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Chapter 0788 Too much money in the court is also a trouble

Empress Dowager Li and Empress Cao rushed to Zhao Zhen and grabbed Zhao Zhen's palm to see if he was injured.

Zhao Zhen's palm was pricked by a wooden thorn, and blood seeped out, but he didn't notice it at all.

Empress Dowager Li and Empress Cao were startled and hurriedly called for the imperial doctor to come over and help Zhao Zhen heal his injuries.

After the imperial doctor helped Zhao Zhen pick out the wooden thorns and bandage the wound, Queen Mother Li asked with a thoughtful look: "Why are the officials upset?"

Zhao Zhen said with a gloomy face: "This small temple has accumulated more than 20 million yuan. When I ascended the throne, I didn't even have that much money. As an emperor, I am actually worse than a monk."

Queen Mother Li was also surprised when she heard this number.

You must know that her annual pocket money is only 200,000 yuan.

The money collected by a temple has exceeded her lifetime pocket money, how can she not be surprised?

You know, she is the current Queen Mother.

"If you are so rich, is it still a temple?"

Queen Mother Li asked in disbelief.

Queen Cao roughly guessed which temple it was, so she didn't say anything.

Zhao Zhen looked at Empress Dowager Li and said, "This is the Daxiangguo Temple where you often go, my empress."

"Daxiangguo Temple?!"

Queen Mother Li looked shocked.

It was hard for Queen Mother Li to imagine that the old monk, who looked kind and kind-hearted in front of her and looked like a master, actually held such a large sum of money in his hands.

The image of an old monk and a master instantly collapsed in her heart.

In Empress Dowager Li's opinion, except for the imperial court, anyone who can hold so much money must not be a good person.

Because without committing crimes and committing crimes, it is difficult for anyone to amass such a large amount of wealth by just relying on serious means.

Queen Mother Li was shocked and asked: "How did the Daxiangguo Temple collect so much money?"

Zhao Zhen said in a deep voice: "Since the destruction of several royal palaces, Daxiangguo Temple has become the largest usurer in Bianjing City."

"The Daxiangguo Temple makes usury money? Is it the kind of usury money that a forced person might not be able to afford even if he sells his son or daughter?"

Queen Mother Li asked quickly.

Zhao Zhen nodded slowly.

Seeing this, Empress Dowager Li said angrily: "They do such unscrupulous things, what kind of monks are they? What kind of pure place is Daxiangguo Temple?"

The most annoying thing is that they actually deceived the Ai family.

Every time the Aijia went to Daxiangguo Temple, they coaxed the Aijia into donating a lot of money for sesame oil.

Officials should punish them well.

Their sin of deceiving the Ai family should also be carefully reckoned with."

Although Queen Mother Li believed in Buddhism, she hated people bullying her.

She has been bullied for most of her life and has no good feelings towards the people who bullied her.

Even if the person who deceived her was very favored by her before, after she learned that he had been deceived, her favorable opinion of him would instantly drop to freezing point.

Queen Mother Li felt that Buddha was good.

It's just that those monks who serve the Buddha have dark hearts.

Not only did he deceive her, he also defiled the Buddha.

Must be severely punished.

After Zhao Zhen heard what Empress Dowager Li said, he nodded slowly and said: "Of course I will not let them go. I have already issued an order to deprive the name of Daxiangguo Temple.

From now on, there should be no more national temples, national teachers and the like in our Song Dynasty.

I have given full authority over the affairs of Daxiangguo Temple to my fourth brother.

I believe Fourth Brother will severely punish those villains."

"..."

Just when Zhao Zhen and Queen Mother Li were discussing severely punishing the monks of Daxiangguo Temple.

The dignitaries and civil and military ministers in Bianjing City have already arrived at the Daxiangguo Temple in carriages.

After they saw the list posted at the door of Daxiangguo Temple and the money piled in the courtyard of Daxiangguo Temple, they were all shocked.

When Lu Yijian, Zhang Zhibai, and Wang Zeng arrived, their jaws almost dropped.

"I really didn't expect that such a small temple could collect so much money."

