Prime Minister

Chapter 889 Different Versions
Yang Hui, Zhang Yue, Zhang Dun, Zeng Bu, Deng Wan and others went to Zhongshu and Han Jiang, and Lu Huiqing reported the matter of the pen fee.

Generally, Hanlin scholars must dress respectfully when they see the prime minister, and they must hold a wat board and take off their shoes to report.

The last time Zhang Yue came to the Zhengshitang, he was also exempted from the ceremony of taking off his shoes and holding the wat, because he is a Duanming Palace scholar.As for Yang Hui's appointment as a Hanlin scholar, there is no reason why Zhang Yue exempted him.

But Zhang Dun did the same. He didn't hold a wat board in his hand, and entered the political affairs hall with his shoes on.

Zhang Yue knew that Zhang Dun was very measured, Han Jiang was a kind person who would not reprimand, and Lu Huiqing owed Zhang Dun a big favor, let alone anything.

Zhang Dun was used to arrogance, Yang Hui didn't see eye to eye with him, Zhang Yue kept him at a respectful distance.

As for Zeng Bu and Deng Wan, they were well dressed.

When several people met Han Jiang and Lu Huiqing, they talked about polishing their pens.

Han Jiang is also a person who has served in the Imperial Academy, and he knows the bad habits of pen fees in the Imperial Academy.

Zhang Dun Chen intended to abolish the bad rules of making pen money, while Yang Hui expressed the thoughts of other bachelors.Han Jiang decided to go to the emperor to use all the pen money as minister's money.

Yang Hui was not satisfied with this matter. He actually wanted to divide it into three shares, one for the officials, one for the court officials, and one for the minister's money.

But Han Jiang arranged it, so it had to be like this.

Then Yang Hui criticized the tricks in front of Han Jiang and Lu Huiqing.

In Yang Hui's eyes, the immunity method was already weird enough, but he didn't expect the actual method to go one step further.

In fact, it goes without saying that Yang Hui is such a high-ranking official. In the eyes of most officials and even the common people, the opponent's real law is demonized.

But Zhang Yue listened carefully in the game, but felt that Lu Huiqing couldn't be blamed too much for the realization of this move, but what can be done if everyone doesn't trust Lu Huiqing.

Generally, after the former prime minister is dismissed, the new prime minister is in power.

Because the former Prime Minister had a lot of grievances and suppressed dissident forces too hard, so when the new Prime Minister came to the throne, all the officials looked forward to him, hoping that he could revolutionize politics.

But after a while, it turned to disappointment, and many people even remembered the good things about their former husband-in-law.

From Han Qi's Xie Zheng, to Wang Anshi's visit to participate in politics, from the four friends of Jiayou to the hundred officials, who didn't have expectations for him.

And after Wang Anshi stepped down as Prime Minister, all the officials didn't have much affection for Lu Huiqing who succeeded him in the reform. , and was criticized by hundreds of officials.

Speaking of this method.

In the third or fourth year of Xining, the fifth-class book was rebuilt, which was presided over by Deng Wan and Zeng Bu of Si Nong Temple.

According to the principle of making a fifth-class book every leap year, if it is necessary to make a fifth-class book again.

Therefore, on the basis of rebuilding the fifth-class book this year, Lu Huiqing proposed the first real method. The purpose is to change from the past officials and household heads saying how much to report to how many households, etc., to actually verifying and offering rewards for whistleblowers.

One of the most criticized is to encourage reporting, and anyone who reports can get one-third of the hidden person's property.This is exactly the same as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's denunciation method. At that time, the denunciation method allowed the informant to get half of the other party's property.

This method was proposed by Lu Heqing, Lu Huiqing's younger brother.

Yang Huidao: "In the past, Sinong Temple made records first by determining the amount of exemption money, and then the county made records at the local level. In order to make records, many local officials upgraded their households to make records."

Lu Huiqing said: "I have explained many times in front of the emperor, but there is no trace. The following states and counties have no super-upgraded households, and even many of them hide the upper-class households and list them as down-hukou."

