Cannon Fodder is King [Quick Transmigration]

"Uncle Huang, how are you? Have you seen Lord Lu?"

Seeing the old King Fu coming in, King Rui, King Hui, King Zhao and several other clan members immediately went up to greet him.

Old Fu Wang is the direct brother of Emperor Taizu.

King Rui, King Hui, and King Zhao are all heirs of Emperor Guangde, and they were preserved because they were not involved in the dispute for the heir.

Emperor Guangde had left a decree, ordering Emperor Ningwu to arrange for them to join the vassal as soon as possible, but it has been almost four months since Emperor Ningwu ascended the throne, but there has been no news from the court. .

Even the clansmen who came here from the fief to celebrate Emperor Guangde's birthday with them were detained in the capital.

They didn't think that Emperor Ning Wu did this simply because he wanted to keep them in the capital for the New Year.

As for the Lord Lu they mentioned, it is the current Minister of the Household Department, a scholar of the Wenhua Palace, and the confidant of Emperor Ningwu, Lu Zengxiang Lord Lu.

Old Fu Wang frowned, sighed and said: "You have seen it, and you have said everything you need to say. I asked Lu Zengxiang when we can leave Beijing. Instead, Lu Zengxiang asked me about the Seven Kings Rebellion in the Han Dynasty and the Eight Kings in the Jin Dynasty. How does Wang Zhiluan feel?"

"The Rebellion of the Seven Kings?" King Rui muttered to himself, then sat back on the chair with a bang, with a disheveled expression on his face: "It seems that Long Live really wants to cut down the feudal clan."

After the establishment of the Dayang Dynasty, Emperor Taizu and his civil and military officials summed up the experience of the rise and fall of chaos in history, and agreed that an important reason for the demise of the Song and Yuan dynasties was that the rulers were weak and the ministers were strong, and the court could not get the support of the clan. , So taking history as a mirror, decided to build a fan.

According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu, apart from entrusting the kings to enjoy the entrustment from generation to generation (all the sons of the emperor will be granted the title of prince, the eldest son of the prince will inherit the prince, and the rest of the sons will be named county kings regardless of their descendants...), every year Lumi Fifty thousand stones (one stone is about 125 catties), 2 taels of silver, [-] bolts of silk and satin fabrics of various colors, [-] pieces of salt... In addition to preferential treatment, they also have the right to raise guards ranging from [-] to [-] yuan. The feudal lords on the frontier can even intervene in local military affairs.

The more heirs, the more treatment they will be given. Because of this, the enfeoffed vassals are not just trying their best to have children.In the current Ming Dynasty, which also implemented the enfeoffment system, not to mention the first vassal prince Zhu Di who successfully rebelled.It is only said that during the reign of Tianqi, the tax and food of the whole country could not fill the mouths of 60 clans.

But it shows that the dynasty was overwhelmed by the vassal king.

Taking history as a mirror, we can know the ups and downs, and Meng Zezhi is of course more willing to nip the danger in the bud.

"How dare Gu Wu, this is the rule set by the ancestors!" Zhao Wang looked unwilling, seeing that prosperity and wealth were at his fingertips, and since then the sea is wide and the sky is high.Unexpectedly, at this last moment, Emperor Ning Wu sent them back to their original shape with a single thought.

"Sixth, be careful with your words." King Hui shouted, he has always been timid and afraid of getting into trouble.

"Fourth brother, our three brothers have not fought or robbed for so many years, isn't it for this day, and the result—" Zhao Wang said angrily: "How can you let me be reconciled?"

"What can you do if you are not reconciled?" Old Fu Wang said angrily: "Are you rebelling? Think about what will happen to King Tang."

That's a ruthless person who can kill even his own brother at will!

Zhao Wang opened his mouth and lost his voice in an instant.

"People are killed by knives, and I am fish." As he said, the old Fu Wang looked slumped, and his whole body seemed to be more than five years old, so how could he be reconciled.

"Uncle Huang, what do you think we should do?" King Rui asked with a wry smile.

"What else can I do?" Old Fu Wang said in a dejected tone: "I will write a letter to ask myself to cut down the feudal clan tomorrow. I just hope that Long Live will treat me two points preferentially for the sake of my peaceful life."

"Uncle Huang?" King Zhao's face was ashen.

"Let's do it this way." King Rui took a deep breath: "This is the end, do we still have a choice?"

"Oh." All the clan members were downcast.

