Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 563 Temple Property
The April breeze gently blew across the dark smoked bricks and tiles of the Daming Palace, making the magnificent palace seem even more empty.

In the government hall, Li Mi raised his head from his desk and looked at the bright sunshine outside the window. He always felt that something was missing these days.

There was no prosperity and peace like in the Tianbao period, nor any intrigue and power struggles. Every day was just a dull day of government affairs, but Li Mi did not think that this tranquility would last forever.

He turned his head and looked at the seat where Li Xian often sat for meetings. It was still empty. He knew that Li Xian had been very concerned about the governors of various places recently. He would meet with some officials from time to time to learn about local affairs.

On the surface, Li Xian, as a member of the royal family, was doing his best to centralize power in the court. In fact, it was possible that Xue Bai was distracting the royal family's attention and even wanted to make both the royal family and the military governors suffer losses.

Li Mi never hesitated to speculate about people in power with the greatest malice, even though he was a Taoist priest with a sage-like demeanor.

Yan Zhenqing and Du Youlin were not in the government hall today. Only Wei Jiansu was sitting there and seemed to be asleep.

"I heard that Yuan Zai has returned to Beijing."

Suddenly, Wei Jiansu, who was resting with his eyes closed, spoke.

Li Mi was just thinking that there had been no major power struggles in the court recently. Hearing this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Yes, I am meeting your Highness right now."

Wei Jiansu said: "Yuan Zai is quite scheming, but he is greedy and mean. I am afraid he will become like Li Linfu or Yang Guozhong."

What he said was actually praising Yuan Zai. In his heart, at least Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong came from good backgrounds, but Yuan Zai came from a poor family and was even more greedy and mean.

Li Mi asked, "Your Highness has recalled many officials who are good at managing the finances of the government. Is this a big move?"

"I didn't expect to be able to hide it from Changyuan." Wei Jiansu said: "Although the Tibetan envoy has left, the root of the problem has not been solved. If Dazhalugong raises an army to invade this autumn, where will the court get the military funds? If the treasury is empty, even a skilled cook cannot cook without rice."

"Since we need to raise money and food, do we need to increase taxes?" Li Mi deliberately asked, "Do we need to change the tax system?"

But they all knew Xue Bai's plan.

Wei Jiansu simply said, "Your Highness does not want to increase taxes, and now is not the time to change the system. It is nothing more than taking back the temple properties in the world to solve the urgent problem. Yuan Zai was summoned back, and I think he will be in charge of this matter."

"Did Lord Wei agree?"

"To be honest, I don't want to agree." Wei Jiansu said, "But you know His Highness's character. He must take these money, grain, land, and people. If not from the temple, where else can he get them from?"

If the imperial court needed it, it could always get it, either by increasing taxes on ordinary people or investigating the hidden fields of the aristocratic families. Not to mention other wealth, tens of millions of acres of land and nearly a million people, the tax increase would need to be increased by another tenth.

Wei Jiansu did not want such a thing to happen during his tenure, nor did he want to be involved in the entanglement of land annexation. In comparison, Buddhism was a soft persimmon that was easier to squeeze.

Li Mi saw through all this and said, "Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish. Duke Wei and Your Highness are going to use drastic measures. But have you ever thought about it? Your Highness is not firmly established, and such behavior will definitely lead to criticism."

It's more than just criticism. Xue Bai is still just a prince, but he dares to go against the entire Buddhist community. He will inevitably encounter strong hostility. Some political enemies who have been lying in wait will surely wait for an opportunity to dethrone him from the position of crown prince.

What Li Mi cared about was not whether Xue Bai's position was stable, but he was worried that this power struggle would cause the situation that had just calmed down to be shaken up again, which would not be a blessing for the country and the people.

The reason why he asked Wei Jiansu these questions was to test and find out whether Wei Jiansu agreed to Xue Bai's request out of helplessness or deliberately condoned Xue Bai's reckless behavior and created opportunities for the clan forces?
Wei Jiansu did not reveal his innermost thoughts at all, he just sighed and said: "I have tried everything I could to persuade you, Your Highness is determined to do what he wants, and this matter is beneficial to the country, so I have no choice but to comply."

Li Misui shook his head slightly and said nothing more.

Not long after, someone came to report that Yuan Zai came to visit Wei Jiansu.

