Lord Moyu was forced to open

Before Zhang and Tang arrived at the mountain gate, they happened to see several soldiers escorting two frightened little novice monks with pale faces.

After asking curiously, I found out that when they saw their army blocking the door, the great monk, who the two young novices called the temple supervisor, immediately left the two of them behind, closed the mountain gate and ran away!

Zhang Tang immediately sneered after hearing this:

"Run? They can run away from the monks, but they can't run away from the temple! Where can they run?

Someone come! "

"exist!"

"Call the door!

After a quarter of an hour, if no one opens the door for a quarter of an hour, just bang on the door and rush in!

Let's see how long they can hide in this temple! "

"promise!"

Zhang Tang gave the order, and the soldiers with the loud voices were immediately sent out, holding trumpets and shouting at the gate of Baima Temple.

"Listen to all the monks inside! My lord is here to supervise the inspection of the Buddhist temples in Nanyang according to the decree of the imperial court! Implement the imperial court's new policy on Buddhist temples! If you are wise enough to open the door quickly and greet us, otherwise don't say you are unforeseeable!

"Listen to all the monks inside! My lord is here to supervise the inspection of the Buddhist temples in Nanyang according to the imperial decree! Implement the imperial court's new policy on Buddhist temples! If you are wise enough to open the door quickly, otherwise..."

The continuous shouting lasted for a quarter of an hour, but the mountain gate of the White Horse Temple remained motionless and showed no intention of opening.

Seeing this, Zhang Tang stopped waiting and nodded. Li Dingguo on the side immediately began to order people to find suitable door-breaking wood to prepare for the door!

However, at this moment, there was only a creaking sound, and the closed temple door finally slowly opened.

Master Guangping, the abbot of the White Horse Temple, led the heads of the various halls of the White Horse Temple out of the mountain gate and came to Zhang Tang and others.

"Amitabha! We, the monks of White Horse Temple, have met your Excellency!"

Zhang Tang looked at the monks with a blank expression on his face. After they finished saluting, he asked:

"Who is the abbot and abbot of White Horse Temple?"

Guang Ping came out of the crowd, proclaimed the Buddha's name again and said:

"Amitabha, the poor monk Guangping, is now the abbot and abbot of the White Horse Temple. Your Excellency, you have come from afar and must have been tired from the journey. Why don't you go to the temple with the poor monk to rest for a while?"

When Zhang Tang heard this, he waved his hand directly and said: "No, since you are the abbot, I would like to ask the abbot of Guangping, have you heard about the new policy of the imperial court towards Buddhist temples around the world recently?"

Hearing this, Guang Ping shook his head and said, "I must disappoint you sir. I, the White Horse Temple, live in the mountains and don't know much about the affairs of the imperial court. I have never heard of any new policies from the imperial court regarding Buddhist temples around the world."

Quang Binh is certainly not stupid. The imperial court had been promoting the New Deal a while ago. If he had heard about it, then the officials of the imperial court in front of him could attack Baima Temple on the charge that he knew the imperial new policy but still resisted and disobeyed it. .

Only if you don't know, and those who don't know are not guilty, it is only reasonable that the situation in White Horse Temple has not changed at all.

Guang Ping was pretending to be stupid, how could Zhang Tang not see it?

But it doesn't matter. You can pretend to be stupid about the past and pretend you don't know.

But now I'm standing in front of you, how can you pretend?

Zhang Tang nodded slowly:

"So it turns out that abbot Guangping didn't know about it. That's just right. I will tell the abbot today.

Not long ago, the imperial court issued a new policy on Buddhist temples around the world. Since then, it has been conducting an inventory of Buddhist temples around the world. The main purpose is to investigate whether there are criminals in the Buddhist temples who use the pure places of Buddhism to avoid responsibility and pretend to be monks, as well as those who collude with local officials for money. Unlawful temples that lent large amounts of money to the people and used various illegal means to acquire land from the people.

If found, they will be cleaned up and banned immediately.

In addition, in recent years, many lawless elements have randomly opened monasteries and pretended to be monks to avoid the normal taxation of the court in order to avoid land taxes and taxes, resulting in a decrease in the court's tax revenue year after year.

In addition, such illegal temples recruited the local young and middle-aged population indiscriminately, resulting in a sharp decline in the local young and middle-aged population, which had a great negative impact on the court.

Therefore, starting from the announcement of the new policy by the imperial court, the number of Buddhist temples and monks in the world was restricted. All Buddhist monks who wanted to obtain ultimatums had to pass the examination of the imperial monks and Taoists before they could be issued ultimatums. This was to verify and put an end to fake monks evading taxes.

According to the new regulations of the imperial court, once the news is received from various places, the imperial court will temporarily stop distributing ultimatums until the investigation is completed.

After the imperial court has determined the number of monks in the world, it will determine whether to continue to issue ultimatums based on the size of the city where the temple is located and the population.

Taking Fucheng as an example, each county capital is only allowed to have one temple with no more than 200 people, and a city with more than 50,000 people is only allowed to have one temple with no more than 100 people.

As for counties and towns with insufficient number of people, only one temple with no more than fifty people is allowed to exist in one place.

