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Heaven is impermanent, life is impermanent, pray for the compatriots in the disaster area in Yunnan, and hope that suffering can really prosper the country

After the National Day in 1901, Song Xiaofei set out to promote constitutional reform in China. But an incident soon happened that made Song Xiaofei have to re-examine China's traditional rural society, and this incident is the "rent reduction and interest reduction" formulated by the government, which is quite tortuous to implement in traditional villages.

According to the "New Land Law" enacted at the beginning of Song Xiaofei's second presidential term, "the rent of tenant farmland is generally 25 percent of the harvest", and "50 percent of the full harvest of the main product is the maximum rent".

Song Xiaofei believes that it is very unfair for the peasants to take away most of the grain obtained by the landlords by hard work, and he does not want to solve China's land problem by drastic means, so he pays 25 percent of the rent, which is a moderate improvement plan to reduce the burden on the peasants, and the national industry and commerce will prosper because of the increase in the purchasing power of the peasants.

But unexpectedly, before such a good policy was implemented for two years, Premier Sheng Xuanhuai came to Song Xiaofei and said: "The policy of rent reduction and interest reduction cannot be implemented, the rural economy is bankrupt and unemployed, the livelihood of both the peasants and the landlords cannot be stabilized, and the contradictions are becoming more and more acute, affecting the order of the whole society."

Song Xiaofei asked, "What's going on?" ”

Sheng Xuanhuai replied: "Land has been the main wealth of rural society in China for thousands of years. Since the trial implementation of the Second Five-Year Plan for rent reduction the year before last, disputes have arisen between landlords and peasants. Many small and medium-sized landlords have worked hard in their lives, with rough clothes and bad food, and have accumulated flies' heads, and have purchased a few acres or dozens of acres of thin fields, so that they can maintain the health of a family of several or dozens of people. They denounced the rent reduction as 'unequal bitterness, inverting the name of the landlord and tenant, resisting the rent reduction', and withdrawing the land leased to the tenants under various pretexts. Whose tenants are asking for rent reductions. The landlord threatened to withdraw the tenant. This made the peasants afraid to mention the matter of rent reduction. The peasants said, 'Don't dare to reduce it, if the rent is reduced, we won't want to farm.' Other than that. Rural China is a society of acquaintances, peasants and landlords live together in the same village, and the villagers are embarrassed to let the landlords reduce their rents. In some places, farmers think, 'We don't have cattle to borrow cows.'" When they had no money to borrow, they would lose money if they wanted to reduce the rent, and many peasants instead mobilized other tenants to pay more rent to the landlords. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, the rural peasants and landlords in the old society did not seem to be bitter and bitter, and seemed to be full of human feelings, but he didn't want to give up, and said to Sheng Xuanhuai: "Reform will always touch the interests of some people. Don't drop out because of difficulties, and don't give up eating because of choking. Rent reduction is the main content of our revival party's people's livelihood doctrine, and those local tyrants and gentry, evil landlords, and landlords and hooligans who oppose rent reduction or do not lease land to the peasants can be arrested and shot. ”

Sheng Xuanhuai shook his head. He said: "Most of the people who oppose rent reduction are the gentry, 'the gentry are the hope of a township, and the gentry are the head of the four people', and the Chinese countryside is a solid patriarchal society, since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the gentry have become powerful, infiltrating and even controlling the clan and township organizations. These gentry and landlords presided over the operation of important local public and public welfare affairs, such as school affairs, education, public property, water conservancy, bridges, Jindu, etc. Taking the bridges built in Huizhou Mansion in the Qing Dynasty as an example, there were 10 official repairs, 3 official gentry repairs, 34 gentry repairs, and 18 private repairs. Rongxian bridge, 1 official repair, 52 gentry repairs, 32 civil repairs; Jindu, 21 gentry repairs, 22 civil repairs, and the government did not repair one. These squires also undertake cultural and spiritual activities such as academic affairs and education, and social studies and private schools are generally sponsored by the squires, and educational activities such as township covenants are often presided over by the squires. In fact, the county magistrates appointed by our government can only govern with the cooperation of the local gentry. Moreover, some local governments have not taken into account the actual local conditions, and have adopted rigid laws and regulations and paid 25 percent of the rent, but the peasants have suffered losses. In the past, land rents in some areas never reached 25 percent, and in the year of famine, the landlords would take the initiative to waive rents, and a reform would actually exceed the amount of rent paid in the past, thus arousing resentment among the peasants. ”

"In the past, there were areas where the rent never reached 25 per cent? In the year of famine, will the landlord take the initiative to give the peasants rent free? Song Xiaofei doubted this, in his education in his previous life, the landlords were Huang Shiren and Zhou Papi.

