At the end of Song Dynasty: I want to be the master of ZTE

Chapter 117
Every famous mountain or river must have a Taoist temple, and the same is true for Yandang Mountain.

During the Southern Dynasties, Prince Zhaoming of the Liang Kingdom built a temple and a pagoda at the foot of Furong Peak, marking the beginning of Yandang Mountain.

In the Tang Dynasty, the eminent monk Nuozana from the Western Regions admired the reputation of Yandang Mountain as "Huacun Bird Mountain" and led [-] disciples to Yandang Mountain to promote Buddhism. He was regarded as the originator of Yandang Mountain Buddhism.

By this dynasty, the development scale of Yandang Mountain gradually increased. Today, there are eighteen temples, ten courtyards, and sixteen pavilions, which can be described as its peak.

Bodhi Courtyard is located in East Yandang Mountain. It was built in the early years of the Kingdom of China. It is the closest to Wenzhou City and has the most prosperous incense.

Due to the constant flow of pilgrims, people gathered at the foot of the mountain and became a town with more than a thousand households, famous as a Buddhist town.

It is extremely prosperous with inns, wine shops, carriage shops, and even brothels.

At dawn, the mountain gate opened, and monk Duji, the secretary of the temple, led the novice fire worker down the mountain.

After entering the town, the novice went to the door of the first house. Before he could knock on the door, the owner had already opened the door, handed over a bag, and said, "Masters, the rent for this month has been prepared."

"Excuse me, donor." The novice took it, counted the 22 coins and confirmed that they were correct, and handed them to the fireman. After counting, the fireman threw them into the box and wrote them off in the account book.

Then he walked to the next house. When the sun rose to three o'clock, he had only collected more than a hundred houses, and half of the boxes were already filled with money.

"Everyone, have a bowl of plain noodles before leaving." Du Ji led everyone to a noodle shop.

"For the eight masters in the courtyard, there are still eight bowls of plain noodles as usual." The waiter shouted, and hurriedly moved the stool to wipe the table, and asked: "Masters, please sit down, or should we have a bowl of noodle soup as usual?"

"Please benefactor." Du Ji looked at the store, and said again: "It seems that there are many fewer customers than usual?"

"The war is raging, and four of the ten people in Wenzhou have joined the army, plus Jiangxin Temple..." As if he felt that it was not good to say this, the waiter smiled and went to serve the noodle soup.

Because of the Hall of Heroes, the incense in Jiangxin Temple is even better than before, and every family in Yandang Mountain has been greatly affected.

Bodhi Courtyard is not bad, not only because of its old brand name, but also because Zhu Xi once left calligraphy here, so it is quite popular among scholars.

After a while, the noodles were delivered, ordered with sesame oil and garnished with green vegetables, without any fishy smell.

The shopkeeper was rubbing his hands beside him, but he hesitated to speak.

"Amitabha!" Du Ji said, "The poor monk knows what the almsgiver asks.

There is a law in the temple that the amount of money required this month must not be less. Starting from next month, there will be reductions and exemptions to ensure the livelihood of all donors. "

"Thank you Master, thank you Master." The shop owner said happily.

Bodhi Courtyard has been able to spread for hundreds of years, not only by strict rules, but also by strategies that change with time.

The group of people worked until night, collecting half of the street and earning more than [-] yuan.

Returning to the courtyard, Duji found the abbot and the superintendent and said, "As I saw in the morning, the flow of people is not what it used to be. The business of each house is not prosperous. As usual, the regular money should be reduced."

The abbot said: "Last month the money for incense was one hundred and twenty guan, which was only [-]% of the usual amount, so we decided to pay [-]% as a rule."

"Elder." The supervisor said: "In the past, the reduction and exemption could be supplemented by land. Now that the land is insufficient, should it be reduced to [-]%?"

"The rules cannot be broken." The abbot said: "Now the people are slightly wealthy. When the war subsides, the incense will naturally recover. There is no need to rush.

As for the land... you have already missed it once. You should meditate to get rid of the five poisonous thoughts so as not to implicate this temple. "

"Elder..."

Just as the prisoner was about to speak, he heard someone shouting from outside: "Who is it?"

"Hu Feng, a certain imperial city chief, was ordered to arrest the traitor!"

"The disaster has come, 300 years of inheritance have been destroyed!" the abbot lamented.

"One person is responsible for the work. I was the one who concealed Liu Shen and others. This temple will never be implicated."

"Okay!" Hu Feng kicked the door open, walked in, and shouted: "It's so reasonable to collude with the Tartars. You really are a good Buddha."

The Supervisor said: "The emperor is ignorant and the court is unethical, so he should reject it."

"Hey, Bodhi Courtyard has [-] acres of land, two hills to the left, and a town at the foot of the mountain. Every day you make a fortune, so rich is not enough..." Hu Feng shook his head, waved his hand and shouted: "Come on, seal Bodhi Courtyard, everyone He was detained on the spot and all his property was sealed."

"Official." The abbot said, "Du Xing hides the thief. Only the poor monks in this temple know about it. He actually has nothing to do with the whole temple."

"Take it down." Hu Feng gave the order, and the soldiers behind him swarmed up and tied up the three monks.

Outside, officials from the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple supervised the law enforcement of the Imperial City Department, but officials from the Ministry of Revenue went straight to the accounting room.

It has been passed down for 300 years. I don’t know what it will look like, but everyone is looking forward to it.

The emperor expected the same.

