Chapter 1 The Beginning

From the winter of the eighth year of Jianyan (1134), the imperial court officially began large-scale land registration and household re-registration in the southeast, specifically in the wealthiest areas of Liangzhe and Jiangnan East Circuit.

Under the direct pressure from Phoenix Mountain, almost all local officials in the southeast braced themselves and began the most critical and sensitive work that they had never dared to consider before. Those local gentry and influential households who might create direct obstacles to the land registration and household re-registration were summoned to Phoenix Mountain batch after batch. Like the local officials, they directly faced the pressure from the current Jianyan Emperor.

It should be said that this Jianyan Emperor had been on the throne for seven or eight years, possessed considerable martial prowess, and was hailed as the restorer of the dynasty... To put it bluntly, not everyone had the courage to say no to this emperor. After the martial arts gathering, most people even lost the courage to discuss relevant issues with the emperor.

Moreover, the people of the southeast, whether officials, gentry, or influential households, naturally lacked experience in dealing with an emperor.

However, even so, after only a few months of interaction, these so-called members of the southeast 'ruling group' still discerned some clues... To say nothing else, the emperor's attitude of facing difficulties head-on once he made a decision was truly daunting.

Precisely because of this, with the start of land registration and household re-registration, the entire southeast fell into a strange atmosphere.

First of all, it would certainly be inaccurate to say that everyone was silent, because Phoenix Mountain instead displayed a vibrant and politically relaxed atmosphere.

It was truly very relaxed and vibrant.

Old ministers from the southeast like Ye Mengde were pardoned with a single stroke, and Zhang Jiucheng, a leader of the southeast literati, was directly promoted to a high-ranking position in the Imperial Library... Who could say it wasn't relaxed?

However, people like Zhang Jiucheng and Ye Mengde were still relatively distant from the masses. What truly made the southeast gentry and influential households feel that they themselves could eagerly try was the gongge (Public Pavilion).

While carrying out land registration and household re-registration, the gongge also rapidly and resolutely established a three-tiered local gongge system at the circuit, prefecture, and county levels, similar to the structure of the three-level school system (sanshefa) of central government schools-prefecture schools-county schools. Under this system, the southeast gentry and influential households, as well as wealthy merchants and well-known monks and Taoists, were almost all brought in.

This gongge was by no means a mere empty shell used to accommodate influential households. Below Phoenix Mountain, everyone witnessed firsthand that many commoner scholars who used to be just like them had used the gongge as a springboard. Through political statements and talent displays, they obtained political futures that they had never dared to imagine before. From prestigious positions like editors of the Dibao (imperial gazette) to substantive positions like vice-prefects and county magistrates, Zhao Guanjia (the Emperor) was not stingy at all and was truly using tangible political power for political co-optation.

Even those influential households with official or clerical status, as well as purely wealthy merchants, landlords, monks, and Taoists, had their children and nephews arranged to transfer into prefecture and county schools in large numbers because of their entry into the gongge. Those with some reputation were even directly given the title of military students and became close attendants of the Emperor. This gave these influential households themselves a bit of political status and also added an extra expectation for their descendants to become superior men.

Study hard in the arts of peace and war, and sell your wares to the imperial family. Wasn't this what these influential households, whether they were official or commoner households, were aiming for?

In this atmosphere, competing to be the first was more like it. Who would dare to say that everyone was silent?

However, the strangeness of the situation lay here: Even though everyone knew that Zhao Guanjia was doing these things to ensure his two reforms concerning population taxes, namely, zidingbufu (taxing households instead of individuals) and tandingrumu (integrating the poll tax into the land tax), almost everyone intentionally avoided discussing the specific implementation of these matters, except for a very few scholars who would formally express their support through memorials in order to become officials.

At the same time, land registration and household re-registration at the local level were not going so smoothly. There was no open policy resistance, but there were private obstruction, delays through various means, various complaints to the prefectural and county officials, and bribery of the executing officials. There was even a case where, after Chancellor Lu Yihao issued an order for officials from various prefectures to be transferred to conduct mutual inspections, someone took advantage of a snowy day and the absence of the inspecting officials, who had gone out to drink, to burn down the fodder yard next to their office.

But the Zhao Guanjia’s dragon banner on Phoenix Mountain seemed to be blessed, as no one had died, which was something that amazed everyone, both high and low.

