Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 565 Intensification

Chapter 565 Intensification

Du Wulang once thought that the high walls of Daming Palace blocked Xue Bai's view of the world, but gradually he discovered that it was people's disguise that prevented him from seeing those desires and evil thoughts.

It is more difficult to discern people's hearts than to investigate the specific events that happened outside the palace.

"Today, I met with them in the name of personally examining the Buddhist teachings of the monks left in Da Ci'en Temple." Xue Bai said, "In fact, I took the opportunity to verify the evidence of Abbot Bukong's crimes, and it was basically consistent with what Yuan Zai said. But Yuan Zai's words cannot be fully believed. At least the list of officials he gave is not right."

Xue Bai could at least be sure that Yuan Zai had removed himself and his cronies from the list of officials who frequently had dealings with the Da Ci'en Temple.

Du Wulang asked: "What should we do then?"

"You can prosecute him, but you can't charge him with treason." Xue Bai said, "Go and ask the little monk Jingyan to sue Bukong in Jingzhao Prefecture and charge him with kidnapping and selling innocent people."

"Why?"

Although Du Wulang could understand what Xue Bai said, sometimes he still couldn't get around it.

The political weighing of pros and cons and the careful planning were too complicated for him. His thinking was simple, such as distinguishing between good and evil and killing the bad guys.

Faced with such doubts, Xue Bai said: "How can it be easy to distinguish between good and bad people? They are entangled with those who oppose me, and the relationship is complicated. If I kill them, it will cause rivers of blood, and then more people will oppose me, and I will have to kill more."

Because of this sentence, Xue Bai dreamed at night that one day he could not help himself, and led his troops into the palace, killing Li Longji, Li Cong, Li Heng, Li Chu... and then countless members of the Tang royal family and aristocratic families.

He was very excited at first, but he could not kill them all, until the city of Chang'an was engulfed in flames.

When daybreak came, he woke up.

The excitement in the dream faded away, and facing the reality, it was another boring and dull day.

He told himself that he had to be patient, to consider the whole situation like playing chess, and then make his moves step by step. He was now the planner of the restoration of the prosperous times, and he could no longer overturn the table at every turn.

~~
Chongyifang.

Wang Jin's residence covered a vast area, occupying one-fourth of the area of ​​the town.

In such a location, it is naturally very expensive to build such a large house. However, people are more interested in talking about the extravagance of Li Linfu, Wang Yu, and Yang Shi, but rarely mention Wang Jin's wealth.

Because those people were nouveau riche, Li Linfu was a member of the royal family but a poor side branch, Wang Yu was born a concubine, and Yang climbed up the social ladder and soared to the sky. These stories always give people a sense of "maybe one day I can also rise to prominence", and a kind of sour taste of "such people don't deserve wealth and honor". But Wang Jin was different. He was born into seven families and ten surnames, and had been prominent for thousands of years. He had a true aristocratic style and deserved everything.

The Yang sisters and Yang Guozhong liked to compete with each other in wealth, but Wang Jin did not need to show off through worldly things such as mansions. The nobility of aristocratic families is cultivated over generations, and it cannot be imitated by the new rich by buying a mansion.

For example, Wang Wei, Wang Jin's elder brother, was able to buy Wangchuan Villa, but he never showed off how much it was worth. Talent and demeanor are luxuries that cannot be bought with money.

The Wang brothers have always had a good reputation, believed in Buddhism, and have done good deeds. They also have a good relationship with Xue Bai. Therefore, Wang Jin never thought that one day he would be suspected.

"I plotted against His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

"good."

Sitting opposite Wang Jin was a young official, Yang Yan, who was recommended by Yuan Zai for his outstanding performance and was promoted to the position of Yuanwailang of Sixun.

Yang Yan placed the confessions on the table in front of Wang Jin and said, "The evidence is irrefutable. Minister Wang has been in contact with the monk Bukong for many years and has provided him with a lot of financial support. Bukong used the support from the minister to secretly contact those who were dissatisfied with Your Highness and plotted to overthrow him."

"it's not true."

Wang Jin's answer was very simple.

He had always been at a high position in his life, had seen a lot of the world, and had long since looked down upon power and wealth. Therefore, in the face of such terrible accusations, he did not show any panic or panic, and remained calm regardless of honor or disgrace.

