When this temple number in the south of the Yangtze River was said by Xie Ao in public, not only the courtiers on both sides were shocked, but even Sun Ning gasped.

Good guys, the prosperity of this temple is about to catch up with the performance of some countries in Southeast Asia in the later generations to put Buddhism on a political level. And if you really talk about the quantity, the current Jiangnan is even better.

"Your Majesty, although I have always admired Buddhism and Taoism, and several previous emperors have also been very tolerant of Buddhism, and even reduced the taxes and servitude of the children of Buddhism several times, but they are now rampant, but they have completely imagined the local people's livelihood.

"If it is allowed to continue to expand unscrupulously, I am afraid that not only the people of Jiangnan will suffer, but the whole world will fall into the terrible catastrophe of worshipping Buddha and Buddha.

"The Chen Xie clan is incompetent, and now they can only ask the court to rectify the local Buddhism, and fight for a real pure land for the government and the people."

Xie Ao said, bowed again, and put his posture to the lowest.

Sun Ning did not respond to his request on the spot, and only asked him to step back before discussing it with the ministers.

As the leader of the spies, Guo Chong took the lead in giving what he had in his possession: "Your Majesty, what Xie Ao said is not too exaggerated, there are indeed temples all over Jiangnan today, and the number of monks who have married has reached a terrifying 100,000.

"These small temples scavenged money and land from the believers in various names, so that there were many poor people in the originally rich Jiangnan who lost their land; The big ones have long colluded with some local clans and government forces to become a real local tyrant.

"And ordinary people are either convinced of these temples, or they are helpless, and in the end they can only endure and become tenants who depend on the temples to survive......"

Sun Ning and they heard it with emotion again, who would have thought that a prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River would now be made into a miasma by these Buddhist monks, and the people would not be able to make a living?

"How did these Buddhist temples spread so unscrupulously in Jiangnan? What did those local governments do before? Sun Ning asked with some annoyance.

Although the current Jiangnan is not under the control of the imperial court, it does not prevent him from caring about these areas, after all, in his opinion, it is also the territory of Dayue, and the people there are his own people.

This sentence made the faces of the ministers present show embarrassment, and many of them looked like they wanted to speak and stopped.

"Why, is there anything that can't be said in it? Just say it. Sun Ning urged again.

Xiao Changyong coughed dryly, and then said carefully: "Your Majesty, this is all the will of the first emperor at the beginning, and the privilege given to the Buddha Sect." ”

Sun Ning's brows furrowed even tighter, he really didn't have any impression of these things, he just motioned to the other party to speak more clearly.

Xiao Changyong had to say truthfully: "The first emperor believed in Buddhism back then, and he also built the Golden Buddha Temple in Luoyang City before, and promised many Buddhist monks many privileges such as not having to pay taxes and serving servitude......

Then in the ninth year of the first emperor's eternal reign, his favorite concubine suddenly got a strange disease, and invited doctors from all over the country to treat it badly, and finally he could only invite Buddhist monks to bless him with great wishes.

"It's strange to say, after several senior monks in the south of the Yangtze River came to the capital thousands of miles away, and opened an altar to pray for the blessing of the concubine Niangniang for 7749 days, Niangniang's illness was really cured.

"As a result, the first emperor naturally trusted Buddhism more, and not only rewarded those monks with countless treasures, but also allowed them and their disciples to open temples in any prefecture and county in the south of the Yangtze River, and their disciples were also exempted from taxes and forced labor......

Sun Ning realized this, after a long time, this root is still in his cheap father, the first emperor.

From this point of view, this Dayue Dynasty has come to this point, and it really should die, if it is not for his sudden crossing.

An emperor with mediocre abilities but worships Buddha, plus a ridiculous emperor who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun, and doesn't know how to govern the country at all.

Only these two terms of father and son are enough to toss a good dynasty, not to mention that the previous Emperor Dayue was not much stronger than his own children and grandchildren.

When the internal and external chaos breaks out, how many local forces with real power are still willing to do things for the court?

After sighing, Sun Ning returned to the front again: "It is because of this layer of protection permission that Buddhist temples in the south of the Yangtze River will spring up everywhere, and the monks there will have the right and courage to compete with the government and the family?" ”

Everyone nodded, at least for now, they can know such rough things, and more details need to be found out when they really go to Jiangnan.

Sun Ning smiled: "And at present, it seems that the expansion of Buddhism's power has become a threat to big clans like the Xie clan in Hangzhou and is powerless, so they will think of asking the imperial court for help?"

"After all, in the final analysis, Buddhism is only because of the various conveniences that the imperial court promised them before to have today's scale, if you really want to deal with them, you still need the imperial court to come forward in order to be justified."

"On the surface, it seems to be true, but the minister always feels that there are still doubts in it, especially that Xie Ao, what he said is not true, I am afraid that there are still reservations to conceal." Zhuge Qingyun said with a solemn expression.

Shen Zhou also echoed thoughtfully: "That's a matter of course. Buddhist monks are not fools, they are greedy enough, but after all, they should also know the truth that cooperation is beneficial to both sides, how can they have a positive conflict with the local family? ”

Guo Chong immediately followed up: "Your Majesty, it is better to let the ministers lead people to Jiangnan to investigate, so as to find out what is hidden over there, and then the court will decide whether to make a move." In fact, in fact, Jiangnan is much richer than Sichuan and Shu, and if you can take this opportunity to win over the hearts of the locals, it will be of great benefit to the imperial court. ”

The others nodded in agreement.

Indeed, if Jiangnan can be taken, not to mention anything else, money and food alone will be enough to make the next plan to seize the Central Plains no longer have to worry about logistics.

Sun Ning fell into a deep groan at this time, and after a while, just when everyone thought that the emperor still had any concerns, he said a decision that shocked all the courtiers, and at the same time tried his best to prevent it-

"Since the matter is so important, hearing is false, seeing is believing, I decided to go to Jiangnan to see what was going on and find out what was going on. It would be even better if we could take the opportunity to win more Jiangnan forces over to the side of the imperial court! ”