It was easy for Wang Can to meet Li Shimin, especially the soldiers at the gate of the imperial city. They didn't stop him at all and just led Wang Can inside. After a while, they arrived at the main hall.
Li Shimin is currently reviewing government affairs.
He is very busy now.
After all, the Tang Dynasty was in his hands for a short period of time. Especially Li Shimin's heart, he wanted to build up the Tang Dynasty and make the Tang Dynasty prosperous, so it was even more difficult for Li Shimin to rest.
It is easy to be an emperor.
You can play in darkness, have fun and enjoy yourself, you can have three palaces and six courtyards, you can also have delicacies from mountains and seas, and you can even decide your life or death with a single word, you have supreme power.
This is the treatment of an emperor.
However, it is difficult to be a good emperor.
A good emperor must be conscientious, because a huge country is in the hands of one person. If there is a slight slack, a huge empire may collapse. Especially a small mistake made by the emperor will have unlimited consequences for the people.
The magnification is the most helpless thing.
Li Shimin was not only determined to be a good emperor.
He wants to be the emperor for eternity.
Far more powerful than the Qin Emperor and the Han Dynasty, Li Shimin was even more busy, with endless things to deal with and too many constraints on him.
This is the difficulty of being an emperor through the ages.
When Li Shimin saw Wang Can, he put down the brush in his hand and said, "Mr. Wang, why are you here?"
"Come here, give me a seat!"
Li Shimin gave the order directly.
He had great respect for Wang Can and Li Shimin.
Because of Wang Can, the Tang Dynasty is what it is today. It is possible to ensure that the Tang Dynasty will not be invaded by the Turks and to completely weaken the Turks in one battle. At least for a few years, the Tang Dynasty will not need to worry about the threat of the Turks.
After Wang Can thanked him, he immediately sat down. He did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "Your Majesty, my wife and I went to Ci'en Temple in Chang'an today. This Ci'en Temple is quite efficacious, and the presiding monk Long Hai is also an eminent monk.
A good monk."
"It's just that when I was talking to the monk at Ci'en Temple, I heard a piece of news."
"The monks of Ci'en Temple mainly practice asceticism."
"Always beg for alms and live a poor life."
"This is their requirement for themselves, in order to truly understand the Great Dao and hope to achieve Buddhahood."
Wang Can talked eloquently and continued: "But in fact, except for temples like Ci'en Temple, most temples in Chang'an and even the world are not actually ascetic. They all rely on rewards from the court and believers.
There are countless amounts of land donated, or even purchased by themselves.”
"Some temples may cover an area of several thousand acres, or even tens of thousands of acres."
"Temple after temple, the wealth is flowing."
"There are countless monks in each temple."
"This is unreasonable."
As Wang Can spoke, his eyes gradually became sharper, and he said in a deep voice: "It is actually not easy in the Tang Dynasty today. Whether it is population, food, or land, it is far from enough. Because there is so much land.
, are all in the hands of aristocratic families and such temples. And many people have been annexed by the temples and become monks in the temples."
After Li Shimin heard this, he immediately understood.
I knew Du Qi’s purpose of coming.
Li Shimin sighed and said: "How come I don't know about the problem Mr. Wang mentioned? There are countless monks and countless temples in the world, and the monks and temples themselves have great influence. If it is to destroy the Buddha, release the monks
and land, but this will lead to chaos, which is extremely unstable."
Wang Can said: "Is it because it is easy to cause trouble, so we have just ignored it and not dealt with it? Especially the temples, which are extremely rich and occupy countless fertile fields. If all these fertile fields can be taken over, then it will be right
For the Tang Dynasty, this was an opportunity to change the world structure and give people the opportunity to cultivate their fields."
Li Shimin said: "It is impossible to destroy the Buddha."
Li Shimin shook his head directly at this matter.
Because there are countless people who believe in Buddhism in the world, and there are even countless people who firmly stand in the Buddhist faith.
Once the Buddha is destroyed, the consequences will be disastrous.
Wang Can laughed and said, "Your Majesty, why did I ever say that I would destroy the Buddha?"
Li Shimin said: "Mr. Wang just said that Buddhist temples are extremely rich. Under such a premise, isn't it necessary to destroy Buddhism and then confiscate all the land and money?"
"of course not!"
Wang Can shook his head.
He looked solemn and said sternly: "I know the impact of destroying the Buddha. Therefore, this matter is definitely impossible. Furthermore, there are Buddhist temples in the world, such as Ci'en Temple, and they are not greedy.
, is not greedy. Therefore, in everything, one cannot overturn the whole boat with one rod."
Li Shimin said: "What does Mr. Wang mean?"
Li Shimin had no doubts about Wang Can's wisdom. Even in the handling of many things, Li Shimin found that Wang Can's suggestions were very good.
Especially regarding the planning of the new city, Li Shimin took a look at it and thought it was really good.
