Chapter 540

Li Er on the side was also stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but turn his head to look at Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling closed his eyes and nodded calmly, confirming Qin Mu's words.

Hiss!

A wave of evil fire suddenly rose from Li Er's heart.

Damn it!

How come I never knew about these things?

Son of a bitch!

These bald donkeys are actually so bold?

I did indeed bestow fertile land upon them, but I never expected them to have so many benefits!

Did I become the number one sucker in history?

There is a reason why Li Er didn't know about these things...

He is always busy with ten thousand things and has to deal with many major military and national affairs.

Many things just flashed through his mind.

For example, like the matter of bestowing fertile land upon the temples.

At the beginning, it was just a sudden whim of Li Er.

He said it casually and then forgot about it directly.

But since the Emperor had spoken, those below had to do it.

But a problem arose in the middle.

Since those temples were given ten thousand acres of fertile land, should they pay taxes?

After Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and others discussed it, they decided that those temples should pay taxes.

But an accident happened.

Many noble families suddenly submitted a joint petition, saying that if the temples had to pay taxes, it would cause evil karma and have very bad consequences.

Li Er was a very superstitious person, and after hearing such words, he directly exempted the temples from paying taxes.

Afterwards, he forgot about these things.

Li Er originally thought this was not a big deal.

But he didn't expect the consequences to be so serious.

One Jin Shan Temple possesses ten thousand acres of fertile land; how many temples larger than Jin Shan Temple are there all over the Central Plains?

The fertile land they possess is far more than a thousand or ten thousand acres!

If these temples kept all the grain for themselves, wouldn't it mean that the national treasury would lose a large amount of income?

No wonder!

No wonder I felt that the grain in the national treasury was always not enough; it turns out the trick is here!

This is truly unreasonable!

Li Er hated them so much his teeth itched.

He made up his mind that after returning to Jiangnan, he must tear down all the temples in Jiangnan!

You must know!

The number of temples in Jiangnan far exceeds that in the north.

The temples in those places are all golden and resplendent.

Jiangnan is rich!

Those wealthy merchants, in order to get good rewards and have a good fate—for example, the FaLun Temple in Jin Ling City.

A three-zhang-high jade-seated golden Buddha, all made of pure gold, is worth a fortune!

They throw silver into the temples in large amounts.