"There is something I wonder if you, my beloved, have heard?"
Zhu Yunxi has long been accustomed to sitting on that cold dragon chair. From the beginning, he was as nervous as if facing a powerful enemy, to now he is relaxed, comfortable and even extremely casual.
This is his dragon chair, a chair that only belongs to him. In the eyes of his ministers, it represents supreme imperial power, but in his eyes now, it is just a fucking chair.
In the Qianqing Palace, a hundred ministers stood with slight bows, with civil and military ranks separated, with the duke in front.
Today's Ming Dynasty is slightly different from the atmosphere during the reign of Emperor Taizu Gao.
When the old man was here, he loved the great court gatherings. No matter it was cold or hot, windy, rainy or hailing, he would always listen to politics at the Fengtian Gate Royal Gate. Then there would be the great court gatherings where all officials of the sixth rank and above in Beijing must attend.
Zhu Yunxi, on the other hand, preferred a small court meeting held in the Qianqing Palace, with a scale of one hundred or ten people, and all the participants were core ministers.
In his opinion, there is no need for so many people in a meeting, since it is just a formality for people to watch. For this empire, the real decision-makers are nothing more than these people.
So let’s simplify the complex!
~
The ministers in the palace were thoughtful enough to guess what the emperor was talking about.
"The monk stopped chanting sutras and turned to business!" Zhu Yunxi continued to laugh on the dragon throne, "It is still the business of human trafficking! You are all people who have read poetry and books. Is there any precedent for this in the past dynasties?"
"Lingyin Temple may sound like a good name, but what it does is completely unscrupulous. The so-called monks are actually the scum of the world!"
At this point, the smile on Zhu Yunxi's face disappeared, "It would be fine if gangsters did such evil things, but it is those monks who keep saying that there will be retribution in the afterlife and that our Buddha is compassionate!"
"Some people once said that I was too mean to monks. Even when I was not the emperor, I ordered all states in the world to count and confiscate the temple properties of monks and monks everywhere."
"But now it seems that I am still too tolerant! Those monks in Lingyin Temple all bought their ultimatums! The gangsters suddenly transformed into benevolent monks! It is simply the most ridiculous thing in the world!"
"Woe to you monks!"
Among the ministers attending the Qianqing Palace meeting, Li Jinglong stood first in the second row.
As soon as the emperor finished speaking, he thought to himself, "The emperor is going to take advantage of the situation and severely punish the monks!"
So, just after Zhu Yunxi finished speaking, Li Jinglong came out and said, "Long live Lord, please calm down. It's not worth it to be angry with those scum during the Chinese New Year!"
As he spoke, he raised his head and said with a smile, "The corruption of monks has happened since ancient times! Since ancient times, those who annex land to hide tenants and even hide weapons privately are the monks and their ilk!"
"I once heard a joke when I was training in HN. Most of the local people are tenants of the temple. Among the tenants, those with handsome wives farm good land, while those with ugly wives farm bad land..."
"Monks and Taoists are also human beings! Gods and Buddhas are good, but human nature is... it's hard to explain! It's hard to quell greed, and in addition, we are cloaked in the cloak of a monk, so we are unscrupulous!"
"Otherwise, there would be no such thing in history as the Wuzong destroying Buddhism! The country of Qingming, which has always been a country of Qingming, would not allow the monks and Taoists to grow in size."
Zhu Yunxi didn't express anything about these indifferent words, but directly said, "Tell me, how should I treat this monk?"
"I think that first of all, we should set up a yamen specifically to control the monks and Taoists!" Li Jinglong said, "It can be placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, and the annual ultimatum is strictly controlled. In addition, the number of monks, Taoists, and nuns in the temple must not exceed a certain number, nor should it be less than a certain number. A certain number of people.”
"The temples of monks and Taoists in the world must have traceable origins. It can no longer be like in the past, where just any old monk can buy a piece of land and build a temple..."
"Although the imperial court has collected temple property from every temple in the world, its annual incense money is still an astronomical figure. So this ultimatum must be strictly controlled."
"A person who is a monk must report to the Monk's Yamen of the Ministry of Rites from the temple that wants to accept him as a monk, and the Monk's Yamen will designate a place to practice on his behalf. Only after three years can he be allowed to be ordained."
"As for the ultimatum, the temple that accepts him will pay for it on his behalf. The money, in my opinion, depends on the size of the temple..."
