Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 100 [The Debating Monk Who Does Not Observe the Discipline] (4k)

Liu Bozhi had just seen off his cousin Liu Gui and returned to the Qinghe Palace when he was summoned by the King of Qinghe.

Liu Bozhi came to the King of Qinghe in confusion, only to see the King of Qinghe pacing back and forth with a frown on his face. When he saw Liu Bozhi, he hurriedly walked up to him.

"Bozhi."

"Your Majesty!"

Prince Qinghe has always been courteous to the wise and generous to the people in the palace. Seeing Prince Qinghe's worried look, the condemnation that Liu Bozhi had just felt in his heart gradually dissipated.

All in all, in this world, it was not a big deal for nobles to kill their maids. During the Western Jin Dynasty, Shi Chong asked his maids to toast people in the Jingu Garden. If the guests refused to drink, he would kill the maids. Instead, it was recorded as a famous scholar's romantic act.

It’s just that Princess Lanling’s methods are too cruel and have crossed the bottom line of human ethics, which makes people feel disgusted.

Prince Qinghe pulled Liu Bozhi to sit down at the table and said, "Bozhi is a disciple of Tianshi Dao, right?"

Liu Bozhi nodded. There was nothing to hide. During the Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, almost all families with the character "zhi" in their names were families that had been worshipping Tianshi Dao for generations.

The most famous is the family of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. According to traditional Confucianism, a son should use the name of his father, so how could the character in his father's name appear in the son's name? Adding "zhi" to the name is a symbol of a Taoist family.

Prince Qinghe said quickly, "My sister was impulsive last night and killed two slaves in the palace with her own hands. The slaves' ghosts are still haunting her, and my sister has been terrified all day. Does the Tianshi Dao have any method to dispel the ghosts?"

"what?"

Liu Bozhi was stunned. Prince Qinghe summoned him in a hurry, just for this?
Liu Bozhi held it in for a long time before saying, "There is a lot of resentment in the mansion. Princess Lanling can be asked to temporarily move to a place with more yang energy."

Prince Qinghe nodded repeatedly. He paced back and forth and said, "What Bozhi said makes sense! I will go to the palace now and ask the Queen Mother to bring my sister to live in the palace. The ghost of this lowly maid can't go to the palace to cause trouble!"

"Someone, come here! Give Liu Bozhi two pieces of silk as a reward!"

Liu Bozhi received the reward from King Qinghe for the first time, but he was not happy at all.

Su Ze and Gao Huan returned to Sitong City together. Gao Huan suddenly clenched his fist and said:

"I must make a name for myself!"

The last time he was whipped by Zhang Lingshi, and Princess Lanling's arbitrary killing of maids, made Gao Huan feel the importance of his status.

Su Ze looked at Gao Huan and sighed in his heart. He finally understood why Princess Chenliu was in such an abnormal mood today.

The bloody romance of the nobles is like the "golden age" of Taikang in the Western Jin Dynasty, or like a sand castle on the beach, whose pillars underneath have long since rotted away.

But now, the ministers in the court are not even repairmen. Prince Qinghe Yuan Yi is still expanding the Institute of Literature and compiling the "Xianzhonglu".

However, Su Ze didn't have time to worry about these things. Today's hard work had paid off. After the twenty horses arrived, he could finally start the riding training.

Another issue is the increase in southern goods in the market. Logically speaking, the Tunqiying is also the elite of the Yulin Army and should also have a share in the southern goods business. If there are really merchants smuggling southern goods, it would be an infringement of the interests of the Tunqiying.

However, these merchants are still selling southern products in the market with great fanfare. There must be someone backing them up.

Su Ze said goodbye to Gao Huan in Sitong City. He said, "Brother Gao, please help me keep an eye on the southern goods in Sitong City these days and check the people behind these merchants."

"Brother Su, rest assured, I will help you track it down!"
-
Xiu Mu's mood was interrupted. When Su Ze returned home, he met Su Suan who had returned from checking the accounts outside the city.

Su Ze called Su Suan into the house and asked:
"What's the situation outside the city?"

Su Suan said, "My Lord, this is not good."

"There are 3,000 acres of grassland and 2,000 acres of fertile land in the Tunqi camp, but in reality there are far fewer than that."

"First, the ownership of the land is unclear. There is a 300-acre paddy field in Tunqiying adjacent to the land granted by King Jiangyang Yuanyi. This land has basically been occupied by King Jiangyang's farmhands."

Su Ze nodded. This kind of thing was normal in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Since Empress Dowager Hu came to power, she had been very generous in rewarding members of the royal family, often granting them land. However, there were simply not so many fields around Luoyang, so these royal family nobles took matters into their own hands and encroached on other people's land.

