prosperous age

Wei Guangde was very satisfied with the idea of ​​Gansu Governor Hou Donglai inviting Sonam Gyatso to Ganzhou to spread Buddhism and expel the Mongols stranded in Qinghai.

However, although Wei Guangde was satisfied, he did not immediately vote on his opinion. Instead, he read the memorial again and noticed many issues that he had not paid attention to before. That is, after Hou Donglai arrived at Yanghua Temple, he learned that Altan Khan had actually allowed more than 100 Mongolian royal descendants who were accompanying him to become monks with Sonam Gyatso.

Seeing this, what Wei Guangde felt was not Altan Khan’s devotion to Gelugism, but that the influence of Gelugism on the grassland since then was unmatched by any other religion.

The Mongols used to believe in Shamanism, but now the Mongolian royal family has converted to Gelugism. Obviously, over a period of time, the Mongolian people will undergo great changes due to the change in religion.

Wei Guangde’s focus is actually more on the fact that although these royal children, like Sonam Gyatso, have become monks, they will not be able to marry and have children in the future. What will be the result if ordinary Mongolians follow suit and let their second sons become monks?

You know, on the Mongolian grasslands, the demonstration effect and influence of tribal leaders are very great.

As long as these people become monks, there will not be much impact in the short term. However, in the long run, as the number of monks increases, the religious expenses that the grassland people need to bear will also increase. But what is more important is the population.

If a regime wants to develop, it cannot escape the problem of population.

At least in the next few hundred years, the most important pillar of economic development is not actually population, but a very important factor.

Machine industries require a lot of manpower, rather than machines replacing manual activities.

In fact, after the Industrial Revolution, all countries were generally short of people, so in the following hundreds of years, the population of each country grew explosively.

Of course, the discovery of the New World also expanded the living space of mankind. In particular, the inexhaustible supply of daily necessities in the New World was able to fully meet the consumption pressure brought about by the population explosion.

At the same time, the population is both a producer and a consumer, which remains unchanged from beginning to end.

If the population on the grassland decreases or its growth is restricted because people join religion and become monks, then any future expansion of the Mongols will be futile.

A bold idea suddenly popped up in Wei Guangde's mind.

Build temples for him in the territories of various tribes on the grassland, and let the young and strong people in these tribes go into the temples to become monks.

Looking at this seemingly ordinary memorial in his hand, Wei Guangde suddenly felt that he could not draft it casually.

If the Ming Dynasty could really spend huge sums of money to build temples on the grasslands and limit the Mongolian population, the threat from the north to the Ming Dynasty might have been completely resolved.

However, spending huge amounts of money to build a temple for the Mongols is no small matter.

To build temples for the Mongols, the Ming Dynasty could not do nothing. It did not mean that the Ming Dynasty had to pay for the construction, but it had to build some temples on its own as well.

In each of the nine important towns, a Gelug temple will be built, and it must be magnificent.

Taking it as a benchmark, the Ming Dynasty invested in building some inferior temples in Mongolia, and let the Mongolians donate money to build temples that were comparable to those of the Ming Dynasty, or even more grand.

While playing dirty tricks on the Mongols, they also had to drain their financial resources.

By the time the various tribes were competing with each other for the grandeur of the temples in their territories, the Ming Dynasty's goal would have been achieved.

Wei Guangde stood up suddenly, picked up Hou Donglai's memorial, and walked out of the duty room quickly.

"Master, what are you doing?"

At the door, Wei Guangde suddenly came out, which startled Lu Bu who was standing outside the door, and he hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"I'm going to the Prime Minister's place. You stay home and watch over it. If there's any emergency, report directly there."

Wei Guangde said, and then walked towards Zhang Juzheng's duty room.

Although the incident of the Forbidden Academy created a little rift between the two, it did not lead to a rift between them.

The most important thing is that Wei Guangde listened to Tan Lun's analysis and did not take the lead in opposing it.

Even though he did not support the decision, he said this wherever he went.

There was no confrontation, and the two continued to cooperate with each other in handling government affairs. No one wanted to see a fierce fight break out in the court.

"Is the Prime Minister in there?"

When he arrived outside the duty room, Wei Guangde asked the clerk outside the door.

"The master is inside. I will go in and report."

Zhang Juzheng had just arrived and was reading a memorial when he saw a clerk come in to announce that Wei Guangde had arrived.

"Please."

Zhang Juzheng stood up and went out to greet him.

"Shandai, come here at this time, what happened?"

Seeing Wei Guangde come in, Zhang Juzheng asked hurriedly.

"Brother, this is a long story, let's sit down and talk slowly."

Wei Guangde said with a cupped hand.

"Look at me, I don't even know this little bit of etiquette. Please take a seat."

