Chapter 240 Sima Guang
As the saying goes, imperial power does not go to the countryside.
The lowest administrative unit of the ancient imperial court was only at the county level, and there were basically only three or five real officials in a county.
Because of the preferential treatment of literati in the Song Dynasty, there were many officials and various government agencies were bloated.
But there are no more than ten magistrates in a county.
This small number of people will definitely not be able to manage a county. It is necessary to recruit some petty officials and government officials to assist them.
Even so, the county government only manages the county town, and the villages below rely on autonomy.
This is how the imperial power did not go to the countryside.
Manpower in the county is already tight. The implementation of the Green Crops Law and registration and verification require manpower.
Fortunately, there are not many people who actually borrow money, so they can still be busy.
As the landlords and gentry took action, the counties were in a state of distress.
So they all asked the government office for help, but there was no response from the government office.
The county officials were not in a hurry, they reported it anyway.
In fact, except for a small number of county officials, most of them are very repulsive to the Green Crops Law.
If you want to govern a county well, the help and cooperation of the landlords and gentry are indispensable.
Usually they can still get some filial piety from the landlords and squires.
Moreover, many of their relatives are landlords and gentry. The Green Crops Law not only harmed their own interests, but also harmed the interests of their relatives.
However, Zhao Xing had dealt with some officials when he was inspecting the fields before, and the deterrent effect was still there, so they did not dare to violate the law.
Those landlords and gentry got together to discuss countermeasures, and also secretly contacted some officials in various counties who were good friends with them.
Sending tenants to borrow money was the idea given to them by those officials.
After all, those officials are responsible for the implementation of the Young Crops Law in each county and know where the seven inches are.
The delay in response from the Kaifeng government office also means that there is no way to deal with it.
The news was quickly passed on to the landowners and squires by some officials.
Those landlords and squires thought they had won and celebrated, and they were so unhappy.
Seven or eight days passed and there was still no movement.
The places where youth loans are processed in various counties are surrounded by tenants sent by these landlords and gentry every day.
They didn’t make any trouble, they just said they wanted to borrow money.
This results in people who really need to borrow money queuing up in empty queues every day, and it is not their turn at all.
Coupled with the fact that someone was secretly adding fuel to the flames, the reputation that had just improved plummeted, and was even worse than before.
In the past, people did not trust the government and did not have much hope and expectation.
Nowadays, some people had some expectations and hopes, but they were shattered soon after. Naturally, they have no good impression of the government.
…………
When problems occurred in the counties of Kaifeng Prefecture, there was also movement in Bianjing.
As if agreed, nearly half of the officials in the court impeached Zhao Xing on this day.
There are only two reasons for these officials to impeach Zhao Xing.
1: Zhao Xing implemented new laws without the approval of the court.
Two: Although the Qingmiao Law has low interest rates, it is also a form of usury, which is harmful to the reputation of the court.
Nowadays, people in various counties are filled with resentment, which is the best evidence.
The official looked gloomy and said he would order someone to investigate and discuss it another day, then announced his resignation.
After the dynasty dispersed, the officials summoned Zhao Xing to the palace, and upon meeting him, they scolded him.
In the more than ten years since Zhao Xing was born, his father had never scolded him, and he even spoke very rarely, which shows how angry his father was.
"I told you not to mess around. Now that the land inventory has not been completed, you have come up with a green crop method. I know you are doing this for the sake of the people, but the most important thing now is to clear the land. . You have to do things step by step and don’t rush. Didn’t you listen to what I told you before?”
The official saw Zhao Xing bowing his head and saying nothing, looking like he was being beaten and scolded. I felt even more annoyed.
"Father, please calm down first." Zhao Xing said with a smile: "Father, you said that I was fooling around, but what I did was really fooling around? If it wasn't for me, If you do this, there will be no one in the government who opposes the inspection of the land, but it does not mean that they are no longer opposed to it. Now those people are focusing on the Qingmiao method. I don’t have the time to bother with the investigation of the land.”
“So you still have merit?” The official snorted: “Do you know that the Green Crops Law is a new law, and you are now implementing the Green Crops Law? What do you think?”
"I think I have the intention of reform, so I have to guard against you." Zhao Xing said nonchalantly.
"You know you still do this?" The official became even more angry when he heard this.
He does not object to Zhao Xing's desire to reform, but he cannot show any signs of it until he ascends the throne and completely controls the situation in the court.
Otherwise, after Zhao Xing ascends the throne, the conservative faction in the DPRK will be on guard against him, which will not be conducive to his control of the situation in the court.
"You told me before that if you want to change, you don't have to do it under the banner of reform, and don't think about solving all the problems at once. I originally thought you were stable, and I was very pleased, but you see Look at what you are doing now." The official said coldly.
"Father, that's what I've said, but it doesn't conflict with what I've done. What I meant is to pretend to be confused, because reform can't be concealed. I said there's no need to publicly announce that you want to reform. It is not to guard against those who impeach ministers in the current government, but to guard against those pedantic officials who say that the laws of our ancestors cannot be changed," Zhao Xing said.
It is true that reforms should be carried out step by step, but the officials in the DPRK and the Central Government are not fools. Checking the salt affairs and measuring the acres of land are not reforms. Aren't there still a lot of people opposed to it?