Yang Yan said: "Now that things have come to this, I'm afraid that Shangshu Wang can't just say one word to shirk it."

"Before Your Highness became the crown prince, I was the governor of Hedong." Wang Jin said, "If I was dissatisfied with Your Highness, I should have made plans when I was in Hedong. Why wait until now?"

"Do you really think I don't know? Minister Wang has already distributed official documents in Hedong under the pretext of building a temple, asking monks to collect money and recruit soldiers, with the intention of treason."

Although Yang Yan was a low-ranking official, he had a strong aura. He actually produced evidence, verifying and calculating the money Wang Jin spent on Buddhism, and then threw the thick account book on the table.

"Who would believe that spending over 100,000 guan is not for some big purpose?!"

"I believe in Buddhism and am willing to donate."

"Are you willing to help the evil monk bully men and women?"

"Not all monks in the world are like this."

Wang Jin sighed helplessly, his eyes showing compassion for the world and his Buddha nature.

Yang Yan was very tough, and if it wasn't for his lack of power, he would have arrested Wang Jin on the spot. But he didn't get the order, so he searched Wang Jin's house and took away his account books, deeds, and letters, saying that he wanted to find out whether Wang Jin had colluded with the Da Ci'en Temple and whether they had jointly occupied any land.

As a result, Wang's residence was in chaos and the people were in panic.

Faced with this situation, Wang Jin just sat upright in the lobby, closed his eyes and said nothing.

He held nothing in his hands, but his fingers moved slightly, as if he was gently turning a Buddhist rosary. He said nothing, but his lips opened and closed slightly, as if he was chanting softly.

After an unknown amount of time, Yang Yan finally left with his men, escorting boxes of documents.

A monk came out from nowhere, walked slowly behind Wang Jin, and sighed, "It is this poor monk who has caused trouble for you, Lord Wang."

The monk's Buddhist name was Han Guang. He had a close friendship with Wang Jin a long time ago. This time, he was asked by the court to return to secular life, but he hoped to continue his practice and did not want to farm, so he fled to Wang Jin's home for refuge.

"It has nothing to do with the Zen master." Wang Jin said, "This matter is about power and money, but it has nothing to do with Buddhism."

"The prince's situation is probably dangerous."

Monk Han Guang clasped his hands together and said, "Although I am an outsider, I have heard a little about the affairs of the court. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was bewitched by the treacherous minister Yuan Zai and is ruthlessly exterminating the Buddhist sect. The root cause is that Yuan Zai is taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents."

Wang Jin had been appearing very calm, but when he opened his eyes, there was anger in his eyes.

He was actually very angry. This anger was not because of what Yang Yan said, but because Xue Bai's order to destroy Buddhism had already ignited his anger.

This is a conflict of faith and cannot be reconciled.

Therefore, the moment he learned of the imperial edict, he no longer supported Xue Bai in his heart. If he was still the governor of Hedong at that time, he would definitely not obey the imperial edict, but would choose to protect temples and monks in Hedong and directly oppose Xue Bai. After that, he would most likely choose another prince.

Unfortunately, he had been transferred back to Chang'an to serve as the Minister of Works. He had no power and could do nothing, and was only filled with anger.

Today, the biggest impact of Yang Yan's words was that he was pushed into a desperate situation. He was involved in a major case of treason, and the next thing he would face was probably confiscation of property and exile.

Wang Jin had to consider whether to give it a try.

Han Guang could sense Wang Jin's anger, so he continued, "I have a question. The sage has appointed the crown prince as regent, but the crown prince is still young. If the crown prince makes a mistake, who will correct him?"

With these words, Wang Jin couldn't help but turn around and look at Han Guang. He saw that the monk had a solemn appearance, but his eyes were quite meaningful.

~~
In the evening, Li Xian returned home.

As soon as he entered the room, a servant came to report: "Alang, there is a visitor. He said he must see Alang no matter what and has been waiting in the side hall for a long time."

Li Xian asked a few questions and went to the side hall himself, where he saw Li Zhen sitting.

Both of them were members of the royal family, one had a high title, and the other held a powerful position, so without bothering with the empty formalities, Li Zhen stated his purpose straight away.

