"Yan Huaide, the magistrate of Pingquan County, pays homage to the envoy."
A middle-aged man of medium height and unremarkable appearance walked into the hall under the leadership of the state officials, and bowed to Li Tai who was sitting in the hall.
"There is no need to be polite, Magistrate Yan. I invite you to see me today because I have something to inquire about."
Li Tai raised his hand to signal Yan Huaide to sit down without ceremony, then picked up the file on the desk and motioned to the officials to pass it over, and said straight to the point: "The county government accepted a lawsuit a few days ago, and it is you who will review the matters recorded in the file. The clan members accused the owner of Guangming Temple and Wei Na, the county capital, of arbitrarily compiling the family records. Does Yan Ling know about this?"
When Yan Huaide, the magistrate of Pingquan County, heard this, his expression suddenly froze. After a moment, he shook his head hurriedly and said: "No, I don't know. I really don't know how to sue my clan members for my humble position..."
"So, the things mentioned in the file are slander and are not true? Yan Ling also held the seal of Linmin, so we know what punishment should be given for false accusations and lawsuits?"
After hearing this, Li Tai's face suddenly darkened, he slapped the table and shouted angrily.
"Your Majesty, please calm down, please calm down. It's true that it happened, but it's a humble position. I really didn't know that my clan would bring this matter to the county government..."
Sweat appeared on Yan Huaide's face, and he hurriedly paid his respects again: "My clansmen don't know that the county affairs are busy, and they dare to disturb the criminals. After returning from their humble duties, they will be severely reprimanded and ordered to drop the lawsuit immediately!"
Li Tai was surprised when he heard this. Yan Huaide was obviously wrong about what he meant. But what kind of powerful person could make this dignified county magistrate dare not complain and complain, so he could only swallow his voice and tolerate it?
"Nonsense. It is the sin of the shepherds who keep the people close to the people. You are an official appointed by the imperial court to supervise and educate the people's moral customs. If you don't even dare to speak out about the hardship and injustice that your family has suffered, it's nonsense. Where can other villagers seek justice in the pursuit of justice? How can the people in this situation be grateful for the imperial court's kindness and enlightenment?"
He snorted again, directly rebuking Yan Huaide's idea of trying to settle the matter, and then said in a deep voice: "Since it is indeed true, then you must tell the whole story in detail, without any concealment or favoritism!"
Yan Huaide, as a subordinate official of Qinzhou, has often been in and out of the state capital recently. He has heard a lot about Li Tai's character and style. After hearing this, he did not dare to say anything more, so he honestly told the origin of the matter, with an expression on his face. Although I am still a little uneasy, I also have some expectation.
This incident can be traced back more than ten years ago. The Heyin Incident and Chen Qingzhi's Northern Expedition in Nanliang successively occurred in Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The order in the Heluo area was greatly damaged. Therefore, a considerable number of noble officials and monks We went to the west of Longyou River to avoid disaster.
The arrival of these people will inevitably have a big impact on the local order and religious environment here. Many Longyou gentry who have been away from home for many years have become quite weak in the countryside. If they want to regain a foothold, they must have to compete for limited local resources.
However, those powerful people who stayed in the countryside were not easy to deal with. If they fought with force, the gentry officials who fled back in haste were obviously no match. And the official positions and other political resources that they were proud of in the past and felt that they were superior to others would also be lost. With the chaos and darkness of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it became dim and dim, and it could no longer deter the powerful people in the countryside.
Therefore, these returning gentry chose another relatively stable way, that is, to participate in the competition for local resources through religious means.
They first raised funds to build several large-scale temples and strengthened the influence of the temples through various Buddhist worship activities.
The monks from Luoyang usually come in and out of the mansions of dignitaries, and they know how to do too many things. In addition, their own research on Buddhist principles is indeed higher than the average level of Longyou monks, so these temples and monks are here.
His influence also increased, and his popularity quickly overtook the local Samana forces.
As the reputation of the monks in these temples grew, more and more believers came to pay homage to the Buddha. With this mass base, the monks of these new temples began to serve as disciples and town masters of people in Longyou Township.
The so-called disciples are monks jointly supported by one or several families. They are responsible for the monks' living expenses such as food and clothing, while the monks are responsible for praying for blessings and warding off disasters, giving lectures on scriptures, and other Buddhist activities.
The status of the Yiyi Master is much higher than that of the disciple, and he is responsible for the Buddhist worship activities in the entire Yiyi. In today's world, there are many people who believe in Buddhism and worship Buddha, so the government or the people usually voluntarily delimit an area, and only certain people are allowed in the area.
A group of monks spread the teachings of the Dharma and accepted offerings. This kind of parish was called Yiyi.
