If you want to find money, you must first find the right target.
It is said that the Song Dynasty was the richest in history. In fact, the people really had little money, so it was good to have enough to eat.
Who in the Song Dynasty is rich?
Royal family, nobles, scholar-bureaucrats, generals and military leaders, monks and Taoists, these are certain, businessmen can barely count.
The royal family is Zhao Mengqi himself, who has nothing to lead, and he also knows that there seems to be something in the inner treasury, but it is a bit troublesome to convert it into currency.
The last three are the ruling class of the Song Dynasty. They cannot be offended for the time being, otherwise Jiangshan will immediately change their surnames and get money from them, and they must use serious methods.
Then the monk said, if you are rich, you are really rich. An ultimatum costs one thousand guan, and they buy it without batting an eye.
But they have too much influence on the people, are good at deceiving people, and have relatively no principles. They don't care which court they belong to, so they can't push too hard.
Although we can't have a falling out, we can use some means to stir things up a little bit.
Although this Taoism was highly praised by the Song Dynasty and provided generous benefits, Taoist priests spent money in order to seek immortality. In addition, coupled with poor management, it is estimated that they will not be able to keep much money in their hands.
It seems that now we can only start with the fat monks.
Thinking about it this way, Zhao Mengqi had a general idea.
As the saying goes, a horse will not grow fat without night grass, and a person will not be rich without windfall. Although you have to find a serious way to make money, you still have to make money quickly first.
Immediately, Zhao Mengqi summoned Gu Qing.
"Consultant, how many monks are there in the Song Dynasty?"
Gu Qing's courtesy name is Gu Yun. This Yun is a polyphonic character and is generally pronounced in rhyme when used as a name. However, in order to avoid tabooing Zhao Yun's name, he pronounced it in Wen.
So, Zhao Mengqi called him "Consultant Gu" in a bad way. Although Lu Qing felt that King Yan's accent was weird, he didn't dare to ask more questions.
"Your Highness, the number of monks in Song Dynasty is basically around 200,000."
"How many Buddhist temples are there in Lin'an? How many monks and nuns are there?"
"Taking it all together, there are more than 600 monasteries inside and outside the city, with about 50,000 monks."
"Tsk, tsk, so many? The total number of people in Lin'an is probably less than 2 million, just 50,000 monks and nuns."
Zhao Mengqi was mentally prepared, but was still shocked. He quickly thought that if these 50,000 monks and nuns could sell the ultimatum again, it would be 50 million yuan.
Of course, the ultimatum became a bit more complicated in the Song Dynasty. It was no longer just a proof of identity for a monk. In many cases, it was equivalent to a negotiable securities in later generations, or even directly used as currency.
And these 50,000 monks and nuns must already have one, so how can they buy another one?
But can this stump Zhao Mengqi?
"Consultant, how is the case of those monster monks in Baoen Temple going?"
"A lot of people have been arrested, but there are so many clues that it will take a long time to sort them out."
"Compared to other temples, they have a lot to do with them."
"What His Highness said is true. There are hundreds of people who spread rumors and poisoned people directly on their behalf, and there are quite a few temples involved."
The monks do not just recite the Buddha's name in the temple. In order to let the Buddha's light shine on the world, they also have to do some publicity work. The more regular ones are to walk around the streets and alleys to announce the dawn of Buddha, and to visit people's homes to pray for alms and send incense. This is a common practice. These things.
That’s why it’s easy to spread rumors, confuse people, and even poison thousands of people.
Zhao Mengqi thought for a while, "You should continue to investigate these temples and check every monk carefully!"
"Ah!?" Gu Qingren was dumbfounded, "Your Highness, how much manpower and time will this cost? There is no need to do this."
"Hey, it doesn't take long actually. Listen to me, you go to Taifu Temple to find money from Taifu and ask him to print two kinds of documents for you. One is issued to the temple, which is called Liangsi Certificate, and the other is issued to the temple. If it is given to a monk, it is called a good monk's certificate."
