Do you know: I am Yuan Wenshao

Chapter 162 A brief discussion on reform (please subscribe)

"I've met my second grandmother."

As soon as he entered the front hall, Shulan greeted him and saluted.

"Didn't I ask you to stay in the back room? Why did you come out?" said the old lady.

"Grandma, I'm staying in the back room with the child. How can I not greet the second grandmother when she comes?" Shulan said.

"The children are important. As a family, don't worry about these false etiquettes. Just worry about it." Old Mrs. Sheng said.

"This is not a false courtesy, it's because I miss my second grandmother." Shulan said while holding Old Mrs. Sheng's other arm.

"Look at this sweet mouth." Old Mrs. Sheng thought.

"Mom, Second Aunt, please sit down first." Sheng Wei said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, please sit down." The old lady smiled.

After sitting down, Mrs. Sheng smiled and said, "Go and take the child out and let me have a look."

"Second grandmother, wait a minute."

Shulan said and went to the inner room to take the child out.

"Hey, look at this kid, he looks like Shulan, and he's smiling at me."

Mrs. Sheng teased her a little and asked Fang's mother to take out the greeting gift she had prepared.

She specially made a set of longevity golden locks for her children, and also prepared a high-quality jade Guanyin jade pendant.

"Second grandmother, this is too expensive." Shulan quickly refused.

The gold lock is solid and looks heavy, and the jade pendant is not cheap.

"This is for the children, not for you." Mrs. Sheng pretended to be displeased.

Shulan glanced at her grandmother with some embarrassment, and then accepted it when she nodded.

"Shulan, let me see the child too." Hua Lan smiled.

"coming."

Shulan hugged the child over, and Hualan looked at the chubby child with a trace of envy in her eyes.

"Here, this is my aunt's gift for you." Hua Lan handed over the prepared gift.

Minglan also presented her own gift, and several girls continued to laugh around the child. Sister Wen also gathered around to join in the fun.

"Sister Wen, please be gentle, don't make your brother cry." Hua Lan said quickly when she saw Sister Wen poking the child's face with her hand.

Sister Wen retracted her hand in fright and asked, "Mom, why doesn't my brother speak?"

"Haha, you didn't know how to talk when you were this old. He will talk when he is older." Old Mrs. Sheng said with a smile.

After Mrs. Sheng finished speaking, she looked out of the corner of her eye at a woman in her 20s next to her, dressed as a woman, looking enviously at the children Minglan and Pinlan were teasing.

There was also a hint of sadness and unwillingness in his eyes.

"Sister-in-law, what's going on at Song Ge'er's house? I heard from Wei Ge'er that she couldn't keep her pregnant twice. Is there anyone among them who is causing trouble?" Mrs. Sheng whispered.

The woman she saw before was none other than Changsong's wife, Wen Shi.

Wen had been pregnant twice in the past few years and had miscarriages each time.

Sheng Wei told him this, but as a father-in-law, Sheng Wei didn't talk much about the matter. He only said that it was a miscarriage, but did not say the specific reason.

"It's nothing." The eldest lady smiled bitterly and said, "It's not like you don't know the rules I set for the family. Brother Song hasn't taken any concubines in these years. Even though there were two people in the house before we got married, he was honest. I This granddaughter-in-law just doesn’t have that fate.”

The eldest lady had doubts about Wen's first miscarriage, and even checked it out, but found no problem at all.

The second time I got pregnant, I was even more careful, but still ended up having a miscarriage.

"There are so many people who are dying. This time when Brother Wu gets married, the old lady of the He family in Baishitan will also come to have a wedding banquet. She has great medical skills. Let her have a look when the time comes. She will definitely be able to do it next time." Old Mrs. Sheng said.

The reason why Mrs. Sheng was so sure was that she had confidence in Mrs. He's medical skills. Secondly, Mrs. Wen's ability to be pregnant twice proved that she was capable of giving birth.

"Really?" the old lady said in surprise.

"Would I use this to trick you?" Mrs. Sheng said with a smile.

"Brother Song and his wife, come here quickly." The eldest lady shouted to Mrs. Wen.

"Grandma, second grandmother." Wen came over and saluted.

"Come closer."

The eldest old lady called her forward, leaned into her ear and repeated what Old Madam Sheng had just said.

Wen's eyes lit up when she heard this, she looked at Mrs. Sheng and said, "Thank you, second grandmother."

She has been married for many years and has no children. The Sheng family can definitely take concubines for Sheng Changsong. She and her natal family have nothing to say.

