When Prince Zhennan thought of these two words, he immediately felt as if he was possessed. He was very clear about the current situation.
Although he holds a lot of power, he does not have much advantage compared to the King of Nanzhao. What he can give, others can also give. If he wants Li Xiang to support him, he must give something that the King of Nanzhao cannot give, such as ceding some land for the Tang army to be stationed here.
At the beginning, he was frightened by his own idea, as it was treason. However, he soon began to comfort himself that if he did not do this, he would have been eliminated from the battle for the throne in advance and would not have any advantage at all.
In the future, Li Xiang will definitely believe his brother-in-law, but he will never believe himself. From the perspective of the Tang Dynasty court, they are also willing to believe a young man, and this person is studying in the Tang Dynasty, which is equivalent to being sent from the Tang Dynasty. How could a local elderly person like himself be controlled by the Tang Dynasty?
By the time the sedan chair arrived at the palace, this guy had already made up his mind. Didn't Li Xiang refuse to see him? So he had to find someone to pass on this message. As long as someone passed the message, he would stuff money into the bag until the message was passed.
As long as Li Xiang can meet with him, the rest of the things will be easier to handle. No matter which area Li Xiang wants, he must agree to it first. He must not let the court express its position. Once the court expresses its position, even if Li Xiang wants to support him, it will be very difficult in the future.
When Li Xiang returned to the guesthouse, a banquet had already been prepared, and most of the food was from the northern region. This was mainly because many people in the military camp were from the north, so no matter how delicious the southern food was, they still felt that it was not enough to fill their stomachs. I have to have another meal after I come back.
"How is the investigation going in Nanzhao?"
Long Wu has returned from outside. This guy and his brothers have not been idle. From the moment Li Xiang arrived in the royal city, they began to investigate the entire Nanzhao Kingdom. Now some of the spies outside have returned.
"Your Highness, the whole country is not as they appear. In fact, the people in many places can't even afford to eat and wear clothes. Although the taxes collected by the court are not very high, the people donate a lot of money to temples, praying for a better life in their next life. Therefore, the people don't have much money."
Long Wu's investigation outside was very in-depth among the people. When he left, Li Xiang had already told him not to focus on superficial articles. After all, Zhangsun Wuji's people had already sent these things, and Zhang Jiuli had also investigated a lot. Since we want to conduct an on-site investigation, we must find information from the root.
According to the information this guy brought back, for example, in a small county town in the south of the royal city, the number of monks has reached nearly 10%, and most of these people are young and middle-aged people. There are quite a few young and middle-aged people here. If 1/10 of the people enter the temple, it means that 1/10 of the people in the society have lost their labor force, but these people still need to eat, so another 1/5 of the people have to be used to support them.
In other words, these existing temples alone have already consumed 30% of the society's wealth. If they continue to expand in the future, this number will increase.
If it were somewhere else, both the common people and the landlord class would probably stand up in resistance. 30% of the society's wealth is not a small amount, and it would be impossible to ask people to give it up willingly. But this is Nanzhao Kingdom, a country famous for Buddhism. Such things are very normal. Even many people in society feel that it is not enough. Even if they don't eat or drink, they must build luxurious temples to show their inner piety.
"There's also the issue of land annexation. Many landlords have directly given their land to temples. Temples now don't simply accept money; they also accept land, but only a portion of it is cultivated by the monks. The rest is either abandoned or sublet to the local residents. The rent they charge isn't high, but it's the local residents who have taken the initiative to raise the rent."
Long Wu also thought of another thing. The temple now controls a lot of land, and the land is gradually increasing. The farmers rent the land from the temple, and their rent is very low. However, because the farmers respect the Buddha, they send half of their products to the temple every year.
"This is truly a strange phenomenon. They would rather starve themselves than allow these monks to live a better life. I just don't know how long they can hold out. If this happened somewhere in our Tang Dynasty, perhaps the local people would have already risen up in rebellion."
Zhang Jiuli stroked his beard and said that he had known that temples were popular here and the religious atmosphere was very strong, but he did not expect it to be so serious. He would rather not eat than support these monks. It was mainly because such a situation had never happened in the Central Plains, so they were surprised. If it were 1,000 years later, similar things might happen, but it would definitely not be many.
The main reason is that the Central Plains dynasty would not vigorously develop a certain religion. Even if it was developed, it would only use religion as a tool for its own rule and would not allow them to hold too much power. If a religion could compete with the current emperor, then the religion would basically be over. Even if the emperor did not destroy it, it would be a thorn in the eyes of the next emperor.
"How is the combat effectiveness of the army? Is it comparable to that of the four chieftains?"
Li Xiang suddenly remembered another thing. Although Zhang Jiuli had already reported this matter, what Zhang Jiuli reported was something that happened several years ago. Now, after the developments in the past few years, it is necessary to get to the bottom of it. Military conflict is definitely inevitable in the next two or three years, so this is also the top priority of this investigation. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle. We don't need to know all their situations, but we must know a general idea.
