The Dharma Sea of ​​the Green Snake

Chapter 396
When Pei Wende and his party left Weishan Mountain and set foot on the official road, the first thing they saw was groups of hungry and refugees walking along the official road.

They walked along the official road aimlessly, just to find a place where they could live again.

"They are refugees from other areas. It seems that the famine has spread to Tanzhou after all."

As if seeing through the shock in Pei Wende's eyes, the well-informed Zou Qiwu immediately explained in a low voice.

"As early as years ago, locust plagues began in the northern regions."

"It's just because these locust plagues are small-scale, and the court's disaster relief is timely enough, so the areas that have not been affected by the disaster still maintain a relatively 'calm' daily life."

When he said this, Zou Qiwu paused briefly, and then continued.

"However, judging from the current situation, this 'calm' has been broken after all. Even Tanzhou, a poor and remote place, has begun to have refugees."

In today's era of relying on the sky for food, once the number of hungry and displaced people increases to a certain level, even the imperial court may have more than enough power to provide disaster relief.

"Refugees? Is the situation so serious?"

Although he has lived in this era for nearly 20 years and has witnessed various famine scenes with his own eyes, he has never seen such a large-scale flow of refugees from other regions.

In Pei Wende's impression, no matter how severe the disaster years were in the past, the people living there were not serious enough to leave their homes.

Not to mention, Pei Wende didn't know until today that there was a serious locust plague in the northern region a few years ago.

This kind of lag in information is simply unimaginable in the Internet age of the 21st century.

At the very least, if it wasn't for this trip down the mountain, Pei Wende, who has stayed in Tongqing Temple all year round, wouldn't even be aware of the famine.

"This is not just a problem of locust plagues, but also a problem of the government's decree."

Different from the perspective of a businessman like Zou Qiwu, Pei Hong, who also knew about the famine long ago, sighed helplessly.

"Do you still remember last year's 'Buddha Extinction Order'?"

"If it's just a plague of locusts, the imperial court's existing grain and grass reserves are fully capable of containing it."

"But the problem now is that shortly before the locust plague, the imperial court first issued a 'Buddha extermination order', forcing temples to return their land and fields, and ordering monks to return to their homes."

Since the new emperor came to the throne, it is obvious to all that he favors Taoism and rejects Buddhism.

Repeatedly weakening the land of temples and reducing the issuance of degree certificates are just some normal operations.

Emperor Wuzong did it even if he repeatedly issued orders not to allow ordinary people to become monks, and specifically arrested monks in temples.

However, no matter how outrageous Wu Zong's previous behavior was, it was still within the understanding of normal people.

Just like except for Buddhist temples, ordinary people don't care about the so-called "theory of the difficulty of the law".

But this time is different. With the issuance of the "Buddha Extermination Order", the officials not only began to confiscate the property and land of the temples, but also destroyed Buddhist classics and statues in Buddhist temples in an orderly and conscious manner.

Most importantly, Emperor Wuzong also forced those monks who had become monks to return to vulgarity during this process, and they were not allowed to stay in the temple anymore.

Not to mention that in previous disaster years, the performance of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples in relief of victims is obvious to all.

Just looking at it from a general perspective, there are so many temples and monks in the whole country!

After Wu Zong issued this order, it was tantamount to dropping a depth bomb on a calm lake.

A large number of monks were forced to return to secular life, not to mention those monks who originally had relatives and families. Although they were also affected, they managed to survive.

But what about those refugees who chose to be shaved just to "survive"?

You must know that in ancient Chinese society, except for those true Buddhist believers, most monks who chose to become monks were refugees suffering from hunger and cold.

Or the land was annexed by nobles, or suffered a fleeting natural disaster, or their own children were cut off...

Ordinary ordinary people will choose to go to temples to make a living only when they are alone and really can't survive.

So……

In this wave of "destroying Buddha" set off by the current emperor, it is conceivable what those refugees who have no land, no property, and even no heirs will do.

"Refugees are in trouble and bandits are rampant?"

He murmured in disbelief. Although Pei Wende had thought about the possible consequences of the "Buddha Extermination Order", he never thought that the consequences would be so serious.

"The situation is probably more serious than you think."

Closing his eyes in fear, the housekeeper Zhong, who had experienced a similar famine when he was a child, spoke.

"Now it's the turn of autumn and winter, and the harvests in various places are actually not very good."

"If the situation continues to deteriorate, I'm afraid a worse situation will not be far away."

Although Steward Zhong didn't say what kind of bidding situation it was, Pei Wende was not the kind of novice who didn't understand anything.

Even if you haven't seen it with your own eyes, you have heard of it more or less.

If a person is really hungry to the point where he can't live, he will not be surprised by what kind of things he will do.

"Don't you officials have anything to do?"

Can't help but look away from Pei Hong, but it's a pity that Pei Wende only saw a touch of helplessness on the other's face.

"If I only relieve one side of the disaster victims, I can barely transfer food and grass from other places."

"If it really doesn't work, even if I give up all my belongings, I will still be able to ensure that the people under the rule have a bite to eat."

"However, the victims of the disaster this time are not local people in Tanzhou, but refugees from the disaster-stricken areas in the north."

With a tangled and complicated tone, he sighed again, Pei Hong really has more than enough energy now.

"Let's not talk about how many villains are hidden among those refugees, but how to make them obey my orders and not disturb the law and order in the vicinity is a big problem."

As soon as these words came out, Pei Wende also realized that his thinking was a bit too simple.

Even in the future 21st century, disaster relief is a huge project, let alone in this era.

Even if Pei Hong has the ability to raise enough food and grass, how to distribute the food and grass in an orderly manner and ensure that the victims do not cause trouble is a big problem.

"Is this... the real famine year?"

Pei Wende, who had never encountered a similar situation in his two lifetimes, fell silent, and the one who was silent with him was the green snake hiding under his clothes.

—Recommendation ticket—/—Monthly ticket—

(End of this chapter)