When these emerging temples widely serve as disciples and town masters, they have mastered important rural population resources, and can continuously obtain donations from these believers. The donations provided by the believers include money, land and other local resources.
Resources. The temple then transfers these acquired resources to the original donors, that is, the nobles who returned home, so that a win-win situation can be achieved.
But in this cooperation model, it is obvious that the monks have the greater initiative. Although they initially received funding and momentum from the returning gentry, when they gained a certain social influence, they could develop independently.
The help that the sponsors brought to them in the early stage was already very limited, and the constraints they could cause were even more minimal.
Therefore, whether these monks are still willing to fulfill their previous agreement to repay the original donors depends on their own character and morality. It cannot be said that all the ascetic monks in the Southern and Northern Dynasties are bad guys, but the good ones are indeed limited.
.
The case litigated by Tianshui Yan is a typical overturning case.
In the old years, some members of his tribe who were traveling in Heluo returned to their hometown. In order to celebrate their survival after the disaster, they raised funds to build a temple called Guangming Temple, and enshrined several people they had known and interacted with when they were in Heluo.
Monk.
The owner of this temple is also an eminent monk from Luoyang, named Master Tanjing. Because of his profound Buddhist teachings, he has shined in several Buddhist worship conferences in the countryside and attracted much attention.
With such popularity and blessing, the monks of Guangming Temple are naturally no longer satisfied with serving as disciples of the Yan family. However, there are various requirements for becoming a local master, including those in the temple.
The number of monk households and supporting households. Although the city magistrate is elected by the people, he needs to be responsible to the county monk official Duvina. Therefore, the more the two types of households are known, the easier it is to be elected.
The Yan family also felt that they had a deep connection with Guangming Temple, and they were happy to see the temple have greater influence, so they mobilized their clans and recorded the songs as Sengjihu. The clan members acted as donors and finally fought for Guangming Temple.
to the quota of a city master.
Later, the development of Guangming Temple lived up to expectations and even far exceeded the expectations of the Yan clan. Master Tanjing successfully presided over several grand ceremonial projects such as digging caves and statues not long after he became the city master, and it became a famous temple a few years later.
Duvina, the monk official of Tianshui County, and all the ascetics and believers in the county are subject to his management.
Of course, Guangming Temple has also grown with the tide, and now it has become the largest temple in the entire Tianshui County, second only to Maijiya Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall and Wudu Temple.
Wanfo Hall is a famous temple in Longyou that has existed since the beginning of the Maiji Cliff Grottoes. Wudu Temple is the nunnery where the former empress Yifu became a monk after her death. Guangming Temple has become a temple in just a dozen years.
To achieve a scale and status comparable to these two is truly remarkable.
However, the Yan family of Tianshui, as the original sponsor of Guangming Temple, did not rise to heaven because of this, but the situation became even worse.
The temple records compiled in the past to support the development of the temple have now become a heavy shackles tied to them. Not only were the temples expropriating them based on this, some of the Yan clan members who could not repay the interest on the loans were simply expropriated.
The temple accepted him as a slave.
While listening to Yan Huaide's story, fables such as "Mr. Dongguo and the Wolf, the Farmer and the Snake" kept flashing through Li Tai's mind. When he saw Yan Huaide's sad face, he couldn't help but want to laugh. This was really
A living example of raising tigers to create trouble!
He also understood now why Yan Huaide was so nervous when he heard the complaint from his tribe, and even wanted to withdraw the complaint altogether, because this matter was really not something he, a county magistrate, could bear. Even Li Tai, if he wanted to take action
You have to consider whether it's worth it.
If Guangming Temple is still just a famous temple in the region, it will collapse, but the temple owner is also the monk Cao Duvina of Tianshui County, which is a bit tricky.
Wei Na, the governor of a county, is not just a religious leader, he may even have more power than Li Tai, the Tianshui County Governor.
This is by no means alarmist. The number of citizens controlled by Tianshui County is estimated to be far less than the number of believers controlled by Shangduweina. This means that the manpower and materials that the county can mobilize cannot compare with the monk-official Duweina.
When transporting war supplies from Qinzhou to Weizhou, Li Tai remembered that Huangfu Mu once visited Wei Na, the capital of the county, hoping to organize a group of temple slaves to help transport the supplies.
After learning the whole story, Li Tai couldn't help but feel a little bit tempted to retreat.
He is not an iron-headed boy. He must provoke troublesome and difficult targets to enjoy his life. What's more, the current situation in Longyou is delicate, and it is not suitable for making big goals and big moves. Although this temple is not a separatist armed force with sufficient troops, it is also related to a certain situation.
Once the local people's beliefs are angered, they may not be able to control them.
