Chapter 252 Essence
Sima Guang invited Wang Anshi to sit down, and a maid came in with tea.
Sima Guang sent the man away, looked at Wang Anshi and said, "Are you here to be a lobbyist?"
Wang Anshi answered the question irrelevantly: "I thought Junshi would not let me in."
"Anyone who comes is a guest!" Sima Guang said coldly.
Wang Anshi was stunned at first, then burst into laughter.
"I came to Bianjing several times before to report on my work. I wanted to meet Junshi, but I was afraid of being turned away, so I hesitated. Now that I think about it carefully, I was stupid. With Junshi's personality, how could he be like this?"
He and Sima Guang did not meet in Bian Jing. Later, they had different ideas and broke off contact.
Over the years, he came to Bian Jing several times to report on his work, and he wanted to come and meet Sima Guang, but he was worried that he would be turned away, so he never came.
Now that I think about it carefully, Sima Guang was a person who had courtesy, benevolence, wisdom and trustworthiness engraved in his bones. It was impossible for him to refuse to see someone who came to visit him.
Sima Guang was silent for a while and said, "You didn't come because you didn't think of it, but because you didn't convince me."
In their early years, the two men's political views had not yet been fully formed, but they were close friends and confidants.
Later, they had disagreements on how to solve the long-standing problems in the court, and since neither could convince the other, they severed contact.
However, both of them recognized each other's talents very much, and felt that if they could have the same ideas, they could solve the court's long-standing problems better and faster.
Therefore, neither of them gave up trying to persuade the other.
Wang Anshi said he did not come because he was afraid of being turned away.
But Sima Guang knew clearly that the reason Wang Anshi did not come was because he was not sure he could convince him.
Wang Anshi was stunned when he heard this, then laughed and said, "Your temper hasn't changed at all, and you still speak in this way that makes people feel uncomfortable."
"I like to tell the truth." Sima Guang said lightly.
Wang Anshi did not dwell on these and said, "I heard that His Highness punished you to reflect on your mistakes at home. I happened to have some free time these two days, so I came to see you."
"Your Highness has implemented your new law and ignored my advice. So you think you have won and want to persuade me? Or are you here to lobby for His Highness the Crown Prince?" Sima Guang said.
"neither."
Wang Anshi shook his head and said, "I have been summarizing the court's accumulated problems and thinking about solutions over the years. Later, I was fortunate enough to work in the East Palace, and I presented the new methods I summarized over the years to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for review.
I believe that the new laws I proposed are all good ideas, but Your Highness pointed out many omissions.
The Qingmiao Law that is being implemented now is what I perfected based on your Highness's advice. Even so, many problems still arise.
These problems were not caused by the Qingmiao Law itself, but were caused by landlords, gentry and the people.
Landlords and gentry did not want to see the Qingmiao Law implemented, but most people were unable to repay. If people could not repay, the government could not force them to sell their children and land like the landlords and gentry did.
If the review is not strict and the money cannot be collected, there will be no money to continue lending.
But the review was too strict, and most people who met the requirements did not need to borrow money from the government. The Qingmiao Law became a joke. "
The so-called Qingmiao Law, according to Wang Anshi's original idea, was to lend money to the people to tide over the period of lean harvest.
At the same time, if people have no money to buy farm tools and seeds due to family misfortunes, they can borrow money from the government without delaying farming.
The purpose was to prevent the people from having to borrow from landlords and gentry and from being exploited.
It is also a way to prevent land annexation.
Therefore, according to his original idea, an audit mechanism must exist, but it should not be too strict.
After all, this is a policy that benefits the people. How can it benefit the people if there are too many rules and regulations?
However, Zhao Xing set up a very strict review mechanism, which Wang Anshi did not understand at first.
Zhao Xing didn't say much, just gave him a simple calculation.
The calculation Zhao Xing made was very simple: how many acres of land does a commoner need to ensure that there is still a surplus after deducting taxes and daily needs?
Only such families can ensure that they can repay the borrowed money without affecting their future lives.
This is actually the same as taking out a loan in later generations, where banks will check bank statements.
The bank needs to calculate that after deducting normal expenses, the borrower will have enough money left to pay the monthly installments.
Wang Anshi was a little too idealistic and was difficult to accept at first.
In his view, the purpose of the Qingmiao Law was to benefit the people.
If Zhao Xing's requirements were followed and there were not many people who met the requirements, then what would be the point of the Qingmiao Law?
Zhao Xing asked him in return, the court was short of money. If the money it had lent out could not be recovered, where would the court get the money to continue lending?
Moreover, once the people cannot repay the loan, the government is too lenient, so some people who meet the requirements but do not need loans will also borrow.
I borrowed the money with the mentality of not paying it back.
If the conditions were more relaxed, more people would borrow money. How could the court afford it?
These questions left Wang Anshi speechless. Wang Anshi was not a person who would easily waver in his beliefs.
