Chapter 1239 The Zhang River is Red

Chapter 1239 The Zhang River is Red

The construction of Santai in Yecheng was not completed. As early as the Gaoyang period, the construction was forced to stop due to Sima Xiaonan's treason and triggering another war between the two countries. Later, the Northern Qi Dynasty suffered from internal and external troubles and did not bother to build this spectacle that wasted people and money.

However, before the work was stopped, the main body of the three platforms had been built. Three tall earth platforms stood in the northwest corner of Yecheng. There were still some wooden and stone platform buildings on them, but a considerable part of them had been lost to the grass. Only the framework It can be seen that the planning of these three buildings was extremely grand at the beginning of their construction.

Despite this, Santai is also a popular architectural wonder in Yecheng. One is that it has a long history, and the other is that it is huge. Everyone knows this place.

Gao Zhan escaped relatively hastily, and a considerable amount of goods remained in Yecheng's treasury. Li Tai then ordered people to move some of the goods to Santai, and in conjunction with his previous order seeking talents, he once again issued rewards to the whole city to recruit virtuous people.

The Wei army entered the city a few days ago with strict military discipline and did not loot or destroy the city, which has relieved the nervousness of the people in Yecheng. Later, the scholars and people came out of the city to welcome the king of Tang Dynasty. What they heard and witnessed made them admire this Kansai strongman who was famous all over the world and had unparalleled grace. They no longer feared and resisted like before.

Of course, the most important thing is that the King of Tang really offered huge rewards to recruit talented people. Many people came to the vicinity of Santai cautiously with the mentality of giving it a try. When they looked up, they saw a lot of wealth piled under Santai. They were visually shocked and their hearts suddenly became hot.

"The king of the Tang Dynasty recruits talents in any way. If you think that you have one or two talents that can be used, you can come on stage and contribute. If you are selected, you will be appointed immediately and receive a heavy reward! If you recommend a virtuous person and be selected, , there is also a big reward!”

Gao Guiyan stood under the three platforms and kept shouting and publicizing the content of the Order of Seeking Talents to the crowd who gathered around him. Because Gao Zhan abandoned the city and left, the Wei army easily entered Yecheng. This can't help but make people think Gao Guiyan, who wanted to show off his skills and gain performance, has no place to use his talents and can only strive to gain performance elsewhere.

Because he had been the leading general and was in charge of the capital's defense all year round, Yedu Shiliu was no stranger to Gao Guiyan. When he saw that even high-status figures such as Gao Guiyan had been used by the Tang Dynasty, some people in Yedu who were still hesitant also changed their minds and stepped forward, hoping to win with their own skills. It was appreciated by the king of Tang Dynasty.

Li Tai has never been a stingy person, and now he really needs to rely on the strength of some local people in Yecheng to build a new order and strengthen his control over the city, so the reward offered is also very high.

As long as they are willing to participate in the selection, they will be given a certain grain reward and a land equalization certificate, and they will be given priority when the land is allocated to households in the future. After being selected, the reward will be doubled, and a certain salary will be given according to the different appointments.

As the news gradually spread, and some of the selected people happily returned home after being rewarded and spread the word, more and more people in the city were attracted to the vicinity of Santai.

Some people were still unsure about the criteria for selection. They huddled in the crowd and shouted, "Excuse me, Your Majesty. The common people are neither illiterate nor martial arts, but they know how to boil glue and make paint. They can also serve the king of Tang Dynasty." Reward?"

After hearing this, some of the people present couldn't help laughing loudly, while others pricked up their ears. Glue paint is a relatively common and widely used adhesive. It requires a lot of craftsmanship. It is also a relatively hot-selling product in the market. However, it is somewhat delusional to say that it can be appreciated based on this.

Gao Guiyan also felt that this person was here to cause trouble, and he glared at him and was about to scold him severely. However, Li Quji, who was responsible for recruiting talents in the Western Wei Dynasty, laughed and said after hearing this: "Of course, civil and military talents can To stabilize the country, all kinds of arts and crafts can also be used to build families and businesses. The king of Tang came here to make the people live and work in peace and contentment, and all kinds of skills can be offered!"

