Su Che recounted his experience of staying at Kulin Temple overnight, omitting the experience of meeting the herbal collector, and also erased all the preparations he had made when looking through the files.

The story becomes very simple. A young official who was on his way to his post took the risk of taking a dangerous mountain road in order to take a shortcut.

As the night fell, there happened to be an ancient temple in front of me where I could stay. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, I suddenly saw a green light in the courtyard.

In order to wait for the green light to recede on its own, I spent the night cautiously.

"What exactly is inside this Kulin Temple?"

Hearing this, Gong Jiaoyu lowered his head to eat the vegetables, while Dr. Xu looked away.

Jiang County Prime Minister and Master Tian looked at each other, and it was Lao Tian who started talking.

"Su County Lieutenant may also know that Guo Bei has many spirits and there are immortals in Shanyin."

"Some things don't need to be too thorough. Let's just point out a little bit. If Su County Lieutenant is interested, you can pay more attention to it."

"The Kulin Temple in this county was built by the order of Emperor Taizong of the previous dynasty. As for the reason for its construction, it can be said to be simple or complex."

"During the previous dynasty, there was a great sage in the west. He didn't know what happened, but he suddenly had the idea to come to our country to teach the Dharma. He was invited by the emperor of the previous dynasty to practice Buddhism in the palace. Flowers fell from the sky and golden lotuses sprouted from the ground. He taught the Dharma like this for thirty-six years."

This incident was considered a major event in the history books of the previous dynasties. People of later generations often pointed out that the disintegration of the previous dynasty and the evolution of the world into what it is today were all related to the coming of the Great Sage from the West.

When compiling the history books of this dynasty, it was also clearly pointed out that it was precisely because of this person's coming from the east that the previous dynasty believed in Buddhism and wasted national power by worshiping Buddhas. Eventually, it was alienated internally and externally, which led to the subsequent collapse of the country.

"Then he suddenly left without saying goodbye and headed eastward, straight into the East China Sea. There has been no news since."

"Some people say that he was suppressed by the powerful Taoist sect and suffered eternal suffering in the Nine Heavens Prison. Some people say that he angered the sword cultivator and cut through the golden body with a sword. The legal body was broken, and he was reincarnated and rebuilt."

"In a word, no one in the world has seen the whereabouts of this master from now on."

These things are all written down exactly as they were in the history books of previous dynasties compiled by this dynasty.

But what does this have to do with Kulin Temple?

"In the previous dynasty, because of this man's relationship, there was a time when the practice of monasticism became popular. That powerful man had taught the Dharma for more than thirty years and had many disciples. After he went east, these disciples lost their backers and were afraid of being liquidated. After running away, one of them moved to this county."

"The Kulin Zen Temple was built at that time. The reason why it was named Kulin was because a strange thing happened when it was built here."

"oh?"

"The geomantic omen of Shanyin County is excellent, with beautiful mountains and clear waters. Lieutenant Su County must have seen it all along his journey."

Su Che nodded when he heard this. The landlord's book was indeed true.

"The original name of the Kulin Temple is Longxing Temple, which is homophonic to Longxing. It can also be regarded as an eloquence for the national destiny. Who knew that when this temple was built, all the vegetation on the mountaintop died overnight, and five or six years later In ten years, not even a single plant or tree will be able to survive."

"Is there still such a thing?"

The landowner nodded. This matter is indeed a local anecdote. Outside the circle of local prominent families, even people in the county may not know the origin.

"Yes, it is precisely because of this that the local villagers called it Kulin Temple. As time went by, even the monks in the temple forgot the original name of Longxing Temple and changed the name of the temple to Kulin Temple. Hehe, Although I say this, in the era of great strife when the previous dynasty collapsed, what is the use of keeping the sign saying that Longxing Temple was built except to cause trouble?"

The landlord picked up a piece of mandarin fish with his chopsticks.

"As for why Kulin Temple became what it is today, it is because in the early years of the founding of this dynasty, another strange thing happened in Kulin Temple."

"On the eighth day of August of that year, all 356 people in the Kulin Monastery, from the abbot, the temple supervisor to the novice novices, and the Taoist monks, died overnight."

"A total of 356 corpses were beheaded, and not even a monk with a head could be found. From then on, Kulin Temple was reduced to a ruins and became a taboo in the county.

Even today there are still rumors in the county that headless monks are often seen on that mountain looking for heads."

The landowner added: "So the locals would not stay there overnight."

Don’t locals stay overnight at Kulin Temple?

