The first assistant of the poor family

Chapter 451
"What Mu Zhaigong said is true. But I think His Majesty's filial piety to the Empress Dowager does not conflict with Qingzhang's temple land. As long as you don't touch those granted fields for the time being, I don't think His Majesty will bother."

Xie Shen said unhurriedly.

Hearing this, Xie Qian's eyes widened and he said, "Siming, you are getting more and more determined."

Xie Shen smiled sheepishly and said, "That's because Lord Xi Ya and Lord Mu Zhai taught well."

"Okay, Siming, since you know what's in your mind, the old man can rest assured."

Xie Qian sighed and said, "It's too late, it's not easy for the temple to hand over the land."

"In this world, when it comes to conflicts of interest, there is nothing easy to do. But it doesn't mean that it can't be done. If everyone is afraid of taking responsibility and dealing with errands, then the Ming court will be ruined."

"Siming, be careful with your words."

"It's okay, there are no outsiders in this cabinet."

Li Dongyang smiled and smoothed things over for Xie Shen: "But Siming, you have to be careful. It's easy to hide an open spear, but it's hard to defend against a hidden arrow."

Xie Shen nodded movedly.

Li Dongyang has been cultivating him as a disciple and taking care of him under his wings.Although strictly speaking, Li Dongyang could not be regarded as Xie Shen's mentor, but he never regarded Xie Shen as an outsider.

Xie Shen's reforms have touched the interests of the powerful, and it is certain that they will be counterattacked.

The difference is how these dignitaries will use to retaliate against Xie Shen.

After all, one cannot ask everyone to be as enlightened as Li Dongyang.

In the more than [-] years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the scholar-bureaucrats have already formed a mindset that they take the privileges they enjoy for granted.

What Xie Shen has to do is to correct this thinking
"Haha, I heard that Siming's other courtyard in Xishan is under the name of Tanzhe Temple, and it was forcibly taken back. Isn't this a public revenge?"

Xie Qian said half-jokingly.Xie Shen showed a bitter look on his face and said: "Then I have to dare to ask for another courtyard. It is obvious that Tanzhe Temple is blackmailing me, so I dare to accept it?"

"Ahem, don't get excited. Siming, you did the right thing. Now that you are in a high position, countless pairs of eyes are staring at you, hoping that you will make mistakes. You must not take advantage of this kind of petty advantage."

After a short pause, Xie Qian continued: "Anyway, with Siming's financial resources, you won't take such a small amount of money seriously. Isn't the monthly income of the bank alone a lot?"

Xie Shen shook his head sadly and said, "How could Mr. Mu Zhai miss me so much. I'm a poor man."

"Poor people?"

"Well, the poor can't be poorer."

"I think he is poor and only has money left?"

The two looked at each other and smiled, burying their suspicions.

It is a big event for Empress Dowager Zhang to leave the palace.Whether it is guarding the guard of honor or choosing the route, you need to pay extra attention.

The queen mother left the palace not for anything else, but to go to Xishan to worship Buddha.

Emperor Zhengde had been on the throne for more than two years, and had countless concubines, but he never gave birth to any heirs.

This made Queen Mother Zhang very worried.

He and the first emperor had only one son, Zhengde, and the bloodline of this line was tied to Zhengde alone.

If Emperor Zhengde had no offspring, the throne would fall to another branch, which Empress Zhang would never allow.

Therefore, he planned to go to Tanzhe Temple to worship Buddha and burn incense, and asked Buddha and Bodhisattva to bless him so that the emperor could get an heir earlier.

From the Forbidden City to Tanzhe Temple, the journey is not too far.However, due to considerations of safety and other factors, the empress dowager's guard of honor walked very slowly.

It was already noon when we set off early in the morning and arrived at Tanzhe Temple.

The arrival of the Empress Dowager is definitely a great joy for Tanzhe Temple.

The presiding Master Huikong led the Buddhist disciples to greet him in front of the mountain gate.

Although monks are not bound by the secular world, the benefactors still have to pay respect.

The Empress Dowager is the biggest benefactor of Tanzhe Temple.

During the reign of Hongzhi, the renovation and expansion of Tanzhe Temple was nominally paid by the eunuch Dai Yi, the supervisor of ceremonies, but in fact it was the empress dowager's intention.

Master Huikong is well aware of this.

Recently, Wanping County has to re-clear the fields of the temples in Xishan, which makes Master Huikong very worried.

Although Tanzhe Temple has a lot of connections with the royal family and has a lot of lands under its name, most of them are permanent residences.

Most importantly, in order to exempt grain tax, they all reported these lands as granted lands when declaring to the outside world.

In this way, nearly [-] mu of land under the name of Tanzhe Temple can be exempted from grain tax, and all the monks in the temple are full of greasy food.

With the banner of the royal family, naturally no one would really argue with Tanzhe Temple about which type of land it belongs to.

It wasn't until the cabinet maesters introduced the New Deal that everything changed.

Even the government servants from Wanping County dared to show off their power in front of Tanzhe Temple, really holding chicken feathers as arrows!
It's not that Master Huikong didn't think about wooing Xie Shen to tide over the difficulties.But this Xie Shen's reluctance made Master Huikong very desperate.

Now that the Empress Dowager is here, he has rekindled his hope.

As long as the queen mother is willing to protect Tanzhe Temple, a mere cabinet scholar is not a threat, right?

"Amitabha, the poor monk sees the Queen Mother."

Master Huikong clasped his hands together and saluted Queen Mother Zhang.

Empress Dowager Zhang also clasped her palms together and said: "Master, you don't need to be too polite. Ai's family came to your temple this time to pray for the emperor, and you don't need to worry about other things."

Master Huikong nodded and said: "In that case, please invite the Empress Dowager to come with the poor monk."

Surrounded by guards and monks, Empress Dowager Zhang and Master Huikong walked into the main hall together.

"Since the Empress Dowager is praying for His Majesty, she should meditate and offer incense to make a wish."

"As it should be."

Empress Dowager Zhang took a bunch of incense from a monk, lit it and put it on the incense burner.

Needless to say, everyone, including Master Huikong, withdrew.

There is only Queen Mother Zhang in the huge Daxiong Palace.

She didn't hesitate, but knelt down on the futon, closed her eyes and made a wish.

Buddha, please bless Zhao'er to obtain the heir of the emperor as soon as possible, and protect our great Ming Dynasty.

Empress Dowager Zhang's wish was very direct and practical, without the slightest affectation.

After she made her wish, she stood up, opened the door and walked out.

Seeing the Empress Dowager came out, Master Huikong paced forward and said, "Queen Dowager, may I still ask for a lottery."

Empress Dowager Zhang nodded and said, "Master Lao is here."

Empress Dowager Zhang followed Master Huikong to the side hall.

Master Huikong took out a bamboo tube and asked Empress Dowager Zhang to draw a lot out.

Empress Dowager Zhang took a deep breath, closed her eyes and took one out at will.

She handed the lottery to Master Huikong and waited for the other party to release the lottery.

But for some reason, Master Huikong remained silent.

This made Empress Dowager Zhang very anxious. She didn't ask, let alone asked, sweat was already oozing from the forehead.

Just when Empress Dowager Zhang was about to collapse nervously, Master Huikong sighed, shook his head again and again, and said, "Ominous omen, great omen."

Empress Dowager Zhang's face was as pale as paper: "Why did the master say that?"

(End of this chapter)