Suppress mergers rather than break them.
During the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty used Yu Wenrong to issue a purchase restriction order in Kaiyuan, prohibiting land sales. If the people occupied too much land, the state could forcibly confiscate it and then distribute it to the refugees.
In the prosperous age of Kaiyuan, this purchase restriction order contributed a lot.
This Kaiyuan purchase restriction order is to break the merger.
The Song Dynasty never suppressed annexation. As long as you had the money, you could buy as much land as you wanted. In this way, there should be big landowners, but the information Zhang Yue gave to the emperor showed that there were actually 30% to 50% of the local farmers.
In other words, the gap between the rich and the poor in the Song Dynasty was not serious enough to warrant annexation.
In the past, the first law in the Tang Dynasty was that the people registered themselves, and later the heads of households registered by hand. Lu Huiqing wants to conduct a large-scale inventory of property among the people, and even allows people to inform people. This method will cause panic among wealthy households and common people.
This also breaks the merger.
The first thing Wang Anshi did after he returned to power was to stop his tactics.
Zhang Yue said: "Governing a country is like good medicine. Disruption and annexation are like medicine for tigers and wolves. They must be done as a last resort, but using gentle methods to make up for them will not help. Therefore, they must be treated according to the symptoms. But people who don't understand only think about it." It is the thin mud, the middle is the middle.”
The official was convinced by Zhang Yue. His data was so detailed that he couldn't help but believe it.
Officials asked: "How to suppress mergers instead of destroying them?"
Zhang Yue said: "I believe that the taxes collected by the court should be used to benefit the people. As long as we do this, we will take it from the people and use it for the people."
The official said: "That's true, but how difficult it is!"
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, there is a money shortage in the world today. One reason is that the imperial court has too few copper coins, and the other reason is that the people have no money. As long as the people have money, the money shortage will solve itself."
There are two ways to deal with the money shortage. A country can increase the amount of money it puts in. For example, Lu Huiqing’s idea is to pay two, five, or ten coins.
Wang Anshi printed more salt banknotes, Zhang Yue wanted to stabilize the currency credit of Jiaozi, and Zeng Bu wanted to abolish the official coinage and allow private coinage. This is what he meant.
There is a joke here. If the imperial court mints a currency with a price of 100 million yuan, then the money shortage among the people will be solved.
Increasing currency injection can alleviate the problem, but fundamentally there is still a problem with the distribution method, because the money is in the hands of wealthy households and not in the hands of ordinary people.
Another way is to break the merger. This method is relatively direct. The imperial court directly plunders the money of wealthy households, just like the Kaiyuan purchase restriction order created the great Kaiyuan era.
However, the side effects of breaking the merger are very serious, that is, tiger and wolf medicine. If not used properly, it will kill people. Zhang Yue used data as an example to disapprove of the use of this tiger and wolf medicine. After all, I haven't reached this point yet, why bother myself so much.
Zhang Yue said: "To take it from the people and to use it for the people means that the court will give money directly to the people. There are two methods. One is the work-for-relief method mentioned by Wang Xianggong, and the other is the farmland water conservancy law!"
The relief-for-work and farmland water conservancy laws, to put it bluntly, involve massive infrastructure construction. These two points are also strongly advocated by Wang Anshi.
The officials were very moved and very pleased after hearing this.
Zhang Yue knew that he had many differences with Wang Anshi in his political views, but he did not return to the court to stir up trouble, and he did not come to confront Wang Anshi. The most important thing was that everyone wanted to agree on common ground while reserving differences.
Find the areas where everyone has the same views and work on them together, instead of looking at the areas that both sides don't deal with and trying to deal with each other.
In this way, there will be more and more friends, and the road will become wider and wider.
Zhang Yue said: "I think these water conservancy projects can be left to the private sector instead of being supervised by the government. The government can set up a project and let private businessmen contract the project through buying and selling."
The officials frowned. This was another area where Zhang Yue, Wang Anshi, and Lu Huiqing had differences.
Wang Anshi still wanted the court to take charge of all this.
