Do you know that my grandfather was entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple?

Chapter 134

Chapter 134

"If it were truly feasible, I wouldn't have suggested that he conduct a pilot program," Wang You said, shaking his head.

"You don't approve of the new law he proposed?"

Zhao Sheng frowned and said, "I think it's quite good. It really hits the nail on the head and is a solution to the problems that have accumulated in the court."

"For example?"

"Take the Green Sprouts Act for example. Throughout history, the demise of all dynasties has had various causes, but land annexation is indeed an undeniable one," Zhao Sheng said.

"Land annexation is indeed a crucial factor in determining the demise of a dynasty," Wang You nodded slightly.

Take the Tang Dynasty for example; everyone knows it perished due to the separatist rule of regional warlords.

However, the factor of land annexation also played a role. Land annexation led to a sharp decline in the court's tax revenue. Due to financial pressure, the court had no choice but to expand the power granted to the military governors.

This is somewhat similar to the situation during the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the imperial court allowed local officials and powerful families to raise their own troops to protect their neighbors and quell the rebellion.

Although Emperor Ling of Han was incompetent, did he not know the consequences of his actions?

Although the Yellow Turbans were eventually wiped out, a large number of them scattered and fled, causing havoc in the region.

If the Yellow Turban Rebellion is not contained, it will resurface.

However, the imperial court lacked funds and supplies to suppress the rebellion on all fronts, so it had no choice but to delegate power to lower levels.

Otherwise, without troops, local officials would be unable to deal with the Yellow Turbans.

Not to mention those powerful and influential families, even if Emperor Ling of Han did not grant them this right, they still kept a large number of retainers.

When Cao Cao fled Luoyang, the Cao and Xiahou families led their troops to support him.

Those soldiers were not trained by Cao Cao in advance, but were retainers of the Cao family.

The early feudal lords were either from powerful families or had the support of powerful families.

Although the imperial court granted local officials the right to recruit soldiers on their own, it did not provide them with funds or provisions; in short, it left them to figure it out themselves.

The military governors of the Tang Dynasty did not initially have that much power, but the court could not afford to give them that much money, so it could only gradually delegate power to them.

At that time, the Jiedushi (military governor) held all the power over military, political, and financial affairs.

"Besides natural disasters and forced plunder, another important means of annexing land was lending it to the people."

As far as I know, when people lack money to buy seeds and farming tools during the spring planting season, they will borrow from local landlords and gentry.

However, the interest rates demanded by landlords and gentry were extremely high, making it impossible for ordinary people to repay their loans.

Ultimately, they could only use their land to pay off their debts, thus becoming tenant farmers of landlords and gentry.

"The main purpose of the Green Sprouts Act was to lend money to the people to help them through difficult times. The interest rates were extremely low, which could both alleviate land annexation and increase the government's revenue," Zhao Sheng said.

"What the young master says is correct, but has the young master considered this?"

Wang You countered, "How many officials are there in a county? Specific matters all need to be handled by minor officials, and these minor officials themselves come from local landlord and gentry families."

Do you think they will seriously implement the court's policies?

When the government lends money to the people, shouldn't there be a review process? A minor official only needs to deliberately make things difficult, and the people will hesitate to lend.

"As long as we strictly supervise the implementation and include the policy implementation in the performance evaluation of officials, we don't need to worry about officials not taking it seriously," Zhao Sheng said.

Wang You glanced at Zhao Sheng in surprise, not expecting him to come up with such a solution.

"Is there something wrong with what I said?" Zhao Sheng asked somewhat uncertainly, noticing Wang You's strange expression.

"No, what Your Highness said is indeed a method, but it's not very useful," Wang You said, shaking his head.

"I remember that the Tang Dynasty history records that in order to restore the population, Emperor Taizong of Tang issued an edict to encourage widows to remarry, and their families were not allowed to stop them."

This edict was met with scorn from countless scholars, and the government's implementation was perfunctory.

Later, it was incorporated into the performance evaluation of officials, and officials immediately implemented it strictly. The population grew rapidly, which shows that it was very effective. Why do you say it was not very useful? Zhao Sheng asked, puzzled.

"I am aware of what the Crown Prince is talking about, but it is not the same as the current situation, so it cannot be generalized."

Wang You shook his head and said, "Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered that widows be encouraged to remarry, which violated Confucian ethics. That is why officials were unwilling to carry it out."

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, chastity arches were popular. If a widow remained chaste and did not remarry, the imperial court and local governments would erect a chastity arch for her.

If a woman remarries after her husband dies, she will be scorned by others.

Many people believe that this is a result of the increasingly feudalistic thinking caused by the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism.

In reality, the founder of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism also said that he was not allowed to remarry.