Zhang Juzheng hurriedly invited Wei Guangde to sit down, and asked the clerk to bring him tea.

"Wait outside. Don't come over unless I tell you to."

After the tea was served, Wei Guangde spoke to the clerk and asked him to leave the duty room.

Zhang Juzheng said nothing, but just looked at him curiously.

He felt that Wei Guangde must have thought of something and needed to talk to him alone, so he did this.

"This is Hou Donglai's memorial. Uncle, please take a look first."

Wei Guangde took out the memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Juzheng, then he picked up the tea and took a sip.

Zhang Juzheng took the memorial and quickly read it through. The expression on his face was exactly the same as Wei Guangde's before, first surprised and then understood.

“Shandai, Donglai’s idea is good, I think I can agree with it.

Let Sonam Gyatso come to Ganzhou, and take the opportunity to win him over and make him work for the Ming Dynasty.

Didn’t you consider using Sonam Gyatso to allow the imperial decrees to enter Tibet?

As long as we maintain a good relationship with this living Buddha, perhaps we can do it.

However, everything will have to wait until he arrives in Ganzhou and sees his performance to be confirmed."

Wei Guangde's previous plan for Tibet could not be implemented temporarily because it was not mature in all aspects, especially due to the objections of the Ministry of War.

However, Zhang Juzheng still remembered in his heart that if the conditions were met, he would give it a try.

"Brother Uncle, didn't you see in the memorial that Hou Donglai discovered in Yanghua Temple that more than a hundred Mongolian royal family members became Suonan Gyatso's disciples?"

Wei Guangde reminded with a smile.

"I see. Isn't it said that Altan Khan is a devout Buddhist and allowed his sons to become monks? It doesn't seem surprising."

Zhang Juzheng laughed.

Wei Guangde has made some comments that later generations have read, in which he vaguely mentioned that one of the ways the Qing Dynasty controlled Mongolia and weakened the Mongolian power was to encourage the Mongolians to become monks.

However, Wei Guangde only saw it in a vague way and not in detail. It was only today when he saw more than a hundred royal descendants becoming monks that his hidden memories were evoked.

Zhang Juzheng did not, so naturally it was impossible for him to think of other influences from the words.

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng, with a half-smile on his face, but he still said seriously: "Brother Uncle, these Mongolian royal family members becoming monks, is it really that there is no impact?"

Wei Guangde reminded.

"The Yellow Church has wider support among the Mongolian tribes, but that's about it."

Zhang Juzheng only thought about it for a moment and realized that these disciples and their families were all leaders of various tribes on the grassland. With these people as matchmakers, the spread of the Yellow Sect on the grassland could be said to be unimpeded.

However, Zhang Juzheng still didn't think of anything else.

Wei Guangde continued to stare at the gradually increasing number, then the smile on his face gradually faded, and he became serious and said: "Before, I mentioned that a temple would be built in the capital for the leader of the Gelug Yellow Sect to preach in the capital.

At the same time, we must vigorously spread the Yellow Sect on the grasslands and let more Mongolians believe in the Yellow Sect, so that they can understand the cycle of cause and effect and put down their butcher knives.

Looking back now, it seems that we haven’t done enough.”

Wei Guangde said slowly.

"What else do we need to do?"

Zhang Juzheng asked with a frown, the smile on his face had disappeared, replaced by a serious look.

He couldn't understand what Wei Guangde was thinking that would lead him to do this.

"Nine Frontiers, we have to build large temples for the Gelug Sect, and we also have to build temples in the territories of various tribes on the grassland. The regulations are a bit poor."

Wei Guangde continued to say that he was gradually inducing Zhang Juzheng, hoping that he could accept his ideas. What could be simpler than letting him figure it out himself?

As long as he can think of it himself, it means he fully understands it, which is much better than asking him to give the answer directly and then explain it.

Later, under Wei Guangde's guidance, Zhang Juzheng gradually understood what Wei Guangde meant.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of these royal children becoming monks, they promoted and encouraged the Mongols to send their children to temples, leaving only one child in the family to inherit the family business and carry on the family line.

Restrict the Mongolian population growth and at the same time use the method of building temples to consume the Mongolian people's financial resources.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols were no match in terms of population and financial resources.

In ten or twenty years, if the Mongolian population remains unchanged and financial resources are not used to arm saddles, armor and swords, but to build magnificent temples, the situation between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia will change fundamentally.

“When the elite Mongolian cavalry of today grows old naturally or is consumed in Tibet or in the war for power for the Gelug Sect, there will be no more elite cavalry on the grasslands, and the cavalry that Genghis Khan used to dominate the world will no longer exist.