What's more, if this matter is discussed in depth, Tianshui Yan's family is really unreasonable. Who in the right mind would take the initiative to put a rope around his neck to swing? Stealing the chicken will not end up losing the rice. It is really a pitiful person.
place.
Li Tai thought this in his heart, and was about to put the matter aside, but when he looked at Yan Huaide, he suddenly asked out of nowhere: "Yan Ling also returned from Heluo? Do you know a wise man named Yan Xin?"
?This Yan Mingfu served as the magistrate of Xingyang during the Wutai period, and he also commanded Wang Tianshui."
When Yan Huaide heard this, he bowed with some doubts and said: "What the envoy said was exactly an uncle of the same clan who held a humble position. He abandoned his post and returned to his hometown due to the invasion of the island's barbarians in the past year. He died of illness in his hometown a few years ago. It is unknown why the envoy asked
this?"
"It's a pity, it's a pity that such a virtuous person cannot live long. It's a pity that he can't be seen..."
After hearing this, Li Tai sighed and briefly described the relationship between his family and Yan Xin.
During the Heyin Incident, my father was lucky enough to survive and led his clan members to flee. On the way, he met Yan Xin and was rescued and funded by him. Only then did he successfully escape to Qinghe County. Calculated, Yan Xin was life-saving to their family.
of grace.
Li Tai also learned about this in the memory of his predecessor. When he lived in his hometown, he almost lost his tongue when he talked about it, so he was deeply impressed. Although Li Tai did not bear this favor directly, he had to admit it.
If Yan Xin hadn't supported him, he wouldn't have had the chance to come to this world.
After Yan Huaide learned that there was such a connection between them, he was quite surprised for a while. After a while, he quickly grabbed the ground with his head and said sadly to Li Tai: "Now I know that my uncle has made the jun family loyal to each other.
I boldly plead with you so that you can follow this old love and rescue my uncle's remaining heirs righteously!
The people in Guangming Temple were ungrateful, broke the previous agreement, and made excessive demands on my family. As a result, many people died after all their wealth was exhausted. My uncle's family fell into this category. Only one person, Sun Xi, was left in the temple and has been a slave for several years..."
Li Tai couldn't help but frown when he heard this. He didn't expect that such a garrulous question would lead to a trouble that he couldn't refuse. However, the irritability in his heart was not caused by this. He was rather lucky that he happened to ask a garrulous question. It happened to be
There is an opportunity to repay the life-saving grace of the past.
If you are lucky enough to see his father and other family members again in the future, you can face it calmly. I have repaid your family a great favor, so don't blame me for occupying the magpie's nest in this body. It is also a blessing.
I, in my predecessor's place, was the young middle school boy who was still a fool, and what a waste of repayment!
After pondering for a while, he then said to Yan Huaide: "Let me tell you in detail the life history of your uncle Sun Xi. Since I have heard about this matter, I cannot refuse it due to emotion and reason. As long as he is still in the world, I will definitely treat him
Search it out and return it safely.
As for the dispute between your clan and Guangming Temple, it has been a long time ago. If you want to trace the origin and distinguish right from wrong, you must not listen to one side's statement. Don't announce it to the public for the time being. I will visit and inquire about the personnel at that time. If there is indeed justice,
, it needs to be stated that I will do my best.”
Yan Huaide heard that Li Tai only guaranteed the personal safety of his uncle's descendants, but still had ambiguity about the exploitation suffered by their entire family. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but he also knew that he would not force the matter and was willing to make such a promise.
They are infinitely more noble than those ungrateful monks at Guangming Temple.
After learning from Yan Huaide that Yan Xin's family passed away one after another after returning to his hometown, and that the family property was also lost due to years of worshiping Buddha, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh.
After repelling Yan Huaide, Li Tai summoned Huangfu Mu again and said, "I would like to inform Master Tan Jing, the master of Guangming Temple, if the Master is free these days. I would like to pay a visit someday."
When Huangfu Mu heard this, his face couldn't help but change, and he quickly asked: "Chang Shi must go to visit? But now that the army is fighting abroad, maintaining stability in the mansion is especially important! Master Kuang Tanjing has lived here to preach Buddhism for many years.
, is widely supported and respected by the masses, has never had any serious misconduct, and obeys the orders of the state government very respectfully. If he is rashly admonished and punished, I am afraid..."
When Li Tai heard this warning, his face turned dark. I'm so bored, why don't I go out for an outing? Could it be that I am causing trouble when I go out, so why can't I maintain stability?
For a moment, he couldn't tell whether Huangfu Mu looked down on him or thought too highly of him. The old monk Ren Lao had been here for at least more than ten years. How could he tease someone just by taking a stroll on their territory?