Yang Hui quarreled with Lu Huiqing many times because of this matter, and Lu Huiqing was angry and said that this is nothing at all, so don't keep holding on to this matter.

Yang Huidao: "Deng Zhongcheng confessed to me personally, how can there be nothing?"

Lu Huiqing glared at Deng Wan angrily.

Deng Wan explained: "First measure the number of households in the prefecture and county and then determine the service fee. It is just an approximate number. As for the estimation and estimation criteria, it is up to the prefectural and county officials. As for whether the prefecture and county report is accurate, it is not determined by Si Nong Temple .”

The third department is blind to the local situation. First, it estimates a number and asks the officials below to report it. Then several officials report a number, and finally take an average.

Deng Wan took great pains to explain clearly the truth.

Lu Huiqing said: "The so-called first fact is to ask the households to report themselves first, so as to determine the amount of exemption money for next year. In the final analysis, the previous fifth-class family books were mostly hidden, and the scribes and the head of the household colluded with each other, so that they concealed It is untrue, and there is no basis for inspection."

"That's why we made a book to check!"

Yang Hui said: "It's enough to know about households and other matters vaguely. Why is it necessary to report in advance like chickens, pigs, and livestock? How can those who are not true be rewarded?"

The biggest controversy about Lu Huiqing's method is from the original household self-report, the government's confirmation, to the private household self-report to the reward and investigation.

Another thing is that the investigation is too detailed, which makes the people panic.Not a chicken or a duck is spared, and they must be reported carefully. .

Zhang Yue thought to himself, the biggest problem with this practical method is the gap between what should be and what is. To put it bluntly, it is a question from subjectivity to objectivity, from ideal to reality.

With the backward bureaucratic system and statistical methods of the Song Dynasty, can it carry this practical method?
However, Lu Huiqing is determined to implement this method,
Yang Huidao: "This method is really Shang Yang's technique. Once the method is handed down to the world, people and even relatives will inform each other."

"In the past, Shang Yang had a saying that if you use kindness, the people will be close to your relatives, and if you use evil, the people will be close to their own system. Those who combine and restore are good, and those who are different and regulate are also traitors. If you are good, you will hide yourself, and if you let traitors, you will be punished .”

Yang Hui criticized that the biggest problem with this practice is that it will cause relatives to inform each other, which will destroy the traditional Confucian system of concealment between relatives.

But having said that, Lu Huiqing also knew that the lower-level officials at the executive level were unreliable, so they relied on the informants among the people.

Encouraging the people to inform the police will also corrupt social customs and put everyone in danger.Just as Shang Yang encouraged whistleblowers, the court used traitors instead of good people.

Yang Hui and Lu Huiqing disagreed and left after a few arguments.

Everyone felt bored and left one after another. When Zhang Yue arrived at the mansion, he learned that Han Jiang's confidant had asked him to leave the Yamen and visit the mansion.

Zhang Yue went to see Han Jiang immediately.

Han Jiang's house was rewarded by Han Yi to sit down, and he and his brother Han Zhen both lived in the house.

Han Jiang took Zhang Yue to his study, but saw antiques and famous utensils all over the study.

Like Han Jiang, Ouyang Xiu, and Wu Chong are all hardcore lovers of antiques, so there are countless treasures in their homes.

Han Jiang said that her collection was accumulated from Han Yi's family collection, but she saw a pen holder carved from crystal on his desk, which looked like an iceberg, and it was priceless at first glance.

In addition, how many utensils are there, Zhang is more and more dizzy.

This made Zhang think of the sentence more and more. Fangzhi dressed and ate for three generations of officials, which was too rough compared to Han Jiang's own life.

Han Jiang picked up a piece of celadon, handed it to Zhang Yue and said, "How does Duzhi see this porcelain?"

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Like Tang porcelain."

Han Jiang nodded and said, "That's right. It was given to me by an old farmer when I was in Daming Mansion. He said that the real face was a good minister, so he presented it as a family treasure. However, I found Fang's family to see it and it was a fake."

