Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhang Gen and his wife Huang visited Zhu Guoxiang's mansion for the first time.

Zhu Guoxiang received him warmly and asked Shen Yourong and Wen Xiaomei to chat with Huang. He also called his daughter-in-law Zhang Jinping to meet his parents.

Compared to when they got married, the two families were obviously much stranger to each other.

After a few glasses of wine, Zhang Gen casually reminded: "The scope of official salaries has been expanded to include county government officials. Do you have that much money and grain to use to pay official salaries?"

"You have to give it a try, and the salary is not high. Many officials can only receive some monthly rations."

Zhu Guoxiang elaborated: "In the Song Dynasty, many yamen overlapped. With Chongwenyuan, Mi Pavilion, Longtuge, Zhaowen Pavilion and Jixianyuan, of these five yamen, only one or two can actually be left. . There are six departments in the Shangshu Province, nine temples, and three departments. If these yamen can be cut in half, won’t the imperial court cut off the three departments? There is the Ministry of Rites, the Taichang Temple Ceremony and Music, and the Council of Ceremonies. Bureau, Liyuan, and Taichang Liyuan. There is the Ministry of Punishment, the Dali Temple Criminal Law, and the Judgment Court. Not only do these yamen have overlapping powers and numerous redundant officials, but each yamen also has multiple officials, who are under the name of the officials. There is still a shortage of officials. This is how redundant officials and officials come about. Wouldn't it be a good idea to abolish the redundant government offices and use them to pay salaries to the lower-level officials?"

Zhu Guoxiang took a drink and continued: "The same is true for the central court, and it is also true for various state capitals. A large number of yamen have overlapping powers, and there are countless redundant officials. Cutting off half of them is redundant, streamlining the organization and cutting redundant staff can also improve office efficiency.

When Zhao Guangyi was in power, there were only 200 officials in the court.

By the time Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the number had increased to 400.

When Renzong of the Song Dynasty came to the throne, it directly increased to more than a thousand!

Since then, the establishment has continued to expand, both centrally and locally.

And every time an official is added, several more officials will be added, or even more than ten officials.

If it is because of the increase in the economy and population, it makes sense that we need to continue to increase the number of officials. However, many yamen are purely redundant, and many positions are completely empty. Simply cutting them in half is more than enough.

Especially the extra officers and idle officers are just for free!

By eliminating one idle official, a bunch of officials can be laid off. Wouldn't it be better to use the salary that supports them to pay wages to lower-level officials?

Zhang Gen raised his glasses and said, "Your Excellency, do you want to practice the Qingmiao method?"

"The Green Seeding Method must be implemented, but how to do it must be carefully planned." Zhu Guoxiang also felt a headache about this.

Because Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty expropriated small households in the countryside, they basically owed usurious loans to large households, and the interest would be compounded for several lifetimes to repay.

It is definitely not possible to divide the land among the local tyrants. It can be as simple as one size fits all and it will be comfortable. Without strong grassroots control, it will only turn into smashing, looting, and burning, which will destroy productivity and stable production relations.

What's more, landlords are also the basic base of the Zhu family and his son.

The Qingmiao method was not invented by Wang Anshi. It existed as early as the middle and late Tang Dynasty.

Based on Changpingcang, the government purchased rice at a higher price in good years to avoid low prices and hurt farmers; in bad years, it sold rice at a low price to stabilize grain prices as much as possible. Appropriate loans are provided to farmers so that they can cultivate in the spring or use them to tide over difficult times. This is the green seedling method that has been used since the Tang Dynasty.

However, there are too many loopholes to exploit during the implementation process, and the scope is limited to rural areas near state and county towns.

Wang Anshi's Green Seed Method is to fill in those loopholes and expand the scope to a wider area.

But the operation is completely deformed!

First, Wang Anshi stipulated a maximum interest rate of two cents, and local officials gave it at least three or four cents. Low-interest loans to benefit the people directly turned into usury.

Second, they are afraid that people will borrow money randomly, so that the rich and the poor will be matched, and ten households will have guaranteed loans. If interest rates are really low, wealthy households will borrow more, while ordinary people will not be able to get loans. Moreover, wealthy households take low-interest loans from the government, and then lend them to ordinary people at high interest rates to earn the difference. And if the interest rate becomes high, the people will be forced to borrow money by the government, and the wealthy households will pass on the usury to the ordinary people.

