People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 476: The th Year of the Qingli Period, Another New Deal

The New Year of the twelfth year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty had just passed, and in January, a series of new policies arrived as expected.

The imperial court issued its decrees through various means.

Newspapers have become the only channel for most ordinary people to obtain information.

January 26th.

The New Year holiday, the Halloween holiday and the Lantern Festival holiday had just passed not long ago, and a series of new policy news came out.

Yesterday, on the morning of the 25th, after the court meeting ended, the Constitutional Council issued an edict with the emperor's seal and the signature of the Constitutional Council to all places.

Such a new policy certainly does not mean writing all the information on a piece of paper and then publishing it.

Instead, the corresponding orders are specifically issued to the corresponding departments.

For example, if the imperial court wants to reform the education system, then the relevant content will be sent to the Ministry of Education, which will be responsible for the actual implementation.

The Constitutional Yuan will be responsible for supervision and management, and urge them to implement the policies as soon as possible.

In fact, such small changes are made every year, such as judicial reform.

Criminal law is a process of continuous improvement, and patches must be made all the time to prevent suspects from finding loopholes.

This year alone has seen large-scale, concentrated changes, and can be said to be a relatively large round of comprehensive reforms.

Almost as soon as the court meeting ended on the morning of the 25th and the government decree was issued, all relevant departments received the draft implementation and draft opinions of the reform.

The reason why it is divided into an executive draft and an opinion draft is that some have been finalized, while some still need to be discussed and studied within the department.

But the news spread at noon, and by the next morning, the 26th, the Da Song Daily compiled relevant information from all aspects and published it on the earliest newspaper headlines.

Outer City West Street is the most prosperous street in the south city. Because it is close to Nanxun Gate and connects the urban and rural fringe outside the city, the daily flow of people is very large.

The appearance of West Street at this time had already changed, although the overall building had not yet been demolished and maintained its previous appearance.

However, the style of painting has changed drastically.

In the past, West Street was an ordinary ancient street market with two- or three-story buildings on both sides, restaurants, shops, and residential buildings. There were all kinds of signs, vendors below and outside, and crowds of people.

Now the sound of bicycle bells can be heard everywhere, and rickshaws are running with the honking sound.

There are also electric poles erected, wires passing over people's heads, and street lights standing at the crossroads, giving off a strange feeling of the intersection of ancient and modern times.

This feeling can't really be felt outside the city.

Because there are already tall buildings outside the city, bicycles shuttle between them, and there are even train stations, telegraph stations, newsstands, etc.

The streets are also very wide and the roads are neat, with bus lanes and car roads reserved for the future. It seems like a completely different world from the streets in the inner city, a bit like Shanghai in the Republic of China in later generations.

However, because the buildings in the city are too narrow, the roads are cramped, many facilities are outdated, and the buildings are too ancient, it looks more like an extremely remote ancient town or village or the Hengdian Song Dynasty Film and Television City after the millennium.

The most famous thing about West Street is the tea stalls everywhere, which run across the entire Bianliang from west to east. At the intersection of Nanxunmenli Street and West Street, near the Caihe Longjin Bridge, there is green grass covering the sky, and tea stalls are everywhere under the towering trees.

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"what happened?"

Early in the morning, several old tea drinkers sat there and chatted.

"Did the court issue a new decree yesterday?"

"is it?"

"That's right. I heard there are big changes."

"What's there?"

"In the officialdom and among the people, there are all kinds of things."

"That should be a good idea."

"Well, I only know that my brother told me that he wanted to build a new university. You also know that my brother works for the Ministry of Education."

"That's all? Isn't that a big change?"

"It just came out. I just heard my brother mention it. Anyway, it involves a lot of things."

"You're just lying to me."

There are a lot of people in the morning.

People in Bianliang like to drink morning tea, real morning tea.

Have a cup of tea in the morning, have breakfast, and then go to work.

Compared to ordinary people who don't care about current affairs, people in Bianliang must know something about it more or less because of the existence of newspapers.

So after various government decrees were issued yesterday, well-informed people came early to talk about them.

But unfortunately, because this new policy involves so many aspects, the relevant departments only know about the changes within their own departments and have no idea about the situation in other departments.

Therefore, everyone only has a partial understanding of it.

Just when all kinds of gossip were flying around the tea stall, the sound of "ding-ling-ling" was heard and many people looked over.

That was not the sound of bicycle bells, but the sound of newsboy bells. They waved newspapers and shook jingle bells in their hands to attract the attention of passers-by.

After everyone looked over, they shouted, "Selling newspapers, selling newspapers, Da Song Daily, breaking news, the Constitutional Yuan issued 139 changes at once yesterday, involving more than 30 departments and covering all aspects!"

"Oh, there really are big changes."

"Buy it and have a look."