"The old farmer didn't believe it, so he cried loudly in front of my house, saying that it was a family heirloom from his ancestors, and had someone check it out, it would definitely not be fake."

"I was skeptical in my heart, and I ordered others to see that they were all fakes, but I saw that what the old farmer said was true, and it definitely didn't seem to be fake, so I finally bought the thing and kept it in the storage room."

Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Xiang's words are quite profound!"

Han Jiang said with emotion: "It's hard to argue with a hundred people, and it's hard to know the truth. As the prime minister, I'm not like an old farmer, kept in the dark by others."

Zhang Yue didn't dare to answer the words. It is common for officials to lie to the first level, just to tell nonsense with their eyes open.

Han Jiang said to Zhang Yue: "Have you read Zizhan's letter?"

Zhang Yue said: "I see."

Su Shi has moved from Hangzhou Tongpan to Mizhou Zhizhou, and his official has also moved to Dr. Taichang. After Su Shi arrived in Mizhou, the first problem he faced was the plague of locusts, and then the imperial court issued an edict of hand practice.

Su Shi went to Han Jiang and Zhang Yue to criticize the abolition of manual techniques (Note 1).

Han Jiang said: "The locust plague in Mizhou is extremely serious, but the local officials lied that the locusts came and did no harm, and even weeded for the people, so the disaster was not serious. It was a lie from top to bottom. If it weren't for what Zizhan said, I’m still in the dark, and I still say that the locusts won’t eat the crops when they arrive in Jingdong.”

Zhang Yue almost laughed when he heard the words, but seeing that Han Jiang was really angry, he had to hold it in his stomach.

Su Shi also dared to speak out. In addition to the locust disaster, he also unceremoniously criticized his good brother Zhang Dun.Zhang Dungang suggested that in Hebei, Jingdong implement the law of asking for salt.

Zhang Dun sentenced the military supervisor to expropriate cowhide from the people, and also adopted the policy of rewarding and rewarding together with the first real law. Su Shi also believed that this was an act of corrupting the atmosphere.

But what Su Shi criticized the most was the disadvantage of practicality.

Zhang Yuedao: "Actually, the practical method is the follow-up to the law of exemption from service. The original intention of LV's participation in politics is to implement the law of exemption from service, and strictly assign labor according to households, so as to prevent those first- and second-class households from pretending to be fourth- and fifth-class households to escape from labor and taxation. Law."

"But this method is not feasible at first sight?"

"How is it not feasible?"

Zhang Yuedao: "Not to mention whether there is anything wrong with the policy of reporting, the most important thing is that it disturbs the people too much. The officials went to the countryside to check and verify. Decide on the details, and then dispatch..."

"Furthermore, the power to check whether there is a reward or not lies in the hands of the officials."

Zhang Yuexin wanted to follow Lu Huiqing's method, one is that the statistics are too vast.

Another problem is that the power in the hands of officials is too great. In an environment without good supervision, how can the quality of grassroots officials be guaranteed?
That's why it has been said for 1000 years that the imperial power does not go to the countryside.

This method is destined to end without a problem due to too much opposition.

Han Jiang asked: "Then how to repair it? Is it feasible to follow the fifth-class ancient method Su Zizhan said?"

Zhang Yue said: "Su Zizhan's fifth-class ancient method is indeed very good, but I think it is basically the method of exemption from military service, and we should restore the old wish of my husband."

Han Jiang said: "You mean the exemption method as you and I have made?"

Zhang Yue said: "That's right, change the immunity law back."

After Han Jiang and Zhang Yue proposed the immunity law, to Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing's implementation of the immunity law were two versions.

The difference between the two parties is whether to accept the household exemption money and the remaining money from the exemption.

Now that Han Jiang is the prime minister, Zhang Yue suggested changing the immunity law back to their version.

Ps1: "Shanghan Prime Minister's Handbook on Disasters" or "The Last Chapter Duanming's Handbook on Disasters".

(End of this chapter)