Cai Dao continued: "Your Majesty, at that time, the rich people in the world were vying to hide their family's property, and they would rather their own grain rot in the warehouse than help the imperial court tide over the difficulties. How similar this is to today's situation! ”

"Your Majesty, this is not only the rich merchants and gentry of the land, but also your ministers. Wen Yanbo is a very significant example, Emperor Renzong was hungry in the middle of the night and wanted to eat something, but he was afraid of wasting it. But this prime minister has always warned Song Renzong to be routinely economical, but he himself eats Liang meat at home, takes concubines, and watches songs and dances.

Also, Fan Zhongyan was honest for most of his life, but within a few years before he died, he purchased thousands of acres of land in his hometown, which was called Fan's Yizhuang. Let's not ask the honest and self-disciplined Lord Fan where he got the money to buy these thousands of acres of land, Your Majesty, Poor Dao only asks you one sentence, has this Fan Yizhuang ever paid a penny or a grain of grain to the Song Dynasty since it was established?

This Lord Fan turned out to be such a high-spirited and bright festival! He is so worried about the world first, and happy after the world! Your Majesty, if all your ministers are like him, they have purchased thousands of acres of land when they are in office. Your Majesty, I'm afraid it won't be many years before how much of the land that can be used to collect taxes in the world of Zhao and Song will be left for you and your descendants? ”

"Before Zhuge Liang died, he only left hundreds of acres of orange orchards to his family, which were all mountains and forests, and did not occupy cultivated land. But Fan Zhongyan openly sought benefits for his entire family and evaded taxes. This involves not Fan Gong's sons, but the entire Fan family. Therefore, he has a reputation in the world, but he is just an ordinary man. The real model among my Great Song civil officials is Bao Zheng, not this Fan Gong. Even if you can't be honest and self-controlled, as long as you are like Kou Zhun and Lu Yijian, but Wen Yanbo, Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi and Lu Gongshu are thousands of miles away from these two people! ”

After hearing so much, Fan Zhongyan, a model among officials, had collapsed in Zhao Xu's heart, but those people were already dead except for Wen Yanbo, so Zhao Xu didn't want to say more about them, so he asked, "Okay, don't talk about them." Tell me about your first method! Cai Dao, is there such a person as Bu Shi in my territory? ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, there are naturally such people. If you have the courage to do so, you might as well invent an edict, that is, to seek such a virtuous person as the divination. Poor Dao believes that within three days, someone will fall into the net. Cai Dao replied confidently.

Cai Dao gave a positive answer, but he found that Zhao Xu still didn't seem to be very satisfied, as if he had something to say, but he couldn't say it. On second thought, he immediately understood. Zhao Xu has the guts, but the problem is that once the edict is written, there will definitely be a lot of people who come to donate money and ask for officials, but these people donate not much.

If this happens, Zhao Xu will be embarrassed.

However, Cai Dao did not puncture Zhao Xu's worries, but said something else: "Your Majesty, don't forget that when Bu Shi took the initiative to donate his family wealth to the imperial court, Emperor Wu of Han refused. Later, because there were local difficulties, Bu Shi donated the money to Henan Mansion, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty saw his name on the list of donors, so he was crowned Langzhong. You can do exactly that. If someone wants to fish in troubled water, just send them away. ”

So it was, Zhao Xu still heard the meaning of Cai Dao's words, and knew that the other party had seen through his careful thoughts, so he was no longer entangled. Nowadays, the matter of food is bigger than the sky, that is, Zhang Dian, the newly appointed third secretary, is also having a headache these days in order to raise enough food?

Therefore, Zhao Xu did not dare to waste time at all, summoned Liang Shicheng, handed over the written holy decree to him, and asked him to immediately hand it over to Han Zhen to promulgate the world.

A major event in his heart was over, and Zhao Xu asked again: "Cai Dao, why do you make your own opinion, you have to let me ask the entire Lu family to move to Huizhou, I may not necessarily do this." ”

Cai Dao did not answer Zhao Xu's question directly, but asked a seemingly unrelated question: "Your Majesty, you will be examined by the poor Dao." In this world, basically every two or three hundred years, there will be a major change of dynasties. In addition to the Qin Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, what are the specific reasons for the fall of other dynasties? ”

Zhao Xu thought for a while, and replied solemnly: "The monarch is greedy and greedy, natural disasters continue, peasant uprisings, eunuchs, relatives and powerful ministers. The Han and Tang dynasties were basically a mixture of these reasons, resulting in dynastic changes. ”

"Yes, you summed it up very well. Your Majesty, in your mind, I, Da Song, although I am also facing some difficulties now, but that is only temporary. Once we get through this year's crisis, my Da Song will definitely prosper. You are certainly not a faint king, and although there have been small-scale peasants in various places who have occupied the mountains in recent years, it is rare to actually raise the banner to rebel. The civil administration also eliminated the possibility of eunuchs, relatives and powerful ministers subverting the dynasty to a certain extent.