"Here, give me one."

"I want one too."

Immediately, the tea drinkers asked for newspapers.

Although the population of Bianliang has increased dramatically, the sales growth rate of Bianliang Daily is actually becoming increasingly difficult.

The reason is that a large number of the immigrant population are migrant workers, and only a very small number are businessmen who come to Bianliang. In the absence of a large-scale literacy campaign, there are only a few people who can read.

In other words, no matter whether the population of Bianliang is one million or three million, the newspaper audience has not actually increased much, and the market has not changed much.

But over the past decade, public and private newspapers in Bianliang have grown explosively like mushrooms after a rain.

If the Great Song Daily had not originally been the Bianliang weekly newspaper, which published every ten days and seized the market first, and quickly expanded to surrounding counties, its sales would have probably plummeted long ago.

After all, the official nature of the Da Song Daily led to a political atmosphere that was too solemn, so the topics were naturally too serious and were mostly reported in official tones.

But it is different for private newspapers. In order to grab the headlines, all kinds of gossip emerge one after another.

There are even tabloid reporters who climb over the walls of high-ranking officials. Some time ago, the Minister of Personnel Chen Zhizhong was reported to have whipped his maid Ying'er, which caused an uproar.

Chen Zhizhong was furious and wanted to use his power to suppress the matter and punish the tabloid newspaper.

However, the Censorate and the Remonstrance Office immediately launched an investigation into him. As a result, the Censorate determined that the maid Ying'er was indeed beaten by Chen Zhizhong, and impeached him to the Constitutional Council, who ordered him to be removed from office.

This incident made those tabloids famous overnight.

Especially in an era like the Song Dynasty when folk entertainment was more popular, gossip about dignitaries was most popular among the people, causing the market share of the Song Dynasty Daily to decline again and again.

This new policy can be regarded as a great turnaround for the Song Daily. The people of Bianliang all want to know what new changes the court has made.

"The spring breeze of reform cannot stop. Only by keeping changing all the time can the Song Dynasty maintain its health, vitality and development at all times."

"The director is setting the tone. It seems that the reform is indeed very powerful."

After receiving the newspapers, several tea drinkers who were the first to buy the newspapers saw the first page of the front page, which was the article written by Zhao Jun.

In the past, Zhao Jun often used the Song Dynasty Daily as a high ground for public opinion propaganda. He wrote articles to explain Fan Zhongyan's several new policies and even when Xia Song went to Jiangnan to massacre landlords.

The content is to tell everyone why the court did this, what benefits it would bring to the court and the people, etc.

Through such a simple and easy-to-understand path, we tell everyone clearly that this is in exchange for the support of the people and victory in the public opinion field, thereby standing up for and endorsing the reformers.

"Increase the term of office of officials? These officials will be comfortable. They used to only serve for three years, but now they can serve for five years, or even one more term."

"Oh, if I had known I would have studied and taken the imperial examination, why would I have done business? It would have been better for me to be an official."

"Haha, don't think I don't know. Didn't Bo Kao whip you to read in the past, but you just couldn't read."

"We've been friends for decades, don't expose my shortcomings."

Several old tea drinkers in their fifties joked with each other that now in Bianliang, only people like them who were rich and had plenty of free time would care about current affairs tomorrow.

"Isn't this good news for us? Allowing local governments to have policy autonomy and granting certain tax incentives can help attract foreign investment and strengthen local economic integration."

"Oh, that's great. The court has opened up the mineral resources to all places. If a mineral is discovered in a certain place, the local government can hold a sale, and the highest bidder will get part of it as shares."

"Doesn't that mean that businessmen like us can also purchase mines and start mining ourselves? This is a good business, and we can make a lot of money now."

"Also, change the conscription method from a forced conscription system to a volunteer system, no longer allow criminals, scoundrels, and people with criminal records to join the army, and plan to open military schools, increase military ranks, and promote literacy education for grassroots troops."

"Conscription system? Good men don't serve in the army, good iron doesn't serve in nails, who will serve in the army in the future?"

"I think the court is going to make another change to the army. This is a bad move. What kind of place is the army? It's a dangerous place. Who wants to go there, especially those who have served in the army..."

"Forget it, let's look at the next one."

Many people saw the military changes in the newspapers and shook their heads, thinking that the court had made a bad move.

The people of the Song Dynasty had deep-rooted discrimination against soldiers. The people might not understand the idea of ​​the Constitutional Council to improve the status of soldiers and strengthen the quality education of the military, but even if they did, they would not think it was a good idea.

The aftermath of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was so great that people did not want to be soldiers at all, for fear of being despised as "thieves in the army", so most people thought it was just nonsense.

Only a few people noticed key words such as "military academy" and "military rank", and considered that the military might be an important channel for advancement in the future besides studying.

