Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 289: The Metaverse of the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Houzhao seemed a little dissatisfied with Pei Yuan's answer. He asked, "Are you trying to fool me?"

Pei Yuan said quickly, "I dare not."

Then he continued, "Well, let me tell you my humble opinion. I think gold, silver, and copper coins can be called wealth."

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said with a smile, "Not bad, continue."

Pei Yuan thought of silk and cloth, which also had the nature of currency, and said, "I think silk, cloth, brocade, cotton and linen are wealth."

Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "No, continue."

Pei Yuan was a little surprised and didn't understand what Zhu Houzhao was thinking.

He asked tentatively, "Is food considered wealth?"

Zhu Houzhao smiled and still shook his head, "No, continue."

Pei Yuan was a little confused about Zhu Houzhao's evaluation criteria, so he asked again, "Does land and houses count?"

Zhu Houzhao nodded this time, "Okay, is there anything else?"

Pei Yuan was unable to understand Zhu Houzhao's train of thought for a moment, and could only say, "Your Majesty, please help me solve this puzzle."

Zhu Houzhao smiled complacently and said, "If you focus on the present, or three to five years, your statement is correct. But if you look at the time period of ten, dozens, or hundreds of years, or even from the Han, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties, the results will be very different."

Pei Yuan was confused.

No, why should I look so far?
Zhu Houzhao seemed very satisfied with Pei Yuan's reaction and continued.

"Food, cloth and other things are the most important things in the entire society at present, but from another perspective, they are not that precious."

Zhu Houzhao looked at Pei Yuan, and Pei Yuan continued to ask politely, "Why is that so?"

Zhu Houzhao pointed to the words "poor" and "rich" on the ground.

"The territory of our Ming Dynasty is limited, and the products it produces are limited. The more rich people there are, the poorer they become. But over a longer period of time, no matter how much the rich try to hoard, things like food and cloth cannot be hoarded and will eventually decay."

"And the wealth that can be accumulated, such as land, houses, gold, silver, and copper coins, has become the real wealth in the eyes of the rich."

"So the rich would use the food and cloth in their hands to find ways to exchange for land, houses, and various valuable metals."

Zhu Houzhao finished speaking and added, "In fact, it's not just me who thinks so. Other noble families also think so."

"Land annexation will allow more powerful families to squeeze ordinary people and create more poor people."

"Accumulating valuable metals will also reduce the amount of gold, silver and copper coins on the market, making their savings more valuable on the one hand and lowering prices on the other."

"The Ming Dynasty has been established for more than a hundred years. Because life is stable, the population is growing. After the dilution, the impact on the wealthy families is minimal. Even if the ordinary people are not affected, the resources they have are becoming less and less as the population grows. Today, many families are on the verge of collapse."

When Pei Yuan heard what Zhu Houzhao said, the scene in Huai'an suddenly emerged in his mind, and his mood became a little heavy.

At that time, in order to completely crush the families struggling on the brink of collapse, the wealthy and powerful families in Shuyang and Suqian would rather give up a large amount of food and let the Bazhou rebels go to their place.

One can imagine what happens next.

The people who suffered from the war were eventually forced to sell their land to powerful families with stronger resistance in order to obtain food for survival.

Zhu Houzhao sighed, "So I said, the Ming Dynasty is already sick."

Zhu Houzhao's thinking was very clear, which made Pei Yuan look at him with admiration.

Gradually, Pei Yuan began to change his opinion of Zhu Houzhao.

His previous impression of Zhu Houzhao mostly came from some past prejudices.

However, when he actually met Zhu Houzhao, Pei Yuan realized that he had fallen into a misconception.

When Liu Jin implemented the New Deal, he put forward 85 suggestions for reform in one breath as his political views.

In order to prevent them from being misinterpreted, Liu Jin also compiled the examples that could be used as demonstrations into a separate book and bound them into volumes.

When Liu Jin was being scolded, no one could make a fuss about these 85 clear political views.

It can be said that this is one of the 85 innovative measures that has been reviewed by all civil servants and they feel that there is nothing to criticize.

So, as the mastermind behind this series of political actions.

How could this young Zhu Houzhao be such a fool?

Moreover, after the failure of his political reform, Zhu Houzhao did not hesitate at all and decisively turned to controlling military force. Even Pei Yuan admired his decisiveness.

Pei Yuan said sincerely, "Your Majesty is indeed very insightful."

