"Uncle Huang, how are you, have you seen Master Lu?"

When King Lao Fu came in, King Rui, King Hui, King Zhao and several other clansmen immediately greeted him.

Lao Fu Wang is the direct brother of Emperor Taizu.

King Rui, King Hui, and King Zhao were all descendants of Emperor Guangde, and they were preserved because they were not involved in the struggle for succession.

Emperor Guangde once left a decree, ordering Emperor Ningwu to arrange for them to join the vassal as soon as possible, but seeing that Emperor Ningwu has been on the throne for almost four months, there has been no news from the court. .

Even the clansmen who came from the fief to congratulate Emperor Guangde on his birthday were detained in the capital.

They didn't think that Emperor Ning Wu did this simply because he wanted to keep them in the capital for the New Year.

As for the Lord Lu they were talking about, it was the current Minister of the Household, Wenhuadian Grand Scholar, and Lord Ningwu's close confidant, Lord Lu Zengxiang.

Lao Fu Wang frowned and said with a sigh: "I have seen it, and I have said what I have to say. I asked Lu Zengxiang when we can leave the capital, but Lu Zengxiang asked me about the rebellion of the Seven Kings in the Han Dynasty and the Eighth Dynasty in the Jin Dynasty. What do you think about Wang Zhichao?"

"The Rebellion of the Seven Kings?" King Rui muttered to himself, and then sat back on the chair with a thud, with a gray expression on his face: "Looks like Long Live really wants to cut down the clan."

After the establishment of the Dayang Dynasty, when Emperor Taizu and his civil and military officials summed up the experience of the rise and fall of chaos in history, they agreed that an important reason for the demise of the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty was that the main and weak ministers were strong, and the court could not get the clan and vassal screens. , So taking history as a mirror, decided to build a vassal.

According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu, in addition to enjoying the enfeoffment of the princes from generation to generation (the emperor's sons are all awarded the title of princes, the eldest son of the prince is hereditary prince, and the rest of the princes, regardless of their direct descendants, are appointed as county kings...), the annual Lumi 50,000 shi (one stone is about 125 jin), 20,000 taels of silver, 3,000 pieces of silk and satin fabrics of various colors, 200 bucks of salt... In addition to the preferential treatment, he also has the right to keep 6,000 to 10,000 guard troops. The vassal kings can even intervene in local military affairs.

The more heirs, the more treatment they will be given. Because of this, the vassal kings who are enfeoffed are not just trying to have children. In the present Ming Dynasty, which also implemented the enfeoffment system, not to mention Zhu Di, the first vassal king who successfully rebelled. It is only said that during the Apocalypse period, the total tax and grain of the whole country could not fill the mouths of 600,000 clans.

But it shows that the dynasty was devoured by the vassal king.

Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall, but Meng Zezhi is of course more willing to nip danger in the bud.

"How dare Gu Wu, this is the rule set by the ancestors!" Zhao Wang was unwilling, seeing that prosperity and wealth were at his fingertips. Unexpectedly, at this last moment, Emperor Ning Wu knocked them back to their original state with a single thought.

"Sixth, be careful." King Hui shouted, he was used to being timid.

"Fourth brother, our three brothers have not fought or robbed for so many years, isn't it for this day, and the result—" Zhao Wang said angrily: "How can you make me willing?"

"What can you do if you're not reconciled?" Lao Fu Wang said angrily, "Are you rebelling? Think about what happened to King Tang."

That is a ruthless man who can kill even his own brother!

King Zhao opened his mouth and lost his voice in an instant.

"People are killed by swords, and I am fish." After saying that, Lao Fuwang's face was stunned, and the whole figure looked more than five years old, so how could he be reconciled.

"Uncle Huang, what do you think we should do?" King Rui asked with a wry smile.

"What else can I do?" The Old Fortune King said in a depressing tone: "Tomorrow, I will write a letter and ask to cut off the vassal. I just hope that Long Live will treat me with two points for the sake of my safety in this life."

"Uncle Huang?" Zhao Wang's face was ashen.

"Let's do it like this." King Rui took a deep breath: "This is the end, do we still have a choice!"

"Alas." All the clan members were downcast.

Seeing that everyone had accepted their fate, King Zhao opened his mouth and sighed fiercely. After all, he was unable to speak.

