"The temple monks are making money wantonly. Some temples make millions of taels of silver a year."
"The imperial court has decided to thoroughly investigate all temples and Taoist temples and investigate the temples' money-making. They will impose heavy taxes on temples, strictly limit the number of temples and monks, and severely punish temples and monks who commit crimes."
As the morning sun rises, the shouts of newsboys break the tranquility of the morning in the streets and alleys of cities in the Ming Dynasty. When they hear the voice of the newsboy, countless people immediately become energetic.
In the blink of an eye, a large number of buyers gathered around each newsboy, and people couldn't wait to start reading the contents of the newspaper.
"Peng!"
"Okay, I'm not used to seeing those monks for a long time. There are different levels of people here to burn incense. Even if I don't spend a few taels of silver, I won't look good to you."
"Those monks are all fat-headed and fat-brained. They are monks during the day, but they eat meat, drink wine and visit brothels at night. How can they be monks?"
"These temples and monks should have been rectified long ago to see what kind of monks these monks are now, and whether those temples look like peaceful places."
"I only have money in my eyes. I know how to make money every month. I am trying my best to make money."
"As the newspaper said, the Ming Dynasty is able to prosper today because the emperor loves the people like a son, and is a result of civility and military strategy. It is also due to the hard work and good herding of the ministers in the court. It is also due to the thrift and hard work of our people.
fruit."
"These monks don't do anything and just make a lot of money. Look, this temple can make millions of taels of silver a year. These are the blessings of our people!"
"Yes, the newspaper said it well. It is better to pray to gods and Buddhas than to pray to yourself. Only by working hard can you make your family and yourself live a better life. What are these gods and Buddhas for?"
"Yes, everything that Ming Dynasty is today is all created by our own diligence and frugality. It has nothing to do with those monks."
"..."
With the newspaper propaganda, everyone in the Ming Dynasty was dumbfounded.
Who would have thought that this monk could make so much money? It is incredible that a temple can make millions of taels of silver in a year. It is no wonder that all those monks are very rich.
The newspaper mentioned all the ways and methods used by temples to make money. It also pointed out that the temples now have completely changed their taste. They only focus on making money and try various methods, but they have already strayed away from the original intention.
The people of the Ming Dynasty were also a little unbelievable. How much money did they earn in a year after working so hard?
This is less than a fraction of what the monks earn. A temple is more profitable than a large factory. Making millions of taels of silver a year is really crazy.
Countless people are discussing this matter, and the serious issues surrounding the monk are constantly exposed by everyone.
The eminent monk of a certain temple actually had several wives and concubines secretly, and gave birth to a lot of children. He had a huge family fortune and lived a very comfortable life.
Others said that they often saw the monks going out to eat meat, drink, and visit the brothels at night. They lived a very happy life.
All of a sudden, everyone was discussing things about monks and temples.
Before this, everyone still believed in these temples and these monks. Although they were a little greedy for money, they still had some effect in persuading people to do good. Now it seems that they are all fake monks and have no appearance of being a monk.
Set, secretly set.
Fahua Temple.
Wuchen, the abbot of Fahua Temple, is convening the monks to discuss holding next month's Dharma assembly as usual.
"The results of this month's Dharma conference have been tallied up, and they are pretty good. The total income from all categories exceeds 300,000 taels of silver. Everyone has done a good job, and we must continue to do so."
"However, several important guests have not arrived. We still haven't done enough. We must invite these important guests next month."
"Jueyuan, Juexin, and Jueming, the three of you must take charge of this matter and invite as many dignitaries as possible. They will be generous and can also demonstrate the importance and status of this temple."
When the three monks Jueyuan, Juexin and Jueming heard this, they quickly agreed.
However, at this moment, there was a commotion outside, and a group of policemen and government officials rushed in. The monks at the door could not stop them. As soon as these policemen and government officials came in, they immediately began to block the entire Fahua Temple.
"Seal the entire temple for me and don't let a fly out."
The leading official ordered with a dark face.
"It's not good, it's not good~"
"Something big happened, something big happened!"
"The government suddenly came and wanted to seal down our Fahua Temple."
The young novice hurriedly reported to Wuchen.
"What?"
"Why should such a good person seal down this temple?"
When Wuchen and others heard this, they were immediately shocked, and they were silently wondering if the things they had done were known to others, so they came to seal the temple.
Before they could go out to take a look, the leading official led many government servants and officials into the main hall in a menacing manner.