Gu Qing was even more confused, but fortunately Zhao Mengqi continued to explain, "This time there is a group of spies in Bao'en Temple. Naturally, the court must take a lesson and strengthen the management of temples and monks. Naturally, you, the Imperial City Secretary, must always come to supervise and inspect, right?" "
"If they have a good temple certificate, they can naturally be exempted from such inspection. But if they want a good temple certificate, all the monks under their name must hold a good monk certificate. The two are linked to each other to guarantee it! Now, do you understand? "
Gu Qing was stunned for a while, and finally roughly understood the meaning. He looked at Zhao Mengqi as if he had seen a ghost. His Highness, Prince Yan, was really wilted!
Zhao Mengqi then said leisurely, "Consultant, what do you think is the appropriate production fee for these two types of documents?"
"This, this... please give instructions from Your Highness." Gu Qing couldn't figure out how much appetite Zhao Mengqi had.
Zhao Mengqi touched his chin, "I can find more than one million yuan in Bao'en Temple. I think it will not be much less in other temples. About one hundred thousand yuan should be within the acceptable range for them. That's it, Liangsi's ultimatum does not charge the money. There is a fee, but you have to pay a deposit of 100,000 guan. As long as the monks in the temple do not violate laws and disciplines within ten years, it will be returned to them at that time. As for the ultimatum for good monks, you only need to pay half of the ultimatum, five hundred guan."
What's the deposit? Is it possible to get it back after paying it? Another five hundred dollars is not a small amount of money, so what's the point of 'as long as'.
If you do this, the reputation of the Imperial City Secretary and yourself will be ruined.
Gu Qing cursed, but could not object, "Your Highness, if this happens, these monks and nuns will probably speak ill of the court to the people every day."
"You are stupid!" Zhao Mengqi looked like he hated iron. "You can ask the people to report monks who violate laws and disciplines and slander the court. If the reports are verified, you will be rewarded with a hundred strings! Then you can not only punish the monks who committed the crime, but also Do you understand that the deposit of the temple to which he belongs and the certificate of Liangsi will be confiscated?"
"Uh... Weichen, I understand, if the temple still wants the Liangsi certificate, it has to pay the deposit again, right?"
Gu Qing is also a smart person, but he is not so shameless, and he has never turned around before.
Zhao Mengqi was very happy that Gu Qing was able to enlighten him, "Remember, when making documents, you must take anti-counterfeiting measures, number them one by one, and register them with your real name. Each number only corresponds to one temple or monk, and there are well-documented records."
Then he sighed again, "Hey, if I weren't worried about forgery and fraud, I would have just added a seal to their original ultimatum, which would have saved a lot of costs."
Gu Qing was speechless. Although it would cost some money to make this document, and the paper and printing ink would be specially made, but once this policy is implemented, it will cost more than 50 to 60 million yuan at least. After all, there must be some individuals. Poor temple and poor monk.
"What if you meet someone who really has no money?"
Zhao Mengqi's eyes widened, "No money!? How dare you serve the Buddha when you have no money? You might as well return to secular life. If you don't want to do hard labor, you can even sweep the streets. Being an ascetic is also a kind of practice."
After being pushed to the lower limit by King Yan once again, Gu Qing could only smile bitterly, "Since His Highness has entrusted you with such great trust, I have no choice but to go all out..."
"Don't be so sad. After this is done, I will allow you, Imperial City Secretary, to keep one percent!" Zhao Mengqi naturally knows that if you want a horse to run fast, you must have a whip and horse materials.
Hearing this, Gu Qing's bitter smile immediately faded a bit, "Thank you, Your Highness, for the reward!"
"You can distribute part of it as rewards, but you have to keep part of it as funding. When this is over, I want to add more burdens to your Imperial City Department."
Zhao Mengqi hung out another fresh and delicious carrot for Gu Qing, and he couldn't help but work hard.
After sending Gu Qing away, Zhao Mengqi himself sighed with a heavy face. He knew that this method was a bit shameless and could easily cause a lot of trouble, but some things had to be done.
After explaining the matter of quick money, Zhao Mengqi did not forget about making real money.
P. Update one chapter first and try not to miss the mark today.
