Chastity Layman

  Chapter 240 The old Cheng who is not short of money

  In fact, at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there were many discussions about eliminating Buddhism in the court.

   Li Shimin didn't know the dangers of Buddhism in the past dynasties, but the emperor's treatment of Buddhism was not much different from Taoism and Confucianism. In their eyes, the three religions can actually be used to maintain their own rule.

   Only when the balance is lost, the emperor will restrain.

  After the founding of the country, Li Yuan also felt the vicious expansion of the Buddhist temple economy and the chaos inside the temple. After several years of disputes in the court, the thoughts in the court were gradually unified, and finally the Sha Tai Seng Dao Edict was issued.

  Although it is not as radical as Fu Yi said to destroy Buddhism, it still strengthens the actions to rectify and purify religion.

  Li Yuan made it very clear in that edict. He said that there are many obscene couples and idle people who escape from corvee service, shave their heads in vain, and become monks under the name of a monk, but they are insatiable and endlessly seeking. Going in and out of the workshop, circling around the world, driving livestock, accumulating goods, farming and weaving for a living, estimating and selling into a business, working with the same households, traces and other people, entering the text that violates the precepts, and retreating without the training of the etiquette.

   What I'm talking about is actually many fake monks, pretending to be monks, in fact they are evading taxes and labor, and they are still no different from ordinary people and merchants.

   There are even many people who do more evil things, such as robbery, fraud and so on.

   Such chaos and uncleanness, how can it be unorganized and eliminated?

  So in the edict issued at the beginning of the year, the nature is to rectify and purify Buddhism and Taoism, not to abolish it. For those who are diligent and disciplined and keep the precepts, let them live in big temples and temples, and even be given food and clothing by officials, so that there will be no shortage.

  The main thing is to order those who are not diligent and lack precepts to retreat and return to their hometowns.

  At that time, it was also stipulated that only three temples and two temples should be left in Chang'an, and the rest of the states in the world should each keep one, and the rest will be left behind.

   It’s just that the Xuanwumen Incident occurred before this edict could actually be launched. Since then, this edict has actually ceased to be implemented.

   "Your Majesty, these people are now threatening the imperial power!"

   "Now the imperial court only needs to issue an order and continue to implement the edict issued at the beginning of the year. This edict was issued during the reign of the Supreme Emperor!" Qin Lang reminded the emperor.

   Those fake monks who are eliminated by Sha are the Supreme Emperor. Even if someone scolds them at that time, it will be the Supreme Emperor's fault, and it has nothing to do with you. But the benefits after the rectification will be yours by then.

  He did not propose a more radical extermination of Buddhism, because he also considered the huge influence of Buddhism in the hearts of scholars and people at this time.

  In the late Tang Dynasty, Han Yu was a radical anti-Buddhist. He proposed the nine-character policy of exterminating Buddhism, which is to force all monks to return to vulgarity, burn all scriptures, and transform all temples into residential buildings. It's just a pity that this one didn't succeed, and was sent to Fujian to raise crocodiles.

"Your Majesty, Lingling Temple is a serious crime. If it is destroyed and banned, and its temples, temple fields, workshops, quality warehouses, and slaves are confiscated, the imperial court will immediately get more than 300,000 crowns and more than 10,000 acres of land! It can increase the registered population by thousands! "

   Li Shimin is still hesitating.

"From the fourth year of Wude to the ninth year of Wude, after six years of debate in the imperial court, this edict came into being. It was hard-won. If His Majesty just abolishes this edict, all the years of hard work will be ruined. If the Buddhist school loses this restraint, I am afraid it will become even more unscrupulous and difficult to control."

In Qin Lang's eyes, today's Buddhist school is like a fattened pig. After Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty exterminated Buddhism, and now, after two dynasties of worshiping Buddhism in the Sui Dynasty, the strength of Buddhism has long since recovered, and even Increased.

  If this fat pig is not killed now, do we have to wait for him to break out of the pen, run around, and cause big trouble before we clean it up?

