The institutional structure of the Song Dynasty has to be said to be very pitiful.

From top to bottom, the ubiquitous checks and balances have created a strange situation in which the country is poor and the people are weak.

However, there are historical reasons for this current situation, and even after a hundred years, it is still difficult to eradicate it.

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Zhao Xu wiped the dust on his face, saw Huang Men dismantling the rough waterwheel, shook his head, and said, "It's not practical in the end." ”

Seeing that Zhao Xu didn't answer, Cai Bian knew that Zhao Xu didn't agree with his statement, so he groaned for a while and said, "Official, bandits from all walks of life in the south are rampant, it's better to let the governors of all walks of life suppress the bandits first...... In this way: first, you can stand your way and stand on your heels; Second, it can also allow them to hold real power, which makes the local government jealous and dare not make mistakes. ”

It's a rounded practice.

Zhao Xu smiled and said, "Cai Xianggong is old enough to seek the country, this is indeed a good way." In addition, I have discussed with the Privy Council and the Ministry of War that the 'military reform' in the south can be promoted at the right time. This is a big chess game, let's go steady, not slow. ”

Cai Bian pondered in his heart and said, "What the official family said is true. ”

Zhao Xu looked at Zhang Xuan and said, "Zhang Xianggong, what do you have to say?" ”

Zhang Duan raised his hand and said with an unchanged expression: "Your Majesty, the minister believes that the Privy Council and the Ministry of War, as well as the Imperial City Division, and Qingtianwei should step up the spying on the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, and after defeating Li Xia, they can start to recover." ”

Zhao Xu looked a little weird, and said with a smile: "Zhang Qing's family is so confident? The attack on you outside the palace has never stopped, and yesterday there were several county princes who entered the palace and reprimanded the Qing family with tears in their eyes, and it took me a lot of effort to persuade them to leave. ”

Zhang Dan did not move, and said: "The minister heard that the envoys of the Liao State are already on the way here, and there is no movement in the sixteen states of Youyun. ”

Zhao Xu's smile converged and nodded slightly.

Zhang Dan's judgment was right, after such a long time, the Liao State first issued a diplomatic document to reprimand the Great Song Dynasty, and then sent an envoy to Xingshi to ask for the guilt, and the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun did not make a big move, which shows that the Liao State is indeed too busy to take care of itself, and it is unable to invade the Great Song Dynasty in the south, so it can only take diplomatic means and bluff.

Cai Bian also breathed a sigh of relief, with Liao's reaction, the imperial court was finally able to deal with the backlash outside.

Zhao Xu took a sip of tea and said, "Qingtianwei, the Imperial City Division has been doing it, and the Privy Council and the Ministry of War have also dealt with it, so you don't need to worry about this." We are not afraid, nor are we careless. ”

Zhang Dian said: "Your Majesty instructed that. ”

Zhao Xu put down the teacup, looked outside the palace, and said, "The news of the reduction of Yulu has spread?" ”

Cai Bian said: "Such a big thing, I can't hide it if I want to, the plan drawn up by the political hall is to start with the imperial court and Kaifeng Mansion, and there is already a plan for implementation next month." Nationwide, starting next year. ”

That's the plan.

Zhao Xu thought for a while and said, "How much can you save?" ”

This Cai Bian has already seen the numbers, but it is very complicated, Cai Bian carefully calculated in his heart for a while, and said: "In addition to Yulu, there are all kinds of 'respect', including grain, rice, oil, salt, cotton, cloth, charcoal, etc., and then there are benefits to relatives, if you carefully calculate, it may exceed one million." ”

One million is equal to one million taels!

Zhao Xu raised his eyebrows, his expression couldn't hide his surprise, and said, "There are so many?" ”

Cai Bian showed a wry smile on his face and said: "Official, in Bianjing City, in addition to the actual and alternate officials, there are also many noble ministers and well-rewarded families, plus fire consumption, damage assessment, and private money agreed upon by officials at all levels, etc., this is not a small amount. ”

Zhao Xu nodded understandingly, to put it bluntly, it is a super-high welfare, as well as a small treasury for eating and taking cards.

