Day and night, grogginess, bumpy along the way.

It is not very far from the prison of the criminal department to the entrance of the vegetable market, but Zhiling feels that it has been a long, long time, longer than a lifetime.

The past flies away in my mind.

Life is like quicksand leaking between your fingers, blown away by the wind and flying away......

In the midst of a nightmare, half-asleep and half-awake, he saw many things, the dim sky, the shaky streets, the cold iron armor of the forbidden army, and the faces of the humble and miserable beings.

His mind was no longer fit for any other thought, there was no sorrow or joy, and even the instinctive fear of death was gone.

The mind is a chaotic blank, occasionally some pictures of the past will surface, parents and relatives died in the war, as an orphan, was presided over the adoption, taught the Dharma, took the Dharma name as the Zhiling ......, this way, not all are bright, he has also experienced a lot of conspiracy calculations, a lot of dumping, these occupy the majority of his life, until he became the only abbot in the temple, but also had to work hard for the temple mundane affairs, he has had a trough, but also ushered in a glorious day, under the light, there is a lot of darkness and blood.

As one of the Buddhist monks, Zhiling, since he was a child, has been proficient in various Buddhist classics, and as he grows older, his reputation has gradually piled up, but he obviously feels that his master, the old abbot who adopted him, is more and more separated from him, he said: "Buddhism cultivates the mind, teaches people to be good, and is talking about helping sentient beings, and paying attention to indisputable...... All beings have their own path...... Buddhism is not about grabbing territory, nor is it about being competitive. ”

He said, "Zhiling, you are going astray. ”

At that time, Zhiling was only thirty years old, young and vigorous, and he said disapprerovingly:

"Abbot, is there anything wrong with me spreading the Dharma of this temple to the world?"

"And, indisputably, that's Taoism." Zhiling felt that the abbot was a little confused.

"Alas, the Buddha and the Tao have different paths to the same end......"

The old host sighed, knocked the wooden fish, and stopped talking.

Zhiling retreated with interest, lowered his eyebrows, but what he thought in his heart was that the abbot was old, he had presided over the affairs of the temple for several years, and more than half of the monks in the temple supported him, even if the abbot wanted to set up another successor, it would be difficult to do anything.

The abbot is old and has lost his spirit.

The moment he turned to close the door, he heard a compassionate Buddha call coming from inside, "...... Amitabha. ”

He thought that he didn't remember this for a long time, but at this time he suddenly remembered it again, and now he thinks that the Buddha horn recited by the abbot back then actually has a deep meaning. It is recited for Him.

When he is burdened with the hopes and interests of too many people, no matter what lies ahead, he can only move forward.

The carriage and horses gradually slowed down, the execution ground was in sight, there were a lot more people congested on the roadside, the prisoner car looked around, densely packed with crowded heads, the field of vision was close to the horizon, some public people rushed forward to drive the crowded crowd back, the prisoner car rushed to the execution ground, the execution ground was solemn, dozens of prisoner cars were opened one by one, the public pushed the prisoners in flail and locks to enter, the official of the criminal department sat on it, his eyes swept over coldly, and then announced to the people the crime committed by the prisoner, there was an uproar all around, and then there was a dead silence, and finally, Boiling water boils over like a lot.

"These ...... Is it true? ”

"Kill them!!"

"Chop off their heads!"

One of the prisoners couldn't help but cry bitterly, and then the cry spread as if it were contagious.

They are also famous monks outside, but when they face death, their hearts are still so fragile.

When the anger of the people came up, no one would want to listen to these wails, and they were brutally carried to the execution ground and then beheaded with a single sword.

"As long as you roll in the red dust, what kind of monk can you be considered a monk?" Zhiling knelt in a pool of blood, and such a thought flashed through his mind.

The scorching sun shone overhead, and the cold light on the tip of the knife was even more dazzling than the scorching sun.

"Perhaps, Chengde is right."

He looked up at the sun one last time, and the long knife slashed down the back of his neck......

It was already afternoon, and his eyes passed through the magnificent Taiji Hall, all the way to the deepest part of the hall, the emperor buried his head in the middle of the case, the machine generally reviewed the chapters, and there were officials below holding some books to report some government affairs, "Jizhou Reports, counting 208,692 households, a total of 904,762 people...... Gwangju Bulletin, 97,813 households, a total of ......"

When the official finished reading, the emperor let out a soft "um" and let him retreat. Zu Ting stepped forward with a smile and said, "Your Majesty...... According to the current statistics, one-third of our prefectures and counties have a total of 1.6 million household registrations, or about 8 million people, and if we do a thorough inventory of the whole country, we will not have 30 million ......."

"Nonsense," Gao Wei raised his eyes, and pinched him with his eyelids without emotion, Zu Ting was immediately a spirit, goosebumps all over his body stood up, bowed down, and didn't dare to say a word. The emperor snorted coldly and said, "Jizhou, Guangzhou, Youzhou, and Cangzhou, these are all densely populated states in our dynasty, how can they be compared to the small counties in the border wilderness?" I have surveyed almost all the places with large populations, and there are still Jianghuai prefectures, and if I estimate the total number of zeros, I will only support 20 million, and where are 30 million? ”

"You ...... If you dare to deliberately deceive me in order to pursue political achievements, I will not forgive! ”

"Don't dare!!" The courtiers in the hall fell to their knees.

Gao Wei looked at them, which can't be blamed for his overreaction, when the court is seeking change, the officials in order to seek political achievements and promotions, the means can be described as exhaustive, everything is only focused on achieving the goal, literally good-looking, easy to fool the superiors, lack of authenticity.