Preferential treatment is impossible, who made Meng Zezhi sit on the throne now? For these superficial relatives who have only met a few times, if it is not for the world to see, he doesn't even care about it.

This is not the front foot, Lao Fu Wang, on the fold, and the back foot Meng Zezhi agrees. Not only that, but he also completely overturned the rules left by Emperor Taizu.

The new "Clan Law" stipulates that the ranks of the nobles are not divided into vassals (grant titles but not fiefs), and clansmen are not allowed to leave the capital without an edict.

Four other ways of conferring nobility have been established, and at the same time, the titles have been changed from generation to generation to descended nobility. The prince can only be awarded the prince if he has merit, which is the merit title. The highest prince can only be awarded the king of the county, which is the entitlement. After the death of the prince, his heir will be downgraded to inherit the county king. This is called Xifeng. When the rest of the princes reach the age of 20 and the total number exceeds ten, the emperor will send the princes and ministers appointed by the emperor to test his six skills as a gentleman, and those who are qualified will be awarded the highest award. General Fengguo (the fifth in the eighth title of the clan.)

In cutting off the right of the clan to keep the army, and at the same time lowering their treatment, taking the prince as an example, only 10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 shi of rubi are given each year.

In this regard, civil and military officials will naturally not object, after all, no one wants to keep a group of mediocrity in vain.

The clansmen who received the imperial decree were like mourning concubines, but it was a pity that they had to bow their heads under the eaves. They have no choice but to hand over the military power in their hands honestly.

When the dust of the partition was settled, the treasury was empty again.

Right now is when money is in short supply. Provinces along the southeast coast ask for money for battery repairs, and Enke asks for money for exams. In the trial year, the number of children in Beijing has never been less than 4,000, and Enke is even more, plus other miscellaneous expenses, at least 200,000 taels of silver), the spring flood will come again soon, It takes money to manage the river...

Meng Ze knew sorrow.

"If that's the case, I'll first allocate 700,000 taels of silver from internal funds for emergencies."

This is not a long-term strategy. Emperor Guangde didn't actually have much money left behind, only less than two million taels of silver, most of which were obtained when he raided his home and celebrated his birthday with hundreds of civil and military officials, which was very shabby.

After Meng Zezhi succeeded to the throne, the Xiao family gave Meng Zezhi all the shares of the workshops in her hands, and when her partners saw it, they also turned over some of the shares in their hands. Now Meng Zezhi accounts for 80% of these workshops, and can earn more than 200,000 taels of silver every month.

But don't forget, he still has to keep two gold-eating beasts, the Shipyard and the Firearms Bureau.

Recalling the reign of Emperor Guangde, he ran out of money when he fought the Tartars, just as the case of fraud in the imperial examination broke out, the First Prince’s Party was copied, and the army salaries and the silver taels for the re-examination were all available. In the twenty-two years of the drought in Qingzhou, most of the Eighth Princes were copied, barely filling the hole. In the 24th year of the Yellow River, the Second Prince's Party was gone, and the treasury was filled with it.

to him

Meng Zezhi glanced at the civil and military officials standing in the main hall. These people were either truly talented and learned, or they were heroes who supported him, and they really couldn't do it.

Thinking of this, Meng Zezhi couldn't help sighing.

Now he can only hope that the sea trade fleet can come back sooner.

All the ministers saw their scalps go numb, and they all knelt down and shouted, "Long live wise."

Not long after I went to court, I heard Tao An come in and announce: "Long live, Lord He Qingyun and He asks to see you."

He Qingyun was the one who stood up and suggested that Meng Zezhi use the dragon robe as a replacement for Xiao's court staff when he was beating the Dengwen drum last time.

Because of this incident, Meng Zezhi raised him two levels in a row.

"He Qingyun?" Meng Zezhi raised his head from the pile of memorials: "Xuan."

Tao An immediately shouted: "Mr. Xuan He Qingyun He is here."

As soon as he entered the hall, He Qingyun knelt down and greeted him: "My minister, He Qingyun, long live my emperor, long live, long live."

"He Aiqing is flat."

With that said, Meng Zezhi put down the red pen in his hand: "Why did He Aiqing come here?"

"Long live back." He Qingyun said with a sullen face: "This minister is here to solve your problems for His Majesty."

"How do you say?" Meng Zezhi became energetic.

