Lord Moyu was forced to open

The next day, in the court hall.

As soon as Zhao Jun came to court, he announced that Zhang Tang would be the imperial envoy with the title of Langzhong of the Ministry of Ceremonies, in charge of the Sacrifice Department, with full authority to handle the implementation of the new imperial policy of Nanyang Yiying Buddhist Temple, and personally gave the imperial envoy the Panlong Scepter.

At the same time, the imperial court issued a decree and passed it to the local government in Nanyang. They should fully cooperate with Zhang Tang. If there is anyone who maliciously obstructs the implementation of the imperial policy, Zhang Tang can use the Panlong Scepter to kill everyone except the county guard first. It is easy to do it!

This move immediately caused an uproar in the court. Everyone had been speculating for so long about who His Majesty would let take charge of this matter. Unexpectedly, in the end, His Majesty did not look for him in the court, but instead found a scholar who had not filled the vacancy.

And as soon as he came up, he was given the title of Doctor of the Ministry of Rites and in charge of the Department of Sacrifice. What does the Department of Sacrifice do?

He is one of the four heads of the Ministry of Rites, responsible for temple worship, sacrifices, astronomy, engravings, national taboos, temple taboos, divination, medicine, monks and nuns, etc.

This means that if he is in charge of this department, all temples and monks in the world will be under his control. This is the highest department in charge of monks and monks in the Song Dynasty.

Letting Zhang Tang, who holds a position in the Department of Sacrifice, handle temple affairs, is equivalent to the modern Minister of Public Security personally inspecting various entertainment venues.

This is no longer using a cannon to kill mosquitoes. This is using atomic bombs to kill mosquitoes. But at the same time, others can no longer cause trouble for Zhang Tang from any better level, because he is already the highest official here, and the highest official directly under the control. , it would be ultra vires for others to interfere. If it is not your profession, why should you interfere?

What shocked the officials was not this. What really shocked them was that His Majesty actually gave a fifth-grade official to a newcomer who had just arrived in the officialdom!

How many levels has this jumped to?

But His Majesty actually told them to listen directly in the form of notification, which means that the matter has become a foregone conclusion, and even their objections will have no effect.

In the end, he had no choice but to express his knowledge, and at the same time, he immediately drafted an order to spread the matter to Nanyang County.

When the local people in Nanyang County learned the news, it caused quite a stir in an instant.

Although the doctor of the Ministry of Rites is only a fifth-rank official, he is an official of the capital!

It has always been a rule in the officialdom that when a Beijing official meets a local official, if they are of the same rank, the Beijing official will automatically be ranked higher.

This means that when we come to this place, the fifth-grade official in this capital is equivalent to the fourth-grade official!

And the county guard of a county is only at the level of fourth grade. To other officials except the county guard, this is equivalent to an uncle coming from above. How can they not be shocked.

After learning the purpose of the imperial court sending this uncle, some officials immediately panicked.

Previously, the north was invaded by the Huns and suffered heavy losses, leaving only ten officials alive.

After His Majesty took office, he urgently transferred from other places to supplement the officials in Nanyang County.

And their arrival means that the original investment of the local forces has been wasted. They know better than anyone what they should do if they want to continue to receive protection, and they move extremely quickly.

No one is perfect, not to mention that they may not be that clean to begin with, so even though they have been here for a short time, they have received a lot of benefits.

Among them, the White Horse Temple located three miles outside Nanyang City is the most arrogant, and many people have taken advantage of them.

Now that they knew that the superiors were here to inspect the temple, they immediately realized the danger hidden in it. Even the doctor from the Ministry of Rites was sent out, holding the imperial staff. What does this mean?

It shows that the court is not just showing off this time, but is really going to do it for real!

As a result, the money originally received became very hot.

Many people have begun to separate from the White Horse Temple. If it were the original officials, the separation might not be so easy, but they had just arrived not long ago and their contact was not deep, so it was much easier to separate.

Their actions naturally made Baima Temple aware of it. After feeling something was wrong, Baima Temple immediately found out the cause of the matter through his own connections.

An imperial envoy was coming from above, and the one who came specifically to investigate them was the doctor of the Department of Sacrifice, who was directly in charge of the monks in the Ministry of Rites.

This is the person who has the largest department in charge of them in the Song Dynasty!

The wolf is coming!

