In fact, later generations have different opinions on Fan Zhongyan's evaluation. Of course, the opinions on Qingli's New Deal are also mixed. Of course, Lu Yao is no exception. He began to recall in his mind the content of Fan Zhongyan's reform and its failure.
The reason is, after all, Fan Zhongyan is about to appear in his field of vision. Lu Yao must prepare in advance for what is going to happen next, and also think about how he will face the new policy proposed by Fan Zhongyan.
In the first year of Baoyuan (1038), Li Yuanhao, a member of the Dangxiang tribe, proclaimed himself emperor, founded the country as Daxia (historically known as Xixia), and established its capital in Xingqing (today's Yinchuan). Diplomatic relations with the Song Dynasty officially broke down. The following year, in order to force the Song Dynasty to recognize Xixia
Li Yuanhao led his troops to invade the border of the Northern Song Dynasty and defeated the Song soldiers at Sanchuankou (Battle of Sanchuankou). He gathered troops under Yanzhou City and prepared to attack the city. The news reached the capital, and the government and the public were shocked. In the second year of Kangding (1041)
, Li Yuanhao marched into Weizhou (today's Pingliang, Gansu Province), Han Qi sent the deputy commander of Huanqing Road to deploy Ren Fu to lead his troops to attack. They were ambushed and surrounded in Haoshuichuan. Ren Fu and other 16 generals were killed, and more than 10,000 troops were lost (Haoshuichuan).
Battle). In the leap month of the second year of Qingli (1042), Li Yuanhao divided his troops into two groups and attacked the Song Dynasty again. He arrived at Dingchuan Village and fought in the Song-Xia battle. The Song army was defeated. General Ge Huaimin and 16 other generals were killed in the battle.
More than 9,400 troops were lost (Battle of Dingchuanzhai). After Li Yuanhao won, he sent his troops south and advanced on Pan Yuan, which shocked Guanzhong.
After the Chanyuan Alliance, the Khitan, which had been living in peace and harmony, also sent envoys to ask for the land south of Guannan in 1042, and "gathered troops in Youyan and announced to go south." In the end, Song Renzong sent Fu Bi as an envoy, "the silver increases every year,
One hundred thousand pieces of silk each, two" were able to solve the problem.
Fierce conflicts and class conflicts were intertwined, which shocked the Song Dynasty. The dull political atmosphere for many years began to become active. Ouyang Xiu wrote a letter demanding reform of the official system, and Yin Zhu pointed out in the letter that "if we do not change the rules, the disadvantages will become worse." Song Dynasty
Driven by the call for reform, Renzong "wanted to correct the evils in the world." The supreme ruler of the Song Dynasty finally began to take action.
During Renzong's Qingli period, peasant uprisings and mutinies broke out one after another in various places. As Ouyang Xiu said, "more than one year passes, and one group is stronger than another."
Fan Zhongyan's reforms came about during a period when the well-off situation in the early Northern Song Dynasty had reversed and deteriorated.
At that time, there were redundant officials, redundant soldiers, serious redundancy, a situation of poverty and weakness, and the governance crisis was getting worse day by day.
In the first year of Renzong's accession to the throne, the phenomenon of land annexation became more serious, farmers fled in large numbers, class conflicts were acute, and peasant uprisings continued to break out. "Every year became more frequent, and one group was stronger than the other." Even the counties under Kaifeng Prefecture in Gyeonggi Province were infested with bandits.
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At that time, some officials already felt the seriousness of the crisis. Fu Bi once said:
"From now on, my worries will only turn into a new one. If I hadn't prepared for it in advance, there would be no way to predict what would happen!"
Song Renzong treated Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi and others with special courtesy during the summons, and repeatedly urged the ministers in power to immediately come up with a plan to bring peace to the world.
In the third year of Qingli (1043), the Qingli New Deal, which was a sensation in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty, began under the leadership of Fan Zhongyan, and Fan Zhongyan's reform ideas were put into practice.
In the third year of Qingli (1043), Li Yuanhao requested peace talks, and things in the west became peaceful. Renzong summoned Fan Zhongyan back to the capital and was appointed deputy privy envoy. He also promoted Ouyang Xiu, Yu Jing, Wang Su and Cai Xiang as admonishers (commonly known as the "Four Admonitions"). "), determined to forge ahead. In August, Renzong dismissed Wang Juzheng, the deputy prime minister, and appointed Fan Zhongyan as the counselor of political affairs.
