curiously.

Feeling the gazes of the local people, Guru Moye and the monks smiled back. Some monks even recited a sentence or two from the Buddhist scriptures. It was a pity that the local people were ignorant and did not understand the wisdom.

The chief named "Ye Zhuo" was very enthusiastic and invited them to the best and most luxurious building in the city, which should be the residence of Chief Ye Zhuo.

To say it is the best and most magnificent is only when compared with other buildings here. If compared with the buildings in Hedanmo Lidi, it is just mediocre.

A banquet had been prepared there, with dishes that Master Moye and the monks had never seen before. There was no mushy food among them. It seemed that the people here were very different from them when it came to food.

If there is no porridge, even Buddha will find it difficult to swallow it. Only porridge can fully bring out the characteristics of the ingredients and perfectly present the deliciousness of the food to people. A place that cannot make porridge food is definitely a food desert!
Master Moye and the monks did not say much. They tasted the food with smiles on their faces. Although it was not to their taste, it was better than the dry food they had to eat to fill their stomachs while on the road.

While eating and chatting, the leader Nayezhuo looked at Master Moye and others and said with a smile: "I heard from you in Daqin that there is a country called 'Peacock', but I didn't take it seriously. I didn't expect that there is really a Peacock Country in the world, and it is just to the west of my tribe. I wonder what the scenery of the Peacock Country is like?"

Gan Yu acted as an interpreter and translated Chief Ye Zhuo's words to Master Moye.

When Master Moye heard this, he realized that the man was asking him about the situation in the Maurya Kingdom. He should have a good talk with the barbarian leader, as it might be helpful for them to preach here.

After pondering for a moment, Master Moye smiled and said, "My Maurya Kingdom is a country of supreme virtue, with a vast territory, magnificent mountains and rivers, and abundant products. The land is thousands of miles wide, and there are tens of millions of people, many of whom are very wise. Although the land is vast and the population is large, our people listen to the Buddha's teachings and are all kind and good!"

At this point, Master Maya added: "The Buddha was once a great wise man in our country. He was originally a prince of Kapilavastu."

"But the Buddha was born with great wisdom. He wanted to save the world from suffering and save people from all the troubles. So he gave up his throne, became a monk and practiced Buddhism. He finally attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Gaya."

"After Buddha attained enlightenment, he passed on his wisdom to the world. It has been more than 300 years since then. The great sage King Ashoka was also a Buddhist believer. In his early years, Ashoka killed countless people in order to unify our country. Forty years ago, when he conquered Kalinga, 150,000 people were captured, 100,000 were killed, and hundreds of thousands were killed or injured. He was known as the 'Black Ashoka'."

"Ashoka was also awakened by this massacre. From then on, he listened to the Buddhist scriptures and used his power to spread the wisdom of the Buddha to the world. He was called 'White Ashoka'. It was because of Ashoka's actions that our country has become a country of the highest virtue today!"

This Buddhist monk named "Master Moye" was obviously bragging to them about how strong and beautiful his country is!
In the eyes of Ye Zhuo and the people of the Yuechang tribe who participated in the banquet, King Ashoka was actually demonstrating the strength of their country: Don't underestimate us, everyone. We, the Maurya Kingdom, once suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties in a battle. We are very powerful!

As for the so-called good character and good nature, Ye Zhuo and others simply ignored it. If the people of a country have good character and good nature, they will be put on the chopping block sooner or later.

But how could this Master Moye have the nerve to brag about how powerful he is in front of the Qin people?

I don't know how many hundreds of years the Qin in the north has been fighting. So many countries have been destroyed and now only the Qin is left. I heard that there was a war between the Qin and the Zhao State, and hundreds of thousands of Zhao people were killed in the battle.

How dare you, the Peacock Kingdom, show off your military achievements in front of the Qin people? Do you know how brutally the Qin people fought?

(End of this chapter)