The imperial court's control over local areas has weakened, and the result of this weakening will be reflected in all aspects.

As a result, the number of monks and Taoists increased, and more and more land was not paid for tax in temples and Taoist temples. Some large temples and Taoist temples even owned tens of thousands of acres of land, which was no less harmful than the local gentry and powerful people.

Such behavior has become a trend, which directly leads to fewer and fewer people paying taxes.

Although the property of temples and Taoist temples in the Ming Dynasty was not as large as that of the previous dynasty, the number was quite considerable.

After learning about this fact, Xiao Ruxun was very disgusted with this phenomenon and decided to punch hard to deal with them.

After the Xiao Qin regime came to power, in February of the first year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun directly turned the Wanshou Palace, which symbolized the religious color of the Ming royal family, into the residence of the Supreme Emperor, and drove out all religious things in the Forbidden City, and set rules that there were no religious buildings in the Beijing city.

In March of the first year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun issued a religious policy.

He once again made it clear that Taoist priests and monks need to give certificates of tribute to the court to be recognized, and the only one who has the right to issue certificates is in the Religious Management Department of the Ministry of Revenue in the capital. Local governments do not have the right to issue certificates of tribute. The certificates of quotations are given every three years, and there is a limit.

Privateness is completely prohibited. Once discovered, the privateness and the monks and Taoist priests who conduct privateness are immediately banned, and all of them are sent to be cowards.

In addition, Xiao Ruxun also sent people to investigate the private property of Taoist temples and temples nationwide, register and record the years of Taoist temples and temples in various places, and evaluate the identity and academic level of the owner of Taoist temples and the abbot of the temple.

It will never be allowed to stop once every three years.

After a series of actions, the court closed 36 Taoist temples and 27 temples in the second year of Longwu, 16 Taoist temples and 48 temples in the third year of Longwu, 21 Taoist temples and 16 temples in the fourth year of Longwu, and 17 Taoist temples and 29 temples in the fifth year of Longwu.

The reasons are very clear.

Before the court issued the proof of the sacrificial certificate, it sent special personnel to various temples and Taoist temples to inspect the monks in the temples and Taoist temples to understand the Buddhist scriptures and the Taoist scriptures, to see how academic level is, to see if they are really focused on Buddha or Taoist, and whether they are really monks.

Now it was a big problem that was found. A large number of fake monks and Taoists who couldn't read a word were found, and those who cheated on people's hard-earned money were found.

Originally, Xiao Ruxun's order was to find out something wrong for me, but now it's good, so there is no need to be wronged.

So the local government immediately announced that it would publicize and use the trend of land reform to criticize and fight their reputation completely. Therefore, local people were extremely annoyed to support the government in banning temples and Taoist temples.

Not only that, those local grassroots officials who are good at organizing manpower to launch movements uphold the central idea and incite people to respect the temples and Taoist temples to completely destroy them. Temples and Taoist temples are not allowed to appear again where the movement is affected.

Needless to say, a large number of temples and Taoist temples were in trouble and were banned, and all their property was confiscated. Those fake Taoist priests and monks were immediately sent to work as coolies. I don’t know if they could come back alive, but the chances were slim anyway.

But that's not enough.

There are indeed fake Taoist priests and fake monks, but there are also many real monks who hold formal certificates of the previous dynasty. Xiao Ruxun is quite disgusted with such organizations that compete for population and taxes with the country. He is determined to suppress and eliminate it naturally, so he uses all kinds of means.

The Taoist priests of any Taoist temple are not at the level of Taoism, they do not understand Taoism, and the abbot of any temple are not at the level of it. They do not understand Buddhist scriptures at all, and they do not understand Buddhism at all. They have various reasons all over the sky. Anyway, they see the non-famous Buddhist temples with private property, and try every means to ban them.

As for the true monks and Taoist priests in the banned temples and Taoism, Xiao Ruxun decisively forced them to return to secular life and would not be allowed to become monks again for life, nor would he be allowed to preach Buddhism and Taoism.

In order to get them to pay taxes for production, Xiao Ruxun did not allow them to return to their hometowns and all placed them in the place where the land was being allocated.

They also forced each person to arrange a local orphan widow or a woman plundered by Japan, and gave land, houses, farm tools and seeds to integrate into the local farmers' association.

Regarding Xiao Ruxun's methods, some court officials claimed that Taoism and Buddhism have existed for thousands of years. Such fierce bans may make the subjects all over the world panic.

Xiao Ruxun issued an order to angrily scold the official who submitted the report and fined him for half a year to serve as a warning to others.

He issued an order to inform the court that he was very dissatisfied with Taoism and Buddhism not because he was dissatisfied with it himself, but because they were not engaged in production.

He has made some mysterious things all day long to fool people's hearts. Many temples and Taoist temples dare to buy land, expand private property, and compete with the court for tax revenue!

There is no need to pay tax on these lands, and no need to pay tax on all the money and pastes obtained by monks in the temple. They blatantly compete with the court for land population and taxes, and they are simply ignorant of life and death.

The court held great justice in his hands and declared that the Taoist priest was a liar, a lie, a monk, a monk Hua, and a hard-earned money. He was taken to the surrounding villages and cities to march and demonstrate, mobilized the people to criticize and fight, and then directly banned the temples in the place and nationalized all land and other property.

The court did not play with them, but directly attacked fiercely and attacked Buddhism and Taoism.

After the news spread, a large number of lazy men who had no pious hearts and just wanted to eat and drink and live a life of slackness were frightened and fled. Many temples and Taoist temples were directly abandoned and easily accepted by the local government and turned into warehouses under the jurisdiction of the government.

This practice greatly restricts the living environment of Taoist priests and monks.

In just three or four years, the Xiao Qin government forced tens of thousands of Taoist monks to return to secular life and confiscated more than 400,000 mu of land, which greatly damaged the economic foundation of Buddhism and Taoism.

Not only that, in the prosperous place of Buddhism and Taoism in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, the government also killed eight or nine hundred fake monks and Taoists who committed crimes and cheated on sex and money in a targeted manner, and widely spread their deeds.

Make up children's songs and teach the children to sing.

Make up stories and teach the storyteller to tell.

He even issued administrative orders to some famous opera teams in the local area, and arranged operas that fake monks, fake Taoist priests cheated money, sex and people who cheated their families and died, and continued to sing them on a large scale.

In the school textbooks, relevant stories about fake Taoist priests and fake monks cheating were added, taught to children, let them learn, and go home to tell their parents.

Such practices greatly hit the reputation of Buddhism and Taoism among the people and had a considerable long-term impact.

The first proof of the sacrificial certificate was issued in the third year of Longwu, and only more than 300 monk certificates and more than 100 Taoist certificates were issued in total.

At the same time, Xiao Ruxun adopted a relatively gentle approach to some large temples and avenues that have a long history and good reputation and have made contributions to the country and the people, such as Shaolin Temple and Chongyang Palace.

There was no forcibly ban or mobilizing the masses to destroy them, but they demanded taxes.

The incense money is taxed at a certain proportion, and the land is left to the temples and Taoist temples at 20 acres per person, and the excess is collected and nationalized. The land of the temples and Taoist temples needs to be taxed like ordinary people.

The Religious Management Department of the Ministry of Revenue of the Court sent officials to temples and Taoist temples to supervise the incense money, the production of monks, and the study of Taoism and Buddhism.

In short, the court wants to manage you, limit you, check your accounts, and collect taxes.

Don’t resist and accept management honestly, otherwise His Majesty the Emperor will have ten thousand ways to kill you.
Chapter completed!