Fu Bi was right in his guess. Sima Guang had not revealed the secret letter to anyone until now. It was not that he did not trust Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo, but he thought that Zhang Fei was an undercover agent. If he told anyone about it, he would be breaking his promise to Zhang Fei, which was not what a gentleman should do.
In fact, Sima Guang, like Wang Anshi, was extremely principled.
But the difference between the two lies in the people around them. For example, on the conservative side, Wen Yanbo and Fu Bi would not blame Sima Guang even if they knew that Sima Guang had concealed something. This is the friendship between gentlemen.
Just like during the Qingli period, Ouyang Xiu's memorial caused the reformists to collapse directly. He was a complete pig teammate, but Fan Zhongyan could only accept it. He would not break off his friendship with Ouyang Xiu because of this, because Ouyang Xiu's original intention was not to harm them, but just to point out the nature of factions. It is not only villains who form factions, but gentlemen also form factions. This is an inevitable phenomenon.
In other words, Ouyang Xiu himself also believed that they, the gentlemen of the Qingli period, were a clique. We supported and united each other politically. If this is not a clique, then what is?
But for the emperor, no matter you are gentlemen or villains, if you form a clique, then I'm done for. I'm all alone, how can I control you?
Fortunately, this is the Northern Song Dynasty. If it were any other dynasty, if one directly admitted to forming a party, one would definitely be in danger of losing one's life.
Because this is what the emperor most taboos.
You prime ministers are forming a clique, but who else is worthy of your clique except me?
On the other hand, the reformists are a mixed bag of people, and everyone gathers together for their own selfish interests.
...
...
Because Wang Anshi valued the concept, he would use the new law if he agreed with it, rather than any moral qualities.
However, this cannot be entirely blamed on Wang Anshi. His financial management philosophy is different from Confucian philosophy. Most Confucian gentlemen do not agree with him, so he can only look elsewhere.
But this is also a big hidden danger.
Throughout history, although the reformists were in power, they did not last long before they fell apart. On the other hand, although the conservatives were always suppressed, they remained united. Even if there were conflicts among them, they were still able to help and understand each other in official matters.
That is, gentlemen are harmonious but different, while villains are the same but not harmonious.
This is also what Sima Guang pursued in selecting talented people.
It looks very fussy and doesn't look like someone who can accomplish great things. But once it is formed, the inside will be very strong. However, it is also possible that it will die directly.
Everything has two sides, it depends on how you choose.
And now in Shaanxi Road, everyone's attention is focused on Jingzhao Prefecture, which is the lawsuit about the land tax for extinct households.
In fact, this lawsuit was very simple and there was nothing to question. However, since so many people were involved and this lawsuit was also related to how the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs could gain a foothold in Jingzhao, the trial lasted for a long time. The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs took the opportunity to infiltrate all levels. The procuratorate asked the royal police to summon all relevant officials and gentry for questioning. This undoubtedly told everyone that these officials and gentry must also cooperate with the investigation of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
The results were finally announced recently.
"I guess you have received the results from Jingzhao Prefecture."
Yuan Jiang asked.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Maybe a little later than you. I just received it this morning."
The verdict from the imperial court of Jingzhao Prefecture was indeed delivered today, but in fact, Da Gou was reporting the situation there to him anytime and anywhere.
Su Che, Cai Bian and others lived up to expectations and properly resolved the problem of land tax for families with no descendants. The solution was very simple. It mainly involved making use of Qingmiao loans and, at the same time, renting out the land that the government had taken back from families with no descendants to the farmers who had filed complaints.
Farmers who rented land could apply for a loan with an interest rate of 1% from the Tizhu Changping Division for a period of one year to tide over the difficulties temporarily. Those who did not rent land could apply for an interest-free loan as a form of compensation.
At the same time, there are also some work-for-relief projects, which are mainly to build public security, procuratorial and judicial institutions to bring livelihoods to the local area.
Of course, there was also strong financial support, with the Transport Bureau using salt notes to provide a guarantee. Jingzhao Prefecture also lacked currency, so it wouldn't hurt to put up some salt notes.
Yuan Jiang sighed and said, "We are invincible when we work together in Hezhong Prefecture. It's a pity that the court..."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "We are not cooperating, but fighting."
As he spoke, he looked up at the hut, as if to say, if we were to cooperate, would we have to hide in this hut to chat?
"Too!"
Yuan Jiang nodded with a wry smile. This was not something they could change, because they were just doing the work. They could not understand the difficulties of the decision-making circle. Now that things had come to this, it would be useless to talk more. He seemed to remember something, "Oh, right! Food prices have risen quite fast recently."