He Qingyun immediately took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Tao An: "Long live Yulan, please."

Meng Zezhi took the booklet presented by Tao An and opened it.

He Qingyun explained: "In the third year of Guangde, the Tartars invaded the border, and after the former emperor was rescued by Zen Master Huihe, he highly praised Buddhism, and Buddhism flourished. In the past 20 years, Buddhists have built more than 3,200 temples. , Lanruo (private monk residence) is as many as 20,000, and it costs more than 100,000. It is ridiculous that the late emperor was diligent and thrifty throughout his life, and the Forbidden City has never been overhauled once.”

"First, because temples are exempt from tax, there is an express provision in Buddhist precepts that disciples are not allowed to farm, buy or sell, or make matchmakers. Therefore, temples do not produce food, and only rely on pilgrims to give alms, so naturally there is no need to pay taxes. Because of this, Almost all temples use the incense money donated by pilgrims to buy land wantonly, hire people to farm, and some people rely on temples with their names to avoid taxes. According to the statistics of ministers, there are no less than 80 fields owned by temples across the country. A thousand hectares."

Meng Zezhi frowned. There were more than 800,000 hectares, and the arable land measured in the whole country was only 7 million hectares.

"Second, the rampant rise and preaching of Buddhism has led to many young men and women escaping into Buddhism instead of producing. As of last year, there were more than 150,000 monks and nuns in the country, and more than 300,000 people dedicated to serving as servants in monasteries. ."

"Thirdly, Buddhists firmly believe in putting down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha on the spot. Therefore, temples are often used by fugitives who are afraid of crimes and become places to hide and hide..."

Speaking of this person, Meng Zezhi remembered one thing, and he asked, "I remember that He Aiqing was the second grade of Enke in the first year of Guangde."

He Qingyun said calmly: "Exactly, the minister was originally appointed to the right servant of the Ministry of Housing, but he was hated by the previous emperor because he wrote a letter to the sixteenth year of Guangde to ask the Buddha to restrain him, and he was demoted to the magistrate of Pengze. Long live the Houmeng. Abandoned, made an exception and was promoted to the Censor of the Capital Censorship."

Meng Zezhi asked again, "You, Faith?"

The four eras of Buddhism eradication in history had the shadow of Confucianism and Taoism.

He Qingyun replied, "My mother worships Buddha, and she once cried and quarreled with Wei Chen because of this."

His words have two meanings, one is to show that he is dedicated to the public and has no selfishness. Second, it alludes to Mrs. Xiao, the lady of Fengsheng who also believes in Buddhism.

It doesn't make sense for him as a minister to be disobedient and unfilial for the people of the world, but when he comes to the emperor, he can't be indecisive.

"He Aiqing is forcing me," Meng Zezhi said.

"Wei Chen dare not."

Since Meng Zezhi didn't get angry, it means that he listened to this matter. Thinking of this, He Qingyun breathed a sigh of relief.

This is not a gamble. Last time, he lost a mess. Fortunately, this time, he won the gamble.

"Okay, I get it, keep the memorial, you can go back first, and let me think about it."

"Yes, Wei Chen retire."

This is probably the fastest way to get money.

Meng Zezhi sighed, made up his mind in an instant, and shouted, "Tao An, set up at Feng Sheng's mansion."

Meng Zezhi was very clear in his heart, what he was going to do, the Xiao family would naturally not object, but he had to go after the transition.

Twenty-four years of Guangde passed like this.

On New Year's Day, the first year of Ningwu, the emperor started writing, and the first decree he made was to condemn Buddhism, and his words were particularly fierce.

"In ancient times, three people ate a peasant together. Now, with monks and nuns, a peasant is eaten by five people. Among them, my people are especially trapped by the Buddha..."

"Bad law harms people, there is no way to go beyond this. And if one husband does not have fields, some suffer from hunger; one wife does not have silkworms, and some suffer from cold. Today, there are countless monks and nuns, all of whom are on the farm for food, and for silkworms for clothing. The temples are Zhaoti, and Mozhi Jiji is all decorated with cloud-shaped algae, arrogantly imitating palace residences."

He also said: "If the extinction of the Buddha can make the common people have the blessings of the world, I will not spare the suffering of hell."

As soon as the decree came out, the whole world was shocked.