Even better than Chang'an Old Town.
Wang Can said: "In fact, it is very simple. You only need to arrange for people to check the land, especially the land of temples. Temples in the world cannot be alien places, and they must have supervisors. So in this regard, we only need to
Arrange officials to thoroughly inspect the temples in each county. In addition to the land, each county can reserve 10% of the money earned from the investigation and punishment of the temples for its own use, and the rest of the money will be turned over to the national treasury. In this way, it will definitely be successful."
After Li Shimin heard this, his face showed a look of shock.
Wang Can's plan is excellent.
If officials from all states and counties in the world were simply asked to search temples and squeeze out all the money and land from temples, then officials in each county might not be willing to do it.
This is something that offends people.
Few people are willing to do it.
However, the imperial court allowed local officials to keep 10%. Then, various regions would have profits to grab. Even the imperial court said it was 10%, but in fact, various regions may have more than 10%, or even more than 20%.
, or even more.
This is uncontrollable.
Even if the imperial court arranges for people to monitor, various places have means to detain them.
But even so, the land was transferred from the temple and most of the money entered the national treasury. For the court, this was an excellent thing.
Of course, everything has its drawbacks.
Li Shimin said: "Mr. Wang, what you did is good. But after this order is issued, people from all temples in the world and all Buddhist believers in the world will probably say that I am a tyrant and greedy. After all, temples do things
, have never broken any laws or disciplines, but the court directly attacks them, which is somewhat unreasonable."
Wang Can said: "Your Majesty, this is your business. On the one hand, it is the people of the world, and on the other hand, it is your Majesty's reputation. It depends on how you choose. In short, no matter what, it all depends on your own decision. I
I just went to Ci'en Temple and saw these things, so I came here to explain it to His Majesty. The final decision is your Majesty's decision."
Li Shimin frowned when he heard this.
It was a bit difficult to decide for a while.
Wang Can continued: "Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, there is a man named Fu Yi in the court. He has always proposed to destroy the Buddha. Many of his views can be used as orders from the court. However, I will mention
Mention it."
Fu Yi has been smart since childhood.
He was a person from the Sui Dynasty.
When the Sui Dynasty was founded, it followed the tradition of advocating Buddhism during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Great Sui Dynasty also advocated Buddhism. However, Fu Yi did not believe in Buddhism when he was a child, and he was even more hostile to Buddhism.
The reason is very simple. Fu Yi believes that there are countless temples in the world, monks are everywhere, and countless people abandon their families to go to temples. This is unstable for the world and is not conducive to the continuation of the country.
Therefore, he has always despised Buddhism.
During the Sui Dynasty, Fu Yi served in Fufeng County. Although he was talented, he was depressed and frustrated.
It was not until Li Yuan became the governor of Fufeng that Fu Yi followed Li Yuan. After Li Yuan became emperor, Fu Yi was transferred to Chang'an because of his outstanding talents and learning. Fu Yi was first appointed as Taishi Cheng, and was soon promoted to Taishi Ling.
With Li Yuan's morale low, Fu Yi wrote several times asking for the destruction of the Buddha, but Li Yuan beat him back.
Li Yuan himself had a good impression of Buddhism.
Therefore, Fu Yi's request and martial arts exception all failed. After Li Shimin came to the throne, Fu Yi thought that the opportunity had come, so he wrote to Li Shimin again, declaring the harm of Buddhism, believing that Buddhism ruined the foundation of the Tang Dynasty and was the cause of the Tang Dynasty.
Thousands of words have been said about the possible reasons for its decline.
But Li Shimin still didn't adopt it.
It is too difficult to destroy the Buddha.
The obstacles are too great.
Li Shimin thought of Fu Yi, his eyes brightened, and he said: "Mr. Wang, the temples in the world need someone to take charge of the overall situation. Although Fu Yi is said to be Taishi Ling, in fact, he has enough talent and learning, and he is proficient in martial arts.
In fact, with him here, there will be no mistakes in handling the land and property of temples in various places. You mentioned Fu Yi, which is really a clever move."
Wang Can smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I just thought of Fu Yi, so I just mentioned it. I really didn't think of the rest."
Li Shimin nodded and said: "No matter what, this provides an idea. In this way, Fu Yi can take charge of the overall situation, and he will not cheat."
Wang Can said nothing.
Li Shimin's muttering to himself is Li Shimin's business.
Wang Can waited for Li Shimin to finish mumbling to himself, and then said: "Your Majesty, I have said everything that needs to be said about the temples in the world, and I have even said what should not be said. Your Majesty still has many things to say.
There are government affairs to deal with, so I won’t stay any longer and take my leave!”
He proposed to leave.
After all, it's not appropriate to stay here with excuses after the matter is settled.
Li Shimin did not persuade Wang Can to stay. After letting Wang Can leave, he ordered people to invite Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, and Du Ruhui to discuss matters regarding the temple.