A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 794 Amitabha Buddha, forgive me, forgive me.
A real man never looks back to see the explosion.

A deafening explosion erupted behind them, followed by screams of agony from within the main hall.

Li Yi went down the mountain without looking back.

Liu Heizi had already drawn his sword and was closely following the guards. He had personally witnessed the power of that thing during the attack on Luoyang, which had blasted a huge hole in the seemingly impregnable imperial city.

Although the thing Situ just took out was only slightly larger than a fist, judging from the screams, it was quite powerful.

“Situ, weren’t you taking a risk just now? You are a dignified Situ, how could you put yourself in such danger?” Brother-in-law Xiao Twelve couldn’t help but say from the side.

Li Yi laughed and said, "With nine great generals like you, what are we afraid of, a bunch of monks?"

Moreover, there are more than three thousand soldiers at the foot of the mountain, who have already been arranged to rush up the mountain as soon as they hear the explosion.

"Take action, seal off the temple immediately."

Li Yi did indeed put himself in danger just now.
But he felt it should be called "entering the game with one's own body" or "using oneself as bait."

When Zhicao smashed the cup, Tanzong led dozens of martial monks out with swords and clubs, making it easy for Li Yi to deal with them.

Daring to openly assassinate the prime minister of the imperial court,

This is no ordinary problem.

Xiao Shisan, a Buddhist, said, “Shaolin Temple has already given in. Why doesn’t Situ let them off the hook? Ten thousand acres of land, ten thousand bushels of grain, and ten thousand bolts of silk—that’s better than Situ expected when he came, isn’t it?”

"I know when I came, but what I saw and heard in Baiguwu has made me decide to thoroughly reform them."

An explosion was heard.
The generals outside the temple immediately ordered their troops to rush into the temple.
More than three thousand soldiers charged straight into the temple.
Anyone who dares to resist with weapons will be executed on the spot.

The resistance was not strong.
Tanzong, the leader of the martial monks, was blown up right in front of the Buddha.

The temple's abbot, Shisao, also had a piece of metal embedded in his forehead and died on the spot.

Many others died or were injured in the hall, including many of the monks who were in charge of the temple.

This paralyzed the command structure within the temple and completely shattered their fighting spirit.

The Buddha's golden statue was damaged.

No one knew what happened at that moment, but it was so terrifying that it broke them down.

More than three thousand officers and soldiers.
They quickly took control of the entire temple.

Tanzong did indeed recall more than three thousand warrior monks and lay disciples.
With Tanzong and Zhicao dead, few of these people offered any resistance.

There were a few arrogant and audacious ones.

But after being riddled with arrows and riddled with holes by spears,
The others wisely abandoned their sticks, knives, and guns.

Whether you have hair or not,

With their hands and feet bound by rubber bands and strung together with hemp rope, they sat obediently on the ground awaiting their fate.

The Venerable One is well protected.

Indeed, he was meditating facing the wall in the Bodhidharma Cave.

They were also asked to come out.

In addition, seven other eminent monks with high titles in the temple were also invited out of the translation institute.

These eight people don't usually manage the temple's mundane affairs.

But they managed to escape a disaster.

"Amitabha, what a sin!" Shan Hu, with his white eyebrows and beard, was over seventy years old. Even he, a monk, could not maintain his composure when he saw the tragic scene in the Mahavira Hall.

Li Yi sat in front of the hall.
Explain the whole incident to the monks who had been gathered together.
From exploiting tenant farmers and abusing women, to spreading rumors and offending the emperor, as well as illegally possessing weapons and raising private armies,
Now they are openly assassinating the prime minister of the imperial court.

Each and every one of these crimes was a deadly offense.

"Report,"

"Reporting to Situ, a weapons workshop has been discovered in a hidden underground cave in the back mountain, containing privately made armor, shields, bows and crossbows, swords and spears, with over a hundred sets of leather armor alone."

Luo Dafu led a battalion of soldiers, bringing with him a group of artisans from the weapons workshop, as well as a large quantity of weapons and armor.

"Report!"

Another officer came to report that a temple brewery had been discovered in the backyard of the supposedly sacred kitchen, where they were brewing large quantities of wine without permission.

Despite the imperial edict prohibiting private brewing, Shaolin Temple secretly sold its own brewed wine.

"Investigate, continue the search. Search every inch of the temple thoroughly, leave no place unchecked." Li Yi summoned Li Cunyi and the others, instructing them to begin interrogating the monks one by one. Soon...

A monk revealed that behind the library, there was an artificial hill with a secret underground chamber where many women were imprisoned.

Li Cunyi led his troops there.

Sure enough, they found the secret room and discovered dozens of imprisoned women inside. These women, whose clothes were disheveled, were mostly young and beautiful women from the surrounding area who had come to offer incense.

Li Cunli seized the temple's accounting office and found account books that recorded the temple's kitchen engaging in usury and the temple's treasury being used for pawning and mortgages.

