"How will future generations evaluate Fan Zhongyan?"
Facing Zhao Zhen who asked him, Zhao Yang gave a thumbs up without hesitation and gave Fan Zhongyan the highest praise: "What I haven't mentioned yet is that in the Northern Song Dynasty, he was a loyal minister, a model gentleman, and a leader in civil service. Throughout history, there are not many people who can compare with him. Basically, There’s no need to criticize...I mean criticizing.”
"How could he have such a high evaluation?" Zhao Zhen was surprised when he heard this, and then asked: "What about the New Deal he advocated? How will future generations evaluate it?"
"New Deal?"
Zhao Yang was stunned for a moment, and Zhao Zhen frowned: "You don't know?"
"I have an impression, I have an impression..." Zhao Yang tilted his head and recalled, and after more than ten breaths, he said: "Can you remind me?"
"..." Zhao Zhen took a breath, stared at the boy for a few breaths, then shook his head, stood up and rummaged through the bookshelf behind him to find a volume of handwriting. After sitting down again, he said angrily: "Come and read!"
Zhao Yangtan stood up with a smile and walked to Zhao Zhen's side. He lowered his head to look at the handwritten scroll on the table and struggled to identify it: "Answering hand...hand edict..."
"Ten things here!" Zhao Zhen felt uncomfortable hearing this and rushed to complete it first. He said angrily: "You don't recognize just these few words?"
"Who said I don't recognize it?" Zhao Yang explained with a look of dissatisfaction: "We all used simplified Chinese characters at that time. It must be a bit difficult to read traditional Chinese characters all of a sudden..."
"okay."
Zhao Zhen is not interested in learning about simplified and traditional Chinese. After all, the evolution of fonts is not new in history.
He opened the "Ten Things to Answer the Imperial Edict" and turned around to see Zhao Yang standing next to him with his head tilted and frowning to identify it. He said angrily: "Do you want me to read it to you?"
"How can it be?"
Zhao Yang frowned and refused, but looking at the densely packed words in the book, anyone could see the embarrassment on his face.
Zhao Zhen shook his head helplessly and read word for word: "Fu Feng's edict... I read the text directly. I heard that the politics of the past dynasties have always had shortcomings. If the shortcomings are not cured, disasters will inevitably occur. Why? The rules and regulations are incompatible." The system is weakening day by day, rewards are irregular, taxes are excessive, human relations are miserable, and natural disasters occur suddenly. Only Yao and Shun could adapt to these changes and make the people tireless..."
An article called "Ten Matters in Reply to the Imperial Edict" is nearly 8,000 words long. It is not difficult to read the whole article. What is difficult is that Zhao Zhen has to explain some obscure words and sentences and the unique official system of the Song Dynasty, so that the whole thing It lasted for nearly an hour, explaining that Zhao Zhen was thirsty and exhausted.
As for Zhao Yang, he had already moved the stool midway.
After explaining the last rare word, Zhao Zhen took a long breath, picked up the tea bowl and moistened his throat, and then asked Zhao Yang in a slightly hoarse voice: "Understood?"
"Uh, uh..."
Zhao Yang responded vaguely.
"..."
Zhao Zhen glared at Zhao Yang angrily, the teacup in his hand shaking slightly.
Zhao Yang was afraid that he would throw the tea bowl over, so he nodded quickly and said: "I understand, I understand."
"Seriously? Come and listen."
Zhao Zhen narrowed his eyes, seemingly in disbelief.
So Zhao Yang hurriedly recounted the summary of "Ten Matters in Replying to the Imperial Edict", which were the ten reform suggestions that Fan Zhongyan proposed to Zhao Zhen at that time to address the various shortcomings of the current Song Dynasty: clearing the emperor, suppressing luck, promoting fine tribute, Choose officials, share public land, support farmers and mulberry trees, cultivate military equipment, promote favor and trust, emphasize orders, and reduce corvee labor.
The reason why the entire "Ten Matters in Replying to the Imperial Edict" is nearly 8,000 words long is because Fan Zhongyan wanted to give examples and point out the dangers and the necessity of reform.
"Well."
After Zhao Yang concisely and accurately recited the ten reform suggestions in the "Ten Things to Answer the Imperial Edict", Zhao Zhen's face looked much better, and his hand holding the teacup no longer trembled. He took a sip of tea and said, "Then, What do you think of this? The Song Dynasty had specialized people who studied the laws and regulations of the past dynasties. Later... you should also have them over there, right? Tell us their opinions on why the new law failed."
"There are some historians who can do research, but..."
"Just what?" Zhao Zhen frowned.
"It's just that I didn't pay much attention before..." Zhao Yang glanced at Zhao Zhen secretly.
"..."
Zhao Zhen's face immediately tensed up, and he stared at Zhao Yang silently for a long while, holding the tea bowl with increasing strength.
Zhao Yang, who felt a little dangerous, subconsciously leaned back and said quickly: "But I have some personal opinions, I don't know if it's right..."
"explain!"
Zhao Zhen gritted his teeth and said, he was almost mad at this kid.
I don’t know anything, what on earth did you do?
However, the next second, he was so angry that he was stunned by the boy in front of him: "It's too urgent."
"Urgent?" Zhao Zhen frowned.
"Yes." Zhao Yang nodded and said: "Generally, the introduction of new policies will inevitably harm the interests of old vested interests. If you introduce ten new policies in one breath, how can you not fail?"
"What do you mean...be clear." Zhao Zhen frowned.
