Saint.

Usually the spokesman of God, mysterious and holy, and cloaked in a dreamlike overtone.

Hearing the word saint, normal people have the impression that she is beautiful, but she has a noble status and is sacrosanct.

Qian Long is in the stage of young Mu Ai, although he has seen many beautiful women with his family background, he is still aroused by a strong interest, and he can't wait to see and see.

After a detour along the edge of the shantytown, Suriya saw a lively scene.

Incense is burning, colorful petals are thrown all over the sky, drums are ringing in unison, and Sanskrit singing and praying are melodious and clear, subtle and solemn.

The road was lined with poorly dressed people who bowed to the monks in a reverent manner, some of whom held golden trays in their hands, offering flowers, fruits, spices, and whatever money they had to the gods.

The procession consisted of dozens of elephants, all painted with colorful religious symbols and carrying lavishly decorated chariot frames on their backs.

At the front of the procession, three priests stood behind a huge altar of fire surrounded by a group of servants like stars holding the moon, with noble and majestic expressions.

And the saintess that Qianlong longed for, with the support of her family, was carefully walking towards the altar of fire.

This holy woman, judging from her height, was only about ten years old, but she was dressed like the brides that Qian Long had seen in the city before.

She was dressed in a delicate red sari, wearing expensive and luxurious jewelry, her exposed arms and calves were painted with mysterious patterns, and her bare feet were painted red.

The face is still very immature, but the facial features are delicate, she is indeed a beauty, with a red tica on her forehead, lip sand on her mouth, betel nut in her mouth, and her teeth are dyed black.

The makeup of this saint is very gorgeous, but Qian Long always feels a little weird when she looks at it.

The priest carefully looked at the approaching saint, and with a satisfied expression on his face, he began to pray around the altar of fire.

When the saint came to stand before the altar of fire, one of the priests took a silk scarf from the idol and tied it to her sari.

Then four servants stepped forward, took her from the hands of the saint's family, and carried her to the elephant.

The family of the saint looked at her as she sat down on the elephant, and their faces were full of joy, and they bowed to the three priests with a thousand thanks, and then withdrew far away.

Then the next saint came and repeated the process.

Yes, there is not just one, but dozens......

Seeing this, Qian Long couldn't help but ask Suriya, "Why does this ceremony of leading the saint look similar to those wedding ceremonies in the city?" ”

Suriya pouted, "Because the saint was originally married to a god, at least, nominally. ”

From his expression, Qian Long felt that things were not simple, "The gods still need to marry a wife?" ”

"Doesn't that seem ridiculous?"

Soulier's smile was full of disdain, and he continued to explain, "Those believers think that the gods are like servants, and after the gods give grace to the world, they will be tired and need to rest, so naturally someone must be served, so there are god's wives and holy daughters. ”

"Every year, a large number of girls are chosen as saints and married to the gods with a solemn ceremony on the day of Shiva's feast."

"Because it is for the gods to choose a wife, so the girl who wants to become a saint must be pure and flawless, otherwise it is blasphemous, so only teenage virgins can be selected, and the appearance must be very good, and the body must not have any defects, hehe, it turns out that the gods are also ugly and beautiful......"

"After becoming so-called holy women, they will be sent to the temple, sit on the altar during the day, accept worship from all directions, accept the respect of the believers, it seems to be very glorious, very beautiful, but at night, they become a tool to vent their desires."

"The monks blatantly took the place of God and married the holy woman, and they said that through such an act, they could become closer to God, better communicate with God, better accept God's instructions, and better pray for the believers......"

Qian Long was stunned when he heard this, "This, this, this...... Wearing a green turban to a god can still be said to be so justified? ”

Suriya scoffed, "That's not all, the holy women are not only to serve these monks and priests, but also the high-caste magnates, or anyone who is willing to contribute the money of the incense oil, can go to the temple and enjoy these holy women. ”

"In addition, the saints who can stay in the temple are the best and freshest, and many more are sent to the market, where they find her a house, hang bright colored curtains, sit on chairs and wait for the guests to come to the door, and whoever they pay can play with as they please, and all the money earned must be sent to the temple and 'offered' to the gods."

These words completely subverted Qian Long's perception of saints and even religion, "Why? Then why are anyone willing to send their own daughter to be this bullshit saint? For money!? ”

"It's not just because of the money."

Soulier's eyes filled with sorrow, "After being chosen as a saint, their families can indeed get a sum of money, but it is pitiful compared to the money earned by the saint woman selling her body. ”

"As I told you before, here, the lower castes and untouchables are not only poor and humble, but also deprived of the right to worship the gods, that is, they cannot receive the blessings and blessings of the gods, and there is no afterlife after death, and their souls will be completely destroyed."

"Originally, they were regarded as the meanest and dirtiest of the people, who were not allowed to have any physical contact with other castes, and who were not allowed to change from generation to generation, but in order to satisfy their lustful desires, some people came up with such a holy woman system, and they also used money to dress up holy women and make grand ceremonies that others would envy."

