My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

"It's leisure, it's really leisure."

Holding a teacup in his hand and sitting in the cabinet room, Han Xu lamented that he, the chief minister of the cabinet, was doing a leisurely job.

The six ministries directly submitted the memorial to the emperor. After the emperor approved it, he sent it to the cabinet to draft the decree. As an assistant minister of the cabinet, he was ignored by all the people above and below him.

At most, when the four parties have a memorial, they can draw up a draft.

But where did the Ming Dynasty come from so many Sifang memorials?

Everyone in the local area hopes for peace and quiet in their jurisdiction, and will only report the matter unless it is something that cannot be suppressed.

"Secretary-in-Chief, look at this memorial. It was sent by Dong Yingju."

Just when Han Xu felt that he was going to spend the day doing nothing again, a cabinet secretary walked nervously into his classroom with a copy of the memorial.

"Dong Yingju? Did he clear up the land and lead a popular uprising?"

Don't count the victory, count the defeat first.

He opened his mouth and hoped that things would develop in a bad direction. Han Xu was also a veteran Legalist.

"No, he wants to stipulate the number of acres of land for each temple and Taoist temple in Beijing."

"Ok?"

Hearing this, Han Xu immediately opened his eyes wide.

Dong Yingju didn't feel that it was enough just to take the imperial village and the noble land, but now he even cares about the Buddha's incense money? !
What is this?

He opened Dong Yingju's memorial in his hand and read it for a while. The more he looked at Han Xu, the more frightened he became.

According to estimates, the large and small temples and Taoist temples in the capital actually own millions of acres of farmland around the capital.

With this number of acres, according to the New Deal's one-douche-per-acre tax calculation, the court could increase the tax revenue by 100,000 shi per year.

After counting with his fingers, Han Xu came to such a conclusion.

Han Xu was very envious of the fact that he had cleared the land for temples and Taoist temples and could increase so much tax revenue in Gyeonggi Province alone.

He now lacks an opportunity to make the emperor look at him again.

But at the same time, Han Xu was also thinking about something.

There are always people behind the temples and Taoist temples in the Ming Dynasty, and the temples and Taoist temples are good at taking the wife route. If he agrees, it will be a bit more gain than loss.

Moreover, this temple and Taoist temple are related to prophecies and taboos.

Thinking of this, Han Xu gradually lowered his hand holding the pen.

He frowned and thought about the interests behind this matter. After a while, Han Xu took up his pen and wrote down a draft on the memorial.

As Han Xu wrote the draft, the memorial was quickly sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

Then, it was sent to Zhu Youxiao's desk without stopping.

"Guijitian?"

It can be seen that Dong Yingju has been wanting to take action against temples and Taoist temples for a long time.

He has roughly calculated the number of acres of land owned by the temple and Taoist temples.

Zhu Youxiao sighed as he couldn't help touching his smooth chin.

There are really many evil ways to evade taxes.

In layman's terms, there will be people who, although they are wealthy, have not been admitted to the Ming Dynasty and have not obtained an official position, but they have too much land at home.

Although the new exemptions and exemptions are generous, they are still not enough for those who are not yet in office.

The maximum land for a person who has not yet been promoted to Jinshi is 3,350 acres, and for a person who has not yet been promoted to official position is 1,200 acres.

However, students, supervisors, and scholars only have eighty acres.

What should I do if my family has not been able to produce a successful candidate in this generation, but the family has more fields?

Looking for a kind old man?

You know that the kind-hearted man will not rely on the power in his hands to really turn your affiliated farmland into his family's farmland.

If you can't find a trustworthy elder, you can only go to temples and Taoist temples to avoid the imperial court.

"Everyone who has money has money."

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but sigh a few more when he saw Dong Yingju listing the names of various popular temples in the capital, which often amounted to tens of thousands of acres of fertile land.

"It's cleared, it's all cleared. From now on, all acres of land owned by temples, Taoists and others will be included in the calculation of private land."

After writing his own imperial approval on Dong Yingju's memorial, Zhu Youxiao felt that it was not enough and added.

"Grade the temples and Taoist temples in the capital according to their size, and allow acres of land from ten thousand to one thousand acres. They will be reserved according to the grade. The rest will be distributed to the people, and whoever sows it will get it."

After writing his comments like this, Zhu Youxiao suddenly turned to look at Liu Shimin and asked.

"I asked the Tianjin government to recruit some landless people from Zhili, northeast of Shandong, to farm in Liaodong. What happened?"

"I heard that five hundred households have been recruited and are waiting to board the ship at Tianjin Guard."

As the Superintendent of Ceremonies, Liu Shimin was well aware of the memorials coming from various places in the imperial court and answered them immediately.

"Five hundred households is still a bit small."

After hearing Liu Shimin's answer, Zhu Youxiao nodded and commented on the memorial.

"If anyone is dissatisfied, give your name and let the Jin Yiwei capture him and send him to Liaodong to publicize and educate those barbarians."

With that said, Zhu Youxiao handed the memorial he had approved to Liu Shimin.

"Send it back and have it done as soon as possible."

"This slave takes the order."

