In response to these historical issues, Song Xi issued several decrees.

From now on, the area occupied by all temples and Taoist temples can only be limited to the prescribed range. The redundant buildings will be demolished with the help of the government, and the redundant fields will be taken back by the government unconditionally.

Temples and Taoist temples that do not make money are still tax-free, but temples and Taoist temples that charge fees are required to pay taxes regularly, and the upper limit of each fee must be supervised by the Industrial and Commercial Administration. Private money-making in the name of donating sesame oil money is not allowed.

Property such as land and money in temples and Taoist temples are all owned by religious collectives in each region. Individuals cannot hold such property, and violators will be severely punished according to the law.

Each province has established a Religious Affairs Department, which is responsible for handling the affairs of each religion. Each temple and Taoist temple must be registered with the local affairs department before it can continue to operate. Monks and Taoists must also register their personal circumstances and obtain relevant certificates to maintain their status as monks.

Those with a criminal record are not allowed to leave home.

As soon as these laws were implemented, many temples and Taoist temples were shocked. Countless people returned to secular life, packed up their baggage and fled south. From then on, the transcendent status of all religions no longer existed.

In the past few years, great changes have occurred one after another. The entire north and the Central Plains have been frightened by the methods of this iron-blooded warrior king. People of all walks of life dare not make the same mistake again, for fear of following in the footsteps of the bloody October.

Some landowners and squires could see that Song Xi was disgusted with the act of enclosing land, and were very afraid that one day they would be killed by the Song family. They had done a lot of guilty things over the years, and who knew if they would be arrested one day?

Liquidation?

As a result, after a series of turmoils gradually calmed down, a wave of southward migration began in the Central Plains.

Merchants, landowners, and monks who had done bad things took their families, sold their fields, homes, and shops, and then went to the south to start over again with all their wealth.

A small number of people did not understand this and thought that some war or disaster was about to happen. Then they followed the move southward in a confused way, blindly pursuing what they thought was peace.

Song Xi and Yu Yalan did not stop them. After all, they are free to go wherever they want.

They just focus on building up the areas under their jurisdiction, and there will be no shortage of talents in prosperous and affluent places.

On the other side, Xiao Yueze welcomed the people moving south. He didn't care whether these people had criminal histories.

He can appoint those who are obedient according to the situation, and those who are disobedient will have their homes confiscated and beheaded, thereby enriching his own treasury.

Those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters, and he will not care about insignificant details like Song Xi.

Taking advantage of the continuous turmoil in the north and the Central Plains in recent years, he made full use of this precious time.

Three months ago, officials from the Ordnance Supervision sent good news, saying that weapons similar to firecrackers had been successfully developed.

He went over to try it out personally, and found that although it was not as powerful as the Song family's fire gun, there was not much problem in using it. It just looked a bit crude and lagging, and it would take a lot of time to make better improvements.

Xiao Yueze named this new weapon a gun, and asked the weapons supervisor to start mass production.

In addition to the explosive packs successfully developed half a year ago, all of them were equipped for the Xiao Jiajun's advance troops.

With these two new weapons, the Xiao family will have a better chance of winning in the future North-South war, and General Pingxi, who has been entrenched in Yundian, will no longer have a problem from today on.

Of course, before that, the Xiao family has a more important thing to complete.

The world of the Wu family has changed hands, and the name of the country Zhou Dynasty has completely become a thing of the past.

He, Xiao Yueze, never makes wedding clothes for others. When he officially goes to war, he must do so in the name of the Xiao family!

…

In the second year of Xingyuan, the young emperor Wu Chengxiao of the Great Zhou Dynasty moved to the throne of the regent Xiao Shengxiong.

Xiao Shengxiong ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, changed the country's name to Wei, and the reign name Taichang.

On the day he ascended the throne, he named his eldest son Xiao Yueze as the crown prince and Lu as the crown princess. He also decreed that the former Empress Dowager Qiao of the Great Zhou Dynasty was granted the title of Lady Rongguo, and the former Emperor Xingyuan Emperor Wu Chengxiao was granted the title of Prince Gong.

Three days later, Prince Gong Wu Chengxiao worshiped the Crown Prince as his adoptive father, took the alias Xiao Chengyuan, recorded it in the Xiao family genealogy, and enjoyed the treatment of a prince.

Emperor Taichang completely inherited the territory, military power, treasury, palaces and court officials of the Zhou Dynasty. Except for a few laws that will be changed and revised, the rest of the regulations will remain unchanged for the time being.

At this point, the emerging Wei Dynasty officially entered the stage of history. It actually controlled the seven provinces of Soochow, Jiangnan, Anhui, Jian'an, Western Jiangxi, Lingnan and Baiyue. It had strong soldiers and horses, a rich treasury, and was far more powerful than the old Zhou Dynasty.

At the same time, the northern and central plains under the actual control of the Song family have entered a stable state. They have begun to mobilize their troops and prepare for war. The economic development that has been stagnant for a year has also started to operate again, and all aspects are showing an upward trend.

At this time, the north and south were evenly matched, and they were in opposition to each other. The Song family and the Xiao family were on guard against each other, cutting off contact, secretly competing across the north-south dividing line, and seizing the time to strengthen their respective strengths.

Later history books referred to this period as the "Northern Song Dynasty and Southern Xiao", which was the most intense period of struggle between the two countries occupying the north and the south respectively.

This period of history had a profound influence on later generations, and was also the most flamboyant and legendary era for countless heroes and heroes.

Of course, the heroes and heroes at this time still don't know what the future holds, and they all have their own troubles at the moment.

In order to buy themselves more time, they took drastic measures when facing trouble.

After the Xiao family proclaimed themselves emperor, many literati from the south of the Yangtze River wrote books to denounce, insinuating that the Xiao family usurped the throne and stole the country, and did not hesitate to defile the palace to ascend to the throne.

In the imperial court, there were also loyal ministers and elders of the Zhou Dynasty who committed suicide by hitting a pillar and slaying the country. Before their death, they angrily accused the Xiao family and his son of being despicable and shameless, and they would not end well in the future.

Public opinions are even more diverse, but the focus is more on the romance rumors. Some places even dare to fabricate the scandal between Mrs. Rongguo and the crown prince, and fabricate it into a love story with ups and downs and many conspiracies.

For a time, there was a hint of chaos in the south controlled by the Xiao family.

Xiao Shengxiong was worried about the instability of the political power, so he launched a literary inquisition without saying a word.

The Xiao family's spies went out en masse and burned all articles and books that had a sense of rebellion against the Xiao family's regime. All the literati and Confucian scholars who dared to write such articles were imprisoned and executed.

The ministers also ransacked and beheaded everyone in their homes, and the methods were both sharp and cruel.

The streets of Jinling are closely patrolled every day by officers and soldiers armed with muskets. Anyone who dares to discuss government affairs may be shot on the spot.

After several months of bloody suppression, the turmoil gradually subsided.
Chapter completed!