People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 72: Less internal fighting, more work (Thanks to Brother Yun for the reward)

Putting aside the hatred of Japan, the Song Dynasty really needed various minerals from Japan to make up for its own shortcomings in gold, silver, bronze, sulfur, saltpeter and other minerals.

Moreover, Zhao Jun's idea was not to invade by force, but to command remotely, so there was no need to actually send troops for a large-scale attack.

Although the method is a bit disgraceful, it can actually solve the dilemma faced by the Song Dynasty.

But even so, these scholar-bureaucrats were still hesitant and did not consider how much benefit they could bring to the Song Dynasty by using some small means. It could make Zhao Jun's blood pressure rise.

If it weren't for his final threat, I'm afraid those people would still refuse to agree.This made Zhao Jun wonder, how could he do good politics with this group of insects?

No wonder the Song Dynasty perished so quickly. The ability and courage of the emperor and scholar-bureaucrats are beyond words.

Fortunately, everyone finally agreed, and Zhao Zhen also promised to immediately ask the Imperial City Division to investigate the current situation in Japan.

This made Zhao Jun reluctantly suppress his anger and start the next topic.

Soon the meeting ended briefly in the morning. Because everyone was ravenous with hunger, Wang Shouzhong didn't dare to come in at the door. After Zhao Zhen saw it, he greeted him, and then he remembered that he was a little hungry.

The main reason is that what Zhao Jun said before was relatively general, but now that he started to explain it in detail, everyone was attracted unconsciously, and they listened in rapt attention and forgot the time.

Therefore, under Wang Shouzhong's reminder, the meeting was stopped for now. At the end of the day, everyone had a meal without breakfast or lunch, and continued the meeting at noon.

During the process, Zhao Jun talked about many things. In addition to sending fleets to the Americas to search for crops, as well as economic, cultural and semi-military invasions to colonize Japan, or colonize the Iwami area of ​​Japan's Honshu Island and plunder their minerals, there is also the shaping of ideology. .

The content is that if you want to quell the rising class antagonism among the people in a short period of time, you can run a newspaper, build nationalism, portray the Liao Kingdom and Xixia as enemies, continue to exaggerate emotions among the people, and divert internal conflicts.

It's just that this proposal was opposed by everyone as soon as it was made. No matter how Zhao Jun scolded them, they would not agree to it anyway, which was quite a bit like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water.

Because they were worried that this would make Liao and Xixia completely hostile to the Song Dynasty, and might lead to an alliance between Liao and Xia to deal with the Song Dynasty together.

This made Zhao Jun very unhappy again.

For him, it is the truth to follow the example of New China, regain lost territory and strengthen the country, and let the Han people and all people of the Chinese nation live a good life.

As for the Xixia Kingdom of Liao and the surrounding foreign races, if you are willing to become part of the Chinese nation, Zhao Jun will certainly be happy to accept you.

But if you become the enemy of the Chinese nation and bully the Han people, then you cannot blame him for his dirty tricks.

Moreover, shaping the ideology will also help to mobilize the emotions of the people and restore the martial spirit of the Han and Tang Dynasties, so that they can be more powerful when they attack Liao and Xixia and regain their homeland in the future.

So nationalism is never a bad thing.

Just considering the urinary nature of the rulers of the Song Dynasty and the current situation of the Song Dynasty's army, even Xixia alone could beat them to death, let alone the powerful Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, Zhao Jun could only give up the idea in the end and wait until the army is reformed in the future before discussing this matter.

Then there are other details.

Such as the tea law reform and salt law reform, imitating the Kaizhong method used for border guarding in the early Ming Dynasty, and adding salt to the Zhong method.There is also an in-depth discussion of the problem of redundant officials and other difficulties currently faced by the Song Dynasty.

It was not until Zhao Jun finished talking about many of the things that he could change in general direction that in the afternoon, everyone began to formally discuss the issues together.

Before, it was Zhao Jun who was speaking and everyone was listening.Now they became more open-minded and chatted about the problems they encountered.

Think of it as introducing the current situation of the Song Dynasty to Zhao Jun in advance.

At this moment, Guanjia Hall is very spacious, with all doors and windows open.In the afternoon of early July, a cool breeze blew into the temple, dissipating the scorching heat of midsummer and bringing people an incomparable sense of comfort.

Zhao Jun held the tea cup in his hand and glanced outside the door. The guards were far away. Only Wang Shouzhong was waiting outside the palace, watching his nose and heart, and turning a deaf ear to the conversations in the palace, showing a very high eunuch quality.

"This is the current situation of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty. In the second year of Jingyou's reign, there were 830 people who entered the official position from the family, while there were only 96 people who entered the official position through the imperial examination. Even if special titles were added, it was only one One hundred and three people are far fewer than Menyin.”

