Zhao Jun had no idea that he was going further and further down the road to death, leaving everyone behind.
He began to talk incessantly about the main and objective reasons for the failure of Fan Zhongyan's New Policies of the Qingli Period and why it was resisted by almost the entire scholar-official class.
In the final analysis, among Fan Zhongyan's ten reforms, five were aimed at the problem of redundant officials, and the remaining five were aimed at enriching the country, strengthening the military and enforcing the rule of law.
Therefore, his main reform direction was still the problem of redundant officials, one of the three redundancies. He wanted to save money and clarify the administration by cutting a large number of redundant officials, streamlining the organization and improving efficiency.
But again, doing so would affect the interests of the entire scholar-official class. As those who lost out, they would naturally unite to belittle the new policy and trample Fan Zhongyan into the ground.
If Song Renzong had the courage, even if he offended the scholar-official class, they would not be able to cause any trouble with the military power in their hands, and those who should be laid off would still be laid off.
However, Song Renzong was wavering and believed everything he heard. He gradually lost trust in Fan Zhongyan, causing the reform to lose the support of the supreme ruler and end in disgrace.
This is why Zhao Jun believed that the biggest reason for the failure of the Qingli New Deal was Song Renzong.
In fact, this reform was very important to the Song Dynasty.
You should know that the number of officials in the Song Dynasty was six times that of the Han Dynasty, and twice that of the Tang and Ming Dynasties. In addition, many officials often held multiple positions, including salaried officials, official officials, casual officials, honorary officials, attached officials, noble officials, etc., and they could receive a salary for each position.
So it seems that the number of officials in the Song Dynasty was only twice that of the Tang and Ming Dynasties, but if we calculate based on the number of officials holding multiple positions, then the number of officials was more than three times that of the Tang and Ming Dynasties.
Moreover, their salaries were generally higher than those of officials in other dynasties. For example, compared with officials in the Ming Dynasty, the salaries of low-level officials in the Song Dynasty were five to ten times higher than those of officials of the same level in the Ming Dynasty, and the difference at the prime minister level could even reach a hundred times.
At the same time, there were too many officials in the Song Dynasty and too few departments, which led to a large number of officials being granted empty positions and having no real power. In addition, the departments were bloated and their efficiency was extremely low. Many officials received high salaries but did nothing every day, which was a pure waste of national finances.
Therefore, if Fan Zhongyan could really solve the problem of redundant officials and cut half of the officials, the court's annual fiscal expenditure would be reduced by more than 10 million strings of cash.
This amount of money is undoubtedly a huge sum for the Song Dynasty, whose annual military expenditure currently reaches more than 40 million strings of cash.
In addition, Fan Zhongyan also wanted to reform the military system and laws.
If the problem of redundant officials could be solved, the military system could be reformed, and military spending could be reduced, then the finances of the Song Dynasty would be extremely healthy. With money, an army, and a solid foundation, the history of the Northern Song Dynasty could be extended by at least a hundred years.
However, even the problem of redundant officials could not be solved, let alone the problem of redundant soldiers and redundant expenses. Therefore, Fan Zhongyan's reforms were halted after only one year and four months, which can be said to be a hasty end.
In contrast, although Wang Anshi's reforms had many problems and caused significant turmoil and consequences, they lasted for a very long time, as long as fifteen years.
It was because Wang Anshi had the unwavering support of Song Shenzong that the reform was forced to stop until Song Shenzong's death.
"So, in conclusion, it was Zhao Zhen who made it impossible for Fan Zhongyan to complete the reform."
Zhao Jun compared the Qingli New Deal and Wang Anshi's reforms, saying, "National reforms must be carried out unwaveringly by the highest authority, unless they are wrong, as was the case with Wang Anshi's reforms. Unfortunately, Fan Zhongyan's direction was right, but he didn't receive support. Wang Anshi's direction was wrong, but he received support."
After saying this, Zhao Zhen's expression became complicated. He never expected that the source of the failure of the Qingli New Deal was actually him.
Fan Zhongyan glanced at him and said nothing.
After all, he is the emperor. No matter what happens, he can't be dissatisfied.
After a long silence, Fan Zhongyan asked, "Why do you say that I...Fan Zhongyan's direction is right and Wang Anshi's direction is wrong?"
"Because of the bureaucracy!"
Zhao Jun said firmly, "A great man once said that Wang Anshi was an idealist divorced from practice. The Qingmiao Law was conceived as a good thing that would benefit the country and the people, so why did it fail? The reason is that the government is too poor!"
"Although the Song Dynasty had a developed commodity economy and did not particularly suppress commerce, which led to a vibrant economy and relatively high wealth, its essence was still a backward feudal system, and agricultural production was still dominated by small-scale peasant farming."
"What is the characteristic of a small peasant economy? Fragility!"
"Ordinary people rely on the weather for their livelihoods. They work hard, facing the earth and back to the sky, relying entirely on God for their livelihoods. This year, the weather has been good, there have been no natural disasters, and the harvest has been abundant across the country. The market is full of grain, which will cause grain prices to fall."
"If natural disasters are rampant and frequent next year, resulting in reduced grain production, grain prices will rise. This is the root cause of low grain prices hurting farmers and high rice prices hurting people."
"Farmers often face a lean period, when crops haven't yet matured and their families run out of food. They have no choice but to borrow food from others, and the landlords in the village will ask them to use their land as collateral, which results in usury."
"When they're lucky, farmers can repay their debts with a good harvest next year. But when they're unlucky and encounter a natural disaster that reduces their grain production, they're unable to repay their debts, and their land will be taken away by the landlords."
"Wang Anshi believed that the rural landlords, through borrowing money, were annexing the common people's land in large quantities, leaving the common people either as landless refugees or as tenants of the large landlords. This was not a good thing."
"So he simply let the government lend money to farmers at a lower interest rate to help them tide over the difficulties. When the harvest came next year, the money would be returned to the government."
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