"What's wrong?"

Seeing that no one answered, Zhao Jun wondered, "Does no one know?" ”

There was still no response.

Because it is in their own interests, their words are undoubtedly betrayers of the class, not to mention that they are not qualified to talk about these core contents here, so they all shut up with interest.

Zhao Zhen said in a deep voice: "Teacher Zhao, you say." ”

"Well, it's not the productivity that's falling, it's the wealth of society being plundered by a few."

Zhao Jun shrugged his shoulders and said: "During the Han Dynasty, land annexation was serious, the manor system became the mainstream farming method, the family divided a large amount of land, and the number of ordinary yeoman farmers declined, resulting in a serious shortage of tax revenue. ”

Zhao Zhen wondered: "I don't read many history books of the Han Dynasty, and I don't know much about the inside story, so I want to ask Mr. Zhao, why was there a serious shortage of taxes in the Han Dynasty?" ”

"That's a good question."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "It is because the hidden households, hidden properties, and hidden fields of the family gate lords have become a means to avoid the taxes paid by the imperial court, the imperial court cannot collect taxes, cannot afford to support the army, and the local people can't survive, so naturally they can only gather people to rebel." ”

"Similar to this situation, there are also the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty Yongzheng period briefly solved this problem through reform, but it was a short solution, and then all let the loser Qianlong cancel the policy."

"On the contrary, the Tang and Song dynasties were more able to collect taxes, and the Tang Dynasty formulated a relatively complete tax system, and the fiscal revenue was very healthy, so the whole situation could barely be maintained after the Anshi Rebellion."

"It's just that the problem of the Jiedu envoy has been overcome, just like the feudal kings, who have the right to levy troops and tax in their respective territories, resulting in five dynasties and ten kingdoms."

"At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the centralization of power was strengthened, and under the condition of inheriting the tax system of the Tang Dynasty, it was further improved, and the agricultural tax and commercial tax could also be collected, which objectively maintained the rule of the Song Dynasty."

The financial revenue of the Song Dynasty has always been the highest of all dynasties, so it is also known as the richest dynasty.

It's a pity that the rich don't do the right thing, and they have become one of the most wretched and aggrieved dynasties, and the Jin Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty are called the three major shameful dynasties, that is, they can survive by relying on money, otherwise the country will not last long.

Yan Shu pondered: "So the tax can't come up, so it caused the green forest, red eyebrows, and yellow turbans in the Han Dynasty to gather people to rise up?" ”

"Well, that's what I'm talking about fighting for the total value of social wealth, the productive forces are so big, the landlords and the powerful class divide up a lot of cakes, and the part left for the emperor and the people becomes very small, which is the so-called 28 law, 2 percent of the people have 80 percent of the wealth, and the more landless peasants, the more unstable the regime."

Zhao Jun nodded: "Wang Mang wants to change this situation, but he is in a hurry, not only did not inhibit the land annexation, but also intensified the internal friction, which not only offended the landlords and the powerful class, but also made the people's lives more difficult. It's just that the powerful landlord class was still too strong during the Han Dynasty, so the peasant rebel army did not seize the country. ”

"Why is this happening?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

"Because the landlord and powerful class is still the master of social wealth, this point is up to the Sui and Tang dynasties, Liu Xiu relies on the support of the Nanyang powerful landlord class, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others are all from wealthy families, and Li Shimin is the aristocratic representative of the Guanlong group."

Zhao Jun said eloquently: "These people themselves have a lot of wealth and resources, and they can recruit soldiers and horses through the capital they have to join the team fighting for the world. Including the Jiedu envoys during the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, they can be regarded as local warlords and powerful forces competing for the world. Therefore, from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, those in power were all representatives of the family gate lords, including Zhao Kuangyin. ”

Zhao Kuangyin is not from a civilian background, among the emperors of all dynasties, there is only one with the most humble background, and that is Zhu Yuanzhang. Liu Bang is a pavilion chief anyway, and Liu Xiu can barely hold the aura of a clan. Most of the rest of the people are from powerful families, such as Zhao Kuangyin's family is a generation of eunuchs, and by Zhao Kuangyin's father's generation, he was already the commander of the Later Zhou Forbidden Army.

Therefore, from the establishment of a huge empire in the Western Han Dynasty until the Ming Dynasty, the rulers of all the orthodox dynasties were all powerful families. They possess far more social resources and wealth than the peasant rebel army, and once the world is in turmoil, the group of heroes is the first to profit and the easiest to profit.

