As soon as this was mentioned, the civil servants in the palace immediately became excited.
Ling Han, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, acted as one of them and spoke loudly, "Your Highness, I am the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Please read the documents of the Ministry of Personnel. Monk officials were established in the early years of the country. By the 25th year of Hongwu, only Zhejiang Province had eighth-grade monk officials.
There are one hundred and thirty-six people!”
"Official positions are important weapons of the country. Ordinary scholars can't get them even if they study hard for ten years. Why should they be given to monks so lightly? These monks are supposed to manage and restrain monks. But they rely on their official status and ignore the laws of the court.
, there is only a temple in my eyes, not a country.”
"I am accumulating temple property, building large-scale construction projects, attracting believers through Buddhism, and hoarding land. Do what I do have any virtue of a monk?"
"There are ignorant people who use temples as shelter to evade corvee and land taxes. Temples occupy fertile farmland and do not pay taxes. If this continues, the country will definitely repeat the mistakes of the former Tang Dynasty."
When Ling Han spoke, his beard and hair stood out, and spittle flew everywhere.
What he said is a bit exaggerated. The phenomenon he mentioned existed, but it was not serious in the early Ming Dynasty. However, the usual way of civil servants to deal with things that they don’t like is to say that one word will turn into ten, and ten will turn into ten thousand, which is alarmist.
.Then it will be overthrown from the foundation, stepped on by ten thousand feet, and will never be able to stand up.
But what he said was exactly what Zhu Yunxi needed.
"Has Your Highness ever read the history of the Tang Dynasty?" Ling Han continued to speak loudly, "Monks became very popular in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and even more so in the Tang Dynasty. Starting from Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, a large amount of fertile land became temple property, and a large number of people became fugitives. From the Tang Dynasty to Wuzong period
"There are 5,000 large monasteries in the world and 40,000 small monasteries. There are 300,000 monks and nuns, and 250,000 slaves in the monasteries."
"Occupying tens of millions of hectares of fertile land, the world has a tenth of the wealth, but monks account for seventy-eight. Some monks occupy the court as officials, and even the officials live in Sikong. Then Wuzong destroyed Buddhism, which allowed the former Tang Dynasty to revive after the Anshi Rebellion, and it was possible to mobilize foreign troops.
Tubo suppressed the vassal towns internally..."
(Wuzong is very strong, Chai Rong is also very strong!)
"In fact, since the Song Dynasty, there has been no tax exemption for monks in the world. During the Southern Song Dynasty, they had to pay tax money to the court. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan court was tolerant to monks, so there was a tax exemption."
"My dynasty is prosperous, and your majesty is benevolent, so I followed the previous dynasty and allowed them to be exempted from taxes. But have these monks ever said your majesty's grace? I heard that every time there is a disaster in various places, there are temples that loan money, causing the people to sell their sons and daughters.
It can’t be repaid!”
"Your Highness, it concerns the country's title and official position, and concerns the hearts and minds of the people of the world. The matter of monks and officials must not be delayed!"
Ling Han roared loudly, and all the civil servants were filled with indignation, their eyes gleaming, their feet lowered and their chests raised, and they immediately rushed out and forced all the monks in the world to return to secular life.
In fact, the reason why the Ming Dynasty had monks and officials was because of the disadvantages caused by the old man. In order to win over all the forces in the south of the Yangtze River, these benefits were promised.
And because the old man had been a monk, some local officials did not understand why and were too tolerant and indulgent of the monks. All these circumstances were entangled together, which led to the creation of the Ming Dynasty, and now there is such a group of tax-exempt classes.
The old man believes that, except for scholars, anyone who does not farm is not doing his job properly.
In Zhu Yunxi's heart, anyone who does not pay taxes is a bad person.
"What Ling Aiqing said is true to Gu Shen!"
Zhu Yunxi tapped his fingers lightly on the table and nodded in praise, "Reading history books alone, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, monks not only had to pay taxes, but also joined the army and fought in the army, worked hard to build cities, and transported military supplies. In such troubled times, why did they do so in the prosperous times?
Are you shaking?"
"Buddhism, Gu agrees with and respects it. But monks, those who preach Buddhism, have now fallen into the eyes of money. Years ago, Gu went to several ancient temples outside the city. The majesty of the temples rivaled those of the Forbidden City.
Not to mention the thousands of acres of land in their hands, even during the New Year, the incense money given by the people is enough for them to live for a year!"
"Those monks all have red faces and bright robes. If they had hair, they would look like rich men!"
"You said they want so much land and so much money, what's the use?"
"If you adopt orphans and widows, that's enough to benefit the people. But... use usury? Take advantage of not paying taxes and hoard land?"
"Besides, now that our Ming Dynasty has a clear and clear government, peace and harmony in the world, and a strong national power, even if the country is in trouble, there is no need for them!"
"But..." At this point, Zhu Yunxi changed the subject and deliberately showed a stern expression, "Monks, temple property and other matters have existed since ancient times. Moreover, many emperors in the past dynasties believed in Buddhism and famous mountains and rivers
The relationship has been established for a long time, and if we act rashly, I’m afraid..."
