In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

Zhao Jun reprimanded the Manchu officials early in the morning, and after returning to Chongzheng Hall, he slapped the table and scolded Lu Yijian and Sheng Du, and finally managed to calm down the incident.

This also allowed many people to see his political stance and understand that Zhao Jun also supports the New Deal reforms.

For a time, he was hated by many officials.

But sometimes there is nothing we can do. Reform is something that is inherently hated by people. No matter how good the system is, the possibility of succeeding at harming the interests of the majority of people is very small.

But why don’t you do it if it’s difficult?

The phrase "the right person will get a lot of help, but the wrong person will get little help" is not how it is originally used.

Because "Tao" as the truth is actually sometimes not in the hands of the majority of people, but in the hands of a minority of people.

Wouldn't it be ridiculous if officials were corrupt, perverted the law, and were corrupt and incompetent?

So no matter what, no matter how difficult it is, you have to grit your teeth and keep going.

At least Zhang Juzheng's reforms in those ten years were successful, and later Yongzheng's reforms were also successful. History has proven that the New Deal works, so we must persist.

The only problem that needs to be worried is that even after Zhang Juzheng's reform and Yongzheng's reform were successful, they would soon die.

But as Zhao Jun has just turned twenty-eight this year, he can make up for this.

First, he is still young and has enough time to train his successor.

Secondly, and most importantly, if everything goes well, there will be at least several decades in the future for strong political figures to implement the policy with an iron fist.

Otherwise, if he traveled through time, he would be very old and would only live for a few years. He really wasn't willing to go through such trouble.

And another situation is that the person in charge of the New Deal is Fan Zhongyan.

In fact, the firepower attracted by Zhao Jun is not as big as that of Lao Fan. Even if everyone is targeting him, it is still targeting Lao Fan. What does it have to do with him as a supporter?

Even if the officials were daring and wanted someone to assassinate the officials in charge, Fan Zhongyan was the one who was killed.

It's enough to risk death and take the blame for Lao Fan. It's enough for him to provide support behind the scenes.

Even if Lao Fan was brutally murdered by conservative interest groups and evil forces, Zhao Jun could only avenge him with tears, and then train Wang Anshi to continue his work.

Zhao Jun will naturally not pass the blame and shirk responsibilities like Chongzhen, but he needs someone to help him stand in front so that he can do other things.

Otherwise, if we spend all day chatting and scheming with these officials, there will be no need to do other things to revitalize the country.

At noon, Zhao Jun went home to sleep.

At the time of application in the afternoon, Zhao Jun got up after resting for more than two hours and prepared to go to the Constitutional Yuan to check the situation.

But before he could go out, Jiang Dalang said Fan Zhongyan was waiting at the door.

He went to ask Fan Zhongyan to come in first.

Zhao Jun's house is just an ordinary private house. The advantage is that it is very close to the palace, and right out of the street is Xihua Gate.

The shortcomings are also obvious. It is not big enough. There is only a front yard, a front hall, an atrium, and then a courtyard-like backyard.

In the backyard, apart from the master bedroom where Zhao Jun and his wife live, there are two wing rooms on the left and right.

In one room lived two maids brought by Cao Miaoxin, and in the other room lived three Japanese maids sent by Song Cai. The study was behind the master bedroom.

These three Japanese maids are quite diligent. They clean the yard, make tea and clean the house every day.

On the contrary, the maid was bossy and directed them to work, more like a master than Cao Miaoxin.

I originally thought that these Japanese aristocratic ladies couldn't bear the injustice, but I didn't know that they were quite happy. They often kneel down to greet their masters and masters, and are not angry even if their maids are of higher status than them.

Later I learned that although they were Japanese aristocratic ladies, the status of Japanese women was low, so aristocratic ladies were better than common women.

Secondly, the Japanese people particularly admired the Song Dynasty. In their eyes, the Japanese were born shorter than the people of the Song Dynasty. They felt that they were proud to live in the Song Dynasty for a long time, and they did not feel ashamed at all.

So even though I live like a servant, I feel much better than in Japan.

"Your house is too small. With your current status, you should build a large courtyard."

Fan Zhongyan stepped into the front yard and saw that although there were two towering apricot trees planted in the yard, the total area was estimated to be less than three or four hundred square meters, which seemed a bit cramped to people who were used to living in large courtyards.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "There are advantages to being small, it feels like home. No matter how big the house is, what's the use? The final destination in life is just that coffin."

"What you said is quite mysterious."

Fan Zhongyan smiled.

"This is called the philosophy of life."

Zhao Jun led Fan Zhongyan into the front hall.

