For the Qian brothers, the conditions given by Li Jing are not bad, Yang Lian has been to the Qian family's mansion, and it is one of the best in Jinling City, but Qian Hongyu is very nervous, and repeatedly said that such a large mansion is not suitable for him to live in, and he refused several times. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Qian Wenfeng was also assigned a mansion, but the scale was much smaller than Qian Hongyu's, Yang Lian took the time to go to the mansion of the two, and he was also at ease, and what he said was fulfilled at the beginning. For Yang Lian, a celebrity in the court, the Qian brothers were very attentive, delicious and delicious, and at the end, Qian Hongyu also took out a pearl the size of a thumb and gave it to Yang Lian, asking him to pass it on to Princess Huairou, which was regarded as a newlywed gift.

After Yang Lian thought about it for a while, he still accepted it, and he would return this account to Qian Hongyu in other ways in the future.

During this time, with the end of the war, the situation in various places gradually stabilized, the price of grain under the auspices of the government, gradually declined, the household department, the military department became one of the busiest departments, the household department is mainly for the soldiers killed in the war, the allocation of money and grain, etc., Yang Lian has seen the household squire Li Ping, he has been busy recently, it is expected that this year's income and expenditure will be beyond the means, especially after the capture of Wu Yue, a considerable part of the gold and silver was included in the inner treasury by the Son of Heaven, and the income of the household department was stretched.

The war lasted for more than a year, tens of thousands of soldiers died in the war, and the soldiers' burials cost money, the bereavement pensions of their families required money, and the armor and equipment damaged in the war also required money to update the equipment. Fang Jinzhao is a mixed blessing, on the one hand, he participated in the war to destroy Wu Yueguo, and was rewarded by His Majesty, the Son of Heaven rewarded him with 500 gold, in addition to more than 100 acres of fertile land outside Jinling City, this is joy. The families of the soldiers who died in the war came to ask for pensions, and many women and elderly people came to the military department with their children to ask for it, but where did the military department have the money? Isn't it up to the Ministry of Household Appropriation?

Fang Jinzhao has been in and out of the household department for the past few days, but the household department can't come up with much money, and there is no way to prepare for the marriage of the princess and princess on the part of the Ministry of Rites, and the affairs of the common people will be postponed.

The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household quarreled, sometimes the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry also went to join in the fun, Yang Lian had a rare free time, sometimes he went to the palace of King Qi to go around, and talked to King Qi and Princess Huairou, and sometimes he was fishing on the edge of the Qinhuai River, looking like he had no desire or desire.

At dusk on this day, Yang Lian was about to dine in the mansion, and the eunuch Gao Ze hurriedly came. Gao Ze was ordered to come and order Yang Lian to enter the palace.

Yang Lian arched his hand and asked very puzzledly: "Gonggong Gao, it's so late, the Son of Heaven suddenly summoned, is there something important?" ”

Gao Ze laughed and said, "Wu Hou rest assured, the Son of Heaven summoned him to discuss important matters." Yang Lian triumphantly gave Gao Ze two corals, Gao Ze couldn't put it down, and his feelings for Yang Lian were one step deeper, so he said the intention of the Son of Heaven to summon him.

Yang Lian was slightly stunned, and after telling the house, he immediately rushed to the imperial city, along the way he was thinking, the empty treasury of the Tang Dynasty was talked about a few days ago, and the Son of Heaven also adopted it. At this time, although the war has ended, they have not yet received the news, besides, even if they get the news in time, it will take at least more than a month, and it will take a long time to do business, and it will not work all at once.

This family is not easy to do, in the imperial study, Li Jing is pacing slowly, the household department, the military department, the Ministry of Rites and other ministries have been arguing for a few days, as the monarch of the Tang Dynasty, Li Jing naturally knows that the war with Chu and Wu Yue is his decision, and the household department will not blame the head of the Son of Heaven, but it is not the same thing to continue to quarrel like this.

So, at this time, he thought of Yang Lian, maybe Yang Lian could have any good way? Li Jing drank two teas, Yang Lian finally came, and after entering the door to give a salute, Yang Lian stood aside, looking a little puzzled.

Li Jing laughed twice, and first asked some things, such as how Yang Lian felt after returning to Beijing, such as how the marriage with Princess Huairou was prepared.

Yang Lian answered one by one, but he was thinking in his heart, when will the Son of Heaven say the right thing? The two chatted for a while, Li Jing coughed, and finally talked about finance.

"Yang Lian, the salt production in Haizhou has been going smoothly in recent years, right?" Li Jing asked.

