People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 437 New Development, New Innovation

In later generations, there were many people who slandered Buddhism and worshipped Taoism, especially on the Internet, where praise for Taoism and slander against Buddhism were endless.

But Zhao Jun knew that this was still a dialectical issue.

It is true that Taoist priests come down from the mountains during troubled times.

However, during the Anti-Japanese War, many Buddhist disciples came out to serve the country and the people.

For example, the "Wutai Mountain Monk Company" would kill enemies on horseback and chant scriptures when they dismounted.

During the Nanjing Massacre, Master Jiran of Qixia Temple risked his life to rescue 2.4 refugees.

Eminent monks such as "Master Juzan", "Master Taixu" and "Master Yuanying" traveled around, calling on Buddhist youths and believers to resist the Japanese aggression and save the country.

Even in the new era, during the Wenchuan earthquake, there was a "Master Suquan" who broke three precepts and opened a temple to save thousands of people.

Among them were hundreds of pregnant women, and 108 newborns were born in the temple, which brought immeasurable merit.

Therefore, no matter Buddhism or Taoism, there is no shortage of people with compassionate hearts.

We cannot generalize and condemn all Buddhism and Taoism as bad just because there are some deceivers who pretend to be Buddhists and Taoism and ruin their reputation.

We should not look at everything with prejudice and tinted glasses.

Zhao Jun is no longer the young man who only believed in what he heard on the Internet. This time when he came to Songshan, he also gained some understanding of Buddhism and Taoism.

Therefore, even though they saw that the Shaolin Temple had so many monks who refused to work, owned so much land that did not pay taxes, and enjoyed offerings from countless pilgrims, they did not get directly angry and adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to suppress Buddhism.

Instead, we should actively seek solutions, such as my country's policy toward religion in later generations, so as to reach a point that satisfies both parties.

A few days later, near the end of January, Zhao Jun returned to Bianliang.

As February approaches, the temperature gradually rises.

The sun is shining brightly during the day, unlike the scorching heat of over 30 degrees Celsius in summer. The gentle spring breeze blows on your face, making you feel relaxed and happy.

At this time, the outskirts of Bianliang were no longer the green grasslands, willow banks, morning breeze and waning moon as before.

Instead, there are tall buildings and crisscrossing streets.

Places like Yuetai and Qingcheng, which were originally around Kaifeng, have been incorporated into the urban area.

If the dignitaries want to go out of the city for an outing, they have to go to somewhere further away.

Mount Shaoshi is located in Dengfeng County, more than 200 miles southwest of Bianliang. If Zhao Jun wants to return to Kaifeng, he naturally has to go back from the southwest.

As his carriage slowly entered the city, he saw in the distance a huge train making a humming sound, speeding across the plains and rumbling towards the train station in the south of the city.

The train station is surrounded by barbed wire and there are crowds of people outside the station, with countless people taking advantage of this holiday to travel.

Zhao Jun returned home and studied the policies at home two days before going to work.

He plans to travel around the world again in February this year.

Even if you go out for a trip this time, you can still see religious issues. You need to analyze each issue specifically and think about it carefully.

Two days later, it was the 22nd day of the first lunar month, and it was time to go back to work again.

Early in the morning, officials gathered outside Changqing Gate.

They all yawned and complained that the work hours were too early and that they had just had a long vacation and had not yet recovered.

However, they forget that they used to have to get up at three or four o'clock in the morning to go to work, but now it has been changed to seven o'clock, which is much better than before.

The morning court came and ended quickly, before 3:15 pm, or 8:00 in the morning, half an hour earlier than usual. The officials could still go to the government office to take a short rest.

Mainly, there is nothing to say.

The court was on holiday, and except for a few officials on duty, most officials were resting, so naturally there was no official business to report.

Just talk about some things about this year's Chinese New Year, such as sacrifices, foreign envoys and the current situation in the Northwest.

After the morning court session, Zhao Zhen summoned Zhao Jun, and the two chatted for a while.

Since Zhao Jun was planning to go to the countryside to conduct research again, Zhao Zhen knew he couldn't stop him, so he asked about it and hoped that he would go and come back soon.

When Zhao Jun returned to the Constitutional Court, it was already the end of the Chen period, almost nine o'clock in the morning.

Normally, this time is when the Constitutional Court starts working, but today the morning court ended early, so when Zhao Jun arrived, the prime ministers had already been working for almost half an hour.

Compared to other officials who were in poor mental states, the prime ministers were in good spirits, perhaps because they were elderly and had little sleep, and they were chatting in the room one by one.

When Zhao Jun walked to the door, he heard someone talking inside.

"You don't know, I didn't feel any bumps on the train, I slept comfortably, and arrived in Xiangyang the next morning."

