readx;?readx; Chapter 556 Nothing is impossible

On August 15, I went to the capital, and the sky was high and dusk. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Before the sun set, a light full moon hung high in the eastern sky. The breeze is light, and the cuckoo is homecoming, which is a good season for chrysanthemums to be everywhere and the rice to be golden.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a big day, and at this time, every household in the capital should have steamed crabs, boiled edamame, placed chrysanthemums, and placed tributes, ready to worship the moon god happily.

Although this year's work has not been left behind, there is no way to find the celebratory atmosphere of previous years. The entire capital of Qi was shrouded in panic and unease......

The people heard from the refugees from other places that the robbers of the Qin State defeated the army of Baisheng Gong in the first battle of Muye Plain, and set out from Muye City, connecting the three counties of Liyang, Puyang, and Neihuang, and burned the three million stone autumn grain in the northern granary of Qi State.

The Qin army, which tasted the sweetness, went all the way east along the Jibei River, successively captured Yangping, Huafu, Gaotang, and Pingyuan, fought seven battles and won seven victories, burned more than 30 county towns and mansions, beheaded more than 100,000 people, and burned 1.5 million stone of autumn grain...... You must know that the northern part of the Qi country only harvests seven million stones of grain and grass a year.

The Qin army plundered like locusts and swept through the richest three states in the east of the Qi State, causing millions of people to be displaced and direct losses amounting to tens of millions of taels!

Panic spread wildly in the two capitals and thirteen states of Qi State, and rumors spread on the streets and alleys. People will say that the robbers of the Qin State do not eat food and eat people's hearts; After a while, it was said that they had conquered Hejian Province and invaded the Gyeonggi area, and that they would soon appear under the upper capital city; After a while, he also said that the one who led the troops to fight this time was the little proton that Shangguan Cheng had taken away for quite a long time, which can be described as self-inflicted......

At first, there was little ferocity and little faith, and people's confidence in Lord Yum had reached the point of blindness, even if they knew that the Qi army was defeated by Munohara, they were naïve and stubborn to think that this was another good show for the old man to 'lure the enemy deep' and 'catch turtles in the urn', and he didn't believe that a fledgling boy could knock a god-like character into the clouds.

However, when the Qinwang army from all over the country drove into the Beijing division one after another, Shuntianfu Dasuo Beijing, and searched for spies, the atmosphere in the capital city became uncontrollable and tense, prices soared, and every family closed their doors, looking like the mountain rain was about to come and the wind was full of buildings......

Ordinary people are still like this, not to mention their parents and officials, not to mention the parents and officials?

The Prime Minister's Mansion is still the same, and the ancient locust tree is as vigorous as ever, but it can't withstand the destruction of the autumn wind, and the dark green crown cover in summer is already a little yellow and bald.

Two teams of mighty honor guards, escorting a gorgeous sedan chair, waited quietly in the courtyard. After a while, I saw a clear old man with silver hair walking slowly from the backyard.

The old man was wearing a python robe and a jade belt around his waist, which was the first Taifu of the dynasty, Shangguan Yunhe, the prime minister of Zuo, and the word Mingde. Compared with four years ago, he is thinner, his gray hair has turned pure white, and his well-maintained face has finally stubbornly climbed into some wrinkles that represent aging.

Even the straight waist looks a little stiff.

He was too worried and too tired. Since the law was changed according to Zhang Zhi's "Qi State Reform Zou Yi", the court situation has been out of control day by day......

This matter has to start with the crux of Qi State, and the problem of Qi State lies in the four words 'making ends meet'.

The country is too good to spend money! Internally, because of the prevalence of the system of 'requisition and recommendation' of officials, the big families unscrupulously arranged their children in the court and enjoyed the support of the state.

Under such circumstances, the number of government officials continued to swell and surge, and there were countless redundant and false officials, and before the New Deal, it had reached more than 20,000 people, ten times that of the beginning of the country! This has led to a surge in government spending, which alone costs tens of millions of dollars a year.

Externally, the century-old confrontation with Qin and Chu led to a high number of troops, and before the war, the number of registered soldiers reached a historical peak, about 1,259,000 people, which increased military expenditures. ’

It's so expensive, but what about the revenue?

The state of Qi granted great privileges to the emperor's relatives, wealthy families, military and public officials, and allowed them to be exempt from taxes and labor. Even ordinary squires and tyrants can evade taxes by bribing the local government. And these privileged classes, who do not contribute to the state, control more than 50% of the world's land, more than 70% of the workshops, and almost all of the salt and iron deposits......

