Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 21: Jade Throne Golden Buddha
Su Ze opened the system record page, and records popped out one by one.

[Su Bai, the Egret Cao envoy, uses the item "Egret Cao envoy official uniform" to collect intelligence at Yongning Temple.]

[Su Bai, the envoy of Bailu Cao, eavesdropped on the conversation of the guards of the Imperial Court and collected the information "The Conversation Record of the Guards of the Imperial Court (Part 1)".]

Su Ze clicked on the record on the system, "Conversation Record of the Guards of the Supreme Court One", which contained complaints from the guards of the Supreme Court about the investigation of the Yongning Temple case, as well as various gossips circulating in Luoyang.

Naturally, most of the news was about Prince Qinghe. This prince of the Great Wei, who was introduced as a close friend by the Queen Mother, had always been the top figure in Luoyang.

Su Ze looked through it and found that they were all worthless conversations. These were probably just ordinary guards from the Imperial Court who were guarding the Yongxing Temple and had no access to any core intelligence.

[Su Bai, the envoy of Bailu Cao, eavesdropped on the conversation of Jiang An, the chief craftsman, and collected intelligence "Intelligence on the Wooden Pagoda of Yongning Temple (Part 1)".]

Su Ze opened "Information on the Wooden Pagoda of Yongning Temple Part 1". This is about the master craftsman Jiang An who participated in the entire construction of Yongning Temple. This is a conversation between him and his apprentice.

Jiang An: "My disciple, the King of Qinghe led the chief of the Ministry of Works to build the Yongning Temple to facilitate the Queen Mother's worship. When the foundation of the wooden pagoda was laid, our chief of the Ministry of Works dug out a golden Buddha with a jade throne from the ground, which caused a sensation in Luoyang. Now this golden Buddha is enshrined in the Buddhist temple in the imperial palace."

Disciple: "Golden Buddha on a Jade Seat? What does Master's golden Buddha look like?"

Jiang An: "The golden Buddha was one foot tall. When it was dug out, it was shining brightly. It didn't look like it was buried deep underground at all. The Queen Mother had just come to court at that time. She was very surprised to hear about this auspicious sign and immediately sent Cui Gong, the most knowledgeable person in the court, to identify the origin of the golden Buddha."

Disciple: "Mr. Cui? Is he the old man who was also in the temple today?"

"It was that Mr. Cui! Our Mr. Cui is well-versed in history and is the most learned person in our Great Wei. Mr. Cui read ancient books and finally determined that this golden Buddha with jade pedestal was cast by Emperor Wu of Jin."

"Jin, Emperor Wu?"

"This Emperor Wu of Jin was the founding monarch of the Great Jin. Twenty years ago, Emperor Xiaowen summoned the erudite scholars from all over the world to sort out the legal lineage of the Five Virtues. He determined that the legal lineage of the Great Wei was inherited from the Great Jin. The Great Wei is the virtue of water, and the Jin is the virtue of gold. Gold gives birth to water, so the Great Wei is the orthodox Chinese lineage. The island barbarians of the Southern Dynasties are just stealing the name of China!"

"Master, what are you talking about? What does this have to do with the Jade Throne Golden Buddha?"

"I usually ask you to study the geomancy book carefully, but you don't even understand the Five Elements Cycle! Go back and copy the geomancy book on bamboo slips!"

"Master, what about the golden Buddha on the jade throne?"

"Yes, it is a golden Buddha on a jade throne. Cui Gong has verified from historical books that Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty cast two golden Buddhas on a jade throne. One is the one that was dug out from Yongning Temple. The other one spread to the south and was obtained by Liu Yu of Liu Song, an island barbarian. He was regarded as a family heirloom and enshrined in the inner hall."

"Liu Yu? The founding emperor of Liu Song?"

"Yes, yes. It is said that Liu Yu was originally a poor military family. After he got the golden Buddha on the jade throne, he immediately took advantage of the chaos and overthrew the usurpation of the Jin Dynasty by the Niu family. The Queen Mother was skeptical at first, but later summoned Princess Lanling's husband, Liu Yu's descendant, Prince Song Liu Hui, to check it out. Liu Hui confirmed that the golden Buddha was indeed a family heirloom of the Liu family. The Queen Mother was overjoyed and ordered the construction of this nine-story pagoda."

