After these three fires, everyone has come to a deep understanding of the authority of the Grand Court President and no longer dares to risk their lives to challenge the Grand Court President's temper.
After all, not even the Council of State could sway the Grand Court President’s decision, and in the end they had no choice but to obey.
But is Zhengshitang a victim?
no.
In fact, the Political Affairs Hall was also a beneficiary, because its authority was also enhanced accordingly.
When arguing with Zhang Fei, Zhang Fei said that the Supreme Imperial Court would of course strictly implement the decrees of the Political Affairs Hall, unless the decree was illegal. Then, from an indirect perspective, the authority of the Grand Court President would also ensure that the decrees of the Political Affairs Hall would be well implemented.
And execution was exactly what the Song Dynasty lacked most before.
When Wang Anshi was carrying out the reform, his method was to drive out of the capital anyone who disobeyed and to use his supreme authority to enforce the reform. However, the problem was also obvious. There were constant struggles at the central level, and local governments were lip service to the reform.
It's different now.
In this struggle, no minister was driven out of the capital because of the protection of the system and laws.
...
...
Under this system, the prime minister has a lot to do.
Wen Yanbo also reacted and began to actively preside over meetings in the Council of State and formulate new policies based on the current situation.
They now just need to focus on policy without worrying about the intrigue.
After the meeting, Wang Anshi, Lu Huiqing, and Xue Xiang were the first to leave the Council Hall. Seeing that Sima and the others had not come out, Lu Huiqing whispered, "Duke Wen is trying to save face for the Council Hall!"
Xue Xiang shook his head and said, "Not necessarily. Judging from the current new tax law, reducing or exempting the agricultural tool tax and transportation tax will actually increase tax revenue. I think there is nothing wrong with these two policies, and they are also thought-provoking.
Because in the past, tax reductions were only for the purpose of reducing the burden on the people, but now tax reductions are a fiscal policy that can make the country and the people rich. I even think that tax reduction policies can be used as a regular policy in the future. "
Lu Huiqing smiled but said nothing.
Wang Anshi nodded thoughtfully and said, "You are right. Although there are many farm tool shops in the market, they cannot directly bring much wealth to the country. However, farmers can reclaim more wasteland and grow more food with these fine farm tools. The agricultural tax will naturally increase accordingly. Even if the rice yield per mu of land increases by half a catty, it is much more than the tax on farm tools. The same is true for transportation tax."
“That’s exactly what’s going on.”
Xue Xiang nodded and said, "In some key industries, adopting appropriate tax exemption policies can increase national tax revenue."
The two chatted more and more excitedly, until they arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, Xue Xiang said goodbye and returned to the Three Departments, while Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing entered the Ministry of Revenue.
As soon as the door was closed, Lu Huiqing said to Wang Anshi again: "Master, I never thought that Zhang San could force Duke Wen into such a situation. Will he still give us some face now?"
He has always been wary of Zhang Fei, and now his suspicions have been confirmed. Zhang Fei has grown into a huge monster, and he doesn't think they can still use Zhang Fei for their own purposes.
How should we get along in the future?
They have to adjust, too.
Wang Anshi hesitated for a while and said, "Of course he won't be as easy to talk to as before, but it depends on what the matter is. I think he will still support us in public affairs. He supports Xihe and Xixia to continue their struggle, which is what we expect. It is enough to prove that he does support the new policy.
But in other aspects, it is not certain. In fact, even if he wants to, he dare not. Didn't you recently transfer your brother Lu Shengqing to take charge of Yangzhou's grain transport?"
Lu Huiqing nodded awkwardly.
Wang Anshi said, "Tell your brother to be careful. This kind of thing is the most troublesome now. If something goes wrong, it will definitely implicate you. I have finally let you take charge of the Ministry of Revenue. Don't let this get you into trouble."
In fact, Wang Anshi did not care about nepotism, which was one of the reasons for his failure. But now there are public security, procuratorate and courts, and if he is caught, he will almost certainly die.
Lu Huiqing nodded and said, "Yes, I will let him pay attention."
Since Han Qi returned to the court, he has been recuperating at home. He rarely goes out and keeps a low profile. Unless summoned by the emperor or there is a hearing, he generally does not go out easily.
Historically, Han Qi should have died of illness while in office last year. But now, due to the butterfly effect caused by Zhang Fei, he was able to return to Beijing to recuperate early. Although his stubborn illness is still difficult to cure, he can still survive.
In the morning, Han Zhongyan, who was on vacation, supported Han Qi as they took a walk in the courtyard.
"Father seems to be in better spirits recently than he was six months ago."
"Maybe it's because I'm in a better mood recently."