Wei Jiansu pondered for a moment, then stood up and went to the official residence to meet Yuan Zai alone.

After returning from this trip of exile, Yuan Zai seemed much calmer. The fanaticism in his eyes was replaced by a deeper and more complex emotion, and his temperament became much calmer.

"I've met the right prime minister."

Wei Jiansu just said "hmm", and his expression was cold because he had no good impression of Yuan Zai.

Yuan Zai used to be looked down upon because of his background, including when he was at Wang Zhongsi's house. He was a bit sensitive and cared a lot about how others viewed him. But now he seemed to be more calm. Although he clearly felt that Wei Jiansu looked down on him, he didn't care and went straight to the point.

"I have just met His Highness, and His Highness talked to me about confiscating all temple property and releasing monks and temple slaves. This is a serious matter, so I will follow the orders of the Right Prime Minister."

Wei Jiansu said in a hard voice, "Your Highness is worried that I won't be able to do it well."

Yuan Zai said: "I know a little bit about the art of calculation, and I may be able to do my best to serve the Right Prime Minister."

In any case, the matter was very clear. Xue Bai wanted to deal with Buddhism, so he first sought Wei Jiansu's consent and asked Wei Jiansu to express his position. When the time came to take action, he sent his confidant Yuan Zai to take charge of the matter. He used Wei Jiansu, but did not trust Wei Jiansu that much.

"This is a big deal." Wei Jiansu said, "What do you think?"

"I, the humble official, have earnestly urged Your Highness to revoke your order." Yuan Zai said.

This answer was beyond Wei Jiansu's expectations, because this incident should have been an opportunity for Yuan Zai to be reused and rise to prominence.

But Yuan Zai's attitude was very sincere. He said, "Your Highness chose to investigate Buddhist temples' properties instead of imposing additional taxes because he loves the people. However, this matter is not beneficial to his position. If it causes unrest in the country, it will be too late to regret it."

It is rare that such a greedy person has similar views to Li Mi.

Wei Jiansu asked, "Have you persuaded His Highness?"

"No, Your Highness has made up his mind." Yuan Zai said, "In this case, all I can do is to complete this task."

Wei Jiansu looked at Yuan Zai, as if he saw waves in Yuan Zai's eyes.

The turmoil of power struggles in the Tang Dynasty court had just calmed down, and it seemed that a new undercurrent began to surge.

~~
In the afternoon, Li Xian picked up an official document.

He has been busy investigating the military governors in various places recently and has not paid much attention to some trivial matters in the Council of State, but he still knows what major events are happening.

The court appointed another group of officials today, probably in preparation for an inventory of Buddhist temple properties. Li Xian knew this but still asked to take a look.

"Most of them were recommended by Yuan Zai, and Your Highness has already agreed." Wei Jiansu said.

"If Lord Wei agrees, I have no objection."

As Li Xian was speaking, his eyes suddenly focused on a name in the document.

"Yang Yan."

He thought the name was very familiar, and then the young man he met at the show that day came to his mind.

"Have you noticed this boy?" Wei Jiansu said, "Yang Yan is indeed talented and can handle important tasks. It's hard for a mediocre person like Yuan Zai to have such vision."

Li Xian actually had vision. He had long seen Yang Yan's talent and had wanted to recommend Yang Yan for an official position.

But during a drunken conversation that night, Yang Yan revealed his dissatisfaction with the Eastern Palace, which made Li Xian feel uneasy, so he gave up the idea.

Now, Yuan Zai recommended Yang Yan, but does Yuan Zai know Yang Yan’s attitude?
Li Xian couldn't be sure.

He put down the document in his hand, handed it back to Wei Jiansu, and said, "They are indeed talented people."

He originally wanted to remind her that there might be someone on this list who wanted to overthrow the Eastern Palace, but in the end he swallowed the words.

After all, he is loyal to the ancestral temple and the country, not to the crown prince personally. Yang Yan was just complaining a few words after getting drunk. If you make a fuss about it, it will only lead to an unjust case and make people uneasy.

"Are you really going to destroy Buddhism?" Li Xian asked.

Wei Jiansu waved his hands and said, "It's just taking back the land and people."