But, Your Majesty, do you really have to worry about everything in your country just because of this? When he said the last sentence, Cai Dao suddenly raised his voice.

Zhao Xu's face turned dark when he heard this, and he knew that this Luo pot would definitely not have good words, so he asked: "Cai Dao, I said this, is there anything missing?" ”

"Naturally, there is gain, and I don't know one. Let's start with a crucial reason. Cai Dao said as he raised the index finger of his right hand and said, "Land!" A large part of the reason for the change of dynasties is the land. After the establishment of a new dynasty, because of a series of unification wars, the people of the world have died in the war.

Then, after the new emperor seized the world, in order to stabilize the ministers of the dragon who fought the world with him, he was bound to give them land and titles in a big way. Due to the early establishment of the imperial dynasty, the land was vast and sparsely populated, and there were not too many local gentry, so at this time, the land contradiction was not intensified.

However, in the middle and late stages of a dynasty, the annexation of land became more and more serious, and the land available for cultivation within the territory was occupied by civil and military officials, noble families, and local wealthy families. There are more and more poor people, but they do not have the slightest place to stand and the ability to resist natural disasters. In the event of a major famine, it is imperative for the peasants to revolt.

Because, these poor people, if they don't rebel, they will die, and if they rebel, they will still die, but after they rebel, they will at least be able to eat a full meal. These ordinary people who are struggling on the death line, at least they will not be starving ghosts before they die. Your Majesty, have you really experienced what hunger feels like? ”

Speaking of this, Cai Dao stopped and looked at Zhao Xu seriously.

"Nope!" Zhao Xu thought about it carefully and replied.

"Your Majesty, Poor Dao summed up one sentence by saying that the change of dynasty is nothing more than changing the cultivated land in the world to a new owner. The emperor was the big landlord, and his servants were the middle landlords, and the soldiers under them were the small landlords. Over time, land will gradually become concentrated in the hands of a few. In the end, it was nothing more than two results, one was that the dynasty was overthrown by a peasant uprising, and the other was that the powerful ministers or local tycoons used their money and wealth to overthrow the dynasty. The Tian dynasty of the Zhao dynasty is the best example.

And Your Majesty, do you really think that the Second Emperor Huan Ling of the Later Han Dynasty is a faint monarch? Actually, not. The reason why Emperor Huan of Han favored the eunuchs was because it was not those literati and Confucian scholars who helped him seize power, but the rootless eunuchs under him. Empress Dowager Liang listened to the government in the court, Liang Ji was domineering, abolished the Son of Heaven of the Han family several times, and poisoned Emperor Han Qian.

At that time, how many ministers stood up to regain the imperial power for the Liu family? If it weren't for Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, who would know that there would not be another Wang Mang in the Liang family?

The situation faced by Emperor Han Ling was the same. Dou Wu and Empress Dowager Dou are in the same position, and the world says that Dou Wu is a virtuous minister. But before Wang Mang usurped the throne, he was also a great virtuous minister who was famous all over the world! What's more, Dou Wu is still surnamed Dou, if his name is Ma Wu, and the queen mother of the dynasty is surnamed Ma, maybe Emperor Han Ling will not kill Dou Wu.

As for the matter of the second emperor of Huan Ling's betrayal of the official mantle. Your Majesty, its roots are actually still in the body of Emperor Guangwu of Han. He wantonly divided the feudal success, resulting in the world's counties and counties everywhere there are wealthy families, Hongnong Yang's and Runan's Yuan family are in this background, and gradually developed into the top families in the Later Han Dynasty. At that time, the land of the world was concentrated in the hands of these powerful people, and the tax revenue in various places could not be raised, and the financial situation of the imperial court could not make ends meet, and it was deteriorating day by day. If they don't sell their official positions, what will they do to maintain the normal operation of the imperial court?

Although those eunuchs and relatives were greedy, they would at least give some of the corrupt wealth to the emperor. But those powerful families built a castle in the countryside. ”