At that time, the Mongols would only be able to become a nation that herds sheep for the Ming Dynasty, and make a living by supplying cattle, sheep, and horses to the Ming Dynasty."

Wei Guangde finally told what he thought the result would be, but it was also the most favorable result for the Ming Dynasty.

"Using these royal children as examples, we encouraged the Mongols to send their children to become monks and build temples."

Although Zhang Juzheng thought Wei Guangde's plan was far-fetched, it seemed feasible.

Rewarding these tribal leaders who sent their children to the temple, and then deceiving them with religious words, such as telling them to go to paradise after death, isn't this exactly the principle of religion to deceive people?

As for what the Ming Dynasty needed to pay, it was just the silver and materials needed to build the temple.

The labor aspect was automatically ignored by Zhang Juzheng.

"If it is the Tao"

Zhang Juzheng only started talking, then shut up again.

He wanted to know why it was the Yellow Sect and not the Han people's Taoism or Buddhism. In fact, Taoism was once very influential on the grassland.

But then he stopped talking. Now the ruler of the grassland is Altan Khan, and he believes in the Yellow Sect, not Taoism.

If Altan Khan was a devout Taoist, it would be natural to build a Taoist temple for him.

"It will cost a lot of money."

Zhang Juzheng changed the subject.

"Spending money can solve the problem, which is much better than death."

Wei Guangde shook his head slightly and said, "The best strategy is to attack the enemy's strategy. Using this strategy can achieve countless times more success than directly launching a military operation.

It just so happens that once all the land in the world is measured, the annual income of the Ming Dynasty will increase significantly, which should be able to meet the consumption.

As for what my uncle is worried about, the imperial treasury has no surplus, but we still have the Taifusi Changying Treasury as a backup, so there is no need to worry too much."

It is indeed very dangerous for the country's finances to have no surplus. Once a natural disaster or war occurs, the court will have no money to provide relief or maintain the war.

Fortunately, the emperors of the previous Ming dynasties had already taken this into consideration and set up the Changying Treasury to reserve money and make plans for the future.

As long as the Changyingku of the Ming Dynasty could be maintained, the earth-shaking changes at the end of the Ming Dynasty would not have been possible.

It's just a pity that because of their apprentice, the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun, all the money saved by several generations of emperors through tightening their belts was squandered.

There is a world of difference between keeping money in the Changying Treasury and keeping it in the inner court.

It would be extremely difficult to use the silver in Changying Treasury.

Although Emperor Jiajing was so short of money, he did not dare to ask for it directly.

Yan Song's power extended to the whole country and he could only borrow and repay.

As for what happened afterwards, it was all Yan Song's way. They could borrow some from the Changying Treasury for emergency use, but they did not dare to occupy it directly.

However, once the money reached the inner court, how it was spent was entirely up to the emperor, and there was no supervision at all.

The silver in the Changying Treasury could not be taken out unless it was for war. Those silver coins were used as horse feed for the Ming army and were only part of military expenses.

Even if there is a natural disaster in the country, it can only be borrowed for emergency relief.

"Let's first draft Hou Donglai's memorial.

As for what happens next, let me think about it.

Once this plan is decided, it will take a long time to invest money in it, and it won’t be enough just once or twice.”

Zhang Juzheng did not agree directly. Although the scene described by Wei Guangde was very tempting, the price was also very high.

It can be said that if Wei Guangde's plan were really implemented, it would almost consume most of the wealth he had accumulated through his reforms for the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, this matter cannot be decided by the two of them alone. They have to discuss it with the inner court and get the support of the palace.

At the same time, the Ministry of Revenue must also know about this matter, and it must be made clear when the Shangshu and Shangshu take over.

Because in the next 10 to 20 years, the Ministry of Revenue will continue to spend money on this plan until the Mongols are completely fooled and use their own savings to build the temple.

Although Zhang Juzheng did not agree immediately, Wei Guangde could see that he had actually wavered.

So, after taking the memorial from Zhang Juzheng, he got up and went out after chatting for a few words, returning to his duty room to continue his work.

But today, neither Zhang Juzheng nor Wei Guangde actually focused their energy on official duties. They would just sit down and daydream for a while.

When Lu Bu entered the duty room to collect the processed memorials, Wei Guangde directly took out Hou Donglai's memorial and placed it on the table, and said to Lu Bu: "You should personally deliver this memorial to the Silijian and give it to Chen Ju, asking him to deal with it urgently without delay."

"Yes, sir."

In fact, Lu Bu also knew the general content of the memorial.

This is the advantage of working next to a big boss, you are well-informed.

However, he naturally could not have imagined what Wei Guangde saw in this memorial, and even Zhang Juzheng himself could not have imagined it.

"Go."

Wei Guangde waved his hand after giving his instructions. (End of this chapter)