Volume 5 Chapter 34: Fencing
"Beyond the mountains are green mountains, beyond the buildings are buildings, when will the singing and dancing at West Lake end?
The warm wind intoxicated the tourists, who mistook Hangzhou for Bianzhou.
Moreover, because of the existence of West Lake, the layout of Hangzhou city has always been different from other places. For example, the city is long and narrow. Another example is that there is a piece of open space south of Yongjin Gate, the west gate of the city. It should be regulated outside the city, and it would never be as prosperous as the city if it were placed elsewhere. But in fact, because this place is close to West Lake, you can see Su Causeway and Leifeng Pagoda from afar. It is also the gate and wharf of the moat leading to West Lake. Therefore, there have always been many restaurants and merchants, and it is even more lively than the city.
And now, it was the winter of the eighth year of Jianyan, and Emperor Zhao of Bianzhou was on a southern tour. He was attracted by the magnificent scenery of West Lake, so he stayed for a long time at the Old Palace of Wu Yue on Phoenix Mountain, southwest of the state capital and southeast of West Lake. This place actually became the political center of the entire southern empire, and the area outside Yongjin Gate became more and more prosperous.
Not to mention anything else, just among the "consultants" who come and go to plan the establishment of the local public cabinet system, eight out of ten are wealthy Jiangnan nobles. Just a little tip is enough to give those who work in the market an extra meal.
Moreover, in addition to these people, there are officials and messengers from all over the country who come in and out constantly, as well as the thousands of imperial guards who suddenly appear around Phoenix Mountain. All of them require consumption and expenditure, which is enough to make the prosperity outside Yongjin Gate reach a new level.
So back to the poem at the beginning. It is said that it was composed by an unknown poet. Because he himself failed to enter the government, he wrote it on a restaurant outside Yongjin Gate, in order to mock those "consultants" who thought that if they entered the government and received political treatment, they would be considered as officials.
That's right, this is a sour poem written out of jealousy of the 'for consultation' people, and it was also seen by Emperor Zhao who came to this restaurant to watch the sunset over Leifeng Pagoda after sending Li Gang, the prime minister, back to his hometown the day after the martial arts conference ended!
For this reason, this Zhengdian restaurant, which is said to have a history of fifty or sixty years, was renamed Louwailou yesterday, and its business instantly became the best in West Lake… I don’t know how many idle people and poets came to climb Louwailou in the afternoon, just to learn from Emperor Zhao and watch the Leifeng Sunset.
What the hell is this "Leifeng Pagoda Sunset"? You have to know that ever since the Leifeng Pagoda was destroyed by the Guan and Gui families during the Fang La Rebellion more than ten years ago, the entire pagoda has been in ruins and no longer has the splendor of the past. Only someone with a strange aesthetic sense like Emperor Zhao would specifically point to a broken pagoda and say it is worthy of the splendor of the West Lake.
Without further ado, this afternoon, the weather was fine, and it should have been another day when Louwailou was packed, but not many distinguished guests went up to the tower. Instead, the Leifeng Pagoda, which was renamed Sunset Mountain and was the location of the scenery itself but not the viewing point, was crowded with people. It turned out that this afternoon, whether it was the "for consultation" or other scholars and nobles who came to seek official careers, they all flocked here to watch the ceremony... The internal system Lü Benzhong was ordered to come here to erect a monument to record the grand occasion of the Jianyan Wulin Conference that day.
"Indeed, it's time to erect a monument."
Seeing Lü Benzhong talking at the foot of Leifeng Pagoda, the two elderly scholars who could not squeeze through had to huddle together and chat outside Xizhao Mountain. "The emperor's words persuaded Li Xianggong to return home to preserve his long-term reputation, and also persuaded Zhang Jiucheng to become a pioneer for the king and enter the capital. Just for these two people, it is worth erecting a monument to make a final judgment."
"It is only because of the Holy Lord that Li Boji can have such a good result and Zhang Jiucheng can have such a good opportunity." The people around him sighed. "A commoner, forty years old, can actually jump to the position of Minister and be ranked in the Secret Council because of his performance. Where can such a thing be seen before Jianyan?"