In short, for a time, the vibrancy of Phoenix Mountain and the tension and seriousness at the local level, the repeated orders from the official government documents and the drunken吟颂 (yín sòng, chanting with slow and gentle rhythm) in the West Lake restaurants, formed a starkly divided scene.

It can only be said that this phenomenon illustrated both the instinctive resistance of these influential households to the reforms and fully demonstrated their contradictory mentality when faced with Zhao Guanjia's coexistence of political co-optation and stern attitude.

Thus, as the New Year approached, around the time when the Imperial Academy of Tokyo would hold its policy debates, after an initial light snow, Zhao Guanjia officially convened a general meeting of the gongge of Liangzhe and Jiangnan East Circuits at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. Leaving aside the various trivialities in between, at the end of the meeting, Chancellor Lu Yihao suddenly stood up and publicly announced three new regulations concerning influential households.

First, wealthy merchants, landlords, and temples and monasteries whose real estate and assets reached a certain level (annual rent of 300 shi, interest of 300 strings of cash) would be uniformly included in the category of influential households, which meant that the term "influential households" would be truly worthy of its name.

It should be said that, as the name suggests, "influential households" referred to local influential families, that is, so-called wealthy and powerful households.

However, in the Song Dynasty, "influential households" was still a specific term, and there was a real household registration book for them, containing only official and clerical households. Once a family declined or its property was insufficient, it would be removed from the list of influential households and transferred to the category of ordinary households... Those who were wealthy and had official or clerical status were, of course, typical wealthy and powerful people.

However, this household registration still had a nominal defect, which was the lack of theoretically diligent and wealthy merchants and large landlords, as well as temples and monasteries.

Now, everyone was unified, and no one could escape. In a sense, this could be regarded as a 'household re-registration (household reorganization)' targeting influential households.

Second, regardless of anything else, all influential households in Liangzhe and Jiangnan East Circuits would have to complete their tax payments half a month in advance starting from the summer tax next year, that is, they would have to complete their tax payments before ordinary people paid their taxes... In any case, these people's family properties were there, and there was no need to wait for silk fabrics to be woven or autumn grain to be stored.

Third, the influential households in the two southeastern circuits would be the first to enjoy the benevolent policies of never increasing taxes and integrating the poll tax into the land tax for this summer tax. No matter what, the land registration of the influential households themselves must be completed first, and then the tax amount must be determined. The state's benevolent policies must not be lacking for the influential households.

Finally, Chancellor Lu also reminded the gongge members sitting below that they had an obligation to report those few influential households who not only did not know how to be grateful but also wanted to evade land registration and the new policies... The Emperor said that those who had previously engaged in tricks such as 'field skin and field bone' to resist the land tax, or who concealed land and did not report it during land registration, had no second chance, and their homes, temples, and shops would be directly confiscated!

This message was basically a show of force. Especially when Chancellor Lu was speaking, Zhao Guanjia sat behind him in silence... To put it in later terms, the most difficult land registration work had reached the stage of cracking hard nuts and tackling tough problems... And everyone understood that, with Zhao Guanjia's determination unwavering, to the point that he would start cracking the hardest nuts as soon as the spring began, whether the land registration in Liangzhe and Jiangdong could succeed, or directly speaking, whether the entire tax reform could succeed, would depend on this wave.

Success would mean success, failure would mean... it would probably not succeed before the Northern Expedition.

However, although the intentions were clear and everyone knew it face to face, considering Yang Yizhong, who often disappeared from behind the Emperor, and the large number of plainclothes imperial bodyguards entering and leaving the Phoenix Mountain palace, no one dared to collude in Hangzhou Prefecture, even though this was the best opportunity for collusion... For a time, it had the air of people exchanging glances on the road.

Of course, Hangzhou Prefecture was right at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, with Zhao Guanjia personally overseeing it, so it was normal to be afraid. But when these gongge members, who were basically equivalent to influential households themselves, left Hangzhou and returned home to prepare for the New Year, they couldn't help but gather again during the New Year holidays.

"Great Master Dahui is washing away the dirt for the Buddha for the New Year and is unwilling to come!"

On Mount Jing, in a quiet backyard, several extravagant figures from Yu Hang came together to offer incense. They naturally gathered together, and after exchanging a few casual remarks, they couldn't help but ask the abbot of the temple, who had come to accompany them, to invite Zhang Jiucheng's close friend, a member of the Liangzhe Circuit gongge and Vice Minister of Works, Dahui Monk, who was said to be a family friend of Chancellor Zhang Deyuan.

