In the fifth year (295) of the Jin Hui Emperor Yuankang's leap october Gengyin (the fourth day of the first month), the Luoyang arsenal, the state warehouse where weapons were stored, suddenly smoke billowed and the flames soared into the sky.
There was no fire extinguisher at that time, and the fire burned to such an extent that I could almost watch it burn recklessly.
Just when the fire was about to spread around after ferociously engulfing the arsenal, a black cloud suddenly drifted from the southwest direction, and heavy rain poured down, quickly extinguishing the fire.
Surprisingly, witnesses said that it was not rain that fell from the sky, but spirits, because many people smelled a strong aroma of wine.
Then the rumor began to spread that the fire extinguisher was a high monk thousands of miles away, named Buddha Tucheng.
If the legend is true, how much magic does Fo Tu Cheng have, and why can it extinguish the fire thousands of miles away? How did he learn that there was a fire here? How did the fire burn, and why was it the arsenal that caught fire? How much is the loss?
A fire, the number of weapons burned is staggering.
According to the Book of Jin, the fire destroyed 2.08 million weapons of various types.
Zizhi Tongjian Vol. 82: "Winter, October, arsenal fire, burning of the treasure of the generation and two million people's equipment." ”
Note that it is not weapons that can equip 2 million troops, but equipment that can equip 2 million troops.
That is to say, the burned weapons, not only individual weapons, but also all kinds of heavy weapons, that is, weapons of mass destruction, the loss is more amazing than 2 million individual weapons.
Why are so many weapons here? Because of the warlords at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, large and small armed forces were everywhere, and a large number of weapons were lost to the people, just like Afghanistan today.
In the Wei and Jin dynasties, the country was unified, in order to prevent the revolt of the people and prevent the occurrence of criminal cases, the imperial court began to collect weapons, just like people often say" "knives and guns into the warehouse, horses put on the South Mountain."
All kinds of weapons and war tools collected from the hands of the Three Kingdoms of Wei Shu and Wu, the warlords and nobles, and the people were all placed in one place and kept in a unified manner.
At that time, the capital of the Western Jin Dynasty was in Luoyang, and these large and small weapons were placed in the arsenal on the outskirts of Luoyang, with a total of 2.08 million pieces.
At the time, that was a staggering number.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the total population was about 7 million, and the total military strength was only 1 million.
One of the most powerful battles in the Three Kingdoms period was a civil war in Cao Wei.
In 257, Cao Wei's general Zhuge Shi rebelled against Sima Zhao with 150,000 troops from Huainan, while Eastern Wu sent more than 100,000 reinforcements, and Sima Zhao used 260,000 people to put down the rebellion, with a total force of only 510,000 troops.
By the time of the Western Jin Dynasty, the population had increased to 7.28 million, and the total national army was 960,000.
It can be seen that 2.08 million pieces of various weapons are more than enough to equip the national army.
Moreover, there is no shortage of high-tech weapons in the arsenal, such as "rhubarb crossbows", "crossbow vehicles", "armor" and other weapons of mass destruction.
But a fire destroyed them, and high-tech weapons became legends and have since disappeared.
A fire laid the groundwork for Wuhu Chaohua
The impact of the Luoyang arsenal fire on military warfare is immeasurable, and the negative impact is long-term.
Building weapons is a systematic project, not overnight, the army's equipment supply is insufficient, it loses its combat effectiveness, just like a tiger that has pulled out its teeth.
In other words, the Luoyang arsenal fire caused the entire Central Plains Han Court to be underarmed, bringing a fatal blow to the Central Plains regime's defense against ethnic minority invasions.
In the Battle of Shuishui in 383, 80 years after the fire, the Eastern Jin Dynasty fought a decisive battle with the Yu regime and the Former Qin Dynasty, and the two sides invested 330,000 troops (80,000 soldiers in the Northern Province of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and about 250,000 troops in Former Qin), and only a few hundred trophies were captured after the war.
Why is this so, because of the lack of armaments.
"It is to take The General of Fenwei and the Assassin of Yuzhou, to give a thousand people (grain and rice), cloth three thousand horses, not to give armor, so that they can recruit themselves." "The emperor rewards meritorious men, and can give food, but not armaments, so that they can rely on themselves and solve themselves."
Speaking of which, it was the scourge of the fire decades ago.
The fire in the Arsenal of Luoyang was also the most direct military reason for the Wuhu Chaos and the Hu people to defeat the southern regime and win the Central Plains.
Because after that fire, the Central Plains regime lost its overwhelming superiority over the armaments of ethnic minorities for thousands of years.
At this time, the war cannot fight science and technology, but can only fight brute force, which provides a realistic basis for the defeat of backward and barbaric civilization.
It should be known that at the end of the Han Dynasty, warlords in the Central Plains were at war, wars were frequent, the capital Chang'an was destroyed, and the people were displaced.
White bones are exposed in the wild, there are no chickens in the world, and there are ten stocks and one or two.
Even so, the surrounding ethnic minorities still cannot pose a threat to the Central Plains.
