People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 266 The Song Dynasty will get better

June, Jiangnan East Road, Guangning Prison.

The prefect Su Xun was the Enke Jinshi in the first year of Kangding, ranking fourth in the first class.

It is worth mentioning that the first class in the Northern Song Dynasty did not have only three people as in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but five people. That is why Zhang Chun took the exam for the second time and ranked fifth in the first class.

In this session of Encore, the top pick is Wang Anshi, the second pick is Su Song, and the top pick is Huang Shu (Huang Tingjian's father).

Historically, they all became Jinshi in the second year of Qingli, that is, this year. But historically, it was because of the war with Xixia that the Song Dynasty was forced to suspend the imperial examination for several years, so they were delayed.

Now that the war with Xixia has achieved great victory, and the court has now opened many new departments, it is gradually lacking officials, so Enke was specially added.

Guangning Prison was located in Jiangzhou, which later became Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. Copper was produced here and became the main place for producing copper coins in the Song Dynasty.

Although Jiujiang City in later generations was prosperous and lively, Guangning at this time was quite desolate. Except for Jiangzhou County, which was relatively prosperous because it was an important trade area, the surrounding counties were desolate and remote.

The reason is that there are many lakes in the surrounding area and there is relatively little land. It can be said that the city and the people live in the low-lying and humid areas of the Huanjiang River, so it is naturally difficult to develop.

The environment where Su Xun lived was also very poor. Although he was a supervisor in Guangning, and the supervisor was at the same level as the county, he should live in the prison office. However, the local prison office was quite dilapidated, similar to that of a thatched cottage, and rain often leaked while working. , which makes people miserable.

At this moment, Su Xun was standing on the Jiangning Pier and looking out.

The wharf is a slightly busier place. Because the ships coming and going from the Yangtze River and the coins of Guangning have to be transported out, there are a lot of moving coolies gathered.

Some people naturally have consumption, so some shops have been opened, such as restaurants, tea shops, wine shops, and even gambling houses and brothels.

It sounds good, but in fact it is just a shabby little street. The shops can only be run under a pergola. The brothel is basically a prostitute with a half-open door, and it is not very high-end and luxurious.

Behind the pier is a wilderness with potholes and lakes everywhere. On the distant horizon, you can still see rammed earth walls, which are probably less than seven feet high like the Guangning Prison City Wall.

Su Xun was standing on a hillside next to the pier. The cool summer wind blew the corners of his clothes flying and his beard moved with the wind.

From a distance, he saw a large ship approaching slowly, and then began to stop and rest.

Since I didn't know the specific time of my wife's arrival, I could only estimate it through correspondence, so I calculated that it was almost the same day and came over to wait and see. If that didn't work, I also arranged for servants to wait and see.

At this moment, a few people slowly disembarked from the large ship in the distance. Su Xun was so surprised when he saw it that he quickly ran down the hillside to meet them.

"lady!"

"Husband!"

Mrs. Cheng also saw Su Xun. She was holding three-year-old Su Che, and beside her was five-year-old Su Shi.

Su Xun went up to hug Su Che and said happily: "Finally you are here."

Some ancient officials brought their families with them, while others did not. For example, Su Shi historically took Mrs. Wang with him, but he died of illness in Kaifeng, Bianliang, when he was serving as the judge of Dengwen Drum Court.

Although Mrs. Cheng's family is a wealthy family in Meishan, and the Su family is also a prominent local family, Su Xun has not been admitted to the Jinshi for a long time and has been wandering around. People in his hometown have long been gossiping.

Now that he has become successful, passed the Jinshi examination and became an official, he will naturally take his wife with him to let people in his hometown see that Su Xun is also promising.

This time Mrs. Cheng came with her brother Cheng Jun. In the early years, Cheng Jun looked down on Su Xun. Now seeing that he had boarded Enke and was rumored to be appreciated by the Imperial Academy, she said sourly: "Sister-in-law, this is a carp leaping over the dragon's gate." .”

"If there's anything wrong, brother, come with me to the county office."

Su Xun waved.

Cheng Jun pointed at the dozens of large ships behind him that had not entered the dock and said: "Forget it, I still have to go to Jiangdong to sell goods. Even if I stay overnight, I have to go to Jiangzhou Mansion. Your Jiangning dock can't accommodate so many ships. .”

Su Xun smiled and said: "There is still time to go to the Yamen for a meal. Brother, why don't you ask the steward to sail the boat to Jiangzhou Mansion first, and I will send you there personally in the evening."

"Yes, uncle, let's go have a meal together."

Five-year-old Su Shi said.

At this time, the Su and Cheng families had not yet turned against each other, and Cheng Jun had only looked down on Su Xun as a prodigal in his early years and had always despised him.

Now that people have Jinshi in their families, the situation will naturally be different.

Seeing that it was difficult to refute, Cheng Jun had no choice but to agree.

Everyone walked back. Su Shi looked around and saw the scene that was completely different from Sichuan. He said curiously: "Father, this place is so shabby."

"It's a bit shabby now, but it will get better in the future."

"why?"

"Look over there."

Su Xun pointed into the distance.

