In fact, the conflicts between Hexi and the Song Dynasty were already deep, and most of them were irreconcilable.
They paid heavy taxes to the Song Dynasty every year for nothing. Hexi merchants were constantly suppressed in the Song Dynasty. The prices of Hexi goods sold in the Song Dynasty were simply not comparable to those in other countries.
In this way, the Song Dynasty court was still formulating higher taxes to restrict goods in Hexi, which directly reflected Hexi's manufacturing industry.
You must know that we are still in the feudal era, and materials are still relatively scarce. It is unreasonable for the Song Dynasty to need goods from Hexi to enrich their market, and at the same time suppress goods from Hexi.
The Song court used high taxes as a restriction on Hexi merchants. At the same time, those merchants with "background" used various means to buy goods from Hexi at low prices and then sold them to the people of the Song Dynasty at high prices.
Behind these merchants of the Song Dynasty are all prominent families. They have lost their patience and are pursuing more profitable methods, and this is also the capital that Ye An cultivated in the past.
Puhui Trading Company no longer exists in Hexi, but in Tokyo City, it still existed with the support of the emperor during the Song Dynasty, but this business name has become a tool for the emperor and the powerful family to earn profits.
Zhao Zhen did not allow Ye An to become a "sage" in Hexi, and those wealthy families did not allow Hexi merchants to continuously lower prices in order to occupy the market.
If you cannot defeat your competitors commercially, then suppress them elsewhere. If even political suppression is useless, then use the most primitive means to violently embezzle or destroy...
Fan Zhongyan's reforms in the third year of Qingli produced unexpected surprises.
Ye An has been paying attention to Fan Zhongyan's reforms over the years. Watching two years pass, from the ambitions of Fan Zhongyan and Zhao Zhen at the beginning to the suspicion of the emperor and his ministers now, Ye An finally saw how powerful the conservative forces were in the Song Dynasty.
In fact, starting from the third year of Qingli, Fan Zhongyan's "New Deal" reforms have been opposed by all parties. In just three years from the fifth year of Qingli, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu and others were "expelled" one after another.
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Various reforms were abolished, and this vigorous reform to rectify the administration of officials and solve the problems of redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses, involving all aspects of politics, economy, military, society, and culture, was completely "died".
Zhao Zhen was a conservative king, but he was by no means an accomplished king.
When faced with a strong counterattack by conservatives, he will definitely choose to compromise, because his way to be a king is to balance, and left and right are just the word "stability".
So starting from Fan Zhongyan's letter, he warned Fan Zhongyan again and again, "The emperor's heart is the foundation of reform. Don't act too hastily and don't believe too much!"
As a result, all the resistance encountered by the reform eventually turned into pressure on Zhao Zhen, an official of the Song Dynasty, and when he could not hold on, the New Deal failed.
This reform also brought about a bottoming out and made conservatives feel an unprecedented crisis.
During the New Deal, a large number of incompetent or corrupt officials were eliminated through a strict assessment system, a group of pragmatic and capable officials were promoted to important positions, and the efficiency of government administration was improved.
This also improved the financial and water transportation conditions of the Song Dynasty, and the sluggish court began to improve.
However, after the failure of the New Deal, the contradictions became more acute, land annexation became increasingly serious, and redundant military expenses doubled. During this period, the increasing conflicts with Hexi also made the Song Dynasty overwhelmed.
The cost of living for the common people is constantly increasing, especially when the powerful families are harvesting them, which has reached a crazy level, and they even dare to challenge the imperial power to use food security as a means of harvesting.
In such an environment, the people have not yet risen in rebellion, so Ye An can only praise that "the people are kind and obedient, and they will not start trouble unless they have no choice but to live without a way to survive."
In this context, Zhao Zhen's alliance with Xixia and Liao Dynasty to use troops against Hexi was a very clever move, but also an extremely stupid move.
When war became inevitable, Ye An would not hesitate and asked Qin Mumu to do internal publicity as soon as possible, striving to turn Hexi into a "real" and extremely "sad" place.