After the Qingmiao Law was implemented, apart from the tenants who rented land from the government, few other people met the requirements, and even fewer were willing to borrow money.
This made him waver in the new laws he had enacted.
Sima Guang heard the hesitation in Wang Anshi's words and was a little surprised.
But he was more happy in his heart, and a smile appeared on his cold face: "Jiefu, it's good that you can figure this out. Although the old law has drawbacks, it has been implemented for so many years, and the drawbacks are obvious at a glance. But the new law has not been used, and it is unknown what problems it has. After it is implemented, if problems arise, the people will suffer in the end."
"Junshi has misunderstood." Wang Anshi shook his head and said, "I was shaken because I was too self-righteous, not because I was shaken about the reform."
Sima Guang's face darkened when he heard this, and he said, "I have also heard about some of the problems encountered after the implementation of the Qingmiao Law. The gentry and landlords in various places resisted it, and this was under the premise that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was the prefect of Kaifeng. If it were promoted nationwide, it would cause even greater unrest. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said in the court that the Qingmiao Law would not be promoted nationwide, which shows that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has seen the problems. Doesn't this make you wake up?"
"I understand what Junshi said, that's why I came to you." Wang Anshi said in a deep voice: "Junshi, you have always been seeking stability. You want stability and want to solve the accumulated problems. How long will it take to make progress? The accumulated problems of the Song Dynasty are serious. It has reached the point where it has to change. Can you wait any longer?
I also know that I was a bit too radical in the past. I thought that I would formulate the new law, and you would find out the possible problems and improve it.
The two of us will work together to formulate a reasonable and complete new law."
"Humph!"
Sima Guang did not expect Wang Anshi to persuade him. He snorted coldly and said, "You are unreasonable! How many times have reforms been successful since ancient times? You want to emulate Shang Gong and reform the country, but have you ever thought about why Shang Gong was able to succeed?"
"Of course I have thought about it, but I have heard Your Highness talk about his views on reform, and when Your Highness was talking about it, he also talked about Shang Gong's reform." Wang Anshi said.
Sima Guang heard this and said nothing, waiting for Wang Anshi's next words.
He was also very curious about how Zhao Xing viewed the reform.
Wang Anshi paused and said, "Your Highness, when you say reform, you are actually fighting for the pie, and this pie includes the people of the world."
Sima Guang wanted to say that this was a fallacy, but he knew that Wang Anshi had not finished speaking, so he patiently did not interrupt.
Wang Anshi said to himself: "Originally, the pie has been divided, but the landlords, gentry, officials and nobles want to eat more. If they eat more, the court will have less to eat.
But if the court eats less, they will not be full, so they will naturally find ways to eat more.
However, it is impossible for the landlords, gentry, officials and lords to spit out what they have eaten. The pie has not become bigger, but the court wants to eat more. Ultimately, the people have to bear the consequences.
The purpose of reform is to find ways to reduce the burden on the people and make the landlords, gentry, officials and nobles spit out the extra food they have eaten.
Your Highness said that the reform will affect the interests of many vested interests, so the opposition and resistance will be very strong.
Although Shang Gong's reforms touched the interests of some vested interests, they also gave them new interests and created a new vested interest group. This was the key to his success."
Sima Guang fell silent after hearing this. In his opinion, Shang Yang's reform was successful because he had strong support from the monarch and because the Qin State was small at that time.
As the saying goes, a big ship is difficult to turn around. How can the Qin State be compared with the current Song Dynasty?
But after listening to Wang Anshi's words, he thought about it carefully and found that there was indeed some truth in it.
Although Shang Yang's reforms harmed the interests of some Qin officials, they also brought them some benefits.
For example, abolishing the well-field system and allowing the free trade of land gave the nobles the opportunity to annex land.
The policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce only prohibits the people, but the officials and nobles are still allowed to engage in commerce.
It's just a change from light to darkness, but there is a lot less competition.
In this way, although the interests of the ministers were damaged, they also gained some new benefits, and the opposition was not that great.
The military merit system also allowed many people who relied on their merits to become new nobles in the court and have a say.
These people are new vested interests and naturally support the reform.
In fact, in Zhao Xing's view, reform is to change the way of distributing benefits, so that the distribution method that has gradually become unreasonable can become reasonable again.
Power is the most important factor in controlling the distribution of interests. Therefore, in almost all reforms, the first problem to be solved is the problem of centralization.
If this problem cannot be solved, the only option is slow death.
Otherwise, why do they say that when the world unites, it will eventually divide, and when it divides, it will eventually unite?
"Your Highness's views are unique, but they also make some sense. In this case, you should know that it is almost impossible for the reform to succeed," said Sima Guang.
Under the current situation in the Song Dynasty, reform will only harm the interests of the vested interests and will not bring them any other benefits.
Moreover, the civil officials were the only ones in power, and neither the military generals nor the relatives of the emperor could check and balance them.
Under such circumstances, it is impossible for reform to succeed.
(End of this chapter)