Suche suddenly figured out something in his mind.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. I just saw the will-o'-the-wisp. Since it is my duty to catch monsters and slay ghosts, I just go back and destroy that ruined temple."

"well……"

"You can't say that..."

"Brother Su..."

As soon as Suche finished speaking, the faces of the others at the table changed color.

Jiang Xian Cheng's face darkened, and he pointed the index finger of his right hand at the void above his head.

"Brother Su, be careful what you say, be careful what you say."

Within a county, there is so much fear of monsters.

Have the monsters in Shanyin County become so rampant?

Su Che made a mental assessment of the general situation in Shanyin County.

Jiang Xian Cheng's expression changed, and the landowner immediately came to calm the situation.

"Mr. Su, I'm ashamed to say that," the landowner said with a smile, "I have a case that I want to ask you to pay attention to."

"Master Registrar, please speak."

Suche started talking about business and his face became serious.

According to the official rank of Daliang, the county magistrate of Shang County is from the eighth rank, while the chief secretary is from the ninth rank, and the county captain himself is from the ninth rank. The land master is one rank higher than him, and the Jiangxian chief is four ranks higher than him.

class.

From a positive perspective, I, the county captain, am the third-in-command in Shanyin County.

Looking at it from a negative perspective, the only people in Shanyin County who have a lower official rank than themselves are those two doctors.

The rest are all lowly petty officials.

Su Che was willing to give enough respect to his two nominal superiors, Jiang County Cheng and Tian Zhushu.

People respect me one foot, and I respect others one foot. This is an unbreakable rule in officialdom.

"Something strange happened in the county's treasury."

Su Che listened attentively.

"About a month ago, some treasury silver was missing from the county's treasury every day."

Ku Yin is missing? It sounds like it has something to do with the TV series about reckless heroes that I watched in my previous life.

Speaking of which, compared to the cold and stern Fahai who said, "Snake demon, I want you to help me practice", Xu Xian is the real tough guy.

I seem to have seen it on an animal science program, saying that snakes can swim for several hours at a time, making them the marathon champions of friction competitions in the animal world.

I really hope I have the chance to find a snake demon to have a long and short time with.

Alas, I have thought too far, I have thought too far.

"I lose five taels of silver every day, and I have been losing it for a hundred days."

The landowner sighed deeply: "There is a way of saying that water drops can penetrate a stone. One year is more than a thousand taels, and ten years is tens of thousands of taels of people's wealth..."

Jiang County Cheng glanced at his partner.

Wasn't it just two taels? How could it become five taels now?

"Have you ever checked Kudin?" Suche asked.

"I have let them work naked in the warehouse fifteen days ago."

The new Shanyin County Lieutenant nodded, the landowner's affairs were indeed safe.

"Have you hit the bottom yet?"

Suche thought about his words.

"Poke in two inches." The landowner paused for a moment and then said, "I'm going to have someone poke in three inches tomorrow."

It's more than safe, it's simply thorough. But that's not what I'm asking about.

"Oh? Shouldn't all the silver in the treasury be official silver?"

Su Che thought for a moment that today's Daliang world should still be in the stage of mixing copper and silver.

The price ratio of silver and copper is that one tael of silver can be exchanged for a thousand coins. Of course, this ratio is always changing.

Ordinary people basically don't need much silver to live a day, and copper coins are enough. After all, a bowl of rotten pork noodles only costs three cents. If you can afford to scrape off a layer of silver to pay the bill, the boss can't accept it.

On weekdays, merchants and officials use silver the most.

The government's taxes had to be circulated back and forth, so it was certainly unrealistic to move mountains of copper coins around. Therefore, the copper coins were exchanged for silver and cast into official silver of two sizes: fifty taels and twelve taels.

Pass a five-pound silver lump in through the dry road and carry it out.

It doesn’t work unless you have practiced specialized exercises.

"What was lost was the paper and pen silver that was collected but not converted into official silver." the landowner added.

Suche understood immediately.

Before taking office, I specially studied the expenditure system of Daliang. It can be roughly divided into three levels of finance: imperial court, Xingtai, and prefecture and county.

Each prefecture and county has a fixed tax quota. After this quota is forwarded to the Xingtai, the Xingtai will make the first allocation according to the amount, and the balance after the allocation will be forwarded to the court for central expenditure.

There is no need to mention the above doorway. Take Shanyin County as an example. If the quota given by the imperial court to Shanyin County is 2,500 taels, then the tax collected by Shanyin County in excess of 2,500 taels can be kept by yourself.
To be continued...