Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 215: Destroy Buddhism! Revoke the privilege of exemption from military service for monks and Taoists!
The first day of October in the second year of Jiajing.

Because the overall climate in the Ming Dynasty was cooling down, the Forbidden City was covered in white cloaks at this time of year.

Zhu Houcong no longer summoned ministers at the Yuntai Gate, but instead met with important officials to discuss matters in the warm room inside the palace, and also asked people to prepare stove-hot tea and sweet porridge in advance.

This was the rule of the Jiajing Dynasty. The hot tea on the stove was naturally for the important ministers to keep warm after braving the cold wind to come into the palace, while the sweet porridge was for satisfying hunger and replenishing blood sugar.

The colder the weather, the hungrier people get.

"Governor-General Zhang Qi and Guangdong Deputy Envoy Wang Hong have signed a petition, requesting that the Portuguese send an envoy to Beijing to meet the emperor. May I ask if the emperor approves this?"

When Zhu Houcong was drinking barley porridge, the Prime Minister Mao Ji reported to Zhu Houcong a diplomatic affair that required Zhu Houcong to handle personally.

"He will be allowed to enter the capital along with the other prisoners."

After Zhu Houcong swallowed the porridge, he replied.

After Zhu Houcong ascended the throne, the Portuguese had fought two wars with the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Houcong was planning to ask them about their motives, so he naturally agreed to this.

Mao Ji nodded in agreement.

Then, Mao Ji reported, "The Minister of Punishment Zhao Huang, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Metropolitan Procuratorate Wang Shizhong, and the Minister of the Supreme Court Zhang Cong reported that the three judicial officials have interrogated the evil monk Jue'an and the evil nun Miaoshan and found out that they were indeed, as the Jinyiwei had found out, using black incense as bait to induce the monks, nuns, and civilians of the clan to rebel, and instigated the Liao King Zhu Zhige to destroy the tomb of Emperor Xingxian in order to seize the Mandate of Heaven from Your Majesty!"

After arresting Jue'an and Miao Shan, the Jinyiwei still followed the court system and handed the two men over to the three judicial departments for interrogation and punishment.

As for Zhang Lun and Lai Yuan, since they were involved in deceiving the emperor and the evidence was solid, and civil officials were also implicated, they were directly tortured and interrogated by the Jinyiwei in order to find out the culprits behind the scenes, and were not handed over to the three judicial departments for interrogation and punishment.

In addition, by now, the corresponding nine officials had been recommended by the court, so the Minister of Works Zhao Huang was promoted to the Minister of Punishments, and the Right Censor-in-Chief of Nanjing Wang Shizhong became the Left Censor-in-Chief.

It is worth mentioning that after being recommended by the court, Wang Yangming became the Minister of Personnel, Wang Xian returned to the court to serve as the Minister of War, Xi Shu became the Minister of Revenue, and Tong Rui, the Left Vice Minister of Works, became the Minister of Works.

Because the affairs of Jue'an and Miaoshan mainly involved princes and monks and nuns, the three judicial officials conducted a serious investigation and uncovered all the criminal facts of Jue'an and Miaoshan.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong ordered: "Since they are involved in conspiracy, then Zhu Zhige will be stripped of his title of prince, and the chief secretary He Chong will be escorted to Beijing for trial! In addition, Jue'an and Miaoshan will be taken to Huguang, and they will be paraded in temples to show them to the public, and at the same time accused of being part of the party!"

"Yes!"

Zhu Houcong then asked Mao Ji: "Are there any other important matters that need to be reported to the emperor?"

Mao Ji said: "There is another matter. The governor of Huguang, the Chief Censor Shu Sheng, and the deputy military commissioner Gui E were impeached by many censors and secretaries. They said that these two people used the order of severe crackdown to persecute officials and gentry, kill monks and exterminate Taoists, and persecute dissidents in Huguang, causing the souls of the wronged to be scattered all over Huguang and everyone is in panic. Therefore, I request that the order of severe crackdown be ended to severely punish these two people!"

“How many impeachments are there?”

Zhu Houcong asked.

