Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Before the Tang Dynasty, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Buddhism flourished due to extreme social upheaval, and this historical trend continued into the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Li You was not interested in Buddhism; he was interested in the slaves in the monks' quarters.

If a medium-sized temple has 500 people, then ten temples would have 5,000 people.

The bandit groups were scattered in various places, and they needed people everywhere. With people, there would be production, whether it was burning charcoal, boiling salt, mining, or minting coins. These jobs were not complicated, but they were all labor-intensive industries.

The uncertainty now lies in whether this situation applies only to temples in the Xuzhou area, or to temples throughout the country.

Li You summoned Yin Hongzhi and Dou Jun.

"As far as I know, the temples in Yangzhou are the same, and it's even more so in Suzhou, Huzhou, Nanjing and other places in Jiangnan."

"There are many temples in Luoyang, but not many monks' slaves. This situation is probably unique to the south."

Yin Hongzhi and Dou Jun gave different answers.

It appears that the situation of slavery was more severe in southern temples.

"Uncle, we must organize an operation to bring these temple slaves to Huang Chao's army to bolster our strength."

"You'er, can our stronghold accommodate so many people?"

"If we can't let go, then let's establish a new base. I've already decided on the location."

As he spoke, Li You took out a self-made map and pointed to a huge lake in the area south of Suizhou.

"Look, this is Dongting Lake. According to the report from our assassins, the waters here are vast, with numerous inlets and reeds, and bandits often hide here. The government's influence is weak, making it a very suitable place to develop a new base."

"Among the five prefectures surrounding Dongting Lake—Yue, Tan, Li, Lang, and Jing—Tan Prefecture has the largest population, with 50,000 households. Li, Lang, and Yue Prefectures each have 30,000 households. Jing Prefecture has the fewest, with only 10,000 households, mainly due to the chaos and war at the end of the Sui Dynasty. The combined population of these five prefectures is no more than 200,000 households. It wouldn't be difficult for us to hide a few thousand people here."

Li You's meaning was clear: Huang Chao's army could no longer focus on Suizhou and needed to expand outwards.

However, establishing a base requires a population, and the monks and slaves hidden in the temples in Jiangnan and Jiangbei also constitute a population.

If they were to break free of their chains with the help of Huang Chao's army, they would be extremely grateful and become free citizens under Huang Chao's rule. Their lives would certainly be more comfortable than those of slaves.

"I think it's a good idea to start with the temples in Xuzhou."

"Alright, let's leave this matter to Yan Hongxin and Zan Junmo, and have Gao Shen and Zhang Lan get involved as well, what do you think?"

"Okay, let's do it this way."

To Li You and Yin Hongzhi's surprise, after a series of actions, the number of monks and slaves mobilized to go up the mountain was far more than five thousand.

In April, a fleet of ships from Xuanzhou and Raozhou returned to the mountain stronghold carrying a large number of copper and silver ingots.

Leaders Qi Bin and Xin Pi personally led their elite guards to escort the goods.

With the investment of personnel and the improvement of equipment, the potential of Raozhou Copper Mine has been initially tapped.

The copper ingots brought up the mountain this time totaled 21,000 jin, and the silver ingots totaled 600 jin. The output may increase in the later stages.

The output of the Xuanzhou copper mine is 43,000 jin, which is about 20,000 jin per month.

According to Qi Bin's calculations, without acquiring new mines, the output of the Xuanzhou copper mine will remain relatively constant, with minimal monthly fluctuations. The key factor will be whether the production capacity of the Raozhou mine can continue to increase.

Qi Bin also sent people to mine silver at the Lion Mountain in Xuanzhou, and this time they brought up 800 jin of silver ingots.

These two batches of copper were cast and yielded 10,200 strings of new coins.

The silver ingots yielded 175,000 Sassanid Persian silver coins.

Once these coins are produced, they will be immediately invested in the construction of the Huimin Bank.

With the preliminary preparations nearly complete, Li You decided that Huimin Bank would open on the first day of the fifth lunar month.

It remains to be seen how many merchants will be attracted at that time.

Even after the bank opens, the copper mines in Xuanzhou and Raozhou will not stop being mined, and copper coins will be produced continuously, filling the money vaults set up by Huimin Bank in various places.

"My lord, the Mr. Chao that Dou Jun mentioned on the boat the other day has been encountered by the brothers in Huangzhou. He was handed over to me a few days ago and also escorted up the mountain."

"Mr. Chao... Oh, I remember now, isn't he the one who wrote the article denouncing the powerful families, Chao Yang?"

"Yes, that's him."

That day, after hearing Dou Jun mention this person, Li You even went to find this article to read.

Since there is no internet in the Tang Dynasty, finding a specific article is actually quite troublesome.

However, this article is widely circulated in the Jiangbei and Shandong areas, and can be found with a little attention.

The article first acknowledges the "criminality of aristocratic families" theory and then praises the Qi king's extensive distribution of land.

After careful analysis, it is said that King Qi's move was to convert the slaves of aristocratic families into registered households, turn all hidden land into public land, increase national taxes, and truly benefit the people. It is a pity that it only lasted for two months, resulting in the execution of three aristocratic families. It is truly lamentable.

The article then cites the numerous rebellions that occurred in Hebei during the early years of the Tang Dynasty, stating: "The calamity of Liu Heita's military campaign was a manifestation of the power struggle between the Hebei aristocratic families and the state. Although the Tang army was victorious, the aristocratic families were resentful, the law could not reach the local level, the local areas were practically self-governed, and many people secretly carried weapons for self-protection."

They then went deeper, thoroughly criticizing the aristocratic families of Shandong, Jiangnan, and Jiannan.

After reading it, Li You felt that the article was very powerful, but it had one flaw.

The article does not criticize the aristocratic families of Guanzhong.

It is evident that the author of the article still had some bias in his "creation," commonly known as double standards.

Of course, articles are written by people, and people who can be completely "objective and fair" are rarer than giant pandas.

"My lord, this Chao Yang has many faults and seems unwilling to come up the mountain. So the brothers have no choice but to use some methods against him."

"It's alright, take me to see this person."

In a thatched hut, Li You saw a guy whose hands and feet were tightly bound and whose mouth was stuffed with burlap.

"Quickly untie Mr. Chao."

"My lord, this man knows some martial arts. It's best not to untie him yet, lest he get hurt."

"Alright, then let's remove what's on our mouths."

Now that he had a chance to speak, Chao Yang immediately shouted, "You bunch of bandits! Shameless! Robbers!"

"Mr. Chao..."

"You've ruined my good fortune, my perfect marriage! May you all die a horrible death!"

Li You frowned: "Why is this person so short-tempered?"

Qi Bin laughed and said, "My lord, that's just how he is. He's been talking rudely the whole way, constantly talking about his good marriage, as if that woman were Chang'e from the moon palace. The brothers were so annoyed by his insults that they had to shut him up."

Chao Yang is still attacking relentlessly, seemingly intent on devouring anyone in sight.

Li You signaled to the soldiers to slap the man's mouth and continue with the appropriate methods.

That is, to seal his mouth shut again.

The person's writing reflects his character; it seems he's a troll by nature, no wonder he's so enthusiastic about criticizing aristocratic families.