In Ye An's words, "It would be best to personify Hexi and turn him into the image of a little woman who struggled in a desolate place for her husband, and was scolded by her husband's family in the end..."
In this regard, Qin Mumuzhi said: "I've even thought of a name, so let's call it "Yan Nan Fei". Isn't it difficult for Liu Yong to take time out of his busy schedule to write a poem that suits the occasion?"
"It's not difficult, that's his strength!"
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Soon, a huge storm of public opinion arose in Liangzhou Prefecture and even in Hexi as a whole. The newspapers were filled with threatening remarks from Song, Liao and Xia that looked covetously at the Song Dynasty.
Especially regarding the Song Dynasty, newspapers listed a large number of tyranny and maladministration of Hexi by the state, as well as the excessive taxes paid by Hexi to the court over the years.
Moreover, the most deadly news was published in the newspapers. As early as last year, the imperial court began to mobilize troops to Lanzhou in order to plot the land west of Hexi.
Hexi is different from other places. The literacy rate of the people in Hexi has reached over 50%. Even some elderly people have begun to be literate, let alone women, children and young adults.
Newspapers have also become the main source for people to understand world affairs, especially Hexi government affairs.
At first, some people thought newspapers were not important, but gradually they discovered that newspapers not only contained government affairs in Hexi, but also news closely related to their lives.
Changes in prices, news about job recruitment, and even readers' interpretations of policies, etc. Therefore, newspapers have become an important source of information for people in Hexi, and almost every household reads newspapers.
Various injustices done to Hexi during the Song Dynasty were also exposed. A song called "The Wild Goose Flying South" that alluded to the imperial court caused people in Hexi to have extremely strong feelings of resistance against the imperial court.
People are like this. Once everything they have worked hard for is plundered by others, the injustice in their hearts will be infinitely magnified. Even things that were taken for granted before will now feel hugely unfair, which will breed dissatisfaction.
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The court of the Song Dynasty originally thought that the people in Hexi would side with the country. After all, they occupied the Han orthodoxy, and the influence of thousands of years of Confucianism made them invincible.
But it is a pity that the people of Hexi are very wise. What Yao Song and others did not expect the most was that countless students poured into the streets and shouted loudly: "The injustice of the court, the treacherous ministers in power, the sycophants who harm the country, the harsh government and pressure, are harming our Hexi!"
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For a time, the public opinion from Liangzhou Prefecture to Xinjiang Prefecture was boiling, and the banner of "Qingjun's side" was almost raised.
At this time, Confucian scholars from the four capitals of the Song Dynasty had also arrived in Liangzhou City, so the theory that the court was unfair and the country was ruled by traitors was rampant.
All these events caught Yao Song and other Imperial City officials off guard. Without understanding what was needed, these people actually attacked the current affairs of Hexi without knowing what was needed.
What's even more terrible is that the so-called "great Confucianists" in the four capitals do not respect facts. They accuse Hexi of only caring about themselves and ignoring the emperor, not respecting the king, not resisting barbarians, paying attention to merchants, and changing Confucianism.
But what they accuse of in Hexi is actually recognized by the people as good governance and good deeds that benefit the people. However, agricultural taxes in Hexi are constantly being reduced and reduced, and commercial taxes have not fluctuated. In this way, a judgment can be made.
What makes Yao Song and others even more angry is that these so-called "Confucian masters" do not look at the actual situation in Hexi. They still hold on to the Four Books and Five Classics as well as the inherent ideas in Confucianism and criticize everything they see.
To say that the study of objects in Hexi is the study of craftsmen is to say that Hexi attaches great importance to merchants, which is putting the cart before the horse and is a sign of harm to the country and the people; to say that Hexi does not respect the king and is just like the foreigners.
the wind.
What's even more terrible is that they actually said that what is happening in Hexi is entirely due to the imperial court and the emperor, and has nothing to do with the Hexi government. The people should know how to be grateful to the imperial court and the officials.