Rebirth: Overthrow Song Dynasty

"Old monk Minghui, see your majesty!" Seeing Zhao Chen's and his party's arrival, several monks in front of Lingyin Temple had already walked up quickly. They came to Zhao Chen, and the leading monk saluted.

"I have seen the master abbot." Zhao Chen also saluted.

The leading monk is Minghui, the abbot of Lingyin Temple, who is quite famous among Buddhist schools in the south of the Yangtze River. He looks more than 50 years old, and his appearance gives people an unusually dignified and calm feeling. He is obviously a man who has been successful in Dharma and has been meditating all year round.

Minghui was also looking at Zhao Chen secretly at this moment. In his opinion, Zhao Chenying was full of energy, his eyes were extremely bright, and there was an expression of indescribable tenacity in his eyes. He had met Zhao Go before, but Zhao Go's temperament was far inferior to Zhao Chen.

"Your Majesty, please come in!" Minghui said slowly.

Zhao Chen smiled and followed Minghui and others into the Lingyin Temple.

Lingyin Temple is very famous in later generations, and no one knows the legend of Daoji monk, but now Daoji has not been born, and there is no such person in Lingyin Temple. Although the current Lingyin Temple is also quite famous, it is still inferior to later generations. But near Lin'an city, this is the first temple.

The architecture of Lingyin Temple is also very different from later generations. In history, Lingyin Temple has also been repaired and rebuilt many times. The later Lingyin Temple was built on the basis of the Lingyin Temple in the late Qing Dynasty, but now it is only the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty.

The Lingyin Temple now looks much simpler than later generations, and the courtyard area is much larger.

They entered through the mountain gate, and saw pine and cypresses everywhere on both sides of the mountain gate, and the temple was unusually quiet.

Occasionally a monk passed by, and when he saw Zhao Chen and others, he hurriedly saluted.

"Let's go to the Palace of Heavenly Kings and worship Buddha." Zhao Chen said.

At the moment Minghui hurriedly took Zhao Chen to the Temple of Heavenly Kings, where the Buddhist Maitreya Buddha was enshrined.

Zhao Chen entered it and gave incense to the Buddha, not to mention.

After staying in the Palace of Heavenly Kings for a while, they went to the Palace of Huangjue. This Palace of Emperor Jue was called "Daxiong Hall" in later generations, and it was worshipped by Buddha Shakyamuni.

After coming out of Huangjue Hall, Minghui led Zhao Chen and others towards the west of the temple. In the Song Dynasty, there was a large mountain forest with lush greenery and cranes. These cranes are not afraid of people. When Zhao Chen and others arrive, they don't fly away. Some cranes even come towards people, obviously they are very familiar with them.

Seeing this scene, Zhao Chen couldn't help laughing.

"Your Majesty, the cold spring lies ahead." Minghui said.

Zhao Chen nodded. Cold Spring is also a famous scenic spot in Lingyin Temple, and many people have always been there to enjoy the scenery.

After a few steps forward, a small clear lake appeared in front of him, and here was the cold spring. The spring of the cold spring is in the small lake. It was not until the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty in the later generation that the spring of the cold spring was moved to the shore.

The spring crystals here are as bright as jade, even in the midsummer season, it is still cold. For more than a thousand years, the cold spring has been gushing endlessly, and there is a stream flowing down the mountain next to it.

In the Tang Dynasty, someone built five pavilions on the small lake where Lengquan was located. There are only two of the five pavilions left in later generations, but in the Song Dynasty, all five pavilions were there.

Zhao Chen and others came to the "Lengquan Pavilion", where he sat down, and then ordered the ministers and monks to also sit down.

The lakes and mountains here are picturesque!

Zhao Chen feels very happy.

Since coming to Jiangnan, Zhao Chen has also dealt with official duties every day. Is there any time for rest?

In this short period of two to three months, Zhao Chen received more than one hundred officials.

