Only a middle-aged monk wearing cassocks was seen standing on the steps, and several strong monks surrounded and beat the farmer.
"Okay, stop."
The middle-aged monk ordered his monks to stop, took out a note from his arms and said: "Your family's ten acres of Yongye field were donated to the temple by your father's handwritten pledge. How can you say that you regret giving something to Buddhism?"
Just regret it?"
After hearing what the middle-aged monk said, the wailing farmer trembled and said, "My father was blinded by the spells of you bald donkeys, and defrauded of his ancestral property! Before he died, my father held my hand and told me
We must get our fields back!"
The middle-aged monk sneered and said: "In this pure land of Buddhism, how can we allow unruly people like you to be so presumptuous? Next time we come back, it won't be as simple as a beating!"
Putting down his harsh words, the middle-aged monk took the warrior monk and left.
Li Daoyuan had an idea, maybe this was also a "mission".
He walked over, helped the farmer up and said, "Brother, why did you offend this monk from Leiyin Temple?"
Seeing that Li Daoyuan was not wearing a monk's robe, the farmer sighed and said: "Last year, my mother was seriously ill, and my father didn't know who stopped the bewitchment. He insisted on saying that my mother had an evil spirit, so he wanted to find this monk from Leiyin Temple.
Exorcise evil spirits.”
"In order to invite a great monk to exorcise evil spirits, my family donated ten acres of high-quality paddy field to the temple."
"Unexpectedly, after the exorcism ritual, my mother still left. Only then did my father realize that he had been deceived. He rushed to Leiyin Temple to argue with the monk, but was beaten."
"When I got home, my father became more and more angry as he thought about it, and within a week he also left with my mother!"
"I came to Leiyin Temple just to beg for these ten acres of paddy field."
Li Daoyuan asked in confusion: "Why don't you report it to the official?"
The farmer sighed and said, "Buddha is worshiped throughout Shazhou. This monk from Leiyin Temple is a guest of a dignitary in the city. What's the use of reporting to the official?"
Li Daoyuan understood that the Mogao Grottoes were built spontaneously by devout monks.
People in the Tang Dynasty have always worshiped Buddhism. During the period of Wu Zetian, in order to suppress the official Taoist beliefs of the Tang Dynasty, many Buddhist temples were built across the country.
In the Longyou Dao area, worshiping Buddhism has become a common practice. No matter the dignitaries or the common people, they all worship Buddha statues at home, and they also go to Buddhist temples to donate money for scented oil when they take a bath.
Li Daoyuan looked at the bruised farmer and said, "Why are you doing this? The monks in Leiyin Temple eat fine rice and practice martial arts in the temple every day. Aren't you going to die by doing this?"
The farmer said stubbornly: "Leiyin Temple will not return my ancestral land. When I recover from my injury, I will continue to make trouble at the main gate. Do they still dare to beat me to death in the pure place of Buddhism!?"
After saying this, the farmer limped to his feet, dragged his injured body and left the temple.
Li Daoyuan looked at the farmer's back, sighed and returned to his monk's room.
At this time, Cui Tao, Cui Ruoyun and Sun Jianguo finally arrived in front of the gate of Shazhou City.
Sun Jianguo took the merchant documents issued by Shazhou and lined up to enter the city.
"Do I need to pay for passage when entering the city?" Cui Tao asked doubtfully.
Sun Jianguo nodded and said: "I heard that the Doulu Army was dissatisfied with the governor of Shazhou for deducting their rewards, so they took it upon themselves to occupy the city gate of Shazhou and collected the entry fee from those who entered the city."
Cui Tao frowned and said, "Is this Doulu Jun so domineering?"
Sun Jianguo nodded and said: "Doulujun not only collects city fees, but merchants entering the city also have to stay in their designated hotels, buy silk, porcelain and other commodities, and go to their designated shops."
"This Doulujun is still involved in business? Is he so arrogant?"
Sun Jianguo smiled and said: "This army's business is also a characteristic of the Tang Dynasty. The Doulu Army only opened shops to buy and sell by force. I heard that several Shouchuo Mansion in the north would also sell embargoed weapons and horses to the Uighurs.
"
That's outrageous. Cui Ruoyun, who had been silent all this time, said, "It seems that the Tang Dynasty is really rotten from top to bottom."
Sun Jianguo also nodded and said: "I didn't expect that it would become like this just a dozen years after the prosperous Kaiyuan Dynasty."
Cui Tao sneered and said: "The problems in this state were already like this during the prosperous Kaiyuan era."
Cui Ruoyun asked doubtfully: "Is it because the soldiers in the palace were corrupted?"
Cui Tao nodded and said: "The corruption of the government soldiers is a factor. The prosperity of Kaiyuan Tianbao hides many serious problems."
Sun Jianguo also knew many merchants and natives, and he always heard them miss the prosperity of the Kaiyuan period. At that time, the entire Shazhou was a huge market, and merchants from the Western Regions crowded Shazhou's wine shops.
At that time, Guazhou, which was close to Shazhou, was extremely prosperous, and there were wealthy businessmen everywhere.
These are the beautiful memories of the prosperous Kaiyuan era from people who have experienced that era.
Cui Tao said: "Prosperity is a superficial phenomenon. The prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty brought about population growth. However, the Tang Dynasty no longer had any land to continue to develop. Land annexation and population reproduction made it impossible to maintain the land grant system.
A large number of refugees.”
"If it were a normal dynasty, so many refugees would have broken out into peasant uprisings long ago. Do you know why there was no such thing in the Tang Dynasty?"
Cui Ruoyun knocked on Cui Tao's head and said, "Don't be so secretive. If you have anything to say, say it quickly!"
Cui Tao covered his head and said: "This is because the military recruitment system and the imperial military system were corrupted, and the imperial court began to recruit soldiers from the refugees. This is equivalent to the Tang Dynasty using military expenditures to provide employment for the refugees, but this brings another problem, the army in the border areas
It’s getting bigger and bigger.”
"Everyone needs money to serve as a soldier. If you don't fight, you won't have money. Generals can't make meritorious deeds. So during the Kaiyuan period, border generals from all over the country were keen to actively create border conflicts, and Datang's military expenditures increased."
"It could still be maintained during the Kaiyuan period, but it could no longer be maintained during the Tianbao period. In order to get rid of the burden, the imperial court pushed the issue of reward money to the Jiedu envoys in the border towns."
"Rewards and punishments come from the Jiedushi envoys, so the generals naturally only know the Jiedushi envoys and not the emperor. This is why when An Lushan rebels, three towns in Hebei gather to respond."
Sun Jianguo nodded and said: "I didn't expect that there would be such deep problems in the prosperous age of Kaiyuan. Hey, governing the country is too difficult."
Cui Tao also nodded and said: "Actually, there is another problem. Now the governor of Guazhou and Jia Sishun, the governor of Shazhou, have been serving as governors for more than ten years."
"If it were the practice of the Tang Dynasty, Jia Sishun, the governor of Shangzhou, should return to the central government to serve as ministers of the central government. However, the court was corrupt during the Xuanzong period, and there was no place for these local officials to return to the court."
"Even the governor of a state cannot be promoted normally, and the entire system has become rigid. Since there is no way to be promoted, everyone can only lie down and seek wealth."
Cui Tao sighed and said: "In fact, there is a saying in the historians that the Anshi Rebellion is equivalent to extending the life of the Tang Dynasty. If this rebellion had not consumed the population and made room for the court, there would have been no short-term resurgence of the Middle Tang Dynasty."
This topic silenced both Cui Ruoyun and Sun Jianguo, and the three of them lined up and finally entered the city.