For these people, it doesn’t matter whether it is a reform or not. What they care about is whether it will affect their interests.
If the reform is beneficial to them, these people will definitely become supporters, while those who care about the country will oppose it.
What Zhao Xing said about not announcing reforms to the outside world is actually to guard against those pedantic people.
There are actually two types of officials who oppose the reform. One is to protect their own vested interests. Even if their interests are not affected for the time being, they will worry that they will be affected in the future. Therefore, whenever there are signs of reform in the government, they will be opposed by them.
The other is that the laws of the ancestors cannot be changed.
This kind of person is not doing it for his own selfishness, he is just pedantic.
Their starting point is for the good of the court. Of course, this is just their wishful thinking.
However, this kind of person is more difficult to deal with than the previous one.
In the final analysis, the former is just for profit. As long as they are shocked and given some sweetness, it may not be too intense.
On the contrary, it is those pedantic people who are the most difficult to deal with. They accept death and are difficult to shake.
If the emperor doesn't listen, they will keep playing, and it is not impossible to give him a fatal remonstrance in the end.
Although this kind of person is self-righteous, he has his own ethics and is very clean as an official. Apart from being pedantic, he is impeccable in other aspects and has no clues.
"I understand everything you said, can't you wait until you ascend the throne in the future and take control of the situation before doing it?" the official said.
"Father, don't worry, I am not a reckless person. This matter will be settled soon." Zhao Xing quickly assured.
"You don't want to use the same method as last time, do you?" The official frowned and said: "I tell you, that method is not allowed to be used again."
" Father, I have no intention of doing that." Zhao Xing shook his head.
"Then what are you going to do?" the official asked worriedly.
Zhao Xing had no choice but to tell everything about his plan.
After listening to this, the official was silent for a while, nodded and said: "It is feasible to do this. This time the storm has passed, please be more honest with me, otherwise you will come to court every day from now on!"
Start from the beginning! Not even the Oguan family has said anything about canceling the Young Crops Law.
He has also learned about the Green Crops Law, which is indeed beneficial to the country and the people.
And this was done by the prince Zhao Xing. If it was canceled because of official objections, it would be a big blow to Zhao Xing's majesty.
It will be even more difficult for Zhao Xing to implement reforms in the future.
He called Zhao Xing over not only to reprimand him, but also to discuss how to deal with this matter.
Now that Zhao Xing had a solution, he thought it was feasible and agreed.
However, he was worried that Zhao Xing would cause trouble later, so he worried about threatening Zhao Xing.
"Father, don't worry, I will definitely be honest now."
Not to mention, he might not be afraid of what his father said to him, but he would be really afraid if he had to go to court every day.
Although the morning pilgrimage occurs once every five days, it does not mean that there are no other court meetings except the morning pilgrimage.
As mentioned in the previous article, the morning dynasty was a major dynasty meeting, and more importantly, the emperor wanted to prevent being deceived and also gave the officials a chance to make comments.
In the early dynasty, all officials of fifth rank and above in Bianjing could participate. With so many people talking and talking about important national affairs, wouldn’t it be easy for the news to leak out?
In addition to the morning dynasty, every morning the emperor would summon various officials with important positions such as the ministers and ministers of the six departments to discuss matters, which was called the inner dynasty.
This is the parliament that truly discusses national affairs.
When my father said that he should go to court every day, he meant the morning court and the inner court.
As the prince, it was only a matter of time before Zhao Xing got involved in these things.
But he is not very interested in it. He has participated in it before. His father asked him to listen more, watch more and talk less.
To put it bluntly, he has no right to speak, so why bother participating?
The official gave Zhao Xing a few more words and sent him away.
Zhao Xing went to visit Queen Cao and his mother-in-law, and had a conversation with them before leaving the palace.
"Your Majesty, Sima Guang, pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
An official in his forties, wearing a crimson official uniform, was waiting at the gate of the palace. When he saw Zhao Xing coming out, he stepped forward and bowed salute.
Zhao Xing had a headache when he saw the visitor, but he said with a smile on his face: "Sima Tongzhi is exempt from courtesy."
Sima Guang now serves as the Tongzhi Jianyuan of the fifth rank, and the living room official of the sixth rank.
The former is responsible for making suggestions to officials and advising them on their words and deeds, while the latter is responsible for recording the ordinary words and deeds of officials.
The reason why Zhao Xing felt a headache when seeing Sima Guang was because he was as stubborn as Wang Anshi.
Compared with Wang Anshi, Sima Guang is not only stubborn but also very pedantic.
Before he was born, Sima Guang had written a letter to ask his successor to be the crown prince.
This made his father displeased. Even though the Prime Minister Li recommended Sima Guang many times, Sima Guang stayed in the place for several more years because of this.
It sounds like this is for the imperial court, which is correct.
But at the beginning of last year, a favored concubine in the harem passed away. His father was so sad that he went a little beyond the posthumous title, and Sima Guang also wrote a letter to object.
Everyone was dead, and the title was just a title. None of the other officials in the court objected. Sima Guang wrote a letter to object, and listed a series of reasons, which made his father very angry.
It shows how pedantic he is.
Of course, Sima Guang was pedantic. He was not only very capable, but also an honest official.
Now that Sima Guang came to him suddenly, it seemed that he had been waiting for a long time. Can Zhao Xing not have a headache?
(End of this chapter)