Because since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the farming peoples in the Central Plains, mainly the Han people, have invented and created a lot of armaments, and they have accumulated, and they can still exert great energy, which makes the ethnic minorities jealous.
However, the arsenal fire in Luoyang lost the han nationality's military superiority over the surrounding ethnic minorities, and they could only be beaten passively and had no ability to fight back.
In the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, the armed forces of the Central Plains and the Hu people clashed, often defeated like mountains and collapsed for thousands of miles. Of course, there are many reasons for this, such as eunuchs interfering in politics, foreign relatives monopolizing power, Jia Nanfeng's perverse behavior, and the rebellion of the Eight Kings.
However, it has to be said that the fire in the Arsenal of Luoyang also brought ruin to the Han nation and affected the course of Chinese history.
A senior monk, turned out to be the director behind the scenes?
After the fire, it is said that a monk named Fo Tucheng cast a spell to extinguish the fire.
What is the basis? Because this monk has this ability, the mana is boundless.
It is recorded in the Biography of the High Monk that there is a small hole next to the left breast of the Buddha Tucheng, which leads directly into the abdomen and can be opened at will for illumination.
If the master opens this hole when he is reading at night, the light emitted inside can be like a light bulb, illuminating the whole house.
As for extinguishing the fire, it is a good trick for Fo Tu Cheng.
It is recorded in the Biography of the High Monk that once, Buddha Tucheng sat with the Later Zhao Emperor Shi Hu on the top of the Xiangguo (Xingtai) Middle Hall and talked about the mountain.
Fo Tucheng suddenly said in a panic, "Oh Emperor, it's not good!" A fire broke out in Youzhou City. "
Shi Hu was at a loss: "How can this be good?" ”
Buddha Tucheng said calmly, "Poor monks have their own methods." He was not in a hurry, and asked people to take out a bottle of mysterious liquid and spray it in the direction of Youzhou.
Then, Fo Tucheng smiled and said to Shi Hu, "Emperor, now the fire in Youzhou has been extinguished."
Shi Hu was half-convinced, so he sent emissaries to Youzhou to check it out.
The messenger came back to Shi Hu and said, "There was indeed a great fire in Youzhou that day, and it was at the same time that the four gates were on fire. While the fire was burning, a black cloud drifted from the south, and then heavy rain fell to extinguish the fire. You can still smell the wine in the rain. "
Shi Hu stepped forward, opened the monk's "water bottle" and sniffed it, and was so shocked that he stuck out his tongue: it was actually white wine.
If you go to the Mogao Grottoes, in the middle of the east side of the north wall of Cave 323 in the early Tang Dynasty, two groups of pictures can be seen in the middle of the four sets of story paintings, which are to reproduce the scene of Fo Tucheng's "Youzhou Fire Extinguishing".
The reason why the people think that it is Buddha Tucheng is that since the monk can extinguish the fire remotely, of course, he can also remotely control the arson.
Because the fire in the Luoyang arsenal was extinguished by heavy rain, there was also the smell of liquor in the heavy rain, which was the same as the fire in Youzhou.
The reason why fo Tucheng is believed to have set the fire is because he was the biggest beneficiary of the Luoyang fire.
The biggest beneficiary of the fire, why is Master Fo Tu Cheng?
Master Fo Tucheng was a native of the Western Regions, and to be precise, he should be a Guizi person. He was born in 232 and died in 348, living to be 116 years old.
Buddha Tucheng is not an ordinary high monk, the general high monk is "jumping out of the three realms, not in the five elements", does not eat human fireworks, does not participate in human disputes.
However, Master Fo Tucheng was very interested in politics, and came to Xiangguo (present-day Xingtai City) and became Shi Le's think tank, advising him until he assisted Shi Le to become emperor and establish the Zhao state.
After Shi Le ascended the throne, he had great respect for Fo Tucheng, a military division, and obeyed his words, and any military action had to consult Fo Tucheng before he put it into practice.
At the time of the Luoyang Arsenal Fire Incident (295 AD), he was 63 years old, more than half a hundred years old, which was the age of energy.
According to historical records, in the fourth year of the Jin Dynasty Emperor Yongjia (310 AD), Fo Tucheng came to Luoyang, when he was 78 years old, 15 years had passed since the fire, and the master had no time to commit the crime.
But the master's mana is boundless, not a mortal, and it is completely possible to remotely control the arson outside Luoyang City, or even thousands of miles away, and then remotely control the fire.
Because the master could overthrow Youzhou hundreds of miles away on the Xiangguo Shi Zhao Dynasty Hall, why couldn't he perform such an operation on Luoyang?
So, what is the purpose of Fo Tu Cheng's doing this?
In fact, Buddha Tucheng was concerned about politics and was also promoting Buddhism.
He helped Shi Hu in the Zhao Kingdom, was respected, and there were 893 Buddhist temples in the prefectures and counties where he promoted Buddhism and promoted Taoism. There were often hundreds of disciples who followed him, and there were as many as 10,000 disciples before and after him.