The abbot was thin-skinned and couldn't refuse, of course, but after waiting for a long time, the little novice only gave this reply.

The people looked at each other in confusion. How could they not know that Dahui Monk was wary of suspicion and unwilling to come?

However, although Dahui Monk was a man of the cloth, he was still the most outstanding gongge member from Yu Hang, and this time he had taken the opportunity to receive a purple robe and cassock in Hangzhou and was officially granted the name Dahui from the Emperor, which could be called the four-character Dharma Master Dahui Zonggao.

It would be somewhat unwilling to give up this position.

So, seven or eight people looked at each other, but a leading figure came forward, pulled a long face, and asked the little novice to lead the way to find the person, meaning that he wanted to take the initiative to go over. The little novice was at a loss and didn't understand the abbot's hint. He actually made a bow and turned around to lead the local extravagant figures away.

However, these people miscalculated. They followed the little novice through many twists and turns and walked for a long time. They finally arrived at a narrow, abandoned Buddhist hall, only to find that, in the middle of the New Year, Dahui Zen Master, who had just obtained the status of a purple-robed Dharma Master in front of Zhao Guanjia, was actually personally washing a Buddha statue with a few little novices... An abandoned wooden Buddha statue that had been placed here for who knew how many years was covered in dirt and dust. It was placed in this cramped Buddhist hall, and Dahui Zen Master had a bucket of hot water beside him. He personally took a rag and went into battle, busying himself on the Buddha statue, getting his head and face covered in dirt and dust.

Only because he had rolled up his sleeves, and his arms were constantly stained with water, were they still white and tender, like two winter lotus roots.

Seeing the other party in this state, a group of Yu Hang scholars hesitated a bit. When Dahui Monk saw the arrival of the crowd, he didn't stop what he was doing. Instead, while continuing to wash the dirt off the Buddha statue, he directly recited a doggerel verse on the Buddha statue.

As the saying goes:

"Everyone pours a ladle of dirty water, washing away the impurities from the Buddha's pure edge.

When the impurities are gone, the worries of all beings are eliminated, and the fox can roar like a lion."

Speaking of which, these seven or eight people didn't all have the same learning as Zhang Jiucheng, who could immediately understand. Instead, most of them were at a loss. A few of them seemed to have understood a bit, but they didn't dare to guarantee it, fearing that they would be laughed at for misunderstanding.

So, the people looked at each other again. They forced a smile and praised Dahui Dharma Master's Buddhist philosophy in front of the Buddhist hall, and then awkwardly withdrew. Then they returned to the original secluded courtyard and continued to talk about Dahui Monk until the afternoon, before finally dispersing.

Leaving aside the others, the abbot of Jing Mountain Temple had served these people well all afternoon and was already parched, but he didn't rush back to rest. Instead, he turned to look for Dahui, but he didn't expect that Dahui had already finished bathing the Buddha and was now diligently digging lotus roots alone in a small pond in the temple.

In winter, the small lotus pond had long lost its summer beauty and was full of withered branches and fallen leaves. Although the time for growing lotus roots was good, they were hidden in the cold water and mud below, requiring people to go into the pond in the cold water and carefully dig through the mud to unearth the large lotus roots. If one was not careful, they would break... This kind of work was something that even the little novices were unwilling to do in the past. The white lotus roots were always left to rot in the mud. It was only recently that the temple had registered its land and paid the full exemption money for all the monks in the temple, and then the abbot had issued a statement saying that if the temple didn't become self-reliant, it would run out of food. He also pointed to a few young and energetic monks to imitate Zhao Guanjia and set up a set of financial plans, carrying out internal financial reforms, which led to the hard work of digging lotus roots in winter.

However, no matter what, it shouldn't be up to the dignified four-character Dharma Master Dahui Monk to go down and dig himself. So the abbot awkwardly watched on the shore for a while, seeing Dahui Monk wearing a borrowed cowhide waterproof coat, rolling in the mud in the middle of winter, and the winter chill couldn't even cover up the stinking smell of the mud. He couldn't personally take off his monk's robe and go down to help, so he coughed a few times and then solemnly called out:

"Senior Brother! Senior Brother Dahui! Why go to such lengths?"

Dahui Monk raised his head and saw that it was the abbot. He immediately stood up from the mud and recited a doggerel verse from afar:

"No one plows the barren fields, but those who plow are competed with. The lotus leaves move without wind, and fish are sure to be there."