"How long has he been in the East Palace? He has not yet established a firm foothold, and he dared to destroy Buddhism as soon as he became regent. It was a stupid move, but I didn't want to take the opportunity to deal with him. I have nothing to do with Buddhism. But in the end, he destroyed Buddhism and did not forget to eliminate dissidents and handle a major case of treason. What's his intention? Is he putting a knife on our heads?"

Li Xian asked, "Do you want to change the storage?"

Li Zhen said: "It's not that I want to change the crown prince, he is now infuriating. All the officials in the court are eager for the saint or the emperor to come forward to take charge of the situation."

Li Xian didn't speak immediately, but thought about it.

At first, he did not object to Xue Bai's confiscation of the temple's property, believing that this was beneficial to the country. But as the situation progressed to this point, it did seem a little out of control.

There are many reasons. On the surface, it seems that the court officials have a bad impression of Yuan Zai and accuse him of taking the opportunity to exclude dissidents. This is also what people are shouting the most. In fact, the temple is involved in the interests of too many powerful people.

For example, Li Xian knew that one of Li Zhen’s sisters liked a handsome young monk. Presumably, the abbot of Da Ci’en Temple, Bukong, knew a lot about Li Zhen’s evil deeds.

Even if there is no such collusion, there are still many high-ranking officials who used to burn incense and donate money, but now everyone is in danger.

Now, there is a rumor circulating in Chang'an City that the prince will soon suffer retribution for daring to order the destruction of Buddhism, and will die suddenly in the near future.

The fact that such remarks could spread and the government, which controlled the newspapers, was unable to suppress public opinion shows how great the discontent was.

Not only were the powerful and wealthy dissatisfied, but the monks who had returned to secular life to farm were also complaining. These people were good at speaking, and their public opinion of the prince plummeted.

Li Xian actually thought that it might not be a bad thing to ask the saint or the emperor to take charge of the situation at this moment.

He was not considering it from the perspective of power struggle, nor did he want to change the crown prince. Rather, the fact that the crown prince was acting as regent provided him with a way out and room for maneuver. If the crown prince did something wrong, it was normal for the sage to come forward and end the matter.

However, the sage is inferior to the emperor emeritus in both physique and talent, so it seems to be what everyone wants for the emperor emeritus to take charge of government again.

Seeing that Li Xian had been silent for a long time, Li Zhen stretched out his hand and waved it in front of him, saying, "This matter is not just my idea. The reason why I came forward to meet you is because of my noble status. There are quite a few officials who have united, and many of them even supported the regent at one time."

"Not a few? Who are they?"

"If we dare to do this, we must first ensure that we can control Chang'an City." Li Zhen said, "Jingzhao Yin Yang Wan, is he the person you recommended? He has agreed to ask the emperor to come forward."

"What are your plans?"

"Simple. In a few days, when the court is held, all officials can invite the emperor to come to court." Li Zhen said, "The only trouble is the imperial guards. Guo Qianli and Zhang Xiaojing of the Northern Court are his confidants, but the prime ministers can mobilize the troops of the Southern Court, and with the manpower that Jingzhao Yin can mobilize, it will be enough."

It is indeed enough and they don’t really need to fight. The civil and military officials in the court, plus so many troops, are enough to intimidate Xue Bai.

Li Xian thought for a while and said, "We still need to convince Wei Jiansu and Li Mi."

This sentence meant that he had agreed. Li Zhen smiled and said, "Don't worry, they won't be hard to convince."

~~
at the same time.

Jingzhao Yin Yang Wan was sitting alone in the government office, half of his face immersed in darkness. He was pondering what he should do that would be most beneficial to the Tang Dynasty.

To be fair, he supported Xue Bai's return of the land and population to the temple.

As the Jingzhao Yin, he knew best how difficult it was to collect taxes every year, how many households would escape tax, and how many fields were not taxed at all.

On the other hand, he was most familiar with the case of Da Ci'en Temple, which made him feel the danger.

People now say that the imperial court is "destroying Buddhism", but the imperial court itself knows that Buddhism cannot be "destroyed", and all the imperial court needs to do is suppress and control it. Some people are leading the situation to an extreme, which may cause unrest in the country.