And from now on, any temple with more than 100 people shall not occupy more than ten hectares of land, no temple with more than 50 people may occupy more than seven hectares of land, and no temple with more than 50 people may occupy more than five hectares of land!

All monasteries exceeding the local quota will be banned, all monks exceeding the number will return to secular life, and all land exceeding the quota will be nationalized! "

Zhang Tang explained the new policies of the imperial court clearly in one breath, looked at the uniform black faces of all the monks of White Horse Temple opposite and asked with a smile:

"So, the abbot has heard clearly the new rules of the court?" "Amitabha, the poor monk has heard clearly."

Guangping lowered his eyes and nodded slowly.

"In this case, we will start an inventory of the White Horse Temple. After the inventory, the excess monks of the White Horse Temple will be dismissed and the ultimatums will be recovered. The excess part of the land owned by the White Horse Temple will also be taken back by the court. It’s state-owned, please cooperate with Master Abbot.”

Zhang Tang nodded and immediately prepared to ask people to enter the temple. However, at this moment, a group of senior officials from the White Horse Temple blocked the gate of the White Horse Temple, blocking the way into the White Horse Temple.

Seeing this, Zhang Tang's face instantly darkened. He looked at Guangping who had his head lowered and asked, "Abbot Guangping, what does this mean? Is it possible that White Horse Temple wants to fight against the imperial government's new policy?"

Before Guang Ping could say anything, Guang Wu, the leader of the Arhat Hall who was the strongest among the senior officials of the White Horse Temple, immediately said angrily:

"My lord, don't you think the appearance of the imperial court is a bit ugly?

We have no objection to the imperial court wanting to investigate whether there are innocent criminals in temples around the world, but there is no need for the imperial court to investigate, we will investigate ourselves, and if so, we will hand them over to the government for disposal.

However, since our White Horse Temple was established thousands of years ago, it has been accumulated over the past generations to reach its current scale, with such a number of monks and such a land for worshiping Buddha.

Now the imperial court's policy is to rob my White Horse Temple of thousands of years of savings, and also to limit the size of my White Horse Temple. Don't you think it's a bit ugly? "

Although the others did not speak, looking at their expressions, it was clear that they had the same intention, opposing the imperial court's new policy on Buddhist temples around the world.

Originally, according to Guangwu's plan, he wanted to use his identity as the Northern Buddhist Sect of White Horse Temple to summon the monks from all the temples in the north to jointly resist the implementation of the imperial court's new policy. However, what he did not expect was that the imperial envoy did not respect martial ethics. , as soon as I came to Nanyang, I came directly to their White Horse Temple.

He was not given any preparation time, so he could only bite the bullet and push forward. If he didn't push back, the other party would forcibly bulldoze the White Horse Temple!

By then it will be too late.

When Zhang Tang saw this, he was angry on his face, but he was already ecstatic in his heart!

That's it! That's it, my first appearance must cause something big. If you just obey, it will be boring. Only if you don't resist, I can attack you with thunder and tell His Majesty what I have done. determination!

Anyway, with Li Dingguo and the others standing behind him, Zhang Tang was not afraid of these monks making trouble, but he was afraid that they would be too honest and give him no chance to perform.

"Abbot Guangping, is this the attitude of your temple?"

"Amitabha!"

Guangping let out a long sigh, proclaimed the Buddha's name again, then looked at the many heads behind him, and said slowly:

"Sir, it's not that White Horse Temple is unwilling to cooperate with the imperial court. It's actually that the imperial court's new policies are too harsh. It's difficult for White Horse Temple to comply, and it's difficult for Buddhist temples all over the world to comply.

I also ask your Excellency to return to Bianjing and inform Your Majesty that Buddhist temples all over the world have no intention of resisting the imperial court. The imperial court wants to track down criminals and illegal temples that evade taxes. Baima Temple can convene Buddhist temples all over the world to conduct self-examination, and it will definitely give an explanation to the imperial court.

However, if the imperial court insists on limiting the number of Buddhist temples in the world and taking away the land accumulated by Buddhist temples throughout the world, please forgive me, but we will find it difficult to obey!

This is a chaotic fate! "

After Guangping spoke, the leader of Luohan Hall and others who blocked the door behind him immediately shouted loudly.

"Disobey orders! Disobey orders! Disobey orders!..."

All the monks looked like they were determined to resist to the death.

Seeing their determination, Zhang Tang smiled, laughed a few times, and then his smile faded under the puzzled eyes of everyone.

His voice was cold and deep: "I am here today to inform you of the new policies for the imperial court, not to discuss with you!

That’s all you agree with!

If you don't agree, then the court has another way to deal with it!

I just hope you don’t regret it!

The Holy One has a decree! Anyone who obstructs the imperial court's inspection of Buddhist temples and opposes the imperial court's new policy on Buddhist temples around the world!

kill!

Kill until no one dares to stop him! Kill until no one dares to object! "

"promise!"

Five thousand officers and soldiers agreed in unison like thunder!

The senior officials of White Horse Temple who immediately blocked the crowd in front of the gate of White Horse Temple were so frightened that their expressions changed!

...(End of chapter)