Chapter 60 Reform
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With the help of the Qingyu Lingshu and the knowledge of later generations, Zhang Jiashi knew very well how difficult it was to achieve the word reform. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info
On the whole, in Zhang Jiashi's understanding, if you want to succeed in reform, there seem to be two factors that are not much related to each other, but there are more factors that have an equal relationship.
These two factors are:
One social system does not satisfy the backward productive forces at all and needs to be reformed, and the other is that the reform can forcefully break through the resistance of the vested interests at the time and successfully implement the reform.
Several famous reforms in Chinese history have a lot to do with these two factors.
Qin Xiaogong's appointment of the Shang Yang Reform, that is, the Shang Martingale Reform, was a reform that used powerful power to break through the resistance of the vested interest groups of the Qin State at that time to succeed.
Whether it was the basis for the first reform, after the successful implementation of the Reclamation Decree in the Qin State, Qin Xiaogong appointed Shang Ying as the Zuo Shu Chang in 356 BC and implemented the first reform in the Qin State.
The main contents of the first reform of the Qin State are:
1: Promulgating and implementing the legal scriptures of Li Kui of the Wei State, increasing the law of joint sitting, and imposing heavy penalties for minor crimes; 2: Abolishing the old Shiqing Shilu system, rewarding military merits, prohibiting private fighting, and promulgating the system of rewarding 20 knights according to military merits; 3: Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, rewarding cultivation and weaving, and giving special rewards to land reclamation; stipulating that those who produce a lot of grain and cloth can be exempted from labor and taxes, and take agriculture as their "main business" and commerce as their "last business", and limit the scope of business of merchants, and impose heavy commercial taxes. 4: Forbidden Eunuch People. 5: Enforce the system of individual small families. It expanded the sources of state taxation and military conscription, laying a solid foundation for the growth of Qin's economic and military strength.
and the success of the implementation of the Xianyang after the completion of the second reform of the Shang Dynasty, are inextricably linked to the strong support of Qin Xiaogong at that time.
The background and content of Shang Ying's second change are:
Xianyang is located in the middle of the Guanzhong Plain in the northeast of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, north of the plateau, south of the Wei River, down the Wei River can go straight into the Yellow River, and between the Zhongnan Mountain and the Wei River, you can directly pass through the Hangu Pass. In order to facilitate the development to the east of Hangu Pass, Qin Xiaogong ordered Shang Ying to recruit soldiers in 350 BC to build the Jique court according to the scale of the national capital of Lu and Wei. He built a new capital, and in the following year, moved the national capital from Liyang to the southeast of Fuping County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, to Xianyang, and at the same time ordered Shang Ying to carry out the second reform in Qin.
Its main contents are: 1: abolish the well field system of the aristocracy, "open the frontier", abolish the slavery system of land state ownership, implement private land ownership, and the state recognizes private land ownership. Free buying and selling is allowed. 2: Universally implement the county system and set up a county-level bureaucracy; With the county as the local administrative unit, the sub-feudal system was abolished, and "all thirty-one counties" were set up in the county to preside over the county administration, the county was set up to assist the county order, and the county lieutenant was set up to be in charge of the military. The county has jurisdiction over a number of capitals, townships, towns, and gatherings;3: Unified system of weights and measures, promulgating standards for weights and measures; compiling household registration, five families as a family, and ten families as a group. 5. Eliminate the remaining Rongdi customs, prohibit fathers, sons, and brothers from living in the same room, and implement the policy of small families. It stipulates that where there are two or more sons in a household who have reached the age of establishing a household and do not live separately, the household registration tax shall be doubled. This is a supplement to the "Heterogeneous Family" decree in the first reform, and it is also a norm for social customs.
Although it was after the death of Qin Xiaogong, Shang Ying's fate became very miserable. However, it is undeniable that in terms of the corresponding results and effects of the Shang Dynasty reform, the Shang Dynasty reform can be called the most successful reform in ancient China.
Among the three major changes in China, the one that touches all interests the most and can be regarded as the most failed is undoubtedly Wang Anshi's reform.
Wang Anshi's reform was a social reform movement launched by Wang Anshi during the Song Dynasty Shenzong to change the situation of poverty and weakness since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty. The reform began in 1069, the second year of Xining. In 1085, the eighth year of Yuanfeng, Song Shenzong died, so it is also known as Xining Change, Xifeng Change.
