Chapter 853 Angkor

Chenla was once a prosperous country, its predecessor was called Funan.

"Book of the Southern Qi·Biography of Funan" records: The people of Funan were shrewd and clever, and they used the unwelcoming people nearby as slaves and traded goods for gold, silver, and silk.

Men cut brocades into banners, women cut their heads into ribbons, and the poor used cloth to cover themselves.

Silver tableware with forged gold rings.

The houses were cut down and built, the king lived in a pavilion, and the wooden palisade was used as a city.

Large bamboo leaves grow on the seaside, long as a foot, and the leaves are braided to cover the houses. The people also live in pavilions.

The boat is 10 feet long, six or seven feet wide, and its head and tail are like fish.

There is no well in the house, and dozens of houses share a pool to draw water from.

Common gods are made of bronze. They have two faces with four hands and four faces with eight hands. Each hand holds something, whether it is a child, a bird or an animal, or the sun and moon.

The king goes in and out on an elephant, and the concubines and attendants do the same. The king sits with his knees raised and his left knee lowered to the ground. He lays a white fold in front of him, and sets a gold basin and incense burner on it. Cockfighting and rooster games are fun.

But by the time of "Sui Shu", the once prosperous and powerful Funan Kingdom was conquered by Chenla who came from the north.

There has also been a huge setback culturally.

"There is Linggapo Mountain nearby, with a shrine on it, guarded by five thousand soldiers each. To the east of the city is a god named Poli, who sacrifices human flesh.

During the king's year, he would not kill people, but would worship and pray at night.

As soon as the king ascends the throne, his brothers will be punished, or have a finger removed, or their noses will be sniffed, they will be provided elsewhere, and they will not be allowed to advance in officialdom."

The capital of this period was just north of Dongsari Lake.

Later, the Angkorian dynasty liberated Chenla from the suzerainty of the Javanese "mountain kings".

The new king ruled in the city of Hariharaloye. In order to get rid of the rule of the Javanese "Mountain King", he had to accept Brahmin teachings on a mountain, build a linga showing sacred miracles, and become the mountain king himself.

From then on, the supreme power of the kings resided in this Linga.

The king at that time, Jayavarman II, chose Mount Gurung.

In order to demonstrate the royal and divine power and trigger the worship of the king, temples began to be built on a large scale on Gurun Mountain.

Although Jayavarman's actual power did not extend beyond the Great Lakes region, he found the location for his future capital in the northern highlands adjacent to Tonle Sap Lake.

This place is outside the scope of annual flooding, more than 30 kilometers away from the sandstone quarry for temple materials, and close to the Nakhon Ratchasima Plateau and the key pass of the Mekong River basin.

Later kings established the Tihoroye ceremony.

Since then, the pyramid-shaped Tihoroye Temple has become the symbol of every royal capital.

The meaning of Tihoroye is the King of Heaven.

The temple of each king was built on a natural or artificial mountain, and a linga made of stone or precious metal was enshrined inside. The Ti and Roya statues of previous rulers were erected in such lingas.

Fan Shengkai was not born into a royal family, but was a great warlord who rose up during the wars at home and abroad, similar to Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms era, so he placed more emphasis on confirming his royal power.

Therefore, Angkor once again fell into large-scale construction.

There are many temples in Angkor, and the Chenla people also understood the benefits of water conservancy and built reservoirs and canals in the upper reaches of the Great Lakes to supply the needs of Angkor City.

The kings built their own temples and mountains with great luxury, each one becoming more grand and powerful than the other.

The previous king excavated the Dongbalai Lake and built the Bafang Temple beside the lake. A temple is a stone temple covering the entire hill. "Looking at it with joy", a golden Shiva forest is built in the mountain.

Ga.

And his successor ordered the excavation of a large reservoir eight kilometers long and two kilometers wide in the west of the capital. West Balai Lake is larger than East Balai Lake, and a small reservoir was built on a small island in the center.

There is a huge bronze statue placed next to the temple, which shows the image of a sleepy Vishnu resting on the water of the ocean.

There are also countless reliefs and inscriptions in the temple, recording the important scenes in the lives of the kings of the past dynasties, as well as their "great achievements".

Li Shunju and Su You entered the city sitting side by side on a gorgeous elephant throne.

The layout of the city has begun to take shape, with two walls, a moat, and a bridge on the moat. On both sides of the bridge are stone warriors with ferocious faces, fifty-four in total.

There is a statue of a giant Buddha on the city gate, and the city wall is a stone wall, two feet high, which is quite spectacular.

The palace is also very splendid, with many gold ornaments.

Chenla does not produce gold or silver locally, these are all obtained from trade.