  Besides, people are so hungry now, if there is a fat pig to eat, what are you waiting for?

  Anyway, the order to kill the pig was originally given by Mr. Li Yuan.

  Continue to implement it now, that is to eat meat in silence, and get benefits without being infamous.

"As long as there is the cooperation of the Zhenfu Department, I can guarantee that the Transshipment Department can handle this matter well. It will be carried out from Chang'an to the whole country. By then, it will not only prevent the tail from becoming too big and difficult to control, but also allow the country to gain hundreds of thousands of people. Acres of fertile land, millions of dollars."

   "Can you handle this well?"

  Qin Lang took over, since he is idle now anyway.

"Your Majesty, in a calamity year, pigs are slaughtered and famines are overcome. At present, the imperial court intends to carry out reforms and new policies, and the obstacles encountered are not small. It is just a matter of killing chickens and monkeys. Three years, only three years, three years, as long as His Majesty's full support, when the time comes The imperial court will be able to regain its vitality and accumulate enough strength to send troops to the Northern Expedition to destroy Shuofang Liangshidu. After five years of reunion, they will send troops to the Northern Expedition to the Turks. I dare not say that they will destroy the Turks, but at least they will be able to recover Hetao and Monan drive the Turks to the north of Yinshan Mountain!"

   Three years, five years.

  Destroying the capital of Liangshi in three years and expelling the Turks in Mobei in five years, this is indeed very tempting for Li Shimin.

   "Okay, Sha Tai Monk Taoist Edict will continue!"

   "The obscene monk in the Inspiration Temple sentenced him to castration, then beheaded him, and executed it in secret." Li Shimin gritted his teeth, and he could not tolerate the continued existence of such people who desecrated the face of the royal family.

   "All the monks in the Inspiration Temple were exiled to farmland in the south of the Five Ridges!"

  Hate black and black!

When Qin Lang returned to Inspiration Temple, Wei Chang was still leading people to search. He is a master torturer, and he interrogated several secret rooms and cellars in Inspiration Temple. After opening, there were not only gold, silver and silk donated by believers , there are also many exquisite Buddhist utensils and statues, and even many hand-copied Buddhist scriptures. These Buddhist scriptures are copied by scholars hired by them. A volume of 10,000-character copying fee will cost thousands of dollars with paper and ink, and then they will give it to those believers. What you get is ten times the donation of believers.

   "What did your Majesty say?" Wei Chang asked for every confiscated item to be numbered and registered.

"Unjust is doomed to destruction!"

   "Leave that little treasure to me, and I will make him regret coming to this world!"

   "Go!"

  Qin Lang summoned a few people and asked them to start sorting out the property in the temple.

  As soon as the emperor's edict came out, half of the monks in the entire Lingling Temple sat paralyzed on the ground.

  Qin Lang didn't bother to pay attention to this group of people. Anyway, there were not many people who were truly monks.

  Actually, Qin Lang doesn’t discriminate against certain beliefs. No matter what **** or lord it is, it’s fine if you believe in it sincerely, but you hate that many people use the name of false beliefs to do deceitful things.

  This kind of person, to put it simply, is to deceive other people's feelings, or even fool other people's feelings.

  The next thing is very simple.

  The monks in the temple were deprived of their monk status, became criminals, and were exiled to the Lingnan village. That kind of place is still the territory of the local tycoon Feng An Ningxuan Chen Longshu and others. The imperial court has very weak control there, that is, it has a little control over Guangzhou, Guilin and other places, and there are even fewer real Han people, so the imperial court There is an urgent need to move some people over to increase control.

  However, in the land of Lingnan, the people of the Central Plains are very afraid. They think that there is miasma there, and if they go there, they will die easily if they go to the water and soil, so now they can only get some criminals to exile there.

  Go to Lingnan now, and never think about returning to the Central Plains in this life.

  If there are no monks in the temple, it will no longer be a temple.

  The coin minting bureau under the transshipment department came over, scraped off the gold powder from all the Buddha statues in the temple, smashed and melted all the copper and bronze vessels, and they would take these and recast them into coins, which can be used all over the world.