With the purpose of developing production, enriching the country and strengthening the army, and saving the political crisis of the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi's reform was centered on "financial management" and "army rectification", involving all aspects of politics, economy, military, society, and culture. To a certain extent, the reform changed the situation of poverty and weakness in the Northern Song Dynasty. The government's finances have been strengthened, the national defense capability has been enhanced, and the illegal fishing profits of the feudal landlord class and big businessmen have also been cracked down on and restricted.
However, in the process of implementing the law, due to the inappropriateness of some measures and the bad operation in the actual implementation, the interests of the people were also damaged to varying degrees, such as the Baoma Law and the Qingmiao Law, and the new law touched the fundamental interests of the big landlord class, so it was strongly opposed by them, and in 1085, the eighth year of Yuanfeng, it ended due to the death of Song Shenzong.
And some time before Wang Anshi's reform, there was also a relatively famous Qingli New Deal. In a sense, the failure of the Qingli New Deal seems to be able to draw lessons for Wang Anshi's reforms.
However, the reason for the failure of Wang Anshi's reform is not much different from the Qingli New Deal. The main thing is that they have been defeated by strong resistance from vested interests.
In 1043, the third year of Qingli, Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, and Han Qi were in power at the same time, and Ouyang Xiu, Cai Xiang, Wang Su, and Yu Jing were all officials. Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi put forward 10 reform proposals centered on rectifying the rule of officials, such as the Ming Dynasty, the suppression of luck, the Jinggongju, the selection of officials, the Jungongtian, the cultivation of agricultural mulberry, the repair of military equipment, the reduction of conscription, the letter of Qin Enxin, and the re-ordering of officials. Ouyang Xiu and others also talked about things. Song Renzong adopted most of the opinions and implemented the new policy. The edict and the Privy Council jointly elected the envoys and the prison sentences, stipulating that officials must be evaluated on time and promoted according to their performance. The law stipulates that except for the eldest son, the rest of the children and grandchildren must be at least 15 years old, and the younger brothers and nephews must be at least 20 years old before they can be granted grace and shade, and the grace shadow must pass a certain examination before they can be supplemented. It also stipulates the number of fields for local officials. In March of the fourth year, the imperial examination method was changed. In addition, the Imperial Decree on the reduction of forced labor, the abolition of counties and the reduction of military personnel was also promulgated. Because the New Deal violated the interests of the aristocratic bureaucracy, it was obstructed by them. At the beginning of the fifth year, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu and others were successively expelled from the imperial court, and various reforms were also abolished.
In April 1044, the fourth year of the Qingli calendar, after the implementation of the new policy, the favor was reduced and the grinding was strict, and those who wanted to get lucky felt deeply inconvenienced, so the remarks slandering the new policy gradually increased. Accusations of Fan Zhongyan and others as "friends" have re-emerged. Renzong also began to be suspicious of the theory of friends, Fan Zhongyan put forward the statement of "the party of villains, the party of gentlemen" to counter, and Ouyang Xiu also wrote an article on the theory of friends to play Renzong.
In May, Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi went to Shurenzong to "discuss seven matters such as the military tun, the repair of the outer city of the Beijing division, and the secret crusade strategy", and called for the expansion of the power of the minister, and the auxiliary ministers were also in charge of the military and the promotion of officials, and the breadth and depth of the reform were further increased.
June. Xia Zhu asked people to follow Shi Jie's handwriting and slander Fu Bi for wanting to do things like Iho. Privately write and abolish the edict. Although Renzong did not believe it, Fan Zhongyan and others were panicked, and when the situation recurred, Fan Zhongyan asked to go out to patrol, and Renzong was appointed as the Xuanfu envoy of Shaanxi and Hedong, and still retained the title of governor of political affairs. In August, Fu Bi also left Beijing as a privy deputy envoy and became the envoy of Hebei Xuanfu.
On the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the fifth year of Qingli in 1045, Fan Zhongyan was dismissed from the governor's office. Zhipizhou, and Shaanxi four road edge pacification envoys. On the same day, Fu Bi was also dismissed as the deputy privy envoy and reappointed as the pacification envoy of Jingxi Road and Zhiyun Prefecture. The next day, Du Yan was deposed as Shangshu Zuocheng. Out of Yanzhou.