Sheng Xuanhuai replied, "Yes." Landlords and peasants are all villagers, and landlords are the owners of peasants, and many landlords do not want peasants to starve to death. Sometimes, the landlords of Xiangkun will also organize disaster relief. ”

Song Xiaofei recalled the scene when he went to Henan for drought relief, and indeed Xie Jiafu and other squires contributed a lot of money, but in the old society, the public affairs in the township were handled and handled by the clan, the village elders, especially the squires. For the illiterate and intellectually illiterate masses, the gentleman was the guardian, promoter, and representative of the Confucian doctrine that laid down the norms of Chinese society and human relations: the traditional ethics of fatherly kindness, filial piety, and brotherhood. The article that best embodies this traditional ethics is Zhu Xi's "Zhu Zi's Family Motto": Those who are noble are benevolent. Those who are noble are loyal. The Father's nobles, mercy also. The noble of the son is also filial piety. Brothers' nobles, friends. The noble brother is also respectful. The noble husband is also harmonious. The nobles of women are also soft. The teacher is more expensive than courtesy, and making friends is more expensive than faith. See the old man, respect him; See the young, love them. Those who are virtuous, although the year is lower than me, I will respect them; If you are not good, although the year is higher than me, I will be far away. Be careful not to talk about people's shortcomings, and don't talk about your own strengths. The enemy understands it with righteousness, and the complainant reports it directly, and he is at peace with what he encounters. People have small faults, tolerate and endure them; If a man has a great fault, he will be told by reason. Don't take the good as small, don't take the evil as small. If a person has evil, he will cover it; If people are good, they will be promoted. There is no selfish enmity in the world, and there is no selfish law in governing the family. Don't harm others and benefit yourself, don't be jealous of the virtuous and jealous. Don't be angry and repay, don't be rude and harm the lives of things. Don't take ill-gotten gains, but follow what is reasonable. Poetry and books must be read, and etiquette and righteousness must be known. Children must not be taught, and child servants must not be disregarded. Sven must not be disrespectful, and adversity must not be helped. Those who keep my part, courtesy; Whoever listens to me, heaven. If man can do so, heaven will be like it. This is the way of daily use, if the clothes are for the body, and the food is for the mouth and stomach, you can't go without it for a day, but you can't be careless! The gentlemen were educated in this Confucian system, and as a result, they acquired the knowledge of managing social affairs, which was the main condition for them to assume leadership roles in Chinese society. Moreover, the grass-roots baozheng, the first chief, and the head of the card are generally publicized by the local people, and reported to the county officials for filling, and their qualifications are honesty, literacy, and wealth, and they are limited to years and generations, and they take turns to fill their positions, so as to work and rest equally, which is not much different from modern democratic self-government. However, Chinese do not **, most of them talk about "reason", and they have to ask for "explanations" in case of trouble. In general, the folk customs are simple, and people are courteous, righteous and honest.

"It seems that reform can't just be a slap on the head, and it can't be emotional." Song Xiaofei said: "On the parliamentary side, I will communicate with Speaker Yung Hong as soon as possible and ask them to revise the relevant provisions of the Land Law. The government should also make some adjustments to the policy as soon as possible, reducing the rent of tenant farmland by 25 to 50 percent on the basis of the original land rent, and all localities should formulate a ratio of land rent acceptable to both peasants and landlords according to the actual situation. The rent of land purchased by the government from large landlords through national debt was also reduced by 25 percent. For those landless peasants, they all migrated to the three northeastern provinces and the Far East, where there are large tracts of fertile land, and the government can encourage the peasants to move outside the customs by rent-free. The landlords, on the other hand, should encourage them to do business, buy stocks, buy treasury bonds, open factories, and so on. ”

Sheng Xuanhuai agreed with Song Xiaofei's opinion. Song Xiaofei said: "In the future, our policies must proceed from reality, first carry out experiments, and then roll out in an all-round way, and the pace of reform must be steady, rather slow than chaotic; China is now a big country with a population of 50,000, and once it is chaotic, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

After sending off Premier Sheng Xuanhuai, Song Xiaofei had doubts about China's current national conditions and whether he was suitable for immediate constitutional reform, and although he had also read a lot of books on constitutionalism in the book, he felt that "what he got on paper was shallow," so he personally called Liang Qichao, the chief of justice, and asked him to come to the president's office.

Liang Qichao saw Song Xiaofei, finished his salute, and said, "Why did the president come to me?" ”

Song Xiaofei said: "A few days ago, Rong Hong talked to me about constitutional reform, but I think that reform should be carried out slowly according to national conditions, and I am ready to ask you to lead a delegation to Britain, the United States, Germany and other countries to inspect specific constitutional procedures and measures, and to inspect the laws and societies of each country at that time, to see which measures are suitable for China's constitutional reform." ”

Liang Qichao nodded and said, "The president has a point, I'll go back and prepare." ”