"Yeah?"
Han Zhongyan asked curiously, "I wonder what happy things happened to Dad?"
Han Qi did not answer immediately, but raised his hand and pointed to the rattan chair under the tree. Han Zhongyan immediately helped him to sit over there. The old servant immediately came forward with a stack of newspapers and magazines, "Master, these are today's newspapers and magazines."
"Put it down."
Han Qi pointed slightly at the tea table next to him.
After the old servant put it down, Han Qi patted the newspaper and said, "This is a good medicine."
Han Zhongyan immediately responded and nodded, "In the past two years, various reforms have been steadily implemented and have achieved fruitful results. The national strength is also growing day by day. There is indeed a trend of national prosperity and people's well-being."
Han Qi sighed, "I remember when I first returned to Beijing, I knew I didn't have much time left, and I had already made preparations to say goodbye to my old friends one by one. But now the changes in the country are exactly what Mr. Fan and I expected back then, and this makes me want to live another two years."
"Father will definitely live a long life." Han Zhongyan said hurriedly.
Han Qi waved his hands, a bitter smile appearing on the corners of his mouth. The person he envied the most now was Fu Bi. Fu Bi was a participant, and he wanted to be a witness. He could only hope that God would give him more time.
Han Zhongyan saw that this topic made his father unhappy, so he changed the subject and asked, "Dad, do you know about the recent household registration issue?"
Han Qi nodded.
Han Zhongyan said: "I never thought that after Zhang San became the chief judge, he would have such great authority. Not to mention Sima Junshi and Wang Jiefu, even Duke Fu and Duke Wen had to bow down to him."
Han Qi laughed and said, "If you think so, you are wrong. I know the personalities of Fu Yanguo, Wen Kuanfu, and Sima Junshi very well. If they really object, they will not compromise. Even if the emperor issues an order himself, they will not accept it. How can they allow Zhang San, a little kid, to bully others?"
Han Zhongyan asked in confusion: "Why?"
Han Qi laughed and said, "Those involved are confused, but those who are watching can see clearly."
Then he picked up a newspaper and said, "Oh, reduction of transportation tax and farm implement tax?"
Han Zhongyan said: "Yes, this seems to be the decree issued by the Political Affairs Hall yesterday. These two policies will be implemented in the public security, procuratorial and judicial areas next year."
Han Qi smiled and said, "It seems that the national treasury has a surplus, so they have started to reduce taxes."
Legislative Council.
"Mr. Kuan, why are you so listless today?"
Fu Bi turned his head to look at Wen Yanbo who was standing beside him, and seeing that he seemed absent-minded, he couldn't help but ask.
Wen Yanbo first glanced at Fu Bi, was silent for a moment, and then sighed, "I thought I had understood this new system thoroughly. In fact, it means being bold enough to do something. In this way, I can take the initiative. As long as I do my job well, I don't need to be afraid of the chief judge. On the contrary, he will be helpful to me. But looking back, I found that there is nothing I can do."
Fu Bi was surprised and said, "Who said that? Your two tax reduction policies are very beneficial to both agriculture and business."
"But these are nothing."
Wen Yanbo shook his head and said, "Do you still remember the ten reform measures you proposed during the Qingli New Deal?"
Fu Bi nodded, "Be clear about promotions and demotions, suppress luck, be meticulous in selecting officials, distribute public land equally, support agriculture and sericulture, improve military preparations, be generous and trustworthy, emphasize orders, and reduce corvée labor."
Wen Yanbo nodded and said, "I have carefully reviewed it before and found that all ten reforms have been completed and even surpassed them."
Fu Bi opened his eyes, thought for a while, and said with emotion: "Yes! All ten reforms have been completed."
A trace of sadness suddenly welled up in my heart.
At the same time, I also understand why Wen Yanbo was so disappointed. We have been pursuing it for so many years, spent our whole lives, and gone through many hardships, but we have not been able to achieve our wish. Instead, we almost caused a disaster. However, everything was completed in silence.
Before, Wen Yanbo came to his senses and wanted to do something, but he found that everything he needed to do had been done, and he had to force himself to come up with two tax reduction policies.
Wen Yanbo asked: "Why is this?"
Fu Bi thought for a while and said with a smile: "While the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits. Besides, don't underestimate yourself, because you and I have contributed to this."
Wen Yanbo smiled bitterly and said, "But we did it by accident!"
In the final analysis, they were not actually opposed to the reform of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. It was just that they initially wanted to use judicial reform to counter Wang Anshi's new policies, and did not have much hope for the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. However, the facts proved that what they supported was exactly their long-cherished wish.