"In this way, not only the saints themselves will be given divine favors, but they will also be able to pray for their families, so that their families will be given the opportunity to be reincarnated, and even be born into a high caste, and even others will see this ceremony as an opportunity to get close to the gods, so everyone supports this system......"

Qian Long smacked his lips, "These people are so easy to deceive?" ”

Suriya sighed, and then said, "There are Confucian saints in China, and everyone has the qualifications to be educated, no matter what their background, even civilians have the opportunity to be knighted by virtue of their talents or military merits, and they may also earn wealth by doing business and working." ”

"But not here, the people of the lower castes are not allowed to own land, they are not allowed to acquire knowledge, they have no rights, they can only work as tenant farmers, or do the most menial and dirty work in the cities, and their descendants are like this, so they are ignorant and ignorant, and they can only accept the coaxing of the 'apostles of the gods.'"

Qian Long was amazed, and he was very emotional.

To be honest, as a powerful class, they must all hope that the people will be honest and obedient, always work hard and complain, and willingly contribute all their values.

In order to achieve this goal, the ruler will inevitably manipulate it ideologically and institutionally, and the Champa seems to have been successful in this regard, but it is too ugly to eat and too inferior.

A barbarian is a barbarian, who knows no righteousness and has no shame......

Qian Long shook his head, looking at those holy women with some sympathy and regret in his eyes, but he didn't have too many other thoughts, let alone the idea of fighting for the people at the bottom of the city.

In his opinion, it is probably because of his similar background that Suriyah will 'mourn their misfortune and be angry with them' for these low-caste untouchables.

The ritual of 'the wife of the gods' continued, and more than thirty holy women had already been sent to the elephant, and Qian Long felt that there was nothing new to see, and was about to beckon Suriya to leave.

At this time, he seemed to hear someone shouting something in Chinese.

"Let go of me! I don't want to be a saint, I'm going home... I want to go home! ……”

After listening carefully, Qian Long confirmed that he had heard correctly, it was a woman's shout, and the voice came from the crowd of 'bridal' people waiting for the ceremony.

Qian Long's eyelids jumped and he asked Su Liye, "Aren't all these bullshit saints from untouchables, why do they seem to have Song people?" Could it be that I, the Song people, am also untouchables!? ”

"Of course not." Suriya hurriedly denied it, and then said, "The country is a vassal of the Great Song Dynasty, how dare you treat the people of the kingdom as a low caste?" The Song people are still very respected in the country. ”

"How do you explain that shout? Look, those little ladies are completely Song people! ”

After searching, Qian Long found that although there were four or five saints dressed similarly to the others, their appearance was obviously different, and the men and women guarding around him did not look like their family.

Su Liye followed what Qian Long was pointing at for a while, and a trace of darkness flashed on his face, "Brother Qian Xian, they, they should be slaves and maids who have been abducted and sold...... It's about the same as my mother. ”

"What do you mean? Be clear! Qian Long's face was a little unsightly.

"Don't worry, virtuous brothers, they don't have to be Song people." Suriya first appeased, and then said with a wry smile, "Most of the people are dark-skinned, but the high-caste appears to be whiter, so fair-skinned slaves and maids are also more popular with the high-caste elites. ”

"As a result, Han women who are mainly taken captive from Annam can often be sold for a good price, and there are also people who abduct women from the Great Song Dynasty to sell, and the powerful buy such slaves and maids, not only for calling, but more for lust, but only limited to religious rules, and cannot contact low-caste untouchables, so human traffickers or buyers will let the slaves and maids become saints first, bypassing the canons in this way, in fact, it is to hang the name of a saint......"

The more Qian Long listened, the more angry he became, "Abduct me as a slave to the people!?" I'm afraid it's not just abduction, right? ”

"This, this, anyway, is usually provided by Haikou, and how exactly it was obtained may be more complicated." Soulier was a little embarrassed.

"No! Our dynasty has abolished the slavery, and even the servants of my family have to sign employment contracts, how can the foreign feudal kingdom still dare to use the people of my dynasty as slaves!? This is simply a bully and contempt for me! I'm mad at me! I'm mad at me! Also, no matter what country the Han people are in, in the final analysis, they are also my descendants of China, and they cannot be slaves!! ”

Qian Long didn't have a sense of justice, but felt that this kind of thing was too embarrassing, so he was more excited.

To be more serious, there are not countless Han people as slaves under the rule of the Northland Mongols, but what can it be?

It's just that the insult of being slapped in the face by a small vassal country is even stronger.

Qian Long is now at the age of a good face, since he has encountered this kind of thing, he has made up his mind to take care of it, at least he can't let his fellow clan become a barbarian slave plaything in front of him.

"Brother Su, please take me back to the city to the palace, you must ask your father to order a ban on such things today!"

Suriya smiled bitterly, "Brother Xian, from the bottom of my heart, I must support it, but even if you find my father and ask him to give an order, I'm afraid it won't really work, only by completely changing the city can we eliminate these filth, I think we should still focus on the overall situation at the moment......"

Qian Long pondered for a while, "What Brother Su said also makes sense, but I can't watch my compatriots being pushed into the fire pit, you can give me a way." ”

"Well, let me think about it......"