Zhao Jun didn't know that he was going farther and farther on the road of death, and he was in the dust.

He began to talk about the main reasons for the failure of Fan Zhongyan's Qingli New Deal, the objective reasons, and why it was resisted by almost the entire class of scholars.

In the final analysis, five of the ten articles of Fan Zhongyan's reform are aimed at the problem of redundant officials, and the remaining five are the ones that enrich the country and strengthen the army and enforce the rule of law.

Therefore, his main direction of reform is still the problem of redundant officials, which is one of the three redundancies, and he wants to achieve the goal of saving finances and clarifying the rule of officials by cutting off a large number of officials who are superfluous, streamlining institutions, and strengthening efficiency.

But again, this is touching the interests of the entire scholar class, and as those who have lost their interests, they naturally want to unite to belittle the New Deal and trample Fan Zhongyan into the ground.

If Song Renzong had the courage, even if he offended the scholar class and held the military power in his hands, they would not be able to make any waves, and they would have to be laid off.

But Song Renzong wavered, listened to the wind and rain, and gradually distrusted Fan Zhongyan, so that the reform lost the support of the supreme ruler and came to an abrupt end.

This is why Zhao Jun thinks that the biggest reason for the failure of the Qingli New Deal is Song Renzong.

In fact, this reform was very important to the Great Song Dynasty.

You must know that the number of officials in the Song Dynasty was six times that of the Han Dynasty, twice that of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, and often many officials wore multiple positions, including Jilu officials, ministry officials, loose officials, honorable officials, post posts, knighthoods, etc., and each position could receive a salary.

Therefore, it seems that the officials of the Song Dynasty are only twice that of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, but if it is calculated according to the number of positions, the number of officials is more than three times more than that of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, their salaries are generally higher than those of other dynasties, such as compared with Ming Dynasty officials, the Song Dynasty's low-level officials are more than five to ten times that of the Ming Dynasty's officials at the same level, and the prime minister's level can even reach a hundredfold difference.

At the same time, the number of officials in the Song Dynasty was too large, and the departments were few, resulting in a large number of officials being granted false positions, officials had no real power, coupled with the bloated institutions of various departments, the efficiency of work was extremely low, many officials received high salaries, did nothing every day, and wasted state finances.

Therefore, if Fan Zhongyan can really solve the problem of redundant officials and cut half of the officials, then the annual financial expenditure of the imperial court will be reduced by more than 10 million yuan.

This amount of money is undoubtedly a huge amount of money for the Great Song Dynasty, whose annual military expenditure has reached more than 40 million yuan.

In addition, Fan Zhongyan also wanted to reform the military system and the law.

If the problem of redundant officials can be solved, the military system can be reformed, and military spending can be reduced, then the finances of the Great Song Dynasty will be extremely healthy, there will be money, an army, and a foundation, and the history of the Northern Song Dynasty will be extended by at least 100 years.

But the problem of redundant officials cannot be solved, let alone the problem of redundant soldiers and redundant expenses. Therefore, Fan Zhongyan's reform lasted only one year and four months before it was stopped, which can be described as a hasty end.

In contrast, although Wang Anshi's reform had many problems, caused turmoil and consequences, and lasted for a very long time, as long as 15 years.

It was because Wang Anshi had the unwavering support of Song Shenzong that the reform was forced to terminate until Song Shenzong's death.

"So in summary, it is Zhao Zhen's goods, so that Fan Zhongyan has no way to complete the reform."

Zhao Jun made a comprehensive comparison between Qingli's new policy and Wang Anshi's reforms, and said: "The reform of the country must be completed unswervingly by the highest power, unless it is wrong, like Wang Anshi's reforms." It's a pity that Fan Zhongyan is in the right direction and can't get support. Wang Anshi was in the wrong direction, but he was supported. ”

After saying this, Zhao Zhen's face was complicated, he never expected that the source of the failure of Qingli's new deal was actually him.

