Chapter 91 Wang Anshi's Stubbornness
Zhao Xing smiled and said: "Without courtesy, someone will give Wang Xima a seat."
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Wang Anshi bowed Shen said: "Your Highness is still young, so it is better to drink less. Moreover, making wine requires food. Your Highness is the crown prince. If His Highness loves wine, it will inevitably lead to negative consequences, and alcoholism will become a common practice, which will be detrimental to the country."
Zhao Xing: "..."
He still knows something about Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi has a very stubborn character. He will insist on what he thinks is right, and he is known as being stubborn.
As soon as they met, he lectured the prince, so that he knew Wang Anshi's character, otherwise he would definitely feel unhappy and alienate him.
No wonder my father didn't like Wang Anshi, but he brought Wang Anshi to him.
"Wang Xima's words have been recorded." Zhao Xing nodded slightly.
Wang Anshi was a little surprised when he heard this. He knew that what he just said was unpleasant, but because of his personality, even though he knew it, he still said it.
When he said this, he was prepared for Zhao Xing to get angry, but he didn't expect that Zhao Xing didn't look angry at all.
The bad impression that arose when I smelled the smell of alcohol before has also faded a lot.
"Wang Xima showed it to his father, Emperor Zha Zigu. He didn't understand some parts very well. I wonder if Wang Xima can explain it to him in detail?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
Wang Anshi was stunned. Even though he had always had a calm personality, he felt a little excited when he heard this.
Learned martial arts and sold them to the emperor's family.
For a minister, especially an ideal and ambitious person like Wang Anshi, he is very eager to have his ideals and ambitions recognized by the monarch.
He made many memorials and suggested reforms, but they all fell into disgrace and the officials ignored them.
As the crown prince and the only heir of the official family, Zhao Xing will definitely ascend to the throne in the future.
Compared with the official family, he was more eager to get the recognition and support of Zhao Xing, the prince.
The shortcomings of the Song Dynasty were too deep, and Wang Anshi was not optimistic that the reforms would achieve results soon.
After all, the official family is old, and it will take a long time for the reform to transition from implementation to stability.
Only by maintaining policy stability can reform be successful.
Zhao Xing is still young. If he can firmly support the reform, it will take decades to solve the long-standing shortcomings of the Song Dynasty.
Wang Anshi quickly calmed down and told Zhao Xing what he had seen and heard in the local area over the years.
Wang Anshi was born into an official family, and he followed his father to travel around the country since he was a child. After becoming an official, he served as county magistrate and judge in charge of government in many places, understanding the sufferings of the people.
He first talked about what he had seen and heard over the years, and then pointed out various shortcomings of the imperial court.
Finally, he elaborated on several of the reform measures he came up with - the Young Crops Law, the Farmland Water Conservancy Law, the Free Service Law, the Market Change Law, the Farmland Equalization Tax Law, and the Horse Protection Law.
Zhao Xing remembers that there should be some more, but thinking about the time now, it is normal.
At this time, it was still several years before Wang Anshi presided over the reform. The rest should be added after he thought of it.
Through Wang Anshi's detailed narration, Zhao Xing also gained a deeper understanding of Wang Anshi's reform proposals.
The Green Crop Law actually meant that when the people were in dire straits or had no money to buy grain, the government would lend money at very low interest rates to help the people tide over the difficulties.
To prevent local landlords from exploiting the people, and also to prevent land annexation.
Common people always have difficulties in living for various reasons and need to borrow money from powerful landlords. However, the interest demanded by the powerful landlords is very high, and the interest is compounded, so they are basically unable to repay it.
In the end, we can only repay by selling our land and our children.
This was the most common means of land annexation in ancient times.
As for the Farmland Water Conservancy Law and the Farmland Equalization Tax Law, one is to build water conservancy projects, and the other is to thoroughly investigate hidden farmland.
Needless to say the former, the latter was also a very common phenomenon in ancient times.
At the beginning of a dynasty, the world’s acres of land were measured, but in the middle and later stages, the number of acres recorded by the court was much less than at the beginning of the country.
That part is hidden.
Some people may say that the court is not stupid. The number of recorded acres has obviously decreased, so why can't it be discovered?
It is indeed impossible to find it, because the hidden acres are all legal.
For example, if a field near a river bank is reported to be frequently flooded and unable to be cultivated, it will naturally be removed from the government records.
The powerful landowners colluded with the government and used various excuses to turn fertile farmland into wasteland to achieve the purpose of hiding the farmland.
The law of exemption from corvee is to pay money to exempt from corvee, and the government can use the money to recruit corvee.
In this way, rich people do not have to do corvee labor, and poor people can have multiple ways to make money in their free time.
As for the Horse Protection Law, it was to distribute foals to the people in the north and let them raise horses for the court to deduct taxes.
In this way, the court can save a lot of manpower and material resources, the people can also benefit, and it can also provide a steady stream of horses for the army.
These suggestions put forward by Wang Anshi seem to be very good methods at first glance.
However, there are also many disadvantages.
Taking the horse protection method as an example, Zhao Xing remembered that the Ming Dynasty seemed to have used a similar method, but it made the people in the north miserable.
As the saying goes, if you have a lot of wealth, it doesn’t count your hair.
Horses must be sick. If a foal given by the imperial court dies of illness, whose property will it be?
If it were the common people, how could the common people afford to pay the price of the horses?
If it was the court, the people would not pay attention, and some people even deliberately raised the horses to death.
There is also the Young Crops Law, which has good intentions. However, land annexation has become very serious now, and there are not many people with land in the world.
How meaningful is it to implement the Green Crops Law at this time?
Zhao Xing pointed out these shortcomings to Wang Anshi one by one.
After listening to this, Wang Anshi said: "Your Highness, any policy has its disadvantages and advantages, and it cannot be perfect. As long as the court supervises it well, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. You can't stop eating because of choking, right?"
< br>Zhao Xing frowned slightly, he had a deeper understanding of Wang Anshi's stubbornness.
Normally, when someone points out the shortcomings, the person making suggestions should think about how to solve these shortcomings.
But what Wang Anshi meant was that he was unwilling to change the law when he saw any disadvantages.
Zhao Xing admits that what Wang Anshi said makes sense. Any policy has its pros and cons, but isn’t it right to try to improve it as much as possible before it is implemented?
"I understand what Wang Xima said. But have you ever thought about the resistance? Apart from other things, has Wang Xima ever thought about why the New Deal failed?" Zhao Xing asked.
“It is precisely because the evils are too deep that reforms are needed. In my opinion, the Song Dynasty at this time is like a person who has been seriously ill and must take heavy medicine to be effective. As for Your Highness asked why the New Deal failed. I have also considered it. The New Deal was implemented too hastily and had many drawbacks. Those objections were just a catalyst. Even if no one opposed it, the New Deal would still fail given the circumstances." Wang Anshi said.
(End of this chapter)