Compared with the civil servants who first pay attention to protecting their own safety and shirk responsibility from each other when doing things. They also have many worries in the process of doing things, pay attention to legal procedures and pursue good looks. The eunuchs have much fewer worries, and naturally the efficiency is much higher.

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Zhu Youdong issued instructions in mid-August, but before September arrived, Cao Huachun and his supervisors prepared a detailed plan.

First, count the number of Buddhist temples across the country, especially the large Buddhist temples in the Pure Land Sect. The so-called large ones refer to temples with more than a hundred resident monks and more than 10,000 acres of cultivated land.

Secondly, Lao Wei's Dongchang used various methods to collect black materials on these large temples. At the same time, the Dongchang sent a large number of manpower to covertly control the witness evidence in advance and keep an eye on the monks involved.

The next step is to hype up public opinion in newspapers: The teaching quality of the inner academy of the Ming Dynasty is actually very high, and the writing skills of the outstanding eunuchs there are not inferior to those of ordinary commentators in the six major newspapers. So Cao Huachun did not ask Zhang Shize for this matter at all——

From the beginning to the end, he planned to have the eunuchs themselves do the whole thing, in order to prove to the emperor that eunuchs still had the value of existing.

The fourth step is to wait for the public opinion to heat up and then enter the implementation stage: he has informed Liu Shimin in advance about this matter and obtained the support of the Yuma Jian - the function of the Yuma Jian is now similar to that of the general administration in later generations.

, is the personnel department of the military, but he still has a small number of troops directly under him. With the support of the military and Old Wei's Dongchang, the bald donkeys can't afford to make trouble!

Although the steps are very simple, if you really want to do something, there are really too many people involved. Although Lao Wei has managed Dongchang very well over the years, and the discipline within the organization is extremely strict. But the civil servants are

He is a man of semen - as soon as Wei Zhongxian raised his buttocks, the civil servants were keenly aware of the clues.

Therefore, at a state affairs meeting chaired by Wen Tiren in November 1630, Wang Zaijin, who was in charge of the Ministry of Justice, spoke first.

"Commander Tian, ​​there have been frequent personnel transfers to the East Factory in recent days, and they have been concentrated around the Buddhist temple. Do you, the Jinyi Guards, have anything to explain?"

After the Ming Dynasty's institutional reform, Zhu Youdong no longer attended state affairs meetings on many occasions. At the same time, as long as he did not attend, the big bosses of the inner court organizations such as Si Lijian and Dongchang would not attend either.

The situation made the civil servants very comfortable - they no longer had to sit with the eunuchs to discuss national affairs.

This was of course one of the many measures taken by the emperor to appease the civil servants who had suffered the most from the major institutional reforms and civil service examinations. Although this greatly satisfied the self-esteem of the civil servants, it also caused the internal affairs of the civil servants to be in trouble.

They couldn't ask directly - so everyone could only fire at Jin Yiwei.

"Huh?" Tian Ergeng raised his head differently: "Is Tingwei asking me? But I don't care about Dongchang, how can I know?"

"Aren't your Jinyiwei and Dongchang integrated?"

"What Tingwei said is wrong." Tian Ergeng put his little finger into his ear hole and scratched it, and Tian Ergen said calmly: "Although factory guards are often called together, the current charter has made it very clear.

Jinyiwei is a national intelligence agency, a department of the outer court. Dongchang is a yamen of the inner court. Therefore, I cannot know everything about what Dongchang does."

"Hmph, Commander Tian can easily evade it. But as I am the Minister of Justice, I must be aware of any law enforcement actions!"

"Then this is simple. Wei Ting can directly send a letter to Dongchang, asking Dongchang to explain their recent actions."

"Huh!" Wang Zaijin stopped talking: Wei Zhongxian from Dongchang looks like a simple old farmer, but in fact he is very difficult to deal with. Sending a letter to Dongchang? Isn't that self-humiliating?

Wen Tiren, who presided over the meeting, smiled and saw Wang Zaijin and Tian Ergen glaring at each other. He had no idea of ​​dissuading him: To be honest, with a man like Lao Wen, when Dongchang began to send a large number of people to target the Buddhist temple, he probably guessed what the emperor was going to do.

Well.

Although I guessed it, I was still surprised: The imperial court is not short of money now, so why did it want to loot Buddhist temples? If it wasn't for money, then could it be because of greed when looking at the hundreds of thousands of strong men in the Buddhist temple? But, the Buddhist temples of the Ming Dynasty

Although I have some savings, it is far behind the era when Buddhism was at its peak during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Even if all the Buddhist temples in the Ming Dynasty were closed, how many young men could be obtained? Only 200,000 people could be saved.

Two hundred thousand, well, this is indeed a large amount. But for these two hundred thousand, is it worth it to cause uproar in the world?

Therefore, although it seemed unreasonable for Wang Zaijin to press Tian Ergeng, Lao Wen had no intention of stopping him at all: in his opinion, it was best for everyone to become interested in this matter at the state council meeting, and then to form a consensus among the civil servants.

After giving your opinion, it would be best to hand it over to Ouchi and let the emperor come out and explain.

He thought so, and most of the ministers in the room thought the same way. Therefore, everyone quietly watched Wang Zaijin open fire.

The only two exceptions are naturally Li Guojun and Zhang Shize. Needless to say, the former, and the latter, although Cao Huachun did not use the gunmen of the Propaganda Department, the propaganda channel still had to go through Zhang Shize.

