"The proposal to move the capital"
In July of the fifth year of Kaibao's reign, Princess Yongqing married Wei Xianxin. All officials congratulated her and took a lot of money with her. Zhao Kuangyin then asked the accountant to help him calculate the accounts to see how much money was collected. Both the household and the treasury must be accounted for. It doesn't matter at all. The third commander directly gave a bolt from the blue:
"The treasury's storage is only enough to last for half a year. It is recommended that the armies be stationed in the fields as soon as possible, and then civilian ships be requisitioned to transfer grain to the Jianghuai area."
Zhao Kuangyin was furious and immediately went to Chu Zhaofu, who judged the third division, and scolded him, "The country's strategic reserve is nine years of food, and nine years is a guarantee. Now it's only half a year, how can you do it? Will I still keep you for the New Year? Believe it or not Will I kill you?"
Chu Zhaofu was a close confidant of Zhao Kuangyin. When Chen Qiao rebelled, he was responsible for appeasing Zhao Kuangyin's mother, Queen Mother Du. Because he was shrewd and capable and good at accounting, Zhao Kuangyin handed him the empire's money bag and asked him to judge three divisions. In addition, Chu Zhaofu also served as the envoy of Xuanhui and the Privy Council, which shows Zhao Kuangyin's absolute trust in him.
Chu Zhaofu was frightened. After retreating, he found Zhao Guangyi and asked him to help him get out of trouble so that he could continue to serve the people. He didn't want to leave us prematurely.
After Zhao Guangyi learned about the situation, he was also shocked, so he asked his staff. Finally, the reason for the poor water transportation was analyzed and a solution was found.
There are many reasons, but they can be summed up in one sentence: the administrative order violates the objective laws of the market. For example, the official guide price at that time was 70 yuan per bucket of rice, but the actual rice price in Bianzhou was much higher than this amount. Rice merchants had no profit to make, so they were unwilling to transport grain to the capital. The supply was less than the demand, and the rice price What’s more, the “rice price” here is actually the black market price, which is the market price that truly reflects the relationship between supply and demand.
The higher the price of rice, the less profitable it is for rice merchants, and the less willing they are to transport grain to the capital, which leads to an even greater shortage of grain in the capital, and the higher the price, starting a vicious cycle.
The wealthy merchants in Bianzhou City have stored a large amount of grain, but they are unwilling to sell it at the official price, let alone sell it to the black market at the actual price. Those who have food dare not sell it, and those who have no food will starve to death.
In addition, the official's unreasonable pricing for water transportation also affected the enthusiasm of the boatmen. At the same time, the official ships were in disrepair and the rivers were seriously silted... These were the main reasons that led to the lack of food in the capital and pushed up food prices.
Find out the cause to solve the problem. After Zhao Guangyi sorted out the food problem, he reported it to Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao Kuangyin fully adopted Zhao Guangyi's suggestions, and Chu Zhaofu also escaped disaster.
Some people like to compare the capital of a country to the human heart. In fact, it is not accurate. It should be more like the human brain. The heart exports energy, while the brain needs a continuous input of energy. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, we have often seen records of food shortages in the capital. The capital seems to be very fragile and needs continuous local support.
Because the capital not only needs to maintain a huge imperial bureaucracy, but also has a large-scale Forbidden Army to support. Especially after the reforms of Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin, the Forbidden Army has a huge scale. For example, the well-known "800,000 Forbidden Army Instructor" Comrade Lin Chong, Song Huizong raised 800,000 forbidden troops, and 800,000 mouths. The daily expenses of the forbidden troops alone were an astronomical figure, and the Gyeonggi region alone could never satisfy it.
This story laid a small foreshadowing for the future discussion of "moving the capital".
Zhao Kuangyin had long wanted to move the capital. History books say that because Zhao Kuangyin was born in Luoyang and "enjoyed its customs", he had always planned to move the capital to Luoyang after he ascended the throne.
In the first month of 976, Zhao Kuangyin, who regained the south of the Yangtze River and unified the southern vassals, issued an imperial edict to Xijing. In April, he "had business in the southern suburbs" and reported to his ancestors the gratifying progress of the reunification of the motherland. When passing by the Yong'an Mausoleum in Zhengzhou, Zhao Kuangyin paid homage to his father Zhao Hongyin and cried in grief in front of the tomb, with everyone on the left and right weeping. Afterwards, Zhao Kuangyin climbed onto the platform, fired a buzzer toward the northwest, and said to the people around him: "I will be buried there after I die."
This detail is easily overlooked. Some people think that Yong'an Mausoleum is a geomantic treasure. They say that Zhao Kuangyin meant that he was buried in the northwest of Yong'an Mausoleum, where Zhao Kuangyin's hammer fell to the ground. It was the blessed place that Zhao Kuangyin chose for himself. In fact, this is a pun by Zhao Kuangyin. The northwest of Zhengzhou is Luoyang. The "place" Zhao Kuangyin mentioned refers to Luoyang, implying that the capital will be moved to Luoyang.
What's interesting is that half a year later, Zhao Kuangyin passed away. This is not to promote feudal superstition. On certain occasions, some things cannot be said carelessly.
It is said that after Zhao Kuangyin arrived in Luoyang, he was delighted to see the magnificent palaces and dragon faces in Luoyang. After years of repairs, Luoyang has the conditions to serve as the capital of the empire. Everything seemed to be ready, so Zhao Kuangyin officially raised a serious topic to the ministers: moving the capital to Luoyang!