Zhu Houzhao looked at the words on the ground, as if he was asking Pei Yuan, or as if he was talking to himself, "So, how should we solve this problem?"

Pei Yuan knew that Zhu Houzhao had no real intention of asking him what he meant, but was just using this question to organize his thoughts, so he tactfully kept silent.

Zhu Houzhao looked at the two words on the ground and said to himself, "If we want to prolong the life of this sick Ming Dynasty, we have to do everything we can to stop these two things from becoming more and more serious."

Zhu Houzhao pointed to the word "rich" on the ground and said, "Reduce their wealth and curb their unlimited expansion."

He pointed to the word "poor" on the ground and said, "Let them have more resources to distribute to maintain their poor lives."

Pei Yuan listened, thinking of what Zhu Houzhao had just said, and couldn't help but ask, "Does Your Majesty intend to use Buddhism to solve these two problems at the same time?"

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Pei Yuan approvingly, "Not bad."

Then he explained, "Those wealthy families are like greedy gluttons. Their land produces food, and they can also grow mulberry trees and make silk. They are almost self-sufficient, so their demands on the outside world are very small, so their wealth accumulates more and more."

"And the common people can't produce anything that can be sold to these wealthy families to make their wealth flow again. But I can't just rob them, right?"

Zhu Houzhao said this with a smile on his face.

"Then what can we sell to those powerful families that will not harm the world and is inexhaustible?"

Pei Yuan's heart was pounding, and the answer was about to come out in his mind.

The smile on Zhu Houzhao's face became more and more cheerful and full of sarcasm, "Their afterlife!"

"Their wealth is accumulated but cannot be distributed, and there is nothing in this world that is valuable and inexhaustible enough. So what can we do? Let them give their money to Buddha to buy their afterlife."

As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao wrote the word "Buddha" between "rich" and "poor".

At this moment, Pei Yuan completely understood Zhu Houzhao's attitude towards Buddhism.

How can this be Buddhism?

This is the meta-universe of the Ming Dynasty people! By packaging an extremely illusory concept (afterlife), and then selling it to rich idiots at a high real price.

One got illusory spiritual satisfaction, the other got real material wealth.

In order to sell this Ming Dynasty meta-universe at a high price, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty personally made an appearance, worshipped Buddhism, and called himself the Dharma King, plunging the entire Ming Dynasty into a special atmosphere of Buddhist worship.

As a result, a large amount of money and land flowed into Buddhism.

Zhu Houzhao's gaze fell on the word "poor" again.

He continued to talk to himself, "But Buddhism is still extremely greedy. The money of the powerful families flows into Buddhism, and ordinary people still cannot change their situation."

"But the filth and barbaric growth of Buddhism will inevitably lead to new conflicts of interest. They need people to plant, manage, and fight against the powerful families who do not believe in Buddhism and will threaten them."

Zhu Houzhao pointed to the word "poor" and said, "So in order to strengthen itself, Buddhism absorbed a large number of displaced young and strong people."

"With the reduction of a large number of young and middle-aged population, the resources that were originally spread out are slowly gathering again, giving the people some room to breathe."

Zhu Houzhao circled the word "Buddha" on the ground with his finger. "The large increase in Buddhist sects absorbed the money of the wealthy and powerful families and the surplus population of the poor families who could not afford to eat, which to a great extent eased the increasingly acute contradictions."

"So I say that the Buddhism of the Ming Dynasty is a good medicine to cure diseases."

Pei Yuan was really surprised by this statement.

He had never viewed these three from the perspective of social structure, but he did not expect that Buddhism actually played the role of a reservoir, redistributing a large part of social wealth and manpower.

Zhu Houzhao finished speaking and sighed, "It's better than sending those refugees into the army during the Song Dynasty."

Pei Yuan was speechless for a moment.

If you compare it like this, it's really like the pot calling the kettle black.

During the Song Dynasty, in order to absorb refugees and prevent them from rebellion, they would often recruit a large number of soldiers wherever a disaster occurred, and absorb the unstable factors into the army and keep them alive. Naturally, the remaining people would not be able to cause any major trouble.

However, this also brought about huge problems. The huge military expenditure and weak combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty completely dragged down the finances of the Song Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty sent excess unemployed people to temples to let the temples absorb them, which seemed safer than letting the army absorb them.

Moreover, many lower-level monks are simply unable to marry and have children, which can reduce the excess population from generation to generation.

