Chapter 27 6. Taiwu destroys Buddha

The Northern Wei cavalry led by Tuoba Tao drove into Guanzhong non-stop, and there were two roads in front of them: a northern road, which ran along the Weishui River, only sixty miles away from Gaiwu's camp; Going west across the Weishui River, and then turning due north, you can also reach Gaiwu Daying. Tuobatao asked Cui Hao for advice: "Gaiwu is located ninety miles north of Chang'an City. There are no cities in the north of the Weibei area. It is uninhabited and lacks food and grass. It is not conducive to marching. What I mean is that it is better to cross the Wei River and go to Weinan. Aiqing What do you think?"

Cui Hao replied: "Gai Wu's army is not far from here. The so-called method of beating a snake is to break the snake's head. How can it move once the head is broken? According to my opinion, we should go north and take our army The momentum is in full swing, first attack Gai Wu. It only takes one day for the army to go to his camp, and it will surely win. Then the army will return to Chang'an, and it will only take one day. The loss in one day is negligible. If you go south If Gai Wu’s army has enough time to enter the Weibei Mountains, then it will not be so easy to destroy.”

Perhaps because he was worried about accidents, Tuoba Tao did not listen to Cui Hao's advice this time, and he ordered the army to march westward along the south bank of the Weishui River.As Cui Hao expected, as soon as the army arrived at Xishui (northeast of Lintong, Shaanxi Province), Gaiwu in the north was alarmed. The rebel army scattered into the mountains, and the Wei army was unable to take action to attack.Tuoba Tao was very regretful, so he had to lead the army to Chang'an. After the Wei army arrived in Chang'an, they stationed in the city for rest.There are Buddhist temples everywhere in Chang'an City, and some generals of the Wei army visited Buddhist temples.The monks did not dare to neglect, and invited them to drink in the temple.Monks should abide by the precepts and not worship the vulgar, which is the so-called "don't worship parents, don't worship the emperor".The monks in Chang'an had a lot of contact with officials and nobles, and it became a habit to show courteousness. Who would have expected that this would lead to a catastrophe!

When the generals came to the monk's residence, they unexpectedly found bows, arrows, knives, armor and shields piled up there.How could there be these things in the Pure Land of Buddhism?They were suspicious in their hearts, and reported it to Tuoba Tao when they came back. When Tuoba Tao heard about it, he was furious and said: "These things are not for Buddhist use. They must have secretly colluded with Wu and wanted to make trouble!" He immediately Order Yousi to arrest the relevant personnel and search the property of the Buddhist temple.The emperor was in Chang'an City, and the people under him naturally did their best to carry out their tasks. The search was swift and thorough, and the results were quite astonishing: not only weapons were hidden in the Buddhist temple, but also many wine-making utensils, as well as shepherds from nearby states and counties. There are tens of thousands of belongings deposited with the rich; what is even more jaw-dropping is that many secret rooms were found in the monk's residence, where young women were hidden for the monk's sexual pleasure.

This is not bad, Buddhist temples have become places where filth is hidden, and this Buddhism is greatly damaged.Tuoba Tao issued a decree declaring Buddhism a cult, burning all Buddhist statues and Buddhist scriptures, and all monks involved in hiding weapons or raping women were buried alive, and the rest of the monks were punished as slaves.Not only did the decree be implemented in Chang'an, Tuoba Tao also sent an edict to Pingcheng, the capital of the country, ordering the prince Tuoba Huang who stayed behind to do the same in various places, prohibiting the spread of Buddhism.Buddhism has never encountered such a large-scale destruction since it came to China. For a while, Buddhist temples all over the country were razed to the ground, a large number of Buddhist scriptures were also lost in the raging fire, and monks were even displaced, dying and fleeing. It has been rare for hundreds of years.This is the first incident of the famous "Three Wus and One Sect" event of exterminating Buddha in Chinese history: Taiwu exterminated Buddha.

Tuoba Tao's order to exterminate Buddha had such a great repercussions and profound influence that even if he had been mentally prepared, he probably couldn't fully predict it.It has been nearly 400 years since Buddhism came to the Central Plains in the early Eastern Han Dynasty.During the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, several big countries, such as Later Zhao, Former Qin, and Later Qin, had their monarchs and nobles advocating Buddhism very much. Later Qin even regarded Buddhism as the state religion, and its ruling center was located at the communication hub between the Western Regions and the Central Plains. Buddhist exchanges were frequent, and Buddhist events flourished for a while.The Xianbei aristocrats of the Northern Wei Dynasty were located in Daibei, far away from the Western Regions. Logically speaking, it was impossible to come into contact with Buddhism, let alone believe in it.However, in the process of entering the Kanto region, Tuoba Gui not only came to know Taoism, the native religion of the Central Plains, but also encountered Buddhist temples and monks in various places.The rulers of Xianbei, from ignorance to this foreign religion, gradually became curious. Over time, they believed that Buddhism was very helpful to pacify the world.After three generations, by the time of Tuoba Tao, the Xianbei nobles basically believed in Buddhism.