"Okay, please put down the tea bowl first... Okay, you can hold it, that's okay. Take Fan Zhongyan's "Ten Matters" as an example. I don't think everyone is opposed to these ten reforms. Maybe it was Zhang San who opposed the Ming Dynasty. , Li Si opposed suppressing luck, and Wang Wu opposed fine tribute. If the court only issued a decree to depose Zhi, then the only person who made a fierce resistance was Zhang San. However, the court proposed ten reforms in one go, which was equivalent to putting these ten reforms together. Being tied together, it was natural that people like Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Wu all became opponents."
"..."
A trace of surprise flashed in Zhao Zhen's eyes. He stroked his beard and thought for a long time with his eyes closed, and then asked: "What if it were you? If you were in Fan Zhongyan's position, how would you preside over the New Deal?"
"Break them all." Zhao Yang said without hesitation: "If it were me, I would promote 'Ming Dezhi' this year. Although there will definitely be objections, I believe that as far as this item alone is concerned, the opponents should not It will be the majority, so that I myself will not become a minority, and I will have the necessary foundation to implement the New Deal. After getting rid of this group of people who oppose "Ming Dezhi", next year I will push "Suppress Luck" and get rid of another group. If you kill a group of people every year, ten years later, these ten reforms will be implemented one after another."
Zhao Zhen nodded thoughtfully, but from the look on his face, he still seemed to disagree: "Then... ten years?"
Zhao Yang shook his head and said: "This is just an example. It may take twenty or thirty years to implement it, or even take a group of people to die of old age before it can be implemented..."
As he said that, he saw Zhao Zhen frowning, as if he was about to say something, and he added: "Haste makes waste! We don't want to cause bloodshed and sacrifice, and we have to achieve it in a short time. How can reform be so easy? Your Majesty, don't too naive."
"..."
Zhao Zhen's heart was agitated when he heard this, and he looked a little unnatural.
After a long while, he turned to look at Zhao Yang, nodded and praised: "What a wake-up call, it's me... Is this the wisdom of future generations?"
He did not blame Zhao Yang for being rude. On the contrary, his eyes towards Zhao Yang became gentler.
He was originally angry that this kid didn't know this or that, and was completely useless. But after listening to what Zhao Yang said just now, he realized that even if this kid really didn't know this or that, it was because God had given him great gifts. The treasure of the Song Dynasty - this vision and insight spanning thousands of years is not something that contemporary people can possess.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhen felt inexplicably excited. He put down the tea bowl and held Zhao Yang's arm, and asked seriously: "If I want to implement the new method again, what suggestions do you have?"
Seeing that Song Renzong in history asked him for advice so seriously, Zhao Yang felt a little excited and responded with a serious face: "First of all, we must grasp the main idea, and other secondary contradictions can be put aside first. The Great Song Dynasty All the accumulated abuses originate from official governance, and if official governance is lax, any new policies introduced will be in vain."
"Hmm." Zhao Zhen nodded in agreement, and he also recognized this.
But the problem is to clarify the administration of officials, we must start from the five items of clearly deposing officials, suppressing luck, promoting fine tribute, selecting officials, and equalizing public land, and this is the most difficult.
He shook his head and sighed: "It's difficult to depose officials in the Ming Dynasty and to promote and demote officials strictly! It's difficult to suppress luck and restrict the indiscriminate advancement of bureaucrats! It's difficult to promote fine tribute, select officials, and share public land. It's difficult!"
Zhao Yang persuaded with a smile: "Your Majesty finds it difficult because he has not found the right method. I will teach you a 'sausage cutting strategy'. Take 'Ming Dezhi' as an example. Your Majesty might as well start with officials below the fifth rank. Those above level five will not move for now. I believe these people should also know that rectifying officialdom does not happen overnight. Since the fire cannot burn them for the time being, I believe they will not resist too fiercely. In this way, the resistance will be greatly strengthened. Reduce... Considering the large number of officials below the fifth rank, we can start with the fifth rank and above. In short, we should start from whichever side has weak resistance. This can be discussed later."
"Oh?" Zhao Zhen was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about it carefully for a moment, he praised: "This is a great trick."
Zhao Yang, who received the approval, then said: "...As for suppressing luck and restricting the indiscriminate advancement of bureaucrats, Your Majesty can also use the same method to cut it off one by one. Take 'yinbu' as an example. I have the Yinbu system of the Song Dynasty. Remember, it can be direct, collateral, or even retainers. Your Majesty might as well cut off the retainers, nephews, and distant relatives first, and only allow direct descendants to make up for it. I think this will not cause too much backlash. Wait until When the time is right in the future, we can also cut off the direct descendants to completely put an end to this kind of phenomenon."
"Well."
Zhao Zhen praised him repeatedly, but secretly regretted that this boy had not been by his side a few years earlier. Otherwise, with this boy coming up with ideas, the New Deal presided over by Fan Zhongyan during the Qingli Period might have been a different story.
Suddenly Zhao Zhen thought of a possibility, frowned and asked again: "If anyone sees that I am... 'slicing sausages' as you said, stubbornly trying to unite others to fight against the New Deal for the sake of future generations. , so what should we do?”
"That's easy." Zhao Yang responded with a smile: "To deal with these people, I will teach you the 'broken window effect'. Aren't these people unwilling to open windows in the house? So your Majesty lifted the roof. Then the group agreed to open the window.”
"Be more specific."
"The worst we can do is start a rebellion and overthrow these scholar-bureaucrats!"
"ah?"
Zhao Zhen was stunned.