Yang Lian saw Li Jing talking about Haizhou's salt, and guessed one or two in his heart, so he smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Haizhou's salt production is also going well, but since the war with Wu Yueguo, the income of salt has been affected. ”

"Why?" Li Jing frowned, salt has always been an official and an important source of finance, although Haizhou is under the governance of Yang Lian, but Yang Lian will give him hundreds of loads of salt every year, and at the same time, the local government will also pay taxes, the better the salt is sold, the greater the profit, Li Jing is naturally concerned.

Yang Lian said: "Your Majesty, Wu Yueguo has always been the only one who is the head of the Zhou State, and the Tang Dynasty is going all out to the south, and the Zhou State is naturally unwilling, so it restricts the entry of the Tang Dynasty salt merchants, and at the same time, the Zhou State has expanded production in the salt ponds of the two pools to minimize the outflow of currency. ”

Li Jing nodded, if it was in the past, for example, the Han Kingdom, not only had two pools, but also boiled salt in Qilu, the sales volume of Datang was less, but the salt produced by Yang Lian later was of good quality and large quantity, so the sales were good. However, the price of such salt is relatively high, and ordinary people cannot afford to eat it at all, and can only be tasted by wealthy businessmen or dignitaries.

The purpose of Li Jing's question was to take back the salt in Haizhou, or Yang Lian would regress and provide more free salt to the imperial court, after all, the imperial court had a special salt agency, which had always been independent of the local government, and Yang Lian was able to get rid of the salt because of Li Jing's promise.

Li Jing thought for a while and said: "Yang Lian, now the imperial court is overspending, although the war has also made income, but in general, I can't make ends meet, these days I am having a headache for the soldiers' pension, and you and Princess Huairou, King Yan and the Zhou family's wedding is imminent, after all, you are a member of the royal family, this wedding can't be cold." ”

Yang Lian smiled and said: "Your Majesty, although Weichen doesn't have much money, it won't be troublesome to raise Huairou." ”

"What are you thinking? Although Huairou is not my daughter, I have always treated her as my own daughter, and now that she is going to marry, how can she be shabby? Li Jing shook his head.

Yang Lian nodded, he knew that Li Jing was an extremely good-looking person, and now Princess Huairou was the face of the royal family, and the same was true for King Yan, Li Jing must not let others point to his backbone and scold him for being stingy. Li Jing is a spendthrift, and in the past few years, his finances were not good, and he still built a lot in the imperial city, which shows how far he has squandered.

"Yang Lian, I came to you to discuss how to solve the financial crisis, your suggestion was good a few days ago, but if it works, it won't be possible for a while." Li Jing said.

Yang Lian groaned, thought for a while, and then said hesitantly: "Your Majesty, as long as the food crisis can be solved, will Your Majesty do anything?" ”

"This, except for selling the land of the Tang Dynasty, I have done everything." Li Jing said, suddenly remembered again, and continued: "Of course, the people of the Tang Dynasty are all my people, and I will not betray them. "In troubled times, the people, especially the young and middle-aged, are extremely important wealth, and Li Jing cannot give it up.

"Your Majesty, Weichen's opinion is still to open up the source and reduce the cost, the open source said a few days ago, but it will take some time, at least one or two years, at most three or four years, in a short period of time, it is impossible to pay the pension of the sacrificed soldiers of the Tang Dynasty this time, and as for the throttling, it is also impossible to solve this problem." Yang Lian said.

Li Jing pursed his lips, he felt a little thirsty, so he picked up the tea and took a sip, his eyes still staring at Yang Lian, hoping that he could have a good idea.

Yang Lian coughed and said, "Weichen has an idea, but I'm afraid His Majesty won't adopt it." ”

"Yang Lian, you don't have to worry too much, say it to me." Li Jing said.

Yang Lian heard this, or hesitated for a while, then said, in history, there are the famous three martial arts to destroy the Buddha, in Yang Lian's view, Buddhism has its advantages, but also has disadvantages, one of the biggest disadvantages, is that Buddhism has a lot of land, and they do not pay taxes in the name of the Buddha, which makes the government's income plummet.

Moreover, there are often some dignitaries who will donate their land to the temple, and some poor people will also propose to annex the land into the temple in order to avoid paying taxes, which causes the temple to have a huge amount of land, and the result is that the temple has more and more land, and the government cannot take it back, resulting in less and less land allocated to the people. When the people lack land, but the taxes remain the same, the less income they earn, and when they are forced to do so, they will sell their sons and daughters.

Yang Lian knew that in addition to the three martial arts to destroy the Buddha, there was also a case of destroying the Buddha, but this one was still in Jinling for the time being, after Guo Rong destroyed the Buddha, the arable land of the Zhou State increased, the people also increased, and the strength rose sharply.

