Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1147 Postscript 4: The outsiders in the reform faction

Xie Yan's father after time travel was named Xie Yiqin, who was the general magistrate of Huangzhou Prefecture in Hubei Province and was in charge of household registration, money, food, taxes and other affairs.

The second brother's name is Xie Kan. He was not admitted to Imperial College and is studying in a private academy. He is just waiting to take the imperial examination next year.

They are from Hebei. They have been farming and doing business for generations, and they have always wanted to get official positions. In the past few decades, two consecutive generations have been awarded Jinshi, and three people have passed the exam one after another.

After dinner, Xie Yiqin called his two sons to the study and warned him very solemnly: "In the next few years, you should not get too close to certain classmates and friends, but you cannot directly cut off contact with them."

"Which ones?" Xie Kan asked.

Xie Yiqin said: "Children of wealthy families who oppose reform!"

Xie Kan asked: "Father supports the reform?"

Xie Yiqin said: "Of course I want to support it. Although our Xie family has a little bit of property, we are not even considered new rich. At most, we are country squires with some money. If the law does not change, it will be difficult for us to climb up in the officialdom."

"For someone like me who has been working as a general judge for a government since I was in my forties, it seems that I have been promoted very quickly, but in fact it all depends on my ranking in the imperial examination and my official performance."

"Before, you could rely on those two things to be a general judge. In the future, you have to rely on opportunities and connections. Otherwise, what's the point of having good political achievements? There are too many officials who can achieve political achievements!"

"If I don't support the reform, I will probably work as a prefect until my death. If I am lucky and live long enough, I will at most be promoted to a provincial government with no real power and participate in politics."

"However, we should not be reckless in supporting the reform. We should first look at the local response. No, it is not based on the local response, but on how determined the Queen Mother and the Prime Minister are to the reform. We are afraid that we will stand up and charge into the battle, but the Queen Mother and the Prime Minister will face the battle. flinched."

Xie Kan said: "Don't make it a fight between the old and the new parties. The reforms of the former Song Dynasty were common examination questions in the imperial examination. Who is not familiar with them who have studied?"

Xie Yiqin said: "That's why the prime minister is so ruthless. He beheaded and exiled so many people at once for treason."

Xie Kan asked: "What happened three years ago? Now people are talking about it and they can't agree."

Xie Yiqin went out to take a look and made sure no one was eavesdropping. Then he went back to the house and closed the doors and windows: "I suspect that the late emperor was setting up a plan. His insanity a few years before his death was all an act. The queen mother and the new emperor escaped from Luoyang." What’s strange is that the Prime Minister mobilized the troops in Chang’an and Kaifeng too easily.”

Xie Yan pretended to have lost his memory and listened silently.

"It's really strange." Xie Kan nodded.

At that time, King Yong isolated himself from the inside and outside, blocked information, and forged imperial edicts. Suddenly, he announced that he would depose the emperor's grandson and succeed him to the throne.

Although the central and local civil and military officials were surprised, they were all forced to admit it. There were even many speculators who immediately called to congratulate the new king on his succession.

By the time the orphans and widows fled to Chang'an to call the King of Telegraph Qin, it was actually already a step too late.

Most local civil and military officials chose to remain silent for the first time because they were confused about the situation. The armies far away from Luoyang also chose to wait and see, not knowing who to help.

At this moment, the Chang'an Prefecture garrison announced King Qin, and the Kaifeng Prefecture garrison announced King Qin, and directly launched an east-west pincer attack on Luoyang.

Soon, more than half of the Luoyang Imperial Army suddenly switched sides and called Qin Wang.

In less than a month, the matter was over, as if it was a farce, and civil and military officials everywhere looked at it in confusion.

The new Prime Minister Deng Gongwu is even more bizarre.

This person entered Taixue as a child prodigy and did not participate in the imperial examination at all. He was directly awarded a Jinshi for his first place in Taixue. In the first twenty years, he was promoted very quickly, but he was suddenly demoted to county magistrate and thrown into a poor place in Ningxia.

