Of course, judging from the actual legal provisions and the reality, there were still quite a few slaves. In other words, the personal liberation of the Song Dynasty was not complete.
Not only that, as time passed, this real relationship between good and bad people began to influence the law. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, there were legal amendments that stipulated that in case of disputes between masters and slaves, the master's crime would be reduced by one level... This was a typical step backward in history.
Moreover, this reversal is getting worse and worse. At this time, many articles have been amended to the disadvantage of slaves, and the folk customs are becoming more and more unfavorable to slaves. Even in another time and space, after the Southern Song Dynasty stabilized, it took great strides to impose various personal restrictions on slaves, and to some extent restored the system of nobles and inferiors... Therefore, Zhao Jiu's emotion and vigilance are not groundless.
Since he had thought of this problem, he naturally persuaded the prime minister in the name of winning over the people's hearts and relieving the pressure from the grassroots, and corrected this basic problem in reverse.
It can be said that the system of nobles and inferiors has been completely abolished, and the basic human rights of a considerable part of the lower class have been guaranteed.
As for the practice of pawning wives, which is against human ethics, it goes without saying. It is legitimate to abolish it now.
Frankly speaking, this series of events has in fact affected the interests of the powerful, wealthy businessmen, and even monks and Taoists. But as the saying goes, who are you in front of the emperor, bureaucrats, literati, and the army?
Even if the people below had some thoughts at this moment, they just felt that they were going to be unlucky today. Who cared about this?
"As for the sacred learning, there is no need to say more. The government has formed rational learning and new learning, and advocated the original learning. The alternation of the old and the new has created a local atmosphere." Zhao Ding saw Zhao Jiu nod, so he continued to introduce. "In addition, the government established the Daxiangguo Temple Cannon Workshop, reorganized the Military Equipment Bureau, and set up a steamship workshop, all of which are timely measures. As for the military, there is no need to say more, it is in full view of the public and everyone knows it."
"So, I and you gentlemen have done a lot of things?" Zhao Jiu looked away from the notebook and responded with a smile.
As soon as these words were spoken, many nobles who were in a position to speak could no longer hold back and were ready to come forward to flatter him, while Chief Censor Li Guang instinctively frowned, but stood still and remained silent, without making any comment.
However, seeing that Li Guang was unmoved, the Prime Minister Zhang Jun, who had already stepped out of the ranks, could only bow his hands and say, "Your Majesty, please be careful with your words! Since ancient times, a journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step. Moreover, the country has not even completed half of the journey so far. How can we be complacent?"
The nobles who were ready to make a move suddenly became solemn, but Li Guang looked at Zhang Jun as if he had eaten a fly, and more ministers immediately realized that today's matter would not be so simple... The emperor and the prime ministers, and even the Chief Censor, may have reached a consensus on something to some extent, but it was obviously a matter of great importance and required the endorsement of everyone here.
Considering that this is a military camp, the place where the government has the strongest executive power; and it is during a festival, the time when the government's authority is at its highest, if it still happens like this, then I'm afraid something big is really going to happen again.
"What Mr. Zhang said is very true." Zhao Jiu was calm and responded with a serious face. "What Mr. Zhao said just now was a discussion of the root cause, and I haven't heard any talk of harm..."
"Your Majesty." Liu Ji, the deputy prime minister of the capital, suddenly stepped forward and smiled bitterly. "The words about the harm are actually very simple."
"That's right."
"Let the government know." Chen Gui, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, who stood up at some point, sighed and twirled his beard. "If we look at the harm, it has long been determined that the three redundancies are redundant in the past hundred years of our dynasty... redundant troops, redundant officials, and redundant expenses... But this is a different time. After the Jingkang Incident, although the country's orthodoxy was preserved, the government's revival was like building a new country, and the three redundancies were basically abandoned. But although the country does not have the three redundancies, it has other disadvantages. First, it lost the territory of the two rivers, and second, Henan, Huaibei, Jingdong and Guanxi also suffered from the war. Therefore, our dynasty still has difficulties in insufficient military strength and insufficient finances... It is not to say that it is poor and weak, but it is also poor and weak."
Li Guang had no choice but to step out of the line, but he responded coldly: "Is it just about finances? Don't we want to win over the people's hearts?"
"People's hearts do need to be won over." Zhao Ding finally spoke up again. "But the biggest reason for people's hearts is not elsewhere, but precisely to support the army and to raise money, so the taxes in the southeast, Jingxiang, and Bashu are increased, and eight hundred of a thousand people's hearts are here! So after all, it's still the financial tension... If the finances were sufficient, why would the number of soldiers in the imperial camp be set at 200,000? Wouldn't it be better to support 300,000 soldiers? If the finances were sufficient, why would the people in the south have to work so hard? Wouldn't it be better to remove the newly added taxes? If the finances were sufficient, why would the national debt be raised every winter? If the finances were sufficient, why did the people have to donate money to redeem the refugees in Hebei last time, and why did the government have to sell its palace to redeem the official prostitutes this time? If the finances were sufficient, why would such a grand ceremony be held, and the government had to wear the old imperial robes of the Supreme Taoist Emperor, while the civil and military officials in the court could only wear official robes to pay tribute?! At this time, the harm is too much, one million or ten thousand is not too little, but it can be summed up in one word, that is money!"
The ministers sang the same tune and spoke so clearly that the wealthy merchants below had already felt a chill in their hearts... Are they going to be the first ones to take action?
Even the monks and Taoists were worried.
However, the rest of the civil and military officials, and even some nobles, were eager to give it a try... Since this is what the emperor and the ministers mean, then there is no reason for them not to cooperate, right?
In fact, even if they did not have a dark mentality and were truly doing it for the country and the people, there were already many scholars and officials who could not hold back... All in all, it was wrong for the government and ministers to launch surprise attacks, but the problem was naked: money.
"Your Majesty!" Minister of Finance Lin Qi stepped out and made a serious suggestion. "I have thought about finances before... Now the tax revenue has reached its limit, and increasing it will only make the people angry; the profits from the salt, iron, tea, wine, alum and tin monopoly may still increase, but it is impossible to raise the prices proactively and destroy the people's hearts in the city, and we should wait for them to enrich themselves; in addition, if Jingdong is recovered and we can operate it sincerely, it would be normal to have more than one million strings of cash in one or two years; Jingdong has always had a developed maritime trade, and the transportation between Goryeo and Japan is smooth, so perhaps we can have another million strings of cash in revenue... Besides, if we want to make money, it is nothing more than Jiaozi and national debt."
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