I am Da Song

Chapter 296 Reshaping the National Spirit
Merge the people, even surpassing the princes.

The huge power of usury is evident.

But this time, this huge evil force is no longer limited to bureaucrats and bureaucrats.

Basically, all classes in the world are involved.

The most carnival is naturally the civil service group, they not only lend money privately, but also force people to borrow money through the government.

The second is the generals of the Forbidden Army. One of the important reasons for the low combat power of the Forbidden Army before is: "The generals are not strict, they plunder and beg, and they are used to lending money."

However, these are just high-level people, and they are lending money in the city with loan sharks.

In rural areas where borrowing is inconvenient, there are larger lending groups.

That is the landlords who annexed the land and the temples spread all over the country.

Yes, temples, or more precisely Buddhist temples.

This is a place more like a bank than a bank.In the Song Dynasty, due to the prosperity and prosperity of the economy, temples not only operated financial businesses such as lending and deposits, but also set foot in a series of commercial businesses such as salt making, iron smelting, textiles, and even catering, warehouses, and pharmacies.

It is said that some temples also set up brothels, not in the temples, but in the vicinity of the temples, and the owners of the brothels are monks.It is unknown whether these monks take care of the brothel business.

From Zhao Huan's point of view, the Buddhist School in the Song Dynasty has obviously reached the point where it has to be rectified.They have even intervened at the national level. Before Zhao Huan promoted the imperial banknotes, Shaanxi Road used the monks' degree as currency in a grandiose manner.It can be seen how powerful the monks are in the local area.

But although this usury force is deeply rooted, it spreads all over the world.It is nothing compared to the powerful machine of state violence.

All of these are just taking advantage of the country's indifference, lying in the dark and secretly sucking blood.

In Daming, the old Emperor Zhu was born as a farmer. He had little knowledge, didn’t care about business and economics, and didn’t believe in Buddhism. He just wanted to be an old peasant empire, promote agriculture and suppress business, and establish a stable and immortal ancestral legal system.

Everything that existed today was easily wiped out, and he didn't even have the ability to struggle and make a ripple.

So the Song court wanted to rectify all of this. Even the most stable right prime minister thought about whether these people would have public anger and cause chaos.

As for starting a rebellion, this kind of thing is simply not in the thinking of normal people.

It is estimated that whoever suggests a rebellion to these loan sharks will be turned over to the government on the spot.

I'm just asking for money, not death!

When the three martial arts and one sect destroyed the Buddha, the wealth of the world was very rich, but there were seven or eight Buddhas.

The imperial court confiscated them directly. Within [-] days, the temples handed over bronze statues, bells, chimes, gold, silver, and copper to the salt and iron envoys to make money, and the iron was handed over to the state to be cast into agricultural implements. Anyone who kept more than five catties privately would be executed.

This was much more ruthless than Da Song, but it didn't cause any ripples.

One thing must be recognized, Da Song is actually collecting state taxes fairly and strictly this time.

No ordinary person would twitch his head and shout because of a normal government decree to adjust the tax rate.

Private salt dealers are not so cruel.

If someone is really such a joke, his first consideration is not how to face Yue Fei and the imperial court's army of millions, nor is it the closely guarded Imperial City Secretary.

After all, these are too far away from them, and they don't even know how to contact them.

The first thing they have to consider is how to deal with the yamen servants from their own county who came to arrest them.

It must be the local magistrate who is anxious about this matter.

The Song Dynasty was peaceful and prosperous, prosperous and stable. When the world was at peace, a rebellion appeared inexplicably under his rule.

If this kind of thing gets out, his official career will basically come to an end here.

For all officials, keeping their careers is the most important thing!
Therefore, among these usury groups, the best solution is actually the civil service group.

As long as the imperial court seriously decides to fight corruption and strictly prohibits officials from engaging in business by all means, the ties between civil servants and usury can be basically cut off.

However, Zhao Huan’s control over the officials of the Song Dynasty was stricter. Officials of the fifth rank and above, such as Zhizhou and Zhijun, had to truthfully report their spouses and children to the Xuanfu Division and the Inspectorate when they were engaged in business.

The imperial court will strictly examine whether officials use power for personal gain and provide convenience.

Although usury does not sound bright, under the current situation in Song Dynasty, this is a normal business behavior, and the profit is not necessarily comparable to opening a brothel or a gambling house.

If the imperial court can control these officials from touching brothels and gambling houses, after making up their minds, they will naturally be able to control these officials from touching usury.

After the civilian officials are in control, the army is easier.It's nothing more than strict military discipline.

From the day when the Song Dynasty was founded, the Imperial City Division had a military discipline. Anyone who dared to drink alcohol would be directly expelled from the army.Moreover, the five of them were mutually insured, and one of them drank alcohol. If there was no report for the other four days, they would sit together together.

As long as the generals strictly observe military discipline, there is nothing that cannot be prohibited. The situation of "sitting on debt and getting used to it" will disappear within a few days.

Zhao Huan is an upright gentleman who has nothing to do with gambling and drugs, so now that the Song Dynasty is preparing to levy taxes, it will also carry out a clean-up of the atmosphere.

It is to rectify all classes of the whole country, get rid of some bad habits, get rid of some dross, and then reshape the national spirit.

With the adjustment of the usury tax rate, Zhao Huan first solved the religious and secular problems.

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

That is to say, power, wealth, status and other things that people in the world are rushing to come under the jurisdiction of the government.

Religion, belief and theocracy, etc., should stop at the spiritual level.

Therefore, Zhao Huan said to several prime ministers: "All money merchants should be rectified. The imperial court decided to clean up their dross. If anyone complains about them, they will be strictly punished by the law. This tax collection is based on Buddhism. Temple begins."

Having said that, Zhao Huan looked at Liu Kai and asked, "I heard that there are many Buddhist temples in Longyou?"

Liu Kai replied: "The official family said that the people of the plateau all embrace Buddhism, and there are towering temples in every city, and there are many Buddhist palaces; the golden metal Buddha statues are resplendent."

Zhao Huan didn't have any special feelings about Buddhism, let alone beliefs, so he asked, "Among the ministers, is there anyone who believes in Buddhism?"

The ministers present looked at each other, shook their heads, and said: "The ministers are determined to help the world and the people, but they don't know much about Buddhism."

Zhao Huan said: "I don't know much about Buddhism. But I have also heard that Buddhism is a pure place. No desire and no pursuit come from Buddhist scriptures. People in the world have been reincarnated countless times, rich and poor have experienced it. However, what else do you want to beg for? No need to be persistent, only by becoming a Buddha can you escape from the sea of ​​suffering.”

"I think the Buddhist scriptures are very good. But why are these monks blinded by the world when they enter the mortal world? The kings, officials, and people are required to pay alms, and the bottom wants to annex the common people and seek property."

"The monk opened a temple, and countless women were persecuted by the monk, laying their bodies and talking obscenely. Is this temple still a temple? Is this Buddhist temple still considered a pure place?"

(End of this chapter)