Seeing that everyone had accepted their fate, King Zhao opened his mouth and sighed heavily, but he was unable to speak any more.

Preferential treatment is impossible, who let Meng Zezhi sit on the throne now.As for these superficial relatives whom he only met a few times, if it wasn't for the sake of showing the world, he wouldn't even bother to talk to them.

It's not that old Fu Wang took the book on the front foot, but Meng Zezhi agreed on the back foot.Not only that, he also completely overturned the rules left by Emperor Taizu.

The new "Patriarchal Law" stipulates that the nobility is not divided into vassals (given titles but not fiefdoms), and clan relatives are not allowed to leave the capital without an edict.

Four ways of conferring titles were also determined, and at the same time, the conferred titles were changed from generation to generation to descending ranks.The prince can only be named prince if he has meritorious service, this is the seal of merit.The highest prince without merit can only be named the king of the county, which is called grace.After the death of the prince, his sons descended to inherit the county king. This is the successor title. When the rest of the sons reach the age of 20, and the total number exceeds ten, the emperor will send the princes and ministers appointed by the emperor to test the six skills of the gentleman. Those who pass the highest award will be awarded National General

While depriving clansmen of their right to raise and maintain troops, their treatment was also reduced. Taking the prince as an example, he only gave 1 taels of silver and [-] shi of Lumi every year. As for salt, tea, silk and satin, nothing was given.

Naturally, civil and military officials would not object to this, after all, no one wants to raise a group of mediocre people for nothing.

The clan members who received the imperial decree were all in mourning, but it was a pity that they had to bow their heads under the eaves.They have no choice but to honestly hand over the military power in their hands.

When the dust of enfeoffment was settled, the treasury was empty again.

Now is the time when money is scarce, the provinces along the southeast coast ask for money to build forts, and Enke asks for money for the exam (as usual, the official pays 20 taels of travel expenses for all people who go to the exam. Since Guangde 12 years later, every year of the exam , the number of sons rushing to Beijing has never been less than four thousand, and Enke is even worse. In addition to other miscellaneous expenses, at least 20 taels of silver should be prepared), and the spring flood will come again soon, and river governance will also ask for money...

Meng Ze knew that he was worried.

"That being the case, we will first allocate 70 taels of silver from internal funds for emergency."

This is not a long-term solution. The internal money left by Emperor Guangde is actually not much, only less than 200 million taels of silver, most of which were obtained when the family was confiscated and the civil and military officials celebrated their birthdays. It is very shabby.

After Meng Zezhi succeeded to the throne, Xiao Shi gave all the shares of those workshops in her hands to Meng Zezhi. Seeing this, her partners also handed over some of their shares.Now Meng Zezhi occupies 20% of these workshops, and can earn more than [-] taels of silver every month.

But don't forget, he still has to support the two gold swallowing beasts, the Shipyard and the Firearms Bureau.

Thinking back to Emperor Guangde’s reign, he ran out of money when he was fighting the Tatars. Just when the imperial examination fraud case broke out, he copied the Great Prince’s Party, and he had the military salary and the money for the re-examination. In 22 years, there was a drought in Qingzhou, and most of the Eighth Prince's Party was copied, barely filling the hole. In 24 years, the Yellow River decided to mention it, the Second Prince Party was gone, and the treasury was filled accordingly.

To him--

Meng Zezhi glanced at the civil and military officials standing in the main hall. These people either had real talents and knowledge, or they were heroes who supported him.

Thinking of this, Meng Zezhi couldn't help but sighed.

Now he can only hope that the sea trade fleet will come back sooner.

The scalps of all the ministers were numb from his look, and they all knelt down and shouted: "Long live wise."

Unexpectedly, not long after going down to court, Tao An came in to announce: "Long live, Mr. He Qingyun, please see me."

He Qingyun was the one who stood up and suggested to Meng Zezhi to replace Xiao's royal staff with a dragon robe when Xiao Shi knocked on the Dengwen Drum last time.

Because of this incident, Meng Zezhi promoted him two grades in a row.

"He Qingyun?" Meng Zezhi raised his head from a pile of memorials: "Xuan."

Tao An immediately shouted: "Master Xuan He Qingyun He will see you."

As soon as he entered the hall, He Qingyun knelt down to pay respects: "My minister, He Qingyun, long live my emperor, long live long live."

"He Aiqing is alive."

As he spoke, Meng Zezhi put down the ink pen in his hand: "Why did He Aiqing come here?"