In order to be happy, Li Youyi sold all the Bodhi Courtyard. When Zhang Shuangguo reported it, Zhao immediately sent Hu Feng to investigate.

During the court meeting the next day, Hu Feng returned to report the harvest. "[-] shi of grain and [-] guan of money were seized..."

"So few?" Zhao was not calm anymore.

"Your Majesty." Hu Feng said: "There are more than 120 large and small bronze Buddhas in the Bodhi Courtyard, ranging from more than ten kilograms to a thousand kilograms. The largest one weighs 12 kilograms. If they were melted and recast, they would cost at least 20 kilograms.

In this way, the houses, mountains, forests, and fields have not yet been taken into account. If the Bodhi Courtyard is preserved, the monthly rent can be a thousand dollars.

In addition, He has not yet been interrogated. It is believed that there is a private collection of gold and silver, and the amount must be quite large. "

Hiss~ The ministers took a breath of cold air.

The emperor sold all his cars and only got 14 yuan, but he didn't expect a monk temple to have so much money... This is simply unreasonable!
Ma Tingluan immediately bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, please order me to inspect all the temples in various places!"

"No." Chen Yizhong objected, saying: "If the name is not justified, how can the imperial court do banditry?"

Chen Wenlong said: "I believe that lawbreakers should be punished in accordance with the law, and their property can be confiscated, but the law cannot be violated."

Chen Zhongwei said: "This is the only one in the Bodhi Courtyard. The others are not rich, so it is not appropriate to go to war."

Are you not interested?

I wish I could start and destroy Buddhism again immediately.

But you really can't just do it without any reason.

The law is the majesty of the court. Breaking the law casually is equivalent to a slap in the face. It does not mean that you cannot do it, but you cannot do it at will.

Just like cracking down on tyrants, it is because tyrants generally violate the law. As for the illegality of local crackdowns on tyrants, it is the local government's misinterpretation of the imperial court's decree, not the imperial court's decree itself. This must not be mistaken.

The most important thing is that not all monasteries are so wealthy, and a blanket crackdown would easily target people.

Zhao understood this, but was unwilling to give in. He said, "The imperial court is still in embarrassment and the temples have a lot of treasures. How can we give in?"

Chen Wenlong said: "Your Majesty, we can revive Taoism, force Buddhism to voluntarily donate its warehouses, and then investigate the lawlessness according to law."

Ma Tingluan calmed down and said: "Your Majesty, the property of Bodhi Courtyard can be inspected, but the hospital cannot be sealed. It should be managed well to ensure the income of Wangfo Town."

"Your Majesty," Zhao Yuluo said, "Jiangxin Temple is becoming increasingly cramped and it is inconvenient for people to worship heroes. I would like to ask you to move the Hall of Heroes to Bodhi Courtyard."

"The Hall of Heroes should not be moved lightly." Chen Yizhong said: "Jiangxin Temple can be moved to Bodhi Courtyard, Jiangxin Island can be changed into Hall of Heroes, and a dedicated sacrificial officer can be set up."

"I'm afraid that Jiangxin Temple is not willing to do so." Mou Gao said: "It voluntarily built the Hall of Heroes and offered sacrifices every day. It has served the country and cannot be forced."

"First count the belongings of Bodhi Temple and transport them back." Zhao Shi knocked on the handrail and thought for a while, then said: "In the past, temples and Taoism were tax-free, but today only the fields are taxed, which is inappropriate.

I mean, their property, incense and money will all be taxed. What do you think? "

Did the Buddha have gold dust on his body?Everyone looked at each other.

"The industrial tax is as usual, and the incense tax is [-]%!" Zhao Shi added.

"Your Majesty." Chen Yizhong advised: "The people are so ignorant. If various temples stir up trouble, it will cause endless disasters. You should think twice before acting."

Zhao Yufan said: "It is true that the crime of hiding the Tatars in Bodhi Temple will not be forgiven, but it is not enough to attack all temples. We should wait for the opportunity."

It’s not that I can’t move, it’s that there’s not enough reason.

Historically, the three martial arts and one sect destroyed Buddhism all for the sake of money, but this did not mean they did it directly, but there was a brewing process.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Taiwu of the Wei Dynasty, many monks and nuns could not help but feel lonely, which ruined the reputation of Buddhism. Later, monks in Chang'an collaborated with foreigners to rebel, which triggered the movement to exterminate Buddhism.

The next few times it was a similar process.

Buddhism first disgraced itself and aroused public outrage, and then committed a major violation of the law. The emperor took advantage of the situation and flipped the table, and the people applauded.

But now that Buddhism has been completely integrated into China, the people believe in it, and it has hidden wealth and a good reputation. If you take action directly, the people will scold you.

It's actually nothing to curse. The problem is that there is a Yuan Dynasty outside and they are colluding with each other. I'm afraid there will be big trouble.

"The Ministry of Household Affairs should inspect the temples all over the world and prepare secretly. When the time is right, take action directly." The emperor had to endure this tone.

"Your Majesty, Jiangxin Temple and Hall of Heroes are now integrated into each other. They may be obstacles, so we should take precautions." Zhao Yuluo said.

Because of the Hall of Heroes, Jiangxin Temple is widely praised, and its reputation as a Buddhist temple is also flourishing.

It can be said that as long as Gangshimsa Temple and Hall of Heroes are integrated into each other, Buddhism cannot be touched.

What can the emperor do?At first, we were too poor, so it would have been easy for someone to take over the construction of the Hall of Heroes, but now we are in a dilemma.

(End of this chapter)