Song Renzong Zhao Zhen agreed to the reform
Song Renzong Zhao Zhen agreed to the reform
In September, Song Renzong summoned Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi, gave them notes, and ordered them to report on political affairs. Fan and Fu immediately put forward ten reform proposals, and admonishers Ouyang Xiu and others also came forward to comment on them, and Song Renzong mostly adopted them. , and gradually promulgated and implemented it and issued it nationwide.
To sum up, it is: clarify the administration of officials, enrich the country and strengthen the army, and strictly enforce the rule of law.
In October of the third year of Qingli (1043), the imperial court appointed Zhang Wenzhi as the transfer envoy to Hebei, Wang Su as the transfer envoy to Huainan, Shen Yao as the transfer envoy to Jingdong, and Shi Changyan as the transfer envoy to Hedong. In this way, among the ten articles Article 4 (selection of officers) is first seen in action.
When selecting various routes for transfer and supervision, Fan Zhongyan looked through the class book and found that those who were incompetent were crossed out without mercy.
Fu Bi said worriedly:
"One stroke will make a whole family cry bitterly."
Fan Zhongyan replied:
"It is better for one family to cry than for all the people in a region to cry."
On October 28, Renzong issued an edict to implement the new law of Mokan. After the new law was implemented, Ming Dynasty deposed Zhi and took action.
On November 19, the imperial court made new regulations on the Enyin system; on the 23rd, the imperial edict was issued to increase the age limit and scope of Enyin, but for the descendants of high- and mid-level bureaucrats and prospective relatives, The old system is still used for respecting subordinates without any restrictions.
On March 13, the fourth year of Qingli (1044), a new law on tribute examinations was promulgated, which strengthened the proportion of Confucian classics in the imperial examinations, allowed prefectures and counties to establish schools, and combined school education with imperial examinations.
I thought that the Qingli New Deal could be maintained. However, in April of the fourth year of Qingli (1044), after the implementation of the New Deal, the number of favors decreased and the scrutiny became stricter. Those who wanted to get lucky felt deeply inconvenienced, so the remarks that slandered the New Deal gradually began to Increasingly, arguments accusing Fan Zhongyan and others of being "cronies" rose again. Renzong also began to have doubts about the theory of cronyism. Fan Zhongyan counterattacked by saying "a party of villains, a party of gentlemen". Ouyang Xiu also wrote an article "On Cronies". Renzong.
In May, Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi went to Shu Renzong to discuss seven matters including "re-discussing the military garrison, building the outer city of the capital, and secretly formulating the plan for the crusade." The breadth and depth of reform have further increased.
In June, Xia Song made people follow Shi Jie's handwriting, slandering Fu Bi for wanting to do Yihuo's deeds, and privately wrote and abolished the imperial edict. Although Renzong didn't believe it, Fan Zhongyan and others were frightened, and the external affairs started again, and Fan Zhongyan asked to go out on patrol. , Renzong was appointed as the Xuanfu envoy to Shaanxi and Hedong, and still retained the title of participating in political affairs. In August, Fu Bi also left Beijing as the deputy privy envoy and became the Xuanfu envoy to Hebei. On the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the fifth year of Qingli (1045) On the same day, Fan Zhongyan was dismissed from his position as deputy envoy to the Privy Council and was appointed as the pacification envoy to the East and West Roads in Jingjing.
The next day, Du Yan was dismissed as Minister Zuocheng and went out to Yanzhou.
On the fourth day of the second lunar month, stop grinding and investigate new methods, and let your son make new methods.
On the fifth day of March, Han Qi dismissed the deputy privy envoy, became a bachelor of political affairs, and knew Yangzhou. At this point, all the main figures in charge of the reform were expelled from the imperial court.
On the 23rd, the new imperial examination law was abolished and the old system was restored.
On August 21, Ouyang Xiu dismissed the transfer envoy from the capital of Hebei and changed his name to Chuzhou.
At this point, the Qingli New Deal completely failed.