However, the Sheng family did not. The eldest lady never said anything to Mrs. Li and treated her no differently.

The more this happened, the more guilty she felt.

……

"Are you ready for Chang Wu's wedding? Is there anything you need help with?"

Sitting next to Yuan Wenshao was Sheng Changsong. Sheng Changsong was a little reserved when facing him, so he could only take the initiative to find a topic.

"Everything is almost ready. Brother-in-law, just have fun and wait for the wedding wine." Changsong said.

Yuan Wenshao nodded and asked, "By the way, how is that Sun Xiucai?"

At first, he ruined Sun Xiucai's reputation, and Sun Xiucai was expelled from his position.

I'm still a little curious about what happened next.

"Then Xiucai Sun's family was originally a farmer's family. In the past, life was not difficult because of his reputation as a scholar. After he got rid of his fame, his life was very poor. However, he studied hard and took the examination for the scholar's reputation the next year." Changsong said.

"Passed the exam again?" Yuan Wenshao was a little surprised.

Is it possible that because he removed Sun Xiucai's reputation, he changed his mind and started a new life?

"What happened next?" Yuan Wenshao asked.

"After gaining fame, he became a frequent guest of the local squire as before. He also married a girl from the Chen family. The Chen family was also a wealthy family in Youyang and gave him a lot of dowry." Sheng Changsong said.

"So, he's doing pretty well?" Yuan Wenshao said.

"That's not bad. Brother-in-law, you don't know that Sun Xiucai took in concubines one by one on the grounds that the Chen family had no children six months after they got married. In just a few years, he has taken in more than a dozen concubines. In addition, he often goes in and out of brothels. He heard that a woman in the brothel was pregnant with his child, and he wanted to bring her into his family. The Chen family has been having trouble with the Sun family in the past two days." Pinlan curled her lips and said.

Pinlan's voice was loud and immediately attracted everyone's attention. "Is this something you, a girl who has not yet left the government, can discuss?" the eldest lady scolded with a straight face.

"Grandma, it's my fault. I shouldn't have mentioned this matter." Yuan Wenshao said quickly.

"Erlang, you don't have to speak for her. It's already time for a kiss, and it's like you haven't grown up yet. Don't you know what you should and shouldn't say? I really don't know what to do when I get married in the future." said the eldest lady.

"Okay, okay, there are no outsiders here. You are so old, but you still get angry easily." Old Mrs. Sheng said.

The old lady glared at Pinlan when she heard this but did not reprimand her.

……

In the next few days, Yuan Wenshao played around Youyang every day, and even went to Jinling City for a day.

Jinling is indeed the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties and an important city in the south of the Yangtze River. It is very prosperous. Although it is inferior to Bianjing, there are few that can compare.

Three days before the wedding, Fang Hang also rushed back.

Fang Hang was falsely accused of corruption before, which affected his promotion. He is still serving as a county magistrate in Shouzhou.

As a parent, he couldn't leave for too long, so he asked Shulan to take the children back first, and he could only wait until the wedding was approaching before rushing back.

After paying homage to the eldest lady and his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Fang Hang came to Yuan Wenshao and bowed, saying, "Thank you, eldest brother-in-law."

Yuan Wenshao quickly helped him up and said, "What are you doing?"

Speaking of which, Fang Hang was still implicated by him.

"If it weren't for the help of my eldest brother-in-law, I don't know what would happen now." Fang Hang said gratefully.

"This is what the family is saying, sit down quickly." Yuan Wenshao pulled him to sit down.

"You are not corrupt. Even if I don't help you, you will be fine."

Fang Hang shook his head and said: "To be honest, in the past in Youyang, I always heard people say that there were many corrupt officials. I always thought it was just spreading rumors, and I didn't really believe it. Only when I became an official did I realize that I was watching the sky from the bottom of a well. .”

Youyang is a small town, which belongs to the transportation thoroughfare. Although it is more prosperous than many small towns, it is more driven by caravans traveling from north to south.

Those who do business will take care of their relationships, and it looks peaceful and peaceful.

It wasn't until he became an official that he came into contact with more people and learned about many dark things.

Yuan Wenshao said: "Let's go out and talk."

The two said hello to the old lady and the others and walked out.

"Why, were you hit?" Yuan Wenshao laughed.