"Who says it's not?" The man sighed. "It's a pity that Zhang Jiucheng is the only one who has such a fate. Even the other people in the government who have been given a position and sent to other places are only a dozen people like Su Bai and Li Tao. If this local government is established, the specific rules, the rank, and the missions are still a bit vague... Could it be that it is just an empty name as the poem written by the playboy, and the government will abandon it as soon as it returns to Bianzhou?"
"Not really." Another middle-aged scholar in his forties who had been listening to the two people's discussion suddenly interrupted. This man spoke with a local accent and looked like a native of Liangzhe, but he actually carried a sword, which was also strange. "The emperor's southern tour this time, to promote Li Boxi and to promote Zhang Jiucheng was just a casual move. The key is to promote the policy of never increasing taxes and to distribute the land tax according to the amount of land. If these two measures can be implemented, the resentment of the people in Jiangnan will be dissipated, and many of the dirty things under the county can be cleaned up. The task of pacifying Jiangnan before the Northern Expedition will be accomplished..."
"But what does this have to do with the power and responsibilities of the cabinet?" The man from before was still puzzled.
"Of course there is." The middle-aged scholar with the sword smiled on the spot. "To implement this great policy, especially the land tax, the fundamental purpose is to transfer the money originally paid by the poor people to those wealthy and powerful households in the local area... And if you want to suppress the powerful households, according to the convention of this dynasty, you must rely on the power of scholars and pull scholars to suppress these powerful households; in addition, although the emperor and Prime Minister Lu have always been tough, even to the point of announcing that they will mobilize the imperial camp to the south, whether it is the emperor or Prime Minister Lu, who is willing to really force those powerful households to rebel? So it is inevitable to gather some or two... As for how to gather them, it is still the same saying, everything must have a beginning, just look at the reason why this government was established in the beginning and you will know."
"I understand." Before the two responded, another middle-aged scholar who had been silent all this time suddenly spoke up and joined in. Then, he was also wearing a sword... In the southeast, it was the Song Dynasty, and it was surprising to see two scholars wearing swords all of a sudden. "My dear brother, what you mean is that although the emperor is the Son of Heaven and has power over the world, it is not good to use force to suppress others unless you are forced into a helpless situation. You still have to follow the rules as much as possible... So this public office must be permanent, and there must be some real ways to discuss matters and communicate with the emperor, and there may even be some specific dispatches."
"Good!" The third scholar was overjoyed when he saw that the other party was an expert and carried a sword like himself.
"And if that's the case, we should use some means to keep Jiangnan stable and not cause trouble for the court, so as to avoid disaster; and we should persuade the emperor not to really send a large army south... If another 10,000 or even tens of thousands of imperial troops go to the southeast, that would be a great victory!" The fourth scholar saw that the conversation was on the right track, so he quickly stepped forward with his sword, and then bowed to the other party. "May I ask your name, brother? Why don't we write a joint letter?"
"Wait a minute, why..." The two who started the conversation became even more confused, but after looking at each other, they felt that they could not follow the other's train of thought at all, and the conclusion drawn by the other party made them feel very uneasy. "This joint letter..."
"It's simple." The swordsman who interrupted at the beginning smiled and explained. "Nothing special, my two brothers, do you remember the emperor went to Louwailou to drink before? The emperor came in person, so he didn't have to pay, but the accompanying Shao Yaban paid anyway, which was more appropriate behavior... And now the emperor wants the local tycoons to pay for the poor, so he has to use power and status to exchange for the scholars' loyalty to suppress the tycoons, and give them some ways out so that they don't have to overreact... And this public pavilion is where the emperor pays."
At first the two of them were overjoyed...it turned out that this public pavilion was a place where officials used their status to do business with people like them. After hearing this, they naturally came to their senses.
Then, the four of them quickly exchanged their names. The first two were just ordinary useless scholars who had no history for half their lives, but the third one was actually from the famous Lu family in Yuezhou, and his name was Lu Xi. The fourth one was a little more ordinary, just a down-and-out scholar from Wuzhou, and his name was Chen Yi.
After the four of them knew each other's names, they naturally elected Mr. Lu to be the leader. They prepared to write a letter to express their determination to the government and see if they could get some profit from the government's deal... However, just as the four of them were about to discuss it in detail, they heard a commotion at the monument under the dilapidated Leifeng Pagoda in front of them. It took them a long time to find out what was going on.
