Song Yi

Chapter 422 Improvement Reform
Du Wenhao wondered, "Where did you get so much money?"

Gao Taotao said: "Yes, I also asked the manager the same way. After listening to his explanation, I realized that the late emperor appointed Wang Anshi to reform laws, such as labor money, young crop money, workshop money, etc., and the treasury increased sharply. Among them, the young crop law For one item, it reached 5000 million yuan! For more than ten years, there has been a surplus every year, and it has increased year by year. The late emperor transferred most of the surplus from the national treasury to the palace treasury, so after accumulating, there are so many silver deposits gone."

Du Wenhao suddenly realized, and said: "Unexpectedly, Wang Anshi's reform has such a bad reputation, but his ability to make money is really not small."

"Yes, I knew very well when Emperor Renzong and Emperor Yingzong lived. They were often unable to make ends meet. There was almost no silver in the national treasury, and there was very little silver in the palace. I didn't expect the first emperor to have such a huge amount of silver in more than ten years. It is really shocking. People are amazed."

Du Wenhao suddenly heard that there was so much money, he was overjoyed, and asked: "Then how much will it cost us to build this garden?"

"Our yard mainly costs some money to dig an artificial lake. I want mountains and rivers, not high-rise buildings. Therefore, the cost is not too much. The Ministry of Industry has calculated an estimate, and it will cost about 300 million yuan."

Forty-three million copper coins, equivalent to RMB 300 billion!Almost accounted for more than half of the Northern Song Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue.

Du Wenhao was speechless: "So much? Tao Tao, just after you listened to the government behind the curtain, you started to build buildings and halls, and spent so much money to build such a big garden. I'm afraid the ministers will have objections."

"It doesn't matter! The money is for spending. This is our royal treasury, not the treasury's money. The money in the palace treasury doesn't even know the exact number. The money is extra money. It's spent on them." I don’t know. Besides, the money has been piled up in the treasury for more than ten years, and the ropes are rotten. It’s a waste to keep it. It’s better to use it. We have 7000 million wires in the treasury, and only [-]% of it is used. If it’s less than [-]%, the cost shouldn’t be too big, you’ll earn it after you’ve spent it.”

Du Wenhao smiled wryly and said: "After Wang Anshi is dismissed, I'm afraid it will be difficult to find someone as capable of earning money as him."

Gao Taotao pondered for a moment, then nodded slowly: "Yes, he is very good at managing money. This is recognized by the whole court, and the 7000 million yuan in deposits in our bank treasury fully proves this. Otherwise, I still Use him as the Minister of the Ministry of Finance for financial management, but his reform can no longer be continued."

In the early Song Dynasty, three envoys were set up to control the country’s financial revenue and expenditure. Later, the power was too inflated, occupying many powers of the six yamen of the court, and even infringed on the power of supervision. The organization was overstaffed, and it was not good for the separation of powers. Song Shenzong Yuanfeng restructured , the three envoys were revoked, and the powers that had been infringed on various departments were returned to the various ministries, among which the financial power was returned to the Ministry of Households.The Ministry of Households is in charge of the country's money, taxes, and household registration.It is equivalent to the current Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Gao Taotao knew that Du Wenhao hated the reform, and he had already thought of this result, but he still asked, "Do you want to completely abolish the reform?"

"Yes!" Gao Taotao said with his hands behind his back, "The reform will bring disaster to the country and the people. If it is not abolished, if things go on like this, there will be a revolution among the people!"

"If it is to be abolished, I am afraid that Wang Anshi will not agree to help us manage money. Even if he does, his means of managing money is to reform, that is, to compete with the people for profit. If it is completely abolished, he will probably be alone with others. It will do a lot.”

"If there is nothing, there will be nothing..." After saying this, Gao Taotao felt too arrogant again, bowed his head for a while and thought, and sighed: "Unfortunately, if the reform can not harm the people, but can also fill the treasury, then alright."

"Yes!" Du Wenhao said, "Last time I followed the emperor's micro-service privately to investigate the effect of the reform and found many problems. In fact, Wang Anshi's reform, most of the measures themselves have no problems. When the reform is carried out step by step, so that the whole society does not have a stage to adapt to the reform, and the people do not see the benefits of the reform, that is, there is a lack of a benchmark and a demonstration, and it is pushed across the board at once. The situation in different places is different, and deviations will naturally occur. His The reform can be applied in some places, but it is difficult to apply in some places. In addition, the officials who implemented the reform abused their power and preyed on the common people, which made the reform change even more."

Speaking of the reform, Gao Taotao instinctively resisted. If it were someone else, she would have interrupted it long ago. However, now it is what her lover said, and she wanted to hear it again. She didn't care about the words themselves, but felt the emotions in them, so she didn't Interrupting Du Wenhao's words, he looked up at him with a smile on his face.