The north has been at war, Buddhism is so prosperous, the Tang Dynasty and Wu Yue kingdoms in the south are more prosperous than the north, and even the monarch believes in Buddhism.

Sure enough, when Li Jing heard this, he couldn't help but widen his eyes and snatch food from the mouth of the Buddha, which was too incredible in Li Jing's opinion, and if he did this, the Buddha would be unhappy.

"This, Yang Lian, is there no better way besides this method?" Li Jing asked, he didn't want to destroy the Buddha and be charged with betraying the Buddha.

Yang Lian shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, Buddhism takes up too many resources, and Weichen knows that His Majesty believes in Buddhism, so he didn't want to say it." Buddhists everywhere have too much wealth, and if their property is confiscated, the treasury will be immediately full, and at least it will be able to survive the immediate crisis. Your Majesty, these soldiers were all killed in the battle of the Wei State, if the family does not get a pension, and the Zhou State will fight in the future, who will die for the country? ”

Li Jing didn't understand these truths, he hesitated for a while.

Yang Lian saw that he did not decisively refuse, so he continued to lobby, Yang Lian's purpose is not to completely destroy Buddhism, everything is based on pros and cons, believing in Buddhism can allow the people to have sustenance, at this time, it belongs to spiritual opium, which is necessary. But Buddhism can't be allowed to grow too strong, so Yang Lian put forward several ideas.

Buddhism can continue to exist, and temples in various places will not be closed, but in terms of the number of people, there must be a degree, for example, large temples can have 200 monks, medium-sized temples can have 100 monks, and small temples can only keep 50 people, and the number of these people must all be registered with the government.

On the one hand, it can strictly control the number of people in the temple, and on the other hand, it can prevent wicked people from shaving their heads and hiding in the temple to a certain extent. What does the temple feed on? The government will give a certain amount of land according to the number of people, and these lands will not change for a hundred years, as long as the monks are attentive, they can ensure their survival, and the monks, what do you want so much money for? Just enough to eat.

Temples are not allowed to accept gifts from dignitaries, especially land, and if they accept them secretly, once discovered, the government will take back the land.

Yang Lian said while thinking about it, Li Jing's eyebrows were Ning into a ball, destroy the Buddha, do you really want to destroy the Buddha? Although Yang Lian's later words were not to really destroy Buddhism, but to control the development of Buddhism, this was shocking enough in Li Jing's opinion.

Li Jing listened, thought about it seriously, and said, "Although there are lessons from the past, it is really inappropriate for me to do this kind of thing. ”

Yang Lian saw that Li Jing still refused, so he had to sigh and said: "Your Majesty, this is the best way, these temples have hoarded a lot of money over the years, and it has been collected by the treasury, and the country is strong in order to preserve the development of Buddhism. ”

Li Jing stood up, paced slowly, thought for a while, shook his head, and said, "Yang Lian, this matter is very important, even if you want to adopt your opinion, let me think about it." ”

"Your Majesty is wise, and you will definitely choose a choice that is beneficial to the country." Yang Lian said, stood up, and planned to leave.

Li Jing had a mind in his body, and it was inconvenient to leave Yang Lian behind, so he nodded, motioned Yang Lian to go out, and continued to move towards things. Yang Lian retreated and walked out of the imperial study, at this time the sky had darkened, the bright moon hung in the sky, Yang Lian shook his head, at this time the monk was not allowed to marry and have children, which greatly limited the development of the population, now it is a troubled time, the more people, the better, in the future, I can't raise so many people, and I can also develop overseas.

Yang Lian, led by a little eunuch, walked out of the imperial city. Li Jing lay on the soft couch, stretched out his fingers, rubbed his temples, and asked, "Gao Ze, you heard Yang Lian's words, what do you think?" ”

Gao Ze held the dust in his hand, walked over, shook his head, and said, "Your Majesty, this is a major national matter, and the slave and maid dare not speak falsely." ”

"Well, if I ask you, you will say, do not have any worries." Li Jing said with some dissatisfaction.

Gao Ze gave a salute and said: "Your Majesty, I don't know about Buddhism, but one thing is certain, it seems that what Yang Jiedu, no, Wu Hou did, at present, it seems that there is nothing wrong." Perhaps His Majesty may choose to believe him. ”

"Choose to believe him? Gao Ze, do you really think so? Li Jing asked softly.

Gao Ze hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, the slave maid city is vain, and I ask Your Majesty to punish you." ”

Li Jing laughed and said, "I asked you, you don't have to be like this." As he spoke, he sat up slowly and left the study, feeling a little hungry as well.