"Your Highness!"
Before Zhu Yunxi finished speaking, several people immediately came out.
Fang Xiaoru, Huang Zicheng and others looked excited and said, "We read the books of sages, as the king above, and as the people below. Your Highness is a benevolent and virtuous king, and I cannot bear to have His Highness be infamy!"
"Is it difficult? I'll wait and do it! For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, and for the eradication of bad habits in the world, this is what I wish!"
Look, this is the benefit of head iron.
A stubborn person will hit a wall when they see it. If they see something happening, they will fight to the death. Just wave their hands from above and they will go up!
"Masters!" Zhu Yunxi said with a look of emotion, "The humerus of the Ming Dynasty!"
Now let you stubborn people cancel the tax-free privileges of monks in the world, deprive them of their official positions, inventory their properties, and determine their numbers. Let the monks' money become the country's money.
In the future, I will use you stubborn people to attack your own people and cancel the tax-free privileges of you scholars...
With a word of "humerus", all the Hanlin scholars held their heads high and their chests high, with the spirit of the wind rustling and the water cold.
"It doesn't mean that we should completely deny it. Special things should be handled by special people and special people should be in charge. There still need to be some monks, but not so many, and they can't be just a host."
"Choose a few eminent monks to set an example for the world's monks, and place them under the Ministry of Rites to manage the world's monks."
"We cannot collect all the property of the temple. We must leave some for them to plant so that they can be self-sufficient and have food to eat. All the privileges of the monks will be cancelled. As for monks, the Buddha said that all living beings are equal, and they always
You can’t slap yourself in the face.”
"The number of monks must be strictly controlled. If someone wants to become a monk, he needs to purchase an ultimatum from the government."
With that said, Zhu Yunxi stood up, walked among the ministers, and continued, "Just now Fu Aiqing talked about the funding of official schools in the world, but he has a suggestion."
The faces of all the ministers tightened and they listened attentively.
"Part of the temple property that has been inventoried in various places can be used as official property. The annual output is earmarked for special use for students and teachers in official schools. The money spent by monks and the court every year to buy Buddhist monks is also included in it.
Use it for official studies!”
"It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish. In this way, official education in various places has a long-term guarantee. If the state increases its support for education, won't there be more seeds of scholars in the world?"
At this time, Zhu Yunxi looked around and said with a smile, "What do you think?"
"Your Highness!"
Among the Hanlin bachelors, the white-haired bachelor Zhan Tong, the Imperial College scholar Hu Jian and others had tears in their eyes.
"Your Highness's move is a kind of virtuous policy rarely seen throughout the ages. It will definitely be remembered in the history books and sung for thousands of years!" Several old bachelors gave a gift.
All the officials in the palace were amazed.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, military personnel have been given priority over literature. For the past twenty-five years of the Ming Dynasty, military personnel have been given priority in everything. How could there ever be such preferential treatment for scholars in the world!
Liu Sanwu and other bachelors looked at Zhu Yunxi with eyes full of relief and admiration.
This is the good emperor they hope for, this is the good monarch they hope for!
"This is just borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha!" Zhu Yunxi helped several old ministers up and said with a smile, "You are the ones who really serve the country."
After saying that, he paused and said, "However, this matter cannot be done with great fanfare! After all, there are many monks in the world. Those monks have been exempted from tax for a long time, so I don't want to have any setbacks!"
"You can borrow it from the Inventory Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs and use the name of the land inventory!" Fu Youwen, Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said.
"We can order local inspectors to report illegal monks and personnel. After the ministers are impeached, they will be revealed to the world to rule them out!" Feng Jian, the censor of the Inspectorate, said.
"You can also ask the local officials to report that there are temples to hide the population and fight against the government!" Fang Xiaoru also said coldly, "If you have a reason, you can investigate as much as you want! If you are not afraid of not knowing the affairs of the world, you are afraid that you don't want to investigate. Let's see what they end up with.
Who is clean?"
"After checking, you can deal with them how you want. Tax-free? Become an official? Huh! Just dream!"
As he said that, Fang Xiaoru's old-fashioned face showed a bit of ruthlessness, "When it comes to Buddhism, they have the final say. When it comes to national law, we have the final say!"
When an iron-headed person becomes iron-headed, he will suffer losses one after another. In other words, if you offend anyone, don't offend the intellectuals.
"So good!"
Zhu Yunxi put his palms on his hands and said with a smile, "Scholar Fang, I feel aggrieved. You are a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and you have the title of Minister of Household Affairs. You will lead Huang Zicheng and others to handle this matter!"
"Wait a minute!" Ling Han said loudly at the side, "Your Highness, I am the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and I also have the responsibility of management. I entrust you with the chief minister, and I am in charge of the official. Fang Xueshi is the deputy... If
We can’t find out those bald thief monks!”
At this point, Ling Han rolled up his sleeves, his eyes full of fierceness, "I am willing to retire and return to my hometown!"