Rebirth: Overthrow Song Dynasty

"The old monk Minghui sees His Majesty!" Seeing Zhao Chen and his party coming, several monks in front of the Lingyin Temple had already walked up quickly. They came to Zhao Chen, and the leading monk saluted.

"I've seen Master Abbot." Zhao Chen also saluted and said.

The leading monk was none other than Minghui, the abbot of Lingyin Temple, who was quite well-known among Buddhist sects in the south of the Yangtze River. He looks to be in his fifties, and his appearance gives people an unusually dignified and steady feeling. He is obviously a person who has accomplished Buddhism and practiced meditation all the year round.

Minghui was also secretly looking at Zhao Chen at this moment. In his opinion, Zhao Chen was full of vigor, his eyes were extremely bright, and there was an indescribable tenacity in his eyes. He also met Zhao Gou back then, but Zhao Gou's temperament was far inferior to Zhao Chen's.

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

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

Lingyin Temple is very famous in later generations, everyone knows the legend of monk Daoji, but now Daoji has not been born, and there is no such person in Lingyin Temple. Although the current Lingyin Temple is quite famous, it is not as good as the later generations. But near Lin'an City, this is the first temple.

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

The current Lingyin Temple looks much more simple than later generations, and the courtyard area is much larger.

They entered through the mountain gate, and saw pines 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 Hall of Heavenly Kings and worship the Buddha," Zhao Chen said.

Immediately, Minghui hurriedly took Zhao Chen to the Heavenly King Hall, where the Maitreya Buddha of Buddhism was enshrined.

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

After staying in the Heavenly King Hall for a while, they went to the Huangjue Hall. This Huangjue Hall is called the "Mahatma Hall" in later generations, and Sakyamuni Buddha is worshiped inside.

After coming out of Huangjue Hall, Minghui led Zhao Chen and others towards the west side of the temple. In the Song Dynasty, there was a large mountain forest here, which was lush and green, and cranes were raised there. These cranes were not afraid of people, and when they saw Zhao Chen and others coming, they did not fly away. Some cranes even came towards people, obviously they were very familiar with people.

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

"Your Majesty, the cold spring is right ahead." Minghui said.

Zhao Chen nodded. The cold spring is also a famous scenic spot in Lingyin Temple, and many people have enjoyed the scenery there.

After walking a few steps forward, a clear small lake appeared in front of it, and this is where the cold spring is located. The spring of the cold spring is in the small lake. It was not until the Wanli period of the later Ming Dynasty that the spring of the cold spring was moved to the shore.

The spring here is as crystal clear as jade, even in midsummer, it is cold. For more than a thousand years, the cold spring has been gushing continuously, and there is a stream flowing down the mountain beside it.

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

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

The lakes and mountains here are picturesque!

Zhao Chen felt very good.

Since coming to Jiangnan, Zhao Chen has been dealing with official duties every day, so there is no time to rest.

In just two or three months, Zhao Chen received more than a hundred officials.

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

In addition to meeting officials, he also met countless scholars, famous old people in countless places, and so on.

In addition, he has traveled all over ten prefectures and counties around Lin'an, visiting the people everywhere, also to appease the hearts of the people.

During this period of time, Zhao Chen has issued more than ten imperial decrees, all to calm Jiangnan!

Now the agricultural tax in Jiangnan has been reduced by half, which is the same as that in Guanshan, Hanzhong, and Sichuan and Sichuan! In Dongting Lake, Lianghuai, Henan and other places, because of the catastrophe, there are so many dilapidated places, Zhao Chen has ordered the exemption of taxes in 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 the land distributed by the government! In ancient times, land was the most precious property, and countless people spent their entire lives saving two acres of land for future generations! However, the imperial decree has not been issued for a short time, and not many people in the south of the Yangtze River have gone to Lianghuai, Henan and other places for the time being.

In addition to these, Zhao Chen also ordered commercial and tax reforms! However, the reform of business tax is under certain pressure and will take longer.

Generally speaking, Jiangnan has stabilized.

During this period of time, there has been no turmoil in Jiangnan! Governments all over the country are running smoothly, and both the officials and the people have accepted the fact that the new emperor has arrived. Moreover, with the implementation of some policies to benefit the people, the people have begun to support the new emperor and the new court.

