Chapter 288: Four Big Slaps Across the Face — Not One Less

Wen Chongle stood six chi tall, and Du Lun Chixin six chi one — both had the build of fierce foot-soldiers. The storyteller was also quite tall, but in fact he had never trained much in martial arts.

As the saying goes, the poor study letters and the rich study arms. Practicing martial arts was really the privilege of families above modest means; the fish, meat, and polished rice needed just to build up the body were beyond what ordinary households could afford. And so the storyteller was beaten down without the slightest power to resist.

The two of them had certainly enjoyed beating the man — they beat him until he wailed and begged for mercy — but the moment they stepped out from backstage, they were dumbstruck.

Outside, more than twenty guards in leather armor, bows and arrows in hand, had already surrounded the two of them completely.

This storyteller had been invited from Military Governor Zhang's place only after the Shen family spent a great deal of face to get him. How could he be beaten by them for nothing?

Fortunately, Du Lun Chixin's status counted for something. The Shen family warriors gave them a bit of face and did not rush up and beat them first before anything else; they simply bound the two of them and marched them toward the great yamen.

The great yamen was originally the yamen of the garrison commander of Herong City. After the garrison city was abandoned, it became the place where the various Wenmo tribes settled their disputes.

The judgments were made by elders sent from each tribe, following the laws of the Tibetan era — savage and cruel.

Only then did Wen Chongle realize that the sun had long since set and the sky had already grown dark. Without knowing it, he had been listening for a very long time.

He also saw, in the distance, his younger brother, who had already sold all the sheep, hopping about in anxiety. Being dragged off to the great yamen — how could that end well?

Outside the great yamen, a sea of people had already gathered. Idlers from all around and lovers of a good spectacle came flocking over one after another.

In this age there were no good means of entertainment. This Complete Chronicles of the Great Tang Heroes was the very finest entertainment program there was — the hottest of the hot.

Naturally, the two storytellers of Herong City were, as a matter of course, the celebrities of Herong City.

Now that word spread they had been beaten by two young fellows, the crowd's appetite for gossip exploded at once, and people called their friends and rushed to the great yamen to watch the excitement.

Wen Chongle looked around curiously. The people who had come to watch him be judged were dressed with a striking uniformity.

In the past, everyone wore a long saber at the waist, but now, without exception, it was either a steel mace or a wrought-copper jian, or else a deliberately forged golden-melon hammer, or, for those who did not mind the trouble, a long spear planted on the ground.

Wen Chongle had no doubt that if these people had the means to get their hands on the precious helmets and precious armor described in the Complete Chronicles of the Great Tang Heroes, they would certainly acquire those too.

What Wen Chongle did not know was that among the six Wenmo tribes, not only had weapons begun to imitate the Complete Chronicles of the Great Tang Heroes, but even the yellow-maned horses and white horses in the horse market had risen in price by thirty percent over normal.

In the great yamen, the several elders had taken their seats. In truth, there was not much to judge, because the fact that Du Lun Chixin and Wen Chongle had beaten the storyteller was beyond dispute. Several hundred people had watched the two of them pounce on the man and strike him; there was no denying it.

It was only at this moment that Wen Chongle felt something was very wrong. This storyteller was actually a clerk subordinate to the Hexi Military Governor's yamen.

This was trouble. Originally he had thought that beating a storyteller would only cost him some money for medicine.

But beating a clerk of the Hexi Military Governor's yamen was an entirely different matter. Under Tibetan law, this was a base commoner striking an official superior, and it was punishable by beheading.

In his panic, Wen Chongle turned his eyes to Du Lun Chixin beside him. This man was the young chief of the Du Lun clan — surely he would not be beheaded, right? As long as Du Lun Chixin was not killed, there was no reason to kill him.

But the moment the elder of the Zhulu tribe from the Zamu River opened his mouth, Wen Chongle knew he had been wrong. For according to Tibetan law, the Du Lun family were nobles, and Du Lun Chixin's beating of a clerk of the Hexi Military Governor's yamen was handled according to the standards between aristocrats. Du Lun Chixin only needed to pay one horse and three sheep.