After peeking at the contents of the emperor's review, Liu Shimin felt sympathy for the monks and Taoists in the capital.

Soon, the memorial with the emperor's instructions returned to the cabinet.

Looking at the red letters written by the emperor on the memorial, Han Xu felt that he knew the emperor a little better.

The emperor's statement that he wanted to see whether the world would sin against me or I would sin against the world was not made in vain.

First, he took the lead in asking the imperial village to pay taxes, then the nobles were led to pay taxes, and then the temple acres were inspected.

Think again about why the emperor pays salaries to officials. The purpose is to make it possible for the gentry to pay taxes, so as to avoid people saying that Da Mingguang only makes people work and does not pay them wages.

This is constant pressure, wanting to see where the limits of the gentry and right-wingers are.

Let's look at the emperor's treatment of dissatisfied people and let him go to Liaodong to propagate and educate.

Is that for propaganda and enlightenment?

That is clearly exile.

He was sure that the emperor's butcher knife had already been raised in the air, but he didn't know when it was swung down.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Han Xu asked someone to copy the emperor's annotations in the memorial, thinking it would be kept as a record, and then quickly sent the memorial to Dong Yingju, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture.

I didn't participate. As a cabinet minister, I have no say in this matter.

As the memorial was sent back to the Shuntian Mansion Yamen, Dong Yingju's eyes suddenly lit up after seeing the emperor's approval.

Originally, he thought that his idea would not be supported, or it was supported, but only a little.

After all, one of the claims of the Ming Emperor was that he was the reincarnation of Emperor Zhenwu.

Moreover, in the harems of emperors of all dynasties, the empress dowagers and empresses had the custom of believing in Buddhism. During festivals or when someone died, they would go to the temple to pray for blessings.

But I didn't expect that the emperor would give such great support.

The knife struck directly on the aorta.

"Take this memorial from me and let Director Zhao from the Inspection Department prepare it for them to visit all the Taoist temples in the capital." After giving instructions to the master, Dong Yingju stood up from his chair. Give the memorial to the other party.

"Yes!"

After hearing Dong Yingju's words, the master quickly took the memorial and walked outside.

This matter has been prepared, and we will start working after the memorial is sent back with the emperor's approval.

To the south of the outskirts of Beijing, there is a temple called Chongfu Temple, which is one of the largest temples in the capital.

The Ming Dynasty and Buddhism are very closely related.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, became a monk before he joined the army.

During the establishment of other emperors, except for the Taoist Emperor Jiajing, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty also treated Buddhism with great courtesy, and the empresses in the harem also made offerings to various temples from time to time.

However, this ancient temple, which was supposed to be a prosperous and famous temple with hundreds of years of glorious history, was now surrounded by the officials of Shuntian Prefecture.

The great monk of Daqing who was able to preside over a large temple in the capital was naturally a man of good cultural accomplishment and magnanimity.

Today, however, the dream of bringing Buddhism back to the palace has been shattered.

Also today, the great monk Daqing lost his composure.

"It's an open robbery, it's an open robbery."

His hands pinched the rosary beads around his neck so hard that the rope had been broken.

This is a rosary made of longan bodhi, a token left by the great monk Daguan in the past.

Normally, Daqing would cherish him very much, but now he couldn't care less.

Pointing with one hand at the back of the Shuntian Mansion official who was waving his sleeves and leaving, Daqing beat his chest and stamped his feet. He couldn't say a word, his eyes darkened, and he fainted.

As he fainted, the document in his hand naturally fell to the ground.

The monks around him saw the abbot falling and hurriedly stepped forward to help him. Only the temple supervisor, Monk Dayuan, noticed the documents that fell on the ground.

Originally, Monk Dayuan still had hopes for someone from the government, but when he saw Senior Brother Daqing fainting, he was already despairing.

But even if Monk Dayuan had made enough mental preparations, after seeing the approval stamped on the document by the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, he felt that his heart was tightly grasped by a big invisible hand, and he gasped in pain. Come.

"It's an open robbery! This is an open robbery!"

After all, he was in the capital, and he didn't dare to curse him. God knows if the monks in this temple would report him.

If he insults the imperial court and is caught by the government officials, he will really be left with nothing to eat.

And where is the reason?
But it was because of the 70,000 acres of farmland under the name of Chongfu Temple that the Shuntian Mansion was able to cut off only 5,000 acres, and the process was completed within a time limit.

This is no longer cutting the flesh of Chongfu Temple, this is directly cutting out the hearts of all the monks, stabbing them to the core.

Shuntian Prefecture's new policy of clearing the land of the land classified the temples and Taoist temples in the territory and set four levels: extra large, large, medium and small.

The number of acres allowed for each level decreases from 10,000 to 1,000 acres. For extra large temples and Taoist temples, 10,000 acres, for large ones 5,000 acres, for medium ones 3,000 acres, and for small temples and temples, 1,000 acres.

No one would think that the emperor was merciful. If he didn't kill everyone, he would at least leave five thousand acres for Chongfu Temple.

In this age when Buddhism and Taoism are prosperous, such standards are directly threatening the lives of monks and Taoists.