Mao Ji took out a stack of letters and said, "These are all. The cabinet still has more than a hundred letters that have not been brought!"

"What do you think?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Mao Ji replied: "Official sentiment is indeed turbulent, and the gentry are complaining. In addition, rumors that Yuan Gong is competing with the people for profit are already rampant. I am worried that if the crackdown continues like this, Huguang will really be in chaos, and even the entire court will be in chaos!"

"So, in my humble opinion, although the truth about the death of Governor Xiao has not yet been revealed, in order to appease the public resentment, it is better to end the crackdown in advance. Otherwise, if this continues, I am afraid that the safety of Shu and Gui will also be in question."

"What we should be afraid of right now are those evil thieves, not us!"

"What's there to be afraid of? Are they really going to rebel just because I asked Shu Sheng, Gui E and others to be more strict in Huguang?!"

"I'm not afraid of them rebelling!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, he looked at Mao Ji and said, "Don't be afraid. As long as I am here, the Ming Dynasty will not be in chaos!"

"As for the safety of Shu Sheng and Gui E."

"The cabinet has issued a direct decree. If these two people make any mistakes in Huguang, the crackdown will never end and will even be intensified!"

"After all, a governor has already died in the line of duty. If another governor and a military commissioner are killed in the line of duty, I can only think that Huguang is completely going to rebel."

After finishing speaking.

Zhu Houcong then said to Mao Ji: "As for when the crackdown will end, it depends on when the murderer behind the murder of Governor Xiao Cong will be found, and when the matter reported by Yan Song in Huguang will be heard."

Mao Ji nodded in agreement. He realized that the emperor was using the severe crackdown as a bargaining chip to force the gentry in Huguang to achieve certain goals according to his intentions.

"What the two monks and nuns, Jue'an and Miaoshan, did made me realize that the monks and nuns in Huguang and even the whole world need to be disciplined."

"Otherwise, I'm afraid that all the royal family members and people in the world will be instigated by them!" "The court gave them the grace of exemption from military service so that they can pray for the stability of my country, not so that they can destroy my business!"

"So, let's just issue an imperial decree. Although monks and Taoists are exempt from military service, they still have the obligation to pray for the country and eliminate disasters for the people. Therefore, each person must pay silver as merit money every year according to the amount of temple land. The court can use this money to regularly send high monks to pray for the country and eliminate disasters for the people. The standard for collecting merit money will be the same as the standard for collecting corvée money for the people!"

What Zhu Houcong did was equivalent to abolishing the exemption privilege of monks and Taoists throughout the world, but he only nominally called it collecting money for merit.

Mao Ji was quite shocked after hearing this. He really didn't expect that His Majesty would be so cruel and directly use this opportunity to abolish the exemption privileges of monks and Taoists all over the world!
This way.

How can monks and Taoists in the world accept donations and become big landlords?

Simultaneously.

How can the powerful officials and gentry in the world achieve their goal of escaping corvee labor by having one of their family members become a monk, building their own family temple, and then combining all the family land under the name of the family temple, even if the family's descendants are incompetent and no one has yet confirmed their official status?
Although Mao Ji admired the emperor's courage, he had to admit that doing so would completely offend the monks, Taoist priests, and powerful officials and gentry in the world, so he advised:
"Your Majesty, please think twice. This will make the monks and Taoists in the world very dissatisfied. I am afraid that they will have greater complaints against the court and further instigate the ignorant people to revolt and disrupt the country of our Ming Dynasty!"

of course.

Mao Ji would not directly say that the gentry would also be dissatisfied, he would only say that the monks and Taoists would be very dissatisfied.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong asked in return: "Now that the court has treated them well, are they grateful to the court?!"

"I just offered loans at low interest rates to help the people, but they wanted to ruin my empire and bring chaos to the world. It can be said that they have no mercy at all."

"What's the point of me treating them well?"

After Zhu Houcong said this, Mao Ji had no choice but to prostrate himself and said, "Your Majesty, calm down! These are just some monks who are immoral, not all monks!"

