Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 598 New Management Agency
When working with civil officials, they first need to protect themselves and shirk responsibility. In the process of doing things, they also have many concerns, pay attention to the legality of procedures, and pursue good looks. Compared with the civil officials, the eunuchs have much fewer concerns, so naturally, the efficiency is much higher.
Zhu Youdong issued instructions in mid-August. Before September, Cao Huachun and the scribes of the Imperial Household Department prepared a detailed plan.
First, we counted the number of Buddhist temples across the country, especially the large-scale Buddhist temples of the Pure Land Sect. The so-called large-scale refers to those temples with more than a hundred resident monks and more than ten thousand acres of arable land.
Secondly, Lao Wei's East Factory used various methods to collect negative information on these large temples. At the same time, the East Factory sent a large number of personnel to secretly control witnesses and evidence in advance and keep a close eye on the monks involved in the case.
The next step was to hype up public opinion in the newspapers: the teaching quality of the inner academy of the Ming Dynasty was actually very high, and the writing ability of the outstanding young eunuchs there was not inferior to that of ordinary commentators of the six major newspapers. So Cao Huachun did not ask Zhang Shize for help in this matter - he was prepared to let the eunuchs do it all by themselves from beginning to end, in order to prove to the emperor that eunuchs still had value.
The fourth step is to wait for the public opinion to heat up before entering the implementation stage: he had informed Liu Shimin of this matter in advance and obtained the support of the Imperial Horse Administration - the function of the Imperial Horse Administration is now similar to the General Political Department of later generations, which is the personnel department of the military, but it still has a small number of direct troops. With the support of the army, plus the East Factory of Lao Wei, the bald donkeys can't make a fuss!
Although the steps are simple, if you really want to do it, there are too many people involved. Although Wei Zhongxian has done a good job in managing the East Factory over the years, and the discipline within the organization is extremely strict. But the civil officials are all very smart - as soon as Wei Zhongxian raised his butt, the civil officials keenly discovered the signs.
So, at a state council meeting chaired by Wen Tihen in November 1630, Wang Zaijun, who was in charge of the Ministry of Justice, spoke first.
"Commander Tian, there have been frequent personnel changes at the East Factory in recent days, and they are concentrated around Buddhist temples. Do you Jinyiwei have anything to explain?"
After the Ming Dynasty's institutional reform, Zhu Youdong stopped attending the State Council meetings on many occasions. At the same time, as long as he did not attend, the leaders of the inner court institutions such as the Imperial Household Department and the East Factory would not attend. This situation made the civil officials feel very comfortable - they finally did not have to sit together with the eunuchs to discuss state affairs.
This was of course one of the many measures taken by the emperor to appease the civil officials who had suffered the most from the major institutional changes and the civil service examination. Although this greatly satisfied the self-esteem of the civil officials, it also resulted in the civil officials being unable to directly question the inner court about things - so everyone could only fire at the Jinyiwei.
"Huh?" Tian Ergeng raised his head in surprise: "Are you asking me? But I don't manage the East Factory, how would I know?"
"Aren't you Jinyiwei and Dongchang one and the same?"
"What the court official said is wrong." Tian Ergeng put his little finger into his ear hole and scratched it. He said calmly, "Although the two terms "factory guard" are often used together, the current constitution has made it very clear that the Imperial Guard is a national intelligence agency and a department of the outer court. The East Factory, on the other hand, is a government office of the inner court. Therefore, it is impossible for me to know everything that the East Factory does."
"Humph, Commander Tian, it's easy for you to shirk responsibility. But I am the Minister of Justice, and I must be aware of any law enforcement actions!"
"Then this is a simple matter. The Chief Justice can directly send a letter to the Eastern Depot, asking it to explain their recent actions."
"Humph!" Wang Zaijin was silent: Wei Zhongxian of the East Factory looked like a simple old farmer, but in fact he was very difficult to deal with. Sending a letter to the East Factory? That would be humiliating.
Wen Tiren, who was presiding over the meeting, smiled as he watched Wang Zaijun and Tian Ergeng glaring at each other, without any thought of dissuading them: To be honest, with a shrewd man like Old Wen, when the East Factory began to send a large number of people to target Buddhist temples, he probably guessed what the emperor was going to do.
Although I guessed it, I was still very surprised: the imperial court was not short of money, so why did they rob the Buddhist temples? If they didn't rob the Buddhist temples for money, was it because they were jealous of the hundreds of thousands of strong men in the Buddhist temples? However, although the Buddhist temples in the Ming Dynasty had some savings, it was far less than the heyday of Buddhism during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Even if all the Buddhist temples in the Ming Dynasty were closed, how many strong men could they get? At most, only 200,000.
Two hundred thousand, well, this is indeed a large number. But is it worth it to make the whole world riot just for these two hundred thousand?
Therefore, although it seemed unreasonable for Wang Zai Jin to question Tian Ergeng, Lao Wen had no intention of stopping him: in his opinion, it would be best if everyone became interested in this matter at the State Council meeting, and then after the civil officials reached a consensus, it would be best to hand it over to the palace and let the emperor come out to explain.
He thought so , and most of the ministers in the room had the same idea. So, everyone watched Wang Zaijin fire quietly.
The only two exceptions are naturally Li Guojun and Zhang Shize. The former is self-explanatory, and for the latter, although Cao Huachun did not use the gunmen of the Propaganda Department, this propaganda channel still had to go through Zhang Shize.