"The minister thought that we should follow the example of Emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty, destroy the temples all over the world and the monasteries built privately under the name of "Lan Ruo", and ordered each prefecture to keep only one Buddhist temple, ranging from ten to thirty monks, and the rest of the monks and nuns should be forced to return to the secular world. The wood used for repairing shantangs and charities, gold and silver Buddha statues are handed over to the state treasury, iron Buddha statues are smelted to make farm tools, bronze statues and bells, chimes and other objects are smelted and made into coins, and the good fields of temples are confiscated and distributed to the poor people.” Shang Shu Lu Zengxiang said.

"It is inappropriate for the ministers to think that the Buddha is a barbarian and a person who is not inherent in China. He does not speak the laws of his predecessors, he does not obey the laws of his predecessors, he does not know the righteousness of the ministers and the king, and the relationship between father and son. From ancient times to the present, Buddhism has been extinguished repeatedly. The common people are deeply harmed by it, because the three martial arts and one sect did not completely eradicate Buddhism, and the minister thought that if Buddhism was completely eradicated, we could have a prosperous world and peace.” It was Xiao Deren, the current left servant of the Ministry of Rites, who spoke.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy immediately echoed: "I think what Lord Xiao said is very true."

They are all serious Confucian disciples.

For a time, more than half of the civil and military officials supported the complete eradication of Buddhism, and there were very few objections.

Thinking about it, the person standing above this court now is either Meng Zezhi's henchman, and he naturally bows his head to Meng Zezhi. Either they were not reused by Emperor Guangde and suffered hardships, because those who were reused by Emperor Guangde were all exiled because they were involved in the struggle for succession. These people would inevitably have complaints against Emperor Guangde. The respected Buddhism naturally cannot enter their eyes.

At this moment, Tao An, who had retreated at an unknown time, turned back again, with a letter in his hand, he bowed and said, "Long live, the abbot of Huguo Temple sent someone to report the mourning, and Zen Master Huihe sat there last night. Melted. Before he left, he left you a letter."

"Huh?" Meng Zezhi came back to his senses, his eyes fell on the letter in his hand, and he took it and opened it.

Inside was a yellowed bank note with a face value of 100,000 taels.

But it wasn't the 100,000 taels that Xiao's gave to ask Huihe Zen Master to give him orders.

If it wasn't for this silver note, Meng Zezhi would have almost forgotten that there was such a thing.

Speaking of which, he was able to become the emperor, but also thanks to Zen master Huihe.

No matter why Zen Master Huihe wanted to help the Xiao family back then, whether he was not used to Gu Yang's royal family, whether he was serving the country or the people... In a word, Meng Zezhi couldn't help but recognize this kindness.

Thinking of this, Meng Zezhi had a plan in his heart.

He said, "I know what all the loving ministers mean. From my point of view, the Tathagata set up teachings, with compassion as the main thing, and they should be of the heart, so why do you want to work people to save pretense? In the chaos of Buddhism, the sin lies in the monks and nuns without the Tao, not in the Buddha."

Seeing Meng Zezhi's words, and looking at each other, all the ministers could only shout: "Long live Shengming."

"That being the case, let's do as Lu Aiqing said." Meng Zezhi said.

"Yes."

"That's right," Meng Zezhi said as if he had remembered something, "another monk recording division, in charge of the monastery's monks and nuns' accounts, temple repairs and supplementary grants by monk officials. Don't make alms to the world again. Give each monk another 20 acres of fertile land, so that they can support themselves."

That's fine, since this Buddhism flourished because of Zen Master Huihe, it should also be good because of him.

As soon as this matter was over, the originally empty treasury immediately filled a lot, and even with Meng Zeming, there were more than a dozen Huangzhuang.

With the money, the civil and military officials finally dared to ask Emperor Ningwu to fill the harem with draft girls.

For these excerpts, Meng Zezhi kept them all. Lu Li, who heard the news, was overwhelmed with grief, and hooked Meng Zezhi to eat big fish and meat for several days.

Until Xiao Deren, who couldn't hold his breath, publicly mentioned this matter in the courtroom.

Meng Zezhi picked up the tea cup and moistened his throat: "Actually, I have already intended this."

Before waiting for the ministers to react, he continued: "Forget the draft, it will cost the people and money, and the money from the national treasury is hard to come by, mainly because of this queen's candidate. What do you think about being the commander of the Golden Guard?"