Therefore, the huge expenditure of the state fell on the peasants who only cultivated less than half of the land in Daqi! How can such a treasury not be empty?

However, the officials and gentlemen of the Qi State are blindly immersed in the pleasure of defeating Qiang Qin, dreaming of the spring of the world's first power, arrogant and lascivious, corrupt and degenerate, and the treasury is sucked by these leeches with a huge deficit, which is not enough to be nothing. The peasants who could not pay the taxes smashed and grabbed and beat them! With such exploitation and oppression, how can the people not oppose it?

Four or five years ago, the situation had reached a precarious point, and if there was no change, it would be self-defeating!

This is the background of Zhang Jizhi's "Zou Discussion on the Reform of Qi State".

After careful consideration, Prime Minister Shangguan decided to change the law......

In February of the twelfth year of Xinghua, the Department of Reform of Government Regulations was set up to discuss the implementation of new laws; In April, eight imperial histories were sent to inspect the farmland, water conservancy, and enslavement of the state capitals; In July, Liqi and Lu Yunhe all lost the law in four states; In September, the green seedling method was established; In November, the Farmland Water Conservancy Law was promulgated. The implementation of the orders one by one can be described as immediate, and the revenue of the two taxes doubled that year!

The encouraged, Shangguan Cheng continued his efforts in the following year, and promulgated a variety of thirteen decrees, such as the 'City Change Law', the 'Conscription Law', the 'Military Reduction Law', and the 'General Placement Law', which doubled the tax revenue in the second year!

These laws and regulations involve all aspects of Qi State, such as agriculture, industry and commerce, and soldiers, which are complicated and abnormal, and if they are analyzed and explained one by one, I am afraid that they will have to be said for three days and three nights, but in the final analysis, it is the word 'open source'.

The so-called 'open source' naturally increases the state's revenue, specifically, it means re-measuring the land under heaven and taxing the newly reclaimed land that was originally hidden and not reported; abolishing privileges and taxing the privileged classes who originally did not pay taxes and allowing them to pay for labor with ransom; and borrowing seeds from the people to cultivate cattle at the government's expense to promote agricultural development;

Even the government still pays for the purchase of unsalable goods from traders at a low price, and then sells them when the market is out of stock. At the same time, loans were issued to traders to encourage business development. In order to achieve 'the common have-not, the powerful and the lowly, to level the price, and suppress the merger. 'purpose.

Under the iron fist of the prime minister, a series of measures were implemented, and those who did not pay taxes were paid, so that the state revenue achieved non-recurring growth; In addition, the measures to develop agriculture and encourage industry and commerce have led to a steady increase in the country's recurrent income, and the prospects are not unpleasant. If it can be carried out, why should the country not be rich and strong? Why should people's livelihood be unhappy?

However, we know that there is a gap between the ideal and the reality, and sometimes it even goes against the other. After the honeymoon period of the first two years, the problems began to be revealed one by one......

Imperial relatives, wealthy families, and central officials began to complain and complain, and hated the law; Local officials began to disobey the law, and even directly changed their ways and reverted to the old system, and even the merchants and peasants who were supposed to support them seemed to complain and fear.

After the surge in the first two years, the state treasury revenue, which was the most effective for the prime minister, has also shown an irreversible decline, and by last year it was only less than 10% more than before the reform......

Without such a magic weapon, those wealthy families whose interests were damaged even more vigorously criticized the New Deal, intending to get rid of it as soon as possible. Although he did not dare to directly attack the old prime minister, he did not hesitate to persecute the officials who implemented the law change, but he spared no effort by unscrupulous means.

Even if there are Shangguan and Prime Minister trying their best to protect them, the law-changing officials who are in difficulties at home and abroad are still worried and disheartened, and they ask for resignation when they are sick, and they can flash as far as they can, which is quite a bit avoidable.

This is nothing, and more importantly, His Majesty the Emperor, who has always been concentrating on meditation and not asking about world affairs, finally couldn't help the noise of the group of imperial relatives and began to ask about the situation of changing the law. Although the old prime minister has gone through three dynasties, his protégés and former officials are all over the world, and he can be said to be deeply rooted in the court, and he has the mutual knowledge of Baisheng Gong, even the emperor cannot easily shake his status.