"Wow!"

"After the Ten Thousand Wood Pagoda was built, the Queen Mother came to see it in person and felt that the wooden pagoda was not noble enough. At that time, Hu Guozhang suggested that a golden bottle be placed on the pagoda, and then an iron chain and a golden bell be used to connect the earth veins, so as to draw the energy of heaven and earth to remain in the pagoda forever and protect our Great Wei for a long life."

“So this is how this wooden tower came about!”

"Don't interrupt me. At that time, the Gao Zhao Rebellion had just been quelled, and the Yongning Temple was being built. The imperial treasury was insufficient, so His Royal Highness Prince Qinghe voluntarily donated all the gold in his home to be melted into a golden vase for the top of the tower. The princes and ministers of the various clans also donated gold to melt into golden bells. Only then did we have the golden vase for the top of the tower and the 120 golden bells on the four iron chains."

"Master, what about the fallen golden vase?" "The eunuch has ordered the golden vase to be dragged back to the top of the tower for storage. When the goldsmith from the palace arrives in a few days, we can put it back on the top of the tower."

"Master, I heard that after the golden vase fell, it broke into many pieces of gold, and the Yulin Guards guarding Yongning Temple were secretly picking them up."

"Nonsense! The Golden Vase is a treasure presented by the King of Qinghe. Are you trying to pick it up? Go back and carve bamboo slips!"

Su Ze read the record twice, and the value of this information became much higher.

Jiang An, the chief craftsman of the General Construction Department, should be a craftsman with more experience in the department and knows all the secrets of the construction of Yongning Temple.

As soon as Empress Dowager Hu came to power, she dug up a golden Buddha on a jade throne that was ordered to be cast by the founding monarch of the previous dynasty. It was a pair with the one in the hands of Liu Yu, the legendary founding monarch of the Southern Dynasty. This was clearly a man-made auspicious sign.

Those involved in this "auspicious" event included Qinghe Prince Yuan Yi, Imperial College Chief Cui Guang, and Princess Lanling's husband Liu Hui, who all confirmed the origin of the golden Buddha. This should have been to build momentum for Empress Dowager Hu's rule.

Don't underestimate the role of auspicious signs. Such events have often appeared in history books since the Qin and Han Dynasties. "The interaction between Heaven and man" is an important part of Confucianism. In addition, Buddhism is prevalent today, so digging up Buddha statues is more in line with the two levels of heaven symbolism in Confucianism and Buddhism.

High!

The huge benefits of this political speculation can be seen from the fact that Qinghe Prince Yuan Yi stood out from the ministers of the Northern Wei royal family and became a senior official in charge of the Menxia Province.

As expected of an orange summoned creature, Su Bai managed to find out so much information in one go!

Su Ze continued reading.

[Su Bai, the envoy of Bai Lu Cao, followed Jiang An, the master craftsman, and found a secret passage from the underground palace into the Yongning Temple Wooden Pagoda, and obtained the "Secret Passage Map of the Yongning Temple Wooden Pagoda". ]

A secret passage in the underground palace? Su Ze looked down quickly.

[Su Bai, the envoy of Bai Lu Cao, entered the secret passage and the wooden pagoda of Yongning Temple, and watched the supervising craftsman Jiang An steal the gold stored in the golden bottle in the wooden pagoda.]

[The commission has been completed. The White Egret Cao messenger Su Bai has sneaked into the Yongning Temple Wooden Pagoda. Do you want to continue the commission? ]

Su Ze took a look at the records and found that the most recent one was just now. That was to say, the craftsman Jiang An, the chief engineer, had just entered the wooden tower under the cover of night and stolen the gold from the golden bottle?

That's right. There were people all over the wooden tower during the day, and it was very easy to burn, so entry was definitely prohibited at night. Jiang An took advantage of this loophole.

Do you want to order Su Bai to steal some gold as well?

Su Ze saw the balance in the account and chose the new commission without hesitation.

Just as Su Bai was carrying out the theft commission, Su Ze suddenly heard some noise outside the monastery.

Is someone trying to break into the princess's yard?

Su Ze immediately walked out of the monastery with his weapon, only to find someone coming out of the princess's yard.

(End of this chapter)