Just talking about Chongfu Temple, including the grants from successive emperors and the affiliations of ordinary people, it has 70,000 acres of fertile land under its name, not to mention the hidden fields that some temple believers voluntarily cultivated for the temples.

Chongfu Temple had more than 70,000 acres of land on the market. Compared to the more than 60,000 acres that were directly robbed, what could the remaining 3,000 acres count?

Many people have no idea how rich the monks are.

Not to mention how big the Shaolin Temple was in later generations, as early as the period of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, they had to be given hundreds of hectares of fertile land.

By the Northern Song Dynasty, all the land around Shaoshi Mountain belonged to the Shaolin Temple. The number of monks in the temple plus the number of subordinate monks was countless, and there were tens of thousands of tenant farmers in the name alone.

During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated a land tax exemption policy for monks, which kicked off the occupation of land by temples in the Ming Dynasty.

By the time of Zhu Yunwen, monks from all over the country had begun to develop in the direction of big landowners. When Zhu Di was in trouble, he really thought that the great monk Yao Guangxiao had nothing to do and went to advise Zhu Di. There were interests behind it.

As for Shuntian Prefecture's land clearing this time, the previous steps were all trivial. Most of the nobles voluntarily handed over the land register for accounting by the Ministry of Household Affairs.

So this head was sharply aimed at the two gates of Buddhism and Taoism, which can be said to have caused an uproar in the capital for a while.

But it is impossible to say that they can cause any bad effects.

Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. These people belong to those who wear shoes.

Coincidentally, just when everyone at Chongfu Temple was filled with indignation and rage, all the Taoist priests at Ciyunguan in Beijing were also furious.

The Shuntian Prefecture went so far as to bully others and robbed them of most of their land with just one official document.

Don’t you know that these farm properties were accumulated by the Taoists through hard work?

"There is no reason for this. There is no reason for this. Your New Government of Shuntian Mansion claims to be for the country and the people, so why do you do this kind of robbery? Where is such a natural principle and where is the Ming Dynasty?"

An old Taoist with white beard and hair, his face turned red at this time, like an angry lion, roared at the Shuntian Mansion servant.

"It will be done within ten days, otherwise don't blame us roughnecks for causing trouble in this magical land. Your mortal body is not as strong as swords, guns, swords and halberds."

In response to his anger, the man from the Shuntian Prefecture Inspection Department just ignored him and clapped the official document in his hand into Lao Dao's arms.

"And I heard that the palace recently wanted to send some monks and Taoists to Liaodong to propagate education for the court. People have to know what is good and what is bad, so don't say it is unforeseen."

After that, the gentleman turned around and left, not bothering to talk to these Taoists anymore.

There are countless Taoist temples, large and small, in the capital, and their tasks are heavy.

As the government officials retreated to the next house, only a group of "Qingjing Taoists" were left behind who were burned in anger.

"These acres of land have been accumulated by the Taoist priests in my temple through hard work over the generations, but now they are taken away by a piece of official document from Shuntian Mansion. How can there be such a truth and such a royal law in the world?"

"This rebellious person, who is causing trouble to the common people, should not suffer disaster immediately. Where is the justice of heaven? Where is the justice?"

Hearing his senior brother swearing, Zhao Liucheng also followed suit.

"Senior brother, don't worry, the law of heaven is clear, and retribution will not be satisfactory. Shuntian Mansion has done wrong and evil, and both humans and gods are angry. They will be punished by heaven."

However, despite these monks and Taoists cursing behind their backs, Dong Yingju, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, did not even sneeze.

These regular Buddhists and Taoists were as vulnerable as lambs to be slaughtered in front of the imperial power, and they simply did not have the courage to rise up.

The last time in history that the Three Warriors destroyed Buddhism was when Emperor Wu of the Tang Dynasty destroyed Buddhism in the fifth year of Huichang.

Hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops are harvested. There are 260,500 monks and nuns who have returned to lay life, serving as two tax households.

It was found that the number of beloved people was twice the number of monks and nuns, more than 500,000.

Even if they did this, we didn't see the monks and nuns causing any big trouble.

And just when the Inspection Department of Shuntian Prefecture was in full swing sending out notices to various temples in Beijing, Sun Ruyou, the Minister of Rites, approached the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen.

"Is Governor Dong a religious person?"

As soon as he entered the door, Sun Ruyou looked at Dong Yingju and asked seriously.

"Religious?"

Dong Yingju, who was reviewing official documents, raised his head and looked at Sun Ruyou with some confusion.

"Where did Sun Shangshu hear the news? He came here to entertain his subordinates."

"If you don't believe in religion, wouldn't you feel that something was missed when Magistrate Dong cleared his land?"

After receiving Dong Yingju's reply that he did not believe in religion, Sun Ruyou relaxed his body, came to Dong Yingju, and handed a document to his desk.

"Is this... a return to Islam? But the official was negligent."

Seeing the words on the document, Dong Yingju immediately understood Sun Ruyou's intention and suddenly realized.

With that said, Dong Yingju stood up from his chair and saluted Sun Ruxuan.

"I thank Sun Shangshu for reminding me." (End of chapter)