"Long live back." He Qingyun said with a sullen face, "I came here to solve your majesty's worries and problems."

"How to say?" Meng Zezhi regained his energy.

He Qingyun immediately took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Tao An: "Please read it long live."

Meng Zezhi took the booklet presented by Tao An and opened it.

He Qingyun explained: "Since the third year of Guangde, the Tatars invaded the frontier, and the first emperor was rescued by Zen Master Huihe, he vigorously advocated Buddhism, and Buddhism flourished. In the past 20 years, more than [-] Buddhist temples have been built. There are as many as [-] Lanruo (private monastery residences), and the cost is more than a million. It is ridiculous that the late emperor was diligent and frugal all his life, and the Forbidden City has never been overhauled once."

"Firstly, because the temple is exempt from taxes, there are clear provisions in the Buddhist precepts that disciples under the sect are not allowed to farm land, buy or sell, or make matchmaking, etc. Therefore, the temple does not produce food, but only relies on pilgrims to give alms, so naturally there is no need to pay taxes. Because of this, Almost all temples will use the incense money donated by pilgrims to buy land wantonly and hire people to cultivate it. In order to evade taxes, some people attach their land to the temple. According to the statistics of the minister, there are no less than [-] land owned by temples across the country. Ten thousand hectares."

Meng Zezhi frowned. There are more than 700 hectares. You must know that the arable land measured in the whole country is only [-] million hectares.

"Secondly, the rampant rise and preaching of Buddhism has led many young and middle-aged people to flee to Buddhism and have no production. As of last year, there were more than 15 monks and nuns across the country, and more than 30 people were dedicated to serving as slaves in monasteries."

"Thirdly, Buddhists believe in laying down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha immediately. Therefore, temples are often taken advantage of by fugitives who are afraid of crimes, and become places where filth is hidden..."

Speaking of this person, Meng Zezhi thought of something. He asked, "I remember that He Aiqing was the second-class biography of Enke in the first year of Guangde."

He Qingyun looked calm: "Exactly, the minister was originally an official to the right servant of the household department. He was disgusted by the first emperor because he wrote a letter to stop Buddhism in the 16th year of Guangde, and was demoted to Pengze county magistrate. Long live the Houmeng and never give up. , was exceptionally promoted to be the censor of Youqian Capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

Meng Zezhi asked again: "You, believe it?"

The four Buddhist extermination campaigns in history mostly had the shadow of Confucianism and Taoism.

But He Qingyun replied: "My mother worships Buddha, and because of this matter, she also cried and quarreled with my ministers."

His words have two meanings, one is to show that he is dedicated to the public and has no selfishness.Secondly, it alludes to Mrs. Xiao, who also believes in Buddhism.

It doesn't make sense for him as a courtier to be disobedient and unfilial for the sake of the people of the world, but when he comes to the emperor, he can't be indecisive instead.

"He Aiqing is forcing me." Meng Zezhi said.

"Wei Chen dare not."

Since Meng Zezhi didn't get angry, it means he listened to the matter.Thinking of this, He Qingyun couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

This is not a gamble, last time, he lost a mess, but this time, he won the bet.

"Okay, I know, I'll keep the memorial, you go back first, let me think about it."

"Yes, Wei Chen retire."

This is probably the fastest way to get money.

Meng Zezhi took a deep breath, made up his mind in an instant, and shouted: "Tao An, drive to Feng Sheng Furen's Mansion."

Meng Zezhi was clear in his heart, Xiao Shi would naturally not object to what he was going to do, but he still had to go through the formalities that should go through.

Twenty-four years have passed in Guangde.

On the New Year's Day of the first year of Ningwu, the emperor began to write, and the first thing he wrote was to denounce Buddhism, and his words were particularly fierce.

"In ancient times, three people fed one farmer. Today, when monks and nuns join together, one farmer feeds five people. Among them, our people are especially trapped by the Buddha..."

"There is no way to harm people by bad laws. If a husband does not have a field, some will suffer from hunger; if a woman does not have silkworms, some will suffer from cold. Today there are countless monks and nuns. They all wait for farming to eat, and wait for silkworms to wear .The temples are recruited, and Mo Zhijiji is very rare. They are all decorated with clouds and algae, pretending to be palaces."

He also said: "If destroying the Buddha can make the common people have happiness in the world, I will not spare the suffering of hell."

As soon as the imperial decree came out, the whole world was shocked.