Whether they did it intentionally or unintentionally, it is precisely because of their strength that the reform of the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems can succeed.
If they had changed the prime ministers or the emperor, it would not have been possible.
If he had met Song Renzong, there would have been no hope. Regardless of whether Zhao Xu had great ambitions but little talent, his determination to reform was unquestionable.
Wen Yanbo asked: "What should we do next?"
Fu Bi stroked his beard and said, "Of course, we have to keep this hard-earned fruit. Besides..."
He looked up at Wen Yanbo and saw that Wen Yanbo was looking at him with a smile.
Fu Bi couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "Alas, when I advised the emperor, I didn't know anything about military affairs for twenty years, but now it seems that this suggestion is really worth discussing!"
Don’t they want to recover the old territories of the Han and Tang dynasties?
Of course not.
In fact, they all wanted to do so very much. Fan Zhongyan also advocated using military force against Western Xia at the beginning, but given the national conditions before, what could they use to fight?
Now that domestic affairs have stabilized, we should consider foreign wars.
For the Song Dynasty, war was not a great achievement, but a way to improve their living environment. In fact, war was a must. Even Song Huizong later wanted to recover Yanyun.
Without Hetao, there would be no war horses and no capital for attack. Without Yanyun, we would be completely exposed to the enemy's iron hoof.
However, at this time, Shen Kuo, who had been negotiating with the Liao envoys in the northern border, suddenly received a letter.
It turned out that after more than a year of investigation, they had a general understanding of the Liao Kingdom's intentions. On the surface, the Liao Kingdom demanded the watershed between the three states of Wei, Ying and Shuo as the boundary, but if they were allowed to succeed, they would at least annex more than 700 miles of Song Dynasty territory.
Moreover, Shen Kuo had clear evidence to prove that those territories originally belonged to the Song Dynasty.
However, when the Liao envoy saw that he could not win the argument with Shen Kuo, he began to gather troops on the border and threatened the Song Dynasty, saying, "If you don't give it to me, I will take it myself."
Whenever the critical moment comes, this troublemaker always arrives as expected.
Wen Yanbo and his men were so angry that they were jumping up and down, wondering when it would end. They were definitely all opposed to ceding land and no one agreed.
The ministers of the Song Dynasty actually hated ceding territory in exchange for peace. They would rather give money than land. Now that the country's strength is growing, it is even less likely that they will agree.
It just said that Wen Yanbo and other ministers believed that it was urgent to strengthen military preparations and break off diplomatic relations with the Liao Kingdom.
However, Wang Anshi and Sima Guang still believed that they should not break off relations with the Liao Kingdom unless it was absolutely necessary. However, they also did not want to give them land. This was not the first or second time that the Liao Kingdom had taken advantage of such opportunities to demand a lot of money and land. It was a wolf that could never be fed. However, they also judged that the Liao Kingdom would not dare to use force easily.
However, they have no say in this matter, because the ones who are really in charge of this matter are Zhao Xu and Zhang Fei.
The Imperial Palace.
Zhang Fei put down Shen Kuo's letter, rubbed his forehead, and sighed, "What a bad idea!"
Zhao Xu was startled. "What mistake?"
Zhang Fei hurriedly said: “Your Majesty misunderstood, what I meant was that Shen Tianjian should not have been sent in the first place.”
"Why?" Zhao Xu asked curiously:
“Because Shen Tianjian’s eloquence is so amazing.”
Zhang Fei said: "We sent him because he was familiar with geography. We thought he could go and argue with the Liao envoy, but we didn't expect that he would silence the Liao envoy so quickly. Otherwise, the Liao people would not have revealed their true colors so quickly and directly threatened with force."
Zhao Xu waved his hands and said, "It's not Shen Tianjian's fault. The Khitans are just looking for trouble. When they were investigating, they couldn't find the places they said. They wanted to divide the border wherever they saw the terrain was beneficial to them. Moreover, they were purely looking at the situation in Xixia. When the northwest was peaceful before, they didn't rush to investigate. Now that they see the chaos in Xixia, they are eager to investigate.
Moreover, according to the spies, after Xixia banned trade with China, Liao immediately increased trade with Xixia and even exchanged a large amount of grain with it. "
I have to admit that this troublemaker is really a headache.
The Liao Kingdom had many spies in Western Xia, and they all knew that the Song Dynasty was one of the accomplices in the unrest in Western Xia, so they immediately put pressure on the Song Dynasty.
Zhang Fei said: "But our plan is to drag it out. The more vague it is, the more we can talk about it. We don't have to argue for clarity, because the land is impossible to give. Even if we are willing to exchange land for time, when we go to war with Xixia, the Liao Kingdom will come to ask for more land. They will definitely come to stir up trouble. This is endless."