Fan Zhongyan glanced at him and was silent.

After all, he is the emperor, no matter how he is, it is impossible for him to be dissatisfied.

So after being silent for a long time, Fan Zhongyan asked, "Why do you say I...... Fan Zhongyan's direction is right, and Wang Anshi's direction is wrong? ”

"Because of the rulers!"

Zhao Jun said categorically: "The great man once said that Wang Anshi is an idealist who is detached from practice. The Seedlings Law should be a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people in terms of conception, so why did it fail? The reason is that the government is too bad! ”

"Although the Song Dynasty had a developed commodity economy, it did not particularly inhibit commerce, resulting in an active economy and relatively wealthy. However, its essence is still a backward feudal system, and agricultural production is still dominated by a small-scale peasant economy. ”

"What are the characteristics of the smallholder economy? Frail! ”

"The common people rely on the sky to eat, facing the loess with their backs to the sky, and they all rely on God to enjoy the food. This year, the wind and rain are good, there are no natural disasters, there are bumper harvests in various places, and the market is full of grain, which will cause grain prices to fall. ”

"If there are natural disasters everywhere in the coming year, natural disasters are frequent, resulting in a decrease in grain production, it will cause grain prices to rise, and this is the root cause of grain cheapness hurting farmers and rice being expensive hurting the people."

"Moreover, farmers often have a time when the crops are not ripe, and the family will run out of grain, so they have no choice but to find someone to borrow grain, and the landlords in the township will let them use the land as collateral, forming usury."

"When you're lucky, farmers can pay back with a good harvest the following year. However, if they are unlucky and suddenly encounter a natural disaster, resulting in a reduction in grain production and inability to repay their debts, their land will be taken away by the landlords. ”

"Wang Anshi thinks that the landlords in the township have annexed a large amount of people's land through loans, so that the people will either become landless vagrants or can only become tenants of large landlords, which is not a good thing."

"So he simply let the state lend money, at a lower interest rate, let the government lend money to the farmers, help the farmers tide over the difficulties, and when the harvest is harvested next year, he will return the money to the government."

"It sounds good, and the government will not let farmers mortgage their land, if a virtuous circle is formed, it is indeed a good thing for the country and the people."

"The problem is that Wang Anshi didn't do a good job in the governance of officials, which led to too many crooked-mouthed monks below, and finally recited the good scripture of the Qingmiao Law crookedly."

"If a policy is to be implemented, it must go through officials at all levels. But by the time of Song Shenzong, the grassroots officials of the Northern Song Dynasty were already rotten, including corrupt officials, corpse vegetarians, and even those who only focused on political achievements. ”

"For example, if the wind and rain are good in a certain place, the people do not need this loan. For the sake of political achievements, local officials forcibly pushed it down, which made people angry. ”

"There are also places where local officials arbitrarily raise interest rates; Wang Anshi's stipulation is that if there is a profit of two percent, the local officials will add a few percent, and the excess will naturally fall into the pockets of those officials. ”

"According to historical records, the most exaggerated thing is that some local officials directly raised the interest rate by 35 times, and they had to repay seven times the loan principal when they originally made a profit of 20%.

"Obviously, the local government of the Song Dynasty is too gentle, obviously you can grab it directly, but you still have to set a name, he is really, I cry to death......"

"What's more, they simply colluded with the local tyrants, bullied the people to be illiterate, manipulated the contract documents, deliberately did not collect the people's repayment, delayed the time, and when the time passed, they said that the people did not repay the money, and then took away their land, which seriously increased the burden of the people."

"With such a big implementation problem, even the best policies are in vain."

So what is the root cause of the problem of government governance? It was still the problem of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty, and there were too many low-level inaction and corrupt officials, which led to the failure of the Qingmiao Law to be implemented smoothly. ”

"Therefore, if the problem of governing officials was solved during the Fan Zhongyan period, so that the grassroots officials were more efficient and more capable of doing things, it would not have been a complete failure to change the law because of the problem of local execution during the Wang Anshi period."