Moreover, official archives were still very backward in those days. The land registers only recorded the location and size of the fields, which could only be used as a basis for government taxation. In reality, the ownership of the land still depended on who had the bigger fist.

Things like the Imperial Book and the Fish Scale Book were not perfected until the Ming and Qing dynasties. But even in that era, it was normal for the powerful and wealthy to encroach on the fields of ordinary people.

I’m afraid I won’t be able to get these 300 acres of paddy fields back.

"anything else?"

"There are also 500 mu of land occupied by the monks of Longhua Temple. They said that when Longhua Temple was built, the cavalry camp donated the land to the temple."

"Nonsense! How can the imperial army donate privately? Does Longhua Temple have any written proof?"

Su Suan smiled bitterly and said, "The monks at Longhua Temple said that there was only a verbal agreement, but these farms have monks with sticks to protect the fields."

Su Ze suppressed his anger and said, "What about the rest?"

"Of the remaining land, all the land adjacent to the powerful families in Luoyang has been occupied to varying degrees. In the end, only 1,200 acres of land had clear ownership, of which 200 acres were mulberry fields and 200 acres were jujube trees. The remaining 800 acres were rented out by Huang Yue and others to their relatives."

"Huang Yue and others have fallen, and these lands can be taken back."

"What about the ranch?"

"Two thousand acres of pasture, half of which was occupied by the hunting grounds of King Qinghe."

Su Ze couldn't help but be speechless. At that time, he saw the manager of Qinghe Palace fighting with the common people for land. He didn't expect that half of his own pasture had also been occupied.

"Is this how all the Imperial Army's farming is done?"

Su Suan said: "The cavalry camp is already considered good. Many imperial guards have long lost their land, but the court still requires them to hand over the grain they get from the military settlements. These imperial guards can only subsidize themselves by smuggling southern goods."

Su Suan said, "When Emperor Xiaowen was setting up military settlements, the fields that were given to the imperial guards and their families to reclaim, such as the Tunqiying, were required to hand over 40% of their income to the stockpile every year, and the remaining 60% was used as military rations for the Tunqiying."

"For the other part of the military settlements that were reclaimed and then rented out to the people for cultivation, 80% of the tax was to be turned over to the dump, and 20% was left to the people who rented the land."

"So the people of Luoyang were unwilling to rent the land of the military settlements. Instead, they were more willing to be the tenants of the royal family, because they only had to pay rent to rent their land, which was less than the commission taken by the court."

As expected, the military settlement system, which was promoted by Cao Wei, was worthy of being called the evil one. It was comparable to the serfdom system, and even more cruel than the exploitation by the wealthy and powerful families.

"The Tunqiying has 3,000 mu of farmland and 2,000 mu of pasture. In the autumn, these lands must be taxed according to the land amount. The 3,000 mu of farmland must pay 40% of the rent in the form of grain, silk, and dates, and the 2,000 mu of pasture must pay 40% of the rent in the form of grass."

Su Ze was speechless. He had hoped to use these lands to improve the economic situation of the Tunqiying, but he did not expect that it would become a burden for him. "How did the Tunqiying solve the problem of rent and transfer in the past?"

"We run southern goods business."

It's called operation, but it's just the Imperial Guards taking advantage of their privilege to run southern goods smuggling. Su Ze asked doubtfully, "Is smuggling southern goods so profitable?"

"Make money, of course."

Su Suan added: "But in recent days, there are many more southern goods on the market, which has reduced the profits of the Imperial Army's southern goods business."

Su Ze frowned and said, "Aren't the extra southern goods on the market sold by the Imperial Army?"

"No, but these southern goods can be openly sold in the four cities of Luoyang. There must be a background."

"You go and rebuild the land register. Also, how do other imperial guards smuggle southern goods?"

Su Suan smiled and said, "My Lord, this kind of smuggling is actually just a name. Now there are mature smuggling routes from the southern border to the inland counties."

"If we let the Tunqi Battalion go to the southern border to buy goods and then sell them in Luoyang, how can we make money? What we need to do is to buy southern goods shipped from the prefectures and counties on the border of the capital, and then sell them in the camp."

Su Ze finally understood why there were so many merchants coming and going when he first arrived at Tunqiying. It turned out that they were selling southern goods in the camp.

Su Suan said, "My Lord, there is a difference between greed and greed. The chief officer has his own way of being greedy, and the subordinates have their own way of being greedy."

"It is naturally the easiest for officials to plunder. A county magistrate who has his family ruined, a prefect who has his entire family wiped out, and a provincial governor who has his entire family wiped out, as long as he sits in this position, people will support him."

"But if grassroots officials want to be corrupt, they can't just be corrupt alone. They need to build a network and drag everyone into corruption. If everyone is corrupt together, then the law cannot punish everyone. Even if the higher-ups find out, they can do nothing about it. The court also knows that the imperial guards are using the old policy to smuggle southern goods, but they can't just dismiss all the imperial guards, right?"

