Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 632 The Lamp of Reform
Fan Ning remembered very clearly that Wang Anshi's young crop method and Baojia method offended the Empress Dowager Cao, and the Empress Dowager Cao was already considering dismissing Wang Anshi's position.

Zhao Xu nodded, "I showed it to the emperor's grandmother yesterday, and she agreed to expand and strengthen the plan of official education. As for the reduction of redundant officials, the emperor's grandmother asked me to listen to the opinions of the ministers, especially the opinions of Fan Xianggong."

"Listen to my opinion?"

Fan Ning smiled wryly, isn't this putting himself on the fire?

But the emperor is waiting for himself to express his opinion!Fan Ning thought for a while and said: "To be honest, I have always disapproved of Wang Xianggong's fierce reform methods. Regardless of the consequences, I have reservations about my plan."

"Then, does Mr. Fan have his own plan?" Zhao Xu asked quickly again.

"Weichen thought about it before, maybe it's immature."

"Young Master, you might as well talk about it, and let me open up my mind."

Fan Ning pondered for a long time and said: "Wang Xianggong's report is divided into three parts, and I will talk about my thoughts on his plan."

"Fan Xianggong, please tell me, I will listen with all my ears."

"First of all, Wang Xianggong proposed to expand the official school and send a large number of idle officials with Jinshi to teach in the county government school. I don't agree with this. The state and county government school has always been the territory of Taixue graduates. This is actually expanding the contradiction. The Jinshi is unwilling. The Tai students were also not happy. In fact, I got an inspiration from the Baojia Law. The imperial court can install mayors or township heads in each township, and then rule that all county officials must be promoted from the township. "

Zhao Xu was puzzled, "Fan Xianggong pointed out the disadvantages of the Baoya incident before, how can he support the township officials now?"

"Your Majesty, the two are completely different in nature. The Baoya is a privately appointed official, while the township chief is an official appointed by the imperial court or the state government. The biggest advantage of this is that the imperial court's management extends to the townships. Now there are elders in every township. However, all disputes, big or small, are managed by the squires, which are separated from the control of the imperial court. After adding a layer of mayors and township chiefs, the township chiefs will manage them, with the assistance of the squires."

Fan Ning's idea really opened up his mind, and Zhao Xu couldn't get used to it for a while. He promoted and quickly wrote down Fan Ning's idea, and said with a smile: "I need to think about it, Fan Xianggong, please continue to talk."

"The second point mentioned by Wang Xianggong is the reduction and abolition of false officials, including Jiedu envoys, defense envoys, governors, prefects, regiment training envoys, Biejia, etc., as well as the expenditure of various false officials. Cut down the big heads of superfluous officials, and the government's salary expenditure will be reduced by at least [-]%. I agree with Wang Xianggong's direction, but I don't agree with the method. It is too simple and rude to cut it down. The humble minister knows very well that these false officials may not care about this little salary. , but what they want is honor, we have to find a compromise, stripping off salary expenses, but keeping their honor."

Fan Ning walked a few steps and said, "Your Majesty, you can carry out reforms on titles, restore Tang Jue, set up five titles below the king, such as Duke, Marquis, Bo, Zi, and Nan, and give them fiefs for each rank, but this fief is overseas. Some lands, such as those from the Southern Continent and the Central Continent, are given titles while revoking false officials, and the titles can be hereditary, and then they are compensated with overseas land, so that the voice of resistance will be much smaller."

Zhao Xu hurriedly took notes of Fan Ning's thoughts, and he secretly sighed that although Fan Ning was younger than Wang Anshi, his methods were sophisticated and sophisticated, but far surpassed Wang Anshi's. Wang Anshi's scholarly spirit was still a little too heavy.

"Fan Xianggong, please continue!"

Fan Ning said calmly: "The third point of Wang Xianggong is to restore the system of three provinces and six ministries. There are many problems involved. It is not a simple merger. The key is how to reconcile interests. If interests cannot be reconciled, then in the end it will only The more reforms, the bigger the organization.”

"Then what to do?"

"The method is also simple. Your Majesty sets the tone and must change it, and then carry out public discussions, including public discussions in newspapers. After several months of discussions, I think that the plan should gradually become clear, and everyone has it." Consensus, then the resistance to reform is basically gone.”

Zhao Xu sighed and said: "Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books. I think Fan Xianggong should carry out various reforms. Wang Xianggong offended too many people, and many people opposed him. In fact, they were all against him. , rather than against things, which always end up being a mess."