"The pure place of Buddhism has actually become the largest usurer in Bianjing City..."

"There is such a cancer hidden in Bianjing City, and the three of us were not aware of it before..."

"..."

Lu Yijian and the other two exchanged glances and walked up to Kou Ji.

"I originally thought that after inspecting the temples all over the world, I would find at most millions of dollars in dirty money and tens of thousands of acres of land. But I didn't expect that just the Great Xiangguo Temple exceeded my expectations.

The wealth of temples in the world far exceeds that of the imperial court."

Lu Yijian sighed after walking in front of Kou Ji.

Hearing this, Kou Ji said calmly: "How about leaving the important task of checking other temples in the world to Mr. Lu?"

Lu Yijian was stunned when he heard this and shook his head decisively.

Inspecting the world's temples will certainly lead to many achievements, but it will also offend many people.

Kou Ji was able to investigate the Daxiangguo Temple because of his heavy troops.

Without heavy troops, it would never be that easy to check the Daxiangguo Temple.

Kou Ji led a heavy army and broke into the Daxiangguo Temple. When the monks in temples all over the world find out about this, they will definitely bear a grudge against Kou Ji.

However, the way monks behave is different from that of the secular world.

As long as they hold a grudge against you, they will definitely take revenge.

And the revenge is endless.

Lu Yijian was envious of the achievements in the inventory of temples all over the world, but he was unwilling to take charge of this matter.

Kou Ji curled his lips slightly when he saw Lu Yijian flinching.

But he did not ask Wang Zeng and Zhang Zhibai.

Wang Zeng and Zhang Zhibai are different in that they also know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, but both of them are the kind of people who are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the court and the people.

So once Kou Ji opens his mouth, the two of them will definitely agree to it.

Kou Ji had enough strength and means to protect himself, but Wang Zeng and Zhang Zhibai did not.

Take, for example, the previous report asking for an inventory of temples all over the world.

After Zhang Zhibai reported this matter, he suffered repeated attacks.

Zhang Zhibai did not have enough strength to protect himself, so the maid in his house died, there were golden sand glazed tiles on the roof, and the family dogs had horns on their heads.

If this matter was reported by Kou Ji, such a thing would never happen in the Kou Mansion.

Those who want to cause trouble in the Kou Mansion will probably have their legs broken and hung on the flagpole before they even enter.

The reason why Kou Ji did not come forward to report this matter was mainly because it was not appropriate for him to reveal the matter, and it would not be taken seriously by the civil and military officials of the court and the people of the world.

Because he is now a privy envoy, a military minister, not a civil servant.

There is a big difference between the functions of military ministers and civil ministers.

There is also a difference between military ministers and civil ministers talking about political affairs.

Take military affairs as an example.

If Kou Ji came forward to request someone to send troops to attack, the opposition from both the government and the public would be very small.

Because everyone in the government and the public knew about Kou Ji's abilities and knew that Kou Ji was in charge of the army, it was a matter of course that he proposed to send troops to attack anyone.

But if Wang Zeng and others come forward to request someone to send troops to attack, there will be loud opposition from both the government and the public.

First of all, the military ministers will have a strong sense of resistance.

Civil servants will question whether they have ulterior motives, and whether the things they petition for are reliable.

Therefore, when it comes to investigating the temples all over the world, Zhang Zhibai's petition would be far more effective than Kou Ji's petition.

Even if Kou Ji comes forward to report this matter, it will pass.

But the resistance encountered will definitely be greater than Zhang Zhibai's petition.

Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen have a lot to do but not much time, so they must reduce resistance and shorten the time as much as possible.

"During the previous political discussions in Chui Gong Hall, the officials had decided that all the money obtained from the inventory of temples in the world would be used to promote elementary education. You three should not worry about this money."

Kou Ji saw that Lu Yijian and the others were staring at the money in the courtyard of Daxiangguo Temple, so he couldn't help but give a reminder.

Lu Yijian, the three of them didn't look very good-looking.

Because such money was recovered from just one Daxiangguo Temple. After all the temples in the world are surveyed, the amount of money recovered will probably be an unimaginable amount.

