Of the seven points the emperor made that day, the third point was the business guild.
Only now have the gentlemen realized the importance of the point raised by the emperor.
It can be said that he was the pillar of the Song Dynasty's economy, essentially leading the people to do business through the manpower and resources of the imperial court, thereby boosting fiscal revenue.
Grand Chancellor Xu Churen suggested that the entire commercial sector of the Song Dynasty should be planned and managed uniformly by the imperial court, which would make management easier. This suggestion was immediately agreed upon by He Yi, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. In this way, under the guidance of the imperial court, private commerce would develop in a direction that would benefit the Song Dynasty and avoid many unnecessary risks.
Zhao Huan thought to himself: Holy crap! These Song Dynasty officials actually want to learn from the Soviet Union and implement a fully planned economy. These people's minds really work fast. I only gave them a hint, and they already have such ideas. They are so avant-garde!
Zhao Huan couldn't help but sigh. Although the weak Song Dynasty emphasized civil affairs over military affairs, resulting in a weak military, its civil administration was indeed prosperous. The minds of its civil officials were far superior to those of the Qing Dynasty. Although there were more pedantic scholars in this era, their thoughts had not yet formed a terrible constraint.
However, Zhao Huan certainly did not agree with a fully planned economy. A fully planned economy is prone to problems like Wang Anshi's reforms, where the emperor is unaware of the people's suffering and everything is done according to his wishes, leading to a conflict between the interests of the court and the people, ultimately resulting in both sides being left unsatisfied.
Junior Minister Wang Boyan immediately voiced his objection: "If this is done, the court will have to go through a lot of trouble to reform the official system, and who knows how much trouble that will cause."
Xu Churen said, "The imperial court holds the key to the nation's affairs, so naturally it should be in control. Otherwise, merchants will pursue profits at the expense of the people, and the country will fall into chaos!"
Li Gang also spoke up: "Your Majesty agrees with what Minister Xu said. Your Majesty follows the way of the sages, acting as the ruler of the people on behalf of Heaven. The court holds the key to power. A wealthy nation does not necessarily mean a wealthy people, but a wealthy people will certainly mean a wealthy nation. Therefore, everything should be under the control of the court to reasonably manage the flow of wealth and prevent merchants from harming the people and causing losses to the country. As for the matter of reforming the official system mentioned by Minister Wang, I believe that the Song Dynasty's officials have been weak for a century, and it is time to take this opportunity to reform them. Otherwise, the implementation of the new policies will inevitably be difficult."
Zhao Huan began to view Li Gang in a different light. Although Zhao Huan disagreed with the planned economy that was entirely taken over by the imperial court, Li Gang was right about the relationship between the reform of officials and the economy.
To truly accomplish something, it's not as simple as just shouting slogans, nor is it guaranteed to be successful just because everyone sits down and discusses it. It's not enough to design a perfect plan and then everything is fine. This is just the beginning; the execution level is the most difficult part.
The administrative efficiency of the Northern Song Dynasty was already almost paralyzed due to the problem of bloated officials. Without solving this problem, all ideas would remain just empty talk.
Therefore, the reform of the official system must be carried out. Zhao Huan will not allow anyone to challenge this. He now holds military power, and anyone who dares to obstruct this will be killed without any leniency!
"Have you forgotten the disaster caused by Wang Anshi, Minister Xu and Minister Li?" Wang Boyan said with a mocking expression.
Only a few decades have passed since Wang Anshi's rebellion, and the remnants of both the old and new factions are still in the court. If the reform of the official system is carried out, it will inevitably affect the whole situation and cause turmoil among the officials of the Song Dynasty. Who can guarantee that no major problems will arise?
Li Gang said solemnly, "These are the accumulated problems of the past century that must be eradicated in order to enrich the country and strengthen its military. As the prime ministers, how can we be like petty officials who are afraid of everything?"
Wang Boyan said, "Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. Prime Minister Li is trying to scrape the bone to heal the wound. What if the bone breaks if the technique is not done properly!"
His words left Li Gang speechless, unsure of what to say.
Li Gang's strength lies in his execution ability, but his planning ability is much weaker, so naturally he can't argue with Wang Boyan.
Liu Yanzong, however, was well aware that the emperor was definitely going to change the official system. Seeing that Li Gang had been rebuffed, Liu Yanzong said, "Half a month ago, didn't His Majesty say that the court is only responsible for setting the rules, the court's merchants provide the resources and policies, and the specific implementation is done by private merchants? Therefore, there is no such thing as the court controlling everything. The court only needs to control the foundation of the country, and everything else is left to the people."
Zhou Chao, the Minister of Revenue, said: “This is wrong! Merchants pursue profit. If we let them run rampant, it will harm the people. Secondly, once they form a powerful force among the people, it will inevitably create resistance to the court’s control over the people.”
Tang Ke, the Vice Chancellor, said: "I agree with what Prime Minister Zhou said. Although the court relies on merchants' taxes and encourages commerce, it should not grant them too much authority, otherwise trouble will surely arise in the world."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Huan was shocked; he hadn't expected these people to argue to this point so quickly.
Wang Boyan and Zhou Chao's opposition stemmed from their own perspective as members of their social class. The scholar-officials were essentially landlords; they owned their own land. The political task of Wang Boyan, Zhou Chao, and others was to replenish the national treasury, and they faced significant performance pressure. Naturally, they relied on highly profitable commerce. However, in essence, they were unwilling to grant merchants too much power. This was a power struggle between landlords and merchants. Once the merchants' power in the Song Dynasty surpassed that of the landlords, the landlords would certainly take action.
The current situation in the Song Dynasty is already very unfavorable for landlords.
In feudal times, the largest landowner was naturally the emperor. Before the Song Dynasty, taxation mainly relied on land taxes. What was the land structure of the country?
When the emperor rewarded officials for their merits, he allocated land to them. However, he also had to prevent the land from being annexed by his subordinates. If the annexation of land became too serious, it would threaten the imperial power and make it easier to evade taxes, thus harming the emperor's interests.
The land of the Great Song Dynasty has been annexed to the point of being unbearable consolidation. More than 85 percent of the land in the country is controlled by 3 percent of the government officials. This structure has posed a significant threat to the imperial power, as it is all too easy for large landowners to evade taxes.
This is one of the reasons why Zhao Huan went on a killing spree. In short, officials annexing land is a scourge to the country and should not be allowed to continue indefinitely.
The best scenario would be for the power of landlords and merchants to reach a new balance in the court. After all, food comes from the land, and no matter how prosperous the economy is, without basic security, it's all just empty talk!
On this point, Zhao Huan finally spoke up, saying that the court should set unified annual targets, the court's merchants should control large-scale resources and manage the country's strategic and livelihood industries, the court should plan commercial rules, and the rest should be operated by the private sector, so that competition can be formed among the people and commercial vitality can be stimulated.
Wang Boyan and others obviously had objections to this, but the emperor made the final decision, and the two offices had no choice but to plan their next steps in accordance with the emperor's decision.
The fifth point is the opening of the sea. Since the founding of the country by Emperor Taizu, the Maritime Trade Office has been established along the coast to conduct maritime trade, and the shipbuilding technology of the Song Dynasty is very advanced.
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