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "Your Majesty, the ministers are very aware of the current disadvantages, and they are all willing to see the Song Dynasty become stronger. The key is the interests. The ministers never agree with the views of the reformers and conservatives, which will only tear the Great Song Dynasty apart. In the Song Dynasty, the court fell into serious internal friction. Everyone should be allowed to participate in the reform, allow everyone to express their opinions and demands freely, seek common ground while reserving differences to the greatest extent, compensate for the loss of interests, and pay a price for gains.

Just like the military reform, if His Majesty hadn't given enough compensation to the top military in terms of overseas interests, how could it have been carried out so smoothly?The common people have obtained the benefit of being exempted from labor, so they have to bear the responsibility of militia training. "

Zhao Xu nodded, "Fan Xianggong lit a bright lamp for me, and I know how to go next."

Fan Ning said solemnly again: "Next, I want to talk to Your Majesty about the preparations for the Western Xia war. I need enough right to recruit and transfer troops."

Preparations for the Xixia war have always been a secret of the Song Dynasty, and only the top decision-makers know that Fan Ning is still serving as Hebei Xuanfu envoy and Liao envoy. He began to order the transfer of a large amount of grain and grass materials hoarded in Hebei from the waterway to Hedong, and the command center was also transferred from Hejian. The government was transferred to Taiyuan government.

In the days that followed, Song and Liao were busy with various deliveries. A large number of people who were taken away crossed the Baigou and returned to the Song Dynasty. The nobles, ministers and ordinary soldiers of the Liao Kingdom were also released back to Youzhou.

Yang Wenguang began to retreat from Yi County, and 3 Song soldiers returned to Dingzhou with thousands of people. The emperor Zhao Xu specially issued an order to reward the three armies. [-] taels, and his army also received generous rewards.

At the beginning of May, Qiu Jing, an official from Taiyuan, arrived in Yulin County under the escort of a thousand cavalry, and formally took over Dongsheng Prefecture from the Liao army.

On the tenth day of May, [-] Song soldiers left Juehua Island by boat and returned to Laizhou.

So far, the various deliveries between Song and Liao have been completed, and the two sides have restrained their forces and carefully maintained the fragile balance between the two countries.

At the beginning of June, a huge fleet consisting of 120 thousand-stone ships and fifty five-thousand-stone steam warships arrived at Hukou of the Yellow River.

Due to the large drop in the Hukou of the Yellow River, boats cannot pass, so they can only row on dry land for more than 300 meters on land, bypass the Hukou, and continue to sail in the Yellow River.

The so-called dry land rowing is to open a channel several feet wide on the bank of the Yellow River, covered with rolling logs, and the big boat is pulled by dozens of strong cattle to walk on the rolling logs.

The big boats are all empty. Although they are huge, they are relatively easy to move. Forty or so cows are pulling them in front, and hundreds of peasants are using wood to pry them on both sides. Everyone is chanting, and the big boat is moving on the logs little by little. .

After walking for five days, this huge project was finally successfully completed. 120 large ships of [-] stones and [-] steam warships of [-] stones passed through Hukou, and [-] troops boarded at the wharf of the Yellow River in Yichuan County. The grain, grass and other materials were also loaded onto the ship here, and the fleet continued to sail northward with a full load of soldiers and grain, grass and military supplies.

Among them, 120 large ships need to be pulled by trackers, while steam engine ships have their own power.

The fleet passed through the Qinjin Grand Canyon, and five days later, the fleet arrived in Yulin County, Dongsheng Prefecture.

Yulin County in the Song Dynasty is not the Yulin of the later generations. It is located in Tuoketuo, Inner Mongolia, which happens to be the place where the Yellow River turns on the right side of the shape of the Yellow River. If you walk more than two hundred miles westward, you will enter the Hetao.

Not far to the east of Yulin County is a shimmering lake called Jinhe Lake. This area has abundant water sources, convenient irrigation, mild climate and fertile land, which is very suitable for growing wheat.

Dongsheng Prefecture had been handed over to the Song Dynasty by the Liao Kingdom, but Xixia had not been notified. Xixia did not know that the Song Army had entered Yulin County a month ago.

Yulin County is a medium-sized city with a population of only a few thousand. Including the nearby farmers and herdsmen, the total population does not exceed 1.

Just a few days ago, [-] cavalry arrived in Yulin County first, and a month ago, Han Jiang, the Shaanxi road manager, received an order from the emperor, asking him to quickly recruit [-] city-building craftsmen. Jiang personally led [-] craftsmen and set up camp outside Yulin County.

Fan Ning stepped off the front of the big boat and saw his old friend Han Jiang who had been waiting for him for many days.

(End of this chapter)