Army deserters, vagrants, fugitive slaves, and all kinds of criminals fled to monasteries to seek refuge. In addition, a large number of ordinary people also took refuge in monasteries just to have something to eat, or to escape the war. By the time of Chai Rong's reign, there were many monasteries in the country, and the number of monks and nuns reached one million, which had become a major cancer in society. These monasteries not only hide filth and filth, but also take away a large amount of labor force in the country, occupy a large amount of tax-free land, and even some landowners also put their land property in the name of the monasteries in order not to pay taxes, seriously interfering with the normal social order.

This phenomenon has lasted for many years, and no one dares to care about it, but it is different here in Chai Rong. In the second year of Chai Rong's reign, he ordered all the bronze Buddha statues in the folk temples to be demolished to melt and mint money. At that time, people were still very superstitious and did not dare to dismantle it, so Chai Rong said: "The Buddha is a Buddha, the bronze statue is a bronze statue, I heard that the Buddha can even contribute the flesh and eyes on his body in order to give alms to the people." Now that the people are short of money, we tear down the Buddha statue to mint money, which is a good thing for the people, and the Buddha will not blame it. Chai Rong not only said this, but also did it himself. At that time, there was a big Buddha in Zhenzhou that was said to be very effective, no one dared to dismantle it, Chai Rong personally went into battle, axe his chest, and smashed the big Buddha on the spot.

In fact, according to Buddhism, the Buddha image is the body of the Buddha, and the Dharma body of the Buddha is everywhere, so if you smash it, you will smash it, and it is not a big deal. However, Chai Rong also ordered a large number of monks and nuns to return to the laity, which is called "breaking harmony with monks", which is the biggest taboo. Just like killing one's father and mother, one commits the five major sins and cannot take the bodhisattva vows. You are not allowed to be reborn in the Pure Land of the Buddha Kingdom.

However, Chai Rong may have thought that he had done an immeasurable cause of great compassion, so the Buddha would not blame him for it. Or simply to reach the supreme state of "having a Buddha in the eyes and no Buddha in the heart". He didn't think about this issue at all, and forced the monks and nuns in the world to return to the laity. Chai Rong officially ordered the destruction of the Buddha and the demolition of the temple on May 6 in the second year of Xiande (955), stipulating that all Buddhist monasteries in the territory of the Later Zhou Dynasty should be demolished except for the emperor's edict that could be retained.

Only one monastery could be retained in each county, and the bureaucracy and aristocracy were henceforth forbidden to petition for the construction of monasteries and the ordination of monks and nuns. If a person wants to become a monk, he must not only seek the consent of the government, but also his parents, and the man must reach the age of 15. Women must be at least thirteen years old and can recite Buddhist scriptures on 70 to 100 papers before applying. Outlaws, criminals, slaves and maids are not allowed to be monks, and it is strictly forbidden to escape into the empty door with their hands and feet, and heavy punishments are imposed on those who travel to monks and nuns illegally. As a result, 30,636 monasteries were destroyed in one fell swoop, and nearly one million lay monks and nuns were returned. These millions of monks and nuns returned to the land and became tax collectors of the state. Among them, there are literary talents and military strategies who are willing to serve as officials and join the army, and they are all hired according to their talents. This greatly reduced the burden on the state and at the same time obtained a large number of hukou. The national strength has been rapidly enhanced.

For the fundamental problem of land, Chai Rong also has a solution. Due to years of war, the population of the five dynasties has decreased sharply, so the land area per capita is still very large. But the landlords of many of these lands have died in the war. Or they fled because of the war, and a large number of fields were left uncultivated. Chai Rong vigorously supported the people in cultivating these ownerless lands. Stipulation: The landlord will not be able to return to any such field. Whoever sows belongs to whom; If the landlord comes back within three years, it is not counted as raw and cooked. return half; and those who come back in five years shall return one-third; Those who come back outside the past five years will not be paid except for the land of their own household's tombs. In the northern states (near the northern border), there were landlords who had fled from Tibet, and those who returned within five years were to return two-thirds of the land; if they return within 10 years, they shall return one-third; Those who have returned more than 15 years are not included in the list of returns. In this way, the peasants' enthusiasm for farming has been greatly enhanced, and a large amount of barren land has been recultivated, and the state's financial revenue has naturally risen with the tide.

Chai Rong also paid great attention to the construction of water conservancy, the Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation, and it is also a river of merits. During the Five Dynasties, due to frequent wars, the Yellow River fell into disrepair for many years, coupled with man-made destruction, resulting in many breaches, seriously threatening the lives and property safety of the people in Shandong, Henan and other places. In this regard, the successive emperors of the five generations almost never asked. In the second year of his reign, Chai Rong requisitioned 60,000 people to build the river embankment at one time, and then strengthened it many times, although it was impossible to fundamentally solve the problem of the river, but it still alleviated the serious consequences caused by natural disasters to a large extent.

In addition, Chai Rong also expanded the capital city of Kaifeng, and also made great contributions to the sorting out of calendars, criminal laws, music, etc. Of course, these tasks are easy to say, but in fact, the total amount is very large, and it is impossible for Chai Rong to complete it alone, so his achievements are inseparable from his mastery of a very good management team.

