Chapter 504: It's the Person That Matters, Not the Object

"Exactly so."

Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie nodded slightly, giving an affirmative answer.

Although the Qing Dynasty had all sorts of dark history and blood debts that made countless people loathe it, among many transmigrators,

there was even the urban legend rule: "Transmigrate to Qing and don't rebel, your chrysanthemum will be drilled by an electric drill."

But one thing had to be admitted: regarding control over the Mongolian and Tibetan regions,

the Qing Dynasty was the greatest among all feudal dynasties. It wasn't until the Qing Dynasty collapsed

that control over the Mongolian and Tibetan regions was basically lost.

Such advanced experience was something he naturally had to learn when the Great Gan army marched into Tibet.

After a display of artillery fire, those lamas knelt down under his dragon throne without any integrity,

offering him the title of "Manjushri Bodhisattva Great Emperor," and declaring him to be

the Manjushri Bodhisattva from heaven descended to earth, a heroic ruler born to rule the world.

"Your Bodhisattva wouldn't also take that so-called Living Buddha as a teacher, would he?"

Consumption Zhang Jie asked with hesitation, somewhat uncertain.

To become the "Manjushri Bodhisattva Great Emperor," Qianlong had indeed taken the Third Changkya Khutukhtu of the time as his teacher to study Tibetan Esotericism.

While the Great Song timeline in the Water Margin world was still in the Song Dynasty, the system of "reincarnated" Living Buddhas like the Dalai Lama and

Panchen Erdeni had not yet matured;

to be precise, the first Living Buddha of the Living Buddha system, the Living Buddha of the Karma Kagyu school, had not yet been born.

The Living Buddha reincarnation system was first created by the Karma Kagyu school, a branch of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

In 1193 AD, before the founder of the Karma Kagyu school, Düsum Khyenpa, passed away, he left a will predicting that he would "reincarnate and return."

Eleven years later, his disciples searched for and identified Karma Pakshi as the reincarnated soul boy of Düsum Khyenpa.

This pioneered the precedent of Tibetan Buddhism inheriting the orthodoxy by searching for soul boys,

and Karma Pakshi thus became the first reincarnated Living Buddha in Tibet produced according to prophecy.

After the Karma Kagyu school, this system was gradually adopted by other schools.

By the mid-16th century (1546 AD), the emerging Gelug school (Yellow Sect)

officially adopted the Living Buddha reincarnation system, identifying Sonam Gyatso as the reincarnation of Gendun Gyatso.

Since then, the Gelug school successively established the two major Living Buddha reincarnation systems of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama,

becoming the most influential Living Buddha system in Tibet. By the mid-17th century,

Living Buddha reincarnation had become the main inheritance method universally adopted by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

But just because the Living Buddha hadn't been born didn't mean the influence of Buddhism in Tibet wasn't great.

Since Padmasambhava entered Tibet in the 7th century AD, the local Bon religion of Tibet had been annexed by Buddhism,

or more accurately, fused, forming Tibetan Buddhism, which used ritual instruments like A-Jie drums, human-skin Thangkas,

and meat lotuses, and was more barbaric than Chinese Buddhism.

After hundreds of years of development, everyone in Tibet, from the nobles and Tsanpos,

down to the exploited and oppressed serfs, believed in Buddhism without exception.

Under such a major trend, unless Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie was willing to eliminate more than half of Tibet's population,

it would be difficult to eradicate the influence of Tibetan Buddhism.

And engaging in massacres, especially in inherent territory, was something the Zhang Jies had always rejected.

As a result, they suspected that Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie was afraid he had compromised with Buddhism somewhat.

"How is that possible? Me taking a Living Buddha as a teacher? If he took me as a teacher, I wouldn't even want it!"

Facing the suspicious gazes of the other Zhang Jies, Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie immediately jumped up:

"We Zhang Jies are not Qianlong, needing a Living Buddha to endorse us.

We not only have an army blessed by trans-era technology, but we also have real, undeniable extraordinary power.

Just showing off a few tricks made those monks and lamas treat us like gods."