The greater the promotion of Wang Anshi's Green Seed Law, the more miserable the people will suffer.

Moreover, when it was implemented, the government did not have enough money for borrowing money, so it had to buy rice from wealthy private households as reserves, which was called "He Bian". At the time of Wang Anshi, "He Bian" had already begun to issue IOUs. Rich households who sold grain to the government could only receive a bunch of IOUs, saying that they could use the IOUs to deduct taxes next year. However, whether the tax can be deducted and when will depend on the government's explanation.

By now, the government has given up pretending, and is too lazy to write IOUs anymore. "Hebian" has directly become a miscellaneous tax assessment.

Zhu Guoxiang needed to supply food for his son to fight the war. Where would he get the money and food reserves to carry out the Young Crops Law? The reputation of "harmony" has been ruined. The Zhu family and his son announced the cancellation of this kind of apportionment, and then picked it up again to slap themselves in the face.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I plan to ask landlords to reduce rents and interest rates."

"How to subtract?" Zhang Gen was quite curious.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Effective from New Year's Day next year, the money and grain borrowed by farmers before will be calculated at one point per year regardless of the time of borrowing. If the interest exceeds the borrowed principal, the interest will be stopped immediately and only the principal will be repaid. If the interest has been repaid twice The payment of principal and interest will be stopped immediately, and the loan relationship will be terminated. From next year, the annual interest rate for new loans of money and grain shall not exceed two and a half cents. This is an interest rate reduction. As for rent reduction, the maximum land rent limit shall be set according to the land property grade and tax amount. The land rent shall not exceed 30% of the actual product of the land.”

Zhang Gen said with a smile: "What should landlords do if they think the interest rate is too low and don't lend money to tenants and ordinary people?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The annual interest rate of two and a half cents is enough for landlords to make a profit from borrowing. If it is profitable, they will definitely lend money and food."

Zhang Gen asked: "How to implement rent reduction and interest rate reduction?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I have a knife."

"King Shu also had a knife back then," Zhang Gen said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "My knife can kill officials, officials, and landlords."

Zhang Gen shook his head: "Your Excellency, you can never kill someone with your own hands. The knife will always be in the hands of the officials. What if the officials take advantage of the opportunity to profit? What if the officials and the people collude? What if the landlord conceals his property?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "That's why we need to start with equalizing taxes on square fields. In the fall and winter of this year, we will clean up the fields and send inspection personnel to the states and counties. The common people can sue the landlords, and the landlords can sue the officials. If the officials take advantage of the opportunity, they will be dismissed from their posts, and in the worst cases, they will be fired. Beheaded. If a landowner deliberately conceals his land, or falsely declares his land, etc., the severity of the punishment will be determined based on the amount of concealment. In the lighter case, he will be fined ten times, and in the worst case, his family property will be confiscated."

"It is inevitable that there will be omissions or unjust cases." Zhang Gen said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Some mistakes and omissions can be tolerated as long as no big trouble occurs. If the officials are not stupid, they will implement it seriously because they can quickly achieve political achievements. What we should really worry about is not the collusion between officials and officials in the field, but For the sake of political achievements, officials have acquired a lot of land, and the barren mountains and mountains are also attributed to the landlords."

"Indeed," Zhang Gen said, "it is a good thing to check the land area, but Cai Jing's several orders for land allocation were ruined by officials' random land management."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I have asked the craftsmen to make a thousand field rulers and a thousand field poles. These poles and rulers will be used as the basis for inventorying the acres of land, so as to prevent officials from using big rulers to make small rulers and small rulers to make big rulers."

Zhang Gen stayed at Zhu Guoxiang's residence, and the two chatted for most of the night. The topics included not only the equalization of taxes on square fields, rent and interest reductions, but also the re-registration of household registration through Zhang Tian and the investigation of hidden households. There are also future plans to divide the land into acres (this will have to be announced after the end of land tenure), how to adjust taxes year by year, and even completely cancel the policy of extinguishing fines.