It turned out that after the internal official Lü Benzhong had erected a monument to commemorate the previous Jianyan Wulin Conference, he directly brought up a matter, saying that the emperor was determined to stay in Jiangnan until the land tax was successfully implemented here before returning to Beijing, but he was determined to use the imperial court as the foundation and temporarily set up an imperial gazette. He asked Mr. Lu to handle it, but he wanted the famous scholars in the cabinet who were familiar with the original learning, loved the country, and were loyal to the emperor to help him with this task... Jiangnan had been longing for the gazette for many years, and when this was said, some sloppy scholars could not help but disregard the etiquette and recommended themselves on the spot, which then caused a commotion.
Being so far away, the four of them could only watch, but none of them were talented writers, and Lu Benzhong's behavior clearly confirmed their previous speculation that the government did want to carry out some political bribery of the scholars and wealthy people in the southeast.
So, the four of them looked at each other, but they all determined to take advantage of this opportunity to climb Phoenix Mountain, so they turned around and retreated, preparing to return to where they were staying and have a little discussion... Among them, Chen Yi, whose family was a little poor, only rented a farmer's spare house in the countryside outside the city, and then was invited by Lu Yi to live in his own villa. Gradually, he got to know the other party's similar difficulties and twists and turns. In addition, the other party was also a rare martial artist. The two of them discussed current affairs, fencing and reading together, and they immediately became close, which is needless to say.
Two or three days later, with Lu Xi's great effort, he managed to put together a memorial and asked his nephew to help check for typos. Then he officially submitted it.
When the documents arrived at Fenghuang Mountain, they were naturally classified by Ren Baozhong and sent to the emperor because they were entirely about the land tax and levy.
After reading it, Emperor Zhao was indeed a little moved. He mentioned this matter again when Lu Yihao and Xu Jingheng came to Phoenix Mountain to make a routine report the next day:
"If I understand correctly, the meaning of this document is probably that the scholars in the southeast will do their best to cooperate with the great government, and hope that I will not send the imperial camp army south? What do you think, gentlemen?"
"I think this is fair. For now, the scholars and wealthy people in Jiangnan are more or less sensible." Xu Jingheng was the first to express his opinion after reading the document. "Even the current land inventory of temples and monasteries is going smoothly. It is not necessary to send the imperial army south to Nanjing to station..."
Let me add one more thing here. Whether it is to distribute the tax according to the land or to never increase taxes, the prerequisite is that there must be a unified land tax and a large-scale land inventory... Land tax is a unified cleanup and preparation of household registration, and land inventory is the inspection of land. This is a necessary prerequisite for any large-scale tax reform.
After Emperor Zhao made up his mind at the martial arts conference, Li Gang put everything aside and retired to his hometown. He then led the two ministers, Lu Yihao and Xu Jingheng, to carry out comprehensive local inspections and a small number of land inspections starting from temples and monasteries.
"Temple is temple." Back in front of him, in the Phoenix Mountain Palace filled with the cries of crows, Lv Yihao really disagreed with Xu Jingheng. "As for temples, the monks can escape, but the temples cannot. The Taoist sect has always been the property of the emperor, and can be flattened and rounded at will. However, the monks are bareheaded, and you can tell at a glance that they can't hide. Even if they are dissatisfied, they are at most cunning and treacherous. How dare they really resist the government? But after the temples, we will start a large-scale and comprehensive land inspection from Liangzhe. This move is tantamount to taking food directly from the mouths of those powerful households (rich and powerful)... If something goes wrong, the government will only have 3,000 soldiers in Phoenix Mountain. Who dares to take the responsibility?"
The last words were obviously a reminder to Xu Jingheng that you are just a retired person who has been re-employed, and I am the real Southeast Envoy.
In response to this, Xu Xianggong hesitated for a moment, and did not respond directly to Lu Yihao, but directly bowed his hands and spoke to Zhao Guanjia:
"Your Majesty, it is true that the rich and powerful have always been prone to disasters, and it is also true that we cannot forget about war in today's world. However, Liangzhe and Jiangdong (Eastern Jiangnan Road) have always been rich and have many scholars. In addition, there are more cities than villages. Your Majesty and Prime Minister Lu are directly supervising these areas, so they can be said to be in compliance with the king's rule... This memorial is the evidence... If you say that rebellion will occur in Liangzhe, I think I am worrying too much."
