The most common thing in the late years of the dynasty was the annexation of land, which left the common people without a place to stand.
There is no land to farm and no factory to work in. Help the boss marry more concubines.
The common people who can't live without food naturally have no choice but to say, "Princes, generals and ministers should rather have their kind!" '
Although there are many reasons for land annexation, the most important root is borrowing money.
Even in the Song Dynasty, which was famous for its wealth, ordinary people were still very poor.
There is not much leftover money at home, not even much food left over.
But people need to spend money for life, birth, old age, illness, death, weddings and funerals. Anyone who marries a daughter-in-law, or is seriously ill and needs medical treatment, will naturally go bankrupt.
When losing everything is not enough, the only option is to borrow money.
China values filial piety. When parents are sick, they have to see a doctor no matter what. However, medical treatment costs money. When you don’t have money to borrow money, you have to have collateral.
The common people's families were impoverished and had no decent mortgage. They could only mortgage their own fields.
If it were in the city, it would be the ancestral home.
Those who had money to borrow were either landlords or temples.
Of course, there is no need to mention the landlords. Most of them are retired officials and gentry returning to their hometowns.
When I was an official, I had one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver. When I returned home, I naturally had to buy land to earn interest. After all, the most stable investment in the feudal era was to buy land.
And temples...the temples that are open for business in prosperous times but closed behind closed doors in troubled times have a terrifying ability to attract money.
They had a lot of money in their hands, so much that they melted copper coins to cast bronze vessels.
The glazed tiles and bronze bell serve as a vegetarian delicacy.
Not only do you live in the best pavilions and palaces, but you also eat delicious food that is enviable.
For example, Master Lu, who likes to drink and eat meat, has not understood the essence of being a monk at all.
If you were to be an abbot, at least the house, car, and money would be paid... ahem, in short, nothing should be missing.
You have to repay the borrowed money, but the people in the feudal era were not very able to withstand disasters. If the weather was not right or the rain was not favorable, they would be unable to repay the money.
Not only the principal, but also the extremely terrifying and high interest.
If the money is not paid, the land will be taken away.
People who lost their land either worked for others as tenants or held flags.
In the Song Dynasty, this kind of thing is actually very serious.
Since Li Yunze has become a powerful minister, he must take on the responsibility for the lives of the people of the Song Dynasty.
So the first thing he did was to kill these vampires.
And the magnificent and extremely luxurious Daxiangguo Temple in front of you was the largest creditor in the entire Song Dynasty.
A large number of soldiers surrounded the temple. The monks inside were very nervous, and the abbot personally came out to greet them.
The name of the abbot of Daxiangguo Temple is Zhiqing, and he is an eminent monk with kind eyebrows and kind eyes.
As for the big, shiny face and the thick neck, that's nothing to worry about. In Buddhist terms, it means 'there is a statue of Maitreya'.
"Young monk has met your husband." Monk Zhiqing saluted respectfully, with a smile that made people feel friendly at first sight. "I didn't know that my husband was coming here, but I didn't come from afar to welcome him. I apologize for my sin."
Li Yunze, who was on horseback, looked at him very seriously.
It’s hard to imagine that such a fat-headed but kind-hearted guy could be the biggest creditor in the entire Song Dynasty.
The number of people who owe debts to their Daxiangguo Temple is in the tens of thousands at least, and the hundreds of thousands of acres of land under their names is definitely far less.
This is really true.
Li Yunze didn't say anything, just looked at Zhiqing.
The old monk was not that flustered and stood there with a cheerful look.
In his opinion, these princes and ministers came to Daxiangguo Temple for nothing more than two things.
One thing is to seek support and organize some rituals and so on, so as to make the people more stable and enhance their own prestige.
If there is any more, it’s time to catch the autumn wind.
It doesn't matter if you need money, Daxiangguo Temple can afford as much money as you want.
As long as you can build a relationship, you can earn back tenfold or a hundredfold by borrowing the tiger skin.
After watching for a long time, Li Yunze finally said leisurely, "Master monk, when you left the temple just now, you stepped out with your left foot first."
Zhiqing'(⊙﹏⊙)'
Please forgive me for not being good at learning. What kind of allusion is this?
Facing Zhiqing's doubtful eyes, Li Yunze coughed and said, "According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, monks must step with their right foot first when leaving Daxiangguo Temple. You have violated the laws of the Song Dynasty!"
It was quiet all around, even the believers who were hiding in the distance and watching the excitement looked at each other.
"Ms. sir..."
"Call the Prime Minister!"
"Prime Minister." Zhiqing looked dumbfounded, "I have lived in Bianliang City for a long time, but I have never heard of such a great Song law."
"It's there now, since I said it." Li Yunze turned to Zhu Gui and told Zhu Gui, "Go to the official and ask for an edict and write down this Song law."
Zhu Gui, who had been slapped dozens of times for releasing Song Jiang and others, hurriedly responded, limped on his horse and went straight to the palace.
Host Zhiqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He could only ask bluntly, "May I ask the Prime Minister why you came to Daxiangguo Temple?"
"Someone received a report saying that there are a large number of monks in your Daxiangguo Temple who have ordained without paying ultimatums. They also say that you smelt copper coins and cast copper utensils without authorization. The morals of the monks in the temple are inappropriate and they are teasing young ladies. It is against the law to eat wine and meat..."
Li Yunze mentioned a long list of crimes, and host Zhiqing's scalp went numb when he heard it.
Really unable to bear it any longer, he immediately interrupted Li Yunze's list and said, "Amitabha~~~ Dare I ask the Prime Minister, who is it that slandered our Daxiangguo Temple like this?"