On the fourth day of the second lunar month, the new law of the mill survey and the new law of Renzi were recalled. On the fifth day of the first month of March, Han Qi dismissed the deputy privy envoy and added a bachelor to the senior government palace and knew Yangzhou. So far, the main figure who has presided over the reform of the law. All were expelled from the imperial court. On the 23rd, the new law on imperial examinations was abolished and the old system was restored. On August 21, Ouyang Xiu dismissed the Hebei capital as a transfer envoy and changed his knowledge to Chuzhou. So far, the Qingli New Deal has completely failed.
It can be seen from this that once the law is reformed, it will not be able to break through the resistance of vested interest groups in terms of implementation efforts. The result of the reform will inevitably not be able to be continued, and the failure of Wang Anshi's reform, in addition to the obstruction of vested interest groups, is more helpless than the Qingli New Deal, Wang Anshi's reform can be said to be the first of the most disturbing changes.
Among them, the implementation of the Baoma Law and the Seedlings Law is the leader:
The Horse Protection Law, also known as the Armor Protection Horse Breeding Law. During the reign of Emperor Xining of the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that Hebei, Hedong, Shaanxi, Jingxi Wulu and Kaifeng Prefecture counties should protect their armor and raise horses, and each household should have one horse, and those with high material resources and two horses would be given official horses, or the officials would buy them with money. Horse breeders are exempt from part of their taxes. Ten households above the third class are one guarantee, and ten households below the fourth class are one company. If a horse dies of illness, the horse breeder shall compensate for the death of the horse in the household, and the horse breeder shall compensate half of the horse in the case of the death of the horse in the community with the other nine households. During the Yuanfeng period of Shenzong, the household horse law and the maintenance of the horse law were implemented, and Zhezong abolished it.
In this regard, although the horse protection law was a horse breeding method chosen to solve the problem of the Northern Song Dynasty after the loss of the main horse farm, the cost of this horse breeding method was undoubtedly a heavy burden on the people.
Although the purchase and raising of war horses can get some tax compensation, there is undoubtedly an impracticality in this large-scale promotion of the horse protection law, that is, the horse is sick, and for the vast majority of civilians, they simply do not know how they should deal with this kind of problem.
The fatality rate of horses is quite high, which also means that many people pay a greater price for the horse protection law and have nothing to do with them.
This is the root cause of the failure of the Pro-Ma Law.
The green seedling method, also known as the "Changping new method". In September 1069, the second year of Xining, it was promulgated and implemented by the Regulations Department of the Three Divisions. The main thing is to change the rigid practice of the old standing closing system of "reducing the market price in case of expensive volume and increasing market price in case of cheap volume". The grain reserves of the Changping and Guanghui warehouses were flexibly converted into capital and lent to peasants and urban handicraftsmen at an interest rate of 20 percent, so as to alleviate the phenomenon of usury and exploitation by the people, and at the same time increase the government's financial revenue, so as to achieve the goal of "the people do not increase the amount of money but the state uses enough", thus improving the phenomenon of "accumulation of poverty" in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, in fact, a series of problems arose in the implementation of the Qingmiao Law, which was later abolished after the death of Shenzong in 1085, the eighth year of Yuanfeng.
In September 1069, the second year of Xining, the Qingmiao Law was promulgated and implemented by the Regulations Department of the Three Divisions, and the main content is: Zhulu is based on the 15 million stone money stored in Changping and Guanghuicang, and if it is grain, it will be exchanged with the Transshipment Division for cash, and the cash will be loaned to the vast number of rural households, and the surplus can also be lent to the urban Fangguo households. When applying for a loan, five or ten households must be combined into a guarantee, and the upper third-class households shall be guaranteed, and the summer material shall be loaned before the 30th day of the first month of each year, and the autumn material shall be repaid with the second tax in May and October respectively, and the interest shall be collected in two cents.
The BIBS Act itself does not contradict the previous Changping system, but is largely a revision of the latter. In the functional design of the Seedlings Method, the way and function of the Changping system to save money and regulate market prices are still retained. In the course of implementation, due to the situation where the local government lent out all the money and grain, there was no money and grain to save the life in the time of famine, and it was stipulated that half of the money and grain of the regular level should be loaned out. Half of it is managed and used according to the previous normal system, and related activities are still carried out. And by borrowing money and grain, they can obtain income and make up for the lack of capital. And adjusted the relevant management system, "Zhao Zhulu each set up two officials, with the court officials as them, and one member of the management." Beijing officials do it, or two people are placed together. One member of the Kaifeng Prefecture Boundary, all forty-one people", which improved the drawbacks of Changping money and grain being borrowed and diverted by the Transshipment Division.