But the whole world is not the king's land, after all, this Daqi is still the emperor's majesty, and no matter how awesome he is, Shangguan Yunhe can't change the identity of the worker, he has to explain patiently for the doubts from the boss...... If you are blindly stubborn and self-serving, you will have a day when everyone will betray their relatives and end miserably.

But Prime Minister Shangguan understood that from the day of the change, he had embarked on a road of no return, because the change touched the interests of too many people and changed too many ancestors. Even if it succeeds, it is possible to repeat the mistakes of Wei Ying, let alone fail...... Don't you have to be torn up by those powerful people?

So he gritted his teeth and persisted, while thinking hard about what the problem was?

Where? This is also an issue that has been debated by politicians and historians in later generations. Some people say that it is the chronic disease of the new law itself; Some people say that the new law is good, but the people below are violating the law and implementing it badly; Some people also said that the prime minister was too arrogant and could not unite the masses, so that the people rebelled and left, failed to change the law, and so on, and so on, and so on, and there were different opinions.

It wasn't until the university scholar Wang Anshi published "On the Failure of Shangguan Yunhe's Law Change" that he finally won the approval of all parties, and it can be regarded as an official statement:

Wang Anshi believes that there are three reasons, one of which is that the 'Shangguan Yunhe Reform' is only aimed at the surface, but it does not touch on the core problem - 'too much spending'!

And the expenditure is too much because there are too many redundant officials in the court and too many vacancies in the army. If we do not target the 'redundant officials' and 'vacancies', the financial problem will not be solved at all. However, the reform of the prime minister was mainly aimed at increasing the revenue of the state treasury, and this could not solve the financial difficulties.

Guan Tao's "Improving Zou Yi" clearly said that in addition to 'open source', it is also necessary to 'throttle'! by eliminating redundant government personnel and reducing government spending; Military spending will be reduced by strictly inspecting the army's empty salaries. According to Guantao's calculations, if the throttling is done well, the military and political expenditures will be reduced by at least 10 million taels per year, so how can the national treasury be tight?

And now that Prime Minister Shangguan is only 'open source' and not 'throttling', it is like pouring water into a bucket full of holes, how can it be filled?

Second, the policy itself has fatal shortcomings -- take the implementation of the 'Seedlings Law' as an example. The Seedlings Law stipulates that households in Fanzhou County can borrow cash or grain from the local government to subsidize farming before the summer and autumn harvest each year.

However, in practice, it is far from ideal. If the poor households voluntarily asked for money from the officials, there is still some theory, but in fact, the local officials forced the peasants to guarantee each other, and then apportioned the amount from house to house, called 'scattered green seedlings', and the reason for this was to cope with the tasks assigned by the imperial court on the one hand, and to ensure that all the principal and interest were recovered after the autumn.

In the specific process of dispersal, the target is the middle and upper families rather than the poor households, and Gai is afraid that the poor households will not be able to repay, and the middle and upper families still need to borrow money to plant seedlings and survive the spring famine?

Those who need money can't get it, but those who don't need it can't be pushed away, so what else is there to talk about benefiting the people?

Some people want to say, why should such a good thing be pushed out? You don't think you should pay it back?

The 'Seedlings Law' can stipulate that interest should be charged at 2 cents, that is, 20 percent of the total amount, that is, the government forcibly lends people a sum of money or grain that they do not need at all, but in the autumn they ask them to pay back 20% more, what is the difference between this and robbing money? It is no better than leviing harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

As for the third, it is because His Majesty was born, which caused the national strength of Qi to be hit hard, and the situation was even worse...... This is suspected of being a sycophant, so don't talk about it.

So the authoritative statement is the first two, and there is no third.

As soon as this article came out, the world's evaluation of Wang Anshi rose sharply, and many high-ranking officials and dignitaries may regard it as a 'national weapon', and they sighed: "If Prime Minister Shangguan has the insight of Mr. Linchuan, who in the world will not know." ’

But Sima Guang, a contemporary of Wang Anshi, believes that it is impossible for the above officials and prime ministers to only know 'open source' and not know 'throttling', and the reason why they don't do it is because just 'open source' has so much resistance. It doesn't change for a day......

Sima Guang also believes that Prime Minister Shangguan is very aware of the power, but he knows better how empty the treasury of Qi has been, and if he doesn't increase his income and doesn't wait for Qin to fight, he will be able to collapse. But he still did it without hesitation, not to sink away, but to renew the life of this country on the verge of collapse......