Wang Anshi will definitely object, is there a way to buy a fight? Did the imperial court give money to businessmen to build water conservancy projects? It's better to do it yourself, and save the middleman from making the difference.
However, officials feel that the disputes in these aspects can be put aside.
The official said to Zhang Yue: "It is really commendable that Zhang Qing has such considerations, but I am calling you back to Beijing not for the reform, but to deal with the affairs of the Liao Kingdom."
"You also know that the Liao Kingdom is so powerful that it has repeatedly humiliated our dynasty. During the Qingli peace talks, the additional 200,000-year-old coins were found to be insufficient, and now they are forcing our dynasty to cede territory, threatening to raise troops to do so."
"However, the small state of Jiaozhi invaded our borders. Last year, when there was a severe drought and locust plague in our country, its leader actually raised 200,000 troops to capture the two cities of Qinzhou and Lianzhou, and then besieged our Yongzhou."
"I have decided to attack Jiaozhi, but in order to prevent the Liao Kingdom from taking advantage of the situation, I have called you back to the capital. With you here, I can rest assured."
"Of course, this is one thing. Another thing is that there is a shortage of people in the Second Palace. I have decided to appoint you as the Deputy Privy Envoy."
Hearing this, Li Xian on the side had a thought in his mind.
Everyone guessed that Zhang Yue was suddenly recalled to Beijing for another mission, but they did not expect that Zhang Yue would be directly appointed as the ruler.
How many officials have waited for this step, until their black hair turned white, and their gray hair died in the grave.
Zhang Yue took a deep breath and tried to speak calmly: "I have not experienced actual duties, so I dare not accept my request."
There are usually three envoys on the governing resume, who know the procedures of Kaifeng Mansion, but Zhang Yue did not have this position and was only a Hanlin bachelor. This is called ruling with pen.
Sima Guang resigned as deputy privy envoy N times, and Wang Anshi also resigned as Hanlin bachelor N times. These are all procedures.
The refusal also depends on the excuse. Zhang Yue's excuse is obviously not firm.
The official smiled slightly.
Now in the second house, Han Jiang and Feng Jing have successively passed away, Wang Gui is not responsible, Cai Ting and Chen Shengzhi are sick, and Wu Chong remains neutral, and is also Wang Anshi's in-law.
Therefore, in order to check and balance Wang Anshi after his restoration and prevent his phase from being too large, the ancestors' different opinions must be brought out and used.
The officials thought of several candidates. For example, Sima Guang was definitely not suitable. He and Wang Anshi would definitely set the table in the court.
So how can we find people who are not part of Wang Anshi’s party without opposing the new law’s governance?
Feng Jing was originally a good candidate.
Although Feng Jing opposed Wang Anshi, the personal relationship between the two was actually okay.
Although the two quarreled at the official house and the political hall, one time Wang Anshi fell ill, and Feng Jing still went to visit him.
Officials thought that Wang Anshi would recommend Feng Jing as prime minister when he returned to Beijing this time.
When the official wanted Feng Jing to be the deputy privy envoy, Wang Anshi also opposed it. But then I asked Wang Anshi, which one would you choose, Sima Guang or Feng Jing? Wang Anshi said it should still be Feng Jing.
But he didn't expect that this time, before he asked, Wang Anshi learned to answer quickly. After Wang Anshi returned to Beijing, the first thing he did was to recommend Zhang Yue to the court.
That's right, Wang Anshi did not recommend Feng Jing, but Zhang Yue.
As expected by officials, the two have different political views, but there are some areas where they can get along.
It happened that the official family had always wanted to use Zhang Yue, but Wang Anshi had not expressed his position before. Zhang Yue made great contributions to Xihe, and he intended to worship Zhang Yue as his prime minister, but Zhang Yue declined.
However, there were seven people in charge of the Second Prefecture that time, so there was not too much shortage of people.
This time there happened to be a vacancy, so the officials decided to use Zhang Yue to fill the gap, or it would be better to use one of their own. At this moment, he was waiting for Zhang Yue's agreement.
