Chapter 61 Open Source and Reduce Expenditure

"Ladies and gentlemen, the treasury is becoming empty, what should I do? Let's talk about it. ”

I saw Jia Rudao looking indifferent, his eyes slightly closed, maybe he was looking at what kind of true method I, the true dragon emperor, would do, or maybe he was preparing to see my jokes, in short, this gesture made me very unhappy.

Since Emperor Lizong, the economy of the Southern Song Dynasty has been declining, paper money has depreciated, prices have risen, and military spending has been shortage, and the financial revenue of the Southern Song Dynasty has reached the point of exhaustion. Although the implementation of the Gongtian Law in 1263 eased the pressure on the border army's military spending, it did not essentially curb the economic decline, and in addition to the extremely ineffective supervision in the process of implementation, it became a new source of social unrest.

Although the current economy is indeed riddled with holes, these big bureaucrats and big landlords are still living a life of abundant food and clothing, and the money issued by the imperial court is simply not enough for their expenses.

Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu and others were too low-ranked, and they did not go out of the class to play.

For a while, there was silence in the huge hall.

"Since everyone is silent, then I'll throw bricks and lead the way." I said coldly, "When it comes to the tight treasury, we can't fail to mention the public land law, so let's talk about the public land law first." ”

Since I ascended the throne, the ministers of the DPRK and China have been divided into two extreme factions for this reason, although I have supported Jia Yidao to continue to implement this law, but I have never responded positively to the Gongtian Law, this time should be the first time that I, the emperor, have expressed my views on the Gongtian Law, so Jia Yidao, Ma Tingluan and others concentrated their minds at once.

"First of all, I want to make a statement, I support the public land law, the original intention of the public land law is also desirable, and I raised enough military salaries in the year when the public land law was implemented." I said straight to the point, "The public land law can be divided into two parts, one is the source of public land, and the other is the use of public land. In the early days, the source of public land came from official land, but due to the increasing privatization of official land, the land was more and more concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, resulting in a serious inequality between the rich and the poor. The imperial court had public land and then resold it to farmers who lacked land, or by establishing official farms (similar to state-owned farms) to recruit peasants, and displaced people rented to cultivate it, so as to solve the problem of unemployment among the peasants. From this, it can be seen that the public land law is nothing more than a process of redistribution of land, which has more advantages than disadvantages for most peasants, but for the landlord class, it is a voice of opposition. Why? Because of their interests, I remember that if it weren't for the fact that the ministers had not taken the lead in sacrificing 10,000 acres of land in western Zhejiang as official land and blocked the mouths of those who opposed it, the first emperor might have canceled this law. ”

Speaking of this, I suddenly raised my voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, you tell me, why do people who only account for one stop of the population own as many as nine tons of land?" ”

Each of the ministers of the court has their own ideas in their hearts, but no one is willing to say it in public, but they just say in their hearts, it turns out that the emperor still supports the public land law, and it is natural for a few people to own a large amount of land.

I resumed my normal tone and continued: "There is nothing wrong with the Gongtian Law itself, what is wrong is that the Gongtian Law cannot be implemented in accordance with the instructions of the imperial court. I remember that Chen Zongli said about the four major drawbacks of the Gongtian Law during the court meeting last year, and this is indeed the case. However, these problems are not caused by the public land law itself, and the ministers are bent on the public and only want to increase taxes for the state treasury in order to prepare for the expansion of military expenditures, but in the process of implementation, they neglect supervision, resulting in several drawbacks mentioned by Chen Aiqing. Master, how's it going? ”

When Jia Rudao saw me by name, he had to reply: "Back to Your Majesty, I am discussing with various ministries, and it should be able to be formulated before the end of the month." ”

"Well, the master bothered. Now let's get back to the point, how to solve the treasury problem. ”

Wen Tianxiang saw that no one spoke, so he went out and said: "Chen Wen Tianxiang thinks that the principle should be based on open source and reduce expenditure. ”

Weng Yinglong said in a strange tone: "What Lord Wen said is extremely true, but it is easy to open up sources and reduce expenditure, but it is far from easy to do, I don't know if Lord Wen has specific measures?" ”

I know that Weng Yinglong's words are Jia Rudao for me: "Today's court, you Aiqing can speak freely no matter what you think, even if it is a whimsy, not marginal words, the things discussed by the great dynasty of this decade are all around this point, our dynasty needs Zhongxing, first of all, let the people live and work in peace and contentment, only the country is rich and the people are strong, can other changes be carried out, as the so-called words of the ancients, Cang Liao knows etiquette." ”

Someone started to do it, and there was no need to discuss the public land law, and the ministers began to enthusiastically.