Fan Zhongyan glanced at Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others who were silent, and continued: "There are now more than 4 officials in the Song Dynasty. Eighty-nine out of ten people have entered the official position, and a quarter of them have no official posts. , the imperial court pays them more than [-] million yuan in salary every year."

"This is just the basic salary. The remaining salary, meal money, tea soup money, job land, silk cloth, spring and winter clothes, servant food and tea, tea and wine, cooking materials, ice charcoal firewood, grain millet, reward money, spice money, etc. There are all kinds of things, which add up to the national treasury spending 600 million yuan a year."

"And the imperial court has treated them very well, but there are a large number of local officials below who continue to expand their land even though they have their own land, evade taxes, refuse to pay taxes, are corrupt, lawless, and enrich themselves. male."

"I would like to ask everyone, among the more than 4 officials, more than 1 of them have no official positions. They just receive salary from various yamen, do nothing at home, and receive dozens or hundreds of dollars every month. Through."

"Is this how it should be?"

"Also, if we only support these people, their descendants will continue to work in the officialdom and continue to receive money that should not belong to them. If things go on like this, the country will no longer be a country. Who else will be willing to do things? "

"Do you, Prime Minister Lu and Prime Minister Wang, think that continuing like this is a good thing for the Song Dynasty? Or do you think that these things cannot shake the foundation of the Song Dynasty?"

At the end of the conversation, Fan Zhongyan had directly pointed the finger at Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others, because they were now the bosses of the interest groups.

But I have to admit that what he said is true.

Since he wanted to attack redundant officials, Fan Zhongyan naturally did a lot of homework early, and the content inside was shocking.

Putting aside the issue of tax evasion, just saying that a quarter of them have no official positions means that more than 1 officials play casually at home every day, and then receive money every month and enjoy the support of the state. They are worse than moths.

The key is that if wages in the Song Dynasty were low, it would be barely bearable.But the problem is that the salaries and benefits of officials in the Song Dynasty were extremely high, which was the highest in all dynasties.

In "Qingpingle" of later generations, Fan Zhongyan said that his annual income was 30 yuan, which was three hundred guan.

In fact, that's nonsense in movies and TV shows. The real Fan Zhongyan's monthly salary was [-] guan when he was working as a political advisor. If you add up your titles and titles, you can earn thirty thousand dollars per year.

This is recorded in the "History of Song Dynasty Official Records" and "Jiayoulu Ling". When Bao Zheng was the governor of Kaifeng, his cash income alone was 1000 yuan. Adding up other income, he had about [-] yuan. More than [-] strings.

Even if they are second- and third-rank senior officials, they enjoy the highest benefits and allowances. Middle- and lower-level officials do not have so many, but ordinary officials still get dozens or hundreds of guan every year, and their salary income cannot be considered bad.

With so many officials, and a large number of officials who do nothing but only receive salary, what country can bear this?Naturally, the problem of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty became the worst in history.

Lu Yijian remained silent after listening.

Zhao Jun and Zhao Zhen also remained silent. Zhao Jun only now understood the specific situation of redundant officials, while Zhao Zhen already knew it and was unable to change it.

It was Wang Zeng who reminded him: "Mr. Xiwen, please don't forget that it is precisely because most of the officials in the world come from Menyin that people will rise up and attack. Even if we all agree with your reform and restructuring, will the officials in the world agree?" "Then are we just going to watch these moths corroding the country? Watching them do whatever they want and remain indifferent?" Fan Zhongyan said angrily: "Is there no justice in this world?"

"Zhao Jun, what do you think?"

Zhao Zhen looked at Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun didn't know much about the actual situation before and made some suggestions. Now that Fan Zhongyan talked about the specific situation, he wanted to hear his opinion.

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "My suggestion on this point is to research clearly before making a decision. But even if the research is clear, don't think about cutting off officials on a large scale all at once. Lao Fan, your direction in history is right, but the method is wrong. . If you kill so many at once, it would be strange if people don’t fight with you."

"Aren't you going to do nothing?"

Fan Zhongyan is very stubborn, and even nine cows can't get him back from something he has set his sights on.

"It's not that we don't do anything, but we need to pay attention to methods. For example, we can subdivide the powers and transfer those officials who have no duties to serve as local officials. In a county, there is a county magistrate, two deputy magistrates, four or five Wouldn’t it be enough for the county magistrate?”

Zhao Jun explained: "Let them each be in charge of economy, agriculture, education, statistics, forestry bureau, mining, transportation, public security, etc., and do KPI performance appraisals to tie them up."

"I heard you say it once before, what is KPI?"

Fan Zhongyan frowned.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "It's the assessment system. There are details about this in Zhang Juzheng's reforms in the Ming Dynasty. I will sort out the contents of his reforms and send them to you. You can figure it out yourself."

send to me?
Why does this sound weird?