The abbot smiled wryly on the shore for a while. Then he looked around, waved his hand to signal the accompanying guest monk and the novices who were originally here to watch the lotus washing to go out and guard the door. Only then did he become solemn again: "Senior Brother, this junior has something serious and important to tell you, and this junior has always been clumsy, so let's speak plainly today and not speak in Zen riddles... What do you think?"

Dahui Monk also smiled in the winter mud: "Junior Brother is the abbot, whatever you say goes."

The abbot smiled wryly again: "Senior Brother, why do you have to be like this? This junior has always known that you have a background. Your heritage, reputation, and wisdom in Zen are ten times better than this junior's. When you came here, this junior thought that if the imperial court really fled to the south and formed a situation like the Northern and Southern Dynasties, I would recommend you, a monk from Tokyo, to be the abbot, so that we could deal with the officials... Come ashore, let's not speak in Zen riddles today, but seriously say some serious words."

Dahui Monk sighed slightly, chanted a Buddhist prayer, and then carefully climbed ashore, took off the cowhide coat, and wrapped himself in his outer robe... The two of them, one covered in incense and the other somewhat tainted by the foul odor of mud, didn't care. They didn't call the novices outside to bring some hot soup or tea. They stood side by side on the shore and spoke seriously.

"...That's how it is. Benefactor Wang and the others said that the court's land registration has resulted in the dispatched officials being crude and unbearable. They are worried that the disturbance to the people is still greater than the slight benefits of the benevolent policies. Especially since the south is not like the Central Plains, and the spring plowing will begin soon after the New Year. Delaying the spring plowing is delaying the great plan of the Northern Expedition. Therefore, they intend to submit a memorial to the court to postpone this matter for a season... What does Senior Brother think?" The abbot asked earnestly.

"Since Junior Brother wants me to speak plainly, then I naturally have to ask the abbot first, since ancient times, no one has understood the local situation better than us monks. What is the financial situation of these families? Is it substantial?" Dahui Monk immediately asked with a smile.

The abbot couldn't help but smile when he heard this. He chanted a Buddhist prayer and then replied earnestly: "Although they are scholarly families, they are all wealthy families in the area. For example, Benefactor Wang, who is leading the way, although he is a proper official household, his family suddenly became wealthy when his father was the prefect of Hezhong. After the Fang La rebellion, he began to vigorously acquire property. Not only did he acquire property in Yu Hang and Fuyang counties, but he also had several of his clansmen hold land in Muzhou and Huzhou on his behalf. He also has several shops in the city... I don't know about the others, but just the land alone yields more than a thousand shi of rent a year!"

Dahui Monk nodded repeatedly, of course, he had expected this long ago. But soon he thought of something and shook his head slightly: "That's not much, is it? It's still quite different compared to the Hebei landlords who relied on land grabbing before the Jingkang Incident, spanning counties and prefectures..."

The abbot smiled mockingly when he heard this and shook his head in response: "That's Hebei, this is the southeast. The population of the southeast is there. There are more people than land. Can Hebei compare? However, the north and the Central Plains have land grabbing, and we also had the 花石纲 (Huashigang, collecting rare stones and flowers for the emperor's pleasure). The problem lies elsewhere."

"That's true." Dahui sighed slightly, and then became serious. "Senior Brother has already understood what Abbot Junior Brother said. Then these people are naturally afraid that the taxes they have to pay will be too high after the zidingbufu and tandingrumu are changed, and they are temporarily reluctant... So they have the intention of resisting, rather than complaining that the government officials going to the countryside to work will disturb the local area and delay the spring plowing. Perhaps there is some reason, but it won't affect the overall plan."

"That's natural." The abbot replied calmly. "Therefore? Senior Brother, just tell me, do you think they can succeed?"

"Difficult!" Dahui immediately gave the answer.

"Please explain in detail, Senior Brother."

"Junior Brother, I see things this way." Dahui replied earnestly, and he didn't recite a single doggerel verse. "Since the Emperor has already shown his hand, if these people want to succeed, they must have extensive and proper connections, with the influential households as a whole, both up and down, left and right, working together to create a situation that the Emperor can't control for a while. Then, they must gather many important figures above to talk to the Emperor and have a showdown. But let alone that, I think it will be difficult for them to connect smoothly just by contacting each other."