Ma Tingluan said: "Minister Ma Tingluan agrees with Lord Wen's words, and the minister suggests that the matter of solving the national treasury constraints should be discussed around two aspects: open source and throttling. ”

Ye Mengding, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, followed: "The minister seconded the proposal, and the minister proposed to re-approve the officials at all levels, starting with the officials, and merging and reducing unnecessary positions. ”

Chen Zongli, Zhu Pisun, Jiang Wanli and other empress dowager parties, neutrals have seconded the proposal.

When I saw that the crowd was beginning to speak, I said, "Then let's talk about this throttling first." ”

"The minister proposes to reduce the number of local officials."

"The minister thinks that officials at all levels should be lowered."

"The minister suggested that the ministries should be controlled in terms of regular expenditures."

"The minister thinks that the army can be reduced."

"Minister......

In this atmosphere, even people like Jia and Daoist can't help but play in class, it seems that not speaking means not giving face to the emperor, since the eclipse, such ministers have more or less awe of me, the emperor.

I watched, listened, and thought.

According to most of the courtiers, it was only a matter of saving fur, and most of them were aimed at others, and these ostensible throttling allowed them to take a few copper plates less than a few pounds.

The real losses are hidden in the shadows, and corruption [***] is the bulk of the invisible income of those in power.

Every change in history has been difficult, and the reason for this is that these changes involve the interests of those in power, so the more radical the change, the more powerful the pressure, even the blood of the changemakers.

The time from the Shang Dynasty to the Wu Xu Law was not bloody.

China's feudal society has always been a society ruled by man for thousands of years, and even if there are sound laws, they are all reduced to a dead letter.

I interrupted: "What Aiqing said is very true, I will think about it carefully, and then let's discuss this open source matter." ”

Jiang Wanli first came out and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the first thing to open source is to attach importance to agriculture, and the foundation of our dynasty is agriculture, and the imperial court should build water conservancy, improve crop harvests, and enhance the active surname of farmers in farming; The second is to develop industry and commerce, encourage different economic forms such as workshops and trade, as a supplement to agriculture, and the imperial court can also tax its income. ”

"This Jiang Wanli has some opinions." I said secretly.

Ma Tingluan objected: "The tax revenue of our dynasty mainly comes from agriculture, and the income from industry and commerce is very small, so Master Jiang cannot put the cart before the horse. ”

Jiang Wanli said: "Master Ma ......"

I was afraid that as soon as the two of them started arguing, I would have to digress again, so I hurriedly interrupted: "Jiang Aiqing, Ma Aiqing, today I only mention ideas, there is no need to identify, as long as it is conducive to increasing the treasury revenue, it can be said, whether it is feasible or not." ”

Hong Tianci continued: "The development of industry and commerce is a feasible way, as long as laws are enacted to collect taxes, first, to increase the revenue of the national treasury, and second, to resettle more and more displaced people. ”

Chen Zongli said: "The minister thinks that agriculture should be the first, and the warehouse should be real and then commercial. ”

Lu Xiufu saw that everyone was almost talking and said: "Your Majesty, when the former ministers first entered Yangzhou with Lord Li, there were ruins and broken walls everywhere, and they were withered, in addition to focusing on the resettlement of farmers, Lord Li also tried his best to support Yangzhou's salt industry, which took less than a year to make Yangzhou City look new. ”

Jia Rudao glanced at Lu Xiufu, and said in his heart, there are capable people under Li Tingzhi, I should still persuade Liao Yingzhong to enter the court as an official, only Weng Yinglong and others still seem a little weak in the court.

Except for a few people such as Jiang Wanli and Hong Tianci, most of the courtiers proposed to expand agricultural input and did not approve of supporting industry and commerce.

"Everyone, Aiqing, after the next dynasty, each subordinate department will discuss it on its own, and then make a final conclusion when it is said to be the great dynasty." When I announced my retirement from the court, I looked at Jia Rudao and said, "The master will stay and follow me to the imperial study to discuss again." ”