~~
Apart from these prime ministers who knew Xue Bai's true plan, the public opinion in the world now was that the Crown Prince Regent was a Buddhist and Buddhism was about to flourish.

There are several reasons, such as the fact that His Highness had a very good relationship with Jiaoran and even gave him a poem, and the imperial court issued an edict praising Zen Master Huizheng who went to Tibet to preach.

It is said that when Master Huizheng arrived in Tubo, he was welcomed as a distinguished guest, and even the Tibetan king wanted to worship him as his teacher. The monks responded to this rumor very enthusiastically, and forgot to calculate how far Master Huizheng could go at this time.

Just when their atmosphere was at its hottest, an imperial edict from the court poured a huge basin of cold water on them, mercilessly pouring it on their bald heads.

The imperial court actually directly requested that all temples in the country be demolished, with five temples each in Chang'an, Luoyang, and Taiyuan, and two temples in each state. After the temples were demolished, the stone and wood materials were used to repair the government offices, the iron statues were used to cast agricultural tools, the bronze statues and bells were used to cast coins, and the gold and silver Buddha statues were used to enrich the national treasury. All the temple properties and fields were taken over by the imperial court and distributed after measurement.

The temples that remained were divided into three categories: upper temples with 30 people, middle temples with 20 people, and lower temples with 10 people. The rest of the monks and nuns were all returned to secular life, and tenants and slaves were all included in the civil register, and after being counted, they were divided into fields and paid taxes.

As soon as the imperial decree was issued, the whole country was in an uproar.

~~
Before issuing the decree, Xue Bai showed it to Li Xiazhou first.

After reading it, Li Xiazhou's first reaction was to take a deep breath and asked in surprise, "Your Highness, why did you show this to me?"

"You're the one who first persuaded me to do this."

"I didn't do that." Li Xiazhou immediately denied it and said, "If I really did that, wouldn't I be cursed by everyone?"

"You advised me in your heart."

Xue Bai didn't give him a chance to refute.

Li Xiazhou could sense Xue Bai's pressure, so he stopped denying it and stood there tacitly acknowledging the matter. He then said, "Your Highness has great perseverance."

"It's useless to flatter." Xue Bai picked up the seal and was about to stamp it on the edict, but suddenly stopped and asked, "Are you afraid?"

"I... do." Li Xiazhou admitted, "Although I like to play tricks, I am also afraid that there are really gods and ghosts in the world, and I am afraid of retribution."

"You are a Taoist priest, so why are you afraid of the retribution of Buddhism?"

"afraid."

Xue Bai didn't believe it, but for a moment, the hand holding the seal trembled.

He thought about the fact that he had lived two lives, and suddenly he didn't dare to say with certainty that he didn't believe in gods or ghosts, or in retribution.

I never paid attention to it in the past, but at this moment, the words on the edict suddenly seemed to come alive and began to spin around, making me dizzy and unable to see clearly what they were.

He squinted his eyes and tried hard to see, and saw the Buddha's compassionate eyes and countless pious figures.

"Your Highness?"

Li Xiazhou saw Xue Bai's fear and hesitation, and said, "It's too hasty to do this now, why not wait for you to climb up..."

"Buddha is for saving people."

Xue Bai closed his eyes, calmed down, ignored those distracting thoughts, and said slowly: "Believe in Buddhism, believe that it can reduce the suffering in the world, but when the believers become more and more pious, the fireworks in the main hall become more and more prosperous, the scale of the temple becomes larger and larger, the land becomes more and more, when the monks wear gold and silver, call slaves and maids, are they still practicing Buddhism?"

He seemed to be talking to himself to cheer himself up.

"They practice to evade taxes and force the entire burden on the powerless. This is their kindness. They practice to gain power and wealth in the secular world. If this is the case, they should face the rules of the secular world!"

"Snapped!"

With a sound, the seal was stamped on the edict without hesitation.

Li Xiazhou closed his eyes, knowing that the situation was irreversible.

He was a Taoist who should be free and easy, and should not have the idea of ​​competing with Buddhism. Therefore, even though he wanted to give Xue Bai some advice before, he didn't say anything in the end, because he knew that getting involved in such a dispute would inevitably destroy his Tao heart.

Now, the Daoxin is finally destroyed. ~~
At night, Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

The bright moonlight reflects on the tall tower, forming a beautiful picture.