When Emperor Dingtai was in a coma, because three of his grandsons had died within ten years, the imperial censors petitioned for the reinstatement of demoted officials, overtly and secretly accusing the court of being too sinister.

Deng Gongwu was recalled to the court at that time, and he was the teacher of the emperor's grandson.

But the emperor's grandson died again, and Deng Gongwu and several other teachers were dismissed directly. Moreover, he could not leave the capital even after he was dismissed. He had to go to Taoist temples and temples in Luoyang to recite sutras and pray for the deceased emperor's grandson.

Just when people had forgotten about Deng Gongwu, this man suddenly fled the capital with his orphans and widows. When he reappeared, he was already energizing the whole country to call for King Qin.

I can’t understand it, I can’t understand it at all!

In the past three years, Xie Yiqin has often analyzed things from the perspective of conspiracy theories. The more he blindly analyzes things, the more he feels chills in his back.

He suspected that the four emperor's grandsons who died one after another were all murdered.

He suspected that Emperor Dingtai had difficulty distinguishing between loyal and traitorous people in his later years. This did not mean that he was too dim to distinguish between right and wrong, but that more than one of the emperor's confidants was cheating on him.

Therefore, Emperor Dingtai pretended to be in a daze and used his body to push the boat along with the current to lure the snake out of its hole. He also secretly looks for suitable candidates, and then waits for his death to do it all.

Xie Yan suddenly asked: "Has the Ming Dynasty now reached a point where it is necessary to reform?"

"No, we can continue to fool around," Xie Yiqin said, "But the finances are indeed in a bit of a dilemma. Land annexation has intensified in the past few decades, especially those factory owners and large merchants, who have countless money in their hands to buy land. The government and the opposition Corruption is serious at both the upper and lower levels, and it is even more unscrupulous in border provinces.”

"During the reign of the late emperor, he sent censors to inspect local areas many times. Although many corrupt officials were arrested, it was of no avail. There were many civil unrests in all directions, and there were even mutinies and pay disputes."

"The rebellion in the Qihe Protector's Mansion was due to excessive deprivation, which triggered a mutiny and then the foreign tribes also rebelled. The grassland principle was that farmers and herdsmen were exploited too much, which caused horse thieves to run rampant, and finally turned into a tribal rebellion."

"After the late emperor sent troops to suppress it, he built railways to Qihe and Mobei. These two railways emptied the national treasury."

"Then there was another rebellion in the Tubo Protectorate. The rebels ran away when they saw the officers and soldiers. It took three years to completely subside. There was no way to build a railway there, so they had to increase the garrison."

"The late emperor has been engaged in military reform for 20 years, but the resistance is too great. It can only be said that it has achieved some results."

"There were also many civil unrests and mutinies overseas, and the navy became even more lawless. The late emperor spent the rest of his life busy sorting out overseas affairs."

"While he was in coma, he demoted upright ministers at will. Most of those demoted direct ministers were demoted to serve as officials overseas. I now guess that the late emperor did this on purpose."

Xie Yan was speechless after hearing this, thinking that the late emperor was very busy.

Xie Yiqin said: "Now that I think about the various actions of the late emperor during his lifetime, it seems that every step is paving the way for the new emperor's reform."

"Then how should we change?" Xie Kan asked.

Xie Yiqin smiled and said: "People who have been reforming since ancient times have all held high the banner of retrogression. Our current prime minister naturally also wants to be retro."

Xie Yan, who is half-historically illiterate, said with a smile: "How can we change the old ways? The more we change, the more we go back."

Xie Yiqin said: "It is natural to restore the old laws of Taizu and Taizong. The old laws that are beneficial to the Prime Minister will be restored, and the old laws that are unfavorable to the Prime Minister will not be mentioned. Anyone who dares to oppose his reforms is against Taizu and Taizong."