After hearing this, some people who had been hesitant before came forward one after another, waiting in line to show off their skills and accept the selection.

Li Tai's standards for talents are not very high. Generally speaking, anyone who can read and write, knows some fighting skills, or has an expert in a certain skill, or even has no other talents but can be recommended by the masses, will all be recruited.

As long as these Yecheng people are willing to participate in the selection, they are willing to accept and integrate into the new rule to a certain extent. The more people are integrated into the new order and become the defenders of the order, the order will be The more stable it is.

When they attacked Jiangling before, although Nanliang did not put up strong resistance, there was still a certain order in Jiangling City. But this time, because Gao Zhan abandoned the city and fled and many dignitaries in Ye City also fled the city, there was almost no official order in Ye City, so Li Tai took advantage of this season to build an order according to his own wishes. A new order comes out.

Of course, it cannot be said that there is no order in Yecheng today. At least the existence of Samanas is a big problem.

Since when Gao Le and others entered the city, most of the monks who had gathered in the city had already evacuated, so Li Tai still read the memorial presented by Zu Jue to find out that before he entered the city, these monks had played such a game. Wave.

Li Tai was not surprised that these Samanas resisted his entry into Hebei. After all, he had never been very friendly towards Samanas. For their own benefit, these monks would never welcome the forces of the Western Wei Dynasty to enter Hebei. The so-called anecdotes such as the monk saving the king of Tang will probably not be performed in this time and space.

But these monks actually dared to jump out to increase their presence, which surprised Li Tai. He didn't know whether the monks in Yecheng did such things when Emperor Wu destroyed Northern Qi last week. But now that I have encountered it, of course I won't let it go so easily.

In fact, compared with several large-scale exterminations of Buddhism in history, Li Tai's suppression methods against ascetics were relatively gentle. He did not directly obliterate the existence of Samanas through laws and violence. He only imposed some restrictions and supervision on them so that they could maintain a relatively pure religious belief and not participate too much in the distribution of social resources. Come.

However, the main focus of the current Buddhists is not to accept any grievances, especially since the Northern Qi Dynasty originally adhered to the policy of worshiping Buddhism and exterminating Taoism, which made the power of the Samanas even more deformed and powerful.

Through the reports from Zu Jue and others, Li Tai also understood why these monks dared to enter the city to prepare to resist the arrival of the Wei army. In the early years, the power of the Samanas in Guanxi was not weak, but now the power of the Samanas inside and outside Yecheng is even greater.

There are thousands of Buddhist temples in and around Yecheng alone, and the number of monks and nuns reaches tens of thousands. Among them, the scale of Dazhuangyan Temple is as large as that of a densely populated small city. There are almost all large and small Buddhist temples in the streets of Yecheng, which shows the prosperity of ascetics in the Northern Qi Dynasty.

When Santai was seeking talents and winning over the hearts and minds of the soldiers and people in the city, Li Tai was not idle either. He personally arranged for several troops to attack several famous Northern Qi royal temples in the city.

Although there were many monks and slaves in these temples, they all plucked up the courage to organize stubborn resistance, but how could they be the opponents of the elite Wei army? All the temples that were attacked were attacked one after another within a day or two. Break through.

After these temples were breached, the Wei army also gained a lot, needless to say, wealth and so on. Samanas have always been famous for their wealth, and many dignitaries in the city stored their belongings in the temples when they fled for their lives, so that The money and materials seized were even more than those seized in the Northern Qi Palace!

As for the monks and temple slaves, they directly captured nearly 20,000 people. The Dazhuangyan Temple located in the southeast of Yecheng captured more than 4,000 people of various types.

This temple was originally planned to be built by Qi Lord Gao Yang to pray for himself. However, after all the frameworks were put in place, before the construction could be completed, Gao Yang was trapped and died in the Ganlu Temple in Liaoyang by his brothers in a coup. It was not until Gao Zhan stayed behind that he could build this temple. After the construction was completed, it became the largest temple in Yecheng.