Such money is only used for the promotion of elementary education, which is too extravagant.

With the large supply of money from Dali and Jiaozhi, the elementary school education in the Song Dynasty was basically on the right track.

The initial investment in elementary education is the largest, because it involves purchasing land, building a school building, and purchasing some necessary things.

But the later investment will not be that big.

In the later stage, it is only necessary to maintain the school building, provide the salary of the Meng Xue teachers, and provide books for the Meng Xue children.

Although the cost is also high, it is not as high as the previous period.

The money obtained from the inventory of all the temples in the world should be able to support the studies of the elementary school children in the past few years.

It won’t cost that much money to promote elementary education for a short time.

Therefore, money piled up in the treasury is a waste and should be used.

Li Di from Hexi and Wang Sui from Xingqing both petitioned the imperial court, hoping that the imperial court would approve some money for them to use to divert water.

There are rivers and deserts in Hexi.

The same is true around Xingqing.

Desertification control in Hexi has achieved initial results.

Thanks to the unremitting efforts of Li Di and the people of Hexi, Hexi gained another 100,000 acres of forest land last year.

Those forest lands were obtained from deserts and barren Gobi.

Li Di mentioned in his memorial that if the imperial court approved some money for him to open canals and divert water, the forestation rate of the desert and Gobi would definitely accelerate exponentially.

Because they have figured out how to control sand and how to control the Gobi desert.

After Wang Suizai learned that Li Di was effective in controlling desertification in Hexi, he sent people to find Li Di to learn from him.

Now he wants to follow Li Di's example and manage the desert around Xingqing.

Sand control and water diversion is a big project.

Naturally, a lot of money is needed.

After the two men's memorials were delivered to the imperial court, the imperial court still did not respond.

Now that they saw the money they got from inspecting the temple, Lu Yijian and the others became interested.

But before they could open their mouths, Kou Ji blocked their words.

"You can't..."

Wang Zeng gritted his teeth and spoke.

"cannot!"

Kou Ji flatly refused before he could finish his words.

It's not that Kou Ji doesn't know their thoughts, it's just that the money he got from inspecting the temple is really hard to give to them.

Why not give it?

Because with the inflow of money from Dali and Jiaozhi, prices in the Song Dynasty have begun to rise.

It's not obvious right now.

Because the money that flowed into the Song Dynasty from Dali and Jiaozhi entered Yizijiaozipu first.

After being controlled by Yizijiaozipu, it slowly flows into the private sector, and has little impact on prices.

But if Lu Yijian and others use the money gained from the inventory of temples all over the world to build two huge water canals, a large amount of money will rush into the people at once, and the prices among the people will definitely rise.

The gap between rich and poor will widen rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Prices will also rise to the point where it is difficult for poor people to buy.

At that time, huge conflicts will arise.

Enlightenment is only now becoming more widespread.

Most of the people are still illiterate.

Once there is a huge conflict, the people will not bother to listen to what you say, and they will decisively rebel.

By then the damage to the Song Dynasty will be great.

Therefore, the first task of the Song Dynasty now is to make the people rich before prices rise to the point where it is difficult for poor people to buy.

After Wang Zeng was rejected by Kou Ji, his face turned ugly.

Seeing this, Kou Ji smiled and said, "Although I can't give you the money I found, I can give you the land I found."

Lu Yijian and the others stared in shock.

Kou Ji continued to smile and said: "Perhaps you three can consider how to reasonably distribute these fields to the hands of poor people."

With the methods used by Lu Yijian and the others, they can definitely avoid the evil hands of most wealthy families and distribute the land to the poor people.

Lu Yijian and the other two fell into deep thought after hearing Kou Ji's words.

After a long time.

Zhang Zhibai stared at Kou Ji and asked, "What do you think the productivity of the fields identified is."

Kou Ji thought for a moment and said, "Those who can't afford to eat should be given fields. The exact amount depends on how much can be found."

"How long?"

"Three to five months..."

Lu Yijian and the three of them all stared in shock.

"So fast?!"