According to the regulations, summer materials are loaned before the 30th day of the first month of each year, and autumn materials are loaned before 30 May, and the summer materials and autumn materials are repaid with the two taxes in May and October respectively, and the interest is collected in two cents each; the loans can be both grain and money, and the grain is converted into money according to the market price at the time of the loan, so as to calculate the interest; in the process of implementation. There is a maximum amount of borrowing for different types of people, and the loan is given priority to rural farmers, and the surplus can also be lent to urban households, and the maximum interest rate is not more than 30 yuan, and the interest can be paid late in case of disasters.
Although from the perspective of these contents, it is difficult to call the Qingmiao Law a nuisance to the people, but because of many problems in the actual implementation process, it eventually led to this good governance that can be regarded as a rich country and a strong people, and was finally abolished:
This measure was intended to discourage mergers. In times of scarcity, relief was provided to the people, but the actual implementation was skewed: local officials forcibly asked the people to borrow money from the government, and arbitrarily raised the interest rate, and the officials used various forms of extortion in order to solicit merit, and the people suffered unspeakably. Such. The Seedlings Law has degenerated into a harsh government that lends usury and collects interest. In 1086, the first year of Yuanyu, it was discontinued.
The interest collection provisions of the Seedlings Law are pretended to be weekly gifts, which makes it possible for officials to take the opportunity to increase interest rates. Moreover, although the interest rate of the seedlings is lighter than that of the previous usury, it is still a burden for the people, and because the seedlings are lent twice a year, the interest rate is actually more than two cents, and some officials also take the opportunity to increase the interest rate.
And ten households are one guarantee. Conduct loan management. The lower household is in urgent need of borrowing but has no guarantee of repayment, while the upper household does not need to borrow. Originally, the purpose of this measure was to ensure that the loans of the lower households could be guaranteed and then to obtain relief, but because the upper households did not need and were unwilling to borrow, the phenomenon of forced apportionment of the quota appeared. In addition, when the lower household is unable to repay the loan, it will naturally affect the upper household and others, and damage the upper household. Seedling money became a form of looting, impoverishing the upper households, while the lower households fell into debt due to ignorance and inability to repay. Therefore, in order to avoid the inability of the lower households to repay, some local officials only lend the seedlings money to the upper households, which defeats the purpose of relief.
It can be said that the failure of the Qingmiao method is not Wang Anshi's problem, but it is also a manifestation of Wang Anshi's failure.
Although Wang Anshi is worried about the country and the people, many of his policies do not conform to the corresponding reality, and these changes have become a way to seek personal interests after being implemented by some officials.
It can be said that one of the main reasons for the failure of Wang Anshi's reform was that Wang Anshi and some of the people who drafted the laws and regulations at that time had a great deal to do with the fact that they had to speculate on their policies out of thin air.
Dividing line
Zhang Jiashi believes that the main reason why it is very difficult to change the law is that the change of the law often touches the bottom line of vested interest groups, and their resistance will be proportional to the strength of their interests.
However, Zhang Jiashi believes that if you want to reform, there is a natural best time and will not be subject to too much resistance. This is often the time when a country has been tempered by war and has reached the point of breaking and standing still.
In this environment, vested interest groups will also suffer a great blow, and at this time, as long as a strong monarch with enough power to crush the remnants of the original interest class, the result will inevitably be doubled.
In the history of China, there have been few foundations in which the whole society is unable to meet the original productive forces and is desperate for change.
Therefore, Zhang Jiashi himself knows one thing very well, that is, for the current Great Qin Empire, it is the right time to carry out corresponding reforms.
Zhang Jiashi does not know whether the reforms he carried out will eventually end up in failure after his death, but it is undeniable that Zhang Jiashi knows one thing better, that is, if he misses this opportunity, I am afraid that his descendants will want to carry out suitable reforms for the country, and the results obtained and the corresponding costs may not be satisfactory.
Allowing yourself to solve difficulties is something that Zhang Jiashi believes must be done.
This is also the emergence of Zhang Jiashi's two reform policies.
It's just that what Zhang Jiashi didn't expect was that his descendants did not lack tough hands and vicious reformist monarchs.
This may be a good thing for Zhang Jiashi, but it is to be continued.
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