Zhang Fei said: "I have heard about this too. I think there are two main reasons. On the one hand, the liberalization of winemaking has led to a lot of grain being used for winemaking. On the other hand, the increase in salt notes has caused prices to rise somewhat."
Yuan Jiang frowned and asked, "Is it because the government issued too many salt notes?"
He was very cautious about the salt notes because he had learned the lesson of Jiaozi before. The salt note system was established with great difficulty. It regained the trust of the people and solved many problems for the government. He could not mess around with it again.
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "I don't think it's because of the excessive issuance of salt notes. Most of the tax revenue was collected before, and there aren't many salt notes in the market. On the contrary, it's because of the lack of currency before, which made transactions difficult. The prices of goods are generally low. This is normal now, and there's no need to panic."
"I haven't thought of this." Yuan Jiang nodded repeatedly and said, "But high grain prices hurt the people. We have to find a way to stop the rise in grain prices."
Zhang Fei said, "So many soldiers were laid off last year, so the Ministry of Revenue should have enough food."
Yuan Jiang said: "But most of it is to deal with famine, and we don't know yet how much grain we have to sell to the outside world in order to stop the price of grain from rising further."
Zhang Fei pondered for a while and said, "In fact, it can be adjusted by taxation."
"tax?"
"Um."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "You don't have to use grains to make wine, fruits can also do the job. If you sell fruit wine, the income can be reduced by half the tax. Many people will definitely make fruit wine, which will reduce the consumption of grain."
Yuan Jiang nodded slightly, "That's one way."
Zhang Fei said: "But at the same time, the Ministry of Revenue still has to release some grain, especially now that the winemaking has just been liberalized. Everyone thinks that there is a lot of profit to be made, so many winemakers will scramble for grain, which will drive up the price of grain. Once the court starts to release grain, they will not rush to buy it. I believe this will effectively stop the price of grain from continuing to rise."
Yuan Jiang thought for a while and said, "Okay, I will release some grain first. But you also have to talk to the tax commissioner to see if the tax on fruit wine can be reduced by half."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Master Yuan, please rest assured that the tax commissioner will be able to do it. The tax commissioner is only worried about one thing at this moment."
"What's up?"
“No one would dare to evade taxes.”
"ah?"
"Because then, we won't get any bonuses."
“Oh haha!”
Yuan Jiang laughed and said, "So if you want to stop the tax commissioner, you just have to pay taxes truthfully."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "That's true, but in the face of interests, there will definitely be people who take risks. If it doesn't work, there will be Jingzhao Prefecture to help. The tax commissioner will never be short of bonuses."
Boom boom boom!
There was a sudden knock on the door.
"Third brother, Mr. Fan and Mr. Lu are here."
"Got it. I'll be right there."
"Are you here to discuss the village law?"
Yuan Jiang asked.
Zhang Fei nodded.
Yuan Jiang said: "I have also heard about the Lantian Township Agreement. Its purpose is to prevent the police, procuratorate and courts from going to the countryside."
Zhang Fei nodded and smiled, "In fact, as long as everyone abides by the written rules that we all agree on, then I don't care."
After chatting for a few more sentences, Yuan Jiang stood up and said goodbye.
He is much busier than Zhang Fei now. The road has been paved, and he must now focus on improving finances. Things like the equalization of transport and the exemption from military service must be implemented.
This time, Fan Zhen and Lu Xiaosheng came mainly to discuss the norms of the village law enforcement personnel. They expressed their willingness to accept Zhang Fei's suggestions and did not ask for too much. They would directly follow the Royal Police's law enforcement manual, but the village's charity granary would pay for the hiring or training of village police to enforce the village agreement.
Simply put, we should handle it ourselves and you don't have to come.
Since everyone was so straightforward, Zhang Fei didn't want to find fault with it anymore. He just wanted to see how many people were willing to accept the "Lantian Township Agreement".
The key point is that Zhang Fei’s current focus has shifted from Hezhong Prefecture to the whole country, mainly Bian Jing and Jingdong East Road.
The next day, he came to Big Dog's restaurant.
"What's up?"
Zhang Fei sat down and asked.
Big Dog said, "Brother Bao has received news that Jingdong East Road has begun to distribute the third round of seedling money, but most of the profits have gone into the pockets of the government and those wealthy people. The worst off are the first and second wealthy families. They are not like those wealthy people. They have enough wealth to lend slowly and have enough strength to get the money back.
