After listening to Li Zhi's words, everyone showed doubts, and they didn't know why Li Zhi put forward this unusual idea.

Li Zhi continued to speak: "Father, the excessive development of religion has done all kinds of harm to my Tang Dynasty and has no benefit, and we must not return to the old way. ”

Li Shimin frowned and said: "But right now, everyone in the world agrees that it is my decision that has attracted heavenly punishment, if not, how should I deal with it?" ”

Li Zhi said: "The people's knowledge is limited after all, and the reason why rumors are spreading at the moment must be that there are people who are interested in stirring up trouble everywhere. ”

The eldest grandson Wuji asked, "Even so, how should the imperial court deal with it?" Now that public opinion has become a form, there is probably nothing that can be done to stop it. ”

Li Zhidao: "The public opinion of the people is just the guidance of a few people, and as long as the purpose of these people is announced to the world, the people can recognize the facts." ”

Li Shimin said: "How can the words of the imperial court be against the mouths of the people? How can an announcement be made without evidence? ”

Fang Xuanling also added: "The DPRK has issued a number of newspapers announcing the policies for the benefit of the people, but all this seems to be useless. ”

Li Zhidao: "It is useless to just propagate policies to the people, and only when their interests are damaged because of religion will people believe in the imperial court." ”

Wang asked, "How does religion harm the interests of the people?" ”

Li Zhidao: "There is no need to pay taxes on the acres of religious fields, who will make up for the losses of the imperial court?" ”

Wang Qi blurted out: "Naturally, it is the people. ”

After saying this, he immediately reacted, so he spoke again: "Your Highness means to make public the harm of religion to the people?" ”

Li Zhidao: "Religion is harmful and naturally beneficial, and the purpose of the imperial court is not to eliminate religion. ”

Wei Zheng said: "Your Highness, please make it clear what you think." ”

Li Zhidao: "Make the interests of religion public and initiate a debate, so that all the people in the world can correctly understand religion." ”

The eldest grandson Wuji said in surprise: "How can such a huge plan be implemented in the whole country? ”

Li Zhidao: "At present, the imperial examination has just ended, and many candidates have not yet left the capital, and the debate will be held in Chang'an. ”

Li Zhi's words immediately reminded everyone.

The common people may be ignorant, but the literati are reasonable, and as long as they understand the pros and cons of religion, they will naturally be able to guide the direction of public opinion.

The group then seriously discussed the feasibility of holding the debate and who would preside over it.

In the end, it was decided that Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng would co-chair the debate, and the time and place would be set for Qujiangchi Furong Garden two days later.

This is the first time since the founding of the Tang Dynasty that a national policy has been debated so extensively.

As a result, the news of the debate immediately caused a sensation in Chang'an City.

Those who were behind the scenes became nervous as soon as they heard the news, and they rushed to find supporters in an attempt to win the debate.

Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng were not idle, and they announced the disadvantages of excessive religious development early.

Not only that, but the two also issued a solicitation order so that all those who supported the court's decision-making could stand on their side.

On the day of the debate, the area around the Hibiscus Garden was full of people who came to watch the excitement.

These people were clearly divided into two waves, and the smaller wave sided with the imperial court, most of whom were literati.

The larger side of the population all supported the development of religion, and most of these people were ordinary people.

Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng naturally stood at the forefront of the imperial court.

On the opposite side of them were a group of clans led by the Qinghe Cui clan and the two heads of the Xingyang Zheng clan and the wealthy merchants in Chang'an City.

Strangely enough, none of these people were monks.

After the debate began, Cui Yan, the head of the Cui family, first launched an offensive.

He asked Fang Xuanling: "Since last year, the imperial court has suppressed religion a lot, resulting in the slow development of religion, and because of this, the people have been affected by abnormal phenomena, how can this matter be explained?" ”

Fang Xuanling stroked his beard under his chin and said: "Since the beginning of the previous dynasty, the number of temples in the world has increased day by day, but the disasters in the world have never stopped, why does Mr. think that today's disasters are related to temples?" ”

Cui Yan was stunned by Fang Xuanling.

He didn't expect Fang Xuanling not to justify the disaster, but to emphasize that the disaster had nothing to do with the temple.

Zheng De, the head of the Zheng family, hurriedly said: "Since the imperial court suppressed religion, there have been disasters in the world, isn't this enough proof? ”

Fang Xuanling said: "The prosperity of the temple in the previous dynasty is not lost to the Tang Dynasty, is it not that the people are in chaos?" ”

Wei Zheng said: "From the official's point of view, it is because there are too many temples, and the people only know that they are dedicated to the Buddha and do not produce that the disaster occurred. ”

Wei Zheng's remark directly brought the focus of the debate to the essence of religious issues.

If you continue to dwell on the other party, you will be very passive.

On the other side, a wealthy merchant stood up and said: "The people have been suffering from disasters for many years, so they are not clothed and hungry, of course, they must go to the temple to pray for the blessing of the gods. ”

Wei Zheng said: "There are also a lot of people in the previous dynasty who asked for help from the gods, why is there still not one out of ten? ”

Fang Xuanling said: "On the contrary, the temple is opening more and more, and the economy in the temple is getting better and better." ”

The words of the two of them once again silenced the other side.

Fang Xuanling took the opportunity to ask rhetorically: "Since the temple prides itself on being poor, why does it want to keep the land and accumulate wealth?" ”

Cui Yan replied: "The food from the temple will be given to the victims every year, and the money collected is just to build the temple and pray for the people." ”

Wei Zheng said: "The imperial court also collects taxes from temples to build water conservancy, why does the temple refuse to pay for digging ditches?" ”

The other side was once again dumbfounded, and the people behind them began to whisper.

Fang Xuanling took this opportunity to once again break out several pieces of information that were unfavorable to the temple.

This included the fact that the land of the temple was rented to tenants at high rents because it was not subject to taxes, and the temple did not have to engage in production and received food.

Monks who were ordained did not have to participate in labor, so they had to pay more from the common people.

The people donated a lot of money to the temple in order to fulfill their wishes, making the people poorer and the temple richer.

As Fang Xuanling narrated, more and more people began to realize the problems.

Especially when they heard that their interests had been damaged by the development of the temple, they quietly calculated in their hearts.

Although they don't understand any big truths, their brains are not slow at all when it comes to their own interests.

What Fang Xuanling said has nothing to do with superstition at all, and they are all real interests.

Especially when Fang Xuanling mentioned that many nobles and wealthy businessmen sent their families to the temple to avoid taxes and labor, it directly caused the confrontation between the common people and the nobles.