Chapter 667: No matter how hard Pei Yuan suffers, you will forget about the infamy.

What is the most expensive thing in the 21st century? Talent is the most expensive thing!

But Zhang Yan felt that the words "21st century" in front of this sentence should be deleted.

In any era, talents are the most valuable.

For example, right now, Zhang Hao wanted to launch a big counterattack that would shake the world but not damage his foundation. However, when he looked at the civil servants and generals around him, none of them were suitable for this task.

He has famous commanders who guard one side, and he has no shortage of brave generals with incomparable valor.

In terms of literature, there are Feng Dao, Lu Yan, and Sun Guangxian; in governing the country, there are Zhang Xichong, Fan Zhi, and Xue Juzheng; in military affairs, there are Guo Tiance, etc.

The only thing he lacks is a confidant and poisonous person who can do this kind of thing for him.

Zhang Liecheng, the adopted son, was said to be a spy chief, but he was only good at loyalty, good at bribery, division, assassination, and political intrigue. His moral conduct was far from enough.

So, does Zhang Zhouchao have such a qualified person?

Yes! And there are people from three generations, old, middle and young.

The older generation is the founding minister of Zhang Zhou and the confidant of Zhang Shengren. The 39-year-old Tong Zhongshu's subordinate Ping Zhangshi, Hexi Province Pingzhang and defense envoy, stayed in Xijing, Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture Yin, Hedong

Duke Pei Yuan.

The middle generation is Zhao Pu, a doctor in Zhangtai of Zhongshu Province and a native of Duzhishe, who is twenty-five years old this year.

The younger generation is my brother Zhao, the car god of the Song Dynasty who has just turned eight.

These three people are all good at politics, power play, and conspiracy.

Of course, at the same time, these three people are very good at building the country and setting up frameworks for major policies. Pei Yuan is the weakest among the three in this aspect, but he is better at governing the local area.

It's just that Brother Zhao is still too young, Zhao Pu hasn't grown up yet, and Pei Yuan...

Zhang Hao touched his chin and turned around. He was really embarrassed!

As one of his most important officials, Pei Yuan was first thrown into Shuofang to fill the hole created by Zhang Xichong's departure. Later, he was left to guard Liangzhou Prefecture in Chengtian. Pei Yuan was not even able to participate in major events such as Zhang Shengren's ascension to the throne.

Now it seems a bit too ruthless to ask him to be a cruel official to resist this big thunder that suppresses Buddhism!

And if Zhang Zhi was like Guo Rong and directly took action to destroy the Buddha, would it be feasible?

Obviously it doesn't work.

First of all, after Zhang Chengfeng's Jinshan Kingdom was destroyed in the past, Zhang Gao relied on his devout faith in the Buddha to successfully give up the idea of ​​​​exterminating the Cao family.

Although he is a time traveler, it is impossible for outsiders to know!

Therefore, in the eyes of people of this era, Zhang Yan should be a very devout follower of Buddha, and Buddhism has saved his life.

Secondly, after Zhang Yan made a fortune in Tianzhu, he forced Tianzhu Buddhism to promote him as the Yinlun Saint King. After he came back, he founded the Supreme Heaven and the powerful Hexi Six Methods Sect.

There is no problem with this, and many Buddhist believers really believe that Zhang Yan indeed received the Buddha's teachings and then became enlightened.

Although the people in the Central Plains are not as devout as the people in Hexi who believe that he is the spokesperson of Buddha in the world, they still believe that Zhang Yan is the lower realm of gods and Buddhas.

With such an identity, if Zhang Zhi personally went into battle to destroy the Buddha statues like Guo Rong did, it would definitely cause an uproar, and maybe people all over the world would rise up against it.

Because people in the world would not think that Zhang Yan was destroying Buddha, but that he wanted to destroy Buddhism in the Central Plains and promote the Six Dharma Sects in Hexi.

On this land, the Central Plains Buddhism will definitely fight tooth and nail first.

Because the previous destruction of the Buddha was not to eliminate it completely, but to eliminate those who went too far.

There were six Dharma sects behind Zhang Gao, so his extermination of Buddha could easily be interpreted by Central Plains Buddhism as the complete annihilation of them.

Secondly, Confucianism, as well as Huang Lao, Legalism and other theories that still have some vitality, will never accept the establishment of a theocratic country.

They don't have force, but they still have the courage to fan the flames and engage in non-violent non-cooperation.

As for the powerful warriors, they are even less willing.

Now that they have a powerful emperor on their head, the pressure on them is strong enough. If there is a god riding on their neck, how can they survive?

But can the Buddha be immortalized?

The answer is also no.

Prior to this, Zhang Gao had ordered his bodyguards in Jinyi and the Ministry of Rites to conduct a survey on Buddhism in the entire Zhou Kingdom. The result surprised Zhang Gao.

Half of the country like Zhangzhou has more than 26,800 temples. The big ones are nearly a thousand monks and nuns, and the small ones are only two or three. There are more than 270,000 monks and nuns in total. Among them, there are no ultimatums.

one.

Good guy, the current population of Zhangzhou is one million in Hedong, more than two million in Hebei, 3.5 million in Zhili (Henan plus Shandong), and 1.8 million in Guanzhong.

There are 1.5 million people in Longyou, Hexi, 800,000 in Shuofang, Ningxia, 1 million in Hubei, 850,000 in Hunan, and 600,000 in Jianghuai. The total population is less than 13 million.

There are more than 200,000 monks and nuns. If you include the tenants controlled by the temple, the number is estimated to be around one million. The total number of relatively devout believers is at least about three million.