If they cannot lend out the money or cannot get it back, they can only pay back the money for the young crops with their own money. However, in the process of repaying the money, the interest will be much higher. Those who cannot repay the money can only borrow money from the big landlords.
Many counties and cities are now in a state of confusion. If someone were to buy out the debts of these wealthy households, they would certainly be willing to do so.”
"They couldn't hold on after only the third round. Is this the only strength those rich families have?" Zhang Fei wondered.
Big Dog said, "In fact, it's the same as Hezhong Prefecture. The rich families just have more land and live a carefree life, but they can't afford such a toss. Moreover, the repayment of the seedling money there requires payment in currency, but not every rich family has a lot of currency. Many rich families need to exchange grain for currency with the rich, or choose to endure the exploitation of exchange. Anyway, they have to pay a sum of money."
Then he added: "However, at present, only a small number of wealthy families are suffering. Most of the wealthy families can still hold on, but many ordinary people really can't hold on."
If we collect all the debts at once, it will certainly arouse suspicion. We have to do it in batches. Zhang Fei pondered for a moment and said, "Well, you send a message to Li Bao and ask him to find a way to buy back the debts owed by the rich families from those wealthy people. If there are still rich families who can repay, don't bother them."
Big Dog said: "But according to what Brother Bao said, the debts of the rich are very valuable. They have land as collateral. It is the debts of ordinary farmers that are worthless."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "We can collect all the debts together. We want to make those big landlords think that we are actually coveting the land in the hands of the rich, so we are willing to accept the bad debts of ordinary farmers. This way, it will not arouse suspicion."
The big dog's eyes suddenly lit up and he nodded: "This is a great idea! I understand. I understand."
Zhang Fei said again: "By the way! What is the current situation in Qingzhou?"
Da Gou said hurriedly, "It is said that it is going quite smoothly at the moment. Because they have the support of Governor Ouyang, the local officials have not made things difficult for them. Many people have already gone to the imperial court to file a lawsuit."
Impossible! The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are simply the natural enemies of the government. How could they not embarrass Fan Chunren and his men? Are all Qingzhou officials gentlemen? Or does Ouyang Xiu really have such great prestige?
Zhang Fei thought for a while and said, "Keep staring."
"Why!"
Big Dog seemed to remember something and said, "That's right! According to our people's inquiries, there are already fifteen townships in Hedong County that are willing to accept the Lantian Township Agreement."
"So many?"
Zhang Fei exclaimed.
Big Dog nodded and said, "Anyway, our people estimate that all villages may accept it in the end."
"Why?"
Zhang Fei asked.
Big Dog said: "Because all the gentry support the Lantian Township Agreement and are very united, and the gentry are in charge of education, sacrifices, etiquette, and relief. Although it is a free choice, if you don't join, you may not even be able to hold a funeral.
Those people who were unwilling to join the village agreement moved directly to the city. Most of these people were merchants. "
"I really underestimated them."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Let them give it a try. Maybe this way of getting along is not bad."
In fact, he couldn't say for sure. How could he know the result if he didn't try it?
Although he was more concerned about etiquette, etiquette also had problems, and it was still unknown whether it could develop.
The most important thing is that it is impossible to explicitly stop the ethics and morals. If he dares to say so, he will be finished.
After returning to the imperial court, Zhang Fei glanced at the sky and went straight to the garden. He saw a beautiful figure looming among the flowers. It was Gao Wenyin.
I don’t know if it’s because of the royal aura here, but her country woman temperament has completely faded away, and she looks more graceful and elegant.
Zhang Fei walked over secretly and gently put his arm around Gao Wenyin's waist, "Madam."
"ah!"
Gao Wenyin was startled and rolled her eyes at Zhang Fei, "You scared me again."
She has been in Hezhong Prefecture for so long that she doesn't even know where the Hezhong Prefecture market is. She spends the whole day staying in her own little world, and she is so happy.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Madam, you are more focused on watering the flowers than others are on reading books."
Gao Wenyin said: "People who are focused when reading will also be focused when doing other things."
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, "Madam doesn't usually go out, who did you learn this eloquence from?"
Gao Wenyin looked at him with a smile.
Zhang Fei snorted, "It must be Zhiqian who has corrupted Madam."
"Scoundrel." Gao Wenyin glared at Zhang Fei in feigned anger.
Zhang Fei looked around at the stunning scenery of hundreds of flowers and suddenly said, "Madam, if we were to leave here, would you be very sad to leave?"
"ah?"
Gao Wenyin exclaimed, "Are we leaving?"
Zhang Fei said: "Our home is in Beijing, this time we are just on a business trip."
Gao Wenyin nodded, "Yes, our home is in Bianjing."
