I am Da Song

Chapter 298 The Decline of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism
"Born with three martial arts, my family was harmed. Shizi returned home with an empty pagoda and temple. It should be the day of worship in the past, so I can't clean up and keep the true wind."

This poem is a summary of the misfortunes of the Three Wu and One Schools by Zen Master Zongyi of the Great Song Dynasty.

There is no shortage of smart people in Buddhism, who can see the essence of the three martial arts and one sect to destroy Buddhism at a glance.

But intelligent individuals cannot save an entire depraved class.

Buddhism advocates reincarnation, and now all this is like Buddhism is experiencing reincarnation.

The entire Buddhism, once again, was forced to become the target of the imperial court's cleansing because of the unrestrained greed and wanton annexation like the scholar-bureaucrat class.

In fact, there are many similarities between Buddhism and scholar-bureaucrats. They all became a privileged class by virtue of literacy, tax exemption, and labor labor exemption.

With privileges, they wantonly merged, borrowed and collected debts, and became corrupt and greedy.

The difference is that among the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, Taoism has already proved it with the study of Huang Lao, and it is not suitable for ruling.The Shi family could not get the right to rule the Central Plains at all.Only Confucianism has successfully packaged itself as suitable for ruling a feudal country.Therefore, Confucian scholar-officials are more greedy and corrupt than monks, using their power to fish and meat the common people, causing harm to one side.

Compared with monks, Confucian scholar-bureaucrats have no advantage in force or status.The only thing that kept them from doom was their propagandizing fitness for governing the country.

Therefore, since the imperial court can eliminate the monks of the privileged class time and time again, it is actually easy to eliminate the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats.

The key is that after eliminating the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats, is there any stratum to replace them to help the emperor govern the country.

Today's Song Dynasty obviously has this class and influence.They are at the highest level of the imperial court and have their own representatives.

That is Ji Xiang Yang Shi.

As a sacrificial wine for the former Guozijian, countless students who have become officials spontaneously surrounded him, forming a new group.

As a leader in the academic world, he must also stand up to fight for the interests of the students and strengthen the class.

To compete with the privileged class of literati and bureaucrats, there is nothing better than monks to become the nourishment of the student class.

They are also a privileged class, and if they transfer their interests to the students, this thriving class will immediately grow greatly.

The biggest difference between the students and the scholar-bureaucrats is that this class represents the most advanced productive forces and the most enlightened thinking of the Song Dynasty.

This class is huge enough to cover all levels of society from top to bottom, from ministers and officials to workshop owners, merchants, servants, and skilled craftsmen.They will not be a small group of people like the scholar-officials, not doing production, but lying on the body of the whole country to suck blood.

Therefore, the policies they designate will definitely benefit the progress of the entire class.

Rather than frantically revive the small-scale peasant economy like the scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty, and insist on emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business until death.

Yang Shi manages finances with a very clear mind and prefers to use data to speak.

After Mei Zhili, Yang Shi took the initiative to stand up and said: "I suggest that the third division should be in charge of Buddhism. Back then, Han Yu persuaded Tang Wuzong to destroy Buddhism. Under the decree, more than 26 temples were demolished in the world. , 500 monks and nuns were returned to the two tax households; tens of millions of hectares were collected from the rich land, and 15 slaves were collected from the two tax households."

"Therefore, if the third division is in charge of this matter, the country will at least directly add tens of millions of hectares of official land."

Tens of millions of hectares is the figure of the Tang Dynasty. This figure is a bit exaggerated. At that time, it was known as the land of Buddha.

In the Song Dynasty, tens of millions of hectares could not be cleared, but tens of millions of hectares should not be difficult.

All the land was collected by the government, and the land controlled by the Song government was estimated to be nearly [-] million mu.

With so many official fields, the imperial court has more confidence whether it is disaster relief or taxation.

Even when the population is increasing, a land grant can be made to ease the population pressure.

"And it's not just farmland. The brothels, shops, workshops, pawnshops, warehouses, pharmacies, slaves, etc. controlled by the temple can be directly registered in the third department's register, whether they are nationalized or sold to citizens at a discount , and its directory is collected in the Third Division, so that it is convenient to collect taxes in the future."

If the third division is in charge of this Buddhist transformation, all the various acquisitions and secular properties of Buddhism in the city and the countryside will obviously be confiscated, or become government-run institutions, or sold to students at low prices.

The Buddhist influence should be confined to the temple. They can maintain the pure land in the temple, but they must never enter the secular world.

Fearing that he would not be able to convince Zhao Huan, Yang Shi continued: "And there is one very important point. Buddhism builds temples and pagodas, and spends all their treasures, in vain for the sake of abolition. The three divisions will rectify, and the three divisions can use the gold and silver from the abandoned temple. , Rushi and other statues are sold and paid for."

"A large amount of gold and silver is poured into Taicang, and the three divisions will be able to print more imperial banknotes according to the newly increased gold and silver reserves."

Finally, Yang Shi said solemnly: "If the Buddha has a spirit, he can cause disasters, and if there are disasters, he should be a minister."

Yang Shi had already talked to this extent, so Zhao Huan decided to hand over the work of rectifying Buddhism to Yang Shi, so as to support the thriving student class.

The land of Buddhism belongs to the imperial court, and the industrial and commercial industries of Buddhism belong to them, which is also conducive to the prosperity of industry and commerce.The land is in the hands of the scholar-bureaucrats, and the only way for them to achieve prosperity is to develop this industrial and commercial industry.

So sometimes, having struggles is not a bad thing.The existence of literati and bureaucrats is also of some use, they locked the possibility of students developing in the direction of land annexation.

But with so many industries, it must not be distributed to the students for no reason.

Even if the shop is to be returned from the monks to the people, it will be sold at a discount, and local gentry, businessmen, and common people can bid to buy it.

And the proceeds from the sale of the shop obviously belonged to Nei Zang rather than Taicang.

Basically, as long as it is this kind of extra finance that is confiscated, it belongs to the emperor's internal treasury.

Zhao Huan looked at Yanying and ordered: "As for the disposal of the Buddhist industry, the consortium sent a group of people to assist the officials in handling it."

Yan Ying responded immediately and said, "I will send a special person to evaluate the value of each store after the officials have checked the temple property, and then dispose of it to the local government."

Zhao Huan nodded. The officials checked the names, and the people from the consortium were in charge of the auction. The two sides could supervise each other, reducing the opponent's meddling and enriching their own pockets.

In the end, in order to increase the enthusiasm of both parties, Zhao Huan ordered: "This time, half of the wealth disposed of by Buddhism will be delivered from the internal treasury to Taicang to help the country build roads and bridges, build water conservancy, and invest in education."

In this case, the two parties must work together to maximize the wealth of Buddhism.If you cooperate, you will win, and if you divide, you will lose.Any attempt by either party to conceal property is at the detriment of the other party.

Yang Shi got up immediately, and solemnly promised: "The officials of the third department will go all out to complete this matter properly."

(End of this chapter)