Zhu Guoxiang also sketched a blueprint for Zhang Gen. The Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun must be restored, the Western Region must be opened up, Yunnan and Jiaozhi must be brought back, and the vast territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties must be restored.

After talking freely all night, Zhang Gen was so old that his blood boiled with excitement.

In the middle of the morning of the second day, Zhang Gen woke up in the guest room and looked at the mosquito net on the bed in a daze.

"What happened?" Huang asked.

Zhang Gen lamented: "The Zhu family and his son have been planning for a long time, and the rebellion is by no means a whim. They have their own set of systems that involve various ills of the court. If they were born during the Xining period, they would have been the backbone of the reform. Now the Song Dynasty has accumulated many ills. Except, it is no longer possible to reform, and we can only rely on rebellion to implement the new law. I no longer hate them for rebelling, but I admire their decision. It is a pity that I, the Zhang family, lived in Song Lu, so how can I be a thief and cause chaos?"

Huang looked around and asked in a low voice: "Can the Zhu family and his son succeed in rebelling?"

Zhang Gen thought: "It depends on whether they can block the imperial army. If they occupy Sichuan and block the imperial army from conquering, they only need to stabilize the people for three to five years before they have the strength to break out of Sichuan. They are extremely ambitious. We will never settle for Bashu, we will either lead troops into Bianliang or be annihilated by the officers and soldiers. There will not be a second Xixia, there will only be annihilated rebels or the new emperor."

Mrs. Huang said happily: "Can our daughter be the queen?"

"What are you thinking about?" Zhang Gen scolded, "The Zhang family and the Huang family have been ministers of the Song Dynasty for generations. Don't say such words again!"

Huang asked: "You often say that the Song Dynasty is hard to come back from, is that true?"

Zhang Gen nodded.

Huang asked again: "You often say that it is impossible to change the emperor and implement reforms. Is that true?"

Zhang Gen had no choice but to nod again.

Huang said: "The imperial court is hopeless. Our daughter can still be the queen of the new dynasty. Why are you still hesitating about private affairs? When you were in power in Huainan, you sighed all day long, blaming the emperor and the emperor. The traitorous ministers also angrily scolded the local corrupt officials every day, pitifully plundering the common people. Look at Hanzhong, after it was occupied by the in-laws, how can the common people live better than the people in Huainan?"

Zhang Gen was upset, got up and went for a walk outside, saying, "I'll think about it again."

Zhang Gen was walking alone on the street. No one was following him. Thousands of thoughts came to his mind, and he stood on the cross street not knowing where to go.

"Good news, good news!"

An officer was running through the streets holding a cloth: "The general (Ju Ming) has arrived in the entire Keli state, and the officers and soldiers have been defeated..."

After a while, another official announced his victory: "Li Tongzhi (Li Bao) has captured the entire territory of Ba Prefecture, and the officers and soldiers fled in the face of the wind..."

The two good news caused a sensation in the city.

Merchants, scholars, and ordinary people all took to the streets to watch Lu Bu and inquire about the news.

If he does not win again and again, if he cannot continue to expand his territory, Zhu Guoxiang's benevolent government will be rootless, and the people will always have various worries in their hearts.

Only continuous victory in wars can effectively boost people's morale!

With the power of a great victory, Zhu Guoxiang announced an order to equalize taxes on every square field, and at the same time asked the scholars within his jurisdiction to sign up as inspectors.

The inspectors have no salary, only food and travel subsidies, and inspect the local land tax situation on behalf of Zhu Guoxiang. This is not considered being a thief, it is just supervision for the people. If any problems are found, being a thief in the future will also be counted as a political achievement.

Those hesitant scholars completely put aside their doubts and came to sign up one after another.

I am not a thief, I have no psychological burden, and I am not afraid of being investigated by the court.

If the rebels become bigger and the separatist regime in Sichuan is not destroyed, they can officially join the bandits, and this inspection will be counted as a political achievement.

There are only advantages and no disadvantages, so a fool would not do it!

Even the students who were dismissed from the Imperial College felt itchy and kept brainwashing themselves: This is not to be a thief, but to clear the land for the people!

Chen Dong couldn't hold himself back at first, so he took several friends to sign up, and was assigned to be a "Fangtian Inspector" in Baocheng County.