A thunderous boom went off inside Wen Chongle's head. He had never imagined that over such a small conflict, he was actually going to lose his life!

Beside him, Du Lun Chixin looked sympathetically at his "comrade-in-arms." In a matter involving status like this, he was powerless to help.

"Elders, I see this man is quite robust. Killing him just like that would truly be a pity. Why not let me take him to Liangzhou and press him into service at the front, to fight to the death?

As for the young headman of the Du Lun clan, my master the Military Governor is not short of sheep and horses, but he does lack a guard of superb riding skill by his side. Why not let the young headman go and meet the Military Governor?"

Wen Chongle had escaped death. With tears welling in his eyes, he looked toward where the voice had come from, and saw that the speaker was a middle-aged man wearing a blue official robe.

Wu Da'er also looked at Wen Chongle. Judging by his dress, this was probably the young headman of some minor clan, though his status was not high.

But the Military Governor was just then in need of a window through which to gain a deep understanding of the various Wenmo tribes. This man should be quite suitable.

In Liangzhou, Guo Tiance, Yang He, and Wu Yuan'er hurried over. After four days of intense discussion, the Buddhist establishment of Liangzhou, led by Great Cloud Temple and including Great Buddha Temple and Ganlin Temple, had finally agreed to Zhang Zhao's plan.

From now on, all traveling merchants going from Liangzhou to Suyab and Talas, as well as to Ningyuan and Huwen City, could spend real gold and silver at Zhang Zhao's place to buy silver notes of corresponding value. The great Military Governor Zhang was very considerate, charging only thirty cash per thousand as a handling fee.

What a business this was — tsk tsk! The traveling merchants spent real gold and silver to buy Zhang Zhao's "paper," and on top of that had to give Zhang Zhao an extra three percent as "handling."

If the bankers of later ages heard of this, they would be so envious their mouths would water.

These traveling merchants who bought silver notes from Zhang Zhao could then go to designated Buddhist temples in cities such as Liangzhou, Dunhuang, the Khotan royal city, Shule, Suyab, and Ningyuan to exchange them.

Of course, when exchanging, they still had to give the temples a service fee of roughly five percent.

But the traveling merchants were still willing, because originally the cost they spent on carrying silver and coin was over thirty percent, and in extreme cases could even reach forty percent.

Now, using silver notes, the cost was a mere eight percent. They could not have asked for more.

As for whether a situation might arise where the Buddhist temples in various places took out all their gold and silver and still did not have enough to redeem the notes — Zhang Zhao believed it would not happen.

First, in Khotan he had Li Shengtian prepare one million strings of gold and silver for him. And apart from that gold and silver, the financial resources of the Buddhist temples in various places were also quite substantial.

Moreover, the silver notes issued by Zhang Zhao specified at which temple they were to be redeemed.

Generally, for a given city, one temple would be designated as the redeemer; not everyone would be allowed to redeem at a single temple.

Furthermore, once silver notes could be exchanged for gold and silver at any time, they would quickly become a true currency with powerful credit.

Keeping a silver note was far safer than keeping gold and silver at home. It was estimated that very soon, people would begin keeping silver notes in their homes.

However, the Buddhist establishment of Liangzhou did not agree without conditions. Great Cloud Temple in particular — the conditions under which they agreed to guarantee redemption for Zhang Zhao and hand over control of more than a hundred thousand mu of monastic fields were these:

Zhang Zhao must promise not to use the monastic community in his hands to build his own temples, and the Buddhist treasures in Zhang Zhao's possession must also be deposited in the Buddhist temples headed by Great Cloud Temple.

To this end, Great Cloud Temple also agreed to set aside a great hall specifically to house the members of Zhang Zhao's monastic community.

Zhang Zhao considered for a moment, then agreed to Great Cloud Temple's conditions. As for the old monk Shanyuan of Great Cloud Temple, Zhang Zhao also came to know him anew.

To give away more than a hundred thousand mu of temple fields just like that — this absolutely required tremendous resolve.

Earning money brings laughter; parting with wealth brings agony. This is human nature. For old monk Shanyuan to break through the shackle of being unable to part with wealth — he was no simple man.