The atmosphere in the meeting room became more and more heated, and more and more civil officials joined in questioning Tian Ergeng. Just when Tian Ergeng was approaching his limit and was about to lose his temper, there was a knock on the door outside the meeting room.
"What is it?"
In principle, the State Council meeting is a closed-door meeting, but in reality it cannot be absolutely closed: what if something urgent happens in the country during the meeting?
"It was Zhang Butang from the Propaganda Department who sent someone to deliver newspapers to everyone."
"Delivering newspapers?" Old Wen was about to say that this was nonsense. But he changed his mind and quickly waved his hand: "Let him in."
The visitor was an official from the Propaganda Department, and what he brought in was the Yenching Daily, which had just been published today.
The headline on the front page of that day was: "Shocking! Buddhism actually has such activities."
After reading this title, the bigwigs in the court naturally let Tian Ergeng go and focused their attention on Zhang Shize.
"Zhangbudang, what on earth is going on?"
"Haha, everyone, isn't this very clear? There is dirt in Buddhism, and properly sweeping it away will be beneficial to the future development of Buddhism."
"No, what I want to ask is, if there is a problem with a Buddhist temple, it is natural for the relevant officials to supervise it. Is it necessary to publicize it in the Yanjing Daily ? If you do this, combined with the recent actions of the East Factory, it is hard not to think that the emperor is preparing to destroy Buddhism."
"I cannot bear what the Prime Minister said. How can I destroy Buddhism? Besides, I can't do it."
Alas, there is no way. The previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty ruined the precious notes, so the emperor now dared not to issue paper money rashly. Therefore, the matter of asking the Buddhists for money can only be handed over to the eunuchs: these guys are much more tight-lipped than the civil officials. If this matter is handed over to the civil officials, it will probably not take long for the news that the court is short of precious metals and is preparing to re-issue paper money to spread completely. At that time, it will be a burden that the country cannot bear!
Therefore, no matter how Wen Tiren and the others surrounded him and asked him various questions, Zhang Shize just gritted his teeth and said: This Buddhist temple is full of filth and corruption. We are just reporting the facts. It has nothing to do with destroying Buddhism.
Of course, Zhang Shize denied it verbally, but he was not slow to act after the meeting. Soon, newspapers in major cities such as Xi'an, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Guangzhou also successively exposed the various shameful things of local Buddhist temples.
Among the six major newspapers, the earliest Jinling Daily has been published for more than 20 years. It can be said that a considerable number of people in the Ming Dynasty have developed the habit of reading or listening to newspapers every day. With such hot reports from the six major newspapers, the reputation of Buddhism has been ruined in the Ming Dynasty.
The Buddhist monks naturally wanted to find a way to resist, and they quickly mobilized many Ming dignitaries, led by the current Empress Dowager, to lobby. However, Zhu Youdong nodded and agreed with a smile, and then confiscated all the Buddhist temples involved.
Therefore, from November of that year until March 1631, Buddhist temples throughout the Ming Dynasty were in trouble: quite a number of temples were confiscated, and the remaining Buddhist temples, which were mainly Zen, seemed to be intact on the surface. However, not only did the number of incense offerings in the temples decrease dramatically, but even the monks in the temples were in a state of panic and could not meditate and practice.
However, although the vast majority of Chinese people are not fanatics, Buddhism has been passed down in this country for thousands of years, and its influence on society is multifaceted. Therefore, as time went on, the people of the Ming Dynasty did have some reaction: in some areas, especially in areas outside the traditional Han residential areas, the Buddhist temples there did not just lobby for resistance.
"Your Majesty, after several months of intensive cleaning, the East Factory has closed more than 7,300 Buddhist temples and returned more than 170,000 monks and nuns to secular life. The total income is 170 tons of gold, 16 million taels of silver, and more than 650 tons of brass. In addition, we have obtained 183 acres of arable land."
"...Hiss, I didn't expect these monks to be so rich. Um, Wei Zhongxian, how many temples are left now?"
"There are more than 4,300. Your Majesty, most of these temples are Zen. They are basically for quiet Buddhist practice and to guide people to be good. There are almost no bad ones."
"Haha, you don't have to explain anything. Buddhism has many good points, but as the Buddha once said: My Dharma cannot be destroyed by the demons of the outside world, and the monks do not abide by the precepts, destroy the monastic community, and do not abide by the rules. It's like a worm in the body of a lion, eating the lion's flesh. Therefore, even if the court is not short of hard currency, I will sooner or later strike those Buddhist temples that harbor filth, which is also for the good of Buddhism itself. But destroying Buddhism? I have never had such an idea, I will not, and I dare not do it."
"Your Majesty is right. I heard that recently a high monk of the Zen sect has been organizing a gathering of Buddhists across the country. The main topic is to promote the Baizhang Qinggui formulated by the Zen Master Baizhang during the mid-Tang Dynasty. It requires Buddhists to return to work and stop being parasites on pilgrims and believers."
"Hahaha, great, great. This meeting is very necessary. So, Wei Zhongxian, pass on the message that I will fund the Buddhists to hold this meeting. Let's be straightforward and have the Taoism, the Xingyue Sect, and so on in the Ming Dynasty hold similar meetings. I want to establish a new, nationwide religious management agency!"