"That's why I said that Fan Zhongyan's direction is right and Wang Anshi's direction is wrong."

"If you want to solve the problem, you must first rectify the officials!"

In the end, Zhao Jun was already impassioned, and his voice ran through the house, which made people feel empowered and enlightened.

The problem of redundancy is deep-rooted and can be solved in one day.

And if you want to cure it, you have to take it one step at a time.

Which step to start with?

Naturally, it is the rule of officials.

Policies can only be promoted if they are run by lower-level officials.

If the power at the bottom remains corrupt and lazy, even the best policies will be in vain.

Therefore, Zhao Juncai believes that Fan Zhongyan's direction is right, and he must first deal with the problems of grassroots officials, and then other problems can be solved.

is worthy of later generations, Zhao Jun's profound view of the problem is far inferior to theirs, and only such latecomers can summarize the reasons for the failure of reform.

At that moment, including Song Renzong and Zhao Zhen, everyone looked at Zhao Jun as if they were looking at a reformer with outstanding thinking and a deep understanding of the social structure, pointing out the country and scolding Fang Jun.

Da Song is in need of such a talent.

Everyone sighed.

But soon, Zhao Jun, who was originally speaking passionately, licked his dry lips, with a smirk on his face, and said to Yan Shu: "Uncle Lari, give me saliva." ”

This ridicule immediately knocked Zhao Jun's reformer back to his prototype.

It's as if everything just now was an illusion.

Zhao Jun is just a small person who asks for water with a flattering smile.

Just now, I was thinking in my heart that if Zhao Jun didn't scold himself in the future, after his eyes returned to light, Zhao Zhen, who would reuse Zhao Jun, suddenly trembled.

He swore that after all the information from Zhao Jun's mouth, he would definitely spank his ass hard!

How can my descendants be so flattering because they ask for a glass of water?

However, if Zhao Jun knew, he would probably be confused.

Are you blind in both eyes, taken care of by others, begging for something to drink, and still keeping a straight face?

Of course, you have to be respectful.

However, Zhao Jun obviously didn't know that he was not in the new era at all, but in the old Great Song Dynasty, after he drank the water handed by Yan Shu, he said to Fan Zhongyan again: "How about it, Uncle Nima, I'm right." ”

"I see..... I see......"

Fan Zhong muttered to himself, "It seems that my future direction is right, and I should go on like this." ”

"Huh?"

Zhao Jun didn't hear clearly, and asked, "Uncle Nima, what did you say?" ”

Fan Zhongyan came back to his senses and immediately said, "It's nothing, so how can Fan Zhongyan succeed?" ”

"Of course, it's with Song Renzong's support."

Zhao Jun said without hesitation.

"Get Song ..... Will the Emperor's support be successful? ”

Fan Zhongyan still didn't dare to say Zhao Zhen's nickname, but he also lowered his head and looked at Zhao Zhen with hopeful eyes.

Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly.

"I don't know."

Zhao Jun spread his hands: "Getting Zhao Zhen's support is only the first step, but you may not know how much resistance to the reform of the government is in, it is against the officials of the whole world, even if you get the full support of Song Renzong, other changes may occur." ”

"What's changed?" Fan Zhongyan asked subconsciously.

"Who knows, I'm not from the Song Dynasty, and I don't know much about the actual situation. If I had to come up with an idea, I would have to say that the change should not be too radical, but gentle. ”

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "However, our country has always used the policy of competition for posts to stimulate the enthusiasm of civil servants and cadres. The problem of the Song Dynasty was that there were too many officials, and they didn't do anything all day, so if they subdivided their powers, gave them power, and then used the methods of competition for posts and performance appraisal, it might not be feasible. ”

Competing for a job?

The crowd fell into deep thought.

Needless to say, performance appraisal is a strategy that existed during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

But it's a competition for the job......