When the temple was breached, Gao Huan's fourteenth son Feng Yi Wang Gao Run was also searched inside. This person's name may be relatively unfamiliar, but his mother is very popular. She is Gao Huan's concubine Zheng Dache. The concubine Feng Yi also hid in the temple with her son's family and was captured by the Wei army together.

Li Tai was quite surprised when he learned about this incident. He didn't expect that there would be such an unexpected gain in attacking the monks. Probably because Concubine Feng Yi was not favored by the Empress Dowager Lou, mother and son stayed in Yecheng.

But now he had to take care of the Buddhas, and he didn't have time to see the world, so he sent the mother and son and other captured Northern Qi dignitaries to Yebei Palace for the time being and imprisoned them.

People's fear of the unknown is often due to lack of understanding. Li Tai felt that it was necessary to change his demonized image among the Samanas in Hebei, so after conquering several royal temples in the Northern Qi Dynasty, he did not continue to attack other temples, but instead invited others with courtesy. Representatives of the temple's monk leaders came to Yebei City to meet with him.

The monk leaders refused to come, and Li Tai did not investigate further. He just treated the monks who arrived with courtesy and gave them a large number of Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist ritual utensils. Of course, these things were also collected from those royal temples through the generosity of others.

The reason why Li Tai bribed these monks was not to resolve their resistance, but to let these people bear witness.

"Although you, the monks, are outsiders, you are still in the secular world. You must follow the king's laws and moral principles. I have a good heart and hope to be enlightened by the Buddha. But now I see the Qi family worshiping the Buddha, but they have fallen into the country. The family is ruined and the people are poor and weak. Therefore, I would like to ask all the Dharma masters whether it is the Buddha's teaching itself that is deviant and unjust, or is it that the Qi family has been misled by evil spirits and has not understood the true nature of the Buddha's teaching."

Li Tai gathered together these monks who were willing to come to see him, and then looked at them and said in a deep voice.

Naturally, the monks would not criticize Buddhism for undermining themselves, but they did not feel burdened by accusing the outdated leader of the Gao family. They repeatedly stated that the Gao family would suffer various retributions because they believed in evil spirits and heretics.

"The Qi family worships Buddhism and is hypocritical, and many officials support monks and nuns in temples. As a result, the country is in ruins and the people are suffering. The world will inevitably doubt the Buddha's teachings. This family and this country are really evil obstacles to the ascetics! Calling you here now is really tracing back to the original source. , to silence the world!”

When Li Tai heard the statements of these monks, he immediately said seriously: "Nowadays, there are still monks who can follow the right path and practice the righteous Dharma. It is a blessing for Hebei Samanas. If you don't uphold the justice of Buddhism, all the evil Samanas in Hebei will be killed." No innocence!”

When the monks heard the murderous words of King Tang, they were all silent for a while. They were silent for a long time before they dared to speak up. Thank you very much for King Tang's magnanimity and tolerance.

The magnanimity of the King of Tang was greater than they imagined. After some intimidation, Li Tai continued: "In order to prevent Hebei Shamen from becoming even more corrupt and instigating more believers to obsess over evil demons, the distinction between good and evil should be made clear early on. . The lesson learned by the Qi family is profound. From now on, all the monks and nuns in the temples who receive support from the government of the Qi family are all evil spirits and are no longer allowed to preach the Dharma to the Buddha. You recluses can actively report and eradicate these evil deeds. If the case is verified to be correct, the whistleblower will receive half of the property of the illegal evil temple!”

"Does your Majesty really mean what he says?"

As soon as Li Tai finished speaking, all the monks present widened their eyes and exclaimed in disbelief.

"I will conquer Hebei and unify the world. How can I make fun of the monks for this trivial matter?"

Hearing this question, Li Tai said with a smile.

Since ancient times, it is better to let them fight and consume each other than to pursue and fight against a certain group of people.

Li Tai certainly wanted to suppress and restrict the overly prosperous Samana forces in Hebei, but he did not push these Samanas completely against him at the beginning of his entry. Instead, he allowed them to fight among themselves and consumed them, and then he continued After the situation in Hebei is further stabilized, it will not be too late to deal with these guys.