The atmosphere in the venue became more and more heated, and more and more civil servants joined in questioning Tian Ergen. Just when Tian Ergen was approaching his limit and was about to get angry, there was a knock on the door outside the conference room.

"What's the matter?"

In principle, the State Council is a closed-door meeting, but in practice it cannot be absolutely closed-door: What if something urgent happens to the country during the meeting?

"It was Zhang Butang from the Propaganda Department who sent people to deliver newspapers to everyone."

"Delivering newspapers?" Lao Wen was about to say, isn't this nonsense? But then he thought about it and quickly waved his hand: "Let him come in."

The person who came was an official from the Propaganda Department, and what he brought in was the Yanjing Daily that had just been published today.

The headline on the front page that day was: "Shocked! Buddhism actually does such things."

After reading this title, the big shots in the imperial court naturally let Tian Ergen go and focused their attention on Zhang Shize.

"Zhang Butang, what on earth is going on?"

"Haha, everyone, isn't this very clear? There is dirt in Buddhism, and proper cleaning will be beneficial to the future development of Buddhism."

"No, what I want to ask is that if there is a problem in a Buddhist temple, it will naturally be supervised by a supervisor. Is it necessary to advertise it in the Yanjing Daily? If you do this, it will be difficult to connect with the recent measures of Dongchang.

Don't let people think that the emperor is planning to destroy the Buddha."

"The Prime Minister's words are unbearable for subordinates. How can they do something like destroying the Buddha? Besides, it's impossible."

Alas, there is no other way. The late emperors of the Ming Dynasty ruined the treasure banknotes, so that now the emperor dare not issue banknotes rashly. Therefore, the matter of asking for money from Buddhism can only be left to the chamberlains:

These guys are much tighter-mouthed than the civil servants. If this matter is left to the civil servants, I am afraid that it will not be long before the court is short of precious metals and is preparing to reintroduce banknotes. At that time, the country will not be able to bear it.

Heavy!

Therefore, no matter Wen Tiren and others are asking various questions around him at this moment, Zhang Shize is determined to keep his teeth firmly in mind: This Buddhist temple is harboring filth and evil, we are just reporting it truthfully, and it has nothing to do with destroying Buddhism.

Of course, Zhang Shize refused to admit it, but he was not slow at all after the meeting. Soon, newspapers in major cities such as Xi'an, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, etc. also exposed all kinds of unsavory things in local Buddhist temples.

.

Among the six major newspapers, the earliest Jinling Daily has been published for more than 20 years. It can be said that a considerable number of people in the Ming Dynasty have developed the habit of reading or listening to newspapers every day. Such a popular report in the six major newspapers, Buddhism

His reputation immediately became notorious in the Ming Dynasty.

The Buddhist monks naturally wanted to find a way to resist, and they quickly mobilized many Ming Dynasty dignitaries, headed by the current empress dowager, to lobby. But Zhu Youdong nodded in agreement with a smile, and turned around and raided all the Buddhist temples involved in the case.

.

As a result, from November of this year to March of 1631, all the Buddhist temples in the Ming Dynasty were in trouble: a considerable number of temples were raided, and the remaining Buddhist temples that mainly focused on Zen Buddhism, although on the surface,

Unscathed. However, not to mention the sharp decrease in the incense in the temple, even the monks in the temple were panicked and unable to meditate.

However, although the vast majority of Chinese people are not fanatical believers, Buddhism has been passed down in this country for thousands of years, and its impact on society is in all aspects. Therefore, as time goes by, the people of the Ming Dynasty still have some reaction

: In some areas, especially areas outside the traditional residential areas of the Han people, the resistance of Buddhist temples there is not limited to lobbying.

"Your Majesty, after these months of intensive cleaning, a total of more than 7,300 Buddhist temples in Dongchang have been closed, and more than 170,000 monks and nuns have been allowed to return to secular life. The total revenue earned is 170 tons of gold and 16 million taels of silver.

, more than 650 tons of brass, and 183 acres of cultivated land."

"...Hiss, I didn't expect these monks to be so rich. Well, Wei Zhongxian, how many temples are left now?"

"There are more than 4,300 temples left. Your Majesty, most of these temples are Zen sects. They basically practice Buddhism quietly and guide people to do good. There are almost no bad deeds."

"Haha, you don't have to explain anything. Buddhism has a lot of merits, but as the Buddha once said: My Buddha Dharma cannot be broken by outsiders and demons, but monks who do not abide by the precepts, destroy the Sangha, and do not abide by the rules are like a lion infected by worms.

, eating lion meat. Therefore, even if the court has no shortage of hard currency, I will sooner or later crack down on those Buddhist temples that harbor filth and evil. This is for the sake of Buddhism itself. But to eliminate Buddhism? I have never done this before.

I don’t have the idea, and I don’t know how to do it, and I don’t dare to do it.”

"What the emperor said is absolutely true. I have heard that some eminent Zen monks have been organizing Buddhist gatherings across the country recently. The main topic is to promote the "Baizhang Qinggui" formulated by Zen Master Baizhang in the mid-Tang Dynasty. It requires Buddhism itself to return to work and cannot

Stop being a parasite on the pilgrims and believers."

"Hahaha, excellent, excellent. This meeting is very necessary. In this way, Wei Zhongxian, please pass on the message, and I will sponsor Buddhism to hold this meeting. Just let me hold the Taoism of the Ming Dynasty, the Xingyue Sect, etc.
Chapter completed!