However, the Song Dynasty spent a lot, but also earned a lot. The Song Dynasty could feed its troops with the huge commercial taxes, but what about the Ming Dynasty? How much money could the Ming Dynasty collect?

But Pei Yuan certainly couldn't say anything to spoil the fun at this time.

Zhu Houzhao did try to make changes, but his reforms failed miserably.

Pei Yuan sincerely praised, "I didn't expect Your Majesty to be so thoughtful."

Zhu Houzhao laughed and said to Pei Yuan, "Now that you know how important Buddhism is to the world, you should do a better job in the future. Your evil suppression unit is of great significance. Don't let Buddhism be used by villains. The cancer that should be eliminated should be removed in time."

Pei Yuan felt that he needed to re-evaluate Zhu Houzhao's views on Buddhism, so he asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, are you also worried that Buddhism will become a problem again?"

Zhu Houzhao smiled after hearing this, but did not answer directly. Instead, he spoke leisurely.

"In the sixth year of Hongwu, Taizu issued an edict to limit the number of temples in prefectures, states, and counties."

"In the fifteenth year of Yongle, Emperor Taizong issued an edict prohibiting monks and nuns from privately building nunneries and requiring them to abide by the law. Violators would be punished!"

"In the tenth year of Zhengtong, Emperor Yingzong also issued an edict to impose strict restrictions on monks in temples."

"In the 21st year of Chenghua, Emperor Xianzong also made it clear that anyone who added or repaired ancient temples would be punished."

Zhu Houzhao said a few words, then looked at Pei Yuan and said, "The successive emperors have issued strict orders time and again, laying out a net of heaven and earth. As long as there is any change in the Buddhist sect, Buddhism can be destroyed overnight."

Pei Yuan felt relieved immediately after hearing this.

That being said, once a conflict comes between himself and the powerful Buddhist sect, this emperor who seems to be a devout Buddhist should stand on his side.

Well, you can't trust this guy too much.

He failed to protect Liu Jin back then, so if they really get into trouble, the most we can hope is that he won't cause more trouble.

After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, his mind jumped to something else and he asked Pei Yuan, "Did you Taoist Zhenji leave any archives or documents when you were supervising the temple?"

Pei Yuan quickly said, "Yes."

Indeed, there are, but Pei Yuan has not had time to receive those files.

Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up immediately when he heard this. He smiled and said, "It seems that it is much more useful to find a deputy captain like you than to find a small flag under you."

Pei Yuan had come here to attract the emperor's attention and prevent him from discovering the hidden silver. He immediately asked boldly, "What files does Your Majesty want to see?"

Zhu Houzhao hesitated and replied, "The archives of Zhihua Temple."

After a pause, he emphasized, "During the reign of Emperor Yingzong."

Pei Yuan sighed inwardly. It seemed that Zhu Houzhao, who had no other choice, had indeed embarked on the path of overturning the verdict on Emperor Yingzong.

This is basically equivalent to overthrowing the political order that has existed since the Yingzong era.

One can imagine the troubles and hostility he will face.

Pei Yuan really couldn't understand why Zhu Houzhao's reforms were made so miserable by the group of civil officials. How could he dare to do such a thing?
If it were in the past, Pei Yuan might have thought that this was a rash decision made by Zhu Houzhao's superiors, but now Pei Yuan's opinion of Zhu Houzhao has greatly improved, and naturally he does not think it is that simple.

Pei Yuan thought about it, and his heart moved slightly. Could it be that all Zhu Houzhao wanted was a bargaining chip?
If you think about it this way, a lot of things make sense.

It was precisely because Zhu Houzhao realized that the mysteries surrounding Yingzong's reign might undermine the current political order that he wanted to reverse the verdict on Yingzong.

What he wanted to do was not to "overturn the verdict on Emperor Yingzong" itself, but to get the result he wanted through this matter.

Pei Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

That's good, that's good.

Historically, Zhu Houzhao successfully broke through this obstacle and gained military power.

And through his series of efforts, he won the hearts of the border troops and the Beijing troops.

This shows that allowing Zhu Houzhao to obtain military power did not stimulate the bottom line of the court officials. If the purpose was to obtain military power, then the matter could still be discussed.

Pei Yuan thought about it, his heart pounding.

Then, almost subconsciously, he wanted to control the emperor's rhythm again.

(End of this chapter)