I studied in modern times

Chapter 630: The urbanization of the Song Dynasty is too fast

"Mr. Deng once said in the lecture: If you share the benefits with the public, you will benefit the good people; if you do not share the benefits with the public, you will benefit the bad people."

"This is the way to benefit the country and the people, and to revive the country!"

Of course, Zhao Xu had already thought about how to deal with the current situation.

To be precise, it should be about how to fool people all over the world into willingly paying money to take over.

He has already prepared the theoretical basis.

"When Sima Xianggong was alive, he once said: The trouble with the world today is that the government gets too much, while the people get too little!"

"He repeatedly made this appeal with tears before his death!"

Do not ask!

The question is about Li Gou’s thoughts and Sima Guang’s opinions.

If Wang Anshi had not been still alive, Zhao Xu would have had to bring up this Duke of Jing.

Speaking of Wang Anshi, in just over a month, this Duke of Jing will celebrate his 65th birthday.

According to custom, the two palaces would send envoys to deliver gifts and congratulations.

Therefore, the palace is now preparing gifts for him.

And Zhao Xu also prepared a gift for him.

I hope Wang Anshi will not be ungrateful and accept it obediently.

After observing the expressions of the two palaces, Zhao Xu continued, "I was young and didn't know the true meaning of this before!"

"Until this time, I saw in the Lingjin Courtyard that the officials, both high and low, were in collusion with each other, colluded to force the good people, and were mean to the people above and below. Only then did I understand what it means to not share the benefits with the public, but to benefit the bad people!"

"I just understood what Mr. Sima meant when he said that the government gets too much!"

"Grandmother, Queen Mother, you should have read the report of the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Revenue on the Lingjinyuan case, right?"

Ryonomiya nodded.

This matter caused a big stir.

The Censorate and the Imperial Academy were filled with outrage, and all civil service groups inside and outside the court, both new and old parties and regardless of ideology, severely criticized this.

As a result, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Revenue all put in all their efforts.

The newly appointed Shaoqing of Dali Temple, Du Chun, also went to Cai Jing to learn from him.

In the Dali Temple, a "Saints' Scriptures Study Class" was also set up.

In this cold season of late autumn, when the wind was strong and the weather was cold in the morning, all the people in Lingjin Courtyard were driven to the Bian River which was specially selected for them by the Dali Temple.

They were made to wear only thin clothes, stand in the cold wind, recite the Book of Rites, and write articles from memory.

With Du Chun doing this, how could those spoiled young masters in Lingjin Court hold on?

In addition, Zhao Xu only wanted them to explain the problems, return the stolen goods and pay compensation.

Then, one by one, they explained the problem clearly.

In just two days, everything that happened inside Lingjinyuan was thoroughly investigated.

"The killing of talents in the Lingjin Courtyard was indeed excessive." Empress Dowager Xiang said, "People in the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that these villains betrayed the emperor's grace and their crimes are unforgivable."

This is the Ministry of Internal Affairs doing the cutting.

Zhao Xu nodded: "This villain has really failed the expectations of the Emperor and me."

What those guys from Lingjinyuan did was not complicated at all.

It is nothing more than the common means of passing off inferior goods as good ones and of robbery.

The weavers were angry but dared not speak out, and did not dare to resist at all, so they could only allow themselves to be exploited.

In this way, they could squeeze tens of thousands of strings of silk from the weavers every year.

To be honest, did the Zhao officials of all generations know about these things?

You should know.

I just don't know the specific details.

At least, in Zhao Xu's previous life, he had heard about some internal corruption in various departments. At that time, Zhao Xu just laughed it off.

The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers!

The people below work hard for me, so it's normal for them to make some money and be greedy.

If the water is clear, there will be no fish!
Moreover, to be honest, allowing various departments to exploit handicrafts and suppress merchants was in line with the needs of the emperor's rule.

Because if small workshop owners, handicraftsmen and small merchants live a good life.

This will trigger a siphon effect.

A large number of landless poor people in rural areas have moved to cities to make a living.

The influx of these people will inevitably bring about a large number of social problems and increase the cost of governance.

However, the urbanization of the Song Dynasty was unprecedented in all dynasties.

As early as the third year of Yuanfeng, the number of households in the cities and counties of the Song Dynasty had exceeded two million (Li Qingchen mentioned this data in his letter in the third year of Yuanfeng), and in the tenth year of Xining, the Ministry of Households counted that the population of the country was 16.8 million.

This does not even include the imperial guards, the garrison troops and their families, as well as the miners scattered across the country, the fishermen on the coast, the merchants sailing on the ships, and the boatmen on the canal.

If you were a feudal emperor, you would also be terrified when you saw these data.

Naturally, people will subconsciously restrict and suppress others.

The exploitation of various departments, the exploitation of the powerful and the restrictions of the government.

These are all things that the Zhao officials are happy to see.

It can even be said to be encouraging.

However, the Zhao officials have become dependent on the economic benefits created by the residents in the city.

In the seventh year of Yuanfeng, the Ministry of Revenue counted the income contributed by households in cities and towns throughout the country to the state.

The revenue from market affairs of various departments alone reached 5.05 million strings of cash, in addition to more than 990,000 pieces of cloth (recorded in the twelfth volume of the seventh year of Yuanfeng in the continuation of the Zizhi Tongjian long volume) (in the eighth year of Yuanfeng, the market and embankment offices were abolished, and the revenue in this area dropped sharply to only more than 3 million strings of cash).

In terms of commercial taxes, the figure was more than 8 million guan.

In addition, residents in the city had to pay a travel fee, which amounted to several million strings of cash.

The urban households of the Song Dynasty accounted for one-eighth of the world's population and contributed more than 30% of the taxes.

And its proportion of the national GDP may be close to 40%.

Therefore, later generations will feel uncomfortable when looking back at the Northern Song Dynasty.

On the one hand, industry and commerce are developing rapidly and urbanization is advancing by leaps and bounds.

On one hand, the palace-owned monopoly of the state-run economy was rampant, and Emperor Zhao wanted to control everything and get involved in everything.

One of the sources of the redundant staff problem, one of the three types of redundancy, lies here.

So the Northern Song Dynasty was like a schizophrenic patient, with the cerebrum and cerebellum fighting each other, and the butt and head sitting on each side.

However, as long as we put it into the context of the feudal emperor's autocratic and tyrannical thinking, all of this seems reasonable.

In addition, Confucianism is actually completely unprepared in this regard.

Under the guidance of the agricultural-based ideology that has lasted for thousands of years, everyone is at a loss when faced with the new social situation.

Wang Anshi of the New Party and Sima Guang and Lu Gongzhu of the Old Party had all considered how to solve this problem.

But they all stay on the surface and fail to see the real cause of the problem.

At the same time, they were all busy with party struggles and had no time to deal with and study this issue.

Fortunately, they were busy with party struggles and didn't really pay attention to us.

Otherwise, they will discover that there is something that can devour everything, hidden in this drastic social change, and hidden in more and more cities and towns across the world.

Zhao Xu studied abroad in modern times for ten years and read about Chinese and foreign history.

Naturally, we know that this matter can not only revive the Song Dynasty but also make the country prosperous and strong.

At the same time, if something goes wrong, it may confuse him or his descendants.

But... unfortunately, this is the only way to survive!
All other roads are dead ends!
Therefore, no matter how reluctant he was, he had no choice but to go on.

(End of this chapter)