Looking at such a magnificent temple complex and a city wall with carved stone statues on its outer walls, Li Shunju secretly said to Su You: "If all the officials in the Song Dynasty had done this, they would have been scolded to death by the courtiers."

Su You smiled and said: "Du Jian, which emperors in Chinese history are you thinking of?"

Li Shunju couldn't help but said: "In my opinion, Xia Jie, the ruler of Shang Dynasty. Mingrun, do we count as aiding Zhou's oppression?"

Su You said: "It is different from Jie and Zhou. At least if you look at its people, it is the same thing to say, 'When will we die? Both I and my daughter will die!'"

On the white elephant walking in front, Fan Shengkai waved frequently to the citizens.

When the elephant team passed by, the citizens knelt down and prostrated. Their expressions were truly sincere and pious.

Seeing this situation, Li Shunju finally shook his head and stopped talking.

Fan Shengkai's move also had the meaning of pulling the flag and pulling the tiger's skin, showing the Song Dynasty's support for him.

I won’t say whether I am a tyrant or not, but Fan Shengkai is really a good master.

The funniest thing is that there are many beautiful women in the palace, and they are all working women.

They have special clothes, like uniforms, and have husbands outside the palace. They go to the palace to work every day during the day to serve in the palace, and go home at night, similar to the nine-to-five work of later generations!

The line here is Hindu, ethnic and so on.

High-level families have slaves captured from various places, ranging from one to two hundred to as few as ten or twenty.

In addition, there are a large number of "savages" in the wild, who are covered in flesh, use vines to make shields, and hunt with javelins. There are tens of feet of rope tied to the javelins. This thing is their only property and must be taken back.

If a person with the surname Gao messes with a woman of these levels, he will be considered "unclean" and everyone will stay away from him when eating the next day.

There is also the custom of hunting gallbladders here. The local state government will organize the capture of savages and take their gallbladders and offer them to the king. This is a legacy of the evil custom of human sacrifice in the Middle Ages.

Traveling and hunting for novelties is one aspect, but there is still business to do.

Fan Shizhe asked Shi Wei to treat the illnesses of the Angkor people, and Shi Wei readily agreed.

Su Fu signed an economic treaty with Gao Xiangping, the minister under Fan Shengkai, to inject a boost into Angkor's economy, and prepared to purchase wood, spices, gems, and many other specialties here, such as incense, yellow wax, purple stems, etc.

And the people of Zhenla need too many things.

The first is gold and silver. They want to build temples and build Buddha statues, and the demand for gold and silver is extremely strong.

Next is metalware, lacquerware, silk, cloth, medicinal materials, even combs, bamboo weaving, umbrellas, fans... I want everything.

And what I longed for the most - cooling oil, golden elixir and steel needle.

The agreement was signed and Su Fu was not happy. I am in the business of big business. Isn't it really an insult to me to buy something like Steel Needle Umbrella Cooling Oil?!

When the Prime Minister negotiated the price, five needles could be exchanged for one or two drops of real incense. Su Fu immediately changed his attitude. We also have a small mirror, a brass thimble, and small scissors, which are all very good things. How about I

How about I make it into a sewing set for you...

The Kingdom of Chenla also had a feudal system, similar to the six ministries and five ministers, but most of them were divided among the royal family and relatives.

The code stipulates that the king is the master of the country. This master means that the people, water, land, forests and mountains in all areas of the kingdom are the property of the king.

Peasants only have the right to use the land. The king entrusts the land to his noble officials. To cultivate the land, farmers must pay a certain amount of rent and labor to the feudal lord in exchange for the right to use the land.

The hierarchy is very strict. Officials and their families ride in sedans and hold umbrellas at different levels when going out. The height, width, and width of the residences are all customized.

Official mansions and common people's houses are not to be confused. People can only build thatched houses, and only ministers of state are allowed to use tiles.

But their sedan is very funny. It is just a bamboo pole tied with a piece of brocade. It is called a sedan, but it is actually a hammock carried by one person.

Neither Su You nor Li Ruoyu wanted to sit on this thing, preferring to walk leisurely.

Seeing that it was nothing, Fan Shengkai gave Su You and Li Ruoyu two horses.

The local horses in Chenla are very small, but these two horses are extremely handsome, no less than Persian horses, and this horse has a very interesting feature, that is, the tips of its two medium-sized ears are rolled inward, as if comparing their hearts.

generally.

Upon inquiry, it turned out that it was a moon-branched horse, a gift given to Fan Shizhe by the Lord of Tianzhu when he was traveling in Tianzhu.

Unfortunately, both horses had undergone surgeries like Li Shunju, which made Su You very sad.
Chapter completed!