   Silk, silk, and cloth that could be used as money were also taken away directly.

  The food was taken away by Chang Pingping's people and stored in the warehouse.

  In Qin Lang's eyes, Inspiration Temple is the first order, so it must be done cleanly.

The more than 10,000 mu of land under the name of the monastery, several mill houses, and several shops, workshops, etc. were also quickly auctioned off. Qin Lang directly organized a small auction on Leyouyuan and invited Many relatives and nobles came.

  The one with the highest price wins.

  Among the auction items, apart from those fields, mills, workshops and shops, it even included Inspiration Temple, a temple that occupies a quarter of Xinchangfang.

  Qin Lang divided this monastery, which covers an area of ​​more than 300 mu and occupies the highest place in Chang'an, into ten parts. First, demolish the buildings of the original Taoist Temple, and sell the wood, stone, bricks and tiles, etc., because the wood and other materials of the Taoist Temple are good, so the price is more expensive. Only the wood and stone obtained from the demolition of these buildings were sold for 6 million yuan , off six thousand guan.

And the 3,000 cherry trees in the original temple have been several decades old, and they are very beautiful when they bloom every year. Qin Lang either sells or keeps them, and he makes a price. The 3,000 trees are sold at a high price. The price of rafter pagoda trees is comparable, and at this time a good rafter pagoda tree costs one thousand one or two hundred yuan. Three thousand cherry trees were sold for more than three thousand.

  The remaining land is divided into ten pieces for sale, each with 30 acres of land.

   At this time, the land price in Chang’an was still quite expensive. The houses of a hundred ordinary people generally only had about one or two acres, so it was relatively cheap, but if it was in a good location, the land would be expensive.

  For example, Pingkangfang, Qinrenfang and other places where honored relatives and senior officials gather, the land basically costs 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per mu. And this Inspiration Temple is located in Leyouyuan, which has a beautiful scenery, so it is naturally more expensive, especially with a land of 30 mu, which can build a big house, it is even more expensive.

   Those who want to buy this land are all rich people, and they are all honorable people with status.

  Like Princess Gaomi’s house, upstart Cheng Yaojin, Changsun Wuji, and Fengde Yi’s house, the starting price for a piece of land in Leyuan is 30 mu, and the starting price is 2 million.

   As a result, everyone competed all the way, and the final transaction was around 3 million.

   This is equivalent to reaching an astonishingly high price of 100,000 yuan per mu, more than three times the land price of Pingkangfang.

  Old Cheng successfully obtained a piece of land, paid 3 million yuan, and spent more than 300,000 yuan to buy 300 cherry trees on the land, so there is no need to move.

  He even spent another million to buy many bricks, tiles, wood and stones from the original Inspiration Temple.

  After digging left and right, it cost more than 4 million yuan to get only a 30-acre piece of land in Leyuan, 300 cherry blossom trees that are more than ten years old, and a pile of bricks, tiles and wood.

   It is estimated that it will cost more than one million yuan to build another courtyard.

   But Lao Cheng is very satisfied. This place has a good location and better scenery.

"In March next year, you can drink and enjoy the flowers under this cherry tree!" Lao Cheng patted Qin Lang on the shoulder, "The more than 10,000 mu of land in this temple will also be auctioned, I can't leave you alone Uncle Cheng!"

  Old Cheng has made a lot of achievements and rewards over the years, and now he is also an upstart with a lot of money and wealth. When he is rich, he naturally wants to build a luxury house and buy good land and Nami people.

   "Uncle Cheng wants it, so come back to bid for it tomorrow, and the highest bidder wins."

   "You should show Uncle Cheng first!"

"10,000 mu of land will be divided into 30 or so blocks according to the plots. There are large and small plots. The large plot is more than 500 mu, and the small plot is only more than 60 mu. The starting price varies, but it will not be lower than one. Ten thousand dollars per mu."

   "It's a bit high, but it's okay, we are not short of money! Buy it!" Lao Cheng shouted awesomely.

  (end of this chapter)