Even though it was easy for Kou Ji to clean up the Daxiangguo Temple, it was because Kou Ji had a high position and a lot of power, and he could mobilize a lot of power and suppress a lot of people.

The abbot of Daxiangguo Temple took out those things to threaten Kou Ji.

Kou Ji didn't care at all, and even dared to ask some soldiers to remove their armor and pretend to be bandits in front of the abbot of the Daxiangguo Temple, pretending to be a bloody massacre of the Daxiangguo Temple.

Try it with someone else.

Emperor Taizong's imperial edict to enshrine Daxiangguo Temple alone was enough to frighten the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty.

Kou Ji was probably the only minister in the Song Dynasty who dared to act recklessly in the face of Emperor Taizong's will.

People in the local government cannot act as recklessly as Kou Ji, and the manpower they can mobilize is limited.

Naturally, they would be very slow in checking out the temples all over the world.

If this is completed within two or three years, it will be highly efficient.

Therefore, Lu Yijian and the others naturally found it difficult to believe Kou Ji's claim that he could complete the inventory of all the temples in the world within three to five months.

Kou Ji said calmly: "Is this fast? The officials directly ordered local soldiers and horses to attack all the temples in the world without going through other local yamen.

It is already very slow to inspect all the temples in the world within three to five months."

Lu Yijian and the others stared, not knowing what to say.

It is really fast to mobilize troops and horses to attack temples all over the world directly without going through other local yamen.

After all, military orders are like mountains.

Even if Zhao Zhen ordered them to die, they would still carry it out.

Zhao Zhen asked them to go out to grab money, food, land, and maybe even dividends. How could they still be unhappy?

They don't know how to reason with others, and they don't care who is behind you or what life-saving things you have.

Anyway, Zhao Zhen has made a decree. No matter how big the issue is, Zhao Zhen is responsible for it.

They have nothing to worry about.

All you need to do is rush into the temple with a knife and clear out everything.

If you just do this, the impact and consequences will be very serious.

First, there will be complaints from local administrative offices.

People will also have complaints.

Those soldiers did not take much care in their actions, and they might kill too much and cause many lives.

There are many monks who are good at deceiving people.

If the soldiers cause trouble and cause many lives, monks who are good at deceiving people will definitely take the opportunity to trick the people into causing trouble.

It can be a civil unrest at the least, or a rebellion at the worst.

"It's too confusing!"

Wang Zeng frowned and shouted.

Kou Ji glanced at him and said, "Are you blaming the officials?"

Wang Zeng was annoyed, "So what? Even if the officials face me, I dare to say that."

Kou Ji shook his head and smiled, "I know what you are worried about, but your worries are unnecessary. Even if someone makes trouble, there will be no trouble.

Because from the beginning, we did not intend to give them a chance to cause trouble.

Soldiers and horses from all over the world are inspecting temples all over the world, and no news will be leaked before taking action.

For this reason, the officials issued an order to kill without mercy.

I believe there are not many people who have trouble with their own brains.

Soldiers and horses from all over the country will not leave immediately after entering the temple.

Instead, they will take control of the temple, and then count the money, land and other properties inside, and then collect them together after counting.

I still won’t leave after that.

Instead, the monks in the temple will be screened.

Those who are willing to abide by the laws of the Song Dynasty will be registered in the register and issued with ultimatums.

Those who were unwilling to comply were also sent to Dali.

If they want to incite people to make trouble, then let's make trouble.

As long as they can withstand the 100,000-strong Forbidden Army of the Song Dynasty, as well as the newly-established Naturalized Army and Guiyi Army.

As for some fish that have slipped through the net and are lurking among the people to cause trouble, there is no need to worry.

Since the imperial court issued ultimatums to monks in various places.

From now on, no matter where the monks go, they must check their ultimatum.

Anyone who refuses to give an ultimatum will be treated as a wild monk and demon, and will be captured and sent to prison."

Today, Zhong Shiheng, Zhu Neng, and Di Qing are still sitting in Dali, and one hundred thousand elite Forbidden Forces are also in Dali.

After conquering Dali, the imperial court recruited nearly 60,000 troops from Dali's original troops to form the Guihua and Guiyi armies.

