The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

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"Frozen three feet is not a day's cold. I also know that my Song Dynasty is indeed taking what I have and using it but there is no limit. When encountering sudden natural disasters, I feel a little powerless; I have asked many times. , but there are many suggestions, but few feasible ones; I think Song Zijing's theory of "three redundancy and three expenses" in his letter back then is quite pertinent; What’s more, because it is a state of etiquette, it is unwilling to abolish it, so that now it has accumulated a tendency that cannot be changed even if you want to change it.”

What Zhao Zhen said was from the bottom of his heart. Since the time when Taizu established the Great Song Dynasty, the famous families of Zhou Dynasty after Dafeng, rewarded them with good land and food, and treated them with generous salaries. In the eyes of the people in the world, they naturally won a good reputation. It is said that the great ancestor was merciful, and the officials of the Song Dynasty showed humaneness; this led to the imitation of subsequent dynasties, and gradually formed rules; so that there were more officials, more soldiers, more expenses, but they couldn't get rid of this burden because of this good reputation.

It is not that there are no people of insight in the court, and Song Qi's letter of "three redundancies and three fees" hits the key point, but under the old habits that are hard to change, this matter is very difficult to do.As soon as the change was made, the cake of the vested interests was touched, and a large group of people wanted to write a book and make a lot of noise. Some even went to the palace to hang themselves, crying bitterly about how the previous emperor was, and what is going on now, which made Zhao Zhen very annoyed. .

Zhao Zhen is also an emperor who doesn't like to kill people. His political philosophy is to rule by doing nothing.

Su Jin understands the truth here. Have you never eaten pork or seen a pig running?In later generations, I am also in a century of great changes. The government is also carrying out reform and opening up, but many reform measures sound beautiful, but once they are implemented, they become a dead letter. Nothing else touches the nerves of those with vested interests. It will be boycotted collectively.

"Your majesty, I can understand what you said, but I think that since it is difficult to advance forward, why not change the way of thinking?"

Zhao Zhen opened his eyes wide and asked, "Why do you change your mind?"

Su Jindao: "These problems today are fundamentally a problem with the fiscal and taxation system. According to my observation, the emperor has always pursued a policy of light taxation and light corvee, and wants to hide wealth from the people. Is this true?"

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "Sure enough, you can guess my thoughts. I always think that the people's wealth can make the country strong, so what I have adopted is the policy of light taxation, reducing the taxes of the people, so that the people can become rich."

Su Jindao: "The emperor's idea is correct, but the effect is very mediocre. The common people are not getting rich, but the corrupt officials and officials are so rich that when disaster strikes, the common people have no power to protect themselves."

Zhao Zhen sighed: "I am also very puzzled, what is the reason for this?"

Su Jindao: "My minister believes that the root of this problem lies in the problem of the emperor's government-buying financial and taxation system. Every year in the Song Dynasty, the government buys more than tens of thousands of materials. Except for the delivery of money, all materials used for food, clothing, housing and transportation They are all purchased by the states, and the imperial court allows the state governments to withhold the purchase funds and purchase them locally, and then allocate them to the places where they are needed. Trouble."

Zhao Zhen didn't blame Su Jin for his disrespectful words, but asked with great interest: "Why do you see that?"

Su Jindao: "For example, the soldiers in the Northwest change their outfits twice a year. Needless to say, the armor of the soldiers can't be changed once every two years. The minister said that the military uniforms inside the armor are allowed by the imperial court every year. As well as the cotton-producing state governments withholding money and taxes to purchase, I don’t need to ask for proof, and I can guess that for the purchase of these two batches of military uniforms every year, the cotton-producing state governments must be fighting for it.”

Zhao Zhen said: "If that's the case, what's wrong with it? Is there something wrong with them actively vying to buy for the court first?"

Su Jin almost regarded Zhao Zhen as an idiot. The emperor probably lived in a honey pot since he was a child, so he didn't notice what those guys were thinking, which surprised Su Jin very much.

Su Jin decided to destroy Zhao Zhen's childhood and show him the reality ruthlessly.

"I don't think they are vying to serve the court, I think they are vying to make money."

"How come? The money withheld every year has to be reconciled and audited after purchase, and it's not for them to spend in vain."