Zhu Yunxi thought silently in his heart, Li Jinglong's idea was very simple, that is, control and control strictly.
Following the confiscation of various temple properties, the administrative power of all temples in the world was also returned to the central government.
All small wild temples were banned, leaving only famous mountain and ancient temples...
These famous mountains and ancient temples must also be inspected regularly.
If the number of people exceeds the limit, we will deal with you. If there are not enough people, we will deal with you.
"Moreover, I thought we should also limit the age of monks!"
Suddenly, Zhu Yunxi was slightly surprised and said, "Why?"
"There are handsome little monks and graceful little nuns in various temples... This is unreasonable!" Li Jinglong said with a smile, "At an innocent age, the ancient Buddha of Qingdeng? It is undesirable!"
Ren Hengtai, the Minister of Rites, said from the side, "What Duke Cao Guo said is true!"
"What Duke Cao Guo said is a famous saying about governance!"
When he said this, the civil servants around him nodded.
In fact, many times, civil servants like to stand against Li Jinglong, and they rarely agree with him.
The reason for this unprecedented approval was that the civil servants also hated those so-called monks.
"Nowadays, among the monks, Taoists and nuns of the Ming Dynasty, there are many people in their prime!" Ren Hengtai continued, "Young men and women, if they are among the people, they are the responsibilities of each household."
"But firstly, he doesn't serve his parents, secondly, he doesn't carry on the family line and raises children, thirdly, he doesn't give birth..." Ren Hengtai's face was full of disgust, "You are not a human being!"
"I also want to tell you something!!"
Xin Yande, the General Secretary, also said, "When I was in Huaibei for disaster relief last year, many temples set up porridges to donate food. It was indeed a life-saving grace for the people!"
"But there are also many monks and nuns who specialize in selecting good-looking boys and girls among the victims to adopt..."
As he spoke, he suddenly paused, as if he didn't know how to continue. After a while, he blushed and said, "I don't know what they are raised for!"
"Hehe!" Li Jinglong smiled evilly.
"Cough! Cough!" Zhang Yan, the old minister of the Ministry of Revenue, coughed and glanced at Xin Yande.
That means if you don’t know how to give examples, don’t give them! This is a court, not a teahouse where you can say anything!
Immediately, he cleared his throat and said, "The number of monks, Taoists and nuns in the world recorded by the Ministry of Revenue is over 600,000!"
"Hiss..." Zhu Yunxi took a breath and asked, "So many?" He frowned deeply, "It's comparable to the population of a superior state capital!"
Zhang Yan added, "Of the more than 600,000 people, at least 70% are young adults under the age of forty!"
Then he added, "Although the population of our Ming Dynasty is now much higher than that of Emperor Taizu Gao, the population is still not enough!"
"Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, people from Shanxi and other places have immigrated to Peiping in successive years, and people from the Central Plains have been mobilized to open up wasteland and cultivate land in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and other places..."
"The account books of the Ministry of Household Affairs are full of people, but the places that need people are really short of resources!"
"There are more than 600,000 monks and nuns in our Ming Dynasty! If they were all good people, how could our Ming Dynasty have more than one land of plenty?"
"emperor!"
Hou Yong, the Minister of Civil Affairs, had a ferocious look on his face, "I would like to ask the emperor to issue an edict that all monks and nuns under the age of forty must return to secular life and become common people!"
"Monks and Taoists who are willing to serve the people can be given land and livestock!" Yang Jing, the censor of Ducha, also said, "After the nuns return to secular life, they order the local officials to arrange for them to get married..."
"This..." Zhu Gaochi suddenly said, "Isn't it a bit difficult for a forty-year-old nun to get married locally...?"
"Your Highness is worried that no one will want them because they are too old?" Chang Sheng, Duke of Zheng, turned around and asked.
The conscience of heaven and earth, Zhu Gaochi definitely didn’t mean that.
What he means is that matters such as marriage cannot be managed by local officials. Once this power is given to local officials, it may be harmful to those female nuns who have returned to secular life.
The Duke of Wei, Xu Huizu, who had been silent in the front, also frowned and said, "Your Highness is worried that the person you entrusted to someone is a bad person, and a tragedy may occur!"
"What Mr. Wei Guogong said is absolutely true!"
But before Zhu Gaochi finished speaking, Xu Huizu said again, "Well, there are most bachelors in the army... We don't pick those who want to be killed, as long as we have a wife who can give birth to a son!"