Wherever Fo Tucheng went, he hugged forward and backward, as grand as the emperor. However, the influence of Buddhism in the Central Plains was obviously not as great as that in the northern region.
Buddhism was introduced to China at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the Buddhist activities in the Western Jin Dynasty were mainly the translation of Buddhist scriptures, and the climate had not yet been formed, and if we wanted to expand the influence of Buddhism and make it deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, there must be extraordinary events.
According to historical records, Buddha Tucheng was good at "attracting the worship of the ruling class with divine powers in the chaotic world, and then using religious power to stabilize the people and promote Buddhism, and was an extremely important missionary in the early days of Chinese Buddhism." His success with Zhao Guoshihu is an example.
The Luoyang Arsenal Fire originated from Fo Tu cheng's desire to show his mana through a fire and do a large-scale marketing for Buddhism.
At that time, although Buddhism had not yet spread in the Central Plains, its influence was still there, there were still many believers, and the master had enough resources to collect intelligence, grasp meteorological data, and create fire risks.
The tens of thousands of followers of the master in Hou Zhao could also easily infiltrate the Western Jin Dynasty and achieve their goals.
In fact, the original intention of Fo Tucheng and his team was to carry out a religious performance, and did not want to set fires.
Perhaps in the process of operation, the division of labor is not clear, the coordination is not in place, and the command is improper, resulting in the performance getting out of control and becoming an out-of-control fire, which is unexpected.
There are many disciples of Fotu cheng, but the level of education and quality are uneven, and the execution of backbone elements is also different, although they have rich experience in arson, but arson is a big project, in the actual operation process, it is inevitable to lose their hands.
It should be pointed out that during the Western Jin Dynasty, Zoroastrianism has been introduced from the Persian region to Luoyang, China, Zoroastrianism, which worships fire, light, and the sun god.
Many Zoroastrians come from severely arid Central Asia. They obviously have a stronger and more sensitive perception of weather changes such as drought, wind and rain climate than the Central Plains Han People.
In addition, some central Asian regions have many excellent hunters who are good at taming birds such as golden eagles and direct them to spread fire with ease.
- "A monk who responds to the Dharma, a disciple of Buddha Tucheng, is good at adjusting eagles, and often says that he can see for thousands of miles." In every battle, the law should be informed of the enemy's location, and the soldiers and generals will have a rough idea of grain and grass. Leqizhi, ask the right. Bin Yue: The monks of the land, whenever there is a big event, the secret letter is the eagle's foot. Thousands of miles away, you can know at night. Within a hundred miles, everything is known. ”
Moreover, Zoroastrians in Central Asia have a magic weapon in their hands, that is, fierce fire oil, which is a substance similar to oil, which burns quickly and is difficult to extinguish with water.
"Luo Temple has a long lamp, and its oil is unusual, and the Monks use it a lot, or it is called the western region."
Due to the slow development of Zoroastrianism in the Central Plains, some people converted to Buddhism and became followers of Buddha Tucheng.
According to relevant historical records, the reason why the Fire in the Luoyang Arsenal burned so fast, so fiercely, and finally lost control, was related to a large amount of mysterious fire oil of unknown origin at the scene.
The arson fire that occurred in Youzhou, Zhao Guo, was about 20 years earlier than the Luoyang fire, and the fire was basically under the control of Fo Tucheng and did not cause a catastrophe.
However, when Luoyang copied the Youzhou fire, it made a mistake in operation, overturned the car, and lost control, causing serious consequences.
In general, the team did not conduct drills and lacked organizational coordination capabilities.
But whether it is a coincidence or not, after the Luoyang Arsenal Fire, the spread of Buddhism accelerated and gradually entered its peak.
"Four hundred and eighty temples in the southern dynasty, how many buildings in the smoke and rain." Through this poem by Du Mu, the prosperity of Buddhism can be seen.
In fact, there were more than a few hundred temples in the Liang Dynasty, according to historical records, there were 2846 temples in the Southern Dynasty, more than 82,700 monks and nuns, and more than 700 large temples in Jiankang (now Nanjing, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Jiangsu Wei and Jin), and there were often tens of thousands of monks and nuns.
During the Period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, Buddhism really flourished.
During the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, Confucianism and Taoism dominated the mainstream, and Buddhism has been difficult to gain a foothold. Around the time of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, Buddhism flourished on the Chinese stage.
It has to be said that it was the fire in the Luoyang arsenal in 295 AD that weakened the military capabilities of the Central Plains regime, changed the development process of Chinese history, and China's religious and cultural structure also underwent earth-shaking changes.
The fire in the Luoyang Arsenal also burned many national treasure-level cultural relics, such as Han Gaozu's snake sword, Wang Mang's head, and Confucius's clogs. In view of the inextricable connection between the above-mentioned objects and Taoism and Confucianism, their destruction can only be said to be the most beneficial to the Buddhist family.
Was the fire in the Luoyang Arsenal a natural disaster caused by accidental factors, or a man-made disaster deliberately manipulated by some forces?
More than 1,700 years have passed, there are many opinions, and the truth has long been annihilated in the long river of history.