But a figure came tiptoeing all the way to the foot of the tower.

This was a young monk, he raised his head, squinted his eyes, and looked at the words carved on the tower in the moonlight. But it was still too dark, he couldn't see clearly, so he lit a torch.

Finally, by the light of the torch, he found the column of words.

"Xue Bai, the top scholar in the Wu Zi exam in the seventh year of the Tianbao reign of the Tang Dynasty."

The little monk then muttered, "What a wicked fellow who repays kindness with enmity!"

After saying that, he picked up the dagger in his hand and slashed at the bricks of the tower, quickly crossing out Xue Bai's name.

Afterwards, he still was not satisfied, so he simply crossed out the line from Xue Bai's poem "The one who inscribed his name under the Ci'en Pagoda, I am the youngest among the twenty-seven people."

"Damn bad guy..."

Suddenly, someone shouted from a distance: "What are you doing?!"

The young monk turned around and saw his fellow disciples rushing over.

Everyone rushed to the foot of the tower and shone torches, and were all shocked to see that the glory of having His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's name inscribed on the Wild Goose Pagoda was gone.

"It's over!"

"Originally, Da Ci'en Temple had a chance to become one of the five temples in Chang'an, but now it's all over!"

"How dare you? Who told you to cross out His Highness's old name?!"

"Brother, didn't you say His Highness was a bad person..."

"I didn't say it!"

The little monk was still explaining when he was yelled at and tears started to fall from his eyes.

However, something worse happened. The noise in the temple alarmed the Jinwu Guards outside, and soon a group of soldiers rushed in.

Soon, they saw what was happening.

"You're going to rebel by slashing the prince's old name with a dagger?!"

"clang."

With a sound, the dagger in the little monk's hand fell to the ground.

He didn't expect that this small matter might lead to a big case.

~~
The next night.

There is a small Buddha statue on the table, which is exquisitely crafted and has kind eyes.

Li Heng knelt in front of the Buddha statue, chanting scriptures in a low voice, and seemed to have found inner peace.

In fact, he has always been a Buddhist. The reason may be that he dislikes his father Li Longji, so he has some favorable feelings towards Wu Zhou.

But now he has lost his power, freedom, and dignity, and is imprisoned here. He lives a very painful life, and Buddhism is one of the few things that can comfort him.

It was a dull night, and the sky outside the window was dark. Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminated the room.

For a moment, Li Heng thought it was the Buddha appearing, but when he looked up, he was a little disappointed.

"Boom!"

There was a bolt of thunder in the sky.

Someone pushed the door open. Li Heng turned around and saw Zhang Ting running towards him in a hurry.

"Mrs. Ting, you have always been afraid of thunder. How are you going to get here tonight?"

Zhang Ting was too lazy to show her soft side in front of Li Heng tonight, so she said directly, "Someone wants to see you."

Li Heng had been imprisoned in the House of Ten Kings and had long been disheartened. He never expected that an unexpected guest would come to see him tonight. He got up impatiently and ran to the outer hall in a hurry.

However, after running a few steps, he stopped, turned around slowly, and looked at Zhang Ting with a pair of fearful eyes.

"Tell me, could it be... could it be that Your Highness is deliberately testing me?"

He didn't think he would have another chance to deal with Xue Bai, and his biggest wish was just to survive.

Zhang Ting sneered and asked, "Do you think he will let you go?"

Suddenly, another flash of lightning appeared in the sky, illuminating her pale face.

"The reason why he hasn't killed you yet is to stop the people from talking nonsense." Zhang Ting said, "But you see, when he ascends the throne one day and the time is ripe, he will definitely kill you."

Li Heng swallowed.

Zhang Ting said: "So, even if he sent someone to test you tonight, you must meet him. You will die sooner or later anyway, so why can't you fight like a man?!"

Li Heng still didn't have the courage, and finally, he glanced at the small Buddha statue in the hall.

It seemed that the Buddha's compassionate eyes gave him great courage. He nodded and went to meet the visitor. As soon as they met, he was a little surprised.

"It's you?! Why are you here?"

"Lord Zhong, time is running out, I will make this short."

"it is good."

"The Crown Prince is destroying Buddhism. Has Prince Zhong heard of this?"

"What?" Li Heng was shocked and stammered, "Is this... a reason to deal with me?"