One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the ministers discussed the matter one after another. The result of the discussion made Zhao Kuangyin very unhappy: they unanimously opposed moving the capital.
Among them, Li Fu, a living minister, summarized eight reasons against moving the capital: the capital is in ruins; the palaces are not prepared; the temples in the suburbs are not repaired; there are no bureaucracies; the people in the territory are poor; the army and food are not sufficient; the barriers are not set up; thousands of horses are marching in the hot summer .
The "eight difficulties" have overlapping parts. Let's simplify and summarize them. In fact, there are two main reasons: first, the objective conditions of infrastructure construction do not allow it, and the second is the subjective disobedience of the public opinion.
Zhao Kuangyin sneered at this. Since everyone disagreed, then the matter was settled. Zhao Kuangyin planned to postpone his return to Beijing indefinitely after the sacrifice in the suburbs. He would not leave in Luoyang and made the move of the capital a fait accompli.
Although the ministers objected, no one dared to dissuade him. Only Li Huaizhong, the general of the Forbidden Army, risked his life to persuade him. Li Huaizhong raised two very practical problems. One is the inconvenience of supply. Bianzhou's water transportation system is mature and developed, and it has experienced dangerous food supply shortages. Luoyang is far away from the main grain producing areas, so supply will be more difficult; the second is that supply and supply will be more difficult; All the treasury and troops are in Bianzhou. If they strongly object...
Zhao Kuangyin was also unmoved.
Finally, Zhao Guangyi took action and persuaded Zhao Kuangyin not to move the capital to Luoyang.
Zhao Kuangyin still gave his brother face and said: "You are right, it is really inappropriate to move the capital to Luoyang. Well, then continue west and move the capital to Chang'an!" Henan here refers to Henan Prefecture, which is Luoyang.
Say it, you keep saying it, and you dare to say that I will move the capital to Kazakhstan, Berlin, Paris and Barcelona... It’s not over until New York!
Zhao Guangyi knelt down and kowtowed, Brother, can we stop making trouble?
After calming down, Zhao Kuangyin calmed down his anger and explained to Zhao Guangyi calmly: "The reason why I want to move the capital to Luoyang is to consolidate the country forever, rely on the dangers of mountains and rivers to reduce redundant troops, reduce national financial expenditures, and imitate the story of the strong Han Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty. .”
Zhao Guangyi's words left Zhao Kuangyin speechless, "Morality is not dangerous."
After Zhao Guangyi retreated, Zhao Kuangyin looked ugly. He sighed and said to his left and right: "The words of the King of Jin are solid, but within a hundred years, the people of the world will be in ruins!"
A hundred years later, Song Jiang, Fang La and others "forced the people to rebel", and the Jin people went south to create the "Jingkang Incident", and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed. Everything was as predicted by Zhao Kuangyin.
Looking back at this conversation between the two brothers, the amount of information in it is so huge that some people even regard it as the prelude to "The Shadow of the Candle and the Sound of the Ax".
On the surface, the reason why Zhao Kuangyin insisted on moving the capital was that Bianzhou's geographical location was not ideal. It was located in a vast plain, with no danger to defend and was too fragile. In contrast, Luoyang was in a dangerous location, easy to defend and difficult to attack. If the capital is moved to Luoyang, part of the army can be abolished, thereby reducing the financial burden. Although supply is difficult, the demand will also be reduced; and it will also have a more adequate strategic buffer in large-scale wars.
But Zhao Guangyi stepped up to the plate and responded to pragmatic problems with pragmatic principles.
Do you still remember the lessons learned from Li Cunxu’s attempt to destroy Hou Liang? The two sides fought bloody battles across the river for twenty years. Li Cunxu sent a surprise army, led by Li Siyuan, starting from today's Shandong, galloping day and night, and appeared at the gate of Bianzhou City in two days, completing a surprise attack and creating a miracle in Chinese military history.
Zhao Kuangyin was very interested in Li Cunxu's story and had considerable research and insights. He also had a clear understanding of the shortcomings of Bianzhou being easy to attack and difficult to defend.
However, the debates on grain transportation, military defense, etc. are still too superficial. Many people have uncovered a deeper political contradiction - the rise of the Jin Dynasty.
Some people say that the proposal to move the capital was a showdown between Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi.
Zhao Guangyi has been the governor of Kaifeng for a long time and is deeply rooted in Bianzhou, and the officials in Bianzhou are "fundamentally solid and unshakable". Those who support Zhao Guangyi's killing of his brother and seizing power believe that Zhao Guangyi is quite like Zhao Kuangyin in the later Zhou Dynasty. He has secretly accumulated his own strength and gained widespread support from civil and military ministers, establishing a firm foothold in Bianzhou. The reason why Zhao Kuangyin insisted on moving the capital , is to avoid Zhao Guangyi's threat, or to weaken Zhao Guangyi's influence on the central government.
There are also some opinions that at this time, Zhao Guangyi was almost ousting Zhao Kuangyin, so Zhao Kuangyin had to flee to Luoyang to get rid of Zhao Guangyi's control.
In the end, Zhao Kuangyin could not withstand the huge pressure and chose to return to Bianzhou. Half a year later, the "Candle Shadow Ax Sound" occurred.
The proposal to move the capital added a touch of mystery to "The Sound of the Candle Shadow and the Axe", and left infinite imagination for the "Jingkang Incident".