"Military Governor, I think Master Shanyuan intends to use your identity as Dharma King to build Liangzhou's Great Cloud Temple into the greatest temple in Hexi and Longyou, and even into the holy land of the northwest Esoteric Buddhism! For him to be willing to give up such an enormous fortune, what he seeks is no small thing!"

Some things, Yang He, being a member of the Buddhist clergy himself, found inconvenient to say. Guo Tiance, born into the Suyab Guo family that followed the Church of the East, did not quite understand the subtleties involved.

So Zhang Zhao had temporarily added Wu Yuan'er, who came from Dunhuang, a place where the Dharma flourished, to the negotiating team. Sure enough, Wu Yuan'er had sensed old monk Shanyuan's intentions.

Zhang Zhao gently let out a breath of turbid air. At this time, Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism had not yet begun to spread across the Qingtang Plateau.

Historically, it was only after Vikramashila Monastery and Odantapuri Monastery were destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate that the Indian Buddhist establishment fled to the Qingtang Plateau and formed Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism.

Therefore, what was currently popular in Hexi, Anxi, the Qingtang Plateau, and parts of Longyou was Han-transmitted Esoteric Buddhism, which differed from the Central Plains Chan, Vinaya, and Tiantai schools. Later generations called it Tang Esotericism.

After the High Tang, Tang Esotericism was no longer very popular in the Central Plains, surviving only in Qingtang, Anxi, and Hexi, which were closer to India. The famous Flying Apsaras and the like of later renown were typical representatives of Tang Esotericism.

But although Tang Esotericism had survived, after the Great Cloud Temple of Shule was destroyed by the Karakhanids, the whole of Tang Esotericism lost a banner-bearing leader.

Now it seemed that the old monk Shanyuan had keenly grasped the significance of the three hundred monks, the great quantities of Buddhist treasures Zhang Zhao had brought back, and the titles of Wheel-Turning Sage King and Silver Wheel Dharma King that Zhang Zhao held.

At this thought, Zhang Zhao sat down and swiftly set his mind to work. The old monk Shanyuan, as things stood, was clearly a man who knew how to play the game — and also a monk of great ambition.

Even his master, Sengjialuomo, had not realized how valuable the things Zhang Zhao had brought back from India truly were, but the old monk Shanyuan had seen it at a glance.

As for the Buddhist establishment, Zhang Zhao had actually intended to keep it in check, because Emperor Shizong of Zhou — the last of the Three Wus and One Zong — might very well fail to appear a dozen or so years from now, thanks to the flapping of his butterfly wings.

But the suppression of Buddhism by the Three Wus and One Zong, the very thing that set the doctrinal tone for all later Buddhist schools, still needed someone to carry it out. If four great slaps had been promised, how could one suddenly go missing?

Moreover, the Buddhist establishment of the present day was seizing temple lands everywhere, taking in refugees, refusing to pay taxes, and keeping armed monk-soldiers. What trace remained in any of this of true Buddhist disciples?

If Shakyamuni saw this from the Western Paradise, he too would say they had betrayed the Buddha's original intent.

Buddhist monks ought to be converting the world, guiding people toward good, studying diligently and cultivating austerely — not busying themselves with all manner of nonsense.

Zhang Zhao had originally planned to take the field himself and "correct" certain unsavory aspects of their conduct.

But now, Zhang Zhao felt he had very likely found a collaborator. Since the monk Shanyuan was so fond of fame, let him be the one to do it.

Only, he could not lay things out plainly to Shanyuan just yet, because the man was still not very old — only in his fifties, with at least a dozen or so years left to live. He had not yet reached the age of urgently needing his posthumous reputation.

Some things, done before their time, produce an entirely different result.

"Wu Yuan'er, go tell Master Shanyuan that I agree!"

The matter of the Buddhist establishment was, in truth, a matter of money. It truly would not do to let them contend with him for profit — but this was not the most important matter at present.

For now, all strength should be united and devoted to gaining a firm footing. Matters of the future could be dealt with in the future.

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view.