Take the incident of Emperor Wen of Sui's household registration that he knew, the household registration and land data of the Sui Dynasty are very exaggerated, such as land data, according to the statistics of the Sui Dynasty, the land of the Sui Dynasty reached 1.94 billion mu, and at the national level, it may not sound like anything at first glance, after all, the Sui Dynasty is so big, and there are so many acres of land What is unusual. And if you analyze it carefully, it will be shocking, one mu in the Sui Dynasty is 240 square steps, each step is six feet, each foot is about 30 centimeters, the data of the Sui Dynasty is converted, it is 2.13 billion mu in modern times, and in the modern 2013 statistics, the country's cultivated land area is less than this number, that is to say, the cultivated land area of the Sui Dynasty is larger than now.

The land directly ruled by the Sui Dynasty was much smaller than it is now, but the area of arable land was so large, isn't this?

In fact, during the Han and Tang dynasties, the cultivated land area was about 500 million mu, and the Ming and Qing dynasties began to rise sharply. After the census of household registration, taxes were collected according to the number of people and land, but the actual data was far less than this, and the burden on the people increased a lot. The system was so efficient that the imperial court unwittingly pumped out too much tax.

The strict household registration system of the Sui Dynasty is of course the Sui Dynasty became stronger, but it was only the prosperity of the Yang Dynasty, not the prosperity of the people...... Don't you wait for death?

After Cushman & Wakefield, there are a series of reform measures in the pipeline, which are based on a new household registration system, and inaccurate household registration statistics will cause big problems in the future! Therefore, Cushman & Wakefield attaches great importance to it, and he can't tolerate the slightest fraud, and he has counted this data three times over and over again, and the local government has also checked it three times before it was registered.

Gao Wei stared at them for a while, waved his hand and asked them to get up, "That's it, you guys get up, don't make such mistakes again in the future, show me accurate numbers, be strict, be an official and a politician, and be pragmatic!" ”

"Follow Your Majesty's teachings!!"

The ministers got up with their robes, sweating profusely behind their backs.

His Majesty's warning is really powerful, and he told them plainly, "I have a clear heart, don't try to fool me!" "In government affairs, the emperor has always loved to go straight to ......, and he has also put an end to the crooked thoughts of some officials.

Fortunately, there was actually only one Zu Ting who was unlucky, and he slapped the horse's hooves, and they just hurt the pond fish...... Just when Zu Ting's mind was unsettled and some people were secretly gloating, Gao Wei suddenly remembered another thing.

"Have those great monks been beheaded?"

Gao Yuanhai hurriedly stood up, "Your Majesty, the official of the Criminal Department has already come to report his life just now, and he has already beheaded all the prisoners. ”

Gao Wei said "um" without being salty, but it was just a few dozen lives, even if this number was supported by another ten, and then multiplied by a hundred, what could it be?

"Among the Buddhism, there are still many people hidden, all of what I said before count, the whole country, only 3,000 Buddhist temples and 30,000 monks are allowed to stay, and the rest are all vulgar!"

An official cautiously said: "But Your Majesty, these people are already monks when they enter the Buddha Gate......

"I said that they are vulgar, don't you understand!?" The Emperor drank it categorically.

The official's face turned pale and his head hung down.

"The minister understands ......"

The majestic anger that Gao Wei exuded gradually dissipated, calmed down, as if the fire had never been issued, and re-read the music, and the hall was full of people bowing their heads and busy figures, and when it was time to hold the lamp, the pen was exhausted, and Gao Wei dipped it in vermilion ink, dark red, as if left from the guillotine, the same color as the clouds on the horizon at this moment.

………………

In the dark night, the birds spread their wings and flew across the night sky, and the crisp sound of the clash of iron armor shattered the silence of the night, and the people turned off the lights one after another, watching the iron flow in front of them uneasily. Soon, a terrible cry rang out from the temple in the distance, and then a flame rose again in the darkness like a huge torch.

This scene occurred throughout the Northern Qi Dynasty at the same time, especially Jinyang and Yecheng, and the earthquake centered on Jinyang, Luoyang, and Yecheng. Spreading in all directions, the Buddha Gate, a well-deserved behemoth in the world, collapsed in this earthquake.

It has been nine days since the emperor issued an edict to clear the Buddhist gate, and in the nine days, killing, arresting, ......and death, these have become the main theme of the nine days, and all those who dare to resist have been killed by the imperial court by violent means, and in nine days, Yecheng, the king known as the Buddha country, was almost stained red with blood, but when the first craziest situation passed, everything would gradually calm down, and life would always go on.

In front of the collapsed ruins of the temple, two monks, an old man and a young monk, passed by here with their burdens, the bloody breath has not been completely washed away, the collapsed ruins are like huge coke, and some flames that will not be extinguished can be seen. The old monk and the little monk suddenly stopped, folded their hands, and called out the Buddha number compassionately, "Amitabha Buddha ......" for a long time before he withdrew his gaze, and the old monk sent the burden to his shoulders and touched the little monk's head.

"What else are you looking at, shall we go?"

"Abbot, you haven't said why we're going......

"Let's go and eat some fast."

"Ah...... Does anyone still dare to give us food for fasting? ”

The old monk sighed and smiled, "Then let's be self-reliant...... What's more, you remember, there are still more good people in this world. People have good thoughts, and everyone has a Buddha living in their hearts. ”

Under the morning sun, the two shadows, one tall and one short, gradually faded away......