"You make it sound like you were the only one who took the train, but I went to Yingchang. I left in the morning and arrived at noon. I have to say, it's much more convenient after having this thing."

"Yes, I am old. If I had to travel long distances to go somewhere else in the past, I would probably die on the way. Now that we have trains, traveling is much more convenient."

"It's a pity that only the railway from Bianliang to Xiangyang is open now. I will die without regrets if the railway can be opened to Jiangnan West Road."

Yan Shu sighed inside the house.

He is from Jiangxi, and it is not easy for him to go back to his hometown.

It is difficult to travel by land and by water.

It takes more than a month to get there from Bianliang after many twists and turns.

If there is a direct train, the journey will be greatly shortened.

Unfortunately, the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway was built two years ago, completed at the end of last year, and officially started operation. The farthest it goes is only to Xiangyang, which is still far away from Jiangxi.

So the current train cannot provide him with the opportunity to return home quickly to fulfill his wish of visiting home during the holidays.

"Don't worry, Uncle Lari. The future will definitely be a period of rapid development for trains. Railroads will be built all over the country. This Beijing-Xiangyang Railway is to accumulate experience."

Zhao Jun happened to hear Yan Shu's words, stepped into the room, and said with a smile: "As long as the road is paved and more technical talents are trained, your wish will be realized soon."

"Han Long is here?"

Yan Shu turned his head and smiled when he saw him: "I heard that you went to Songshan on vacation this time. How was it? Was it fun?"

"To be honest, it's not very fun. Climbing the mountain is very tiring."

Zhao Jun walked in and sat down at his desk. He glanced at the stacked documents sent by the Imperial Court today and said, "There is no tourism development in the mountains. Although everything is very primitive, many people in later generations should like this primitive taste. But in fact, there are no roads and no businesses in undeveloped places. It is difficult to buy a bottle of water. It is not only inconvenient, but also very dangerous. There are really tigers in the mountains."

The South China tiger did not become extinct during the Northern Song Dynasty. The Qinling Mountains and the Yellow River Basin happened to be their northernmost habitat. Songshan Mountain is a branch of the Qinling Mountains, and South China tigers naturally live in the mountains.

"Then you might as well take a train. Xiangyang also has unique scenery. You can see Xianshan Mountain and Wolonggang." Fan Zhongyan said as he took a document: "I went to see the place where Wu Hou personally cultivated the land, but unfortunately there is no thatched hut there anymore."

"I don't want to go to Nanyang to take the train."

Zhao Jun also picked up the official document and prepared to deal with today's official business. He said, "It has been more than 800 years since the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Great Song Dynasty. There is no cultural relic protection these days. The thatched cottage definitely does not exist, but isn't the Wuhou Temple still there? Why don't we go and see it next time?"

"Sichuan and Shu?"

Fan Zhongyan raised his head, his eyes full of longing, and said, "I would like to go, but it's too far. How dare I leave my post without permission?"

Zhao Jun can travel around the world and conduct research in various parts of the country, but they can't.

It’s not that Zhao Zhen restricted their freedom, but this year is already 1049 AD, and Fan Zhongyan is already 60 years old. Historically, he would have died of illness in another four years.

The other prime ministers were all in their sixties. The older ones, like Li Di and Zhang Shixun, were prime ministers during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song and were in their seventies or eighties.

If he continues to go on like this, running around the country like Zhao Jun, he would be wasting his life.

Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Then wait a few more years. When the train from Chengdu to Chang'an opens, you can take a boat from Bianliang, go to Chang'an first, and then take the train to Chengdu."

"Yes."

Fan Zhongyan nodded and said, "When the train is opened, we can go anywhere. I really look forward to that day coming soon."

At the beginning, Zhao Jun planned the first railway, the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway, connecting Bianliang to Xiangyang.

In this way, goods from Sichuan no longer need to go through Zhejiang, but can go north from Hankou, unload along the Han River in Xiangyang, and take the train to Kaifeng.

The second railway is the one from Chengdu to Chang'an.

This made up for the problem that there was no canal from Guanzhong to Sichuan, only land transportation.

In the future, goods from Sichuan and Shu could be transported to Chang'an by train, and then shipped directly from Chang'an to Bianliang by ship.

In this way, the entire Song Dynasty completed its economic cycle.

Sichuan no longer has to be as closed as before and can only rely on the Yangtze River to transport goods to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and then transport them to the north via the canal, resulting in huge transportation costs.

Merchants from Bashu could connect with Guanzhong to the north, and merchants from Guanzhong could communicate with Bashu to the south, thus solving the eternal problem of the difficult road to Shu.

The only problem is that the Ministry of Railways currently only has experience in building roads in plains.