"If this is the case, then there was no large-scale peasant uprising in the Song Dynasty. If it was just taxes, the Tang Dynasty could collect taxes, but the scale of the peasant uprising was very large. ”

Wang Zeng asked the key question, and it is also the one that everyone wants to know.

Zhao Jun said this before, although there have been frequent peasant uprisings since the Song Dynasty, they have not shaken the foundation of the country, and the largest Fangla uprising was put down after only one year, so everyone is curious.

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "This is the more strange and lucky place of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty does not inhibit land annexation, the cake was almost divided in the early Song Dynasty, under normal circumstances, this kind of dynasty will definitely break out large-scale uprisings." For example, Wang Xiaobo rebelled in the early Song Dynasty, but Wang Xiaobo did not cause much turmoil. The reason for this is that the productivity of the Song Dynasty has been improved, and the people can barely have a way to live. ”

"You mean the agricultural revolution sparked by Champa rice?"

Yan Shu quickly remembered what Zhao Jun had said before, the Champa rice was introduced as early as the Zhenzong period, and now a large amount of grain is transported to the north by Cao Yun every year, because the Champa rice has taken root in the south, so that the rice output in the south has nearly doubled.

Zhao Jun said: "Yes, the appearance of Champa rice caused a sharp increase in the population of the Song Dynasty. Although a large number of landless peasants appeared, due to the increase in the total amount of social wealth, these landless peasants could have more ways. For example, if you go to the city to engage in handicraft manufacturing, service industry, metal smelting, construction industry, etc., you will not starve to death. ”

"And after the development of these industries, it can also drive the original surplus food output, promote economic development, and increase labor employment. It can be said that God is favoring the Song Dynasty, if this agricultural revolution is not formed, the later Fangla Uprising, the Song Dynasty will basically have to be cold. ”

"In addition, since the Han and Tang dynasties, the land of China has opened up the road to the West. By the time of the Song Dynasty, merchants from Central Asia and even Europe had appeared in Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Bianliang and other places, and obtained a lot of wealth through foreign trade, exporting silk, porcelain, tea, ironware, lacquerware, paper and other products. ”

"Historical records record that during the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Rushi, who was appointed as the secretary of Quanzhou City, wrote in the "Zhufan Chronicles" that the overseas trade scope of Quanzhou Port started from the Philippines in the east, to Dong'an in Africa in the west, to Japan and Korea in the north, and to 58 countries and regions in the north, including the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and the annual import and export trade volume has reached more than 100 million.

"And this is only Quanzhou City, the rest of Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Mingzhou, Mizhou have a city of ships, every year with the Song Dynasty to do business import and export trade in more than three or four billion yuan, the Southern Song Dynasty small court can rely on half of the country to live, taxes than the Northern Song Dynasty is only a lot more, all rely on these treaty ports and the business tax of up to 80% of the total financial revenue."

Therefore, in terms of acting on the relations of production, through the increase of productivity and total wealth, coupled with appropriate policy means, the Zhao family can barely maintain its position as kings. In addition, in the Song Dynasty, the power of the family gate valve was already very small, forming a pattern of "there are nobles but no nobles", so as to ensure the stability of the Zhao and Song dynasties. ”

"But when it comes to the power of the family."

Zhao Jun paused, and then said with a smile: "From the perspective of objective factors, the old Zhao family has to thank someone." ”

"Thanks to someone? Who? ”

Zhao Zhen wondered, how did he not know who the old Zhao family was thanking for?

"Yellow Nest!"

"Yellow Nest?"

"Yes."

Zhao Jun said: "The Huangchao Uprising swept the entire Tang Dynasty, killing the family lords to a soft hand, coupled with the establishment of the imperial examination system, and allowing the rise of the common people's poor class, these two are the main objective conditions. Without these two factors, it would be difficult to achieve the situation of "having nobles but no nobles" in the Great Song Dynasty. ”

The subjective condition is that Zhao Kuangyin adopted the political system of three governments and two divisions, which greatly strengthened the centralization of power. And although most of the officials are in the shadows, if you want to become the top high-level officials, you must enter the imperial examination. ”

"Even from a big family like Lu Yijian, you have to take the Jinshi exam to serve as the prime minister, not to mention other people, so that the upper position of the door shadow official has become very difficult, and he cannot stand at the top of the power to seek benefits for his family, and over time, the former family gate valve is naturally no different from ordinary local landlords."

"Therefore, there was no large-scale uprising at the bottom in the Song Dynasty, nor did there be a phenomenon of the power of the family gate valve replacing the imperial power, because through the improvement of productivity, the children of the poor people could have enough to eat, and the imperial examination was the rising channel, which reduced the large-scale uprising at the bottom."

