As Fang Xuanling exposed more and more truths, the faces of the heads of the Cui family and the Zheng family on the opposite side became more and more ugly.

The wealthy businessmen standing behind them turned pale with fright.

Their actual status is not as good as that of ordinary people, and the reason why they can enjoy a better life is simply because they are more speculative.

Now that Fang Xuanling has exposed so much news about them, it is conceivable that they will definitely be liquidated once this debate fails.

The literati standing behind Fang Xuanling and the others thought more than ordinary people.

They are more awarely aware of the ills of religious overdevelopment.

So they soon joined the crusade against religion, which made the head of the Cui family and others even less of a chance to speak.

It didn't take long for the people on their side to change their attitudes.

More and more people turned to the side of the imperial court.

Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng quietly glanced at each other, and a smile involuntarily appeared on their faces.

They knew that the debate had been won by this point.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the head of the Cui family to flee with the people, and when he left, he just arched his hand, and didn't even leave a word of the scene.

Fang Xuanling and the others only smiled at this, they knew that this victory had just begun, and the emperor would definitely have other actions in the future.

So Fang Xuanling took the opportunity to preach about the difficulties that the imperial court is currently facing and the disaster relief measures that are being implemented.

Since the people have a new understanding, after he announced these relief measures, the people have significantly more trust in the imperial court.

The results of the debate soon spread throughout the country as those candidates left.

As a result, a war of public opinion originally initiated by religious forces soon became extremely unfavorable to religion.

When some people who are attached to religion and earn huge profits see this situation, the first thing they think of is not to retreat, but to unite the temples of the world to rebel against the imperial court.

It is a pity that their thinking is somewhat too subjective, and completely ignores the thinking within the religion at this time.

In their minds, such a target of religion in the imperial court would definitely cause great dissatisfaction among these religious people, and they could operate it with just a little provocation.

For the truly religious, however, they were not greatly affected.

First of all, the monasteries still hold a large amount of land that can provide them with sufficient food.

Secondly, a series of businesses such as loans, fortune telling, dharma monasteries, and pharmacies opened by temples were not affected.

Although the imperial court controlled the approval of the monks and imposed large taxes on them, these were not worth much compared to their income.

This made these religious people not in existential crisis, and they had no incentive to rebel against the imperial court at all.

That is why there are no genuine religious figures in this debate.

Because from beginning to end, the most ferocious people are actually only those with vested interests who are attached to the temple.

Instead of being supported by religious figures, their ideas were blamed for causing trouble for the temple.

These people saw that the temple refused to cooperate with them and did not have the courage to toss, so they gradually began to die down.

However, Li Shimin, who has just reversed public opinion, has no intention of letting these people go easily.

At this time, a meeting was underway in the Tai Chi Hall for further religious reform.

In addition to Fang Xuanling and other three prime ministers, the participants also included the two Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Households, as well as the crown prince Li Chengqian and Li Zhi, who was the first to propose religious reform to Li Shimin.

Everyone was not surprised that Li Chengqian and Li Zhi appeared here at the same time.

It seems that Li Zhi's ability to participate in national affairs has become their consensus.

The only one who is unhappy here is Li Chengqian, who has now included Li Zhi and Li Tai in the list of threats to him.

Li Shimin didn't seem to think about it so much, he first verbally praised Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng's performance in the debate.

Then he smiled and said to everyone: "Now that the public opinion has turned to the imperial court, I plan to take this opportunity to further reform the religion, I wonder what your opinions are?" ”

Fang Xuanling hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, although the public opinion is in my country now, the religious forces are too large, and being too radical may cause religious resistance. ”

After listening to Fang Xuanling's words, the others nodded in agreement.

Li Shimin frowned and said: "At present, the population of the Tang Dynasty is less than 10 million, and the population of monks, nuns, and Taoists has exceeded 70,000. ”

Wang Qi said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that at present, the people's livelihood has not yet been restored, and the people have suffered frequent disasters, so the development of religion is very helpful to the people's spiritual comfort, and it is not appropriate to suppress it too much. ”

Everyone nodded in agreement when they heard this.

Li Shimin said: "Nowadays, the temple economy is developing rapidly, and the specifications of many temples are not even inferior to the royal family, and in the long run, the wealth of the people will be concentrated in the hands of the temple." ”

Dai Guan, the head of the household department, agreed very much with Li Shimin's words.

He added: "Although the imperial court has collected taxes from the temples, the money and goods obtained are far from enough to offset the tax losses on the acres of land. ”

Li Chengqian said: "It is better to increase taxes on temples to make up for the deficit of the imperial court." ”

Li Shimin said: "The imperial court needs to have a law to collect taxes, and I am afraid that only targeting the temple will cause criticism." ”

Dai Xuan said: "At the moment, only the land in the temple has not been taxed, so it is better to take this opportunity to collect it." ”

Li Shimin said: "I have no opinion on this, I don't know what you think?" ”

When everyone heard this, they did not immediately express their opinions, but seriously considered the pros and cons.

After leaning a little, Li Zhi took the lead and said: "Father, the sons and daughters think that the first thing to do is to crack down on those families and wealthy merchants who are attached to religion. ”

Li Shimin asked, "What do you mean by this?" ”

Li Zhidao: "Erchen thinks that the affairs of the temple should be slowly planned, and now the first thing to do is to cut off the interest ties between those families and the temple." ”

Li Shimin said: "How to operate? ”

Li Zhidao: "There are many so-called lay disciples in the temple, and these people are arranged by various families to enter the temple in order to avoid paying taxes. ”

After listening to Li Zhi's words, everyone agreed, and they all understood this situation.

Next, Li Zhi said some thoughts about these people.

The purpose of the establishment of the temple was to teach people not to do all evil, to pursue all good, and to promote pure heart, few desires, and abstinence from greed.

However, now those nobles and even high-ranking officials of the imperial court have taken advantage of the privileges of the temple to evade taxes.

Their method is to let the relatives and children of the family become lay disciples under the guise of being a monk.

Not only were they exempt from taxes and servitude, but they were also free to marry and have children.

In this way, they not only enjoy the privileges of the temple, but also do not have to abide by the rules of the temple, which can be said to be the advantage of taking advantage of it.

Li Zhi's idea was to ask them to stop thinking about this.