The saying "starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a big one" does not refer to chastity, but rather to integrity.

Similar structures to chastity arches existed as early as the Qin Dynasty.

Throughout history, there have been examples of rewarding widows for their chastity.

It was merely official encouragement, not a prohibition against widows remarrying.

The Ming and Qing dynasties did not prohibit widows from remarrying; otherwise, there would have been no need to erect chastity arches. After all, all widows were not allowed to remarry, and it would be impractical to erect arches for every widow whose husband had died.

The purpose of rewards is always encouragement. Since erecting a chastity archway is an encouragement for widows not to remarry, it means that there are no restrictions on widows remarrying.

However, the encouragement during the Ming and Qing dynasties was so excessive that it became a manifestation of the indoctrination of officials.

As a result, local officials promoted this trend extensively, to the point that it became deeply ingrained in people's minds, and the common people considered remarriage shameful.

As a result, even if a woman wanted to remarry, she dared not mention it.

But regardless of the dynasty, encouraging widows to remarry violated the established social norms.

Li Shimin, on the other hand, issued an edict directly, which naturally angered the civil officials.

Li Shimin had no choice but to include this matter in the performance evaluation, which forced officials to do it.

"The reason why officials don't do it is not because of interests, but because they care about their reputation. When the court included this in the evaluation, some people put aside their pride in order to get promoted, and others followed suit."

However, those officials mainly targeted ordinary families. Widows from wealthy families, wanting to maintain their status and wealth, naturally wouldn't ask to remarry.

If widows don't mention remarrying, officials can't force them to remarry, can they?

Therefore, officials did not have a direct conflict with local powerful families, landlords, and gentry in this matter.

Wang You paused for a moment, then continued, "However, implementing the Green Sprouts Act would harm the interests of local landlords and gentry. In many places, officials rely on landlords and gentry to govern their areas, so they will not offend them."

As the saying goes, imperial power does not extend to the countryside; in ancient times, the lowest level of the imperial court's administrative institutions was the county.

In the smaller towns and villages, everything was self-sufficient, and the people in charge were actually the landlords, gentry, and local elders.

When these local gentry and clan elders managed their own small plots of land, they did not follow the laws of the Song Dynasty, but rather the local customs that had been passed down for many years.

A county typically has only three to five official officials. Even with the low population density in ancient times, most counties were not in a hurry to defend against 100,000 people.

With only three or five officials managing so many people, if officials had to handle everything, big or small, they wouldn't be able to manage it all.

If an official offends the local landlords and gentry, they can easily obstruct tax collection, making it impossible to collect even the normal taxes.

Don't talk about landlords and gentry daring to defy the government; which official would dare to report such a thing to their superiors?

If taxes aren't collected, they can find all sorts of excuses to cover it up.

But if you report it to higher authorities, saying that you are being targeted by local landlords and gentry, then that's a matter of competence.

After all, you can't even handle the landlords and gentry in a county. If I give you a higher position, can you do a good job?

Even for the sake of their own future, no one dared to report it.

Of course, this doesn't mean that landlords and gentry dared to easily manipulate officials.

Officials and local gentry maintained a respectful distance from each other, keeping to themselves and not interfering with each other's affairs.

Most officials only serve for a few years before leaving, so they give face to local landlords and gentry in exchange for their support so that they can be promoted.

The landlords and gentry were happy to cooperate, so the officials wouldn't target them.

Even if the imperial court included the implementation of the Green Sprouts Act in its performance evaluation, officials would not risk offending landlords and gentry for it.

It's hard to say whether the Green Sprouts Act can be effectively implemented; problems with taxation and public security are certain to arise.

Even if the Green Sprouts Law is implemented well and scores are added in the evaluation, problems with tax revenue and public security will result in a greater deduction of points.

In such circumstances, apart from a few truly righteous and good officials, how many people would choose to offend the landlords and gentry?

"I underestimated the problem."

Zhao Sheng gave a wry smile and said, "Then what about this Fangtian Equal Tax Law?"

"That's even more unrealistic."

Wang You shook his head and said, "The Fangtian Equal Tax Law aims to make those who own more fertile land pay more taxes, while those who own barren land pay less taxes."

But as the saying goes, to cure a disease, you must first cure the person.

Everything requires people to carry out; surveying land and classifying land all require minor officials and servants.

If this were done, barren land would become top-quality farmland, while truly fertile land would become barren, and in the end, it would be the common people who suffer.

"What about the Baojia system, the horse protection system, and the military command system?"

Zhao Sheng never expected that everything he had advocated would be completely useless after Wang You's explanation.

Feeling somewhat dejected, I switched to another one.

This time, he didn't mention those policies targeting ordinary people, but rather those targeting the military.

Of these three, only the Baojia system and the General-Soldier system are feasible.