Each and every one of these loans represents a high-interest debt incurred by villagers in the surrounding area.

There are also accounts relating to their management of farmland, workshops, shops, etc.
Over the years, the temple has earned a lot of money and received many donations. They have rebuilt the temple and still have plenty of money in their granaries.

These pieces of evidence were listed and published one by one.

"Privately possessing armor and weapons, illegally brewing wine, abducting women, engaging in loan sharking and exploitation, assassinating imperial envoys, spreading seditious rumors, and disrespecting the emperor."
Each and every one of these incidents...

shocking.

This is no longer a sacred Buddhist site.
This is the man-eating den of demons!

Li Yi looked at the pale-faced Venerable Shanhu, and the seven virtuous monks whose hands were trembling as they swung their prayer beads.

"Your meditation skills are profound, but unfortunately, you have failed to see the many sins of this temple."

Esteemed sirs, you are well-versed in the scriptures, yet you have neglected the management of the monks right under your noses.

Starting today,
The abbot of Shanhu Temple and the other seven eminent monks immediately went to Chang'an, and from then on, they devoted themselves to translating scriptures at the Daxingshan Temple translation center.

Shaolin Temple traditionally has ten virtues.

The abbot, Shisao, and the chant master, Huiyang, had also previously received titles bestowed by great masters.

Now there are eight left. Considering their advanced age, high titles, and lack of involvement in this conflict, we will not investigate them further and will send them all to Chang'an to translate scriptures.

As for the remaining monks and laypeople, there were also the so-called lay martial arts performers, danren (palace attendants), etc.

Those who commit serious offenses, especially those who violate the law, such as kidnapping, raping women, or harming tenants, will be held legally accountable and dealt with according to the law.

The remaining monks were all forced to return to secular life and their hometowns, and each was given a share of land.

Lay disciples and lay followers were all dismissed and sent home.

All properties within the temple were confiscated.
All tenants in the temple were registered and settled, and each adult male was allocated 100 mu of land.

All usurious loans issued by the temple were waived.

"Shaolin Temple was renamed Zhihu Temple."

Thirty monks were transferred from Chang'an, Luoyang, and other places, each given twenty mu of land. The monks were to be self-sufficient, and the monastery was forbidden from leasing out land, operating workshops, or lending money at interest.

"The wood, stone, bricks, and tiles obtained from demolishing some of the over-standard buildings will be used to build schools, Confucian temples, and community granaries in the surrounding villages!"

"Illegal weapons were melted down and cast into agricultural tools, which were then distributed to the people."

Li Yi looked at the group of monks whose faces were ashen.

"Back then, the Indian monk Bhadra traveled thousands of miles through the Western Regions to the Central Plains. He was deeply respected by Emperor Xiaowen and attained enlightenment in Heng'an City. Later, he was ordered to establish a temple at Shaoshi Mountain on Mount Song to practice Zen. At that time, hundreds of people from all directions came to study under him."

Later, during the Southern Liang Dynasty, Bodhidharma, a monk from South India, traveled by sea to Guangzhou, then crossed the Yangtze River on a reed to the north, where he stayed at this temple. He meditated facing a wall in the Five Peaks Cave for nine years to comprehend the Dharma of Zen, and wrote "The Six Gates of Shaolin," which made Shaolin Temple revered as the ancestral temple of Zen Buddhism.

Indian monks such as Ratnamoti and Bodhiruci once came to Shaolin Temple and established a translation center there, devoting themselves to translating Buddhist scriptures.

But what about now?
You do not observe the precepts, nor practice the Dharma, but only indulge in desires, thus creating more and more sins.

Li Yi was too lazy to say anything more, and waved his hand.

"Take everyone away and interrogate them thoroughly. Once the interrogation is complete, deal with them accordingly!"

The mural in the Guanyin Hall depicting thirteen monks rescuing the King of Qin is...
Li Yi went to see it, and it was painted by a very famous painter. The painting was very good, and the characters and story were excellent.

There was also text accompanying it.

"At the end of the Sui Dynasty's Daye era, the world was in chaos. Ten thousand bandits approached Shaolin Temple, and the monks were about to flee. An old monk with a short stick guarded the bandits' advance, and those who faced him all retreated, not daring to enter the temple."

He then selected one hundred young and strong monks to teach them staff techniques.
When the King of Qin was campaigning against Wang Shichong, he was captured by enemy troops. The Shaolin monks defeated them with their staffs and rescued the King. Thirteen of these staff-wielding monks then secretly entered Huanzhou at night and captured Wang Renzhe alive. Huanzhou was then captured. The King of Qin rewarded those who had rendered meritorious service, appointing Tanzong and others as Grand Generals and granting Shaolin forty acres of land and a watermill…

Li Yi looked at the murals and texts that distorted history.
"Smashed!"

(End of this chapter)