During his time in power, Chai Rong used a large number of cadres, including Fan Zhen, Jing Fan, and Li Gu, who were old ministers left over from the previous dynasty, as well as Wang Pu, Zhang Mei, and Wei Renpu, who were promoted by him. On the whole, the overall quality of these cadres under Chai Rong is much higher than that of those ministers around other emperors of the five generations. Most of them are righteous men and gentlemen, and they are all very talented, and they have made great contributions to the prosperity of the Later Zhou. The most noteworthy here is Wang Pu, the prime minister who is known as the first minister of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

Wang Pu was a native of Dongping (now Dongping, Shandong), who was intelligent and studious since childhood, and had outstanding articles, and was assigned to serve under Yang Wei, the prime minister and privy envoy of the Later Han Dynasty. Wang Pu was very alert, seeing that the factions in the Later Han Dynasty were falling into conflict at that time, and the monarchs and ministers were also in the same situation, for fear that one day Yang Wei would fall, and he would be unlucky, so he hurriedly found an excuse and resigned and fled back to his hometown.

It didn't take long for Yang Wei and others to be killed by Emperor Yin of Han, Wang Pu was just a petty official, and he escaped from the capital, and no one cared about him, so he escaped. After Guo Wei became emperor, Wang Pu made a comeback and was sent to serve in Lanzhou, and was fortunate to meet Chai Rong, who was suppressed by Wang Jun in Lanzhou, which laid a good foundation for his subsequent meteoric prosperity.

After Chai Rong became emperor, he transferred Wang Pu, an old man from the domain, to the capital and appointed him as Bibu Langzhong. The Ministry is subordinate to the Criminal Department, and is also under the control of the Ministry of Households, and its main responsibilities are to take charge of the various departments, public affairs, ransom, mediation, and internal and external funds, similar to the current State Audit Bureau. The status began to prominence. However, Wang Pu's qualifications are relatively shallow, and his taste is not high compared to that of Bulang. is only on the five products, and it is not a national member.

Until the second year of Chai Rong's accession to the throne (955). All reforms are on track and are in full swing. Chai Rong was very happy in the face of such a good situation, and he intended to add another fire, so he drafted his own topic and ordered each of the ministers to present "It is not easy to be a king and a minister" and "Pingbian Policy". These ministers under Chai Rong also have real materials, and proposition essays like this are not difficult for them at all. So when they received the will, they closed the door and waved a big pen. It didn't take long for all the papers to be submitted.

Chai Rong read them one by one after collecting them, and when he looked at them, he felt that every article looked full of flowers, and under careful reading, it was empty, and he was very disappointed. It wasn't until he saw Wang Pu's "Pingbian Policy" that his eyes suddenly lit up. Wang Pu's "Pingbian Policy" is profound and clear. The analysis of the current situation is penetrating, and it can be said that every word is insightful, and every sentence is insightful. Chai Rong was overjoyed and immediately promoted him to the left counselor. Know the affairs of Kaifeng. Later, he was promoted all the way to the prime minister, and finally made him the number one reform officer under his command.

Wang Pu's "Pingbian Policy" is a policy that can be compared to "Longzhong Pair". Because the full text is long, it will not be repeated in the main text. This essay is broadly divided into two parts. The first part deals with internal affairs, mainly on how to renovate and revitalize. thinks that "Tang lost his way and lost Wu and Shu." Jin lost the way and lost the seclusion, and (Hedong), "if you want not to follow their old path, you must "advance the virtuous and retreat", "you can't retreat with your ability", you must use the "grace signal order" to tie up their hearts, you must use "reward and punish crimes" to do their best, you must use "frugality" to enrich their wealth, and they must use "timely conscription" to Fu Qimin, these ideas are completely consistent with Chai Rong, but Wang Pu refined it and became a complete set of political slogans, which still rhymed when read it, so it won Chai Rong's appreciation.

In the second part of "Pingbian Ce", Wang Pu talked about how to dominate the world, which is even more important to Chai Rong. Wang Pu believes that the Later Zhou Dynasty sat in the center of the world, with Wu in the south, Shu in the west, and Northern Han and Khitan in the north, and was attacked on three sides. Among the enemies in these three directions, the Khitan in the north was the strongest, while the Northern Han was weak, but it had the Khitan as a backup, so it was difficult to take it lightly. And the southern state of Wu (Southern Tang) is the richest, and it is not good to fight, so it is easy to deal with it, so it should be cut on the Southern Tang first, and how to cut it is explained in detail. This set a main tone for the Later Zhou Dynasty to flatten the world, "first easy and then difficult, first south and then north", this point of view is very pragmatic, and this point of view eventually became the main idea of the leaders of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty to carry out the unification war.

Wang Pu's strategic idea of "first the south and then the north" has a origin, because since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the world has been in turmoil, and in more than 80 years, the entire land of China has become a pot of porridge. At the same time, if the Yangtze River and the Huai River are the boundaries, the north and south sides of China will have different laws.

