Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Pushan Temple is not a famous temple in the north. It is just an ordinary temple in Luochuan County. Because it is supported by believers from surrounding counties and villages, its life is also very nourishing.

The buildings on the slope that Li Tai saw before were only part of the temple, and the large areas of mountain forest land around the temple belonged to the temple's property.

When Li Tai led his troops to arrive here again, the township regiments stationed at the foot of the mountain had withdrawn, and only a hundred county soldiers were patrolling and watching nearby.

“I’m really ashamed that I have to work so hard to lead people to save people before my humble duty is fulfilled!”

In front of the temple on the hillside, Mao Shijian, who looked haggard, came out with several subordinates to greet him. After seeing Li Tai, he lowered his head in shame and said.

"People safe is good."

Li Tai replied casually and asked as he walked into the temple: "What is the situation here?"

"Because the monks blocked the retreat from the pontoon bridge, I had no choice but to lure people to escape here. The temple was built in a dangerous place, and it was well-stocked, and I also had hidden thoughts of revenge. When I entered the temple, because the monks resisted, I killed and injured more than a dozen monks. Settlement Not long after, some monks jumped over the wall to attract village groups and slave households to attack. Several monks were killed in the night battle. Out of anger at their humble position, they killed them all..."

Mao Shijian didn't dare to hide it, so he lowered his head and said.

"Kill them all? How many people were killed?"

Li Tai was also shocked after hearing this, he paused and asked with eyes wide open.

"Thirty-two ordained ascetics and more than twenty temple slaves. Including other scattered ones, there are about seventy people..."

Mao Shijian lowered his head further and led Li Tai into a Buddhist hall with closed windows. In addition to the enshrined sculptures, there were corpses on the ground.

When Li Tai saw this, he couldn't help but gasped and frowned deeply.

Mao Shijian plopped down and knelt at his feet, and said in a deep voice: "I know how serious the killing is, but I had no time to think about it in order to survive at that time. In addition to the evil spirits in this temple, there are also many believers and slaves imprisoned here. No harm was done.

Some of them were enslaved by the monks because they owed money to the temple, and some were enslaved because their skills were useful, and they were not ascetics. After the evil monk died in the temple, not only did they have no complaints, but they even worked together to guard him. If it weren’t for the help of these temple slaves, it would be difficult for the lower-ranking people to defend themselves until they are rescued..."

Seeing that Li Tai was still silent, he took out another volume of documents and presented it: "This volume records the affairs of this temple in lending money and expropriating the countryside. It is evidence that the monks here abused the people. The name of the abbot here is Guangshan. The monk once lived in Chang'an and had many contacts with the powerful families in the capital. He even participated in the Dharma Assembly in the Forbidden City. If he was not killed, he would probably come to the capital to cause trouble and disturb the affairs of the capital. Only by conclusive evidence can future troubles be minimized.”

Li Tai took the Wenjuan account book and looked through it briefly, his eyebrows secretly raised again. He had known that the monks were rich, but after seeing the material incoming and outgoing data recorded in the account books, he couldn't help but sigh that these monks were really rich.

He had plundered Lei's Manor before and was quite satisfied with the harvest. He felt that he had made a fortune. But compared with the incoming and outgoing of this temple's industrial supplies, the previous harvest suddenly pales in comparison.

For such an ordinary temple with little reputation, there are thousands or tens of thousands of grains and silk coming in and out, which makes people jealous just looking at it.

There are more than 300 monks and priests who belong to the temple. This number alone is not large, but according to what Yang Shao said before, some counties in the north do not have this number of registered households. If there are five people in a household, this is more than 1,500 temple slaves!

The temple has its own pastoral property, coupled with the selfless donations from believers in the surrounding rich and poor rural households, the savings of thousands of silks and ten thousand stones are really common.

Li Tai lowered his head and glanced at Mao Shijian, who was still kneeling on the ground to plead guilty, and said: "There are more than seventy monks and slaves in the temple, you are really brave! Killing monks and destroying the Dharma in this way, are you not afraid of the Buddha's wrath and punishment?"

"I am not a stupid believer in the village, and I have seen with my own eyes how these evil monks robbed the villagers. Even if there is no life or death crisis, I will never go along with such thieves who rely on the Dharma and fools! If the Buddha is really spiritual, he should punish these Buddhist sects. You should not punish human justice! Since you have done a humble job, you will not be afraid of the condemnation of gods and Buddhas. Therefore, you will shoulder the trouble caused by the humble job and will not involve your colleagues who are engaged in Gongdu Shui."

After hearing this, Mao Shijian said again.

"There are more than seventy lives, including a famous moral mage in the capital. How do you plan to bear it?"

Li Tai sneered again after hearing this.

"I plan to resign from my humble position and go to Taiwan to file a lawsuit with this evidence of crime. Although my family is not a wealthy family, it is also a well-off family in Kansai. I ask my old friends from my hometown to jointly file a lawsuit..."

When Li Tai heard this, he raised his hand to interrupt Mao Shijian's words, and said unceremoniously: "Killing monks and destroying temples is already a crime. If you collude with local disciples to spread the ugliness of ascetics again, you will definitely die, and you will also be implicated. Clan folks.