“Here’s another good thing.”

"what?"

"Old Li, didn't you just say that you regretted not passing the imperial examination? Your son doesn't have that ability, I think your grandson can do it."

"What do you mean?"

"Look here, the newspaper said that the court is going to open many more universities. Once you graduate, you can choose to apply for the exam. The court will even select the best candidates and grant you the same Jinshi degree. If you have excellent grades and pass the special examination, you can directly grant you the third-class Jinshi degree."

"Awarded the title of Jinshi? Is that true? Are you sure you read it right? Not the title of Jinshi?"

"Really, see for yourself."

"God, this is a Jinshi, not a special class like the ones in the past who are virtuous, upright, outspoken, wise in education, wise in constitution, knowledgeable in officialdom, insightful in military strategy, and have far-reaching military plans."

Everyone was shocked by the changes made by the court.

This means that in the future the Jinshi examination will no longer be the only one, but there will be other ways to become a Jinshi.

You should know that in ancient times, although there were other subjects, and even in the Tang Dynasty the imperial examination was open to the entire society and had more than a hundred subjects, the most valuable subject was always the Jinshi subject.

The other departments are often given a small official position of eighth or ninth rank, and the upper limit is the fifth rank prefect, and it is almost impossible to become a senior official.

This time, the imperial court opened many universities and awarded the title of Jinshi to outstanding students.

Although he was only a third-class Jinshi, not a first-class Jinshi and Wenlinlang, nor a second-class Jinshi and Gongshilang, he was still much better than the fourth-class Jinshi and the fifth-class Citong Jinshi.

At least in terms of the upper limit of officialdom, a Jinshi degree holder can already become a high-ranking official. If he is luckier, and his talents are truly outstanding and appreciated by the bigwigs, he may be able to head a first-level department or even join the Yuan of Constitutional Affairs in the future.

Therefore, this change is obviously a huge blessing for the vast number of students who can only squeeze in dozens or at most a hundred places for Jinshi every year.

Even though there will definitely not be too many places for this purpose, it is still better than the imperial examination where hundreds of thousands of people compete for the places.

In fact, many of Zhao Jun’s major changes this time were subversive, and there were such measures in many areas, such as officialdom, economy, military, agriculture, education, commerce, industry, justice, etc. There were 139 reform measures.

This is just the first batch, because some reforms are suitable to be released right now, while others need to be piloted to see the effects. We can't just change it immediately if we think it's okay. It will take time to verify.

Therefore, if nothing unexpected happens, Zhao Jun estimates that in the next three years, the court will carry out as many as 300 reforms, involving more than 40 departments.

At present, there are 52 first-, second- and third-level departments and institutions in the Song Dynasty.

In other words, most of the existing departments of the Song Dynasty will basically have to undergo changes, covering a very wide range.

no way.

In later generations, there were 26 ministerial-level units in our country.

But many special departments are not included in it, so the number of ministerial agencies seems to be small.

However, in the Song Dynasty, almost all departments were directly under the jurisdiction of the Political System Council, and there were only 16 first-level important authority units.

The remaining departments such as the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Statistics, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Geology, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Ministry of Health are second-level institutions.

Afterwards, there were more than 20 third-level departments directly under the Yuan of Political System, including the Imperial College, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction, the Military Equipment Bureau, the Capital Water Conservancy Bureau, the Liunei Quan, the Sanban Yuan, the Shenguan Yuan, the Pin Yuan, the Firearms Bureau, the Creation Bureau, the Imperial Decree Bureau, the Living Bureau, and the Etiquette Bureau.

This was even after the three ministries, Taichang Temple, Zongzheng Temple, Guanglu Temple, Weiwei Temple, Taifu Temple, Sinong Temple, Taifu Temple, Guoxin Office, Yuanbinyuan, Tongwenguan, Dutingxi Posthouse, and Huaiyuan Posthouse were abolished or merged.

Otherwise, there will be more departments directly under the Constitutional Yuan.

However, although the organization is bloated, it is well organized under the three-level management of the Constitutional Yuan. In this change, many of its less useful departments were again abolished and merged.

Therefore, the Constitutional Yuan will continue to move towards streamlining and efficiency in the future.

The main focus of this reform is on those first-level units with real power. In addition, there are also changes to folk customs, religious beliefs, etc.

For example, the imperial court held a Buddhist-Taoist exchange conference last year and appointed presidents, vice presidents, directors, etc. of the Buddhist Association and the Taoist Association.

Actively promote Buddhism and Taoism, oppose local cults and bad customs, and resolutely crack down on all kinds of unorthodox religious activities.

To some extent, previous changes only affected people's lives in terms of policy.

This time, the imperial court was actually interfering in many things of the people, including their beliefs, concepts, ideas, and so on.

(End of this chapter)