"This explanation is not bad."

The other Zhang Jies nodded slightly upon hearing this, considering Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie's explanation accepted.

No matter how eloquently the bald donkeys of Buddhism or the bull-nosed priests of Daoism spoke,

Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie could break it with one move—can you manifest divinity in front of people?

Those who can manifest divinity are true gods and true Buddhas; those who cannot are false gods and false Buddhas, the kind that should have their temples destroyed.

Under the cannons and long guns, the so-called ritual instruments relied upon by those lamas were all shattered.

After Heavenly Dragon Zhang Jie and Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie finished speaking about their recent experiences, it was the other Zhang Jies' turn.

After some eye contact, Zhuan Yi Tian Zhang Jie spoke up: "I have nothing much to say here,

just that I sent a large army to the grasslands and captured the fleeing Yuan Emperor Toghon Temür, Yuan Iron Pot."

"Did you make him dance the Mongolian dance for you?"

Heavenly Dragon Zhang Jie asked, holding back laughter.

"Haha."

Consumption Zhang Jie and Pirate Zhang Jie both laughed out loud.

Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie had led his army in person and captured the Great Liao Emperor Tianzuo, Yelu Yanxi, outside Yanmen Pass,

and then, under the slander of sycophants like Wu Yong, he had to dance the unique dance of their Khitan people to show submission.

"That didn't happen, but he did offer up the Heirloom Seal of the Realm."

Zhuan Yi Tian Zhang Jie flipped his hand, and a seal appeared in his hand—the same one Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie had obtained from Emperor Tianzuo,

missing a corner, inlaid with gold, and engraved with the eight small seal script characters: "Received from Heaven,

May You Live Forever and Prosper."

"The Heirloom Seal of the Realm."

Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie sighed with some emotion.

Since the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, this seal passed down from the First Emperor had become the orthodoxy of the Central Plains,

and the regime that possessed it was the legitimate regime that was "destined by Heaven."

The Great Song Emperor was mockingly called the "Blank Slate Son of Heaven" because he didn't have the Heirloom Seal of the Realm.

When Huang Taiji of the Later Jin ascended the throne as emperor and established the Great Qing, which supposedly "overcame the Fire Virtue of the Great Ming with Water Virtue,"

an important legal basis was that when he conquered Mongolia,

he obtained the Heirloom Seal of the Realm from the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, making him "destined by Heaven."

"It's just a seal, no need to take it too seriously."

Zhuan Yi Tian Zhang Jie tossed the seal in his hand to Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie.

"That's true."

Water Shui Hu Zhang Jie smiled, played with the Heirloom Seal of the Realm in his hand, and then casually placed it on the table.

The reason why an object is powerful and famous, the origin of everything, is because of the person who uses it.

The reason the Heirloom Seal of the Realm got its name is because it was used by the two great orthodox dynasties of Qin and Han.

If the First Emperor had suddenly changed his habits one day and had a whim to use a chicken bone to stamp imperial edicts,

then it's uncertain whether the Heirloom Seal of the Realm would have become the Heirloom Chicken Bone.

In fact, the status of the Heirloom Seal of the Realm was not high in the early Han Dynasty either.

Regardless, the premise of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang establishing the Great Han was overthrowing the Great Qin. If the Great Qin and

the Heirloom Seal of the Realm were held too high, wouldn't that be weakening the legitimacy of the Great Han?

After all, if the Mandate of Heaven was with the Great Qin, then wouldn't the Great Han that overthrew it be a rebel?

It wasn't until Wang Mang usurped the Han, and even the Three Kingdoms period, that the status of the Heirloom Seal of the Realm gradually rose

—all parties began to need the Heirloom Seal of the Realm to increase their own legitimacy and strike at the legitimacy of their opponents.

It wasn't until the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, when various forces and regimes appeared like a revolving lantern,

all urgently needing an object to show they were orthodox and win people's hearts,

that the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, used by the two great orthodox dynasties of Qin and Han, was endowed with the sanctity of being "destined by Heaven." ===== CHAPTER 505 =====