Do you know how many believers there are in this sect? Is it true that these are all foolishness, but you are the only one who is innocent and wise? It is good to be firm and upright, but if you do not know your own abilities, you will be more stupid than those foolish ascetics, and you will only harm others and yourself! "

When Mao Shijian heard this, his face darkened again. It was precisely because he was worried about this incident that he did not dare to leave the temple easily and let the county government take over. What he just said was a method that he had considered a lot and thought was quite comprehensive. After being denied by Li Tai, he couldn't help but feel hesitant.

Seeing the melancholy and hesitation on Mao Shijian's face, Li Tai pointed at him and said: "Get up, remember your current mood, and you need to think twice in the future! There will not be too many people in this world who condone your rashness. Since I am unfortunate enough to be in charge of If you kill your commander, it’s not your turn to worry about the subsequent troubles!”

"Although I do not regret what I have done in my humble position, I know that it is not easy to cover it up. Since I joined the agency, I have received very little help. It is already a difficult job. If you can give me some advice, I would be grateful. No, there’s really no need to take the trouble..."

Mao Shijian still refused to get up and continued to talk with his head down.

"Of course it's your fault that you have so few helpers. But if I can't protect myself from this disturbance during my exercise, what else can I do to show my authority? Although the task is difficult, no one can accomplish it. You just have to do your job. Don’t worry about the rest.”

Li Tai replied that it was not to deliberately win people's hearts, but he just felt that this was his obligation. If the boss doesn't have the responsibility and ability to wipe the butts of his subordinates, then he's a fool!

Although Li Tai did not say how to solve the matter, after hearing his statement, Mao Shijian's fear was greatly reduced, and he paused again: "No matter what the situation will be later, I have to do this. I feel humble and grateful for this kindness. It must be the work of a dog and a horse!”

After hearing this, Li Tai nodded, and then asked: "How many of the temple slaves are left? How many are left in the temple?"

"There are still more than 130 slaves in the temple, all of whom are not monks and slaves. They are slaves kidnapped from various places. There are more than 2,000 pieces of cloth and silk in the temple, and more than 5,000 stones of rice, flour and other miscellaneous grains are eaten. They are all scattered in the surrounding temple estates, and there are also gold, silver, and bronze utensils..."

After listening to Mao Shijian's introduction, Li Tai was in a good mood again, and his eyes towards Mao Shijian became friendly.

He has seen a lot of people who are respectful to Buddhism but disdainful in their hearts, but he doesn't see many people who just do what they say. Even though Li Tai had already had an idea in his mind, he had never found the time to do it, and he didn't expect that this kid would take the lead.

Although he said he was sure of it, he was actually a little confused about what to do next, so he first told his subordinates to do what they should do. The corpses of these monks were burned and the property in the temple was packed up.

Seeing his subordinates busy in the temple, Li Tai sat in front of the temple lobby and thought about his plan.

Although he was not merciless when killing local tycoons of the Lei family, he did not dare to openly plunder and massacre temples. This is because the considerations of killing Xianghao are nothing but pros and cons, but the temple involves issues such as religious beliefs and ideologies, which cannot be solved by purely logical thinking of weighing pros and cons.

Although this Pushan Temple is not a famous temple, it is still a member of Kansai Samana. From the host to the young novice, everyone was killed, which is really tragic.

Even if Li Tai can provide a logical and rigorous chain of evidence, whether the public can accept it or not is another question.

The fastest thing that the public can accept is labeled and sloganized messages. The audience of a meme is far higher than that of a well-organized paper.

This has nothing to do with people's wisdom, it's just that I don't need to know the details. The crimes committed by those monks have nothing to do with me, but the fact that you are killing monks and destroying temples makes people feel horrified.

How crazy a person must be to disrespect gods and Buddhas? Is the evidence presented by such a person credible?

If he cannot gain understanding and recognition from public opinion, even if he can persuade Yuwentai to cover up this matter for him, it will be detrimental to his further development based in Kansai. Do you really want to be a lonely minister and a money-making expert for Yu Wentai?

The more Li Tai thought about it, the more he felt a headache. He simply stood up and walked into the Buddhist hall to look at the shapes of the enshrined Buddha statues to broaden his ideas. After a brief inspection, he found that one of the Buddha statues had a somewhat special shape, so he casually asked: "What is the name of this Buddha statue? Why is it different from other types?"

There were also Samana followers among his subordinates. One of them stepped forward and after a brief identification, he said: "This is Master Liu, a great virtuous monk more than a hundred years ago..."

Li Tai walked in and found a biography of the Buddha written on the front of the statue. It turns out that Master Liu's name was Liu Sahe, and he was a native of Lishi, Bingzhou. He was an eminent monk during the Wuhu period of chaos in China. He was not a Han race, but a southern Huns, that is, Jihu people.

Liu Sahe received ordination in the south of the Yangtze River, and later returned to the north to teach the Dharma. Therefore, he had considerable influence in his hometown and the states in northern Shaanxi. Especially the Jihu people, who belong to his tribe, worship him even more.

After learning this, Li Tai's eyes suddenly lit up: If he talks about destroying temples and annihilating Buddhism as a whole, he dares to say that Yu Wentai dare not listen, but if a specific belief is labeled as alien, the resistance will be much smaller. .

Jihu has been plagued by bandits in the north, causing harm to more than one party. Since your Dharma, Master Liu, is profound, why don't you teach your tribe to put down their butcher's knives?