Chapter 317 A heavy heart
Zhao Xing’s expression softened a lot after hearing this, but he was still a little dissatisfied with Han Zhang’s idea.
"I remember that the Grand Prime Minister also participated in the New Deal back then, right?"
"Yes, I assisted Grand Prime Minister Fan to implement the New Deal back then." Han Zhang said.
"What do you think of the new policy formulated by Grand Prime Minister Fan?" Zhao Xing asked.
Han Zhang pondered for a while and said: "Since the New Deal failed, it means that the New Deal has flaws."
"What do the Prime Minister think are the flaws?"
"It's too radical!"
“No!”
Zhao Xing shook his head and said: “In my opinion, the New Deal formulated by Fan Daxiangong is very good. The reason for its failure is not that it was too radical, but not radical enough. .”
There are essential differences between Wang Anshi's reform and Fan Daxiangong's New Deal.
Fan Daxiangong's reform ideas are to clearly depose the emperor, suppress luck, pay high tribute, select officials, equalize public land, support farmers and mulberry trees, build military equipment, reduce corvee service, express favor and trust, and emphasize orders.
The main goal of the New Deal is to rectify the bureaucracy. The first five articles and the last two articles are all in this spirit. Their content is to eliminate corrupt and incompetent bureaucrats and limit their promotion. Reform the system of recruiting scholars so that those who believe can be punished only if they are rewarded.
Wang Anshi’s reform proposal was to develop agricultural production, increase fiscal revenue, and make the country rich by suppressing mergers and acquisitions.
Contain Liaoxia by renovating armaments and training the army, strengthening the army and reversing the situation of poverty and weakness.
The focus of Fan Daxiangong's New Deal was to rectify the bureaucracy, starting with the administration of officials.
Wang Anshi took financial management as the core of the reform and started from the economy.
In contrast, Wang Anshi's reforms were more targeted, targeting the "poverty and weakness" of the Northern Song Dynasty. The measures were also more comprehensive, striving to make up for the deficiencies by striving to make up for the excess losses and to enrich the country and strengthen the army. Effectiveness.
Although Wang Anshi's reform was a mess, it did alleviate the financial crisis of the Song Dynasty.
Later, the Song Dynasty had the financial resources to attack Xixia, which had a lot to do with Wang Anshi's reform.
But you can't look at things only with short-term benefits.
And in essence, Wang Anshi's reform will not be successful if it does not solve the problem of official governance.
It is up to local officials to curb land annexation and develop agriculture.
In fact, this is also the case. The reason why Wang Anshi's reform failed was not the opposition of officials in the DPRK and the central government, but the fault of those local officials.
It was local officials who acted in both positive and negative ways, so that during the implementation of the New Deal, although the income of the court increased, it also increased the burden on the people.
In Zhao Xing's view, Wang Anshi's reforms were just poison to quench thirst, and Fan Daxiangong's new policies were the best policy.
Han Zhang was silent for a long time and said: "Your Majesty, do you want to implement the new law enacted by Grand Prime Minister Fan back then?"
"Yes, I do have this intention." Zhao Xing nodded. .
“But now Mr. Fan is no longer here.” Han Zhang said.
"Xianggong Fan is no longer here, but isn't the Grand Xianggong still there? Wasn't the Grand Xianggong also involved in the formulation of the New Deal?" Zhao Xing said.
Han Zhang smiled bitterly when he heard this. Over the years, he had also been thinking about why the New Deal failed.
Finally, it was concluded that the resistance to the new law was too great, and the Song Dynasty could not withstand the struggle.
Han Zhang also understood Wang Anshi's reform thoughts.
In Han Zhang's opinion, it would be a good idea to first make the country rich and solve the Song Dynasty's dilemma of being unable to make ends meet, and then start solving the problem of officialdom.
Furthermore, Zhao Xing valued Wang Anshi very much. According to his opinion, Zhao Xing should also be inclined to Wang Anshi's reform ideas.
However, Zhao Xing told him that he was not optimistic about Wang Anshi's reforms, but was optimistic about Fan Daxiangong's new policies.
And Zhao Xing also intends to let him preside over this matter.
Han Zhang was silent for a long time and said: "Your Majesty, the current situation is not suitable for reform."
"That's right." Zhao Xing nodded slightly and said: "The Grand Prime Minister can think about it carefully. What I just said is that I must kill him." "Since your majesty admires Mr. Fan so much, why do you have to kill him?" Han Zhang sighed.
"The Grand Prime Minister is wrong."
Zhao Xing said: "I just think that the New Deal formulated by Fan DaXiangong is recognized, and I don't fully agree with Fan DaXiangong. However, Fan DaXianggong has passed away. , Death is like a lamp going out, I don’t want to make any more comments.”
When it comes to Mr. Fan Da, the first thing most people think of is the sentence of worrying about the world first, and then enjoying the world. happy.
Zhao Xing does not deny that Mr. Fan has a noble character, but he is not as noble as many people imagine.
Xiangong Fan made great achievements in the military in his early years. The Emperor actually intended to let him serve as a military officer, but Xianggong Fan did not agree.
This can also be understood as the Song Dynasty valued literature over military affairs. If he wanted to realize his ideals and ambitions, he had to be a civil official to have the right to speak.
But preventing the Supreme Emperor from killing civil servants was a black spot that he could not erase.
The Supreme Emperor did not kill indiscriminately, he killed an official who bribed the rebels.
Xiangong Fan strongly opposed it, and not killing civil servants became the tone from this time on.
As the saying goes, work is work and mistakes are mistakes.
Good or bad cannot be defined based on a person's merits and demerits.
What we need to look at is a person's merits and demerits, that is to say, the far-reaching impact of merits and demerits.
To prevent the Supreme Emperor from killing civil servants, it became an ancestral system not to kill civil servants. The harm of this is undoubtedly very huge.
Of course, Zhao Xing does not think that Mr. Fan is not a good person just because of this.
In fact, using good or bad to describe people is a very narrow thing.
Human nature is complex, and there are no saints.
But Zhao Xing had no intention of debating this with Han Zhang.
"If the Grand Prime Minister is fine, go back first." Zhao Xing said.
“Yes!”
Han Zhang saluted and said: “I retire!”
.........
After leaving Longtuge, Han Zhang felt very heavy.
It was precisely because he saw that Zhao Xing had murderous intentions this time that he came over to dissuade him.
However, not only failed to dissuade him, but he learned from Zhao Xing that he actually wanted to implement the New Deal of the year by Grand Prime Minister Fan again.
Zhao Xing said that the reason why the New Deal failed was not because it was too radical, but not radical enough. He naturally understood what it meant.
He supports reform, but Zhao Xing is obviously ready to kill if there is too much resistance during the reform process.
Han Zhang knew it, but was powerless to stop it.
Because he could see that Zhao Xing's attitude was very determined and it was not something he could stop.
If he strongly objects, Zhao Xing is likely to let him become an official.
Han Zhang is not greedy for power, and at his age, he is almost at the age of becoming an official.
What he was worried about was that he left the court. If Zhao Xing's methods were too ruthless, there would be no one left to dissuade Zhao Xing from easing the relationship between Zhao Xing and the courtiers.
Han Zhang returned to the Zhizheng Hall with a heavy heart. As soon as he entered the hall, a petty official came to greet him.
"Grand Prime Minister, Hu Shangshu of the Ministry of Civil Affairs is here and has been waiting in the Grand Prime Minister's apartment for a long time."
"I know!"
Han Zhang waved his hand and came to the public room.
(End of this chapter)