The temple is very large. Yan Fei saw this place when he was watching the scenery on the city wall, because it was almost the same size as the government office located in the city. When he entered it, he saw an extremely magnificent Grand Hall standing in front of him.

The glazed tiles' double-eaves roof and vermilion gate give people the first impression of their extraordinary momentum. The main hall is brightly lit, and the snow-white walls are about two meters high. They are covered with black tiles, and the walls are built into undulating waves. Inside the high walls are filled with rows of pine and cypress. The shadows of the trees are swaying under the moonlight and shade, which looks very grand.

Looking at the long bluestone road that extended from the gate to the hall, Yan Fei raised his hand and touched his chin, "This temple is quite rich."

He is indeed rich, because the Buddha statues in the hall are not only tall and mighty, but they are obviously made by famous artists, and the most important thing is all covered with gold powder!

There are large pieces of gold bricks on the ground, of course, not real gold, but they are burned into similar shapes. This was originally something that only the royal family could use, and these monks were really bold enough. Carved beams and painted buildings on the walls of the corridors everywhere give people an extremely luxurious feeling.

"Is this really a monastery?" Yan Fei glanced at Tang Jun who rushed into the hall, and asked Su Dingfang next to him in confusion, "The monk here is so rich?"

‘Bah.’ Su Dingfang spitted out with a dark face, “It’s all about people’s fat and ointment that squeezes those ignorant people. They are fat and big-eared, and their faces are covered with greasy. Your Majesty has long wanted to deal with them.”

Yan Fei knew that Li Shimin wanted to deal with these Buddhist sects not because they ate too much, or that was just a trivial reason. The real main factor was that Buddhism occupied too much land and population.

Due to various reasons, such as Emperor Wen of Sui worshipping Buddhism, Emperor Wu of Liang sold himself four times and finally starved to death, etc., the Buddhist sect was extremely powerful in this era, and even the government often bowed to it.

With a huge force, we naturally have to enjoy it. Many temples use their huge power to snatch the fields, and then use various means to get the tenants to cultivate the fields to provide them with supplies. The tenants are all full of food, but the monks are full of greasy faces.

The amount of land and population occupied by the temple is simply shocking. As an emperor, Li Shimin could not tolerate such a power under his command that did not have to pay taxes and claimed that he was not in the secular world.

There are all figures in the world, and the more temples occupy, the less the emperor owns. Conflicts are naturally impossible to avoid. This is the main reason why Li Shimin wanted to touch them.

Of course, many temples do evil and do evil things to avoid public grievances.

More than a hundred Tang soldiers rushed into the rooms and captured and drove out the inside. Those who dared to resist were killed directly on the spot. Yan Fei and Su Dingfang and their personal guards walked into the majestic Great Hall.

This is a huge main hall that is more than ten meters high and hundreds of square meters in height. Expensive sandalwood burns in the incense burner, gold wire is embroidered on the futon, and even the tables in front of the Buddha statue are bronze ware.

While Yan Fei was feeling the wealth of these monks, a burst of rapid footsteps came from behind. Looking at him, he saw a fat monk with a fat head and big ears rolling and crawling out from behind. Behind him were chasing several Tang army soldiers holding horizontal swords.

Looking at the golden thread on the monk's cassock, he must be a guy of a high level. But at this moment, his face was full of horror, and his face was piled up with a pile of horizontal flesh, which looked extremely ugly. Because there was too much meat on his body, he was caught up by Tang Jun behind him without running far.

It was probably because he was embarrassed in front of Yan Fei and Su Dingfang. The soldiers who caught up with him were full of anger. They slashed the huge head with a forceful knife in their hand and directly slashed the huge head.

The huge body, which had lost its head, fluttered forward for a few steps and then fell heavily on the merit box larger than the desk, which was inlaid with gold and silver. The bright red blood quickly dyed the big box bright red.

Yan Fei waved his hand and asked the salute soldiers to do their own business. He wandered around the huge Buddha statues.

‘Dongdong!’ Yan Fei stopped and reached out to knock on the Buddha statue, making a dull sound.

"It's so exaggerated." Yan Fei looked at Su Dingfang in surprise. "Is this pure copper?"

Su Dingfang looked disbelief, and hurriedly ran over and knocked at the Buddha statue. After a while, he looked at Yan Fei with red eyes, "Pure copper, gold powder applied outside."

"It's such a big deal." Looking at these Buddha statues, even Yan Fei was shocked.

Copper was extremely expensive and was used directly as gold in ancient times. For example, a thousand gold, or something like that actually refers to copper. In the feudal era, the thing represented by copper was very simple, it was money.

Coins can be directly minted. There is no need for anti-counterfeiting. As long as it is copper, it can be used as money. In ancient times, China was always lacking copper, but the monks here were able to use copper to make Buddha statues. This strength really scared Yan Fei.