Fan Zhongyan's six measures to rectify the bureaucracy were nothing more than minor reforms. As for the other four measures, such as "equalizing public land," "enhancing agriculture and mulberry trees," "repairing military equipment," and "reducing conscription," they were far from complete reforms.
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After the "Ten Things" were announced, the item "Cultivating Military Preparations" was canceled due to the opposition of many ministers; although other items were implemented from October of the third year of Qingli (1043), they could not be implemented.
With such a weak reform, ordinary officials at that time already believed that "the regulations are so broad that the commentators find it difficult to implement them."
". The Qingli New Deal finally failed amid fierce opposition from conservative bureaucrats.
After strict assessment, a large number of incompetent or corrupt officials were eliminated, a group of pragmatic and capable people were promoted to important positions, the administrative efficiency of the government was improved, the financial, water transportation and other conditions were improved, and the sluggish political situation began to improve.
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Upright scholar-officials wrote poems and lyrics praising the New Deal; the people also rejoiced, as if they saw the hope of revival.
After the failure of the Qingli New Deal, social conflicts did not ease, land annexation became increasingly serious, redundant military expenses doubled, and conflicts became very acute. The Song Dynasty was financially empty, so it desperately carried out plunder. During the Qingli period, the struggle between farmers and soldiers had just subsided, and various places
The farmers started a new struggle.
In April of the fourth year of Jiayou reign (1059), officials from the Ministry of Punishment reported that due to the lack of food among the people, as many as 970 "robberies" occurred in one year.
Under such circumstances, calls for reform arose one after another, and a larger and more profound reform movement was already brewing. This was Wang Anshi's Reform. The Qingli New Deal had a direct impact on Wang Anshi's reforms during the Xining period.
.Wang Anshi’s Xining Reform was expanded and deepened on the basis of the Qingli New Deal.
Recalling this point, Lu Yao directly found the direct reason for the failure of the Qingli New Deal. In China's feudal society, reforming the feudal bureaucracy was easy to say, but it seemed difficult to actually do it. This was especially true for the Song Dynasty.
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Because in the Song Dynasty, when officials lost their hereditary titles and household privileges, the bureaucratic landlord class, in order to ensure that they "keep their positions for generations to come", also referred to the Tang system and formulated and expanded the "en-yin" system for middle- and high-ranking officials to compensate their relatives.
Through favor, a large number of children of mid-level and high-ranking officials receive low-level official titles or assignments every year. In the Song Dynasty, favor was not only extremely extensive, but also extremely excessive. Whenever a big gift was received, "the families of ministers, relatives of the emperor, and foreigners of the mother and queen all recommended it.
There is no fixed number, as many as ten or twenty people, and no less than five or seven people", and "there is no limit to talent and stupidity, all occupying high positions". Therefore, to break or limit the privileges of the bureaucratic aristocracy will undoubtedly affect the interests of the bureaucratic aristocrats
, and met with fierce opposition from them. The original intention of Song Renzong's reforms was to solve the financial crisis and military crisis, and to enrich the country and strengthen the army.
However, the Qingli New Deal violated the interests of the royal family.
Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi's various reform measures include "clear deposes", "suppressing luck", "fine tribute", etc. The central idea is to eliminate incompetent officials, and eliminating redundant officials and streamlining organizations are the core contents of the reform.
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Of course this major surgery is not possible.
However, Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi had to perform more surgeries on the Northern Song Dynasty. Even competent officials had to have their salaries reduced. The salaries of officials in the Northern Song Dynasty were the highest in ancient China.
Moreover, it was also decided to reduce the number of admissions for the imperial examination to solve the problem of too many officials.
In other words, the interests of scholars all over the world have been affected by the reform.
Therefore, the opponents of the reform were by no means a few conservatives, but the entire class of scholar-officials, the class basis of the rule of the Northern Song Dynasty. If we wanted to reform, we would have to sacrifice the interests of the scholar-official class. If we sacrificed the scholar-officials, we would have shaken the foundation of our rule.
The policy of the Northern Song Dynasty royal family was to restrain military generals. The first method was to reuse literati, and the second was to implement garrison laws, sacrificing national defense for the interests of the royal family. The abolition of the Qingli New Deal was sacrificing reform for the interests of the royal family.