Moreover, among the more than 26,000 temples, they occupy nearly 6 million acres of temple land.

There are hundreds of monks and nuns in large temples such as Dongcheng Temple in Hebei, Kaiyuan Temple in Hebei, Fuxian Temple in Zhili (Henan), and Daxiangguo Temple in Tokyo, and the temple fields are tens of thousands of acres each.

Moreover, Buddhism at this time not only had the unspoken rule of sacrificing one’s body and giving alms, which impacted Chinese ethics, but also liked to cast Buddha statues.

There is nothing wrong with Buddhists casting Buddha statues, but he preferred to use copper to cast them.

The land of China, whether in later republics or at this time, is very short of copper.

Especially now, Zhang Zhou is so short of copper that Zhang Ji collected more than 200,000 kilograms of copper but did not dare to mint coins at all.

Because once coins are minted and put into the market, they will be collected and disappeared. Folks can still only use cloth or other things as currency.

There was still some silver, but Zhang Yan did not dare to use silver as a currency in this era.

First, the stock cannot support circulation. Second, there was a custom in ancient China that silver can be used directly as money.

Cut off a small lump, that is money, and circulating silver means that the country loses seigniorage.

But copper is not good. A small piece of copper cannot be used directly as money. Only copper coins are money and can be circulated.

Therefore, before large amounts of silver appeared in the Americas, copper coins were the only reliable and beneficial currency in circulation.

He Ning once told Zhang Yan that 40% of the copper in the world is cast into bronze statues in various Buddhist temples.

If everything could be nationalized, not only would the shortage of money in circulation be greatly alleviated, but the country's finances would also be extremely abundant.

Zhang Hao swallowed, and he finally understood why Guo Rong was so anxious to destroy the Buddha in history that he went into battle and smashed the Buddha statue himself.

These baldheads have gone too far, occupying millions of acres of good land, controlling hundreds of thousands of tenants, and not paying taxes.

Owning 40% of the country's precious metals has greatly restricted the development of the market economy.

Of course, the most important thing is that they are completely unable to protect these properties!

Because although there are monk soldiers in the temples, there are at most two to three thousand monk soldiers in the nearly 30,000 temples, and they are scattered all over the country. They are completely unable to fight against the imperial court. The only thing they can rely on is faith.

This is like a three-year-old child inheriting a family fortune worth hundreds of millions! But even if he just got a handful of it, Zhang Xi felt sorry for himself.

"Yuying! Yuying! Then I'll give you another hard time!" Zhang Shengren made this decision full of guilt.

Naturally, this piece of fat meat must be eaten, and if they dare to challenge me, they cannot keep it.

Zhang Gao decided that after the deployment of the expedition against Shu was completed, he would use the excuse of carrying Cao Yijin's coffin back home and hiding in Longyou, Hexi Province, and then let Pei Yuan go to Tokyo.

When Zhang Gao left, Zhang Xichong, Zhang Xichong, Zhang Xichong, Zhang Xichong, Zhang Zhou's de facto prime minister and a subordinate of Tong Zhongshu, was seriously ill, so Pei Yuan was asked to go to the central government to serve as the de facto leader and preside over the plan to destroy the Buddha.

After Pei Yuan settled everything, Zhang Shengren went back to put things right.

Well! At that time, Pei Yuan will be relegated to the Southern Tang Dynasty, where he will be captured, and he will be called back in a few years.

But there is a problem here. Zhang Hao has not seen Pei Yuan for more than two years, and the closeness between them has been greatly reduced. This is obviously a trap. Is Pei Yuan willing to jump?

And you can't just use it! You have to give some benefits. Even for monarchs and ministers like him and Pei Yuan, they need to be bound by benefits to be strong.

Zhang Hao touched his chin and thought for a moment. Pei Yuan has two sons and two daughters. The eldest daughter is fourteen years old and is about to get married.

As for myself, my eldest son Zhang Xiancun is fifteen years old this year, but he has already decided to marry the daughter of Princess Yongle and An Shuqian's family, so he cannot marry Pei Yuan's daughter.

The third son, Zhang Xianzhao, is only six years old this year, and the unofficial crown prince, Zhang Xianjing, is only four years old, so it is definitely inappropriate.

Then the only suitable one is the second son Zhang Xianyu who just turned thirteen this year.

But there is also a problem, that is, Zhang Xianyu's mother Ayiguli's status is too low. Not only is she a pure Uighur, but she is not very favored in Zhang Xian's harem. Moreover, because of her poor health, she did not give birth to Zhang Xianyu.

Other descendants.

Zhang Xianyu himself is also a bit of a homebody. Although Zhang Xian tried his best to make it seem like he likes Zhang Xianyu, everyone can tell that this child is not a favored child and is the kind of second child that people forget.

The marriage between such a prince and an ordinary civil and military minister's family will definitely cause the other party's eight generations of ancestral graves to emit green smoke.

But for Pei Yuan, who was born in a wealthy Han family like the Wenxi Pei family in Hedong and held a high position of power, it was not so perfect.

No! You have to add more weight.

Zhang Yan suddenly thought that Pei Yuan's second son was nine years old this year, and his third daughter Zhang Qinan was seven years old this year.

Moreover, Zhang Qinan's identity is not comparable to that of Zhang Xianyu. She is the daughter of Queen Cao Yanxi and the first child of Cao Yanxi and Zhang Yan. For non-royal families, Zhang Qinan is the eldest daughter.

This identity is definitely good enough!

Thinking of this, Zhang Yan immediately called his second son Zhang Xianyu in.
To be continued...