The thin monk's idea was naive.
Over the years, they have collected far too much money from donations, but no one has dared to criticize them in public. Why?
These scholars were all intelligent people; they knew who was behind Peach Blossom Temple, and since they needed to make a living in Jiangling, how could they dare to offend them? Scholars, after all, are the most timid.
So he assumed they still wouldn't dare to speak up.
"Come on, everyone, tell me, is what he said true?"
"..."
As expected, after Jing Zhe finished asking his question, no one responded.
The thin monk was delighted and said, "President Jing, what did I tell you? This is the first time!"
Jing Zhe ignored him and instead scanned the crowd again: "Don't be afraid of anyone. If any of you have paid incense money at the temple before, just tell me! I will uphold justice for you!"
"..."
The group looked at each other, but no one spoke.
"President Jing, I'll talk!"
At this moment, Fatty Wei stepped forward: "President Jing, this isn't the first time Peach Blossom Temple has been charging incense money! Ever since the various poetry gatherings in Jiangling were held at Peach Blossom Temple, anyone who wants to enter the temple has to pay for incense. I've attended nearly ten times and it's always the same!"
Furthermore, I've heard from many young men from out of town who came to the poetry gathering that they were forced to buy incense sticks, and the prices were outrageously high!
After saying that, Fatty Wei winked at Jing Zhe, as if to say that while others might not support his work, his brother did! Jing Zhe responded with a smile.
"President Jing, he's talking nonsense!"
The thin monk immediately flew into a rage: "President Jing, out of so many people, he's the only one who said he took money; he's just smearing us!"
"Yeah?"
Jing Zhe sneered and asked again, "I'll ask you one more time, is there anyone else who has accused them of accepting incense money? This is the last time."
"..."
Seeing that no one responded, the thin monk quickly said, "President Jing, this fat man is just talking nonsense!"
Jing Zhe glanced at him coldly, "What? Did I just say that too? Did you not sell me the incense at a high price? I knew you were a repeat offender because of your practiced movements! I'm sure of it now!"
"..."
The thin monk immediately wilted.
Jing Zhe continued, "Extortion and robbery are just like murder. You're guilty if you kill ten people, and you're guilty if you kill one person. You can't be innocent just because you kill fewer people or it's your first time, can you? You've cheated someone once or even just one person, but that's still cheating! Guards, arrest them!"
"..."
After Jing Zhe finished speaking, no one moved. Everyone looked at him, feeling a little strange.
Jing Zhe went to see Prefect Xu and said coldly, "Prefect Xu, are you hard of hearing? Can't you hear what I'm saying?"
Magistrate Xu was startled and immediately said, "What are you all standing there for? Didn't you hear Chief Jing order the arrests!"
The constables then seemed to realize what was happening and quickly arrested all the monks, including Master Kongjing and the thin monk.
"Prefect Xu... Prefect Xu, you've been wronged!"
Master Kongjing shouted.
"Whether you are innocent or not, this official will judge you!"
Jing Zhe waved his hand, "Take them all back to the prison. I'll go there and interrogate them personally once I'm done with my work!"
"..."
Master Kongjing wanted to say more, but Magistrate Xu gave him a subtle look, and Master Kongjing understood, so he shut up.
After Master Kongjing and the others were taken away, the backyard of Peach Blossom Temple became extremely quiet. Everyone looked at each other, wondering what they were thinking.
At this moment, Jing Zhe suddenly looked at Prefect Xu and asked, "Prefect Xu, what is the source of Peach Blossom Temple's daily expenses?"
Magistrate Xu thought for a moment and said, "Reporting to Chief Jing, it's the incense money... People usually come to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha, and they also donate incense money. Of course, it's all voluntary."
Jing Zhe nodded: "Is the amount of incense money that people voluntarily offer a lot?"
"It should be... not much. As far as I know, the donation box in Peach Blossom Temple is opened once a month at the end of each month, and the incense money inside is only enough for the temple's expenses for one month. Even if there is a surplus, it is not much."
Next, Jing Zhe directly ordered the constables to open the donation box in the temple, where the incense money only amounted to one or two taels of silver.
Jing Zhe, holding the silver, said to Prefect Xu, "Prefect Xu, there's only a little over one tael of silver in this donation box—but considering it's the beginning of the month, by the end of the month there will be about twenty or thirty taels of silver in the donation box, don't you think?"
"Approximately...more or less..."
Prefect Xu hesitated in his reply, because he really couldn't understand why Jing Zhe was asking these questions, so he could only tentatively ask.
After listening, Jing Zhe ordered another search. Before long, they found silver notes and cash in Master Kongjing's room, totaling more than two thousand taels, which was astonishing.
"As Magistrate Xu just said, this donation box only collects twenty or thirty taels of silver a month, and it's all used up within a month. So the old monk shouldn't have much silver left. Therefore, I believe that the more than two thousand taels of silver was obtained by him through illegally collecting incense money!"
"..."
Magistrate Xu smiled bitterly to himself, knowing that he had fallen into a trap. He had been led by Jing Zhe step by step to say those things, and now he had no choice but to admit it, even if he didn't want to. Moreover, he had a feeling that Master Kongjing and the others were probably doomed this time!
At this moment, Jing Zhe looked at everyone again, but with a sneer on his face: "Only Brother Wei pointed it out just now, which means that over the years, only Brother Wei... oh, and me, have been extorted for incense money by these monks. Therefore, this two thousand taels of silver can only be split between Brother Wei and me!"
"..."
Fatty Wei was stunned; happiness had come too suddenly!
Everyone was shocked. Could this really be done?
Magistrate Xu was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized: "Didn't Chief Jing just say... that Changxiang asked you for twenty taels of silver?"
"Oh, I mean he initially asked for twenty taels, but later he asked for hundreds or thousands of taels from me in all sorts of other ways, but I didn't say anything."
"..."
Magistrate Xu was immediately speechless.
At this moment, everyone immediately realized that President Jing was serious this time. Now that there were witnesses and physical evidence, and so much stolen money had been found, Master Kongjing was probably finished. So what were they afraid of?
They also donated a lot of money each time, so they should rightfully have a share of these two thousand taels of silver!
Once this was clear, everyone began to speak enthusiastically.
"President Jing, I already paid the incense money!"
"President Jing, I also paid my incense money!"
"President Jing, President Jing, it's me!"
"..."
Everyone was envious when they saw the potential profits.
Jing Zhe, however, showed some disdain and gave a contemptuous smile: "Then why didn't you say that earlier? Now I think you're all just greedy for money, so what you're saying now is not credible!"
"..."
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