Tuoba Tao did not reject Buddhism at the beginning of his accession to the throne, and he also liked to talk with respected monks to discuss some issues related to governance.However, the power of Buddhism developed too rapidly, and the population of Buddhists increased. Tuoba Tao increasingly felt the lack of manpower in military wars; in addition, after Buddhism entered the Central Plains, it also absorbed the theory of prophecy and developed some mysterious theories, which hindered the authority of the emperor. Tuoba Tao's impression of Buddhism changed from good to bad, and two people played a key role.One is Cui Hao, who believes in Taoism and hates Buddhist theories. He often slanders Buddhism in front of Tuoba Tao, saying that Buddhism is extremely false, endangers the world, and should be banned.The other person is Kou Qianzhi, who is also a Taoist, but he has absorbed Buddhist ideas and theories, established a new set of theories, compiled them into scriptures, and dedicated them to Tuoba Tao, claiming that they were taught by gods. .Tuoba Tao admired it very much, and his new year name "Taiping Zhenjun" came from a sentence in Kou Qianzhi's scriptures: "Assist the northern Taiping Zhenjun", which can be said to have established Taoism as the only state religion.

Tuoba Tao gradually alienated Buddhism. In the fourth year of Taiyan (AD 438), he issued an edict ordering all monks under the age of 50 to return to the vulgar, so that they could be conscripted and crusade against Beiliang; In 444 A.D., he issued a ban, from princes to ordinary people, all monks and wizards were not allowed to support monks and wizards privately. In these cases, they were sent to the government within a time limit. From this series of decrees, it can be seen that Tuoba Tao's order to destroy Buddhism in Chang'an did not come out of nowhere, but an inevitable result of the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism in the north.

Chang'an's decree was almost devastating to the Buddhist forces in the Northern Wei Dynasty, but the implementation process was not without obstacles.Most of the upper class in Xianbei believed in Buddhism. They, headed by Prince Tuobahuang, tried their best to protect the interests of Buddhism.Although Tuoba Huang ordered the burning of a large number of temples and pagodas, he deliberately slowed down the execution of the decree, secretly protected some monks from escaping their lives, and collected some scriptures and Buddha statues.The difference in understanding between the prince and Tuoba Tao on religious issues became one of the causes of the court turmoil a few years later.

Buddhism suffered, and people panicked.Tuobatao continued to inspect the Guanzhong area. The army passed through Chang'an, Yuyu (now east of Zhouzhi, Shaanxi), Chencang (now east of Baoji, Shaanxi), and Yongcheng (now southeast of Fengxiang, Shaanxi). The Han, Di, Qiang, Tu and other ethnic groups related to Wu rebel against the people.Then, General Yiba of Wei led his army to defeat Gai Wu's army in Xingcheng, the base camp of Lushuihu, and Gai Wu's army collapsed.Satisfied with the war, Tuoba Tao selected a group of skilled craftsmen from Guanzhong and returned to Pingcheng. Despite this, the rebellion in the Guanzhong and Longxi areas continued one after another without stopping.Soon, Gai Wu regrouped soldiers and horses in Xingcheng, proclaimed himself the king of Qin, recalled some old troops hiding in the mountains and forests, and revived.This time Tuoba Tao adopted a two-sided attack strategy. On the one hand, he sent Yongchang King Tuoba Ren and Gaoliang King Tuoba Na to lead the army north of Chang'an to attack Gaiwu in the south; (now the southern part of Hebei) mobilized 20,000 soldiers to station in the valley of Nanshan Mountain in Chang'an to prevent Gai Wu from escaping.Facing a small Gaiwu, the army of the Northern Wei Dynasty chased and intercepted it, using all means.

Gai Wu was quickly defeated by Tuoba's army, and he fled alone, while his second uncle was captured alive.All the generals suggested that Gai Wu's uncle be sent to Pingcheng to claim credit, but only Chang'an's town general Lu Qi disagreed. Lu Teng thought: "Chang'an is dangerous and strong, and the people's customs are strong. If Gai Wu is not eliminated, Chang'an will not be peaceful for a day. Now that Gai Wu is absconding, if he does not rely on his cronies, who can catch him? It is better to buy his uncle , promised to exonerate him and his family, and let him go after Gai Wu, and there will be gains." The generals said disapprovingly: "The bandit party has disbanded, and Gai Wu is the only one left. Where can he escape?" Lu Cheng said: "Have you never seen a poisonous snake? If you don't cut off its head, he will still make trouble (and Cui Hao's idea is really "the hero sees the same thing"). Gai Wu is cunning by nature. If he can escape, he said Wang's rebellious heart will not die, and it will only harm the society even more. Don't worry, everyone, if he releases his uncle and doesn't come back, I will bear the responsibility!" Tuoba Na agreed with Lu Tong's strategy, so he released Uncle Gai and made an appointment with him to arrest Gai Wu.After a while, the uncle came to the Wei army camp with Gai Wu's head in his hands, and Lu Qi's foresight was praised by everyone.Tuoba Ren's army also destroyed Gai Wu's remnant party Bai Guangping, Lu Naluo and other troops. The uprising led by Gai Wu was completely quelled under the Northern Wei's repeated military operations and high-handed policies, and lasted for nearly a year. .