Nothing new.

Zhao Xu thought to himself, Cai Bian still hugged and said, and then there is corruption, layers of deductions, bribery and so on, the specific amount may be difficult to estimate.

But Zhao Xu still asked, "How much can you save every year if you put it in the whole country?" ”

Cai Bian glanced at Zhao Xu and said, "If you only send a fortune and everything else is exempted, directly and indirectly, it will be more than 10 million." ”

'Redundancy'!

Zhao Xu was slightly shocked in his heart, and these two words popped up.

The redundancy of the Great Song Dynasty was caused by the two sides of 'redundant soldiers' and 'redundant officials', although there were many soldiers, but their salaries were low, but there were not as many redundant officials.

The 'welfare' of 100,000 officials alone is more than 10 million yuan, that is, 10 million taels, which is unimaginable in other dynasties!

The annual treasury income of the Great Song Dynasty exceeds 100 million, more than eighty percent, which is spent on these redundant officials and redundant soldiers!

unimaginable!

Zhao Xu didn't continue to ask, but kept shaking his head in his heart.

The Great Song Dynasty is indeed rich, but it is still those four words - 'the country is poor and the people are weak', which is a peculiar phenomenon.

Cai Bian estimated that Zhao Xu knew in his heart, and continued: "The official family, the royal ticket number is equivalent to the official family's inner treasury, and sending out so many Jiaozi is equivalent to the official family's inner treasury paying salaries to officials, which is okay for a while, and it can't go on like this for a long time......."

Zhao Xu was stunned, it was the first time he heard the statement that the royal ticket number was equal to his inner library.

Then he also understood, patted his right hand on the table, and said, "You reminded me, so let's do it, the handover and cash that go out of the royal ticket number will be transferred to the royal ticket number by the household department." After a few years, the development is mature, and the treasury can also collect and hand over the sub, so let's trouble for the time being. ”

This time it was Cai Bian's turn to be stunned, he thought that he could take advantage of Zhao Xu and Neiku.

Zhang Dian didn't care about this, and said: "Official, the governor of the Twelfth Road is basically in place, are you ready to fully restore the new law next year?" ”

Even though Zhang Dian and Cai Bian went around saying that the new law would be revived next year, in fact, Zhao Xu never let go.

The full revival of the 'new law', such a move is too big, a Kaifeng Mansion, there are still so many troubles at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and it is put in the whole country, I am afraid that it will be on fire.

Zhao Xu took another sip of tea, and suddenly said: "Cai Qingjia, Kaifeng Mansion inventory of the population, we must do it seriously, this matter, you can't let Kaifeng Mansion do it, you personally take charge, go to the counties, be sure to be clear, issue a new household disc, and then divide the land, can not delay, and strive to start the division of land within the year, and preliminarily complete the ...... of the 'Fangtian Average Tax Law' next year."

In fact, this is also a bit urgent, in Zhao Xu's plan, it will take at least three years to be preliminarily completed, and in the whole country, it will take ten years!

But it seems that the 'new party' cannot wait, and has repeatedly made statements.

Cai Bian saw it clearly, and was about to speak without waiting for Zhang Dian to speak, but Zhang Dian took the lead in speaking out, saying: "Official, without further ado, the outside is already like a soldering iron in water, and the court will act as a thunderbolt, and will not give them a chance......"