Zhang Fei saw that she looked lonely and asked, "Why? Madam, do you like it here?"
Gao Wenyin nodded slightly and said, "Compared to Bianjing, this place is quieter."
Zhang Fei said: "This is very simple. After we go back, we will buy a big house in the suburbs, similar to this one."
Gao Wenyin said hurriedly, "No, no, that would cost so much money. Our house in the capital is already the largest house I have ever lived in."
But it still can't be compared with this place, which was converted from a palace.
Zhang Fei waved his hands and said, "Madam, you don't know. If I don't buy two big houses, I won't even know that I'm a rich man. How annoying!"
Qingzhou.
When he was in Dengzhou, Fan Chunren was bored all day long and spent every day at home writing to vent his depression. Now that he has come to Qingzhou, he is full of ambition and plans to realize his aspirations.
The result was just as they wished. With Ouyang Xiu in charge, the officials of Qingzhou were very polite to them and soon vacated their offices for them. Of course, they did not receive the same treatment as Zhang Fei, where the emperor directly gave him the palace to use, but it was also very good.
As soon as the office opened, people came to file lawsuits. The public security, procuratorate and courts quickly got into action, which made Fan Chunren very happy.
Finally there is work to do.
But gradually, they found something was wrong.
Procuratorate.
Fan Chunren and Qian Yi looked at the mountain of petitions with dull eyes.
After a while, Qian Yi slowly turned his head and asked, "How many petitions are there here?"
Fan Chunren said: "More than 700 copies."
".!"
Qian Yi felt dizzy and said, "How can I conduct this trial?"
Fan Chunren said: "If it's just too many, it would be fine, we can just send more people over, but the problem now is not that there are too many, but that many cases are very difficult to try."
Qian Yi looked at him puzzledly.
Fan Chunren picked up a few copies at random and handed them to Qian Yi.
Qian Yi took a quick look and saw that they were all lawsuits involving usury, unpaid military pay, unpaid wages, taxes on extinct land, and so on.
In all likelihood, this is either related to the government or the landlords.
"This is bad."
Qian Yi finally understood why Fan Chunren was in such a dilemma. In a moment, he was sweating profusely. "Zhang San has already given precedents for these cases in Hezhong Prefecture. If we don't rule in that way, how can people be convinced? But if we really rule in that way, will the government here agree?"
Fan Chunren said: "It is precisely because they all know Zhang San's judgment on such cases that they came to file a complaint."
When the yamen runners and soldiers heard that they could sue the government for unpaid wages and military salaries, they would be fools not to sue.
Qian Yi frowned and said, "Hezhong Prefecture is thousands of miles away from Qingzhou, how could so many people know about this? You heard people talking about these things in Dengzhou before?"
Fan Chunren shook his head. "It's obvious that someone is behind this."
Qian Yi probably guessed who it was and said, "What can we do? Zhang San used two methods to solve these problems in Hezhong Prefecture. One is salt debt and salt notes; the other is to repay in installments. But this may not be applicable to Qingzhou."
Fan Chunren said: "No, he has another trick."
Qian Yi asked, "What trick?"
"Disarmament!" Fan Chunren said, "He first used disarmament to lay a solid foundation for the future finances of Hezhong Prefecture, and then used salt notes and salt debts to pay the current compensation. The financial savings in the future can just cover the interest on the salt debts."
Qian Yi said: "The Qingzhou garrison is nothing compared to the Hezhong Prefecture. Even if we cut them, we won't save much money."
As he said this, his face was horrified, "You are not talking about the official dismissal, are you?"
Fan Chunren nodded and said, "All these problems are caused by the heavy financial burden. Only by reducing fiscal expenditure can we use Zhang San's judgment to solve these problems."
Qian Yi frowned and said, "If we want to lay off officials right from the start, I'm afraid we will offend many people and may not succeed.
Fan Chunren said: "But there is no other way. If we ask the government to pay compensation, there will definitely be problems with the finances."
Qian Yi thought for a while and said, "Well, let's go and discuss it with Prefect Ouyang first."
Fan Chunren hesitated for a moment and thought, yes, the imperial court can only order the government to pay compensation, but cannot ask the government to lay off officials. This requires the government's support. He nodded and said, "Okay."
The two of them immediately went to find Ouyang Xiu.
“Ahem!”
When Ouyang Xiu heard Fan Chunren's suggestion to cut down on officials, he couldn't help but cough twice and said, "I told your father at the beginning that the trouble of this dynasty is the redundant officials, but your father insisted that it was caused by corruption. Now that so many years have passed, the redundant officials have become more and more serious. The talented people who were full of ambition in the past are now trapped in the three redundant ones. It is not easy to cut down on officials!"