Of course, in addition to this, there has always been a problem surrounding Fan Zhongyan, and that is the dispute between factions.
Except for a few enterprising and far-sighted people, bureaucrats, landlords, wealthy businessmen and other vested interest groups are mostly satisfied with the status quo. They only care about personal and immediate interests, regardless of national and long-term interests. Once the new deal violates their own interests, they will resolutely oppose it.
, rise up in groups to attack. The theory of cliques is based on the Confucian concept of gentlemen and villains. This is a simple opposition, an either-or idea, and cannot objectively and accurately reflect human nature or personality; in real life, cliques
He is not necessarily a villain, nor is he necessarily a gentleman who speaks or seeks profit. Once it is promoted to the country's mainstream ideology, it will be used by some politicians as a weapon to attack political opponents, and it is extremely lethal.
The reform measures were "too drastic", "increased but not gradual" and "large in scale". There was insufficient ideological mobilization for the reform, supporting measures were not in place, arrangements for deposed officials were not implemented, and farmers did not receive immediate benefits from the New Deal.
Fan Zhongyan's employer, Wang Anshi, once criticized him for "loving reputation, gathering friends, and thinking that the party is helping the party, which is a very bad custom." In fact, the people appointed by Fan Zhongyan to implement the New Deal often talked a lot but did little in practice. Some even
He likes to be unconventional, make empty arguments, and behaves inappropriately.
For example, Shi Jie, even Ouyang Xiu, who supported the New Deal, felt that he "reached too high for himself, too low when he was low,... he was different in order to get high."
Opponents of the New Deal even accused Fan Zhongyan and others of "making recommendations with the help of cronies, advocating for those who are fond of them with all their heart, and rejecting those who are not attached to them, and fearing the whole party."
After some recollection, Lu Yao only felt that the failure of the Qingli New Deal was doomed. In addition to offending the interests of the Taoist class, more importantly, it had to do with Fan Zhongyan's own personality and the depth of the reform measures.
There is a direct relationship.
In fact, when it comes to reforms in the Northern Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan's Qingli New Deal and later Wang Anshi's reforms are considered major reforms. However, these two reforms ended in failure.
Now Lu Yao is facing a problem, that is, when the New Deal happens, how should he deal with it?
Should we choose to stand with Fan Zhongyan and carry out the reform, or should we choose to agree with the conservatives and resist the reform?
Ever since he met Tangxi, Lu Yao had actually secretly made up his mind that reform was inevitable. In fact, for Lu Yao himself, he had enough to eat for himself and the whole family had nothing to worry about.
If he didn't want to be troublesome, there was no need for him to take the imperial examination and become an official. The properties he owned now were enough to provide him with food and clothing for the rest of his life.
Lu Yao originally wanted to be a lazy person, but living a happy life in Bianliang was a good choice.
However, he is still an emotional person after all. When he saw that the people were in dire straits and the people in the outer city could not afford to eat, Lu Yao finally made up his mind, and holding a new Cuju competition was the first thing Lu Yao did when he was determined to carry out reforms.
A small attempt.
The purpose of reform is to make this society better, if not for anything else. This is what Lu Yao thinks in his heart. Perhaps Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi also thought this way when they carried out the reform in the early days.
However, with the example of the Qingli New Deal in front of him, Lu Yao also knew that reform was by no means easy. From top to bottom, there were so many things to consider. It would definitely not be enough for him alone, so
, in fact, Lu Yao has been looking for people who share the same goals with him.
Judging from the current situation, Cao You meets this requirement very well. As for Su Shi and Su Che, Lu Yao still wants to see how they perform next. You must know that Su Shi was very opposed to Wang Anshi's reform later, so
Lu Yaobao did not have 100% confidence that Su Shi would choose to side with him when he carried out reforms.
Cao You alone is alone and powerful. However, if he stands with Fan Zhongyan and others, Emperor Zhao Zhen actually hates forming cliques for selfish purposes.
After much deliberation, Lu Yao finally came up with a compromise.
That is, Lu Yao will still support Fan Zhongyan in carrying out the reform, but the specific content of the reform must be changed, and of course, the interests of all parties must be balanced. In Lu Yao's view, he must always put the people's hearts first
First, the Qingli New Deal actually did not take the thoughts of farmers and ordinary people into consideration.