"It's true. I was falsely accused of corruption because they and I were not in the same boat, and I ruined a lot of their good things. If it weren't for the help of my eldest brother-in-law, it's hard to say whether I could have come out completely." Fang Hang smiled bitterly. Said: "Now I finally know why Mr. Li implemented the New Deal. You don't know that in the county where I am, more than half of the land is in the hands of the gentry. Most of the people have no land and can only be reduced to farmers. And Those family squires have been delaying paying taxes, and they cannot collect the taxes every year."

Yuan Wenshao asked in surprise: "How did the previous county magistrate collect taxes?"

"The former county magistrate didn't take enough, but those squires would give him some face and hand over part of it. If the county magistrate reported some natural disasters and reduced production, he could handle it," Fang Hang said.

Yuan Wenshao didn't need to think about it to know what giving someone some face meant.

It's just that the county magistrate is working with them. They pay part of it, and the county magistrate tries to find a way to make up for part of it, and that's pretty much it.

"In addition, I also checked the field conditions in the county over the years and found that the number of registered fields has been decreasing every year. They have used excuses such as building rivers to occupy fields, flooding and being unsuitable for farming, etc. to hide a large number of fields. Mr. Li Daxian When the New Deal was implemented back then, the world has reached a point where it cannot do anything without reform. If one day I gain power, I will also implement the New Deal like Mr. Li did," Fang Hang said.

Yuan Wenshao shook his head with a wry smile: "You think things are too simple. Mr. Li has already failed. Do you think you can succeed?"

"Some things have to be done by someone. Just because it can't be done, you can't just do nothing." Fang Hang said.

"A small number of people in the world occupy the vast majority of wealth and land. The so-called reform is to take out the wealth and land in the hands of those few people and give it to the people and the court. And it is this small number of people who control most of the wealth and land. Rights. If you touch their interests, they will naturally oppose it. When most of the people with power oppose it, even the officials can only compromise. This is the fundamental reason for the failure of the reform." Yuan Wenshao said.

Since ancient times, dynasties have changed, and many people attribute it to the emperor.

In fact, the demise of each dynasty is essentially the flow of resources and wealth into the hands of a few people. When this phenomenon cannot be suppressed, there will be a change of dynasties and redistribution.

The emperor's stupidity or not will only determine how quickly the world's resources and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few people.

Even if successive emperors were wise and powerful, land annexation was an unsolvable problem.

This is an inevitable drawback of land privatization. Unless the land is state-owned, people have no right to buy or sell it.

Even Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han had problems with land annexation during their reign.

"According to what you said, are you just going to let things develop like this?" Fang Hang said.

Yuan Wenshao shook his head and said: "The so-called reform, you have to see the essence of the matter clearly. If the world's wealth and resources are compared to a big pie, reform means dividing the pie. Looking at the existing pie, there is too much resistance, and the only way is to divide the pie. As it gets bigger, there will be more to divide. Those who object will naturally not object in order to get more of the pie."

"How to make the pie bigger?" Fang Hang asked with his eyes shining.

"I don't know about that." Yuan Wenshao laughed.

In fact, land annexation is not yet imminent. On the contrary, problems such as redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses are very serious.

There are more than 3 officials registered in the imperial court, but only more than 1 actually have positions.

Nearly half of them are paid and do not work.

The reason for the current situation is because of the rules set by Taizu to treat literati preferentially.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of people have been admitted to each imperial examination. Together with the Yin officials, there are so many officials now.

In addition, the imperial court has more than 100 million standing soldiers and horses. Without the natural protection of the north, there is no choice but to raise more soldiers and horses for defense.

These redundant officials and soldiers also caused the problem of redundant costs.

Coupled with the serious land annexation and the decline in court tax revenue year by year, these problems seem to be trapped in an endless loop.

The solution is very simple: reduce the number of people admitted to the imperial examination, restrict officials, disarmament, and reduce expenditures.

But in this way, the interests of civil and military officials will be shaken, and the resistance will be too great.

This is also the reason why Xianggong Li’s New Deal failed.

There is another simple and crude way, which is to take back the land occupied by Liao and Xixia.

As the territory becomes larger, more officials will be needed, and the tax revenue will also increase.

But now we simply don’t have that ability.

So it doesn't make any sense to say this now.

Fang Hang sighed after hearing this, but despite the resistance, he was ready to give it a try. Of course, the premise was that he could get greater rights.

"Well, if you are not in your position and do not seek to govern, you are now a county magistrate. Just manage your own affairs. These are not things you can worry about for the time being." Yuan Wenshao said.

(End of this chapter)