Under the gray sky, hundreds of mule carts circled the vast white land, centered on Ye Dian where Chen Jingbang was located.
Chen Jingbang looked at Zhang Maoxiu: "Where can I have such wealth?"
Zhang Maoxiu smiled: "You still don't admit it!"
With that said, Zhang Maoxiu ordered loudly: "Lift the curtain of the car and let him take a look."
"yes!"
After a while, Chen Jingbang saw that the monks and nuns who were in charge of his money were tied to the mule cart together with carts of money.
"In recent years, the military pay issued from the Ministry of War has always been short by 20 to 30%, but the whereabouts cannot be traced. The Minister of the Ministry of War does not seem to have directly dealt with it, but why on earth is it so low when it is delivered to the border towns? It’s two to three percent shorter.”
"It took us a long time to find out. It turns out that the father-in-law directly handed over the lost military pay to some monasteries!"
"These temples and nunneries also lend money to the public!"
"Rang Gong's income is getting higher and higher year by year, so much so that I'm afraid he doesn't even know how many silver dollars he has."
"We did the math for you. The total is five million six hundred and seventy-nine thousand sixty-four taels of silver!"
"But we didn't attack the public rashly because we were worried that besides the temple we found, there would be other temples and nunneries hiding silver coins for the public."
"We can only catch them all when my father-in-law is about to leave Beijing and dig out all the silver coins from the cellars of various monasteries and monasteries and take them back to his hometown."
Zhang Maoxiu patted the snow on his shoulder as he spoke: "In order to keep an eye on the family members, our Jin Yiwei have spent a lot of effort! There are twenty people suffering from frostbite alone!"
"Zhang Maoxiu!"
Chen Jingbang suddenly pointed and shouted, then asked: "Why are you two brothers so excessive!"
"I have never been as serious about investigating corruption as you are. Before you came here, Jin Yiwei was not so serious. I have already been dismissed, why are you still pursuing me!"
"Is the country now short of five million taels of silver dollars?!"
Chen Jingbang asked Zhang Maoxiu loudly.
Zhang Maoxiu asked loudly: "Then my father passed away back then, why are you chasing after him?!"
Chen Jingbang was silent for a long time, and then said: "What happened to your father is Shilin's fault, but what you are doing now is really bad! It's a bad atmosphere!"
"Bad atmosphere is good."
"We just want to make you afraid and know the consequences of not showing mercy."
"Only now that you regret your conspiracy against our Zhang family, will you know that you can't do that to the Shen family now!"
Zhang Maoxiu said with a smile, and then ordered: "Take it away!"
Chen Jingbang was also detained and asked: "Is this really okay for you? His Majesty has already presided over the matter of your ancestral graves being dug up and many scholars intending to confiscate and exterminate your family. To be fair, the car that should have been cracked has already been cracked, and even the chief minister like Zhang Puzhou was liquidated because of it, why haven't you finished yet?"
"Yes! Today, because of my love for my teacher, I value your Zhang family very much, but aren't you afraid that in the future, your majesty, the newly established monarch will favor the scholar-bureaucrats who are dissatisfied with the restructuring? Aren't you afraid that they will also continue to intensify their revenge on your Zhang family? ?”
"Why don't you stop when you feel uncomfortable?"
"Mr. Zhao has already taken the initiative to invite you to be promoted to an official or a title to show your kindness to the scholars. Why don't you appreciate it? Why don't you know how to be in harmony with the light?"
Because Chen Jingbang knew that he had no way out now, he said everything he wanted to say.
He really hopes that the Zhang brothers can know how to compromise, make changes, and know when enough is enough. After all, that's how they themselves are.
"The cabinet cleans the temples, and the royal guards eliminate corruption. Whatever is wrong, it is for the sake of the country and the people."
Zhang Maoxiu only smiled and asked.
Chen Jingbang closed his eyes and was speechless.
…
The decree of Qingsi Guanyuan is indeed still being implemented, and it has developed from Shuntian Prefecture to the whole country.
Even Jiangnan began to investigate.
"Inspect immediately!"
"I really didn't expect that such a large piece of high-quality polder field would be all the hidden fields of Huiyuanan!"
As he spoke, Li Hualong looked at Miaotong, the abbot of Huiyuan Temple who was being escorted, and said: "The key point is that tens of thousands of acres of hidden land are not enough. You, a nun, actually cooperated with human traffickers to buy girls to pick up customers. Even if you are sentenced to death, it cannot be justified!" "
Miao Tong chuckled and said: "My parents really don't know or they really don't care. I am an old nun who can eat so much hidden land. I dare to buy people from human traffickers. Just wait. Even if I want to kill you, you In the future, people will fall to the ground as well!"