"In my opinion, we still have to do the smuggling of southern goods. Anyway, if we don't do it, there will be others in the Imperial Guards who will do it. If there is no subsidy, when the court collects rent and taxes in the autumn, I'm afraid the legions of the Tunqi Battalion will not be able to pay them."

Su Ze thought for a while and said, "I understand. You can go out first."

Li Tong came out of the room and said to Su Ze, "You are quite capable and can see through things. There are many reasons why the discipline of the imperial guards is bad. Your grandfather concluded that the biggest reason is - no money."

"Emperor Xiaowen established the Imperial Guards, set up military settlements, issued military salaries, and allowed the families of soldiers to sell spoils of war. At that time, there were rewards for winning a war. The Imperial Guards only needed to fight well, and their families would not have to worry about anything, and they could also have a good future."

"Nowadays, the officers of the Imperial Guards only think about making money. Military salaries are often in arrears, and military settlements have been occupied and rents have to be paid. So they can only survive by smuggling southern goods."

"Over time, from top to bottom, officers and soldiers no longer think about training, but only about how to make a profit."

Li Tong sighed and said, "When your grandfather discussed this with me, I didn't understand these principles. Now it seems that your grandfather is right."

"But your grandfather doesn't know how to change these problems, Aze, do you have any ideas?"

Su Ze thought for a while and said, "Father, I have a way to solve the problem of the Tunqi Camp, but solving the problem of the entire Yulin Huben is not something that I, a Tunqi Camp commander, can worry about."

Li Tong said: "You are better than your grandfather because you can solve the problem of the Tunqiying Camp. No matter what you want to do, your father-in-law will support you."

The next day, Su Ze brought Su Suan and [a farmer's disciple with excellent hands-on ability] Su Nong to the outskirts of the city to inspect the military settlement of the Tunqiying.

[The investigation of the Tunqiying Corps by Su Nong is in progress. 】

Dressed in the clothes of an old farmer, Su Nong went deep into every piece of tuntian in the Tunqiying Camp to inspect the crops that had been planted in the spring. He also personally visited the mulberry fields and date groves.

In the military camp, the twenty fine horses sent by Princess Chenliu have arrived. Su Lin and Li Tong lead the soldiers of the Tunqi Camp to take turns training them in riding skills.

But looking at the occupied military farmland and pastures, Su Ze always felt like something was stuck in his throat. After looking around, it seemed that only Longhua Temple was a soft persimmon?

However, Longhua Temple is a temple dedicated to the imperial guards, and the ashes of Su Ze's father are all in the pagoda inside the temple. The farms of Longhua Temple are also guarded by monks who guard the temple. If he wants to take the soldiers of the Tunqiying Camp to take back the land, I am afraid that the imperial guards themselves will not agree.

This softest persimmon dares to occupy the most fertile land, and this is also the confidence of Longhua Temple.

Moreover, the fertile land occupied by Longhua Temple was the temple's property. The upper class of the Northern Wei Dynasty worshipped Buddhism and exempted Buddhist temples from taxes. The tenants who rented the land from Longhua Temple were also very hostile to Su Suan, who came to survey the land.

While thinking about how to take back the land occupied by Longhua Temple and busy training troops, Su Ze finally arrived at the day of store refresh.

One blue and five green? There's actually blue?
According to the summary of the previous draws, if the task was not completed, being able to draw the blue color was already considered a win. And when he looked again, it turned out to be a follower, which made Su Ze even happier.

[The debater who does not abide by the precepts]

Grade: blue;
Effect: This follower will cause dislike to other Buddhist followers in the team;

You need to equip scriptures to engage in debate. The more scriptures you equip, the stronger your debate ability will be.

Please note that the equipped scriptures must be from the same faction, otherwise it will lead to a decline in debate ability.

Note that the more scriptures of the same faction you equip, the stronger your debate ability will be.

Please note that once you equip a scripture, it is bound to your faction and cannot be changed.

Comment: "Wine and meat pass through the intestines, but the Buddha is in the heart."

Price: 200 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of 50 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins is required, and alcohol and meat are required every month.

A flawed blue minion! That is to say, if there is no negative attribute, the ability of this minion is purple.

Only an ugly monk appeared in front of Su Ze. His monk robe was covered in dirt and he smelled of alcohol.

Su Ze looked at the monk and asked, "Can you debate?"

The monk shook his head and said, "How can we debate without scriptures?"

Su Ze thought for a moment and asked, "If I find scriptures for you, will you be able to debate them?"

The monk put his hands together and nodded, saying, "Of course."

As for where to get Buddhist scriptures? Isn't that the place with the most Buddhist scriptures in Luoyang?

There is also

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(End of this chapter)