After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Su Yonglin issued an order prohibiting monks from doing business, and the temple property was measured and audited. Only the amount sufficient to support the monks in the temple was retained, and the rest was transferred to the surrounding collective farms.
In addition, the temple property must also pay the same amount of taxes in order to be recognized and protected by the court.
For all monks, the imperial court established the Xuanzheng Department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs for management, and issued new-style certificates to regulate their status. Every monk must leave a record in the Xuanzheng Department.
Not only that, out of concern for the study of Buddhism, the imperial court also ordered the establishment of a triennial Buddhist examination. Monks who failed the examination were required to return to secular life and were no longer allowed to claim to be monks.
If you can't even pass the Dharma exam, what kind of monk do you think you are?
So up to now, the once ordinary Daxiangguo Temple has once again glowed with the brilliance of profound Buddhist teachings. The big and small monks eat fast and chant Buddha every day, study Buddhism intensively, and are full of energy.
Daxiangguo Temple, as a major scenic spot in Kaifeng Prefecture, has attracted the interest of countless business travelers, causing them to come to visit one after another. This has resulted in the formation of a very prosperous commercial street around Daxiangguo Temple, benefiting the people.
Such a beautiful thing must of course be the icing on the cake, adding more eminent monks to the Daxiangguo Temple, making the Buddhist teachings of the abbot and masters more profound, accelerating the exchange of Buddhist teachings in different regions, and promoting the further development of Buddhism in the Central Plains.
The disposition of the Duan family was determined so easily, and Duan Zhixing had no objections to it.
This guy is unlucky to say the least. As a mascot who was supported by the powerful officials of the Gao family and ascended to the throne, he was told that he had become the spiritual banner of the rebels and the reason for the rebellion before he had even done anything.
The rebels used their own banners and names, claiming to destroy the powerful ministers of the Gao family, the lackeys of the Ming Dynasty, expel the Ming Dynasty's forces, and return the power to themselves.
This offended the Ming Kingdom to death, and also gave the Ming Kingdom, the overlord of Dali, an excuse to send troops.
To be honest, when Gao Shouchang reported this matter to Duan Zhixing, Duan Zhixing was almost frightened and died on the spot. Fortunately, Gao Shouchang knew that Duan Zhixing did not have the ability to cooperate inside and outside. It was most likely that the rebels were responsible for the trouble themselves for the sake of righteousness.
But no matter what, Duan Zhixing was unhappy seeing himself becoming a knife in the hands of others. When the Ming army pressed the reactionary coalition forces to the ground and rubbed them, Duan Zhixing was still happy.
Although he was a little melancholy about having the ancient Buddha with a blue lantern to accompany him throughout his life, he didn't feel uncomfortable considering that he would be able to live a carefree life from now on.
Anyway, becoming a monk is also a traditional skill of the Duan family. It is just a matter of carrying forward the traditional skills and there is no shame in it.
I just don’t know if a monk in the Ming Dynasty would be able to eat meat normally when he wanted to. If he couldn’t eat meat normally and could only eat vegetarian food, then he would be very uncomfortable.
After the Duan family matter was settled, Xu Tong inspected Dali City again. He listened to Gao Shouchang's report on military affairs, learned more about Dali's internal and external relations, and learned about the threats from external forces in the south and west of Dali. .
Because the next step of Ming Dynasty's border defense needs is naturally aimed at these countries.
According to Gao Shouchang's report, Xu Tong learned that there were two main external threats to Dali, one was the Bagan Kingdom located to the west of Dali, and the other was the Chenla Kingdom located to the south of Dali.
These two countries have nominally unified political power, and there are also powerful factions entrenched in the local areas. As local snakes, their strength should not be underestimated, and they still have something to offer.
Xu Tong was not worried about the Zhenla Kingdom because he knew very well that part of the reason why the two Ming army regiments were stationed in Lingnan was for the Zhenla Kingdom. They had been preparing for it for a long time and did not need the third army led by Xu Tong at all. The Eighth Army was worried about this.
As for the Bagan Kingdom, that is the main source of military threat Xu Tong will need to face in the future.
Unlike the Chenla Kingdom, the Ming Dynasty had no formal official contacts with the Bagan Kingdom, or in other words, there were no formal official contacts with the Song Dynasty. There were only some private business contacts, just doing business together to make money.
For Ming Dynasty, it belonged to a strange country with no diplomatic relations.
Whether this country adheres to a policy of peaceful diplomacy or is short-sighted and likes to fight, Xu Tong doesn't know. According to Dali Kingdom, Bagan Kingdom only had a new king on the throne last year due to the death of the old king. Under the current situation It is unlikely to be hostile to Ming Dynasty.
Unless Ming decides to attack them.
Ming Dynasty is not a war maniac, so why should he attack them?
Xu Tong knew that the Ming Dynasty had no intention of further conquering the south.
Taking control of the Dali Kingdom, establishing the Dali Province, taking control of this trade route, and further opening up the way for Sichuan and Sichuan handicraft products to be sold southward, this is all the current thoughts of the Ming Dynasty.
As for what will happen after Bagan and what the central government has in mind, Xu Tong doesn't know.
He felt that in the next period of time, Ming's external conquests would still be non-mainstream, and internal reforms would be the real mainstream.
The war can definitely come to an end, and the most important thing is to sort out the internal problems.
When he returned to Sichuan, Zhao Yucheng told him that Su Yonglin was very dissatisfied with the current attitude of some people at the top of the imperial court and felt that they had begun to deviate from everyone's original ideals and had become feudal patriarchs.
What Su Yonglin wants to do is to correct this unhealthy trend, to deal a certain blow to these people, and to complete what he calls political training and enter a state of constitutional government.
Xu Tong knew little about this aspect and had not had time to learn. He planned to learn Su Yonglin's constitutional concepts after Dali's military affairs came to an end and see what there was in it that was worthy of Su Yonglin's aggressive action.
Because the Ming army was too strong in martial arts, the rebellion in Dali was resolved in less than a month. Xu Tong led an army of 40,000 to easily eliminate the reactionary coalition forces in Dali, uprooting them and annihilating them all. .
Subsequently, he reported to the central government, handed over the follow-up tasks of governing Dali to the central government, asked the central government for its views on Bagan, and submitted his latest garrison report.
He believed that diplomatic means should be used mainly to deal with Bagan. First, go and find out Bagan's views on the Ming Dynasty. If the other party is willing to become a vassal state, that would be the best. It can eliminate military disasters and save some money to build Dali.
Although Xu Tong was a war general, he had a good political vision and realized that war is the continuation of politics and the ultimate expression of politics. Although there are contradictions, as long as there is a political solution, war as the final solution should not be easily use.
When a cannon is fired, gold is worth ten thousand taels, and people's lives cannot be unaffected, which will further affect the normal domestic construction.
This has been happening over the past ten years, but people at that time were accustomed to war times and were willing to rely on war to maintain peace. They did not find it difficult to be fully mobilized to become civilians and then transport logistics supplies for the army. .
Xu Tong is still very discerning.
In his military intelligence address to the central government a few years ago, he pointed out that people over the age of 20 still remember the sufferings of the past, so they are generally able to endure hardships, are willing to endure some hardships for a better life, and have strong tolerance.
But it is different for people under the age of twenty, especially teenagers. They generally have a lower tolerance for suffering. They like peace and stability, do not like the hard life during war, and are more concerned about the quality of their lives.
Therefore, Ming Dynasty should be more cautious about launching foreign wars to avoid making the people feel disgusted.