Samanas are not originally a harmonious group, and the schools and levels within them are also very messy. Li Tai selected a group of people who were destined to be unable to win over, and everyone worked together to eliminate them.

Those temples supported by the royal dignitaries and officials of the Northern Qi Dynasty were accustomed to eating too much and were full of fat. They were most resistant and dissatisfied with the invasion of the Western Wei Dynasty. And Li Tai was too lazy to continue to win over and indulge them. He took this opportunity to directly eliminate a wave of those in Hebei. The monks at the bottom who had been at the bottom of the pyramid for a long time were already dissatisfied, and everyone just divided them together.

As long as things are straightened out, it will be much easier to handle. After learning about the adjustments that King Tang wanted to make to Hebei monks, he was no longer a big devil who killed monks and Buddhas and did all kinds of evil in the minds of monks, especially those in the middle and lower classes, but a protector of the law and the way. The Hercules King Kong!

As the monks in the Northern Qi Dynasty were prosperous, there were naturally many temples that accepted donations from the royal family and dignitaries, but most of them were ordinary temples that accepted donations from civilian believers. Their faith groups are different, and their influence and benefits are also different.

So in addition to the few royal temples that Li Tai had already attacked, these monks actively reported on more than a dozen other large temples that received donations from the royal family and the government.

Li Tai would naturally show no mercy to this, and even arranged for the monks who reported it to follow his soldiers to attack those temples and share the spoils directly on the ground.

In the final analysis, no matter how many resources and power the temple has, it is nothing more than a lamb waiting to be slaughtered compared with the regime with a large professional army. The reason why Li Tai was wary of them was mainly because he was worried that they would incite believers and cause long-term social unrest.

Especially in this period of uncertainty, the power of religious beliefs to confuse people's hearts will be even more amplified. People are already frightened and uneasy, and once they are incited, large-scale riots are very likely to occur.

But now Li Tai has limited the scope of the purge to those temples with official backgrounds. Such temples are accustomed to serving high-end customers and have difficulty penetrating into the market. Although they have a large amount of resources and wealth, the overall society The influence is relatively limited.

As for those ordinary temples that have penetration and influence from the middle and lower classes, Li Tai has developed them into his minions, so naturally there is nothing to be afraid of.

So the Wei army then attacked from all sides in Yecheng, and successively attacked more than a dozen temples, large and small, but the unrest caused in the city was very small.

There were not many monks who followed him at first, but as the temple monks gradually realized that King Tang's target was not them, and that they could join in and share the benefits, they all joined in. As for the so-called lip-destroying and tooth-breaking, things harming others, they are just boring thoughts in the face of real benefits and a safer situation!

With the attack and clearing of these temples, Li Tai further gained control of more of the huge wealth hidden in Yecheng. As for those monks with a tougher attitude, especially those who clamored more fiercely before the Wei army entered the city, they were all pulled to the Zhangshui River and cut off in two, because the Tang Dynasty king was so hated in Hebei Shamen that the Zhangshui River was now dyed red. , the scene of rolling heads further shocked the people in the city.

Seeing the usually aloof Buddhas lining up like chickens and being beheaded on the bank of Zhangshui River, the people of Yecheng were naturally shocked and shocked, but it did not cause any big commotion. .

Because there are still a group of Buddhist monks at the scene who continue to preach that those evil demons and heretics deserve their punishment, and there is no need to argue too profound Buddhist principles. These monks who were tortured have enjoyed so much official worship, but in the end, even the country has been In the simple understanding of the people of Yecheng, they felt that these monks must be dishonest in worshiping the Buddha, so that the Buddha refused to protect the Qi family, and they really deserved their death!

Li Tai spent the past few days to slightly rectify the Samana forces in Yecheng and eliminate certain hidden dangers, while Wei Xiaokuan and other people behind him also caught up. As the number of troops in his hands increased and the situation in Yecheng further stabilized, Li Tai naturally had to take the next step.