"What Mr. Xu meant is..." Zhao Jiu could see that the two men had never liked each other, but he interrupted before Lu Yihao could refute. "Can we ask the troops in the north to prepare, but they should wait a little longer? Or stay far away, such as stationing in Yangzhou or Huaidian, and not cross the river for the time being?"
"That's exactly what I mean." Xu Jingheng bowed earnestly. "Your Majesty, if this matter can be done without resorting to war or chaos, it will comfort the people of Jiangnan and strengthen the central authority in Jiangnan. Otherwise, even if we suppress it with war, it will be like the Fang La Rebellion, which will cause a rift between the southeast and the country... During the Fang La Rebellion, the Western Army suppressed the rebellion, which was more disastrous than Fang La, so that the people of the southeast were terrified when they heard about the government army. Later, Li Gang, the Prime Minister, caused a military rebellion in the southeast, which could not be suppressed for a long time, which made the southeast more resistant to military affairs... Therefore, unless it is absolutely necessary, I think it is not necessary to send more troops to Liangzhe."
Zhao Jiu said nothing and looked directly at Lu Yihao. He was obviously persuaded by Xu Jingheng to some extent, but he still had to respect Lu Yihao's attitude.
In a matter of seconds, the two gentlemen had already discussed the matter.
Lu Yihao wanted to emphasize that he was a legitimate husband, while the other party was a re-employed one. However, he did not expect that Mr. Xu, because he was a re-employed one, was too lazy to pay attention to Mr. Lu. This made Lu Yihao not know how to avoid the grudge and he was already at a disadvantage.
Of course, Lu Yihao was a man of action. After a long silence, he slowly nodded and made a conclusion amid the crows' cries: "Your Majesty, I am not really worried about Liangzhe and Jiangdong (Eastern Jiangnan Road), because there are far more scholars here than the powerful households, and even the powerful households have a literary style. The so-called scholar rebellion will not succeed in three years, so there is no need to be afraid of them... But what about Lianghuai, Jiangxi, and Fujian Road? Some of these places have fierce folk customs, and some worship witchcraft. Who knows if there will be disasters? Therefore, I think the emperor should at least send more than 10,000 imperial camp troops to Jiangbei, and prepare ships and make all preparations... And they must be the imperial camp vanguard with the best military discipline."
"Then let's do this. Officially issue an imperial decree to have Wang Gui, the deputy commander of the Imperial Camp Front Army, lead 10,000 troops to station in Wuwei. They have marched here before and are familiar with the place." Zhao Jiu immediately made the decision. "And Prime Minister Lu, please work hard to make the local officials in Wuwei behave themselves and not make a scene like the rebellion in Qianzhou that year when the Imperial Camp soldiers were not allowed to stay and were not given supplies."
"I saved it." Lu Yihao immediately bowed slightly.
"Since you two gentlemen are here, do you have anything to remind me about the issue of the land tax?" Zhao Jiu thought for a moment and continued to ask.
"Yes." Xu Jingheng said solemnly. "I want to ask the government, since the Tang Dynasty, the rent and labor system has been a practice. The money used to pay for the service of the people is silk, and the silk and the grain used to pay the rent are just what the men in the small households can earn from farming and the women weaving, so it can last for a long time. But after the tax is distributed according to the land, the silk that the people don't pay will be transferred to the households with status, but where do the households with status get so much silk? And if there is no silk, whether it is bought or collected directly, there will be a worry of lack of silver and copper. Not to mention, if we talk about unifying the system and preventing corrupt officials from harassing the people, even ordinary small households will never be taxed, and after the tax is distributed according to the land, the collection of silk should be abolished, and the collection of money and grain should be transferred... But collecting money and grain is equivalent to forcing the people to sell their silk, and then they will be forced to sell their silk by the households with status and wealthy merchants. What should we do?"
As Zhao Jiu listened to the other party's narration, another word instinctively came to his mind, which was the whip method.
It can only be said that since ancient times, those important reforms have been the inevitable trend of history... However, the problem now is that the Song Dynasty is in unprecedented shortage of precious metals, and relying solely on the few ships of precious metal exchange trade from Japan is simply a drop in the bucket.
