Just in the Middle, You Told Me This is Journey to the West

Putting the place of the palace examination in the Taiji Hall is enough to see that the imperial court attaches great importance to this palace examination.

When Chen Qi arrived at the gate of the palace, there were already crowds of people in front of the gate.

All the scholars wore clean and neat Jinshi uniforms, waiting excitedly in front of the palace gate to step into the political center of the Tang Dynasty.

This is one small step in their life, but it is also a giant leap in their life.

The Palace Examination only ranks and does not count people. These people can pass the Palace Examination no matter how hard they take it, at least they are from the same Jinshi background.

Even if it is not valued by the emperor, at least it will be distributed to six departments to be the chief minister or sent to a local county to be a county magistrate.

No matter what the situation is, if they take this step, their lives will be the pinnacle that ordinary people look up to, and the ups and downs of the Tang Dynasty will accompany them closely in the future, how can they not be excited.

Chen Qi, who knew the exam questions, stood confidently in the crowd and blended into a group of Jinshi who were waiting for the palace examination, waiting for the palace examination to start.

After a while, a palace attendant appeared and guided the candidates to the gate of Tai Chi Hall.

"Xuan Enke Gongshi has an audience."

The sound of announcing the decree came from the palace one after another.

Then, the officials of the Ministry of Rites led Chen Qi and others to line up and follow the inner guard who announced the decree into the Tai Chi Hall.

At this time, there were already many officials in the Tai Chi Hall.

They were dressed in crimson, blue, and green official robes, embroidered with birds and beasts, and looked at the thirty-six tributes with the eyes of looking at the younger generation.

"The ministers pay homage to the Holy Majesty, long live your majesty, long live long live!"

After Chen Qi entered the Taiji Hall, he mixed with a group of Jinshi, and saluted respectfully the figure on the dragon chair.

At this time, in the Tai Chi Hall, all civil and military officials had retreated to the two sides of the palace, and only thirty-six desks were arranged in the center of the hall in an orderly manner.

This is specially prepared for the thirty-six Jinshi candidates in the field. There are high-quality ink and rice paper on the desk, waiting for the candidates to take their seats and answer the questions.

"Stay flat." A dignified voice came from the hall.

This was the first time Chen Qi heard Li Shimin's voice. After hearing this, many Gongsheng students trembled with excitement. After being pushed a few times, they hurriedly got up and stood respectfully in the hall.

Because he was standing at the back of the thirty-six Jinshi, Chen Qi did not see the face of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, but could only vaguely see a tall and majestic figure sitting there.

The aura is majestic and powerful, wearing a dragon robe, like a real dragon coiled on a dragon chair, people dare not look directly at it.

"It's Sui Enke, Bairui is showing signs, you are my Tang Dynasty's future, don't disappoint my expectations!"

Emperor Zhenguan, Li Shimin, said a few hadiths after the tributes were over. Simply put, Enke is following the will of God this time, and you should also obey the heavens and the people, and don't disappoint my expectations.

After Li Shimin finished speaking, he nodded to the servant standing beside him.

Then the servant held the apricot-yellow cloth inscription in front of the imperial case with both hands, walked down the hall and handed it to a middle-aged official.

After that, there was a burst of drum music and the sound of whips.

Chen Qi once again followed everyone in the hall to salute Li Shimin who was sitting on the dragon chair.

After everyone saluted, Li Shimin left the Tai Chi Hall slowly.

After all, the palace examination lasted the whole morning, so how could one sit here and wait as the emperor of a country.

After Li Shimin left, the important officials in the palace also left one after another, and went to other halls of the palace to handle political affairs.

Only some officials were left to watch the candidates answer the questions.

"It's the Palace Examination, only one piece of theory, and it lasts two hours. The Palace Examination has its own rules. You should do it yourself, and don't let your Majesty live up to your expectations!"

After all the Gong Shilie sat down, the officials of the Ministry of Rites finished their brief lectures, and then began to distribute the test papers for this palace examination.

After Chen Qi received the test paper, he slightly rubbed his tired and dizzy forehead, and then slowly opened the test question in his hand.

There are only five big characters on the topic of the discussion: "What should a rich country do?".

Chapter 4

What should rich countries do?

After seeing this test question, Chen Qi couldn't help showing a confident smile.

This topic is really the same as what Uncle Cheap Yang Xuan said, but it is a little bit reserved.

At the same time, Chen Qi was not at all surprised by this question.

As a traveler of later generations, Chen Qi certainly understood how short of money this Emperor Zhenguan was.

From the establishment of the country by virtue of martial arts to the unification of the world by the Li family, it can be said that the Tang Dynasty has been fighting for years.

In addition, after Emperor Zhenguan Li Shimin ascended the throne, droughts, frosts, and locust plagues occurred year after year, and the imperial court had to provide disaster relief and rent-free everywhere.

In the first year of Zhenguan, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong, and many people sold their children in exchange for food and clothing.

In the second year of Zhenguan, the Turks invaded, and the Weishui alliance, to put it bluntly, was that Tang Taizong Li Shimin drove back [-] Turkic cavalry alone.Everyone understands what is actually going on.It was nothing more than spending money to avoid disasters, which almost emptied Datang's treasury.

In the same year, there was a plague of locusts all over the world. Because there was no money and food to relieve the disaster, he had to issue an imperial edict.

In the third year of Zhenguan, there was another flood.