"There are also the dual objective factors of the Huangchao Rebellion and the imperial examination system, which seriously weakened the power of the family's magnates. In this way, the family has no capital to rebel, and the people have no soil for uprising, and politics becomes very stable. ”

"At the same time, even in the case of serious land annexation, the two tax laws and a well-established commercial tax system allowed the Song Dynasty to have sufficient fiscal revenue and maintain the stability of the army by spending money."

"The increase in productivity, the protection of taxes, and the weakening of the power of the family gate lords combined to jointly construct the rule of the Song monarchs."

"It can be said that if there were no foreign enemies such as Liao, Western Xia, Jin, and Mongolia, the Song Dynasty should be the most stable dynasty in all dynasties. But it can also be said that it is precisely because the Song Dynasty strengthened its internal management too much and overguarded the generals, the people, the scholars, and the gate valves, which led to the lack of martial virtues, which allowed foreign enemies to take advantage of it. ”

Under the feudal social system, the rule of the Song Dynasty has basically reached its peak, but it is limited to this. No matter how tightly the interior is guarded, it is only self-castration, and once the external force hits, it will be as fragile as an egg. ”

"In the final analysis, the king of the Song Dynasty was too stupid, and he sat crookedly and did not stand on the side of the people. Mencius has long said that "the monarch is light, the society is secondary, and the people are precious". The brainless emperors of the Song Dynasty didn't think about it, the landlord class and the scholar class didn't have the emperor, but they would change another dynasty and continue to be powerful, and if the emperor didn't have it, the dynasty would be destroyed, what did it matter to them? ”

In the end, Zhao Jun's throat was dry again, and he drank saliva to moisten his throat. Although I don't like the history of the Song Dynasty very much, "Ancient Chinese History" is a serious course, which studies the political system of various dynasties and dynasties and the major events that occurred in the country.

By taking history as a mirror and conducting in-depth research, we can find solutions to problems and understand the reasons for the rise and fall of dynasties. Therefore, he still explores these profound questions more clearly.

And this knowledge is exactly what the monarchs and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty need.

What the ancients lacked was not wisdom, but insight and cognition.

Even many of the more profound things were understood by the ancients.

For example, the system of land annexation and sub-feudal system is the root of the collapse of the dynasty, and they are not unaware of it.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, Shi Dan proposed "limiting land and limiting slaves", and in the early Ming Dynasty, Ye Boju pointed out that "dividing the feudal domain will cause the vassal king to be extravagant, the tail will not be lost, the finance will be wasted, and the imperial power will be threatened".

But even so, there were many dynasties that repeated the mistakes of the past, neither inhibiting land annexation nor stopping the partitioning.

The reason for this is because the ancients only knew what it was, but they didn't know why. And when I am in the game, I always think that others will be like that, I will not be like that, like Zhu Yuanzhang, who sealed so many vassal kings in one go, and all of them have real power.

The Ming Dynasty was hard, but there were also many banes left in the Zhu Yuanzhang period.

After Zhu Di's success, in order to appease the vassal kings of various places, he was forced to spend a huge amount of money to support them. At the same time, too much preferential treatment was given to scholars, and most of the taxes were exempted from the Jinshi Society, which caused tax difficulties.

As the saying goes, "the loyal and virtuous are immortal, the Ming Dynasty is immortal", "the Ming army is not satisfied, and the full salary is invincible", although it is the online work of later generations, in fact, the situation is definitely not so simple.

But after Wei Zhongxian's death, the Chongzhen Dynasty's taxes were declining, and in the end, it was also a fact that he couldn't even borrow money from his father-in-law.

There is also through the Fu King who did not pull out a dime, and finally died tragically. The King of Zhou in Kaifeng was willing to give a voice to the soldiers defending the city, and Li Zicheng fought for a year before relying on the flooding of the Yellow River to win and other examples, which prove that these whole jobs are not groundless, and also prove the importance of whether the feudal dynasty can collect taxes.

The Qing Dynasty basically relied on Yongzheng to continue its life, otherwise it would be a national ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty. The only thing is that the Song Dynasty is like a cockroach that can't be killed, and in the case of such a serious land annexation, it can still stabilize the internal situation and be eliminated by foreign enemies.

It can only be said that the Song Dynasty was indeed lucky, with the help of Zhancheng rice to carry out agricultural reform, and foreign trade to maintain commercial prosperity, and to be able to maintain the dynasty without suppressing land annexation at all, the Great Song Dynasty is also unique in history.