Chapter 4754 Lure the snake out of its hole

Chapter 4754 Lure the snake out of its hole
The power structure of the Tang Dynasty was divided into three major groups: aristocratic families, noble groups, and the Li Tang royal family.

The aristocratic families have deep-rooted interests entangled, and one move can affect the entire body. They block the communication between the central government and the people, making it so that "government orders cannot reach the countryside." The country relies on them to govern the people and rule the country, so naturally they cannot act on their own.

However, in comparison, the noble group and the Li Tang royal family are the ones that truly cannot be touched.

There are many reasons why they cannot be touched, but the most direct and most important point is that the roots of these two major groups are in Guanzhong, and Guanzhong, as the capital of the empire, must not be disturbed...

Ximing Temple is a famous temple in the world. It is impossible for ordinary people to have any contact with it, let alone donate land to the name of temple property to help avoid taxes. Therefore, the owners of the donated land found in the account books of Ximing Temple are either nobles or royal family members.

The clerk's concern is justified. Our task is to "investigate the properties of temples and Taoist temples and determine the reasonable amount of taxes they should pay." Since the land properties of temples and Taoist temples also need to pay taxes, why should we separate these land properties from the names of temples and Taoist temples many times?
As long as you pay taxes, who cares whose property it is?
This is the correct way to be an official, but Ma Zhou disagrees: "No matter who has annexed these lands, hundreds of farmers have lost their permanent businesses and gone bankrupt overnight. Those people rely on their power to squeeze the farmers. If they are not severely punished, this trend will prevail. In the long run, the people will have no permanent property and the country will no longer be a country. We must not condone and cover up this. There is no need to say more about this matter. No matter what the consequences are, I will bear them. You just need to follow my orders and do things properly. Go."

"Here."

The clerk was worried but did not dare to disobey the order, so he turned around and gathered more than ten people to form a temporary team, and went straight to the Wannian County Government Office after leaving the yamen.

Ma Zhou sat in the duty room and drank a sip of tea. He called his long-servant in and ordered, "Go to the outside of Mingde Gate immediately and tell Duke Yue to be careful and alert."

"Here."

After the attendant left, Ma Zhou put down his teacup, stood up and stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, staring at the row of trees with lush branches and leaves outside the window, which provided thick shade, and was slightly lost in thought.

This was an opportunity that had been preset long ago, hoping that it would trigger division and confrontation within the royal family. However, this move was extremely risky, because no one knew whether those people would take the risk to launch the confrontation in advance when faced with the impending confrontation within the royal family, let alone where it would start and what the scale of the confrontation would be.

But this risk must be taken, otherwise the enemy will always hide in the dark, collude with each other, and stir up trouble. It is too passive to face the threat of the enemy all the time. We only need to separate the enemy from the royal family, whether we eliminate it immediately or keep it under surveillance, and we can regain the initiative.

The grand gathering of Buddhism and Taoism caused a surge in the population of Chang'an City and chaos in public security. This was an opportunity for those people to launch an attack ahead of schedule, but it also gave the Four Guards an excuse to gather and deploy their troops to conceal their whereabouts. Now it depends on whether those people dare to launch the attack ahead of schedule and how powerful they will be when they do.

……

The Wannian government office was busy. With the grand events of Buddhism and Taoism unfolding simultaneously, not only did the number of monks and Taoists entering Chang'an increase by dozens or even hundreds of times, but at the same time, there were countless people watching the excitement and vendors selling all kinds of goods. Even the brothels in Pingkangfang invited famous prostitutes from other places to come and make their own names...

Normally, Chang'an's permanent population is already over one million, and now it has increased by more than 200,000. All the inns and hotels in Chang'an, as well as the post stations outside the city and the brothels in Pingkangfang are already overcrowded. The pressure on public security can be imagined.

Everyone knows that this grand gathering of Buddhism and Taoism foreshadows the beginning of a struggle between them. This will be a huge storm with far-reaching consequences, and no one wants to be passively involved in it because of their own dereliction of duty.

All officials kept a close eye on everything that happened in Chang'an City. Any slight disturbance would be suppressed with all their might to ensure that no chaos would occur.

So when the officials from Jingzhao Prefecture broke into the government office and directly demanded that the accounts be sealed and checked, the officials from Wannian County were stunned for a moment. It was already such a time, and you were still busy measuring land, checking assets and setting tax rates?
Furthermore, the most important thing at this juncture is to keep the situation stable. Maintaining stability is the top priority. Such closure and auditing of accounts are obviously targeted. Isn't this actively triggering a crisis of chaos?
Are the people in Jingzhao Prefecture crazy?

Seeing that the officials from Wannian County were hesitant and hesitant to speak, the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture were immediately dissatisfied and took out Ma Zhou's order: "Here is the Jingzhao Yin's order. You must cooperate with us and not violate it. If there is any delay, you will be severely punished!"

The officials of Wannian County did not feel relieved. Logically speaking, since there was a warrant, it would be easy to deal with. They were just following orders. All the consequences would be borne by Ma Zhou and he could not shirk the responsibility, but this was not the case.