"I believe that we should follow Tang Wuzong's example and destroy temples all over the world and privately set up monasteries in the name of "Lan Ruo", and order that only one Buddhist temple be left in each prefecture, ranging from ten to thirty monks, and the rest of the monks and nuns will be forced to return to the vulgar. The temple is demolished The wood was used to repair shantangs and shrines, gold and silver Buddha statues were handed over to the state treasury, iron Buddha statues were smelted to make farm tools, bronze statues, bells, chimes, etc. were melted and made into coins, and the fertile land of temples was confiscated and distributed to poor people. Shangshu Lu Zengxiang said.

"I think it's wrong. Buddhas are natives of barbarians, not native to China. They don't speak the words of the former kings, and they don't obey the laws of the former kings. They don't know the righteousness of the ministers and the relationship between father and son. Throughout the ages, Buddhism has repeatedly disappeared. The common people suffered greatly from it, because the extermination of Buddhism in the Three Wu Schools and one sect was not thorough enough, I thought that only by eradicating Buddhism can we have a prosperous and peaceful world." The one who spoke was Xiao Deren, the current left servant of the Ministry of Rites.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy immediately echoed: "I think what Master Xiao said is very true."

They are all serious Confucian disciples.

All of a sudden, more than half of the civil and military officials agreed with the complete eradication of Buddhism, and there were very few voices of opposition.

Thinking about it, the people who are standing in the hall now are either Meng Zezhi's cronies, and they are naturally obedient to Meng Zezhi.Either they were not reused by Emperor Guangde, and they suffered a lot, because those who were reused by Emperor Guangde were all confiscated and exiled because they were involved in the battle for the succession. These people inevitably complained about Emperor Guangde in their hearts. Naturally, the Buddhism they admired would not be able to catch their eyes.

At this moment, Tao An, who did not know when he retreated, folded back again, with a letter in his hand, he bowed and said, "Long live, the abbot of Huguo Temple sent someone to report the funeral. Zen Master Huihe sat down last night. Melted. Before he left, he left you a letter."

"Huh?" Meng Zezhi came back to his senses, his eyes fell on the letter in his hand, he took it and opened it for a look.

Inside was a bank note with a face value of 10 taels that had turned yellow.

Isn't it exactly the 10 taels that Xiao Shi gave to ask Huihe Zen Master to give him orders.

If he hadn't seen this bank note, Meng Zezhi would have almost forgotten such a thing.

Speaking of it, he was able to become the emperor, and Zen Master Huihe also had a credit.

No matter why Zen Master Huihe helped the Xiao family back then, whether he didn't like Gu Yang's royal family, or for the country and the people... All in all, Meng Zezhi couldn't deny this kindness.

Thinking of this, Meng Zezhi had a plan in his heart.

He said: "I know the meaning of all those who love you. In my opinion, the Tathagata set up teachings, focusing on compassion, and helping the group. It should be the original heart. Why do you want to work hard to put on a ostentation? Therefore, today The chaos in the Buddhist school is due to the monks and nuns without the way, not to the Buddha."

Seeing Meng Zezhi's words, after looking at each other in blank dismay, all the ministers could only shout: "Long live the Holy Spirit."

"That being the case, let's do what Lu Aiqing said." Meng Zezhi said.

"Yes."

"By the way," Meng Zezhi said again, as if remembering something, "Add another monk recording department, in charge of monastery monks and nuns' accounts, temple repairs and supplementary teaching by monks and officials. From then on, temples are not allowed to set up merit boxes. You can no longer ask the world for alms. Give each monk another [-] mu of fertile land, so that he can support himself."

That's fine, since Buddhism was prospered because of Master Huihe, it should also be good because of him.

As soon as this matter was settled, the treasury, which was originally empty, was immediately filled up a lot, and there were more than a dozen Huangzhuang even under the name of Meng Ze.

With money, the civil and military officials finally dared to ask Emperor Ningwu to fill the harem with drafted women.

For these excerpts, Meng Zezhi kept them all.Lu Li was overwhelmed with grief when he heard the news, and hooked up with Meng Zezhi and ate big fish and meat for several days.

Until Xiao Deren, who couldn't hold his breath, openly mentioned this matter in the court.

Meng Zezhi picked up the teacup and moistened his throat: "Actually, I had this intention a long time ago."

Without waiting for the ministers to react, he continued: "Forget about the draft, it wastes people's money, and the money from the treasury is not easy to come by. It is mainly the candidate for the queen. What do you think about the commander of the Jinwei?"