Zhao Chen was sitting here meditating, Minghui had ordered tea and snacks to be brought in front of Zhao Chen, and Zhao Chen came back to his senses.

"Your Majesty, there are rumors that you want to exterminate the Buddha, is there such a thing?" Minghui said a little nervously at the moment.

"Destroying Buddha? Where does this start?" Zhao Chen asked.

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

"Buddha, I will not do such a thing! I came to Lingyin Temple today to meet the Buddha and offer 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 "Buddha extermination" incidents! Basically, every dynasty has one or two kings who "destroyed the Buddha", the most famous of which is the Sanwu Yizong incident of exterminating Buddha! Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Wudi of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, etc. all exterminated Buddhism, and more than ten other emperors all took restrictive measures against Buddhism.

There are various reasons why these emperors want to "destroy Buddhism" or restrict Buddhism, one of the most important ones is economic reasons.

Buddhist disciples in ancient times had many privileges. They did not have to serve corvee or pay taxes. Therefore, many rich and noble families joined Buddhism in order not to pay taxes. Buddhist disciples oppress ordinary people abound. They issue usury loans and seize land. They lure the people to donate money, claiming that after the people donate money, they can be exempted from all crimes and can be reborn into a good family in the next life.

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

When Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty exterminated Buddhism, the history books recorded that "the wealth of the world is very rich, but there are seven or eight Buddhas"! Seven-tenths or eight-tenths of the world's wealth is occupied by Buddhism! Buddhism "works manpower for the merits of civil engineering, and steals people for gold and precious decorations; when leaving the king to be close to the teacher, disobeying the spouse between the precepts. There is no more than this way to destroy the law and harm people." When Wuzong exterminated Buddhism in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the world had just experienced a war and the population was only about 20 million, but the number of Buddhist monks exceeded 3 million, and the number of slaves owned by Buddhist monks also exceeded one million!

Buddhist monks who account for one-tenth or more of the world's population do not work or pay taxes, but 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 even more of the country's population does not have to serve in the military and cannot reproduce. Under such circumstances, the national interest will suffer a great loss!

It is for these reasons that the kings of the past dynasties "killed the Buddha" many times, and each time they "killed the Buddha" was called "the difficulty of the law" by the Buddhist disciples of later generations.

Of course, the so-called extermination of Buddhism is not to exterminate Buddhism, but to order most monks to return to lay life. During the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Zhou Dynasty, three million monks were forced to return to secular life, and one million slaves in monasteries became free men. All monks under the age of fifty were required to join the army to serve the country. During the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, millions of monks were forced to return to secular life, and the hundreds of thousands of slaves owned by the monks became free people again! Plus, 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 magical instruments, and cast them into coins, which are used all over the world. Later Zhou Shizong was a hero of a generation. He believed that Buddhism was a cancer in the world and would cause great harm to the world. Therefore, he was very determined to destroy Buddhism. At that time, there was a bronze statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva in Zhenzhou, which was extremely effective, and no one dared to destroy it. After hearing the news, Zhou Shizong came to the temple in person and smashed the chest of Guanyin Bodhisattva with an axe.

Minghui thought that Zhao Chen was going to exterminate the Buddha, so he was nervous, but now he was relieved when he heard Zhao Chen's assurance.

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 monk from Shaolin Temple has entered the south of the Yangtze River and spread rumors to the major temples in the south of the Yangtze River, saying that he, Zhao Chen, is going to destroy the Buddha! Buddhism has great influence among the people, and there are many people who believe in Buddhism, so Zhao Chen had to take action.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Minghui said.

"The current Buddhism is very different from the previous one! Buddhism guides the people of the world to be good. I have no aversion to Buddhism. On the contrary, I will donate 100,000 taels of silver to repair Lingyin Temple." Zhao Chen road.

"Great!" Minghui had a surprised smile on his face.