The abbot was stunned for a moment, obviously not understanding.

Since Dahui had agreed to speak plainly, there was naturally no need to keep anything secret, so he immediately explained:

"First of all, it is difficult for these people to break out of the scope of the prefectures and counties in terms of connecting left and right... Take Benefactor Wang just now as an example. His family is in Yu Hang, his household is in Yu Hang, and he has lived in Yu Hang for generations. Of course, he can find people locally and become half a leader.

But he also has land in Huzhou. May I ask why the people of Huzhou should be with him? It must be known that, according to the argument of never increasing taxes and integrating the poll tax into the land tax, if his land in Huzhou is registered, it must divide the local tax amount in Huzhou, wouldn't that benefit the scholars and people of Huzhou who are not familiar with him at all? Then may I ask how much effort he has to put in to get Huzhou to connect properly with Hangzhou? Is there enough time?"

"That's right!" The abbot immediately realized. "That's exactly the case... Moreover, even if Huzhou also has a big landlord like Benefactor Wang, they can't be brought together, because the difference between the two places is not just a matter of a tax amount, but also daily disputes over water sources, determining field boundaries, discussing prefecture school quotas, and even the gongge quotas. If he goes to collude with the neighboring area, he will only be held back by his fellow villagers... It won't even work between counties... No wonder only Yu Hang locals came today... What else?"

"The other thing is that the top and bottom can't be connected... Influential households are divided into two types. One type is official households, who are leaders, have prestige, have people in the court, and can talk to the Emperor; the other type is clerical households, who have a lot of property, a lot of land, and a lot of local influence, but they each act on their own and can't talk to each other. They are even more scared of the Emperor... But the top and bottom have always been separated. The top disdains to know the bottom, and the bottom has no way to interact with the top. Junior Brother, do you think that the separation between the top and bottom in these influential households can be broken in a hurry?" Dahui Monk continued to explain in detail.

The abbot was stunned for a moment, then smiled again: "Senior Brother's words are really simple and direct, but they all hit the nail on the head... The top and bottom can't be connected, and in the end, the bottom wants to make trouble but has no leader, and I estimate that the Emperor's imperial army should also be arriving at Wuwei Army. Or they have already arrived, and they will be even more afraid to make trouble at that time; and the official households at the top not only can't make trouble themselves, but they are also afraid or unwilling to make trouble. Their method is nothing more than to find ministers and powerful people to persuade and shake the Emperor, just like the old party subdued the new party back then, but which minister dares to speak to the current Emperor?"

"There will definitely be some. You can always find someone who is unwilling, but it will definitely be useless." Dahui replied decisively. "I have personally seen the Emperor's decisiveness like a knife! If the minister who goes to speak is useful, he will immediately suffer a setback. If he is useless, going will only become a joke. The only thing I'm worried about seems to be that they can find someone to persuade Lu Yihao to block this matter from the position of the chancellor, but I don't think so either."

"Why?"

"Has Junior Brother ever heard a saying?"

"What?"

"Everything must have a beginning." Dahui solemnly put his hands together, and setting aside the smell of mud on his body, he was truly dignified. "Junior Brother, you must know that Lu Xiangong is already over sixty this year, twelve years older than Li Gang, and only a few years younger than Lu Haowen. May I ask why he is so hasty and strict... to the point that the central government doesn't dare to keep him?"

"I would like to hear the details." The abbot also solemnly put his hands together.

"During the Xuanhe period, the Great Liao Dynasty was destroyed, and the country purchased the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and established the Yanshan Prefecture Circuit. Lu Xiangong was the envoy, but in just a few years, the Jin people went south, and the local Han Chinese in Yanyun surrendered to the Jin, and Guo Yaoshi rebelled, capturing him into the Jin army..." Dahui said here, and couldn't help but sigh. "Thinking about it now, how could Lu Xiangong's rigidity not regard this as the shame of his life? And his beginning was here."

The abbot also said oh and understood at once.

"And knowing this beginning, we can know today's affairs." Dahui Monk continued to sigh. "When the Song and Jin fought, when the Emperor rose up to resist, he was the most determined to fight among the veteran ministers; when preparing for the Northern Expedition and recovering the two rivers across the river, he was the most resolute and reckless among the ministers; in terms of Zhao Guanjia's ambition to pacify Yanyun and destroy the Jin Dynasty, he is one of the few old ministers in the world who are willing to follow unconditionally and forge ahead! And in that case, this new tax policy is also an unshakable task for him! If someone is blind and afraid of the Emperor but wants to persuade him, I'm afraid he won't be able to spend the night in the southeast."