These officials came from all over the place, and Zhao Chen received them mainly to appease the hearts of these officials.

In addition to interviewing officials, he also received countless scholars, countless prestigious elderly people and so on.

In addition, he has traveled to more than ten states and counties around Lin'an, visiting people everywhere, also to appease the people.

During this period of time, Zhao Chen has issued more than ten imperial edicts, all in order to restore Jiangnan!

Now the agricultural tax in Jiangnan has been reduced by half, which is the same as that of Guanshan, Hanzhong, Sichuan and Shu! In Dongting Lake, Lianghuai, Henan and other places, because of the catastrophe, the places are badly broken. Zhao Chen has ordered the exemption of taxes for those places for five years and encouraged the people in Jiangnan to go to Lianghuai, Henan and other places! People in Jiangnan, as long as someone is willing to go to those places, they can get land distributed by the government! In ancient times, land was the most precious property. Countless people spent their entire lives to save two acres of land for future generations! However, the time for the issuance of the imperial decree is still short, and there are not many Jiangnan people going to Lianghuai, Henan and other places.

In addition to these, Zhao Chen also decreed to carry out commercial tax reform! However, the reform of commercial taxation faces certain pressure and it will take longer.

At present, Jiangnan is already stable.

During this period of time, Jiangnan has not experienced any disturbances! The government offices in various places were operating smoothly, and both the officials and the people accepted the fact that the new emperor had arrived. Moreover, with the implementation of some policies that benefit the people, the people have begun to support the new emperor and the new court.

Zhao Chen sat here meditating. Minghui had already sent people tea and snacks, and put them in front of Zhao Chen. Only then did Zhao Chen come back to his senses.

"Your Majesty, there are rumors outside that you are going to destroy the Buddha, but is there such a thing?" Minghui said a little worried at this moment.

"Destroying the Buddha? Where does this start?" Zhao Chen said.

"Some people say that the Henan Shaolin Temple sent someone to assassinate your Majesty. Therefore, your Majesty hates Shaolin and Buddhism, so he wants to destroy the Buddha." Minghui said.

"Exterminate the Buddha, I would not do such a thing! I came to Lingyin Temple today, saw the Buddha, and offered incense to the Buddha. This is enough to represent my attitude towards Buddhism!" Zhao Chen laughed.

In ancient China, especially before the Song Dynasty, there were many "destroying Buddha" incidents! Basically every dynasty has one or two kings "destroying the Buddha", the most famous of which is the Sanwu annihilation of the Buddha! Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, etc. have all destroyed the Buddha, and more than a dozen emperors have imposed restrictive measures on the Buddhist school.

There were various reasons why these emperors wanted to "destroy Buddhism" or restrict Buddhism, and one of the most important ones was economic reasons.

The ancient Buddhist disciples had many privileges. They did not have to perform corvee or pay taxes. Therefore, many wealthy people invested in Buddhism in order to avoid paying taxes. Buddhism disciples oppress ordinary people everywhere. They issue usury loans and forcibly occupy land. They tempted the people to donate money, claiming that the people can be exempt from all sins after donating the money, and they can be reborn into good people in the next life.

Before the Song Dynasty, Buddhism had a lot of wealth!

When Wuzong of Tang Dynasty destroyed the Buddha, the historical records recorded that "the world is wealthy, and the Buddha has seven or eight"! Seventh-tenths and eight-tenths of the world's wealth are occupied by Buddhism! Buddhism "worked manpower in civil engineering, winning others favored the decoration of Jinbao; when the deceased was in love with the teacher, breaking the spouse between the precepts. Bad law harms others, no more than this way." When Wuzong of the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Buddha, the world had just gone through a war with a population of only over 20 million, but the number of Buddhist monks exceeded 3 million, and the number of slaves owned by Buddhist monks exceeded one million!

Buddhism monks, who occupy one-tenth or more of the world’s population, don’t have to work, don’t pay taxes, and just enjoy social wealth. Under such circumstances, how can the emperor and the court tolerate it?

