After looking around, County Magistrate Qi withdrew his gaze.
Although he could not completely guarantee that the monks in front of him had not done any evil deeds, one thing he was sure of was that these monks must not have had a good life in the Bujie Temple.
"The difference between the master's appearance and that of the abbot of your temple is really big. If I didn't know what your temple has committed, maybe I really think that the master is an eminent monk." Seeing the old monk's appearance, County Magistrate Qi said, After all, he showed some respect and didn't call him monk directly.
"Amitabha, evil spirits have entered the body, sowing seeds for another day, and now bearing today's fruits, sins, sins." The old monk clasped his hands together and closed his eyes slightly.
County Magistrate Qi frowned slightly and said: "Bujie Temple has committed such a serious crime. Master has been at Bujie Temple all the time. I don't believe that Master has no knowledge at all."
"What the county magistrate said is true. The poor monk is also guilty and is willing to be punished." The old monk uttered a sentence, but did not open his eyes.
At this time, a young monk below said in a fierce tone: "It's not my master's fault. All the crimes committed by those abbots are my master's fault."
"Monks are compassionate, but your master didn't report back what he knew, and just watched other monks harm people's lives and make money. Isn't it wrong?" County Magistrate Qi asked coldly.
The young monk retorted: "We can't do anything in the temple, and we can't even get out of the temple gate. And my master has been persuading other monks in the temple to do good and stop others from doing evil. If they hadn't still I need my master to support my appearance, and I’m afraid he would have been killed long ago because he was an eyesore.”
"Even if you are locked up in the temple, what about the pilgrims who usually come and go? You can tell the pilgrims what the Bujie Temple is doing, and then the pilgrims can tell the government. Is it possible that you can't even do this?" County Magistrate Qi asked.
The young monk said: "How come my master didn't do what you said? If you don't believe me, take off my master's shoes and look at his toes. Every time my master spreads the news about the Bujie Temple, he will be slapped with a stick." Toes, after so many years, the magistrate has changed two, but my master had five toes chopped off."
Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Qi was stunned for a moment, not expecting such a thing to happen.
However, he would not believe it just because the other party said it. He immediately told the policeman on the side: "Go get a futon and let the master sit down and take off the monk's shoes."
The messenger brought a futon from under the Buddha statue and placed it next to the old monk.
"Master, please take a seat." County Magistrate Qi said in a more polite tone.
The old monk knelt down and sat on the futon without any hindrance.
The messenger leaned down and took off one of the old monk's shoes, and found that two toes were missing. Then he went to take off the other shoe and found that three toes were missing.
County Magistrate Qi glanced down.
Just as the young monk said, the old monk was missing five toes on his two feet.
"Master, you saved them." County Magistrate Qi said to the old monk.
"Amitabha." The old monk clasped his hands together.
County Magistrate Qi turned to look at the grain tax official who was following him and said, "I'm sorting through it to make sure there are no names of monks involved in the evil deeds of the Bujie Temple."
"Yes." The grain tax officer agreed.
County Magistrate Qi handed the pile of papers in his hand to the grain tax officer, and then walked outside the Main Hall.
Before seeing the old monk, he had already prepared to ban the Bujie Temple. Now after seeing the old monk and hearing what the old monk did, he decided to leave another legacy to the Bujie Temple.
However, the only monks who can stay in Bujie Temple are those who, like the old monks, have not committed any evil deeds and are dedicated to worshiping the Buddha. As for those monks who have done absolutely bad things, they will naturally be judged and punished according to the criminal law.
Although he had not seen all the crimes committed by the monks in Bujie Temple, based on what he had seen, most of the monks would have been executed without even having the chance to go mining in the grasslands.
Walking out of the Main Hall, he saw the monks outside and felt indescribable disgust in his heart.
"County magistrate, we've all been recruited." Chen Guang walked over from outside with blood on his hands and said excitedly, "We found more than 100,000 taels of silver, more than 8,000 taels of gold, and a lot of various headgear and jewelry. So fucking rich.”
County Magistrate Qi raised his eyebrows.
The amount of gold and silver found in Bujie Temple was also beyond his expectation.
"Being a monk is so damn rich. No wonder so many people are giving up their good life and want to become a monk. If I had known that being a monk would be so good, what the fuck would I be like? I would have shaved off my hair and made a fuss." I want to become a monk in a temple with good incense." Chen Guang cursed.
If a temple confiscated so much gold and silver, it would naturally not be all incense money. He could imagine how many evil deeds Bujie Temple had committed over the years to have such an accumulation.
"Is he okay?" County Magistrate Qi asked expressionlessly.
Although he wanted to kill the monks who had committed evil deeds in Bujie Temple, especially the fat abbot, he knew that these people were not ready to die yet.
Chen Guang grinned and said, "Don't worry, county magistrate. I'm just suffering a little. He's still alive and won't die for a while."
"That's good, send someone to keep an eye on them. They can't die yet before the public trial. The matter of Bujie Temple still needs to be sent to Datong to let the general know." County Magistrate Qi explained.
Chen Guang nodded.
The food, gold and silver in Bujie Temple were all found, and the people were arrested. County Magistrate Qi simply stayed in Bujie Temple to interrogate the monks in the temple.
After staying in Bujie Temple for a day, almost everything about Bujie Temple was clear. County Magistrate Qi left the old monk and some innocent monks in Bujie Temple.
The abbot of Bujie Temple, Zhike Monk and others were all loaded into prison cars and escorted to the county seat.
"Don't kill me, don't kill me. It's not the monk who did these evil things, it's the abbot. The Bujie Temple is controlled by the abbot, and the monk didn't do anything!" The monk cried for mercy.
The corpses of the monks outside the Main Hall reminded him all the time that these people in front of him could really kill people.
"Has he participated in the evil deeds of Bujie Temple?" Wang Shoubei asked Chen Guang.
Chen Guang didn't know what to say, so he asked the grain tax officer who reported the monks in Bujie Temple, "Is this bald donkey's situation serious?"
In his eyes, it was not an exaggeration to kill all the monks in the Bujie Temple. Even if he did not commit any evil deeds, he would still turn a blind eye to the evil deeds, and he would even be an accomplice.
However, Hu Ziqi is not a bandit. He knows that many things cannot be done according to personal preferences. Just like now, even if he wants to kill the abbot of Bujie Temple, he knows to keep this person for a public trial, not like those monks. The same was handled privately.