Chen Pi walked over at this time and said behind Zhao Xu: "Official, the mud and sand have been made, do you want to go and see it now?" ”

Zhao Xu was immediately overjoyed, stood up, smiled with Zhang Dian, and Cai Bian said: "I have seen some strange things in ancient books, and I am about to test them, do you want to come together?" ”

Zhang Dian had a serious face, and wanted to say more, Cai Bian saw that Zhao Xu was covered in dust, and hesitated: "The official family ...... It is the body of a thousand gold, how can it be mixed with dust, please ......"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Xu had already turned around, waved his hand and said, "You can handle government affairs, I can trust you." ”

Zhang Dian looked at Zhao Xu's back, and his expression became more and more serious.

Cai Bian was strange in his heart, wondering why Zhao Xu suddenly became interested in these things, and even left aside the government affairs that had been dreaming of sleeping at night.

He glanced at Zhang Dun, knew his thoughts, and said: "The official family obviously has concerns, don't say more, or do a good job in Kaifeng Mansion, as long as Kaifeng Mansion is smooth and the official family has confidence, it will naturally restore the new law as soon as possible." ”

Zhang Xuan's sword eyebrows slowly raised, looked at Zhao Xu's back, and said as if muttering to himself: "No......"

At this time, not far outside the imperial city.

Zhangdun's duty clerk, Pei Yin, was surrounded by a crowd of people by the wall.

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man, with a very arrogant attitude, held a big stick in his hand, and said with a hideous expression: "Pei Yin, let me ask you, does the thief want to cut our family's money and food!" ”

Pei Yin's nose was blue and his face was swollen, there was still blood on the side of his mouth, but his face was calm, and he said lightly: "It is the officials of the world who want to cut it in the imperial court, not your family!" ”

"Whew!"

The young man spit a mouthful of phlegm on Pei Yin's face, looked at Pei Yin's ugly face, and sneered: "Why did he cut it?" My grandfather was a servant of the Renzong Dynasty, and he made great contributions to the country, and these are what our family deserves! ”

Pei Yin held back his anger, wiped the phlegm on his face, and said, "Your Li Mansion covers an area of 100 acres, and your food, clothing, housing and transportation are comparable to those of princes. ”

The young man was even more angry and shouted, "It's not bad, that's what we deserve!" Why did the chapter thief cut? The thief himself doesn't want it, why don't we want it either! ”

"Yes, that's the shadow of our ancestors, and we deserve it!"

"The chapter thief said that if it is reduced, it will be reduced, and there is no royal law in his eyes, and there is no ancestor!"

"I think they just want to fill their pockets, where did they go after losing so much money and food!?"

……

Seven or eight young men yelled and punched and kicked Pei Yin again.

Pei Yin hugged his head, shrunk in the corner, and endured.

These people are all well-known Yanei in Kaifeng City, who have always been tyrannical and have no scruples. Hearing that the imperial court was going to cut the bill, he couldn't help it immediately, and he was about to find someone to settle the account with a stick, but Pei Yin was unlucky and was blocked by them.

After the crowd finished venting, Pei Yin stood up again, with more blood on his face, and footprints all over his body, extremely embarrassed, but his expression became more and more calm, and he looked at the faces of these people seriously one by one.

syllable

The young man surnamed Li slapped him and said, "What? Still want to take revenge on us? Phew! Don't think that the chapter thief is so great, my grandfather also has a head and a face, and the chapter thief has to be honored when he sees it, sir, you let him trouble me! And you, be careful with me, see you once, beat you once! ”

Pei Yin endured the pain all over his body, twitched the corners of his face, and said in a flat tone: "You have thousands of acres of fertile land in Li Mansion, a million acres of family assets, and how much grain you defraud from the imperial court in various names every year, you know better than me." What the imperial court should do is not to simply reduce the salary, but to streamline the administration of the army, curb the superfluity of people, and improve efficiency. The imperial court does not have a one-size-fits-all approach, and for meritorious honorable ministers, they will still give what they should give, but they will not be as careless as before, and the grace is boundless...... I know, you don't understand what I'm saying, but it doesn't matter, you can kill me now, if you don't dare, or if you can't kill me, I'll go to the Imperial City Division to deliver food to you at night. ”