Moreover, the ancient population is an important resource! One-tenth or more of the country's population does not need to perform military service and will not reproduce. Under such circumstances, the national interest will suffer a great loss!

It is for these various reasons that the monarchs in the past "destroyed the Buddha" many times, and every time they "destroyed the Buddha", they were called "difficulties" by later Buddhist disciples.

Of course, the so-called extermination of the Buddha is not to kill the Buddhism, but to order most monks to return to the vulgar. At the time of Zhou Wuzong, three million monks were forced to return to the secular world, and one million monastery servants became free men. All monks under the age of fifty must join the army and serve the country. At the time of Tang Wuzong, millions of monks were forced to return to the vulgar, and the hundreds of thousands of slaves owned by the monks became free again! In addition, demolish temples everywhere! Zhou Wuzong demolished more than 40,000 temples, and later Zhou Shizong demolished 33,336 temples, confiscated a large number of Buddhist statues, bells, pans, and other ritual objects, cast them into coins, and traveled the world. Later Zhou Shizong was a generation of heroes. He believed that Buddhism was a cancer of the world and caused great damage to the world. Therefore, his determination to destroy the Buddha was very firm. At that time, there was a bronze statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva in Zhenzhou that was so effective that no one dared to destroy it. After hearing the news, Zhou Shizong personally came to the temple and smashed Guanyin Bodhisattva's chest with an axe.

Minghui thought that Zhao Chen was going to destroy the Buddha, so he was nervous. At this moment, he heard Zhao Chen's assurance that he was relieved.

Zhao Chen came to Lingyin Temple this time, of course because he was too tired these days, so he wanted to rest, and another reason was to appease the hearts of these Buddhist monks! Zhao Chen has also received news that a Shaolin monk entered Jiangnan and spread rumors among the major temples in Jiangnan that it was Zhao Chen who wanted to destroy the Buddha! Buddhism has great influence among the people, and there are many people who believe in Buddhism, so Zhao Chen also had to take action.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Minghui said.

"The current Buddhism is very different from the previous Buddhism! Buddhism guides the people of the world to be good, and I have no objection to Buddhism. On the contrary, I have to donate one hundred thousand taels of silver to repair the Lingyin Temple." Zhao Chen Tao.

"Great!" Minghui's face showed a hint of surprise.

Zhao Chen also had a faint smile on his face! He is not afraid that Buddhism temples will harm the world's economy and national interests! The Buddhism of the Song Dynasty is very different from the previous Buddhism. After many times of exterminating the Buddha, the extravagant sects in Buddhism have no living ground. Now, the Zen Buddhism, which focuses on penance, has become the mainstream of Buddhism! Moreover, the Song Dynasty officials learned from the previous lessons and have already imposed a great limit on the number of fixed assets that the temple can own! For example, Lingyin Temple now has more than 10,000 mu of land, and these are rewards from many emperors after the establishment of the Song Dynasty. Of course, Zhao Chen will no longer reward land.

"Your Majesty, how are you going to deal with Shaolin Temple?" At this moment, a monk next to him asked.

"If the Shaolin Temple is willing to submit to the court, I will naturally not take them." Zhao Chen said.

"What if they don't want it?" the monk said again.

"If I don't want to, I won't be polite to them! Buddhism disciples, mainly Qingxiu, but they want to influence the government and get involved in national affairs! Buddhism can't kill, but they assassinate me! The ancestor Bodhidharma passed down. The Yi Jin Jing and Marrow Washing Sutras were meant to enable Shaolin disciples to strengthen their bodies and to comprehend Buddhism, but they developed them into killing techniques! Shaolin Temple must be rectified!" Zhao Chen said.

He can gather the heart of Jiangnan Buddhism in order to stabilize the world, but for Shaolin Temple, he will never let it go! The Shaolin Temple sent people to assassinate him before. That's fine. Now he has become the unique emperor of the Song Dynasty. At such a moment, the Shaolin Temple even sent people to the south to confuse people. This has reached the limit of Zhao Chen's tolerance.