There are 160,000 soldiers and horses, including 100,000 elite soldiers and generals.

Kou Ji didn't think those monks could cause any trouble after arriving in Dali under the noses of 160,000 soldiers.

If it really breaks out, that's fine.

The imperial court can legitimately suppress the people they seduced, capture them, and then send them to mines.

Of course, it is impossible for a hundred thousand imperial troops to be permanently stationed in Dali.

Later, when Zhong Shiheng and others returned to the court, they would definitely return to Bianjing City, and then return to their respective places of command.

Therefore, after Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen discussed it, they established another Forbidden Army. The number was initially set at 60,000, part of which was drawn from the Forbidden Army and the other part was recruited from the civilian population.

Named Zhenshan.

Previously, the Song Dynasty had a small territory and did not need so many soldiers and horses. In addition, the military system was chaotic and the soldiers and horses were eroded. Therefore, it was necessary to streamline and dismantle, save military expenses, and improve combat effectiveness.

Now that the territory of the Song Dynasty was expanding again, the number of the imperial guards of the Song Dynasty naturally had to increase.

Dali had just returned to the Song Dynasty, and there were countless small tribes in various places who were disobedient. There were also countless people who had surrendered to the Song Dynasty but still harbored evil intentions.

There are also some who want to secretly accumulate strength to restore the country.

Therefore, the soldiers and horses stationed in charge must be large in number and strong in combat effectiveness.

Therefore, even if Zhong Shiheng and others returned to the court, Dali would still have heavy troops stationed there.

After being educated by officials of the Song Dynasty, the Guiyi and Guihua armies would also be assigned to local areas and become local troops to help local officials manage Dali.

Therefore, Kou Ji was not afraid that those monks would cause trouble after being sent to Dali.

After listening to Kou Ji's words, the three of them, Lu Yijian, looked at each other and sighed together.

After Kou Ji finished speaking, they already understood the intentions of Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen.

Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen took advantage of the situation and sent people who might cause trouble in the Song Dynasty to Dali to cause trouble.

Then he would use them to cause trouble and clean up those people with ulterior motives in Dali.

By the way, hundreds of mines newly built by the imperial court were filled with miners.

It's obviously two bad things.

But Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen turned it into three good things.

As long as nothing unexpected happens.

The final result was that there were fewer monks making trouble in the Song Dynasty, and they could not make any big waves.

People with ulterior motives in Dali were sent to mine.

The imperial court made a lot of money from beginning to end.

The one who benefits is the court, and the one who suffers is always others.

Lu Yijian and the others can be sure that Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen planned this matter for more than a day or two.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to plan so carefully and turn two troubles into three good things.

Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen planned such a big plan behind their backs, but they only told them a little bit from the beginning to the end.

The three people felt that their prime minister had been cheated for nothing.

But no one had the idea of ​​abdicating the throne in favor of someone more worthy.

They had been hanging around for decades before they got to where they are now.

Now is the time for the Song Dynasty to advance bravely and diligently, and they are not willing to miss it.

"Although you and the officials have handled everything properly, there are still troubles. Until you clear out the fish that have slipped through the net among the monks, something bad will definitely happen."

After Lu Yijian thought for a long time, he slowly spoke.

Kou Ji nodded and said: "Bleeding is certain... If the cancer is removed, there will be no bloodshed. But the officials and I have tried our best to minimize the bleeding."

Wang Zeng said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid you and the officials should be careful when going out in the future."

Zhang Zhibai nodded in agreement.

If those fish that slipped through the net were unable to make a comeback after all the struggles, the final result would be to focus on the heads of Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen.

They might directly assassinate him.

It may also be like a poisonous snake, lurking around Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen for ten years, twenty years, or even a lifetime.

After hearing what the three of them said, Kou Ji smiled calmly and said: "They are just a bunch of monsters and monsters. If they cannot see the light of day, what should I be afraid of?"

If it is because of fear of assassination or fear of poisonous snakes lurking around.

Then Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen simply don't do anything.

After all, assassination is just a minor thing. It can't change anything except venting personal anger and revenge.


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