Sima Guang went deep into the soul of Prime Minister Shangguan and thought that the reason why his old man did this was because of his foresight...... After 200 years of confrontation, the three countries have become strong and middle-class, and they are riddled with diseases.

He should think that the situation in the Qin State is worse than that of the Qi State...... On the rivers and lakes, it is always better than anyone, and sometimes it is worse than others...... If you cheer up your spirits and stimulate your full potential, you can take advantage of his illness to kill him, and you can transfer your own crisis to the Qin State.

Sima Guang believed that Shangguan Cheng was counting on the fact that Baisheng Gong could complete his efforts in the battle of the whole country, wipe out the main force of Qin, and from then on take what he wanted, and use the wealth of Qin to support Qi. This is a huge adventure to gamble on the fortunes of the country, and if it succeeds, the dilemma will be solved; If it fails, it's just a quick death.

This would explain why Shangguan Yunhe would agree to Baisheng Gong's battle plan against Qin...... Dead horses should be live horse doctors!

It can be seen that Sima Guang still appreciates Prime Minister Shangguan's courage to take responsibility. Although he also had to admit that Shangguan Yunhe underestimated the greed and stupidity of the fools under him, those people continued to change the law and loot the people's wealth when the building was about to collapse, which made the contradictions that would have erupted a few years later appear so early.

But in any case, Shangguan Cheng still fulfilled the request of Baisheng Gong and gathered the strength to fight with the Qin State.

The outcome is not known until the final winner is decided, isn't it?

At least for now, yes.

Regardless of whether future generations demonize him or praise him as a saint, Shangguan Yunhe doesn't care, the only thing he cares about is when Zhao Wuyi, the dead fat man, will win this damn war!

The sedan chair went all the way to the west, entered the royal garden in the west of the capital, and finally stopped in front of the Wanshou Palace, where the Xinghua Emperor of Qi lived all the year round......

This longevity hall is different from the general palace building, more like the temple of the Daxiong Treasure Palace, because the Xinghua Emperor of Qi is a fanatical Buddhist, the nature of being a monk is higher than that of the emperor, and even several times want to really shave the ordination, but the minister can't afford to lose this person, regardless of faction to death, which makes the emperor dispel the idea of shaving his head...... If he knew the current situation of Emperor Qin, he would definitely gloat at the same time, but also have a little admiration......

But not shaving his head does not mean that the emperor's religious fervor will disappear, he moved out of the palace since the death of Concubine Yi five years ago, and led the practice in this hall of longevity, and the nine cows could not pull back.

Today, Prime Minister Shangguan is here to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with the emperor, and cultivators like to be quiet, so they only let a few intimate ministers accompany them during the New Year's Festival, and they will not attend those big occasions.

As soon as the sedan chair stopped, the housekeeper gently lifted the sedan curtain and said, "Xiangye, it's here." ”

Taking a deep breath and looking at the gradually brighter full moon in the sky, Prime Minister Shangguan got up slowly, the housekeeper wanted to come up to help, but he waved his hand and said lightly: "The old man can still walk...... "

The housekeeper hurriedly laughed and said: "That is, the prime minister has a long life, and when he is a hundred years old, he will still have a ...... with a young man" Before he finished speaking, he saw that the old prime minister's legs were too short, and he tripped over the high threshold, so he fell straight forward, and everyone was stunned.

Fortunately, Xiang Ye should not have suffered this catastrophe, at this time, someone came out of the door, and he happened to be bumped into by Shangguan Cheng, and with a bang, he was knocked straight to the ground and became Xiang Ye's meat pad.

The subordinates hurriedly stepped forward and helped the prime minister up, fortunately the old man was safe and sound.

Looking at the flattened one on the ground, it was the eunuch Huang Gonggong, the chief eunuch in the palace. I saw that the old guy who was pampered on weekdays had a sore nose flowing out: "Oops...... Ancestor, alas, I'm Baba who came out to fight you from disaster......"

"Why don't you help your father-in-law up?" Everyone hurriedly helped Huang Gonggong up, rubbed his shoulders and beat his back, Shangguan Yunhe also smiled and said: "Father-in-law, don't be angry, the old man didn't mean it." ”

"It doesn't matter if the miscellaneous family is not angry." Huang Gonggong suddenly whispered: "Long live Lord is angry, Xiangye be careful." ”