In the sixth year of Zhenguan, there were floods in southern Henan and other states.

In the seventh year of Zhenguan, more than forty prefectures in Shandong and Henan were flooded.

In the eighth year of Zhenguan, Shandong, Henan, Huaihai and other places suffered floods again.

According to historical records, until the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, which is now, Wei Zheng still said "Frequent years of drought" in "Zhenguan Zhengyao"!

This is the situation, it is no wonder that the Datang treasury is not short of money.

Therefore, even without the reminder from his cheap uncle Yang Xuan, Chen Qi could more or less guess the topic of the discussion.

However, with the reminder from his cheap uncle Yang Xuan, Chen Qi became more confident about the strategy of this palace examination.

Therefore, after seeing the topic, Chen Qi showed a slight smile, and wrote five big characters with a brush:

The theory of destroying Buddha and getting rich!

As for the method of "enriching the country", Chen Qi has many methods, but at present, the method that is the easiest to implement and the fastest to see results is the method of destroying Buddha and getting rich.

Other methods of enriching the country are either slow to take effect, or will encroach on the interests of the aristocratic family, or the results are easily seized by the aristocratic family.

Before the foundation is unstable, it is definitely not possible to fight against the aristocratic family, otherwise even Li Shimin can't keep him.

Compared with the aristocratic family, he is still a Buddhist monk, so he is easier to bully.

Similarly, the only way to get rid of the Buddha will be the fastest.

Of course, these are not the point, the point is that he doesn't like Buddhism.

In ancient times, Buddhism basically did not help the society except to fool the common people.

Taoism, descending from the mountain to save the world in troubled times, self-cultivation in prosperous times and passed on to the world.

In Buddhism, in troubled times, mountains are closed to avoid the world, and in prosperous times, mountains are opened to welcome wealth. These words are not just words.

Throughout the past and present, the ancient Buddhist monks, in addition to eating fast and reciting the Buddha, working and resting in the morning and evening, carried out the so-called promotion of Buddhism and universal salvation of all beings.

I really don't know what useful contributions they have really made for the people.

Not only did it make no contribution, but it also caused considerable harm to society.

Monks in ancient times did not pay taxes, not only did they not pay taxes, but they also did not have to perform corvee and military service.

Monks are not engaged in production, and the basic source of life is to rely on pilgrims to worship.

A monk who is ordained and becomes a monk supports the Buddha and Bodhisattva, not his biological parents who brought him up after being conceived in October.

The most inhumane thing is that Buddhist monks also stipulate that they should not approach women!

The population of ancient dynasties was small, and there was no male and female reproduction, so how could the family and country be inherited!

If all the people in the world believed in Buddhism, the human race would perish!

It's no wonder Chen Qi has a good impression of such a sect.

Moreover, destroying such a sect will benefit Datang not so much!

As long as the Buddha is destroyed, Datang can obtain a large amount of money, population, soldiers and supplies overnight.

The golden bronze statue, this is the most conspicuous money representative in the temple!

It may not be a big deal to put the golden bronze statues in later generations, but in ancient times this was the most valuable thing!

Because the money in ancient times was originally copper coins, especially in the Tang Dynasty, gold and silver were not easy to circulate, and the main currency in circulation was copper coins.

These golden bronze statues are money in themselves!

After the Buddha is extinct, all monks and nuns will return to secular life, which will undoubtedly increase the population, labor force and military resources.

After these monks and nuns returned to lay life and got married, they could continue to reproduce, continue to increase the population of the society, and generate tax revenue for the court.

And all the materials in the vacant temples can be used for military use.

Because of the many disadvantages of Buddhism and the great benefits of exterminating Buddhas, there have been almost many campaigns to exterminate Buddhas in history, the most famous of which is the "Three Wus and One Sect to Exterminate Buddhas" movement.

Emperor Taiwu Tuobatao of the Northern Wei Dynasty exterminated Buddha, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty Yu Wenyong exterminated Buddha, Tang Wuzong Li Yan exterminated Buddha, and Shizong Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty exterminated Buddha!

It's a pity that these people's methods of destroying Buddhism are not good, so not long after the movement to destroy Buddhism, Buddhism revived again, and continued to poison the people all over the world.

Chen Qi's theory of destroying Buddhism is very simple, he did not tell Li Shimin how to destroy Buddha.

It's just a calculation for Li Shimin. For example, the number of Buddhist temples in the Tang Dynasty and [-] temples in the Southern Dynasty are all a drop in the bucket.

According to the records in "Southern History, Xunli Biography, Guo Zuchen Biography", there are more than [-] Buddhist temples in the capital (Jinling), which are extremely magnificent.There are more than [-] monks and nuns, with rich assets, and the counties and counties where they are located are indescribable.

However, within one county of Jinling, there are hundreds of temples!

There are more than [-] counties in more than [-] prefectures and [-] counties in the Tang Dynasty, how many temples can there be!

How much wealth and population can these temples add to Datang!

Chen Qi believed that Li Shimin had calculated this account more clearly than himself.

As long as Li Shimin is not stupid, he will be able to see the various benefits of exterminating the Buddha, as well as the massive wealth that can be harvested.

After writing down the benefits that extermination of Buddhism can bring to Datang, Chen Qi wrote some clichéd methods of reducing expenditure and increasing revenue, such as building water conservancy, encouraging breeding, and encouraging merchants.

But one thing is certain, that is, the following suggestions will require a lot of money to implement.