Even the Chencang Road, which is the easiest to travel in Sichuan, has many mountains and steep cliffs, making it extremely difficult to build a railway. Even with explosives, the construction speed would definitely not be as fast as the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway.

But there is always a first time for everything, especially building bridges and roads. We cannot be discouraged by the difficulty. Therefore, as early as the second half of last year, Zhao Jun asked the Ministry of Railways to start the construction task.

And not only the Changcheng Railway from Chang'an to Chengdu, but also the Jingbei Railway from Peking to Bianliang and the Yuehan Railway from Hubei to Guangzhou are put on the agenda.

Once these railways are built and roads are paved, the economic boost to the Song Dynasty will be immeasurable, causing the GDP to increase by leaps and bounds.

"Get to work. There are still many things to deal with after the New Year."

Zhao Jun picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote a reply to the first memorial of the day.

Although pencils were already available, only brushes could be used to review official documents submitted by various departments.

The room fell silent for a while. Even if there were occasional sounds, they were just the prime ministers greeting the clerks or the slight noise of new documents being delivered.

It was not until half an hour later, at 10 a.m., that Zhao Jun stood up and said, "Meeting!"

This is the regular meeting of the Constitutional Yuan this morning.

When everyone heard this, they stopped writing temporarily, and began to stand up one after another and walk towards the meeting room.

Soon everyone was in their seats in the conference room.

Zhao Jun took out his notebook and said as he flipped through it, "Today's topics have two aspects. One is this year's development, and the other is reform matters."

He continued, "This year's development planning tasks have actually been set long ago, including vigorously producing steel, building bridges and roads, building steamships, building new railways, increasing grain production, etc. There are plans and indicators every year. Just follow the planning direction I made before."

"As for reform matters, I don't have a charter yet, but I think reform should be normalized and changed all the time. Sometimes if a reform has a counterproductive effect, it must be corrected in a timely manner and cannot be done blindly."

"Next month I will leave Beijing to inspect local areas again, investigate the people and find a direction for reform. I will probably come up with the charter by the end of this year or the beginning of next year."

Zhao Jun raised his head and looked at everyone.

Yan Shu smiled and said, "Now that the country is peaceful and the people are safe, and the order is in place, if we want to make reforms again, isn't Han Long rushing into it?"

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "You guys have rigid thinking. You've been in the central government for too long and haven't seen anything."

He stressed: "At the end of last year, I visited Bianliang incognito for more than a month and saw many problems. This time when I went to Songshan, I also saw many problems. The people's lives are not in dire straits, but they also have many difficulties. The country also has many drawbacks. How can we say that the reform is too hasty?"

"Is there something wrong with Songshan?"

Everyone was puzzled, and Cai Qi asked, "What's the problem with Songshan?"

He was from Luoyang, Henan, and used to climb Mount Songshan often.

Zhao Jun pointed out: "Religion!"

"religion?"

Everyone looked at each other.

"Yes, I saw many temples in Songshan. Shaolin Temple alone has more than 2,000 monks and tens of thousands of acres of land."

He confessed: "After I came back, I asked the Ministry of Shrines to bring me the Buddhist and Taoist data on the throne. After I looked at the data, I was shocked."

"During the Tianxi reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, there were already 46 monks, 4 temples, and about 200 million mu of land in the Song Dynasty. The number of Taoists was much smaller, only about 5, with more than 3000 Taoist temples and more than 30 mu of land."

"Last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Shrines, the number of monks and nuns exceeded 50, and the number of Taoists is also increasing. The larger the population, the more people will have no worries about food and clothing, and the more devout men and women will have."

"As a feudal dynasty, the Song Dynasty has not yet gotten rid of superstitious ideas. The number of believers has increased exponentially, and the number of monks, nuns, Taoists, and nuns will naturally increase as well."

"What came with it was more and more people and land that were exempted from corvee labor and taxes."

"50 to 60 people don't work, don't pay taxes, don't take on social obligations, don't give back to society, and nearly 300 million acres of land don't have to pay taxes. Do you think this is reasonable?"

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said, "It's a new era. The Song Dynasty doesn't support parasites, and the Chinese nation doesn't support idle gods. We advocate freedom of religious belief and allow religions to carry out legitimate religious activities and spread propaganda, but this does not mean that religions must be separated from the national system and stop contributing to society."

Religion is free, but religion enjoys offerings from the people and support from the country, so it must also give back to the people and the country.

Otherwise, from the perspective of the country, why should we support you?

Therefore, religious reform was imperative.

Otherwise, it would make no sense for hundreds of thousands of monks and Taoists and millions of acres of land to be outside the national system.

(End of this chapter)