You have to find the right balance. If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince cannot find the right balance, then what is the best way to benefit the country? Give him a beating and then give him a sweet date.

The Crown Prince would first confiscate the land and population of the temples, so that the court would benefit. Then the saint or the emperor would show mercy and stop destroying Buddhism, so that the Buddhists would be grateful to the court again.

In other words, you have to control the heat.

Similarly, in the case of the Da Ci'en Temple, the intensity of the case must not be too high. If it is turned into a case of treason and involves too many people, it may burn down the country.

Xue Bai's emphasis on Yuan Zai made Yang Wan extremely uneasy.

This is why he agreed to invite the retired emperor to preside over the government.

"Jingyin, someone has come to file a complaint against the abbot of Daci'en Temple, Bukong."

Yang Wan frowned when she heard this, and didn't want to escalate the case at this time.

However, when he took the complaint and read it, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"Where's the person coming?"

"Still waiting outside."

Yang Wan stood up and said, "I'll go see him."

At this moment, another bailiff came running over and whispered in Yang Wan's ear, "Jing Yin, Bukong died in prison."

Yang Wan's expression remained unchanged as she continued to walk outside. She saw Du Wulang and a little monk waiting in the hall.

Du Wulang seemed to be heartless no matter how big the incident was. He just said that he came to accompany the little monk to complain.

And when Yang Wan said that Bukong had died in prison, Du Wulang exclaimed "Ah?" and showed a stunned and confused expression.

"This matter involves a major case of treason. I wonder what your opinion is?" Yang Wan asked tentatively.

"What kind of treason case is this?" Du Wulang said, "Isn't it just a case of human trafficking? Now he committed suicide out of fear of the crime, so the case is closed."

"Case closed?"

"Yes, case closed." Du Wulang answered crisply, representing Xue Bai's sense of propriety in doing things.

Doing things is like hunting. People are often easily distracted by other prey, chasing rabbits, and changing direction when they see a larger deer.

But this time, Xue Bai clearly anchored in a direction.

Yang Wan looked at Du Wulang again, and this time, he actually saw a kind of unmoved wisdom.

~~
It was a small golden Buddha statue with a compassionate and peaceful face.

Li Heng looked at it with a hint of obsession in his eyes.

He now believes more and more in Buddhism, believing that Buddha can save him from trouble and regain power. Because Buddha is Xue Bai's opponent, he naturally stands on his side.

Just now, Yang Yan brought people to search his residence, looking for evidence of his collusion with Wang Jin.

After Yang Yan left, Li Heng kept looking at the Buddha statue and thinking.

"finally, I understand!"

Li Heng suddenly said this, causing Zhang Ting to turn around and look at him.

"What do you unserstand?"

"It turns out that my father has been planning this for a long time." Li Heng murmured, "My father has secretly bribed a group of people to work for him. They have been lying in wait for a long time, so they can quickly organize themselves once they have the chance."

Zhang Ting said, "I think this is just an accident. Who could have expected that Xue Ni would suddenly become estranged from Buddhism? And who could have expected that such a small matter would turn into a case of treason?"

“Things may happen by chance, but conflicts are inevitable.”

Li Heng's words seemed to have some Zen meaning.

He raised his lips with a hint of sarcasm, and said, "When the traitor Xue governs the country, sooner or later he will have grudges and resentments with the royal family and officials. This is inevitable, and it is inevitable. Do you know why?"

Zhang Ting asked: "Why?"

"Because he's a jerk!"

Zhang Ting raised her eyebrows, thinking of Xue Bai's graceful temperament, and did not agree with Li Heng's unwarranted venting.

Li Heng was serious, and said, "I'm not scolding him, I'm just stating the truth. Xue Ni's origin is too humble. Even if he is really my second brother's blood, it doesn't change his humbleness. He was raised as a slave. How can he please everyone?"

Zhang Ting began to understand a little bit what Li Heng was saying.

"I am a commoner and a slave, and I always do things in an extreme way. We are both young scholars, and our poems are well-known. Can you imagine that Wang Wei would one day order the destruction of Taoism? No, because Wang Wei is a true aristocratic nobleman, and he has integrity. What about Xue Ni? The thing he lacks the most is integrity. He is intolerant. Just look at how he treats Chen Xilie."