"That makes sense." Xie Yan was extremely impressed.

Xie Yiqin said: "Your imperial examination textbooks are already being revised, and it is estimated that they will be completed soon. I have also received an order from the cabinet to restore all newly printed calendars and newly manufactured clocks to the Yellow Emperor calendar in the early years of the dynasty. ”

It was also Ju Ming's grandson who canceled the Yellow Emperor's calendar.

He believes that both officials and citizens use the Yellow Emperor's era, and fewer and fewer people pay attention to the reign name of the current dynasty. People only know that the Yellow Emperor existed, but they don't know how many years it has been since the current emperor ascended the throne. The Yellow Emperor's calendar must be canceled in order to restore his majesty.

Xie Yiqin continued: "Restoring the Yellow Emperor era is paving the way for the restoration of the reform. It is also a test to see which officials are opposed. The current reduction in the number of white officials and white servants is not only rectifying the officialdom, but also paving the way for the restoration of the immigration order. "

"Immigration order?" Xie Yan didn't understand.

Xie Yiqin said: "In the early years of the Chinese dynasty, there was a law to encourage immigration, which specially reserved a sum of money for local governments, and used the withheld finances to allow local officials to organize immigrants."

Xie Yan was puzzled and said: "Ordinary people can immigrate themselves, why do they have to spend money from the government to organize it?"

Xie Yiqin said: "Take Hubei Province as an example. In the early years of the Chinese dynasty, the land was vast and sparsely populated, but now it has more people and less land, serious annexation, and beggars are everywhere in provincial capitals, prefectures, and counties. If these poor people at the bottom want to immigrate overseas by themselves, How difficult is it? The local government has to spend money to transport them to coastal ports, and then the central court pays for them to go out to sea to earn a living."

"The special local finances used for immigration back then were misappropriated by local officials in the name of hiring officials. I don't see how much money the government pays to non-staff officials. On the contrary, more and more officials are not receiving money, and the immigration law has also There is no government to enforce it.”

Xie Yan asked: "Dad is also an official. Do you support this?"

"I support it rationally, and I don't lack the money," Xie Yiqin said, "but if we reduce so many civil servants at once, all the government offices at all levels will be in chaos. Many of the staff are just dawdling, and It’s very difficult to get them to actually do something because of the local intricacies.”

Xie Yan came up with an idea: "Reformulate the official evaluation method and fire all those who fail!"

Xie Yiqin said: "The dismissal of government officials must be approved by the provincial officials."

Xie Kan said: "If Mr. Deng wants to change the law, he must cooperate with the officials of the three departments of the provinces. If the province does not support it, what can we at the government level do?"

"It should be soon," Xie Yiqin said. "Whenever the chief envoy of Hubei is changed, I will respond to the reform."

Xie Kan was more radical: "Why wait for the change of chief envoy? Why don't we respond to the reform now? If the chief envoy and prefect stop us, just start a quarrel with them. The bigger the quarrel, the better. Let Prime Minister Deng know about it." , when the time comes, my father will be a leader of the reform faction!"

Xie Yiqin was still hesitating: "This matter is too risky, I need to think about it again."

"What else are you thinking about? If you wait until the momentum of the reform has begun before responding, how can your father stand out from the reform faction?" Xie Kan did not consider the consequences at all.

Xie Yiqin did not comment and changed the subject: "I am telling you this today to let you know the current situation. In the future, when deciding on topics for the imperial examination, you must find out which faction the examiner is from. If you are a conservative, you can write articles You have to be careful when talking about reform. If you are a reformist, the more radical you write, the better.”

Xie Yan understood that his current father was a timid but inclined to reform.

(Thanks to the leader of Jianshan Gen for the reward.)

(Finally, I would like to recommend a good book, "I Want to Be Reborn Too Much" by Silent Pastry. Lao Wang's next book is also a book about urban rebirth. Hehe, I heard that the review is now lax.)