Still want to eat meat!

The fate of Daxiangguo Temple some time ago is a lesson for others!

On the day when the news was received, a group of high-level officials from the White Horse Temple gathered here. The leaders in charge of all parties' affairs sat in a circle, assisting the abbot's supervision, and even the abbot, Master Guangping, sat in a circle.

There was silence in the hall.

"Amitabha, what do you think about the imperial envoys sent by the imperial court to inspect the Nanyang temples?"

Seeing that no one was speaking and everyone was sitting there with solemn expressions, Master Guangping, the abbot, spoke first. Upon hearing this, Monk Guanglu, the head of the Discipline Hall, immediately said: "According to what the poor monk said, it is actually not a big deal. The reason is just that the Daxiangguo Temple was personally informed by the Holy Master, and that's why there was a survey of Buddhist temples all over the world.

The imperial envoy guessed that he just came to inspect and catch two typical people to report to the court and your Majesty. For example, our White Horse Temple has been rooted in Nanyang for thousands of years, and the other party will definitely not dare to provoke us.

At most, we can find two small temples with poor reputations to serve as ambassadors for the imperial envoy.

The reason why those officials immediately severed ties with us is because they are newly arrived and do not know the strength of Nanyang against our White Horse Temple, which is why they took such action.

In my opinion, the imperial envoy sent by the imperial court this time may be a good thing for us.

When our White Horse Temple successfully fools the imperial envoy away, and many officials in Nanyang see our strength, they will definitely be more closely connected with us in the future. "

Master Guangping, the abbot, heard this and nodded: "What Guanglu said is not bad."

And when someone started, others naturally began to speak freely.

Monk Guangxiu in the lecture hall immediately retorted:

"That's wrong. If it were normal, the imperial envoy would have just gone through the motions as Guanglu said.

But I heard that the imperial envoy who came this time was personally selected by His Majesty, not recommended by all the officials in the court.

Such a person is one of His Majesty's dogs today. He must have come with the idea of ​​​​biting a bloody hole in Nanyang to prove his ability to Your Majesty.

Such a person will not care so much, and will only focus on meritorious service. If we don't pay attention to it, it will be too late when the scepter in the opponent's hand hits our head!

In addition, they are not just here to check whether the Buddhist temple has borrowed money, whether it has housed criminals, or whether it has annexed land.

In addition to conducting an inventory of Buddhist temples, this time the court also had policies to limit the number of Buddhist temples and monks in various places.

If the imperial court's policy is followed, the nine-story Buddhist temple in Nanyang County will be bulldozed.

If we had not made preparations early, maybe the thousand-year-old White Horse Temple would be buried in our hands. At this moment of great change in Buddhism that has not happened in thousands of years, how can we still deal with it with the old ideas?

This is going to lead to slow death! "

Guangxiu's words revealed the thing that everyone present was least willing to face. Yes, the court was not just investigating violations this time.

There is also the restructuring of Buddhist temples around the world!

If we really follow the imperial court's wishes, then a large temple like White Horse Temple with more than 3,000 people will suffer a heavy blow!

According to the court's new policy, a county capital can only have one temple with no more than 200 people, and no more than ten hectares of land!

But now their White Horse Temple alone has more than 3,000 monks!

The land he owns is a full 5,000 hectares!

If they really follow the court's policy, then the size of the White Horse Temple may be reduced to the small temple it is today. This is beyond what they can endure!

Everyone fell silent again.

Guangwu, the leader of Luohan Hall, had the hottest temper. He couldn't hold it back and punched the table angrily:

"Impossible! This policy of the imperial court must not be implemented, otherwise we will contact all the temples in Nanyang Prefecture to fight together!

Anyway, it is impossible for us to capture him without any help!

These lands have been accumulated by our White Horse Temple from generation to generation. Why can’t we have it if the imperial court says we can’t have it? Anyway, I, Guangwu, don’t agree. If the imperial court wants to rob it, I, the five hundred warrior monks of Luohan Hall, will fight with the imperial court! "

White Horse Temple can afford to support five hundred warrior monks because it has so much land to support it. If the land is taken away by the court and the monks are dismissed, will the Luohan Hall still exist?

Everyone understood why Guangwu was so excited, so why weren't they the same?

But against the imperial court?

Is it really possible?

Everyone fell silent again.

……

(End of this chapter)