The maid made the tea and a maid brought it over.

After the two people sat down, Zhao Jun asked: "Are you getting off work so early? Why don't you work until Youshi?"

"I'm too lazy to see Lu Yijian's old face filled with bitterness and hatred."

Fan Zhongyan picked up the tea and took a sip, then praised: "This tea is brewed well."

"It's a bit incompetent to retire early after becoming prime minister."

Zhao Jun smiled.

"Actually, I want to ask you, what should I do now?"

Fan Zhongyan put down his tea cup and said with a bitter smile: "There is already so much opposition to the exam, what happens next?"

"It's difficult to be an official."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "The test method is already the mildest. It doesn't cost their lives. It only supervises them to work well, but it still pushes them back."

"You should say that reform is difficult, but being an official is not."

Fan Zhongyan retorted: "If I didn't take this bad luck, just defeating the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms would be enough for me to rest on my credit book for the rest of my life."

"Are you still Fan Zhongyan?"

Zhao Jun asked back.

Lao Fan looked at him, and the two of them looked at each other like this, and within two seconds they both started laughing.

"Yes, I am Fan Zhongyan who said in history that he should worry about the world's worries first and rejoice after the world's happiness. But sometimes, I also feel very tired."

Fan Zhongyan sighed, spread his hands and said, "I thought Lu Yijian and the others could understand me, but who knows?"

"There is no other way. Someone has caught him, and he has no way of raising his son, and he wants to keep his own son. Ask yourself, if your sons Fan Chunyou and Fan Chunren are in danger of being exiled, are you anxious?"

Zhao Jun asked.

"If they know the law and break the law, I will kill them with my own hands!"

Fan Zhongyan gritted his teeth and said.

The Fan family's family laws are still relatively strict. Although Fan Chunren was one of the core members of the conservatives in Wang Anshi's reform later.

But he was of noble character and easy to forgive. Apart from supporting Sima Guang in ceding the territory of the Four Villages of the Song Dynasty to Xixia, he did not have any major moral stains. This had a lot to do with Fan Zhongyan's strict family upbringing.

"Just because your family has strict laws doesn't mean everyone is like you."

Zhao Jun shrugged and said: "Tiger poison does not eat its children, Lu Yijian and Sheng Du just made mistakes that every father may make. From a legal perspective, I am against them. But from their standpoint, I don't Fa accuses them. What happened to Lu Gongchuo can be regarded as a lesson to Lu Yijian. "

"What are you going to do with it?"

Fan Zhongyan asked.

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said, "I haven't decided yet. Let's talk to Li Di when the time comes."

Lu Gongchuo must not be lenient. Although the statement does not apply retroactively, existing laws should be implemented. Lu Gongchuo committed a misdemeanor, but Lu Gongbi, Sheng Shenfu, and Zhang Yuxi committed serious crimes. This is obviously putting the cart before the horse, and it naturally needs to be corrected.

After all, non-retroactivity of laws is a concept proposed by later generations. In ancient times, there was no such thing as retroactivity. Even if it was something strictly stipulated by law, it had to be changed if the emperor ordered it to be changed.

For example, during the Zhao Kuangyin period, many officials committed corruption and violated the law and were killed by him. However, there were also officials who did more serious things, and corruption and violation of the law were considered minor.

Wang Jixun was a cruel man, allowing his men to plunder wantonly in the capital, killing more than a hundred maids with his own hands, and eating people for meat. However, he was protected by Zhao Kuangyin, and he was not executed until Zhao Guangyi came to power.

Therefore, in ancient times, talking about Dharma without tracing the past was something that was not accepted and understood by the world.

Many of the things Zhao Jun does will try to follow things that can be understood by the ancients. For example, the New Deal discussed with Fan Zhongyan is basically a successful example of the reform of the feudal dynasty in history.

He still has a lot of dragon-slaying skills, but he doesn't dare to use them at all.

But even so, the resistance was already considerable, which shows how difficult the reform was in the Song Dynasty.

"Um."

Fan Zhongyan responded, and then asked: "Will we continue to implement other new policies in the future?"

"Of course, we must spare no effort to implement this."

Zhao Jun replied without hesitation: "But I have also thought about it. If the examination law is strictly implemented for a long time, it will really have a great impact on the enthusiasm of officials, so I think I can change my thinking."

"What idea?"

"Increase incentives."

"Reward?"

Fan Zhongyan thought about it and realized that there were indeed only punitive measures now, but no incentives.

If a person does well, it is what he should do, but if he does poorly and fails to complete tasks on time, he may be fined. If he makes any mistakes again, he may be deducted and demoted. The most serious thing is to be dismissed from office.