Zhao Chen also had a faint smile on his face! He is not afraid that Buddhist temples will harm the world's economy and national interests! The Buddhism in the Song Dynasty is very different from the previous ones. After many times of extermination of Buddhism, the extravagant sects of Buddhism have no place to survive. Now, Zen, which focuses on asceticism, has become the mainstream of Buddhism! Moreover, the government of the Song Dynasty has learned from previous lessons and has greatly restricted the amount of fixed property that temples can own! For example, Lingyin Temple now owns 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 not reward land any more.

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

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

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

"If I don't want to, I will naturally not be polite to them! Buddhist disciples mainly focus on pure cultivation, but they want to influence the government and intervene in state affairs! Buddhism does not allow killing, but they assassinate me! Patriarch Bodhidharma passed down the The Sutra of Changing Tendons and the Sutra of Washing the Marrow were originally intended for Shaolin disciples to strengthen their bodies so that they can understand Buddhism, but they have developed them into killing techniques! Shaolin Temple must be rectified!" Zhao Chen said.

He can gather the hearts of the Buddhist sects in the south of the Yangtze River for the sake of stability in the world, but he will never let go of the Shaolin Temple! Shaolin Temple sent people to assassinate him before, that's all, now he has become the unique king of the Song Dynasty, at such a moment, Shaolin Temple even sent people south to confuse people's hearts, this has reached the limit of Zhao Chen's tolerance.

After Zhao Chen had finished speaking, the monk 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 the south of the Yangtze River, on the one hand, he preferred to settle here, unwilling to fight Jurchen, and rescue Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan and others, but on the other hand, he wanted to show his "filial piety", so he changed the name of Lingyin Temple to "Chong'en Xianqin Temple", Zhao Chen restored the temple to "Lingyin Temple".

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

"Why not?" Zhao Chen said.

"Emperor Jianyan changed Lingyin Temple to Chong'en Xianqin Temple out of filial piety! Although he is a traitor, this filial piety is not wrong. Your Majesty must not change the name of this temple!" Chen Dong said.

"Filial piety is not just a matter of words, but by practical actions! Jurchen captured the two Supreme Emperors. Instead of rescuing the two Supreme Emperors, he negotiated peace with the Jurchen! The two Supreme Emperors suffered hardships in the north, but he lived in luxury! He is so unfilial , He still wants to get the false name of "filial piety"! It's ridiculous! Even if he changed the name of all the temples in the world, can he save the two Supreme Emperors? Today I will return Lingyin Temple to its original name. Grandpa Huang, isn't he far superior to him." Zhao Chen said coldly.

"Your Majesty is right. Filial piety is not only about talking, but more importantly, doing! This Lingyin Temple is going to be renamed back to its original name." Huang Qianshan complimented from the side.

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

He is pedantic, but straightforward. At this moment, he felt that what Zhao Chen said made sense, so he nodded and admitted it.

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

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

"Your Majesty, the world has changed tremendously in these years! The old monk thought that our Great Song Dynasty was about to perish, but who knew that His Majesty was born out of nowhere and could not turn the tide, so that our Great Song Dynasty can continue! Everyone in the south of the Yangtze River admires His Majesty very much." 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 Song Dynasty 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? The Han and Tang Dynasties were so prosperous at the beginning, didn't they also perish? It takes only a few hundred years for a dynasty to rise and fall. After the court perishes, another court will appear. Then it will be hundreds of years. Its prosperity is also booming, and its death is also sudden. It has been like this in all dynasties, and I am afraid that it will be difficult for me in the Song Dynasty to escape this law." At this time, an old monk who seemed to be very senior road.

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

"Most of the founding monarchs of the past dynasties were sages, and the policies they promulgated were also beneficial to the people. However, when the founding monarch was around, his policies could be implemented. Once the emperor died, his policies might not be able to continue to be implemented. This is the reason for the change of dynasties. Once a generation of sages appeared, it was only a few decades of influence. What Tang Taizong declared, the rule of Zhenguan was only more than 20 years. How powerful Qin Shihuang was, the six countries were no opponents, but after Qin Shihuang died, Qin II was weak , the Qin Dynasty perished in just a few decades." said the old monk.

Zhao Chen nodded slightly.

"This has always been the case in all dynasties. Even if Your Majesty is holy, can you guarantee that your descendants will also be holy?" said the old monk.