"If only a few monks are immoral, and most of them can understand the court, be loyal to the country, and love the people, then there is no need to worry that collecting merit money will cause chaos in the world!"

Zhu Houcong replied.

Mao Ji was startled. He was speechless after hearing what Zhu Houcong said. He could only bow and compromise:
"Your Majesty is right, but I think that even if some monks and Taoists are not moral, we should prevent them from causing trouble and harming the people. Because even if the policy is just a slight mistake, it may cause a disaster for an ordinary citizen if it reaches the lower levels!"

"Therefore, I think that before most places have strengthened local administration like Huguang, it is not appropriate to implement it nationwide. It is better to pilot it in Huguang first. When the whole country has set up inspection offices and inspectors, and even increased the salaries of officials, it will not be too late to implement it!"

Zhu Houcong smiled slightly at this.

He knew that suddenly withdrawing the exemption privilege for monks and Taoists across the country would cause great unrest and would lead to the gentry and monks and Taoists across the country uniting to cause chaos.

Therefore, he originally planned to do so only in the Huguang region where the imperial court's ruling power had been strengthened, while in other places he would first increase government power according to the Huguang model and then reorganize monks and Taoists in the future.

And he deliberately said this in front of Mao Ji just now, just to prepare Mao Ji for such a compromise later, so that Mao Ji would be more willing to support his pilot project in Huguang to take back the exemption rights of monks and Taoist priests, and then pilot the rectification of monks and Taoist priests.

"What Yuanfu said is very good!"

"Just follow the Prime Minister's instructions and try it out in Huguang first!"

"Send an order to Yan Song, asking him to strengthen the guidance of public opinion, so that the people of Huguang can reach a consensus as soon as possible, start the merit money system, and complete the rectification of monks and Taoists!"

After Mao Ji said this, Zhu Houcong started talking with a smile.

Mao Ji was slightly stunned. He did not expect that the emperor would accept his advice so readily. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have been fooled and that the emperor seemed to have deliberately acted too eager in front of him.

then.

Zhu Houcong held the hand warmer in his hand, walked up to Mao Ji, and said: "Also, send an order to the governor of Huguang, asking them to use this opportunity to rectify the monks and Taoists!"

"First, check all monks, nuns and Taoists to see if they have ordination certificates. Those who don't have them, along with their servants, will be considered thieves who are plotting rebellion, and are accomplices of the evil monk Jue'an and the evil nun Miaoshan. They will be exiled to Donglai! All land will be taken back and given to the people!"

“Even if you have a certificate of ordination, you still need to take the test. Only the money for the merits will be collected from those who pass. Those who fail will be regarded as the accomplices of the evil monk Jue’an and the evil nun Miaoshan who have mixed into Buddhism and Taoism. They will also be exiled to Donglai with their servants! All the land will be taken back and given to the people!”

"In addition, according to the system, all monks and Taoists who are not over 40 years old for men and over 50 years old for women are not allowed to become monks! Therefore, all those under this age will be dismissed, their certificates of ordination will be taken back, and they will be regarded as accomplices of the evil monk Jue'an and the evil nun Miaoshan who have infiltrated Buddhism and Taoism. They will also be exiled to Donglai with their servants! All the land will be taken back and given to the people!"

"Those who have ordination certificates and have passed the examinations, and are over 40 for men and over 50 for women, will have their temple land surveyed so that money can be collected for their merits!"

After Zhu Houcong said this, Mao Ji was stunned.

Because he had to admit that if the emperor's edict was really carried out, it would be tantamount to destroying Buddhism and Taoism!

After such a screening, I'm afraid there won't be many monks and Taoists left.

The remaining monks and Taoists will only be those who are truly willing to abide by the rules and regulations.

After all, those who are familiar with Buddhist and Taoist classics, can pass the exams, and are willing to pay merit money are equivalent to implicitly accepting that they do not have the right to exemption from military service and cannot accept donations. Those who do not care about their age and continue to work hard to earn merit money must have true love for the cause of using Buddhism to save all sentient beings and using Taoism to save the world.

(End of this chapter)