A little weak chicken came to Dali Temple

Chapter 220

King Han's cold eyes showed impatient anger: "You try to despise your opponent again and see if you only lose a little brothel?"

"Small dare not."

King Han stood up, looked down from a high position, and flashed a warning light, "This is the capital, think twice before trying to be clever."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Xu Weizhi was so punished by King Han that he did not dare to breathe.

King Han curled his lips coldly and turned to leave.

Before Yu Qingzhi left, his eyes met his. He smiled lightly, glanced at the back of King Han in front of him, and quickly whispered in his ear, "I'm afraid you don't know some news, right?"

After saying that, he left quickly and quickly followed King Han's footsteps.

Yu Qingzhi couldn't hide his proud look, and Xu Weizhi was so excited that his veins popped out, and he punched the marble floor, almost breaking the master's favorite marble.

"Someone-"

"master--"

"Go find out what happened recently?"

The guard asked cautiously: "Master, are you talking about His Highness's business?"

He cocked his head and his eyes drifted over with a sinister look, "What else?"

The guard was so frightened that he knelt down and said, "Master, if you investigate His Highness's affairs without authorization, it would be terrible if His Highness finds out. Don't be angered by Yu, he is digging a hole for you!"

Xu Weizhi knew why he didn't know that Yu had dug a hole for him, but...he glanced at the guard again. The guard was so frightened that he shrank his head and did not dare to look at him. The corner of his mouth moved, and he had a plan.

In the Qinzheng Hall of the imperial palace, Emperor Longqi was sitting behind the dragon case. In front of the dragon case stood two young men, who were his right-hand men.

Zhao Qi'an said, "Your Majesty, the summer harvest is about to begin. News has spread from various places that some people have taken advantage of the Holy Majesty's move to reduce taxes and classes and began to quietly collect grain in advance. According to the news I received, these people have collected grains since last time." Xiao Ji’s Grain Store collects the grain collected secretly and brings it to the capital, where it is then transported to the northwest.”

Emperor Long Qi was not angry after hearing the news, as if he had foreseen it, and said quietly, "Okay, very good!"

Zhao Qi'an added, "According to the recent investigation by Yujiying, there are more officials going to Liuchen and Qixian counties in the name of attendance or cooling off than in previous years."

"Have you found out why there are so many?"

Zhao Qi settled down for a moment and turned to look at Pei Jingning.

Emperor Long Qi didn't seem to notice the two men's little moves.

Pei Jingning only wanted to find out the case. These supervision and undercover investigations had nothing to do with him. It was useless for Zhao Qian to look at him because he would not talk too much.

Zhao Qi'an had no choice but to say, "Go back to the Holy Spirit. It is said that they all used to choose birthday gifts for the Queen Mother."

The Empress Dowager's birthday is in the middle of September, so there is nothing wrong with preparing gifts in June.

"They are serious about it." Emperor Long Qi lowered his eyelids, "Since when has there been anything good in Liuchen and Qi counties? Can it attract ministers to rush over to see it?"

Zhao Qi'an raised his hand again and said, "Back to the Holy Land, in the area of ​​Liuchen and Qiqie, several calligraphy, painting and antique shops have been opened in the past two years. Merchants from all over the country hold a large-scale auction on the first ten days of every month, so it attracts A lot of people."

Emperor Long Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, "The master behind these trading firms is..."

"Going back to your Majesty, there are those from His Royal Highness the King of Han, as well as from two other clans, and two others from the Duke of Wei and Dingguo in Beijing."

"The land in Beijing is not enough for them to open a shop?" Yes, the capital is so big. Whether you open a calligraphy and painting club or an antique shop, isn't there enough land?This is intriguing.

Emperor Long Qi half-squinted, "Yuntang..."

Zhao Qi'an stepped forward, "I'm here -"

"Let's see who those people are."

"Yes, my lord."

Emperor Long Qi turned to look at Pei Jingning again, "How many temples have been investigated recently?"

"Going back to the Holy Spirit, in the entire Wei Dynasty from south to north, more than 100 temples were found to be doing illegal things. Thousands of hectares of temple land were confiscated, more than 3000 monks were converted to secular life, and their illegal gains totaled more than 50 taels. .”

"How big are the temples?"

"Going back to the Holy Land, they are all small and medium-sized temples with a capacity of 30 to [-] people."

Longlong raised his eyebrows and frowned, "If I remember correctly, there are as many as ten thousand large and small temples registered by the government. Then wouldn't the acres and population they occupy..."

The temples were too prosperous. When Emperor Longqi was still a prince, he noticed it. However, the late emperor believed in Buddhism and promoted Buddhism vigorously, so that everyone in the Wei Dynasty followed the emperor's style.

When Buddhism was flourishing, a large amount of land and population were annexed into temples, resulting in a sharp decrease in tax revenue for the treasury. This was something that Emperor Longqi had been worrying about for several years after he came to power.

If the problem of less and less land and population to pay taxes cannot be solved, then his treasury will not be filled day by day.

In fact, the problem of temples goes far beyond the issue of annexing land and appropriating adult labor. Many temples even use their tax privileges to engage in mining and commercial activities to make profits.

What's more, it has become a lending institution, but temple lending cannot be called loans, because Buddhism cannot be contaminated with the smell of copper. It is called incense to accumulate money, the principal is called merit, and the interest is called blessing.

In the Wei Dynasty, Buddhism was popular and incense was strong, and temples accumulated a lot of incense money. At the beginning, the monks got the incense money and could use it to relieve the victims. Gradually, they found out, why not use the extra money?
Then some temples started lending business, and monks became the earliest account managers in ancient times.

On the one hand, temples are places where sentient beings are saved. People have faith and do not dare to blaspheme the gods when they borrow money. They will repay the debt when it is due. Secondly, monks are also very smart. Borrowing requires collateral, so the risk is very low. In this way, rich people can also They were willing to entrust the temple with their money to manage their finances, so the temple began to carry out financial services such as depository and pawn, becoming a one-stop financial institution in ancient times.

The temple industry had already matured during the time of the late emperor and had already posed a threat to the country. Now it was vaguely superior to the emperor in court, and it had long been a major concern for Emperor Longqi.

Pei Jingning held up his hand and said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Household Affairs has a list. You will know it at a glance."

Emperor Long Qi pursed his lips and did not speak for a long time.

The two young men stood quietly in the political palace.

I don't know how long it took, but Emperor Longqi suddenly said, "Yuntang, Ziqian, in a few days, I will go to Mingguang Temple to offer incense."

Pei Jingning and Zhao Qian looked at each other, Your Majesty, you want to see Master Zhiguang!However, relying on the late emperor's handwriting, this man had been traveling since he became the abbot of Mingguang Temple. The Holy Emperor had never even seen his face. However, he relied on the late Emperor to put pressure on the Holy Emperor and asked the Holy One to release Yu Qingzhi.

What kind of character is he?

After a few days of rest, Yan Qinglian stayed at Ye's house for a few days. She followed Yeats wherever he went. Not only that, she also chatted with Yeats, which surprised Yeats.

There were not many young ladies in ancient times who could talk about anything and everything. They were either talking about needles, threads, and brains, or they were just hanging around the kitchen. Anyway, they rarely talked about outside matters.

From Yan Qinglian's words, Yeats learned about the side of the Wei Dynasty temples that ordinary people did not know.

"You mean that all the rich and famous people in the capital invest their money in temples and then lend it to businesses and gangs like you?"

(End of this chapter)