After Zhao Chen said something, the monk also had nothing to say.

"By the way, Lingyin Temple should restore its original name!" Zhao Chen said again.

It turns out that in this era, Lingyin Temple is no longer called Lingyin Temple. After Zhao Gou came to Jiangnan, on the one hand he was content with it, he was unwilling to fight with Jurchen, and he was unwilling to rescue Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan and others, but on the other hand he wanted to express his "filial piety", so he changed the name of Lingyin Temple "Chong'en Xianqin Temple", Zhao Chen restored this temple to "Lingyin Temple".

"Your Majesty, no!" At this moment, Chen Dong suddenly said.

"Why not?" Zhao Chen said.

"Emperor Jianyan changed Lingyin Temple to Chong'en Xianqin Temple, which is also a filial piety! Although he is a rebel, there is nothing wrong with his filial piety. Your Majesty cannot change the name of this temple!" Chen Dongdao.

"Filial piety is not just talking about it, but by practical action! Jurchen captured the two supreme emperors, but instead of rescuing the two supreme emperors, he negotiated peace with Jurchen! The two supreme emperors were suffering in the north, but he lived extravagantly! He is so unfilial. , I still want to get the false name of'filial piety'! It's ridiculous! Even if he renames all the temples in the world, can he rescue the two Supreme Emperors? Today I will return Lingyin Temple to its original name. In the future, I will lead soldiers to go north to rescue my father. The emperor and grandpa emperor are far better than him." Zhao Chen said coldly.

"Your Majesty is right, filial piety is not only to say, but more importantly to do! This Lingyin Temple is going to be changed back to its original name." Huang Qianshan complimented.

Chen Dong's face flushed, but after a while, he still nodded.

He is pedantic, but has a straightforward character. At this moment, he felt that what Zhao Chen said was reasonable, so he nodded in acknowledgment.

Zhao Chen sat in the cold spring pavilion, drinking tea and eating snacks, feeling very comfortable.

He didn't say more, and everyone didn't dare to say more.

"Your Majesty, the world has changed tremendously over the years! The old monk thought that my Great Song was about to die, but my Majesty turned out to turn the tide, so that my Great Song can continue! The upper and lower Jiangnan admired your Majesty." After a while, Minghui spoke.

In fact, he just wanted to compliment Zhao Chen, hoping that Lingyin Temple could get more support from the court.

"My Da Song will never perish, and will always stand on the land of China." Zhao Chen said.

"This..." Minghui was taken aback.

"Your Majesty, is there an immortal dynasty in this world? How prosperous the Han and Tang dynasties were at the beginning? Didn't they also perish? A dynasty can't be seen for hundreds of years. After the imperial court is destroyed, another imperial court will appear. And then it’s hundreds of years. Its prosperity and its death are also sudden, as has been the case in all dynasties and dynasties. I am afraid it will be difficult for me to escape this law." At this time, there was an old monk who seemed to be of a very high grade next to me. Tao.

"In your opinion, why can't all dynasties escape this law?" Zhao Chen looked at the old monk and asked.

"Most of the founding monarchs of the past dynasties are sages, and the policies they promulgate are also beneficial to the people. However, when the founding monarchs are present, his policies can be implemented. Once the emperor dies, his policies may not be able to continue. The death of the people and the rest is the reason for the change of dynasties. There were sages in one dynasty, and it was only a few decades of influence. How Tang Taizong declared that the rule of Zhenguan was only more than 20 years old. How powerful is Qin Shihuang, and the six countries are not opponents, but after Qin Shihuang's death, Qin II was weak. , The Qin Dynasty will perish in just a few decades." The old monk said.

Zhao Chen nodded gently.

"This is the case in all dynasties and dynasties. Even if your majesty is sage, can you guarantee that your descendants are also sacred?" the old monk said.