At the beginning, the Gentlemen's Party was full of vigor and wanted to do many things, but now those people are grandfathers and their own children and grandchildren have become officials. Will they still agree?
The sooner these redundant officials are dealt with, the better; it cannot be delayed.
Fan Chunren also knew the truth, but it was too late to regret, so he said: "It is never too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost."
After some thought, Ouyang Xiu said, "I don't have much time left. Even if I agree to your request, it won't hurt anything. But I'm afraid it will bring trouble to the public security, the procuratorate and the courts. So, you should write a letter to Sima Junshi and see what he says. If he agrees, I will help you with my last breath."
Fan Chunren said, "Uncle Ouyang is indeed very thoughtful. I will write a letter to Sima Xueshi right away."
So he quickly wrote a letter and sent it to the capital by express horse. On the one hand, he talked about the issue of redundant officials, and on the other hand, he asked Sima Guang to send more people.
Qingzhou is not far from Bianjing, so the letter was quickly delivered to the capital by galloping horses.
When Sima Guang read the letter, he was overwhelmed. "He wants to follow Zhang San's example and take this opportunity to eliminate the problem of redundant officials."
Wen Yanbo said, "I'm afraid Chunren is just imitating others. Why did Zhang San suggest cutting the army instead of cutting the number of officials? He also knows that cutting the number of officials will make his efforts go to waste. The time is not yet ripe."
Everyone knew about the disaster of the three redundancies, but no one dared to act rashly. Wang Anshi also took a different approach. This point was not mentioned in his new law. He just reduced it a little bit quietly without daring to say it explicitly.
This shows how great the resistance is.
Sima Guang said: "What should we do now? Fan Chunren must also follow Zhang San's precedents, but if we don't cut spending, Qingzhou's finances will not be able to support these judgments."
Lu Gongzhu couldn't help but question: "Is it the success of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, or the success of Zhang San? It's hard to say!"
Fu Bi opened his eyes, "On the contrary, this is not Zhang San's success, but Zhang San's fault. His judgments are too outstanding, unprecedented in history. Have you ever seen the government of any dynasty compensate the people on such a large scale? If it weren't for Zhang San's judgment, Chunren and the others would have been able to handle it. Of course, there wouldn't be so many people filing complaints."
Lu Gongzhuo nodded again.
Indeed, that kind of compensation is really scary. It really has to be covered by salt debts and salt notes, but Qingzhou does not have these conditions.
Fu Bi added: "The only solution now is to transfer Zhang San back."
Sima Guang hurriedly said, "But we have already promised in front of the emperor that we will not use Zhang San."
Fu Bi glanced at him and said, "Junshi, you are really stubborn. Not using Zhang San means not letting him go to Qingzhou, but you can transfer him back to Bianliang. In this way, he can use his special status as a Beijing official to influence the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs in Qingzhou. It just so happens that Zhang San has been in office for almost three years, so he should be transferred as well."
Sima Guang still wanted to win fairly and was full of confidence in the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. He added: "But this distant water cannot quench the nearby fire."
Wen Yanbo said, "Mr. Fu is absolutely right. You are really stubborn. We can't try each case one by one. Let Chunren and the others try the easier ones first. We still have enough time."
Sima Guang hesitated for a while and then nodded reluctantly.
Fu Bi added: "Also, we need to arrange for the manpower immediately. The two of them are outnumbered. Don't delay any longer."
Sima Guang hurriedly said: "I have already arranged the candidate."
Wen Yanbo asked in surprise: "Why are you so fast this time?"
Sima Guang smiled awkwardly and said, "At first, this group of people were supposed to be transferred to Hezhong Prefecture, but Zhang San trained a group of court presidents himself, and those people also received the government's approval, so I didn't make any more arrangements."
Fu Bi asked, "Who are they?"
Sima Guang replied: "Liu Zhi, Liang Tao, and Sun Gu!"
He listed more than thirty names in a row.
All of them are Jinshi, one third of them are from the Jiayou period, two thirds are from the Yuanyou and Xining periods. In short, they are young and energetic people with two rising stars.
Wen Yanbo laughed and said, "You really take your time and do a good job!"
These people are impeccable, with excellent morals and talents.
When it comes to judging people, Sima Guang is indeed many levels better than Wang Anshi. The only one he misjudged was Zhang Fei. The most guilty things he ever did in his life were all caused by Zhang San, without exception.
(End of this chapter)
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