Chapter 206: Buddha’s Bone

Chapter 206: Buddha’s Bone

Still overwhelmed by emotions, Emperor Xianzong grabbed Reverend Palkyi’s hand and prepared a banquet to welcome this distant guest who came to report this piece of good news to them.

He wanted to know more about the Western Regions.

However, he came to learn a few peculiar pieces of information instead.

“You’re saying the General Shu might be a Buddha or a Bodhisattva?”

“Indeed.” Reverend Palkyi put his hands together and detailed what he had seen and heard.

Wherever Shu Yichao went, he paved a path of white bones and guided the undead. Cities and earth transformed at his command; he could instantaneously conjure fields, wells, and paths.

His ability to transmute between yin and yang and swap genders caused a huge population growth of livestock. Every household had plenty of cows, sheeps, and horses, and their warehouses were filled to the brim.

Reverend Palkyi praised Shu Yichao as the Black Lotus Buddha who had come from the Land of Bliss into the mortal world to bring enlightenment to the masses.

“...” Emperor Xianzong fell silent.

He thought that the other party was bragging.

It could also be that those in the Western Regions need a figure to rally under, so they are putting Shu Yichao on a pedestal. Abbot Palkyi might be saying this right now so that I’ll view them in a better light and provide them with more resources.

Decades ago, the Anxi army made the grueling journey to Chang’an to report their circumstances and request reinforcement, only to receive a worthless edict...

I don’t blame Abbot Palkyi for resorting to this.

As for Shu Yichao being a Buddha or a Bodhisattva, I’m guessing that he might be a monk or a daoist similar to the retainers of the Tang court, capable of reading omens and praying for rain.

As the Tang emperor, Emperor Xianzong wouldn’t truly believe in faith; his only faith was the seat under his bum. He looked to be a Buddhist on the surface, but that was just a way to raise money.

He thought that shamans, mages, daoists, and monks were all the same, just that they were practicing different systems.

Did the Shu Clan’s orphan practice something resembling Buddhism? If so, could I possibly...

Emperor Xianzong whispered to his aide.

Moments later, a few servants respectfully entered the Palace of Purple Roof with a solemn box wrapped in red silk. Placed in the box was a finger bone that was smooth like jade, emanating a faint light.

“This is...” Abbot Palkyi widened his eyes in astonishment.

He sensed spirit energy similar to what he had cultivated from the finger, but the spirit energy imbued in the finger was unimaginably large and pure.

It was an artifact, an amazing artifact!

“This is a Buddha’s bone,” Emperor Xianzong calmly explained. “Abbot Palkyi, I’d like to bestow this gift to the King of Righteousness. What do you think about it?”

Abbot Palkyi put his hands together and said, “This humble monk thanks Your Majesty for your generous bestowment. I’ll do everything I can to ensure the Buddha’s bone is safely delivered to the King of Righteousness.”

Things were settled like that.

The Tangs were going to dispatch troops into Hexi to take down the Tibetan troops residing there to connect borders with Anxi. Meanwhile, Abbot Palkyi would be bringing the bestowments and the Buddha’s bone back to the Western Regions through the Uyghurs, this time with the protection of Tang troops.

As for the Tibetan envoys residing in Chang’an... the Tangs would keep them on the line for now to buy time for their armies’ mobilization.

So, the Tibetan envoys found themselves being given the cold shoulder.

You want to see our emperor?

He proceeded to thoroughly plunder the city. He needed to earn sufficient money to upkeep his expensive terracotta warriors. He even scraped off the gold gilding of religious idols.

“Your Majesty...” The queen looked in bewilderment at the religious idols that had their gildings cleanly scraped off. “Can you really call such a person a Buddha?”

A high monk answered on Shu Yichao’s behalf before the king could say a word, “My queen, you are being misled by appearances. The Black Lotus Buddha is teaching us not to indulge in material pursuits. We should focus on the development of the spirit instead...”

He was determined not to let the queen kick a fuss.

The Black Lotus Buddha had no qualms plundering Nalanda, let alone little temples like theirs.

Nalanda, as the heart of Buddhism, had its own pride. They had tried to stop Shu Yichao from treating their monastery like an ATM, even sending 3000 enlightened monks to debate with him.

Little did they know that the Black Lotus Buddha’s way of debate was to send in an army of charging war elephants...

The high monks were squashed like lemons into lemonade.

Such an event was bound to shake people’s faith in Buddhism.

If the Buddha can’t even save his own monastery, does he truly have the means to save those who are suffering?

That gave even more reason for Shu Yichao to be the Black Lotus Buddha.

It’s a fight between deities; mortals like us shouldn’t get involved.

Everyone, let’s continue being devout Buddhists. See, the prayers of devout Buddhists have paid off. The Black Lotus Buddha has distributed land to them!

As for the debates that had broken out elsewhere whether they should worship the Golden Lotus or the Black Lotus, the Sindhi monks had tacitly decided to close their eyes and ignore it altogether.

“These temples are overflowing with wealth,” Shu Yichao remarked in awe. “No wonder it’s commonly said that it’s more profitable to plunder a temple than to ransack ten palaces. This mod has a weirdly realistic reflection of true history...”

Religion has always been a highly profitable trade. How many fools had lived frugal lives, scrimping and saving wherever they could, only to happily squander their savings on incense money and donations after stepping through a temple’s gates?

The gilding on the Sindhi temples’ religious idols were made out of the gold donated by devout believers. The gold was compressed into golden leaves and plastered onto the idol bit by bit.

The same went for their artifacts, incense pots, ritual equipment, and so on.

In summary, Sindhi temples were extremely, extremely wealthy.

But it had gone to profit the Black Lotus Buddha now.

“Hm? Did something happen in Beiting?”

—

Starve’s Tang Military Geek Explanations:

Great Tang operates on a system similar to feudalism, like most empires in that era.

In this era, communication technology is severely lacking, and Great Tang is a massive empire. Thus, the emperor appoints individuals as ‘Regional Commanders’ and ‘Protectorate-Generals’ to rule over certain regions, and these people collected their own taxes and operated their own army.

Unfortunately, some of these ‘Regional Commanders’ and ‘Protectorate-Generals’ eventually build up a massive army and try to break away from Great Tang, or they simply turn a blind eye to the emperor’s orders.

And if the emperor tries to weaken these Regional Commanders and Protectorate-Generals (whether it’s by taking their soldiers or attacking them), the Regional Commanders and Protectorate-Generals could band together against the emperor to resist such attempts.

They understand that if the emperor weakens Noble A today, he could do the same for Noble B and Noble C tomorrow. So, they are sensitive to policies that undermine their authority.

Emperor vs. Warlords/ Fief nobles/ Regional commanders are a very common issue in that era, and it’s often a contributing factor to the downfall of empires.