In normal times, if believers want to enter this Mahavira Palace without spending thousands of taels of silver, they can't even think of entering.
"My lords, I wonder if there is anything that offends this temple, so that I would bother you to raise troops and mobilize people?"
Wuchen's face looked ugly, but he still stepped forward and saluted and asked.
"I am Feng Xi, the head of the Taxation Office of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Now I am sealing Fahua Temple in accordance with the law and conducting a thorough investigation into Fahua Temple's wanton money-making!"
Fengxi looked at Wuchen and others in front of him, and said with a straight face, Fahua Temple was the focus of thorough investigation this time, and it was remembered by the emperor and the princes in the court. The court also dispatched him as the tax yamen.
The head of the Fahua Temple came to seal the Fahua Temple and wanted to see how rich the monks of the Fahua Temple were.
"Ah~"
When Wu Chen, Jue Yuan, Jue Xin, Jue Ming and others heard this, they were immediately shocked and wanted to seal down Fahua Temple. The reason was that Fahua Temple was amassing money.
Immediately, I felt like the end was coming. In the past, everyone did not pay attention to the matter of making money, so the monks lived a happy life and made a lot of money, but now people knew about it.
"Master Feng, this must be a misunderstanding, it must be a misunderstanding."
"This is a pure place for Buddhism. How can we Buddhist disciples want to make money wantonly? It must be a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"
Wuchen quickly explained.
"Misunderstand?"
Fengxi immediately laughed.
"You will soon know if there is a misunderstanding."
"Search for me!"
The police officers, like wolves and tigers, drove all the monks in the temple to the main hall and the square outside, and then began to dig three feet into the entire temple.
"Sir~Sir~"
"You can't do this. This is a pure place of Buddhism. How can you do this?"
"Those who will blaspheme the Buddha will definitely be punished."
The monks were very panicked and wanted to leave.
"Stand still, otherwise don't blame us for arresting you on the spot."
Come on, the government officials won't do anything to them.
"Lord Feng, could you please give me an explanation?"
Wuchen knew very well in his heart that if they really let them continue their investigation, Fahua Temple would be doomed, and so would he, because there was really a lot of treasure hidden in the temple, not just a little bit, but as much as thousands.
Ten thousand taels of silver.
So he thought about whether he could bribe Fengxi to be lenient, so that he could have time to transfer and escape to other places.
"Master Wuchen, right?"
"As far as I know, you seem to be impure. You have three wives, seven concubines, and more than a dozen children here in the capital."
Fengxi looked at Wuchen and let out a big thunder.
"Ah~"
"You, how do you know?"
Wuchen was shocked. He did this in an extremely secretive way and never let anyone know about it. He didn't expect that Fengxi actually knew it clearly.
"snort!"
"If you don't want others to know, don't do anything except yourself!"
"You are an enlightened monk during the day, and you eat meat, drink, and play with women at night. Who are you Buddhists and monks?"
"Come here, arrest all the main monks in the temple."
Fengxi snorted coldly. Jinyiwei had already investigated everything in Fahua Temple. They all knew what these monks had done.
"Sir, it's unjust, it's unjust!"
Wuchen and others were completely panicked immediately. They didn't know in their hearts who they had offended, what kind of big thing happened, and even people knew about this kind of thing.
The monks no longer had the sanctimonious appearance of the past, and all of them were extremely frightened.
On the other side, the government officials and officials also acted very quickly. They found a large amount of silver, silver notes, gold and silver jewelry, etc. in each monk's room. They also found the stylish clothes of these monks when they went out at night.
wait.
At the same time, they soon found the treasury of Fahua Temple. When they opened the treasury, the officials and government officials were dumbfounded. There were neatly packed boxes filled with gold, silver and jewelry, as well as various valuable antique calligraphy and paintings.
, pearls, jade, agate, etc.
Box after box of gold and silver were constantly being carried out and brought to the Main Hall. When they were all opened, the glittering golden light made people's eyes dazzled.
"Drink~"
"You monks are really good at making money. How much money do you get from this!"
Even Fengxi had seen the grand scenes in the treasury, but he was extremely shocked to see such a huge amount of gold, silver and jewelry being found just from a temple.
This amount is probably over a thousand taels of silver, which shows how rich Fahua Temple is. This is too profitable.
"Tsk, tsk, you guys are really good at making money."
"Take them all away and let me interrogate them carefully."