Zhao Xu asked: "What should we do now?"
Zhang Fei thought for a while and said, "They are unreasonable now, so the evidence of the border is actually meaningless. I must add new conditions and continue to negotiate with them."
"What conditions?"
"Annual payment."
Zhang Fei said: "Your Majesty can send a secret letter to Shen Kuo, asking him to continue negotiating with the Liao Kingdom. If the Liao Kingdom insists on using this border as the boundary, then we can agree, but the premise is that the annual tribute must be reduced by half.
Since logic doesn't make sense, let's talk about interests. When we propose to exchange land for annual tribute, it becomes a money-land transaction, and the annual tribute is in our hands, so we can continue the discussion."
Zhao Xu said: "What if they agree? If this gets out, I will be scolded to death."
"I definitely won't agree to that."
Zhang Fei said: "Liao has an absolute advantage over our country in terms of geography. Even a little more is not much, because we are in the north and have no ability to attack. And now those places are mostly inhabited by Liao people, but the annual tribute is very important to Liao. It is the key bargaining chip to maintain peace between the two countries."
Zhao Xu was a little nervous and asked, "Will that anger the Liao Kingdom?"
It can also be seen that he was still quite afraid of the Liao Kingdom.
Zhang Fei hesitated for a while and said, "It is possible, but I think Liao will not send troops easily.
First of all, our army has not yet sent troops to Western Xia. At this time, if the Liao Kingdom goes to war with our country, we will have enough troops and finances to defend ourselves, and Western Xia will get a great advantage. However, this is not in the interests of the Liao Kingdom.
Secondly, the Liao Kingdom actually knew that they were powerless to destroy our country. Once they sent troops, if they failed to gain any advantage, they might lose both the wife and the army, because once the war broke out, they would no longer be able to threaten us. Going to war was their last resort and they would not use it easily.
Finally, according to the intelligence from the Liao Kingdom, no one from the nobles to the common people in the Liao Kingdom had any intention of starting a war. "
Zhao Xu nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei said: "But we must also be prepared for the war, and the biggest problem at the moment is that Hebei's people have been severely depleted. If Hebei develops, we don't need to be too afraid of the Liao Kingdom."
Even though Zhang Fei knew nothing about military affairs, he knew that Hebei was crucial to defending against the Liao Kingdom. However, Hebei was now devastated by natural disasters and man-made calamities, and its people had lost almost all their strength, making it impossible to support the war against the Liao Kingdom.
Zhao Xu said: "Regarding the issue of Hebei's people's strength, Lu Huiqing recently submitted a memorial. He believes that although the flood has been alleviated after these years of governance, there is still a possibility of floods.
Floods cause the greatest damage to farmland, but workshops can avoid floods very well. He suggested establishing more military equipment depots in Hebei to produce weapons, as well as to use them for work-for-relief to help the people of Hebei recover their strength.
He also personally edited a book to regulate the production of weapons.”
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "That's feasible. We have to produce firearms anyway, and we can also build fortifications around the artillery."
At this point, he thought of something else. "By the way, according to the statistics from the Food Bureau, the amount of grain coming from Jianghuai this year, including that transported by merchants, has increased by at least 300,000 dan compared to previous years. At the same time, the number of imperial guards in the capital has decreased by nearly 100,000 in recent years. Some of them have been transferred to serve as royal police in various places, and the loss has been reduced a lot. With this increase and decrease, I think we can also reduce the supply of grain from Hebei to the capital, as in the northwest, and store the grain in key fortresses for prevention."
After discussing with Zhang Fei, Zhao Xu held a meeting with the prime ministers to discuss the matter. On the surface, he still asked Shen Kuo to argue based on reason and not compromise on territory.
At the same time, a series of personnel arrangements were made, and Fan Chunren and Su Shi were transferred to Hebei to serve as prosecutors. Currently, Hebei does not lack court presidents, but prosecutors. Moreover, given the current situation, the role of the prosecutor is actually greater than that of the court president.
Because the prosecutor can take the initiative, this is naturally not a good thing for the powerful people in Hebei, but now they dare not challenge the authority of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
There is no other reason, Hebei has suddenly become the region with the largest number of royal police in the country.
Zhang Dun was also dispatched to Hebei to replace Lu Huiqing as the transport envoy in charge of Hebei's finances.
In terms of finance, Zhao Xu still relied more on the reformists, while in terms of justice, he was basically dominated by conservatives.
He also transferred General Liu Changzuo from the northwest to serve as the Xiongzhou Surveillance Commissioner and the Tuanlian Commissioner.