"I'm getting rich." Su Dingfang held the pure copper statue with red eyes. In his eyes, these were all money.

Because Li Shimin is the emperor, it is not easy and the nobles want to get money. After all, for Li Shimin, the whole world belongs to him, so he naturally needs to protect and take good care of him. Therefore, if the civil and military officials and generals under his command want to use some means to get some benefits, he might turn a blind eye to him, but if he takes too darkly, Li Shimin will never be ruthless when he packs up.

In this case, it is a bit difficult for Su Dingfang and others to rely on their salary to make a living. Although their salary is not low, the expenses are also high. Dozens or hundreds of people in the family have to support them. Daily human relationships are even a bottomless pit. In order to maintain the life and face of the nobles, there are even people who borrow money to live.

Many martial arts are screaming and wanting to fight, because they can fill their pockets by making money during wars. Even the emperor will not reach out to get such income, and can be at ease.

Seeing Su Dingfang's expression that he wished to bite the Buddha statue, Yan Fei shook his head and smiled. These things were only surprising to him, but they didn't need them. However, for Su Dingfang and others, this was a big unexpected fortune. Although many people had to share them together, there was an essential difference between having and not having.

Seeing the many soldiers starting to put ropes on the Buddha statue with red eyes and ready to drag it away, Yan Fei turned around and leaned on the sandalwood to ignite it. He thought in his heart that the rich people in this era were extremely rich, while those without money were in a place without a standing position. If he wanted to change his destiny, he could only rely on the battlefield.

But it is obvious that Yan Fei underestimated the integrity of these monks.

"General, we found a dungeon behind us. There were many women in it." The soldiers who rushed from the backyard reported an incredible news.

"What?" Su Dingfang, who was about to drag the Buddha statue away, looked over with confusion, "Are you sure you read it right?"

"How dare you lie about military information?" The soldier shouted. "There are indeed decades of young women who were arrested and locked up by those monks for XX."

The hall was quiet at first, then there was a heavy breathing sound. After a moment, Yan Fei suddenly laughed, "I'm really open today. General Su, what do you think?"

"kill!"

With a murderous order issued, all the people who were caught in the temple were cut off their heads. Anyone who was bald or middle-aged had hair loss can only admit that they were unlucky.

The reason why these monks tried hard to stop Tang Jun from entering was also considered to be found. In addition to these young women who were detained in dungeons for XX, Tang Jun also found a large amount of gold, silver and wealth, land deeds, jade treasures, and Buddha statues cast of pure copper, etc. from the temple.

The money was so rich that it was beyond imagination. A brief calculation was almost as good as Niu Jinda's search for half of the materials from the treasurys of the governments in Yingzhou. This shows how rich these monks are.

Seeing the many soldiers smiling and starting to distribute various wealth, Yan Fei looked at him for a few times and did not disturb Su Dingfang, whose eyes were red, but turned around and left here and went to find Niu Jinda.

He had one thing he wanted to do, but he needed Niu Jinda's support to mobilize the army.

The total number of front troops with Niu Jinda as the main general was about 30,000. The orders I received when I set out from Youzhou were to investigate, hit outposts, build bridges when encountering water, and open roads when encountering mountains. It would be OK if I had the opportunity to capture the city.

Under normal circumstances, the former army's forces would be able to surround Lulong City on the border if they were killed. If Niu Jinda fought desperately, he could also conquer Lulong City with heavy casualties. However, it is estimated that the main force led by Li Shimin himself should arrive when he took Lulong City, and there would be heavy casualties.

After all, in the era of cold weapons, siege is a very difficult thing. Even siege without human life will take a considerable time and cost.

But that was just a normal situation. The reality was that with Yan Fei's super strong help, Niu Jinda's front army directly captured Lulong City without even spending the night. Then he attacked quickly and captured Yingzhou City when the main forces of the front army had not all arrived. At this time, the main force led by Li Shimin himself had not even left Youzhou City.

Such a lightning-like advancement speed exceeded everyone's imagination. Even Li Shimin came three times in a row to inquire whether he had really captured Yingzhou City.

After receiving the exact response, Li Shimin was also a little confused about the situation. So he asked Niu Jinda to temporarily postpone the attack and maintain his investigation of Goguryeo, but the main force had to wait for him to arrive in Yingzhou City.

Yan Fei's next target was Jingguan, where the Goguryeo people piled up the bodies of former Sui soldiers. This humiliation for the Central Plains dynasty was right in front of him, so he wanted to completely destroy the humiliation.

At the same time, he also took this opportunity to lure the Goguryeo field legion and annihilate it in one fell swoop. To do all this, he needed a bait force with enough weight.
Chapter completed!