Mind reading, the emperor saw my fist hard

The late emperor was not a man of great talent and vision. At the age of thirty, he became obsessed with immortality and began to seek immortality.

All the Taoists and monks with a little fame in the world were recruited into the palace.

Under the instigation of these Taoists and monks, the late emperor built the Dengxian Pavilion and then the Dafo Temple. After the Dafo Temple was completed, he built the Lutai~~~

The emperor practiced endlessly, trying all methods that could lead to immortality, and even emptied his own private treasury.

Next, they attacked the national treasury. No one knew how many censors were killed in the Censorate at that time, but they were unable to stop the late emperor.

The late emperor not only robbed the national treasury, but also favored monks and Taoists. In his later years, it even got to the point where if court officials wanted to see the emperor, they had to first see whether the monks and Taoists agreed.

If you want to be a good official in the imperial court, you must first be able to write beautiful poems.

But the late emperor was poisoned by elixir, those monks and Taoists wouldn’t dare to do that!

They wished that the late emperor would live a hundred years so that they could get more benefits from him.

After all, their wealth and glory all depended on the late emperor. What good would it be for them to poison him to death?

At this moment, the court room was silent. All the civil and military officials looked at Emperor Xuan. As the successor emperor, didn't he notice anything unusual about the previous emperor?

Emperor Xuan shook his head calmly.

Following Xu Jinyu's words, Emperor Xuan began to recall what happened back then in his mind.

The late emperor lived to be 55, which was a normal lifespan for an emperor. Moreover, in his later years, he suffered from insomnia, nightmares, headaches, dizziness, and even a bad temper, and would get angry for no reason.

These symptoms are considered normal minor illnesses for the emperor.

No one had ever thought of the possibility that the late emperor had been poisoned.

[Oh! I know the reason. Those Taoists didn't know that the elixirs they made could kill people if eaten.]

[After all, refining an elixir contains gold, silver, cinnabar, realgar, mica, azurite, sulfur, saltpeter... These things all come out as compounds of arsenic, mercury, and lead. It would be a miracle if they don't kill people.]

God, palace, money, what is this?

All officials were puzzled.

Eunuch Liu who was beside Emperor Xuan nodded secretly to Emperor Xuan. He was the chief eunuch and had seen the purchasing records of the inner court when the previous emperor was still alive. There were indeed the things that Lord Xu mentioned.

[These things are not cheap, and these Taoists are reluctant to eat them. Those who are willing to eat them don’t have the financial resources of the late emperor to eat one a day.]

[And there was indeed no concept of heavy metal poisoning in ancient times. ]

[Poisoning the emperor to death, yet still being able to escape unscathed, these monks and Taoists are also scorpion poop - unique. ]

Emperor Xuan looked unhappy, and his two prime ministers also looked unhappy.

They all survived the death of the previous emperor, so of course they know the situation clearly at that time.

These monks and Taoists did not escape unscathed because the imperial court at that time was unable to take care of them.

Daqian had been ravaged by the previous emperor for so many years, and at that time there were not only natural disasters but also peasant uprisings.

There are constant unrests in various places, and the north is also ready to move south at any time.

The country is about to be destroyed.

After Emperor Xuan ascended the throne, he began to deal with the mess left by the previous emperor in a hurry. Who had time to care about those Taoists and monks?

The reason they were not killed was simply because the capital city was not peaceful at the time and they were worried that killing too many people would cause panic among the people.

Since the late emperor was poisoned to death by the elixir, those Taoists and monks are all to blame.

When the Taoist priest brings up a pill, the monks will bring up a health-preserving medicine.

They rush to be the first, fearing that they will fall behind.

Now that I have time, it's time to deal with them.

Before Emperor Xuan could think more, Xu Jinyu's exclamation spread again.

[Oh my god, oh my god…]

A series of exclamations were followed by the sound of drooling.

Emperor Xuan: Whatever you see makes your mouth water.

[These monks are so rich. Their treasuries are fuller than the national treasury, with gold, silver and grain overflowing.]

Emperor Xuan: What! Monks are richer than him.

Minister of Revenue: We have the money for disaster relief!