Hearing this, the abbot had no more doubts and nodded in agreement: "Thanks to Senior Brother, otherwise wouldn't I have made a big mistake?"

Dahui Monk was puzzled for a moment: "Did Junior Brother originally want to help those people today?"

The abbot slowly shook his head: "It's not helping them, it's helping or not helping others, recommending or not recommending them... When you went to Hangzhou a few days ago to attend the gongge meeting, someone took the opportunity to come in disguise, holding the silver badge of the Imperial Bodyguard, saying that since our temple has been thoroughly investigated and has paid the exemption money, we are a clean and usable person, so we must work hard to be loyal to the public. First, we should provide the Military Intelligence Division with information on the property and wealth of wealthy households around Yu Hang, and second, we should pay attention to similar things today for the Imperial City Division... I was originally a little hesitant, but after Senior Brother's words today were so clear, since the Emperor has already taken measures and the overall situation is clear, I don't need to hesitate."

Dahui Monk quickly chanted a Buddhist prayer, even instinctively wanting to recite another doggerel verse, but he remembered the previous agreement and forced himself to hold back.

Seeing this, the abbot got up, bowed slightly, and prepared to leave.

At this moment, Dahui Monk looked at the cowhide coat covered in mud on the side and thought of another thing, but in the end, he couldn't help but speak out: "Junior Brother!"

"What else is there, Senior Brother?" The abbot turned back in confusion.

"It's like this, since we said we wouldn't speak in Zen riddles and only speak plainly, and our brothers are so candid today, Senior Brother also has two things to say about the temple that I want to ask Abbot Junior Brother..." Dahui Monk actually seemed a little timid. "But if it's embarrassing, you don't have to say it."

"What are you saying, Senior Brother? Even the position of abbot can be given to you at will. What can't you hear about in the temple?" The abbot replied frankly.

"The first thing... I went to seek good fortune for the temple, but I didn't find it, and I even lost two hundred shi of new rice. Later, there was also this wave of exemption money and the early land registration. You didn't blame me, did you?" Dahui Monk became even more nervous.

"How could I?" The abbot couldn't help but smile, like the Buddha holding a flower. "The land registration and exemption money came together with the temples and monasteries in the southeast. How can I blame you? As for the two hundred shi of new rice, didn't it also bring a purple robe and a four-character Dharma Master to this temple? According to the previous market price, two hundred shi is already very cheap. It's just that the two hundred shi must be sent directly to the Tokyo granary next year, which will take a little more effort."

"That's okay. I'm familiar with the route, and I'll take a trip to the old place at that time." Dahui Monk was relieved for a moment, but he soon became even more nervous. "But there's one more thing. Recently, everyone in the temple has been saying that after paying the exemption money, there's not enough food in the temple..."

"It won't be that bad." The abbot became even more gentle. "Jing Mountain Temple has been standing in the southeast for hundreds of years, and it hasn't encountered the kind of disasters in the north. The 花石纲 (Huashigang, collecting rare stones and flowers for the emperor's pleasure) hasn't even come to rob it, and Fang La only came to ask for a jar of sesame oil. How can it be poor? Not to mention that the temple still has three dou and three sheng of rice granules of gold (reference to folklore about monks saving grains for emergencies) hidden to exchange for the true scriptures, even the sesame oil stored in the back warehouse is enough for you to drink for a lifetime and use to decorate and burn your relics after your death. Those words are just for me to take the opportunity to restrain those people below... Isn't this because the Emperor has arrived at Phoenix Mountain and the Imperial City Division is everywhere? I'm afraid they'll cause trouble... It's better to let them stay in the temple and work, and also hone their minds."

Dahui Monk raised his eyebrows slightly, said oh, and stopped talking. He just let the abbot turn around and leave. As soon as the abbot left, the monk looked at the cowhide coat on the ground and didn't even have the mind to wash it. He immediately recited a doggerel verse.

As the saying goes: "Old cowhide, no seams.

Ask for Buddhist teachings, pay with rice grains.

A slight difference, becomes a pretext.

Faceless, gets people scared."

After reciting it, he got up, patted his butt, and went straight out to call the little novice who was washing lotus roots to go to the kitchen to find vegetarian food.