Fan Zhongyan was confused and could only say: "Okay."

At this moment, Zhao Zhen asked: "Zhao Jun, I just want to ask you, what will happen if the ministers of a country all form cliques for personal gain, become friends, and criticize each other?"

This question was asked very abruptly.

In just an instant, there was no sound in the whole room.Everyone fell silent, and everyone's breathing seemed to be heard in the house.

The official's words seemed to mean something.

Zhao Jun could naturally understand what Zhao Zhen meant, and said in a deep voice: "Party strife has been the most internal conflict in the feudal dynasty since ancient times. It was the disaster of the party in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the dispute between Niu and Li in the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Yougeng in the Song Dynasty, Donglin and the eunuch party in the late Ming Dynasty. Fighting with each other has aggravated the instability of the country, harmed the national interests, or directly or indirectly led to the demise of the country."

"Yuanyou has changed?"

Zhao Zhen immediately noticed this word keenly because there was a Song Dynasty in front of it.

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded: "Yuanyou's transformation is what happened to Song Shenzong later, that is, your adopted son Song Yingzong Zhao Shu's son Zhao Xu in the later period. The old and new parties of Wang Anshi and Sima Guang fought with each other, which seriously damaged the national power of the Song Dynasty. Although Song Zhezong, the son of Song Shenzong, made certain achievements and the national strength was somewhat restored during his reign, the issue between the old and the new parties was never resolved, the new law and the old law conflicted, and social problems intensified. In the end, Song Huizong succeeded to the throne, but he was incompetent and incompetent during his reign. Extremely stupid, under internal and external troubles, the Jingkang Disgrace broke out and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed. Therefore, the impact of Yuanyou's change was very far-reaching, which caused the national power of the Song Dynasty to decline very quickly, which can be regarded as an indirect driving force that led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty."

"Officials."

Lu Yijian finally spoke at this time, stood up, raised his hands to Zhao Zhen and said: "I have no intention to block the reform, and I am not willing to block the reform. But Fan Xiwen's reform only knows how to act recklessly and make enemies of officials all over the world. How can it continue like this? ? I just hope that he can be gentler in his methods and eliminate so many officials at once. The Song Dynasty cannot afford such a big turmoil."

Fan Zhongyan said angrily: "You traitors wantonly control the government. You are in charge of the promotion of all officials. You are blocking the reform just because there are so many of your disciples and disciples in the court. Now you are speaking so righteously and awe-inspiring. It is really hypocritical and depressing. Gagging.”

"Okay, Mr. Xiwen."

Zhao Zhen wanted to interrupt him and stop their quarrel.

But Fan Zhongyan refused to listen and continued to argue with Lu Yijian. The two sides exchanged several words back and forth, making Zhao Zhen's face almost turn green with anger.

Until a moment later, Zhao Jun could hardly stand listening anymore and said, "Mr. Xiwen, don't be too happy too soon."

"What do you mean?"

Fan Zhongyan looked at Zhao Jun with an unkind expression.

Zhao Jun said: "Your seventeenth generation grandson Fan Wencheng helped the Qing Dynasty conquer the Ming Dynasty. After the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, they massacred the Han people many times. Your descendants are indispensable!"

"It's my descendants' business, what does it have to do with me?"

Fan Zhongyan was shocked when he first heard about it, so he quickly shied away from responsibility. This is human instinct.

Zhao Jun said: "Yes, so what does it have to do with Xianggong Lu that the whole dynasty is full of officials who are under the influence of the family? Isn't the root of all this the system? You have to find the reason from the system. Do you remember what I said? Unite all the friends who can be united, now that we are all in the same boat, is it interesting for you to engage in internal fighting every day?"

"I"

Fan Zhongyan was confused all of a sudden.

I have been fighting with Lu Yijian for many years. If I don't want to fight, I will fight. How can I let it go so quickly?

"Listen to me, less internal fighting and more practical work."

Zhao Jun advised: "If you hadn't been a good official who cared about the country and the people in history, I wouldn't bother to care about you."

"."

Fan Zhongyan remained silent and finally closed his mouth.

"Zhao Jun is right. Now that everyone knows that our country, the Song Dynasty, is in a bad situation, we should work together to overcome the difficulties."

Zhao Zhen said in a deep voice: "Not only Duke Xiwen and Duke Lu Xu, but also Duke Lu Xu and Duke Xiaoxian. You should also put aside your previous prejudices and shake hands to make peace."

"Yes, official."

Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng looked at each other, stood up and bowed their hands to Zhao Zhengong.

It was already evening.

It's getting dark.

Everyone was still unfinished and continued to start new topics. They talked until the beginning of Xu Shi, when the meeting finally ended.

(End of this chapter)