In the north of Jiang and Huai, there were Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and five dynasties, although the speed of change of these five dynasties was very fast, and the existence of the time was not long, but they appeared in the form of succession, and during their enjoyment of the country, they basically unified the northern part of China. So it feels like these dynasties are chaotic, but they are relatively chaotic and more organized. During this period, southern China was in a state of confusion, making people confused.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, there have been nine secessionist regimes in the south, such as the former Shu, the Later Shu, the Wu, the Southern Tang, the Fujian, the Wu Yue, the Jingnan, the Chu, and the Southern Han, and they are called the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms together with the Northern Han and the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Five Dynasties in the north, which is the origin of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. But in fact, during this period of time, there were more than these secession regimes, at least the Qi regime established by Li Maozhen in Fengxiang; the Yan regime established by Liu Shouguang in Youzhou; After the Southern Tang Dynasty destroyed Fujian, the Zhangquan (in present-day Fujian) regime established by Liu; After the Southern Tang Dynasty destroyed Chu, the Hunan regime established by Zhou Fengying. These are all independent regimes that did exist, but they are not counted. This was mainly due to the fact that these small regimes existed for a relatively short period of time and had a relatively limited impact on the time. In addition, there is another reason, that is, whether it is five generations or more than ten countries, it is not as grand as five generations and ten countries.

In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the various secession regimes did not exist at the same time, among which Former Shu was the predecessor of Later Shu, Wu was the predecessor of Southern Tang, Qi, Yan, Min and Chu had perished before Chai Rong became emperor, and Northern Han was in the north of Later Zhou. Therefore, by the time of Chai Rong, in the two reverses of his west and south, there were only seven separatist regimes in Houshu, Southern Tang, Wuyue, Jingnan, Southern Han, Zhangquan, and Hunan. Among them, the Southern Han Dynasty is far away in the Lingnan area, and its jurisdiction is roughly all of today's Guangdong and most of Guangxi. Wu Yue controlled the land of Zhejiang, and its jurisdiction was roughly the whole territory of today's Zhejiang, Shanghai, and the southern part of Jiangsu Province. Zhangquan is in the territory of today's Fujian, and the jurisdiction is only Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. The Hunan regime roughly occupied the entire territory of present-day Hunan, and none of these regimes bordered the Later Zhou Dynasty. Moreover, except for the Southern Han Dynasty, they all had a tendency to be attached to the Zhou Dynasty, so they were not Chai Rong's enemies.

There were three regimes bordering the Later Zhou, namely the Later Shu, the Southern Tang, and the Jingnan. Among them, Jingnan was built by Gao Jixing, the king of Wuxing, and only governed the land of Jiangling (now Jiangling, Hubei), Xiazhou (now Yichang, Hubei), and Guizhou (now Zigui, Hubei), and the territory was very small. Therefore, the only countries that Chai Rong really needs to deal with are Houshu and Southern Tang, and Houshu is fortunate to become Chai Rong's first military target.

The establishment of Hou Shu is directly related to the civil strife in the Later Tang Dynasty that year, and the two are cause and effect of each other. At the end of the third year of Tongguang in the Later Tang Dynasty (925), in order to divert domestic contradictions, Zhuangzong Li Cunqiao sent his eldest son Li Jiqi and the privy envoy Guo Chongtao to attack Qianshu, and destroyed Qianshu in only 70 days. But after that, it was rumored in China that Guo Chongtao wanted to rebel in Shu, which caused Li Cunmiao to panic. At this time, Li Cunxuan's queen Liu sent an edict to kill Guo Chongtao, which immediately caused chaos in the world. In the end, Li Cunqiao died in civil strife, and Li Siyuan ascended to the throne and became the second emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty (see the Five Dynasties Fengyun Scroll for details).

After the Tang Dynasty destroyed Shu, the northern capital was left behind, Taiyuan Yin Meng Zhixiang was appointed as the Xichuan Festival envoy, Meng Zhixiang is Li Keyong's niece and son-in-law, successively served as the envoy of Hedong Zhongmen, Ma Budu Yu Marquis, after the opening of the Tang Dynasty, Li Cunqiao appointed him as the northern capital to stay behind, Taiyuan Yin. Meng Zhixiang was in a high position in the Later Tang Dynasty, and he was not much different from Li Siyuan. Therefore, after Li Siyuan became emperor, Meng Zhixiang also became self-reliant. At this time, in addition to Meng Zhixiang in Shudi, there was also a Dongchuan Jiedu envoy Dong Zhang, who was the general of Houliang and was also looking for an opportunity to get out of the control of Houtang.

In the first year of Changxing (930), Li Siyuan issued an edict to reduce the army of Liangchuan, Dong Zhang rebelled on the spot after hearing the news, and Meng Zhixiang also sent troops to support him. Li Siyuan had to send Shi Jingjiao, the envoy of the Tianxiong Army at that time, to lead the troops to fight, but because of the labor expedition, the transportation was not continued, and the progress was very unsmooth. Shi Jingjiao led his troops to fight for more than half a year, but did nothing, so he had to say again and again that "the two rivers cannot be destroyed". (To be continued.) )