In addition, another 500,000 strings of cash were allocated from the treasury to continue the work-for-relief program in Hebei, but this time the focus was on building an armory and defensive fortifications.
At the same time, he ordered that the amount of grain entering Beijing from Hebei be cut by half.
The purpose is to strengthen Hebei's defense, both in terms of civilian and military strength.
These policies were also unanimously recognized by the prime ministers.
The key is that the court has money.
Moreover, fiscal tax revenue this year is still maintaining a high growth, which surprised all the ministers in the court. Can it continue to rise?
Last year, the Jianghuai region's fiscal revenue doubled due to tax revenue.
As long as the Commissioner of Taxation starts working in a certain area, tax revenue will definitely double. It just depends on how many times it will double. The reason is very simple. The big landowners have to pay the full amount of tax. If it doesn't double, that would be strange.
But this year Jianghuai's fiscal revenue increased by another 30%, which is quite surprising.
Where does all this money come from?
After statistics and analysis by the three departments, there are two main sources of growth. First, the increase in commercial taxes. Because the land in the south of the Yangtze River is blessed by nature, in the previous bad government, as long as the weather was good, the people in the south of the Yangtze River could still have some surplus, not to mention now.
Since there is surplus, it can be traded, which undoubtedly stimulates the growth of commercial tax.
At the same time, the wealth brought by maritime transportation was also increasing. The Song Dynasty had always actively encouraged navigation because the land was different from the Western Regions at the beginning, and now the administration was clean and honest, so there were more merchants going out to sea.
The main growth point of this part of the finances is actually in the Fujian-Guangzhou area, but the market is in Jiangnan and Tokyo. More goods are shipped to Jiangnan, which also stimulates Jiangnan's business.
The second, and main source of income growth, is the emergence of a large number of hidden households.
In the past, many people hid their household registration, especially in the Jianghuai region, because that area was severely affected by corvee labor. Wang Anshi's reform was mainly inspired by the south of the Yangtze River. If the taxes and labor service there were not heavy, he would not have come up with any exemption law.
But now the tax commissioner is responsible for collecting taxes from the fields. Although last year he was busy dealing with the big landowners, he did not check these hidden households.
However, the royal police checked the household registration very strictly, especially in the trading market, and hidden households also faced many difficulties. Just signing a deed was very difficult. At the same time, the court continued to exempt corvée labor, and hidden households became economically worthless, resulting in a large number of hidden households being exposed, the population increased sharply, and taxes certainly increased as well.
In response to this situation, the Ministry of Household Affairs decided to redesign a new household registration system next year, using all new paper and printing technology. On the one hand, it can be regarded as a household registration census, and at the same time it can give those hidden households a way out, suggesting that the previous accounts will be forgiven and we will start anew.
Secondly, it needs to be convenient to carry and use. Currently, in public security, procuratorial and judicial areas, household registration is indispensable for everything.
At the same time, business taxes in tax-exempt areas are also growing rapidly, especially in the capital region.
This growth mainly came from large landowners joining the business.
In the past, everyone was a miser, guarding their land, gold, silver and copper. But now everyone has switched to tax currency, plus warehouse tax, which has led to many large landowners making a lot of money by selling grain. But those are all tax currencies, so they have lost the motivation to save money. They have no preference for paper money, so many large landowners have also run out to do business.
The reason why Wen Yanbo decided to reduce the tax on agricultural tools was because the production of agricultural tools in the capital area increased fifty times this year.
Of course, this is also because the production of agricultural tools was pitifully small in the past, and most of it was done by the government.
But this year is different. First, due to the industrialization of coal and iron mines, it is easier for merchants to obtain coal and iron. Secondly, the people have surplus money and they have money to replace their worn-out farm tools.
Many misers, who are unable to do other business, will engage in agricultural products, including farm tools and textile tools.
With the raw materials, policies, funds and markets all in place, a fifty-fold increase is actually not that much.
But then again, the amount of money the court spends every year is also increasing rapidly. For example, if corvee labor is exempted, money will have to be spent to hire people, and the cost will inevitably increase.
The only difference is that now it is the business agencies that hire people, and the court spends money directly to purchase them from the business agencies.
But when you think about it, it's not a loss actually, because the business agency is commercialized, which reduces a lot of unnecessary losses. At the same time, there are more people working and taxes have also increased.
There is also tax currency. The court is now spending tax currency, so it doesn’t feel that bad about it.
Xue Xiang suggested this year that the supply of tax coins to Jiangnan should be increased. For the time being, the tax coins will be released based on 30% of the tax revenue of each region. Last year, the tax coins were only used to pay salaries to officials.
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