All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 279: The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun (Part )

"Great Commander!"

Furious, Lu Zhishen rushed to Chen Ran with his staff.

A group of armored guards drew their swords, but Chen Ran waved his hand to signal them not to be nervous.

He looked at Lu Zhishen and asked, "Why is Master Lu angry?"

"I have been a guest at Daxiangguo Temple!"

Lu Zhishen was still furious and asked, "Why did you plunder the Daxiangguo Temple?"

"Why?" Chen Ran's face turned cold, and he raised his hand and threw the thick account book in front of him over.

"Can you read? If you can, read for yourself!"

Lu Zhishen put down his Zen stick, picked up the account book and started flipping through it.

The more he looked, the uglier his expression became.

In the end, the initial rage was gone, and all that was left was mumbling to himself, "How is this possible?"

"What's impossible?" Now it was Chen Ran's turn to get angry. "The land owned openly and secretly by Daxiangguo Temple is tens of thousands of acres! Not only in Kaifeng Prefecture, but also in Jingdong and even Jiangnan."

"Monks eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures, so where do they get so many acres of land?" Chen Ran stood up and walked in front of Lu Zhishen, staring at him. "Tell me, where do they get so many acres of land!"

At this time, Lu Zhishen no longer had the aggressive momentum he had before, and his expression was a little flustered. "Maybe, maybe, it was contributed by the believers."

His voice became smaller and smaller. After all, even Lu Zhishen himself didn't believe such words.

"Do you know how many victims Qin Huizhi found?"

Chen Ran sneered, "It's only been more than half a month, and there are already thousands of victims registered!"

"Do you know where the gold-painted and silver-painted statues, the pure copper bells, the silk cushions and robes, the magnificent temples, and the exquisite vegetarian meals in Daxiangguo Temple all come from?"

He took a step forward as he spoke. Lu Zhishen was overwhelmed by his momentum and stepped back, staggering slightly.

"They lend money at interest."

Seeing that Lu Zhishen had lost all his momentum, Chen Ran smiled calmly, "Do you know how many families of ordinary people have been forced to break up because of the interest collected by the Daxiangguo Temple?"

"Do you know how miserable the lives of the people who were forced to work as tenants for the Daxiangguo Temple were?"

"Did you know that the most luxurious carriages in Bianliang City all belong to temples?"

"Do you know how many handsome men and women the so-called enlightened monks in the temple have kept in their private residences?!"

Lu Zhishen's feet were tangled with garlic and he fell directly to the ground.

There were beads of sweat on his shiny forehead.

"I don't believe it. I don't believe it would happen."

Seeing that Lu Zhishen was still stubborn, Chen Ran didn't waste any words and directly called Qu Duan to "take Master Lu to see it with his own eyes."

After Lu Zhishen was carried away, Chen Ran returned to his chair and continued to look through the various official documents sent by Qin Hui.

“It’s simply insane!”

Looking at the official documents and the actions of the monks, even though he had known these things would happen, Chen Ran was still furious.

"Do you think the people are just leeks and anyone can come and harvest them?"

If it is a normal time travel mode, you will come to a certain era and can never go back.

Chen Ran might also go along with the crowd, and at most he would just be able to look passable on the surface.

But he is not like that. He is like a Taoist who can live forever and travel between different worlds, so his perspective is naturally different.

You can do whatever you want and do things according to your own ideas.

Chen Ran instructed his attendants, "If there is irrefutable evidence, we will deal with it according to the law. Before the law, all beings are equal, whether they are senior monks or novices."

"Leader!"

The execution platform, which had been silent for some time, became lively again.

Those monks who forced civilians to death, raped women, and colluded with the government to do all kinds of evil were sent to the execution platform.

It is estimated that these black-hearted people have no chance to go to the Western Paradise, and the gate of the underworld has already been opened for them.

Daxiangguo Temple is just the beginning.

For those who truly devoted themselves to studying Buddhism, their certificates of ordination were reissued, and the mountain gate was closed and they said goodbye and left.

Anyone found to have problems will be arrested and chained up and interrogated.

Temples across the country were in a state of panic, and some even fled and returned to secular life early after receiving the news.

"You don't practice Buddhism, but spend all your time thinking about how to make money. What kind of Buddhist disciples are you?" Chen Ran was ready to cut off their financial support. "From now on, there can only be one temple in each area! Strictly control the issuance of certificates, and those who shave their heads privately will be arrested and punished immediately."

"Lu Zhishen is the chief abbot, and he is in charge of rectifying the Buddhist sect. Anyone who reports that a monk secretly ordained a monk, secretly hid valuables, or owned more than the standard of ten acres of land per monk will be rewarded."

"The monks who committed the crime were immediately arrested, sentenced and executed."

"Those who should be punished should be punished, those who should be imprisoned should be imprisoned, those who should be exiled should be exiled, and those who should be forced to do hard labor should be forced to do hard labor!"

"I just don't believe that I can't cure them!"

While various places were busy cleaning up the filth in Buddhism, the soldiers and horses that had just been rested were not idle either.

The brothers Wu Jie and Wu Lin led their troops south to the south of the Yangtze River. It only took them a few months to wipe out Fang La, who was so powerful that he seemed to be trying to divide the world with Chen Ran.

On the one hand, the combat effectiveness of both sides is not at the same level. The Imperial Guards are happy to hear about war. They are well-equipped and well-trained. With high morale, as long as the commander does not do anything weird, it is normal for them to win. Losing would be news.

