What Fan Zhongyan really wanted to do was to solve the three redundancies.
In history, wasn't his Qingli New Deal and the elimination of malpractices intended to solve the problem of redundant officials, redundant expenses and redundant soldiers?
now.
It’s finally time to officially begin.
Zhao Zhen asked worriedly, "Grandson, is it really time yet?"
"yes."
Zhao Jun sighed and said, "We're here."
He stood up, put his hands behind his back, looked down at the ground, and paced back and forth in the hall.
"If I had started the New Deal seven years ago, the Song Dynasty would have been like a terminally ill patient."
"At that time, although the three redundant bacteria were harming the patient's body, they were also hanging on to his life."
"Redundant officials stabilize the world's scholars, and redundant soldiers can ease social conflicts and make the Western Xia and Liao countries wary. Although redundant expenses are high, they ensure that all officials have enough food and clothing."
"Even though the Song Dynasty was facing severe internal and external troubles and uprisings were everywhere, the situation could still be maintained with the support of scholars and the army."
"If I had been so eager to carry out reforms at that time, there would have been only one outcome for the Song Dynasty."
Zhao Jun turned his head, looked at the two of them, and said sternly: "It's a dead end!"
"But now."
He let out a long breath, pointed outside the door, and said seriously, "Internal and external troubles have been temporarily alleviated. The serious illness can't be said to have been completely cured, but it has begun to recover. People's livelihoods are gradually stabilizing, and officials are performing their duties. The three redundancies have become a big problem that can't be eliminated."
"Does it have to start now?"
Zhao Zhen said with a worried look on his face, "The country has only been stable for two years now, and many things are still not on track. If we start now, I'm afraid it will trigger new unrest."
"well."
Zhao Jun sighed again and sat back in his chair.
Fan Zhongyan asked, "What opportunity, or what reason, made you feel that it was time to start?"
"The ship that went to America has returned."
Zhao Jun said firmly and seriously, "Once the new crops are promoted in the Song Dynasty, productivity will surely increase dramatically again. Now is a good time to reduce the military."
"But why not wait?"
Zhao Zhen advised, "We've only heard they've returned. We don't know if they can bring back what we need. Even if they do, it will probably take three to five years to promote them."
"We can't delay any longer."
Zhao Jun sighed, "Brother, you know how much the Song Dynasty spends on military expenses, official salaries, and other miscellaneous expenses each year. We don't even have enough money for repairs and governance, and we can't develop education, infrastructure, or transportation. If we don't take action against the three redundancies, they will only continue to drag down the Song Dynasty!"
Although he had generated a lot of revenue and the national treasury had skyrocketed for a period of time, all of this was just a temporary illusion.
Because before Zhao Jun came, corrupt officials were everywhere. So he could go around and plunder the property of these corrupt officials in the name of investigating corruption and confiscate their money into the national treasury.
Because the market system of the Song Dynasty had a long history, the officials in charge of its operation took advantage of it and made an unknown amount of money.
So he could reform the state-owned markets and sell a large number of state-owned shares in exchange for cash.
But the number of officials in the world will not increase the more they are killed. If corruption investigations are normalized, refined, and long-term, there will be fewer and fewer corrupt officials, and even if there are still some, they will not be as fat as they were at the beginning.
There are only a limited number of state-owned trading houses in the world, and one day they will all be sold out. When there are no state-owned assets left to sell, what else can be sold to fill the national treasury?
Did they misappropriate a large amount of money from the bank's Jiaozi shop?
This thing can only be used in times of emergency. If it is misappropriated in large quantities, it will only cause economic collapse and skyrocketing prices, putting the country on the brink of collapse.
Even though Zhao Jun opened up five major trade routes, at that time in the Song Dynasty, the market was limited, the cake was limited, the productivity was limited, and there were even transportation restrictions.
Among the more than 50 countries that traded with the Song Dynasty, except for the neighboring countries such as Western Xia, Liao, Dali, Tubo, Japan, and Goryeo, the rest of the countries in the Middle East and even Africa had limited trade volume due to transportation constraints.
And the market will eventually become saturated.
Therefore, what Lu Yijian said was correct in one point, that is, if the income is insufficient to cover the expenditure for a long time, the national treasury will be ruined one day, the court will have no money to use, and eventually the wages will not be paid, and the country will be on the verge of collapse.
In the final analysis, even though there was some surplus in the national treasury during this period and the treasury had a lot of deposits, the Song Dynasty had too many places to spend money.
Money is needed to pay salaries, build schools, repair canals, dig canals, conduct research, govern, and manufacture firearms.
If this continues, the central government will only become increasingly weak.
It's like having a tumor in the brain. It turns out that the tumor constantly absorbs the person's nutrients, causing the person to become increasingly weak. Although it is not fatal, it keeps the person in a critical condition for a long time.
Now, by taking care of the body and converting more medicine and food into nutrients, we can not only replenish the nutrients needed by the tumor, but also gradually make the body healthier.
But this tumor has always been here and has always been a hidden danger.
Once the person has spent all the money on medicine and food and has no more money for treatment, the tumor will erupt and become a terminal illness that can kill the person.
So while I still have money and my body has recovered a little, I should have the surgery as soon as possible to remove the tumor.
This is what Zhao Jun planned.
Originally, he was thinking of waiting a few years, until the people's livelihood in the country stabilized and the Renzong era of prosperity truly arrived, before taking action.
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