Not to mention, Xu Jingheng’s final reminder was also correct... Any behavior that forces ordinary people to participate in abnormal trade will result in the ordinary people being exploited once more.
Therefore, the current one-whip method is just a thought in one's own mind. If it is really implemented, it will be a dead end.
However, Zhao Jiu, who had been the emperor for seven or eight years, was no longer a novice. After a little thought, he gritted his teeth and said, "I don't have a very good solution for this matter, but I have two principles... The so-called principles are the unshakable provisions like the basic phenomena in the original learning... First, no matter what, we can't put the cart before the horse and let the benevolent policy of reducing the burden on the lower-class people become a bad policy. At most, we can push the trouble to the situation households, because the situation households will not suffer any loss no matter how much trouble they have. In comparison, the poor households can continue to collect silk and silk if they really can't. Second, no matter what, this major policy of never increasing taxes and allocating taxes to land must be implemented. We can't let things shrink because of this kind of derivative troubles, and make the situation where the old party attacks the new law."
Xu Jingheng quickly smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you are overthinking. I have no such intention..."
"It is not necessary to uniformly exchange them for silver and copper. We can set a strict rule to make grain , silk and money equal." At this time, Lu Yihao suddenly interrupted coldly. "A piece of cloth is two strings of money, which is about two stone of new rice! At least in Liangzhe, no one can say that this price is unfair! And if money, grain and silk can be exchanged, the shortage of silver and copper will not be a big problem."
Zhao Jiu and Xu Jingheng were both stunned, and then had different reactions.
The former was overjoyed, but the latter sighed and immediately shook his head.
"When collecting taxes every year, the various military governors come forward and adjust the average price of money, grain and silk in the previous year to give a fair price." Zhao Jiu hurriedly explained to Xu Jingheng. "If there is a disaster, this kind of general price will be abandoned, and a disaster area will be designated to deal with it... To be honest with you, Minister Xu, when I was in Tokyo, Minister Lin told me about this matter. It is to unify the measurement and calculate the national income. However, the country is still at war, so it is not easy to implement it hastily. But if we can first use the most important money, silk and grain to circulate, it will be a great progress."
"I'm not saying it's bad or impossible." Xu Jingheng saw that Emperor Zhao had misunderstood, so he quickly explained. "I was actually just going to suggest this strategy as a backup plan, and I even thought about allowing the people to buy national debts with grain and silk from now until the end of the war... After all, grain can be used as military rations, and silk can be used as military funds, and the soldiers will not complain. In turn, the credibility of national debt can be used to stabilize the price of grain and silk..."
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment: "Why didn't Mr. Xu tell me about this good plan earlier?"
"Because this kind of thing only treats the symptoms but not the root cause, it is at most a temporary backup strategy." Xu Jingheng responded seriously. "Please think about it, Your Majesty, if you use this strategy for a long time, after a long time, when Cai Jing is in power and Zhu Zhen is the governor, who can imagine how far they will go in this pricing strategy in order to plunder the local areas? The Song Dynasty is so vast that a unified pricing system across the country would be unfair to many places. Therefore, in the end, we still need to make money flow smoothly so that silk and grain can circulate naturally among the people."
Zhao Jiu nodded suddenly, but he looked at Lu Yihao first, then at Xu Jingheng, and then smiled bitterly: "So, Mr. Xu has been prepared for this, and just wanted to remind me that debts must be repaid after all?"
Xu Jingheng bowed slightly: "I am only doing my duty as a minister... I have no intention of blaming Your Majesty, the court, or Prime Minister Lu."
Zhao Jiu laughed again.
But Lu Yihao suddenly said: "Your Majesty, since you have made up your mind and have a backup plan, you should just go for it! We can talk about things after the Northern Expedition. This matter was originally started for the Northern Expedition!"
"I was just thinking of borrowing the kindness of Prime Minister Lu!" Zhao Jiu was immediately inspired, and then thought of something else. "Since we are going to do this, can we give these four people who wrote the letter a task and make a gesture?"