Li Hualong also laughed: "It's not your turn to worry about my fate."
As he spoke, Li Hualong walked to the edge of the field and asked Lu Lizhi, a poor scholar who was responsible for helping the court officials clear the temple fields and check the status of monks and nuns in the monasteries, and asked: "How long will it take to clear the land?"
"It takes three days no matter what."
"There are still too few people who understand mathematics and science, and students have to teach and learn at the same time. In addition, there are indeed too many fields in this temple."
"Many of our wealthy officials cannot compare to them."
Lu Lizhi said.
Li Hualong nodded after hearing this and said nothing more.
Lu Lizhi said at this time: "You know, Nancheng Longfu Temple occupies more temple land, so we will have to work hard at that time."
"No matter how hard you work, you still have to investigate. Since the emperor has issued the order, those who should be returned to the people must be returned to the people!"
Li Hualong said something.
"You really dare to do it! No matter how hard the students wait, it's worth it!"
Lu Lizhi said with a smile and immediately ran to the field and started measuring.
In fact, there are groups that support this policy in cleaning up Buddhist temples this time, and the groups that support this policy are many common people, landlords and farmers.
Since Siguan Nunnery colluded with the high-ranking officials and became a trust of the high-ranking officials, it has seriously violated their interests, causing them to have their rental interests backlogged, and at worst, being forced to bear more taxes and even have their land stolen. encroachment.
Therefore, the poor scholars from this class were particularly active in assisting the government in cleaning up Buddhist temples.
Especially in the south of the Yangtze River, many people were studying, so there were more people from poor families who supported the cleaning up of Buddhist temples.
And when Li Hualong came with him, Yingtian Tongpan Mei Guolou said to Li Hualong: "Actually, what the old nun said is right. You should think about the consequences."
"It's not that serious. After all, we are also imperial officials who were born as Jinshi, and we only act under the emperor's orders. We won't have our heads dislocated. As long as we don't directly kill the people in the scholar forest, we won't even be exiled. Instead, the superiors took the initiative The person in charge of this matter may be punished for taking the lead in this matter to serve as a warning to others!"
"But it's hard to say, after all, Zhang Taiyue also died a good death."
Li Hualong said.
Mei Guolou said: "But if you are not afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the worst. After all, this is something that offends people."
"I have thought about what you said, but it is precisely because this is something that offends people, and I am just doing things under orders. The most I can do is to be dismissed from office. Therefore, the more opportunities there are to curb powerful mergers, I will The more thorough we have to do, the better. If we can cut off some powerful minions, cut off as many as possible, so as not to have no chance in the future!"
"After all, it is impossible to say for sure. Prime Minister Shin, who is now in charge of this matter, really gave up because he felt that the resistance was too great, causing this policy to come to an abrupt end!"
As Li Hualong spoke, he told Mei Guolou: "That old nun has committed a heinous crime. He has caused so many girls to be tortured to death, but nothing has happened to him. He is obviously a pawn of a powerful gentry. When you go back, let her die violently in the cell, so as not to be punished." Time really can’t kill us, we can’t get rid of this scourge!”
Mei Guolou nodded: "Okay, this is simple! You are right. No one knows whether the ruling Shen Xiangguo and others will suddenly stop this matter. It is also a good thing to take advantage of this moment to step up and clean up the culprits!"
So, that night, the nun from Huiyuan Temple died suddenly in prison without anyone noticing.
…
"Does Yuan Fu know how many monks and nuns died suddenly in the area?"
"The entire people are in panic!"
Shen Zimu, the censor of the capital city named Yuyang, also mentioned the implementation of the policy of cleaning up Buddhist temples to Shen Shixing that day, and said: "In addition, because Haigangfeng is in charge of the official department, the local people-friendly officials he selected were obviously intentional. I used the public's name to practice too strictly, so many monks and nuns died suddenly."
"No one knows how many powerful people are involved behind these famous monks and nuns, but what is clear is that if things continue like this, I will be deeply hated by everyone in the world!"
"Especially letting Haigangfeng take charge of the official department will only make the public afraid that Zhang Taiyue will be in danger."
Shen Shixing smiled and said, "Didn't the Grand Master have a happy death?"
"That's just because I respect the teacher's way."
"Can Gong compare himself to the Grand Master?"
Shen Zimu asked.
(End of chapter)