"I was born a slave, and I have a lot of street smarts. I think I'm 'pragmatic', but I'm actually fussy. I say I care about the common people, but what I'm doing is cutting flesh from the Buddhists. There are tens of millions of people in the world, and we only need to collect ten coins from each person, and we'll have a lot. Xue Ni didn't raise taxes, but he extorted from the eloquent monks. Why could he do such a stupid thing? Because he's lowly, and he's been rolling around among the common people and slaves for too long."

"He used to pretend, write poems and compose essays, and dress himself up as a descendant of a dragon and a phoenix. Now that he is in power, his true nature is exposed. How can a chicken with colorful wings pretend to be a phoenix not fall from the phoenix tree? Of course he has to fall, but I didn't expect him to fall so soon."

The more Li Heng spoke, the more excited he became, and the more he felt that his views were the truth.

Although he was imprisoned here, he could feel that the resentment of court officials was growing since Xue Bai became regent.

~~
Yang Yan left the Ten Kings' Residence and was about to meet Yuan Zai, but he found a row of imperial guards standing at the intersection.

"Yang Sihu, His Highness has summoned you. Please follow us."

Yang Yan followed the etiquette calmly and unhurriedly into the palace and entered the Xuan Zheng Hall.

"I, Yang Yan, the Minister of Honors, pay my respects to Your Highness."

"I know you. You are very talented." Xue Bai said, "I have always thought that one day I will make use of you."

"Thank you for your highness's praise. I am ashamed."

"You should be ashamed." Xue Bai's tone suddenly turned cold, and he said, "You are a genius, why are you so stubborn and obsessed with this?"

Yang Yan was stunned for a moment, and said, "I wonder what your Highness is talking about?"

"I ordered you to confiscate the temple's property, but you deliberately created a case of treason, intimidated court officials, and intensified the situation. Do you know your crime?"

"I have never done that." Yang Yan said, "The Da Ci'en Temple treason case was handled by the Jinwu Guards and Jingzhao Prefecture. As for the accusation that I intimidated court officials, I was only ordered to investigate the connection between the land of the Chang'an temple and court officials. I am not guilty."

Xue Bai seemed to be helpless against him, so he smiled and said, "You are bullying me without any evidence."

"I dare not, I am just telling the truth."

"Then you went to see Prince Li Heng twice under the pretext of investigating a case. Were you also focused on official business?"

"I heard that Prince Zhong has always believed in Buddhism, so I suspected that he was involved in the conspiracy case, so I went to question him." Yang Yan hesitated for a moment and said, "I have already reported this matter to Lord Yuan before I left. I thought Your Highness knew about it."

"Yes, Yuan Zai wanted to solve a big case and make a great contribution. When you said you wanted to investigate Li Heng, he agreed and must have praised you."

“Yes.” Even now, Yang Yan remained calm and responded calmly: “There is indeed a Buddha statue in Prince Zhong’s mansion, but I did not find any other evidence related to the conspiracy case, so I returned empty-handed.”

"I told Yuan Zai not to investigate who was plotting rebellion and to focus on land and population. Did he not listen, or did you not listen?"

"This is my fault."

Although Yang Yan said this, his calm attitude showed that Yuan Zai was still hinting at him to continue investigating the case of treason.

He did not leave any loopholes and remained extremely calm from beginning to end.

If Xue Bai wanted to test him, it should stop here. Maybe he could continue to use him in the future.

However, Xue Bai casually threw a stack of documents in front of Yang Yan.

"Look for yourself, are these your conversations with Li Heng?"

Yang Yan picked up the document and took a look at it. After just one glance, he froze there.

He didn't understand. When he went to meet Li Heng and there was no one else present during the negotiation, why was their conversation recorded word by word and placed on Xue Bai's desk?
Unless someone Li Heng trusted very much betrayed him.

Such a huge contrast in methods finally changed Yang Yan's expression, revealing fear.

"Is this your choice? You don't care about right or wrong, strong or weak, you just want to repay the favor and pay the debt?" Xue Bai said, "Do you think you can deal with me by stirring up the emotions of the court officials? You know best how much land and people we can get this time. So let me ask you, if I give these money and food to the Chang'an defenders, do you still have a chance of winning?"

(End of this chapter)

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