Of course, it is not enough for him to join. Lu Yao calculated that Wang Anshi should be out of town now. If he could find Wang Anshi in advance by then, he could incorporate his budding reform ideas into the Qingli New Deal.
, in this way, the contents of the reform can be integrated and the maximum effect can be achieved.
Regarding the reform, Lu Yao decided to do this for the time being. By then, everyone should be united in the reform camp. However, by then, Lu Yao felt that a divide and conquer method should be adopted. In other words, in this entire reform camp
Among them, it should be further refined and divided into several small camps. These small camps all have the same external attitude, that is, they support the reform. However, there are still some differences internally, and they can be responsible for different reform directions. In this way
On the one hand, it can reduce internal conflicts caused by different ideas, and on the other hand, it can also allow Zhao Zhen to dispel some of his concerns about forming parties for personal gain.
After thinking about the reform, Lu Yao thought of another major event after Fan Zhongyan came to power, that is, the Song-Xia War.
Lu Yao has not thought too much about this war's attitude and must support it. After all, if Lu Yao can successfully enter the official career after taking the imperial examination, this should be a very important issue for him.
If you have the opportunity to perform, if you make some contributions during this war, then if you make unnecessary changes later, it will naturally be beneficial without any harm.
Now that Fan Zhongyan is in the limelight, Lu Yao thought that he, a nobody, would not attract his attention. Unexpectedly, Fan Zhongyan not only knew Lu Yao's name, but also mentioned him in front of Zhao Zhen, and seemed to really want to see him.
Lu Yao, that’s why he said he wanted to watch the warm-up match of the new Cuju competition.
In this case, Lu Yao felt that the top priority now was to return to that topic.
Organize this new Cuju competition.
"What are you thinking about?" Lu Xu looked at Lu Yao in a daze, so he asked.
Lu Yao came back to his senses. At the same time, because of Fan Zhongyan's appearance, Lu Yao also swept away his previous gloomy emotions. He completely understood that in addition to the love between his children, he still had many things to do. Although love between men and women is human.
It is normal, and it should occupy some positions in his heart, but it is definitely not all. Before solving the problem of Han Yunyu and Cao Han, he still has a lot of things to do.
After Lu Yao figured it out, he smiled and said to Lu Xu: "It's nothing. When I'm thinking about the day after tomorrow, what kind of mood should I have when facing Fan Zhongyan?"
When Lu Xu saw Lu Yao's condition, he seemed to have recovered, so he didn't say anything more. It seemed that the time was almost up, so Lu Xu went to the restaurant to have dinner with Yan, Lu Hao and Xu.
He left Lu Yao alone in the main hall, waiting for the arrival of Su Shi, Su Che and Zhe Kexing.
The first one to arrive at Lu Mansion was naturally Zhe Kexing. Nearly half an hour before the agreed time, Zhe Kexing had already arrived at Lu Mansion. Lu Yao was still very touched. Today was the last official training day.
, the palace is still relatively far from the Lu Mansion, and the reason why Zhe Kexing rushed to the Lu Mansion so quickly was because he wanted to confirm Lu Yao's condition and was worried about Lu Yao.
However, when Zhe Kexing saw Lu Yao's eyes and expression, he was already relieved. It seemed that Lu Yao had completely recovered, Zhe Kexing thought in his mind, so that he would not have to ask about it in detail.
What happened before, let it go.
"Su Shi, Su Che, and Bao Zheng are all coming over today." Zhe Kexing said after he sat down.
Lu Yao nodded and said: "Well, I know you will continue to participate in training in the afternoon, so when Su Shi and Su Che arrive later, I will tell you the things that are related to you first, and then you can go back. No
It will delay your training."
"What about you, when will you go in the afternoon?" Zhe Kexing asked.
Lu Yao smiled bitterly and said: "Actually, I wanted to go earlier, but just now boss Pan Yuanwu came to send a message, saying that he would come in the afternoon. I can only wait until I finish talking to him before going there. But don't worry, in
I will definitely go to the palace before the training match ends."
"Boss Pan really knows how to choose the right time," Zhe Kexing said with a sigh.