Everyone understood that this meant that these fields would no longer belong to the original temples, and the real owners of these lands would suffer heavy losses. The local officials knew exactly who those people were, so they were all scared and turned pale and trembled.

However, he did not dare to disobey the order, and quickly opened the warehouse. He found piles of dusty documents on the densely packed bookshelves in the warehouse, moved them to the duty room and let the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture check them. Then he cooperated with them to find those specific contract documents, crossed out these lands from the Wannian County land account book, and registered them separately.

Jingzhao Prefecture directly separated these fields from the temple's property and confiscated them, which was equivalent to declaring war directly on those people.

Something big is going to happen...

In the evening, officials from Jingzhao Prefecture loaded many land deeds donated to temples and Taoist temples onto trucks and transported them away. The officials of Wannian County then breathed a sigh of relief. They sent people to notify the county magistrate who was on the front line in various parts of the city, and at the same time hurriedly delivered letters to the families whose land had been confiscated or fined.

……

The main hall of the Prince of Xiangyi's mansion was brightly lit, and members of the royal family of the Tang Dynasty gathered together.

This place is almost on par with the Zongzheng Temple. Many clan members are dissatisfied with King Han, the Zongzheng Minister, and instead are close to Prince Xiangyi Li Shenfu, and often visit him.

"boom!"

The hot-blooded Li Chongxu slammed the coffee table fiercely and shouted angrily: "Is Ma Zhou crazy? You can collect taxes from Buddhism and Taoism and take them for yourself. We are willing to pay taxes on the land donated to Buddhism and Taoism. Why do you want to confiscate it as well? That is the family fortune accumulated by my Hanyang Palace for decades. Is there any law? This is intolerable!"

Li Shenfu, who was sitting in the main seat, had his eyelids drooping and looked calm and silent, making it difficult to tell whether he was happy or angry.

Li Daoli felt very sympathetic and said in a hateful voice: "My family also had thousands of acres of good farmland confiscated. We were already penniless after being extorted by Fang Er. Now even these fields have been lost. How can we live? Ma Zhou, this villain, is so arrogant that he will not have a good death in the future!"

More than ten people present were talking at the same time and shouting angrily. The land they donated to temples and Taoist temples was confiscated for no reason by the Jingzhao Prefecture. They had no right to act and could only be furious. So they ran to Li Shenfu to ask for some rules.

Since you are the leader, we usually listen to you. Now that we are in trouble, you have to stand up for us, right?
However, Li Shenfu remained indifferent and said nothing.

Li Daoli couldn't help but ask, "Uncle, what do you think about this? It's obvious that His Majesty wants to attack us. If we allow Ma Zhou to do this, it won't be long before our little property is completely taken away. I'm afraid we won't even have food to eat. How can we help Uncle achieve great things when we have no money or rice?"

"Bastard!"

Li Shenfu suddenly opened his eyes, revealing a fierce look: "When have I ever accomplished anything great? Do I need you to help me with rice and grain? Tell me, what is the meaning of your words? What exactly do you want to do?!"

Old Tiger was still powerful. At this moment, Li Shenfu was furious and pointed his finger at and scolded, which frightened the younger members of the clan into silence.

Li Daoli's face turned red and white after being scolded. He was embarrassed, but he also realized that he had said something wrong and apologized quickly: "I said something without thinking, please don't blame me, uncle."

Li Shenfu cursed, "It doesn't matter if I blame you or not. If His Majesty hears this, will he be surprised? You keep talking nonsense all day long. What does it have to do with me whether you have food in your house? The Tang Dynasty is at its peak and has conquered the world. I have never heard of any royal family member starving to death. If you really have nothing to eat, go stay in Jingzhao Prefecture and eat when Ma Zhou eats. See if he dares to chase you away and let you starve to death!"

Li Daoli's eyes lit up and he slapped his thigh, "Right! Since I've been forced into a dead end by Ma Zhou, what's the point of saving face? Besides, His Majesty ordered the monks and Taoists to pay taxes, but it doesn't necessarily mean that Ma Zhou will mess up the accounts of the temples and Taoist temples and confiscate all the donated land. Not only our royal family has land here, but also the nobles have a lot of land. If Ma Zhou keeps doing this, I won't be the only one who can't survive!"

Li Chongxu also became excited: "As long as we gather our men and horses to make trouble, I don't believe that Ma Zhou will dare to risk the world's disapproval! Chang'an City is in chaos now. If something goes wrong again, how will he explain to His Majesty?"

"If you ask me, we should just make a big fuss. The whole Guanzhong is unstable right now. If we can use this to find a chance... wouldn't that be great?"

"We have been waiting, but when will this wait end?"

These words touched Li Shenfu's heart.

He has always advocated "winning by maintaining stability". Big things cannot be accomplished overnight but require constant forbearance. Only by being patient and forbearing can one accumulate strength in secret. If one does not move, then success will be achieved. Instead of acting rashly when in a hurry and without sufficient preparation, which would lead to self-destruction due to loopholes everywhere.

Your Majesty is in the prime of life, but he is seventy years old now. It is rare for a person to live to be seventy years old. He may fall into a deep sleep and pass away one day... He cannot wait.