The sudden attack caused many people, including Li Qiong, to tremble.
"Today I will teach you what imperial knowledge is!" Zhao Jiu's face turned pale. He stood up and walked forward with his hands behind his back, passing the somewhat flustered prime ministers and important officials. Then he looked around coldly, and everyone he saw, no matter what their position, avoided him. "That is, what is valuing culture over military, what is preferential treatment for scholars, what is the mixing of different opinions, what is keeping the interior empty, what is sharing the world with scholars, all of which are things above! The poor people are the most basic foundation! Whether it is the emperor, the scholars, the nobles, or even the Buddhists, Taoists, and wealthy merchants, don't they all have to stand above the common people? Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it. This is a principle that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Do you really think that Emperor Taizong of Tang was just pretending and speaking nice words? Did he become the greatest emperor of all time by speaking nice words? I ascended the throne as an idle prince, just as ignorant as the Emperor Taishang Daojun, just as frivolous and misleading the country, and just as fooled by you? There are some things that even if you don't understand, I understand them too! I just believe that your "helping the rich and the poor" is digging my foundation, and I just believe that this is the most intolerable thing in the world!"
"The court reports praise me as the Emperor Guangwu's revival every day..." Zhao Jiu suddenly turned around and looked at Lin Qi. "Minister Lin, you are well-educated. You said that Emperor Guangwu measured the land and forced dozens of counties to revolt. But why did you continue to measure the land even though you would rather use knives?"
Lin Qi was asked this question and could only bite the bullet and respond, "That's exactly what the government says."
"Yes." Zhao Jiu said thoughtfully. "The Western Han Dynasty had been like this for more than two hundred years, with the rich and the poor helping each other. As a result, many poor people had no place to live, so the Green Forest and the Red Eyebrows swarmed up. Guangwu started from the fields of Nanyang. Of course, he knew what was going on, so he would rather let the powerful people who followed him to rebel, and would rather use knives to suppress them than to sort out the land... And I am in Huaishang and Nanyang, and I measure and grant land in the Central Plains and Guanxi. The same is true. However, my situation is more difficult than Guangwu's, because this dynasty has only been around for more than a hundred years, and it has not yet reached the situation where the whole world is in rebellion. It seems that it can still be maintained. So I can't move in the south. When I shouted at Bai Ma that I wanted to inherit the Song Dynasty, everyone thought I just wanted to get rid of the two saints and dissenters. But they didn't know that I really wanted to get rid of those people who thought they could go back to a comfortable life. I really wanted to cleanse the country again and turn it into a new Song Dynasty! What the hell can be defended or peace, isn't it just for stability? But they don't know that the current situation is internal and external troubles, and if we don't move forward, we will die...Write a letter to Li Gang about what happened today, tell him word for word, and let him comment again! Just say that I am waiting for his reply!"
Lin Qi was restless and his heart was beating wildly, but he could only bow his head.
Zhao Jiu ignored him and walked directly to the side of the only person kneeling on the ground, speaking coldly: "Fahe Luohan, I have acquired several thousand acres of land in Shaolin Temple before, and you seem to have quite a lot of fields... Where did you get these nearly ten thousand acres of fertile land? Are they all donated by good men and women for free? Or did you follow this method, year after year, to help the rich and the poor? Do you think that your temples span dynasties, from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, and the troubles caused by them are for us officials to bear? So you can rest assured to help the rich and the poor? Digging up my roots? Are my eight ancestral tombs around Luoyang considered to have been dug up by your Shaolin Temple?"
Fahe prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to answer.
Zhao Jiu ignored him and turned to a purple-robed official who was standing in front of him: "Duke Yansheng, your family is the direct descendant of a saint, and it is said that your family has always been reasonable... But even if you are so reasonable, why do you ask for land from the front army of the imperial camp as soon as you return? Do you want to set up a returning team? Or do you think that your family can transcend dynasties and generations better than monks, so you feel more at ease to help the rich and the poor?"
Duke Yansheng's lips were already trembling, and he had no way of responding. An older man in a red robe beside him was about to speak up, but Zhao Jiu turned to another monk and said, "Master Xumu of Lingjiu Temple, you have indeed made great contributions in the past few years, but I want to ask you, why did your Lingjiu Temple gain an extra 1,000 or 2,000 acres of land every time the Jin people came and went, and the Pseudo-Qi Dynasty was established and abolished?"
"Your Majesty, those are ownerless lands left after the war, and they were not obtained due to oppression from loan sharks." Host Xu Mu clasped his hands together in panic and pleaded.
"But it's essentially a truth. Land is the foundation for settling the people. I can't give it to you easily." Zhao Jiu explained earnestly. "But I am not an unreasonable person... Just like Zhang Boying, the Grand Commandant, everyone knows that he loves money. He was once panicked before, thinking that I wanted to punish him and gave me the big silver ball, but I didn't want it. Not only that, I rewarded him with royal property. When he moved to your Jingdong, I didn't touch his house and shops in Xuzhou, but I specially asked people to take away his land in Xuzhou, and gave him special permission to invest in maritime trade and do business in Japan and Goryeo in my name... You say, even he is like this, what about you? Your Lingjiu Temple has more merits than him? I have said so much, you have to understand me. In the future, when we fight to Yanjing, we will take over the temples in Hebei and distribute them to you meritorious monks. Or if you go to Japan to do business, I can also allow your Lingjiu Temple a royal quota for a ship, but the land will be given to Wanqi Jinglüe to settle refugees and reward soldiers. How about it?"
"I understand, I understand!" Abbot Xumu quickly responded. "I am willing to give it to you, I am willing to give it to you!"
"And you... Han Xiaozhou!" Zhao Jiu didn't wait for the monk to continue his statement, and went straight to another person, who turned out to be Han Xiaozhou, the head of the Meihua Han family, the most aristocratic family in the dynasty. "Han Qing..."
"I am here." Han Xiaozhou was an honest man, so he quickly bowed. "I am here..."
"Let me ask you, is your family 'helping the rich and the poor'?" Zhao Jiu continued to inquire earnestly.
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