Su Shi looked over and saw many farmers in ragged clothes and coarse shorts working on the lakeside in the distance.

In later generations, this area was actually the Chengmenshan copper mine in Jiujiang City, which has been under development.

But in ancient times, it was like an island, and the lake area was much larger than in later generations.

For example, Saihu Lake in later generations was connected to the Yangtze River at that time. Some of them were exposed in the Chengxi Port area of ​​Jiujiang City, while others were soaked in the river.

This made the living environment in this area quite harsh at that time. Except for the copper mining industry, there was almost no agricultural production.

Cheng Jun asked curiously: "Is this reclaiming farmland?"

"Ah."

Su Xun nodded: "Now the imperial court is tax-exempt and allows people to cultivate land. The government will lend them seeds and farm tools, so landless people now have land."

"Why do you have to farm? There is so much copper in the mountains. Wouldn't it be better to dig more ore and make more money?"

Cheng Jun was puzzled.

"Of course this is good, but it won't keep people."

Su Xun smiled bitterly and said: "Food has to be bought from outside, and few people come to do business. Many hired workers dug for a while and then took the money to Jiangzhou City to squander it. For a long time, Guangning will always be just a copper miner. It’s a place that’s not even as good as a town.”

"Isn't that great?"

Cheng Jun shrugged: "You are responsible for digging copper mines and casting copper coins, so why bother?"

Su Xun glanced at him and said, "This is why you can only be a businessman and not an official. How can you become a great person if you only focus on this little product?"

"you!"

Cheng Jun was furious.

This seems to be what he said to Su Xun before.

"OK OK."

Mrs. Cheng quickly smoothed things over and said, "We finally met, why bother arguing again?"

"The magistrate has said that being an official is not only about protecting the peace of one's country, but also about benefiting the people and building up the countryside."

Su Xun said proudly: "This time the imperial court allowed the local government to withhold 30% of the tax. Although our Guangning prison did not have to pay much tax before and only had to pay copper coins to the imperial court every year, the magistrate said that we were willing to spend money to build it. Only then will more money come out. If Guangning has more and more supervisors and becomes more and more prosperous, it will produce more copper, and won’t there be more money?"

This time Zhao Jun had high hopes for him. With the development of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty, society's demand for currency continued to increase. Even though the imperial court set up more than 40 copper coin prisons, it still could not meet the demand, so it had to be imported from overseas.     Now not only copper is imported from Japan, but also silver is imported to meet social development.

In the past, problems such as serious copper shortage, chaotic management, and excessive quotas plagued the Song Dynasty court. For this reason, Zhao Jun specially selected smart and capable officials to serve as local magistrates, and they were not under the jurisdiction of the state government, but directly under the road. He first lowered the quota, Reserve some copper coins for local governments to develop.

Many prison areas are located in deep mountains and old forests. Except for mining workers, there are almost no other people. Zhao Jun told them the development direction. One is to build roads, and the other is to cultivate fields.

Having fields and food can stabilize local prices and attract people to settle down. After the road was built, more people came, and it was also convenient for the court to transport. Such slow development will eventually lead to the formation of an urban settlement. There will be more and more miners and more and more craftsmen making copper. Wouldn't it lead to the upgrading of the entire industry?

Therefore, for things like gold, silver, copper and iron, it does not mean that you will be rich immediately if you have a mine. Instead, you need to build local supporting facilities to attract more people before you can increase production.

Otherwise, if the mines are there, you can’t even dig them out, let alone make you rich.

“But it’s still so shabby here!”

Su Shi looked at the dilapidated rammed earth city wall in the distance and felt that it was much worse than his hometown of Meishan.

"It's going to be okay, everything's going to get better."

Su Xun looked over from a distance, and saw that there were already people cultivating fields in the wilderness, and others were repairing roads. There was no plan to repair the city yet, but the infrastructure should be built first so that the local area could produce grain and copper. This was a long-term solution.

.

.

After the New Deal was issued, all prefectural and county governments were engaged in political performance.

During a private visit to the people, Liu Yong, the magistrate of Xinzhou, discovered that there was a landowner named Liu in Yiyang County who took advantage of the high mountains and distance of Qingshan Township to collude with Li Zheng and the head of the household to enrich his own pockets.

He outsmarted the landlord and figured out the situation in the village. Then he mobilized the people and captured the landlord Liu and others on the spot.

Ruyin County Magistrate Li Xiaoji discovered that his boss Bai Zhipeng connived at his younger brother Bai Zhiyuan's forced buying and selling and tax evasion.

So he pretended to be flattering, but actually reported it immediately after seizing the evidence.

In August, as the new policies were issued across the country, various places were prosperous, with agricultural farming and commerce booming, and even rebellions and uprisings becoming less common.

In Bianliang City, singing and dancing flourished, and the cotton shipped from Guangzhou was quickly sold out as soon as it came on the market.

As summer taxes were significantly reduced, the amount of food available for sale on the market also increased dramatically.

For a time, the price of food plummeted to more than 200 yuan a stone.

It is estimated that in a few years, I am afraid that it will be a matter of time before we return to the Zhenzong period of Song Dynasty.