Probably the meaning of whoever has the best ability will be promoted, right?

Zhao Jun said again: "It's too outrageous to have the same salary as officials across the country, a rich state and a poor state, and the Zhizhou is the same, so who is still motivated?" If local governance, taxation, the number of yeoman farmers, and the country's policies for benefiting the people are regarded as the standard for the payment of wages, will those people dare to be perfunctory? ”

"Uncle Nima, think about it, if the number of yeoman farmers is included in the assessment, and the salaries and promotions of officials are linked to it, then will the officials dare to help the landlords rob the people's land? It is necessary to change our stance and help the landless displaced people to increase more arable land. ”

"In addition, the wages in poor states are low and the promotion rate is slow, so they must rack their brains to make the states and counties rich, so that the enthusiasm of local officials who were originally lazy and lazy has also been mobilized."

"But the standard inside still has to be measured, like a poor state, there are few people in the mountains, and the upper limit itself is so high. It is a bit of a strong man to expect it to be as rich as an all-plain farming state, so it is still necessary to consider it on the ground to set the standard. ”

"In addition, the supervision system must also be improved, and whether the policy can be implemented smoothly depends on whether the supervision system is good enough. Otherwise, no matter how good the policy is, no matter how good it is put below, no one will supervise it, and the final outcome will be over. ”

"Although there are still a lot of loopholes to exploit here, as long as you are ruthless and dare to depose those officials who do bad things, and even cause serious consequences, such as causing ruin to the people's families, you will kill dozens or hundreds of their mothers, deter the officialdom, and don't believe that they are not actively doing things."

"As for Fan Zhongyan's question of reducing the number of officials, this can be slowed down for a while, and the impact will be too great if it is cut so much at once."

"So in general, it's important to let the officials do the real thing first. The first step should be to mobilize the officials who have nothing to do and let them do the work. There is a light and a light, and there is a heat and a heat, at least don't lie at home every day and eat official food and other things. ”

"In this way, the incompetent officials will have an excuse to depose them, and the competent officials can be promoted. There will not be a sudden nationwide wave of official dismissals, which will arouse the opposition of officials all over the world. ”

Instead of directly cutting officials, but mobilizing them first?

This suggestion is very innovative, Zhao Zhen and the others pricked up their ears and listened carefully, listening to Zhao Jun's explanation, they felt more and more reasonable.

If officials are directly cut, officials all over the world will definitely rise up and attack.

What about the imperial court letting them do the work?

This is what officials should do, but before you could say that the division of power was unclear, and that they were carrying a false position and could not do things.

But if the power is broken down and each official has something to do, then they have no reason.

If you don't do a good job, there will be an excuse to lay you off.

If you do a good job, you will be able to promote talented officials for the imperial court.

Kill two birds with one stone.

Thinking of this, including Zhao Zhen, they all looked at Zhao Jun with appreciative eyes.

The high-achieving students from later generations are really different, but there is a way.

"But in fact, it's useless to talk so much, we are new China, and we are not in the Song Dynasty."

Zhao Jun shrugged his shoulders and said: "What's more, Song Renzong's cowardice is not so bold to support reform, and he is suspicious, do you know why he can become a rare Ming monarch in the Northern Song Dynasty?" That's because he doesn't do anything, unlike other Song Dynasty emperors who indiscriminately command and scourge the country, which is his greatest contribution! ”

I'm Nima!

Zhao Zhen ran to the bench.

That is, Lu Yijian's eyes were quick and he grabbed him.

The rest of the prime ministers grabbed their hands and hugged their legs one by one, and some covered their mouths and dragged him out.

After staying away from the wooden house where Zhao Jun lived, and not being able to hear the sound from there, Lu Yijian, who was covering Zhao Zhen's mouth, let go of his hand, and a terrible roar came from the Guanjia Palace.

"Don't stop me, don't stop me, I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him!!"