When Wang You last met Wang Anshi, he did not mention anything about the military.

It must have been added in the last few years.

The Baojia system stipulated that rural households were organized into groups of ten households forming a Bao, five Bao forming a large Bao, and ten large Bao forming a Du Bao, with wealthy households serving as the Bao head, large Bao head, and Du Bao head.

For households with two or more able-bodied men, one person would be selected as a security guard. During the off-season, they would gather to practice martial arts and take turns patrolling at night to maintain public order and assume some military responsibilities.

Its purpose was to abolish the local militia.

The purpose of the local militia was to protect the village.

During the off-season for farming, the imperial court would summon villagers to organize military training.

The local militia trained in this way possessed a certain level of combat capability.

Although the imperial court did not provide military pay, it was still responsible for providing provisions during training.

In addition, a militia commander and a small number of soldiers must be assigned as instructors.

The Baojia system did not require the imperial court to intervene; the households involved in the joint responsibility system selected and organized themselves.

Because it's about protecting oneself, one will naturally take it to heart.

In this way, the imperial court could abolish the positions of militia training commissioners and the soldiers responsible for training them.

It can save a lot of money and food.

Overall, this is not bad, and it doesn't affect anyone's interests.

Those militia members who were dismissed held low-ranking official positions and had limited influence.

The Art of War was a major reform of the military.

The military system of the Song Dynasty implemented a strategy where generals did not know their soldiers, and soldiers did not know their generals.

All the elite troops in the country were concentrated in the Imperial Guard. Apart from the Imperial Guards stationed on the border, the rest of the Imperial Guards were stationed in the western suburbs outside Bianjing City.

At the same time, the soldiers guarding the border would be rotated frequently. When rotating the border guards, only the soldiers were changed, not the generals.

In other words, the generals at the border are always at the border, while the generals at the western suburbs camp can only stay at the western suburbs camp.

In the event of war, the imperial court would draw troops from the western suburban camp and hand them over to the general stationed on the border for command.

After the battle, the troops were recalled and resumed to be commanded by the original generals.

Military strategy breaks this system, binding generals and soldiers together, thereby enhancing the army's combat effectiveness.

In addition, the old, weak, sick and disabled in the army should be reduced to strengthen the army while cutting expenses.

Wang You supports this point and believes it is feasible.

In the Song Dynasty, civil officials led the military, which was reflected in the fact that civil officials served as Privy Councilors, and the Privy Council was in charge of the mobilization of troops and the promotion of military generals.

In addition, the imperial court would also send civil officials to supervise the army.

Binding generals to the army still cannot change the overwhelming advantage of civil officials over military generals.

Why is the Horse Protection Law not feasible?

Zhao Sheng asked doubtfully, "The Song Dynasty is short of horses. Allowing the people in the north to raise horses to offset taxes, and providing foals from the court, is beneficial to both the court and the people."

"Has Your Highness ever heard of a common saying?"

Wang You said, "Wealthy beyond measure, but that doesn't count if we have fur."

If livestock get sick and die, they become worthless.

It's a good thing that common people raise horses for the imperial court to offset their taxes, but what if the horses die?

Moreover, warhorses are different from ordinary horses; what if they are not raised to meet standards?

"Wang Anshi also mentioned in his memorial that it is not that people can be sent to inspect regularly and teach the people how to raise animals."

If the child dies unexpectedly, once confirmed, no further assistance will be provided.

At this point, Zhao Sheng suddenly stopped.

Because he understood what Wang You meant.

Whether the warhorse died of natural causes or was the responsibility of the people, ultimately it is up to people to determine.

So how exactly he died is entirely up to the person who confirmed it.

This way, they could use their power to secretly sell the warhorses and force the people to pay them.

"It seems that the methods described by Wang Anshi do indeed have various drawbacks."

Zhao Sheng said, "You persuaded Wang Anshi to go to local areas to conduct pilot programs, hoping he would improve these new laws?"

"No, that's not it."

Wang You shook his head and said, "I advised him to do this so that he would give up. Even if he personally supervised it, he wouldn't be able to succeed."

"Ziqian, is it really impossible for the reform to succeed?"

Zhao Sheng said somewhat dejectedly, "Over the years, I have carefully studied the situation of the imperial court and discovered that the Song Dynasty has reached a point where it has no choice but to change."

The imperial court's annual expenditures have been increasing, while its revenues have been decreasing, and now it has reached the point where it cannot make ends meet.

Do you know that the imperial court is currently living paycheck to paycheck?

"Is it really that serious?" Wang You asked in surprise.

He knew that the Song Dynasty had financial problems; otherwise, given the current emperor's temperament, he wouldn't have proposed reforms back then.

"It's even more serious than that; soldiers' pay is often delayed."

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