Using political power to buy off the literati and wealthy families to reduce the resistance to tax reform was a self-evident thing for Emperor Zhao and the prime minister. Moreover, although Lu Yihao was harsh to his colleagues and subordinates, he was more or less particular about treating the emperor. He immediately nodded and said:
"I know the backgrounds of these four people. Lu Xi is from Yuezhou and is the son of a prime minister. He started as a county magistrate and served as a judge in the imperial court. He even served as the director of tea and salt affairs in the capital. He also defended Chenliu during the Jingkang period. He has enough practical experience... I think it would be a good idea to give him a judge and let him go to investigate the land. As for Chen Yi, although his father was just a local tyrant who could not read, he died in the Jingkang period as a loyal minister. He is more or less the son of a meritorious official. We can give his father an explanation and make him a county magistrate. He will definitely be grateful to the court. As for the other two, they are chaotic people. Let them follow Master Lu to run a newspaper..."
Zhao Jiu nodded slightly, but couldn't help being curious: "From the documents, Lu Yu and Chen Yi are at least knowledgeable people, and Lu Xianggong said that they are the sons of prime ministers or meritorious officials, so why do they have to be searched in the government office?"
Lu Yihao turned his head and looked at Xu Jingheng without saying a word.
Xu Jingheng, who had the upper hand this time, was frightened by the look and immediately asked back, "What does Mr. Lu mean?"
"Let Lord Xu know." Lu Yihao bowed slightly. "The reason why Lu Yu fell into such a situation is because of you, Lord Xu, and Lord Lu (Lu Haowen)..."
Xu Jingheng was at a loss for a moment.
And Lu Yihao did not keep the secret, and directly bowed his hands again and said: "Lu Zhen was transferred from the southeast. He once worked under Zhu Zhen, one of the six thieves. After the Jingkang Incident, the Supreme Emperor Yuansheng ascended the throne, and Lu Gongxiang and Xu Xianggong were suddenly employed. They hated the six thieves and the new party, but on the one hand, they tried their best to resist the Jin people, and on the other hand, they spread rumors in the court. They identified the Lu Zhen brothers who had just stopped the Jin people as traitors, and then crossed them out and drove them out of the court... It's a pity that the people who were crossed out by the prime minister in power dared not seek a future, especially in the following years, Lu Gongxiang and Xu Xianggong became more and more prosperous, so they had to give up their official careers in their thirties and forties. From then on, they were unemployed for seven or eight years. It is said that they only enjoyed fencing at home all day. His nephews, the oldest was in their teens and the youngest was less than ten years old, were all known as child prodigies, but they were also forced by him to fencing at home all day."
Xu Jingheng was stunned, but he couldn't refute it... because he must have done this, and this was the political stain that he and Lu Haowen would never be able to wash away under the values of the new Jianyan Dynasty.
From the Jingkang period to the early Jianyan period, these two people could not escape the rut of party struggles, especially Xu Jingheng, who retired early and thought he could leave without a trace after waving his sleeves. However, he was not as good as Lu Haowen in picking up the original knowledge and gradually becoming a half-saint. Today, he was still caught back to do the "implementation of new laws" that he had always been afraid of and resisted... Of course, Lu Yihao probably didn't know in his lifetime that the reason he couldn't enter the central government to govern was entirely the result of someone's "heartfelt words".
This fate is really strange.
"As for Chen Yi's father." Just when Xu Xianggong's mind was drifting to who knows where, Lu Yihao, who felt a little relieved, continued to sigh with his hands clasped in the sound of crows. "It has nothing to do with Xu Xianggong, but it has something to do with the emperor..."
This time it was Zhao Jiu's turn to be stunned.
"His father was also unlucky. When the country was in trouble, his family was both wealthy and semi-scholarly, so he simply donated his family property to join the army. As a result, when he arrived in Tokyo, he had no vision and actually joined Liu Yanqing, and then died..." Lu Yihao sighed with emotion. "After Liu Yanqing died, Liu Guangshi also died. Later, the court had to be a little cautious when counting meritorious officials."
Zhao Jiu was embarrassed for a moment and didn't know what to say.
"However, it's fine to use Lu Xi, but his brother Lu Zai cannot be used." Prime Minister Lu continued to remind.
"Oh?" Emperor Zhao responded quickly.
"During the Jing Kang period, Lu Zai was appointed as the deputy envoy of the Jingxi Transportation Department... but he didn't dare to go... If he was used, I don't know how to explain to Prime Minister Liu Ji." Lu Yihao smiled in response, but he didn't know what he was laughing at.
Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly and followed the advice readily.
