Chastity Layman 2

Chapter 240
In fact, at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there were many discussions about eliminating Buddhism in the court.

Didn't Li Shimin know the dangers of Buddhism in the past dynasties, but the emperor's treatment of Buddhism is actually 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 it.

After Li Yuan established the country, he 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 imperial edict, he said that there are many wretched couples, lazy people who escaped from corvee service, shaved ordained arbitrarily, and became monks under the pretext of being a monk, but they were insatiable in their desires and pursued endlessly.Going in and out of the workshop, circling around the world, driving livestock, accumulating goods, farming and weaving for a living, evaluating sales and making a living, doing business with households, traces, etc., all people are equal.

What I’m talking about is actually many fake monks who pretend to be monks to avoid taxation and labor. In fact, 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.

How can it be so chaotic and unclean, without rectification and elimination?

Therefore, 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.

And 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 monasteries and two monasteries would be left in Chang'an, and the rest of the states in the world should each keep one, and the rest would be discarded.

It's just that before this edict came and really started, there was the change of Xuanwu Gate. After that, this edict was actually stopped and did not continue 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 like Sha Tai 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 30 guan and more than [-] acres of land! It can increase the registered population by thousands!"

Li Shimin was 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 until he breaks out of the pen, scurrying around and causing 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 worrying about infamy.

"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 a new population of 10. Acres of fertile land, millions of dollars."

"Can you handle this?"

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.

To destroy Liang Shidu in three years, and to drive Turks to Mobei in five years, this is really very tempting for Li Shimin.

"Okay, Sha Tai Monk's Taoist edict will continue to be implemented!"

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

"All the monks in the Inspiration Temple were seized and exiled to farmland in the south of Lingnan!"

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 [-]-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 people to number and register every confiscated item.

"Unjust is doomed to destruction!"

"Give that little treasure to me to deal with, 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 slumped on the ground.

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

In fact, Qin Lang didn't discriminate against certain beliefs, no matter what god or lord it was, it was fine if he had a sincere belief, but he hated many people who used 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 monastic status and became criminals, exiled to farmland in the south of Lingnan.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.

But in the land of Lingnan, the people of the Central Plains are very afraid, thinking 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.

If you go to Lingnan, you will never even think about returning to the Central Plains in this life.

If there are no monks in the temple, it will naturally cease to be a temple.

The coin minting bureau under the Transshipment Department came over and 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, which can 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, the Inspiration Temple is the first order, so it must be done cleanly.

The more than 1 mu of land under the name of the monastery, several mill houses, and several shops and workshops were also quickly auctioned off. Qin Lang directly organized a small auction on Leyouyuan and invited Many relatives and nobles came.

The higher bidder gets it.

In addition to the fields, mills, workshops and shops, the auction items even included the Inspiration Temple, which 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 used in the Taoist Temple are good, so the price is relatively expensive. Discount six thousand.

And the 3000 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 [-] 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.More than [-] of the [-] cherry trees were sold.

The remaining land was divided into ten pieces for sale, each with [-] mu 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 workshops where honored relatives and high-ranking officials gather, the land basically costs [-] to [-] 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 [-] mu, which can build a big house, it is even more expensive.

Those who want to buy this land are all rich people, and all of them are nobles with status.

For example, the family of the eldest princess of Gaomi, the upstart Cheng Yaojin, the eldest grandson Wuji, and the family of Fengde Yi, etc., the starting price for a piece of land in Leyuan is 200 mu, and the starting price is [-] million.

As a result, everyone competed all the way, and the final transaction was around 300 million.

This is equivalent to an astonishingly high price of [-] yuan per mu, more than three times the land price of Pingkangfang.

Lao Cheng successfully photographed a piece of land, paid 300 million yuan, and spent more than 30 yuan to buy [-] cherry trees on the land, and there was no need to move it.

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

Digging left and right, it cost more than 400 million yuan, and only got a piece of land of [-] mu in Leyuan, [-] 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 quite satisfied, this place has a good location and even 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 1 mu of land in this temple will also be auctioned, I can't leave you alone Uncle Cheng!"

Lao 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."

"Tell Uncle Cheng first!"

"500 mu of land will be divided into 60 or so blocks according to the plots. There are large and small plots. The large plot is more than [-] mu, and the small plot is only [-] mu. The starting price varies, but it will not be less than [-] yuan. One acre."

"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)