Su Jin shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, you should go down for a while. Nowadays, these people have various methods, and the money withheld is used for purchases, which is good; the imperial court audit is also based on market prices, which is no problem; However, after these people won this job, there are too many tricks in the local procurement process; the most common way is to buy at a low price to earn the difference; the market price is consistent, and they may only buy five hundred coins from the hands of the people. Now the officials are not as good as they are now. As soon as the notice came out, the officials used the banner of the imperial court to buy them like wolves and tigers. How could the common people dare to sell them to the officials obediently? So the price difference came about, and your majesty's hidden wealth The policy of the people has been ruined.”

Zhao Zhen was stunned, bowed his head and thought for a while and said: "It makes sense, if it is true, it is really difficult to check it out, unless the people report it."

Su Jin said: "Which ordinary people have nothing to do to sue the officials? Besides, the imperial court has established an unwritten rule in order to show the official prestige. No matter whether the people sue the officials for reason or not, they will first hit the fifteen boards, and whoever is full will run to send them away." Spanking others? And there is not much benefit in winning the lawsuit, at most it is to compensate for the loss, and the accused official will be dismissed from his post, but the people will have the reputation of suing the official and causing trouble. After the next official takes office, he will have good results Eat? Even the local people can’t tolerate him anymore; in short, the cost of suing officials is too high, no one will do it, and those who occasionally do it will end badly.”

Zhao Zhen heard sweat on his forehead, and said angrily: "There are still such ways. Why didn't I know this all the time?"

Su Jin said: "There are many methods. In addition to exploiting the people for profit, they will also collude with officials and businessmen to make profit."

Zhao Zhen said: "This is unlikely. Buying from merchants at a low price is called exploiting merchants. How can they collude with each other?"

Su Jin said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the minister's family is from Luzhou merchants. There are ten grades of cloth sold by my family from the second to the best. The raw materials for printing and dyeing of the first grade cloth weavers are all high-quality. One piece costs thirty guan, and the last ten Good-grade cloth is only worth one piece of consistent money, and the price difference of cloth of the same color is [-] times; if the imperial court purchases military uniforms at the official price of five pieces per piece, I will treat two pieces of cloth as six-grade one piece Sell ​​him five pieces of cloth, and I can make a huge profit of more than three pieces per piece; then I will only take five hundred cash for this batch of sudden profits, and guess who will give the remaining two five hundred pieces?"

Zhao Zhen took a breath and said, "For the local government government that purchased it?"

Su Jin asked again: "Will the government office hand over the extra money to the imperial court?"

Zhao Zhen was speechless, shook his head unceasingly, gritted his teeth and said: "So, I was kept in the dark, but none of the civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty told me that it is tolerable to let these people do whatever they want. "

Su Jin waved his hand and said: "Your majesty, you misunderstood them, and they don't know; you think, every year, the third department will go to the relevant yamen to inspect the purchase, why can't the inspection come out? It is not ruled out that some inspectors are bribed." For this reason, but every year several batches of dozens of people make a special trip to audit and reconcile accounts, it is impossible for them all to be bribed; will conceal this matter; the truth is that everyone is kept in the dark, and these people are absolutely clever in their deception."

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "It's reasonable, it must be a fuss on the official purchase bill, and the goods will definitely be replaced when the goods are accepted. After all, the delivery after the acceptance is still in charge of the local area, and they will switch it back."

Su Jin found that Zhao Zhen was really a good student, and he got started so quickly; it can be seen that everyone can learn well and learn badly.

"The annual purchases of the imperial court are not limited to military uniforms. Food, oil, grain, grass, cloth, livestock, wood, stone, and medicinal materials are at least a huge amount of money that is intercepted by the local governments every year, and what percentage of these money will eventually become equivalent. The goods, I don't know."

Zhao Zhen was about to cry, a wave of resentment was pent up in his stomach and he couldn't vent it, and his breathing became heavy.

Seeing this, Su Jin quickly poured him a cup of tea, waited for him to drink it, and comforted him: "Don't worry, your majesty, since you know about these activities, you can only deal with it."

Zhao Zhen took a breath and suddenly asked, "How did you know this?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Didn't Weichen just arrest a magistrate? Zhu Shiyong, the prefect of Luzhou, is a veteran. When he was arrested, he found an account book in his home. The private accounts listed on it were clearly listed. Based on this, the truth will be revealed to the world; based on this, the minister draws inferences from one instance and draws the above result, there may be a small error, but there is no big difference."