Seeing this, Du Wenhao decided to strike while the iron was hot, and talked about the reform, saying: "Most of Wang Anshi's reforms actually have a good purpose, benefiting the country and the people, and taking into account the interests of both parties. As long as we use the law well, we can still achieve this goal. "

"Really?" Gao Taotao said casually.

Du Wenhao could hear that she was perfunctory, and he didn't agree with it at all in his heart, but when he got to this point, he had to continue talking, and continued: "For example, to oppose the most powerful green crop law. At times, the state can borrow credit from the state to tide over the difficulties, and the state also benefits from it. This is definitely a good starting point, but it is absolutely wrong to let the government yamen do business directly! The government has public power, and the officials I am used to using power to implement the system. In this way, the abuse of public power will inevitably occur during the implementation. This will lead to reforms. I implemented reforms in Yazhou, Fulu, Chengdu, and adjusted this system that should have benefited the people. Implemented a joint-stock system Retrofit. It worked out pretty well."

Gao Taotao knew that his sweetheart would not deceive him. He said that the effect was good, so it must have a good effect.The 700 billion mins of silver in the small royal treasury impressed her deeply, and to a certain extent changed her extreme aversion to the reform.

In the past, Gao Taotao only knew that the reforms harmed the common people. Some people said that they wanted to fight against injustices. They had no idea of ​​the huge income brought by the reforms. As the saying goes, if you are not in charge of a family, you don’t know how expensive it is. Woke up and worried.

This time, Gao Taotao was going to expand the Yuhuahouyuan for himself and Du Wenhao's happy life, and he actually wanted to invest 6000 million yuan (600 billion yuan). Otherwise, she can only look at the garden and sigh, which makes her not pay attention to the method of filling the treasury.

So Gao Taotao asked with great interest: "How did you adjust the young crop method?"

Du Wenhao talked about his rectification measures for the Green Crop Law, and finally said: "Before I left, the improved Green Crop Law did not have all the drawbacks of the previous Green Crop Law, and the people responded well. When I left, hand over If Su Shi continues to implement it, I don’t know what will happen in the next year.”

Gao Taotao pondered: "Su Shi has a good literary talent and cares about the people. If this method really benefits the people and the country, he will implement it well. Otherwise, I will order him to return to Beijing and talk about the reform over there. If it is really effective, you can consider keeping this young crop method, no, it should be said to keep your improved green crop method."

Du Wenhao was overjoyed: "That's great, let's do it this way, Chengdu Fu Road is too far away, and the effect is not good to investigate in time, or, after Su Shi comes, you have listened to the report, if you decide to keep my improved young crop method , let’s choose one or two prefectures and counties around the capital to carry out pilot projects to accumulate experience and observe the effect. What do you think?”

Gao Taotao smiled softly and said, "When did I object to your proposal?"

"Hey, my Tao Tao is the most obedient and obedient!" Du Wenhao said softly.

Gao Taotao glanced at him delightedly: "I hope that your improved young crop law can truly benefit the country and the people. This way, we can use the savings left by the late emperor, and feel more at ease."

"That's right! Some of Wang Anshi's other reforms are also very good. Do you want to consider improving them and keep them?"

"You can't chew too much! As you just said, the reform should be done step by step, step by step."

"That's right! Hehe" Du Wenhao hurriedly responded.He knew that Gao Taotao still couldn't completely change her aversion to the reform. If it weren't for the fact that the reform was the result of her sweetheart, she would never consider keeping it. Even if others said that the reform could benefit the country and the people, she would not Will consider.Keeping this young crop method is already the bottom line she can accept, and if she wants to keep it, it will be unbearable for her.It can only be done step by step. Besides, what Gao Taotao said is also very correct. I can't think about taking it slowly and reforming step by step, but I make rash mistakes in implementation.It is already very good to keep the young crop method as a test field for the reform.

"Let's go back to garden construction." Gao Taotao stretched out his arms, pointed to a large area in front of him that was planned to be expanded, and said, "I only thought of listening to the rain on the island in the middle of the lake. If you have no idea, you can come up with an idea."

"But, I'm really not good at architecture."

"I don't ask you how to fix it. You just need to tell me what kind of scenery you like. Naturally, people from the Ministry of Industry will design it according to your needs."

"That's it, let me think about it." Du Wenhao looked into the distance and said slowly: "I hope the high platform can be higher, preferably higher than all the buildings in the capital. It's a strong feeling."

"I also thought of this. Originally, I wanted to build it higher, at least higher than the tower of Xiangguo Temple. However, the people from the Ministry of Industry said that if it is too high, it will be suspected by the sky, and there will be thunder and lightning. Lightning strikes the high platform. The tower of Xiangguo Temple was originally a seven-level tower. In the year when it was first built, half of the tower was chopped off by lightning. One of the monks sweeping the tower was killed. Later, Xiangguo Temple made a fortune. It was said that the tower was too high, and the heavens suspected it, so they quickly changed the tower to five floors, and since then, the tower has never been struck by lightning again."

(End of this chapter)