At present, there have been no incompetent officials dismissed from office in the Song Dynasty because they did not complete the task of passing the imperial examination. The main ones who were dismissed were corrupt officials who were picked up under the imperial examination.

However, if such strict implementation continues for a long time, officials may become slack, and it is not impossible for one-third of the officials to be unqualified like the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, setting incentives may indeed improve officials' enthusiasm.

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "There are actually two types of officials. One is those at the top who can do what they say, and the other is those who are at the bottom who can do what they say. On the contrary, the officials in the middle often play a role of communication, but that is Officials in the middle are prone to bad things and convey a good policy into a bad policy, causing bad results.”

"Um."

Fan Zhongyan pondered what Zhao Jun said, and nodded in agreement after a moment. He understood this deeply.

For example, if he wants to implement a policy, but this policy will hinder the interests of middle-level officials, then these officials will suppress the lowest-level executive officials.

They can use various methods such as hints, guidance, and even pressure to make the officials below go in the wrong direction.

Wang Anshi's reform is a typical example.

At that time, for the officials who communicate in the middle, they can pass the blame to the bottom executive officials. There are too many executive officers at the bottom, and if the law does not hold everyone accountable, it will be difficult for you to end things.

We can't withdraw all the county magistrates, county magistrates, and county captains from all over the Song Dynasty, right?

So this is the current situation of officialdom reform, which is communicated layer by layer and progressed layer by layer. But once there is a problem in the middle link, the entire execution process will be distorted.

"This problem actually boils down to bureaucracy."

Zhao Jun continued: "These officials are condescending, self-aggrandizing, acting like "masters", perfunctory in their work, inconsistent with their words and deeds, selective in execution, and deceiving superiors and subordinates. They are the worst kind of guys."

"Isn't the Kao Cheng Fa the purpose of solving this problem?"

Fan Zhongyan said.

"But supervision and punishment based on the law are definitely not enough. Officials must also be rewarded to increase their motivation."

Zhao Jun frowned and said: "It's just that the salary of the Song Dynasty is already the highest in the history of the dynasties. Now just having a test law to supervise them is already causing trouble. If we lower wages and use wages as performance, it will definitely not work."

Officials in the Song Dynasty have enjoyed high wages for too long. Zhao Jun had previously cut the wages of senior officials in the imperial court without much resistance. That was because people really looked down on the money.

Among these high-ranking officials who can reach the third or fourth rank, which one does not have a rich family?

Even someone like Fan Zhongyan, whose family is not in business and relies solely on dead wages, can casually spend more than 2,000 yuan and buy more than 1,000 acres of fertile land to establish Fan's charity village. This shows how rich senior officials are.

But middle- and lower-level officials are different.

Officials in the Song Dynasty were able to do business, and at least they had to be governors of the state. Only by controlling the political power of a state could they have the capital to do business.

It's no longer possible to go down to Zhizhou, and they live a life of debauchery all relying on high wages.

If you cut off their wages, it is tantamount to cutting off half of their lives.

Therefore, it is probably not feasible to reduce wages and then judge performance by completing tasks assigned by the examination method.

"Then what else can we give them as rewards?"

Fan Zhongyan was also confused: "There are quotas for promotions. The higher you go, the harder it will be to get promoted. You can't open new departments and new positions."

"Forget it. Before I reformed the system, there were more than 24,000 current officials. After the reform, there were almost 40,000."

Zhao Jun said speechlessly: "I have solved the problem of more than 10,000 idle and redundant officials, but there are more and more current officials. If we open new positions, won't it be troublesome?"

He thought over and over again, touched his chin and said, "We still need a salary increase, but we can change the name."

Fan Zhongyan opened his eyes wide and said: "Redundant officials are already a serious problem. The imperial court has to pay officials more than 10 million yuan every year, and in the future they will be included in the public service. If the salary is increased, I am afraid that the three redundant officials will become four. Too redundant.”

"Stupid, I already told you to change your name."

Zhao Jun rolled his eyes and said: "The salary will definitely not change, but let me ask you, are the additional expenses, job money, post job money, job land, silk cloth, grain, rewards, charcoal, spices, etc. constant? ?”

"Of course not."

Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said: "These things are inherently subject to price fluctuations, and sometimes the output of job fields is not fixed. The court does not give rewards every year. If the prices of spices, ice charcoal, firewood, rice, oil, salt, etc. increase, it is normal for the court to have less subsidies. , and the amount was uneven. There was a county captain whose monthly salary was only 5 thousand yuan and 950 articles, and he also wrote poems and satires. "

"Then it's over."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "We can make a fuss about this. From now on, the annual additional expenses, job money, post job money, job fields, silk cloth, grain, rewards, charcoal, and spices will be reduced every year. The court will give reasonable The explanation is enough. It is not a direct reduction, but a normal fluctuation. The officials may be suspicious, but there is no evidence. At the same time, we can add the test method to the performance and the salary. "

"oh?"

Fan Zhongyan thought for a while and said, "You mean to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall?"

"wrong."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Due to rising prices and insufficient job output, the court subsidies can only be reduced. This kind of thing is very common. But in order to provide incentives to officials all over the world, the court still gritted its teeth, gave them rewards, and also made them The income of local officials has increased. Isn’t this a wise act of the imperial court?”

To put it simply, it's like you are an employee with a salary of 20,000 yuan, but in fact 20,000 yuan is just the average salary.

Your fixed salary is only four to five thousand yuan per month. The rest of your income comes from the daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt given to you by the company, as well as meal subsidies, gas money, transportation expenses, five insurances and one housing fund, allowances, and shopping cards. class stuff.

Depending on the company's operating income, such subsidies are sometimes more and sometimes less. So although it seems like your salary is 20,000, sometimes it is 25,000, and sometimes it is 15,000, with fluctuations up and down.

Such fluctuations were particularly obvious in the Song Dynasty. Due to insufficient productivity, prices often changed rapidly. For example, prices in disaster areas may increase dozens of times overnight.

As a result, except for the relatively stable income of officials in Bianliang, the income of local officials is actually not stable.

The county magistrate of a small seventh-grade county receives twelve kuan per month, five to three shi per month of millet, additional job fields, and various subsidies such as tea, wine, cooking materials, fuel, artemisia, charcoal, salt, etc. Feed for the horses and clothing, food, etc. for the accompanying servants.

Overall, the monthly income is about 100 yuan.

But this situation is unstable. It can only be said that in the best case, the monthly income can be hundreds of dollars. However, the court is going to war this year and has a fiscal deficit. No subsidies are paid, only basic wages, and even the basic wages are reduced or even paid. When not coming down.

That's why some county lieutenants laugh at themselves that their monthly income is less than six guan (the basic salary of a county lieutenant should be 12 guan per month).

Zhao Jun's meaning is very simple, that is, to continuously reduce the subsidies originally provided by the court, and then incorporate performance into the entrance examination method. This is equivalent to treating the reduced subsidies as performance.

Although the salary has not changed much, it can greatly improve the enthusiasm of officials.

Moreover, it is normal for subsidies to fluctuate up and down. As long as the court issues a notice saying that your subsidies are going to be reduced without any clear order, then if the subsidies have dropped for some reason, then it is a reasonable thing, and no official can find fault.

This is even good news for middle and lower-level officials, because in the past, when subsidies fluctuated downward, officials only had a basic salary of more than ten guan per month.

But now that performance is included, if performance is calculated as two to three times the basic salary, then even if the subsidy cannot be paid in a certain year, the basic salary will still be 20 to 30 guan per month.

With subsidies, the income will be guaranteed regardless of drought or flood, and there will not be a situation where the subsidy increases in a certain year and the monthly income is 100 guan, and the subsidy decreases in a certain year and the monthly income is only a few guan.

So this policy is definitely not a bad policy for middle and lower-level officials.

Some people said that the use of Kang Mazi's jokes in the first two chapters made people uncomfortable, so I deleted it. Mainly, I didn't want to use it, but a book friend happened to post it, so I just copied and pasted it to play with the joke.

In addition, I don't know if anyone will think that the chapters that discuss the content of the reform in detail are watery. I personally think this is still very important.

Because this book is actually mainly about top-down reform.

Although many people have been clamoring along the way that the protagonist can't do it, it may be that I am not used to writing cool articles, and I didn't let the protagonist be too smooth, which made everyone think that the reform of the Song Dynasty was difficult.

But no matter what, it has to be done.

Some people have been saying that top-down reforms are bound to fail, but in fact, Shang Yang's reforms, Zhang Juzheng's reforms, Yongzheng's reforms, and my country's reform and opening up are all successful cases. There are examples from top to bottom and from bottom to top. You really don't have to keep making a fuss about using your opinions to influence my judgment.

I don't even dare to implement the reform methods I think of. The protagonists use all successful experiences in history, and the methods they use are all successful methods among all the reforms I have found, just to avoid nitpicking.

In the end, they still make a fuss. I really don't know how I should write it to satisfy them.