Li Yunze smiled slightly and said, "All the suffering masters, come out."
The dense queue of soldiers moved out of the way, and soon a group of Taoist priests came out in great force.
"Infinite Heavenly Lord~~~"
After the Taoist priests saluted Li Yunze, they all turned to look at Abbot Zhiqing, whose expression changed drastically.
The leader was wearing a purple robe. He gritted his teeth and looked at Abbot Zhiqing, "Old Baldy... Ahem, Abbot, today is the auspicious day to expose your filthy things!"
Abbot Zhiqing is not worried about the court causing trouble, because the people in the court are easy to talk to, and they can talk about anything as long as their minds are in place.
If it really doesn't work, believers can also be asked to help apply pressure.
But facing a group of Taoist priests in front of him, he was extremely nervous.
Because these Taoist priests will not accept their wishes at all, and they are not worried about the pressure from believers.
What's even worse is that Li Yunze is supporting the Taoist priests!
"All officers and men obey orders!"
Over there, Li Yunze shouted loudly, "Protect all Taoist priests to enter the temple for inspection! Anyone who dares to stop him will be punished as treason!"
"Here!"
The soldiers stepped forward in formation, holding shields in their hands and pressing forward step by step.
The monks in the Prime Minister's Kingdom had never seen such a scene before. They were all frightened to death and no one dared to stop them.
The Taoist priests laughed and swarmed in happily under the guard of the soldiers.
"Abbot?!"
There was no other way, the monks could only look to their abbot for help.
"Amitabha." Abbot Zhiqing came up to Li Yunze and proclaimed the Buddha's name, "The Prime Minister is so lightly practicing Buddhism, aren't you afraid of the Buddha's wrath?"
"Buddha?"
The image of Tathagata came to Li Yunze's mind, and he immediately smiled, "I would like to meet the Buddha, have a discussion with him about Buddhism, and ask him why he plans to defeat the Buddha in a fight. I also want to ask, is it the Buddha's light that shines all over the world, or the Buddha's power? Miss Qiu is amazing!"
Abbot Zhiqing couldn't understand Li Yunze's words. Before he could say anything more, he was already taken away by the soldiers.
After all, Daxiangguo Temple is so famous, and it is still at the foot of the emperor in the prosperous Bianliang City.
Naturally, there are almost no dirty things that make people look down upon. But no one can get away with shaving privately, smelting copper coins to make copper utensils, etc.
In the past, even if everyone knew about it, no one would take the initiative to expose it, let alone enter the temple to arrest him.
But who made them meet Li Yunze? It was such a bad time that no one could run away.
Zhiqing accidentally saw Lu Zhishen and hurriedly shouted, "Master's nephew, master's nephew! The temple was in trouble, why didn't you help?"
Lu Zhishen scratched his bald head and looked helplessly at Li Yunze.
"Huh?" Li Yunze stared at him, and Lu Zhishen hurriedly explained, "Prime Minister, after all, I have placed orders here..."
"Buddhism is a pure place where you can study Buddhism." Li Yunze gestured to Lu Zhishen, "You all call yourself a monk, so don't get involved in worldly things. You must keep this in mind when you preside over the Daxiangguo Temple in the future."
After hearing this, Lu Zhishen was still a little confused as to what it meant for me to preside over the Daxiangguo Temple.
But Abbot Zhiqing over there was already in a state of despair.
This prime minister is really cruel.
When Taoist priests come to raid the homes of monks, it's really like catching a bastard in a buckwheat field. It's a sure shot.
On the one hand, it is impossible for them to be bribed, and on the other hand, everyone is a peer, and whatever they do that they shouldn't do, they are all in their own right.
The Xiangguo Temple in Nuoda was looted and was in a mess.
The Taoist priests very smoothly found the monk who had ordained without any documents, seized a large number of copper utensils, rummaged through many books that should not have appeared in the temple, searched for wine and found meat, and Some quiet rooms that can only be understood but cannot be expressed, etc.
.
Pointing at the things in front of him, Li Yunze glared at Abbot Zhiqing with sharp eyes, "You have violated the laws of the Song Dynasty. What crime should you do?!"
"If you want to impose a crime, why bother?" Abbot Zhiqing, whose face was full of grief and anger, simply closed his eyes and kept chanting, and ignored Li Yunze.
He also thought that since the influence of Daxiangguo Temple was so great, it would not be too much.
"Hmm."
Li Yunze reached out and opened the boxes filled with countless IOUs and land deeds.
After looking through it for a while, he called Yang Zhi over, "Take all these land deeds to Kaifeng Mansion and local governments to cancel them, and all the fields will be distributed to the landless people."
After hearing this, Abbot Zhiqing didn't bother to act stupid and was stunned. He hurriedly stepped forward and shouted, "No, this is the property of this temple!"
Li Yunze was too lazy to pay attention to him and waved directly, "Hit me!"
The soldiers immediately swarmed forward and knocked the monks to the ground, followed by a punch.
"Take away all the copper utensils, money, silk, and jiaozi. Monks believe that all four elements are empty. What do you want these things for?"
"There are also those wine and meat, those pornographic books, and those decorative jewelry and jade...take them all away. Leave some for Ruda, enough for him to eat and drink for a year. From then on, Ruda will be the abbot of the Great Xiangguo Temple. ”
Abbot Zhiqing, with a bruised nose and swollen face, struggled to look towards Li Yunze from under his many legs.
Then he saw Li Yunze take the fire certificate, light it, and then put it on the IOU filled with many boxes.
Abbot Zhiqing's eyes were about to burst, and he tried his best to stretch out his arms towards the flaming IOU.
"No~~~~~~~"
