"What?"

Huang Liji had a look of astonishment on his face: "Your Majesty, do you want to continue the investigation?"

"Of course, I, why don't you investigate? I, not only do I want to investigate, I also want to investigate with great fanfare!" Zhu Youxiao said slowly: "A Tanzhe Temple can collude with evil cults, so what about other temples?"

When Zhu Youxiao said this, he said with some sadness: "I am also doing this for the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, for the country and the country of the Ming Dynasty, and for the common people of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Think about it, as long as a temple like Tanzhe Temple appears, the disaster will be at least thousands of people in the Ming Dynasty. If it is a hundred, then it will be a hundred thousand, if it is a thousand, it will be millions of people. Millions!"

Huang Liji doesn't want to talk to Zhu Youxiao now.

This guy can't say anything serious.

A fucking million more?

How could he say such a thing?

Zhu Youxiao said slowly: "I think these monks earn a bit too much. They are monks who pay attention to the four elements. How can they ask for so much money?"

"Your Majesty!" Huang Liji couldn't help but said, "What does your Majesty mean?"

Zhu Youxiao smiled and said slowly: "During this period, I still settled an account. Take Tanzhe Temple as an example. If you want to visit Tanzhe Temple, last year alone, we received more than 100 pilgrims." There are close to one million people, and a ticket price of 100 yuan is equivalent to an annual income of 100 million, which is a net income of 100 million!"

Having said this, Zhu Youxiao looked at Lu Xiangsheng and asked: "Lu Xiangsheng, have they paid taxes?"

Lu Xiangsheng was stunned, and then couldn't help but said: "No!"

"That's right, why doesn't he pay taxes?" Zhu Youxiao said plausibly: "Now that our country is in dire straits in Ming Dynasty, there are places where people have to open their mouths to spend money. Why don't they pay taxes?"

Lu Xiangsheng: "..."

If we talk about this in the second year of Apocalypse, it would not be a big problem. But the problem is that it is now the eighth year of Apocalypse. Six years later, how much money did Zhang Haogu get for Ming Dynasty?

At least, when I first came to the Ministry of household affairs, the Ministry of household affairs was still very poor. It was a miracle to be able to come up with one million silver. But now, they don't even use silver anymore. They spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure alone. Ming Dynasty treasure banknote.

Zhu Youxiao continued: "This person goes to the temple, on the one hand, for sightseeing, and more importantly, to burn incense devoutly to the gods and Buddhas, and to thank the gods for their blessings. Many devout believers will invest a certain amount of incense according to their financial situation. money."

"Some people burn incense to pray for high school, and some people burn incense to pray for children. This person is seeking good luck to pray to gods and Buddhas, which is fine. However, what is excessive is that some temples have also taken advantage of this mentality and began to "burn high incense." "Get the first incense" is used as a selling point, and it is encouraged that "the amount of money for incense can be a measure of piety." Do you think this is absurd?"

"I really heard that last year, the right to enter Tanzhe Temple's incense was sold at a high price of 60,000 yuan. Last year, it was sold at a sky-high price of 320,000 yuan. With these sky-high price incense, many temples can make a profit in a year Tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars."

A group of people were silent.

Obviously, during this period of time, Zhu Youxiao had done a thorough investigation, and it was not an easy task to fool Zhu Youxiao.

"He likes to make friends with powerful people, like to buy properties, even local landlords, and he doesn't mind lending money at usury."

Zhu Youxiao smiled and said slowly: "Buddhism has never lost contact with the secular world. In the pre-Yuan Dynasty, the lofty status of monks was legally determined, and if you hit a monk, you will have to chop off your hands.

, if you scold a monk, you have to pull out your tongue. I, Emperor Taizu, have been a monk myself and know them well. I prohibit monks from running around and communicating with the government. Monks are not allowed to leave the temple unless they are traveling to ask, Zen, or give lectures.

You can live dispersedly and live in urban villages, but you must keep a distance from daily society."

"But what about now? Aren't these monks coming out again? Why don't they continue to be authors? I want to ask you, do the current monks still continue to abide by the rules of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Youxiao glanced at everyone and continued: "I don't necessarily want to restore the standards of the Taizu period. I still allow them to leave the temple at will. However, I will never allow them to continue to harm the people. Most of these "monastics"

"In fact, they are all ordinary people. Even if they become monks, they still have seven emotions and six desires. This is also very normal. Otherwise, if everyone has become a Buddha, even if they become a Buddha, wouldn't they still have to bribe the Tathagata to obtain scriptures?

How can a broken scripture be sold at such a high price?"

Huang Liji was speechless.

Zhu Youxiao said: "Just because they are monks, we cannot relax the necessary supervision on them, Lu Xiangsheng!"

Lu Xiangsheng stood up hurriedly: "Your Majesty!"

"You come and draw up a charter!" Zhu Youxiao thought for a while, and then slowly said: "I want to tax Buddhism. They have made so much money and still don't pay taxes to the court. This is wrong, monks and the others

They will not be able to have any power over ordinary people in the future, otherwise they will not even be able to do business, and even evil monks will dare to grant usury loans every minute."

"Your Majesty!" Zhang Haogu said with a smile: "I just don't know how to collect this tax?"

Zhu Youxiao thought for a while and said: "These monks are not engaged in production. How about I take 80% of the entry and exit tickets and incense money?"

Zhang Haogu pondered for a moment, then slowly said: "Isn't this good, Your Majesty?"

"Well?" Zhu Youxiao was stunned: "Master, you think it's more than 80%?"

"Your Majesty, although I am not a Buddhist, I still know the truth that the four elements are empty. If you want to be a monk, you must keep your six roots pure!"

Zhang Haogu smiled and said slowly: "How can we only charge 80%? I thought that we should collect them all. Even if the Buddha comes, he still has to pay taxes. Buddhism pays attention to the purity of the six roots. Why do you need so much money?

!”

"Fuck..." Zhu Youxiao was stunned.

Huang Liji was also stunned. He knew Zhang Haogu was ruthless, but he didn't expect Zhang Haogu to be so ruthless.

Receive it all directly?

"All monks have to participate in labor even if they practice Zen and enlightenment. As for the incense money and ticket money, I think the Ministry of Household Affairs should set up a unified organization to collect money!"

Zhang Haogu slowly said: "As for the temple being in disrepair, let the Ministry of Industry investigate it and then repair it for them. Also, the statues of Buddha sold by Buddhism are all paid by the court.

Got it!!"

"All monks can practice Zen and enlightenment, but they must also work in the fields and rely on labor to support themselves. The money they earn through labor is their own money. Of course, they must also be like farmers.

Gotta pay taxes!”
Chapter completed!