Minister of Justice: How to do it?

[Where did all this gold, silver, and grain come from? ] Xu Jinyu wondered.

We can’t sell tickets and co-branded products like Hyundai does.

[We grow our own food, but a group of monks actually have tenants. Is this fair?]

[Oh my god! The Daxiong Temple in the capital actually owns hundreds of hectares of land, part of which was given by the late emperor, and part of which was donated voluntarily by believers.]

[Let me do the math. One hectare is 100 mu of land, so more than hectares of land is more than mu of land. That’s a lot of land! And that’s the land around the capital.]

[There is also a hot spring village. These monks are enjoying themselves too much. This is just the inventory of one temple in Daxiong Temple. ]

Xu Jinyu's saliva was flowing with envy.

Emperor Xuan and all the officials had become numb. A temple had more money than the court. This was a mistake in court management.

The next moment, Xu Jinyu's voice reached a new high.

[No! You will never get rich by farming honestly. This rule is true in ancient and modern times. Where did Daxiong Temple get so much money? ]

【High! High! Really high! 】

A series of praises emanated from Xu Jinyu's heart.

[Where did Daxiong Temple get this talent from? It's simply a pyramid scheme talent. He is so eloquent and can make the dead look alive and the living look dead.]

[The deceived believers were very quick to pay. The gold and silver must have come from somewhere. The most important thing is that the largest Buddha statue in Daxiong Temple is actually made of real gold.]

[I always thought that the Buddha statues in the temples were painted with a layer of gold powder, but it turns out that they are really made of gold. ]

Emperor Xuan's grip on the dragon throne tightened involuntarily: It's not that you are short-sighted, this is the first time I've seen a three-meter-tall golden Buddha statue.

Minister of Works: I have only seen bronze-gilded Buddha statues, but I have never seen such a large pure gold Buddha statue. I really want to go and see it.

The Minister of Revenue burst into tears: I'm rich, I'm rich, I have money for disaster relief, and I'll also have enough money for river management next year. Finally, I don't have to spend so much money.

The Minister of War was very excited: the army’s salaries would finally not be in arrears next year.

[Should I take Cao Kuan to visit Daxiong Temple tonight? I'm not greedy and would just cut off one of the Buddha statue's ears.]

[I am so poor. I never thought that one day I would be so poor.]

Minister of Revenue: No! You are not poor. The poorest is our Daqian treasury. The tax silver from your fiefdom will be delivered soon.

[It's decided. I'll go and trick Cao Kuan after the court session. Cao Kuan is also quite poor and can't even afford a house. We will definitely have a pleasant cooperation.]

The officials' eyes were flying in confusion. They hoped someone would expose this matter. If it didn't work, the internal guards would be sent, otherwise Lord Xu would stage a night visit to the Buddhist temple.

[Let me see who are the suckers who donated money to Daxiong Temple. "

"Princess Xun donated the most, 10,000 taels every year, and has been donating for more than ten years.]

Wow! All the officials retreated tactically. Ten thousand taels a year, more than a dozen years would be hundreds of thousands of taels. Prince Xun was really rich.

Prince Xun's face turned pale and he trembled as he thought about how to beg for mercy from Emperor Xuan.

He was stopped by a look from Emperor Xuan.

Xu Jinyu is still here, and we can’t let her notice anything unusual.

[The wife of Marquis Xinwu also donated a lot, 5000 taels a year. The wife of the Minister of Revenue also donated a few hundred taels a year, and the wife of the Minister of Works donated a few hundred taels a year.]

Officials: Shut up! Shut up! Please stop using your magical powers!

"The families of the left and right prime ministers also donated. This... this Daxiong Temple is doing well in business. Almost all the families of the officials in the court have donated."

All the officials were sweating coldly, and the court was arguing over the money for disaster relief these days.

But no one was willing to donate any money to the court. Instead, they donated money to Buddhist temples.

Some officials secretly looked up and glanced at Emperor Xuan's expression.

Emperor Xuan's complexion really looked good, turning from blue to black, and his eyes stared coldly at the left and right prime ministers standing in the front.