He couldn't help feeling sad, thinking that Xue Bai would not let him go. This time he was trying to kill him just because he believed in Buddhism and was under the banner of destroying Buddhism.

How could he protect himself? He couldn't just say that the statue belonged to Zhang Ting and then divorce her, right?
On second thought, it might not be a bad idea.

"Please be patient. This matter is not directed at Prince Zhong. The people of Chang'an are in a panic now, and there may be a big change. I came here today to ask Prince Zhong one question."

"But it doesn't matter."

Li Heng felt the other party's solemn expression, so he also sat upright and waited with bated breath.

"Is Prince Zhong willing to welcome the Emperor Emeritus to take charge of government affairs?"

"Of course." Li Heng answered without hesitation.

Afterwards, he was stunned for a moment and asked himself in his heart, is this what I really want?
Ever since he became the crown prince, he really disliked, or even hated, Li Longji.

He had thought countless times about what would happen after he seized power and succeeded to the throne. He would give Li Longji many women but kill his beloved ones, and let his old body be ruined by alcohol and sex in return for the repeated oppression he had suffered in the past.

He even dreamed that he strangled him by the neck with his own hands, snuffing out the last bit of life from the old man.

But now, because of Xue Bai, he suddenly realized that he could reconcile with Li Longji.

He could unite with his father and bring everything back to the way it was.

"What happened? Li Qian..."

"Don't worry, Prince Zhong. The Crown Prince's perverse actions will sooner or later cause unrest. Just wait and see. I will make your attitude clear to the Emperor."

After the visitor said this, he stood up and left quickly.

Li Heng watched him disappear into the night, his heart pounding and he couldn't control his emotions.

He saw that Li Longji was not just beginning to want to seize power, but had long been secretly preparing to win over the people. This time it was Xue Bai who revealed a flaw, so Li Longji's forces quickly began to connect.

"How can an emperor who has sat on the throne for more than 40 years be easily suppressed by a prince who has been regent for less than a year?"

Li Heng, who was once the crown prince, never thought that he would have such thoughts. It was like a mockery of his life.

~~
It rained heavily.

Xue Bai stood in the Xuanzheng Hall, looking down at Chang'an City in the rain, but a voice that made him very unhappy lingered in his ears.

"Your Highness, this may be a warning from heaven."

"Your Highness, please take back your order and stop destroying Buddhism."

The officials gave a few words of advice, and in the end, Xue Bai only said two words.

"Go back."

Soon, only Wei Jiansu, Yuan Zai and others who were responsible for checking the temple's property were left in the hall.

Xue Bai said, "Mr. Wei, please tell us."

“Old ministers also believe that this rainstorm is a warning from heaven.”

"I want to ask Mr. Wei to tell me about the progress of recovering the temple property."

Wei Jiansu said: "The people are complaining, the monks are not cooperating, and some are even plotting rebellion because of this."

"It's just a few scratches on a brick wall, how can it be considered treason?" Xue Bai was quite open-minded and said, "Let him go."

Yuan Zai said: "Your Highness, several monks from the Da Ci'en Temple falsely claimed to have prophesied and accused the emperor. The evidence is irrefutable. If we release them, I am afraid that someone with ulterior motives will take advantage of this."

In fact, they all knew very well that the "rebellion" that Wei Jiansu mentioned was not referring to the few monks in Da Ci'en Temple.

On the contrary, many officials in the court now pointed out that those monks were drawing prophecies on the prince's old name to curse the prince, and their remarks accusing the prince were heard by everyone and must be severely punished.

The only thing he didn't say was "the saint of communication".

This forced Xue Bai to severely punish those monks.

If the case is dealt with severely, the contradiction will be intensified, but if it is not dealt with severely, those who oppose the destruction of Buddhism will inevitably feel that Xue Bai is weak, causing a greater wave of opposition and intensifying greater contradictions.

However, Xue Bai was not confused. He did not consider things only about his own authority like Li Longji did in his later years. He was first concerned about the truth and then about maintaining his face.

"Since it has been confirmed that there is no conspiracy, release the person. Da Ci'en Temple will still be one of the five temples in Chang'an, but the monks who stay must be the thirty with the most profound Buddhist knowledge. I will personally examine them..."

(End of this chapter)