The more important aspect is that Chen Ran distributed the land.

After Fang La started the rebellion, he still followed the old path of striving for world domination. He distributed all the wealth and land to his generals in exchange for their vows to follow him to the death.

Ordinary soldiers and civilians not only did not gain any benefits, but even had their families destroyed.

As soon as the army sent by Chen Ran arrived, they directly redistributed the land to the local people, which immediately attracted the hearts of the soldiers and the people.

The generals under Fang La's command did fight to the death.

But the soldiers under their command and the common people who were dragged along with them had no intention of resisting. They even waited for the government troops to come and divide their land so that they could go home and continue their lives.

Without the support from the grassroots, it was natural that the business would be broken in just a few months.

In the south of the Yangtze River, Fang La massacred local officials, robbed local gentry, and even spared no temples.

When he was defeated and killed, all of this benefited Chen Ran.

Not only was it easy to reorganize the area, but a large amount of wealth and food supplies were seized.

When the Wu Jie brothers came back, they both became commanders-in-chief.

Chen Ran spared no expense in maintaining his troops, and his expenses were even higher than those of the former Song Dynasty.

Military pay, food, supplies, armor, weapons, etc., a soldier needs to spend hundreds of strings of coins a year.

Nowadays, we have to maintain an army of hundreds of thousands, plus the stockpiling of supplies and livestock, and the military expenditure is tens of millions of strings of cash a year.

But his expenses were actually spent on ordinary soldiers, which was completely different from the previous Song Dynasty where most of the military supplies were squandered by the upper and lower levels.

Correspondingly, the gap in combat effectiveness is also huge.

After nearly a year of rest and storage of large amounts of supplies and food, and the soldiers receiving rigorous training, and after the autumn harvest and grain being stored in warehouses, Chen Ran finally began the Northern Expedition.

"Your Majesty."

He had offended the Buddhist sects in the world. Before Chen Ran went to war, he took the lead in making a memorial: "Your Majesty's achievements surpass those of the Three Sovereigns, and your virtue surpasses those of the Five Emperors. Your power is spread across the four seas, and the world admires you. You should ascend to the throne of emperor~~~"

This is the favorite routine of the turbans, persuading others to come in.

Just by talking, you can get the credit of following the dragon, no wonder the turbans enjoy doing this.

Chen Ran saw it clearly and naturally would not fall into the trap.

He first declined politely. It was not some reluctant refusal, but a real refusal, and he gave very sufficient reasons.

"Until the Golden Bowl is intact, let's not discuss this matter."

In later generations, the Song Dynasty has always been called the Weak Song Dynasty, and some people are even unwilling to admit that it was a unified dynasty. Even though its economy developed to the extreme, it could not escape contempt.

The most fundamental reason is that the lost land has not been recovered.

There is no need to say much about the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

In addition, there are Dali and Jiaozhi in the south, the four counties of Liaodong in the east, the Western Regions in the west, and so on.

The Song Dynasty failed to recover these places, so it was naturally looked down upon.

"Don't mention this matter until the lost land of Middle-earth is returned."

Chen Ran brushed it off and simply said, "I have something I need you to do."

When these words came out, Qin Hui shuddered subconsciously.

He couldn't refuse. After all, Chen Ran's murderous intent towards him could be smelled across half of the city of Bianliang.

Qin Hui bowed deeply and said, "Please give your orders, Your Majesty."

"It is said that the kindness of a gentleman will be cut off after five generations. How many generations have passed since the family started to cultivate and surrender?"

Chen Ran patted his shoulder and said in a relaxed tone, "Go and settle this matter."

Qin Hui was so frightened that he sat up and looked at Chen Ran in disbelief.

They are actually planning to attack Duke Yansheng? !

Don’t you know that Duke Yansheng is the spiritual leader of scholars all over the world? !

"Get this done." Chen Ran chuckled and said, "Of course, you will benefit from it."

Indeed, there are benefits waiting for him, which will make him transform into Louis XVI and he will be confused from then on.

Once you've used it up, it's time to get rid of it.

Without giving Qin Hui a chance to speak, Chen Ran walked away leisurely and prepared for the expedition.

There are no more exorbitant taxes and levies from the government, no more exploitation and price-cutting by the gentry, no more extortion and blackmail by the ruffians, and no more murder and arson by the bandits and robbers.

That year, the Song Dynasty had a bumper harvest of grain during the autumn harvest.

A good harvest of grain is not uncommon, and there will usually be a good harvest in years with good weather and good harvest.

However, in the past, when there was a good harvest, the grain would have gone into the homes of the gentry. In addition, the government exploited the people, the grain merchants pressed down the prices, and so on, the people's lives were still miserable.

It is ridiculous that the people who have been farming for generations can only eat rice a few times a year.

It was not until Chen Ran reduced their burden, not only exempted this year's grain tax, but also set a national unified price for purchase at a guaranteed minimum price.

This is the real benefit to the people.

The huge amount of grain purchased was sent to two routes in Hebei for storage.

These grains are the cornerstone of Chen Ran's Northern Expedition.

Before Chen Ran sent out his troops, an urgent letter from the north was delivered to his desk at an express speed of four hundred miles.

"Pharmacist Guo, do you want to be an insider?"

PS: Thank you to the book friends who have been lurking for five years for the 500-point reward support. I am very grateful. Thank you!
Thanks to the book friend Zavarudo from the world for the 100-point reward support. I am very grateful. Thank you!
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(End of this chapter)