After resting with the people, the whole country appeared prosperous.

On August 6, in the Constitutional Court, Zhao Jun looked at official documents from various places.

He has already dealt with the affairs of Liu Yong and Li Xiaoji. He killed those who deserved to be killed and exiled those who deserved. He punished the criminals severely.

But there is no end in sight for killing such people, especially under the New Deal, where loopholes are easy to appear.

Therefore, during a period of particularly strict supervision, such things were reported almost every day, so much so that both Dali Temple and the Court of Justice were extremely busy recently.

"This new policy has uncovered a lot of corrupt officials."

Li Zhen shook his head and said.

He has also just handled a tax evasion case. As the Minister of Industry and Commerce, he must take on the responsibility of strictly investigating business issues with the tax department under the Ministry of Finance.

Nowadays, counterfeiting and selling are considered a minor problem. Due to the new policies, it is too easy to evade taxes. It is expected that commercial taxes will be greatly reduced again this year.

"They are all officials who evaded taxes for relatives and friends. These are just the ones who were caught. There are many more who were not caught."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "There is no end to catching corrupt officials."

"I have long said that this new business tax is unreasonable. If this continues, how can we get it?"

Lu Yijian sighed.

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "What can I do? Everything has advantages and disadvantages. As long as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, then it is a good idea. Remember what I said? Make the cake bigger."

Yan Shu turned around and asked, "Is the cake getting bigger now?"

"Not big enough."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "This has just begun. If we want to make the cake bigger, it will take a few years for private business to become more prosperous."

"I'm afraid that within a few years, the treasury will be empty in two years."

Wang Zeng poked his head and said: "This year we have begun to prepare for major repairs to the Yellow River. As you said, the government will hire people to dig canals and divert the water to avoid bursting of the banks. But if this continues, the money will be like water." ah."

"You have to spend money like running water."

Jiang Tang walked in with an official document and said with a smile: "This is an official document just sent by the Audit Department and the Ministry of Education. Now basically every county in the country has built a school and the teachers are already in place."

"Finally there is good news."

Zhao Jun took a long breath and said: "I suggest that starting from next year, mathematics and certain physical and chemical knowledge should be added to the imperial examination, so that the soil of science can be cultivated."

In the past few years, Bianliang opened schools, convened many experts and professors, and began to establish the missing verification system.

It also promoted Arabic numerals. The Arabic numerals of the Song Dynasty were actually a little different from those of later generations. For example, 2 looks like Z, and 3 looks like reverse Σ. The gestures are relatively straight, not as rounded as later generations.

Zhao Jun also made improvements to make calculations easier.

As for contracts, the imperial court stipulated that contracts should be mainly written in Chinese 1234. Arabic numerals are just for convenience in daily life. Strict official documents, handouts, contracts, etc., naturally cannot be careless.

Therefore, the missing mathematical system was gradually established, and after archaeological research, basically the mathematics level of the Song Dynasty was enough for a high school student, and there was no problem.

The students recruited successfully graduated within a few years and began to work as principals in schools in various places, slowly spreading their science knowledge into the hearts of the people.

"In the final analysis, there is still a lack of money."

Yan Shu sighed.

"Yes, there is a lack of money, but I still say the same thing. If you want more money, you must first adjust the patient's body and restore health first, and then talk about other things."

Zhao Jun looked around and said seriously: "Treating diseases and saving people is a process, but creating a prosperous age is actually simple. As long as we recuperate, lighten the corvee and reduce taxes, and persuade farmers to be cautious about punishment, even if there are natural and man-made disasters, it is not impossible to do it. The difficult thing is how to maintain it."

"Because this kind of prosperous age itself is very fragile. Like the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties later in the Qing Dynasty, official corruption was rampant in the middle and late period, and the people were displaced. Once the government was not properly governed and officials and businessmen colluded, it was the people who suffered."

"So in many cases, supervision and rectification of officials must be maintained. A thousand-mile embankment is destroyed by an ant nest. Officials should be killed and punished. They must not tolerate traitors."

"Now is just a good start. In a few years, when the domestic people's livelihood is truly stabilized, the real key to reform will be."

"Da Song will get better!"

Zhao Jun said with firm eyes.

　In the last chapter, Li Xiaoji is the grandson of Li Di, which is actually not a BUG, ​​because I said before that in ancient times, father was grandfather, and calling him grandfather would be called father instead. However, in the Song Dynasty, things gradually changed. In some places, Aweng was called grandfather, but there were Aweng who was called father, father who was called father, and grandpa who was called grandfather. There are also those who call grandpa daddy and father grandpa. Anyway, customs vary from place to place and the names are also different. However, it does seem a bit ambiguous now, so I changed it because in the Song Dynasty, more people called Aweng grandpa.

　　The last few chapters are excessive chapters. I don’t know if they are considered useless. I still need to describe the current situation after the New Deal reforms to pave the way for the next big thing. After all, the big one hasn't come yet. Once we really want to deal with San Duan, I'm afraid we will have to go on a killing spree. Let's take it one step at a time. We can't just kill more than 700 people. The old Qin people won't explode.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)