100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 42 2 Wang Anshi's Radical Reform Failed

Chapter 52 Wang Anshi’s Radical Reforms Failed——Impatience for Success is a Common Cause of Failure
Without quantitative accumulation, it is difficult to make a qualitative leap. The blooming and smiling of a flower in the sun requires countless nurturing in the dark night.

Wang Anshi (AD 1021-1086), courtesy name Jiefu, was born in Linchuan, Tuozhou (now Linchuan, Jiangxi).His father, Wang Yi, was a magistrate.Before Wang Anshi was 20 years old, he followed his father to many places and came into contact with some practical problems in society.He once wrote a poem "Ganshi", which said: "If you don't have enough food in a good year, how can there be floods and droughts?" It means that in a good harvest year, the working farmers still have no food and clothing, and cannot live a good life. Once floods and droughts strike, what will happen?

After 100 years of rule in the Song Dynasty, the big bureaucratic class relied on their power and used illegal means to annex land, and even plundered it to amass wealth.A small group of royal relatives, high-ranking officials and dignitaries took advantage of legal and illegal privileges that others did not have to maximize their personal interests.These privileged forces are entrenched in the central and local governments at all levels. Like a scourge, they endanger the interests of the people and bring the Northern Song Dynasty into a catastrophe.

Later, Song Shenzong appointed Wang Anshi as a political adviser (equivalent to a prime minister) to carry out reforms.Wang Anshi is another historian.In view of the historical lessons of the rise and fall of the chaos, he put forward some ideas and measures about restricting privileges during the reform period.In order to rectify the administration of officials, in terms of election and manpower, Wang Anshi did not care about family background and qualifications, and did not care about the relationship between superiors and subordinates, but focused on whether he had real talents and learning.The young talents he promoted were put on probation first.

Wang Anshi's "Xining New Law" began to be implemented in 1069 AD, and was almost completely abolished in the eighth year of Yuanfeng (AD 1085), a total of 16 years.In terms of political system reform, the imperial examination system and schools were rectified to prepare conditions for the cultivation of talents.More than a hundred counties were cut and merged, and a large number of local officials were reduced, which not only saved financial expenses, but also relatively lightened the burden on the people.

Regarding the financial and economic system, Wang Anshi proposed a series of new laws: the Young Crop Law cracked down on the usury and exploitation of big bureaucrats, big landlords, and big businessmen; The Tax Equalization Law cleared up the land that was concealed by big bureaucrats and landlords and did not pay taxes. The state collected taxes according to the land area and grade, exempting farmers from unreasonable burdens; the Farmland Water Conservancy Law reclaimed a lot of wasteland, built rivers and ponds, and promoted The development of agricultural production and the implementation of the Market Exchange Law have placed considerable restrictions on those big bureaucrats and big businessmen who monopolize commerce, hoard, manipulate prices, and monopolize the market, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to have a certain amount of leeway.

In terms of strengthening defense capabilities and reforming the military system, the law of setting up generals, the law of protecting armor, the law of protecting horses, and the establishment of military weapons supervision have been established.In order to correct the serious disadvantages of the original recruitment system, Wang Anshi gradually transitioned to the military-agricultural integration system, stipulating that as long as there are two or more families in each household, one person will be the guardian, 10 households will be one guardian, and 50 households will be one major guardian. Take advantage of the slack season to conduct military training such as infantry and horseback archery.In the few years from 1070 to 1076 AD, the number of trained Baoding in the country reached more than 700 million.At the same time, according to statistics in the eighth year of Xining (AD 1075), the number of soldiers in the country was less than 80, which was 45 fewer than that in the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, and saved 1350 million yuan in military expenditure every year.

However, Wang Anshi's radical reform, which he wanted to accomplish in one battle, was opposed by the senior ministers in the ruling group of the Northern Song Dynasty.Struggles between conservatism and innovation, restriction and anti-restriction took place within the ruling group.Conservatives such as Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang and reformers such as Wang Anshi also saw the country's financial difficulties and the weakening of military power.But on the issue of how to maintain the regime in the Northern Song Dynasty, they had different political views from Wang Anshi.The old-fashioned faction focuses on maintaining the original legal system and doing things according to the old system.They disagreed with Wang Anshi's comprehensive and drastic change of the old system.Wen Yanbo said to Song Shenzong: "The legal system of the ancestors is all there, so there is no need to change it." Fu Bi said to Song Shenzong that natural disasters and man-made disasters must be "quiet".Lu Hui, the censor Zhongcheng, wrote a letter to Song Shenzong, saying: "If An Shi lives in the temple for a long time, there must be no reason for quietness." The argument that "the law of the ancestors is immutable".He also wrote to Wang Anshi, advising him not to "make trouble", that is, not to implement the new law; not to "invade officials", that is, not to damage the vested interests and privileges of bureaucrats.Wang Anshi disagreed with Sima Guang's opinion.In his reply to Sima Guang, he said: "If you say that you should do nothing today and just stick to what you did in the past, then someone dare not know." It is impossible to survive, so his belief in "improving the law" is very firm.

In the eighth year of Yuanfeng (AD 1085), Song Shenzong, who supported Wang Anshi's reform, died.Wang Anshi lost his backer, and the reform failed.The next year, 66-year-old Wang Anshi died of illness in Jiangning.

Wisdom Interpretation:

As the saying goes, "You can't eat too much, you can't chew it off." This is especially true for reform, because it affects the interests of various social groups. Too many steps will cause social turmoil, and the result is often the opposite.

The same is true of doing things, we must abide by the power of step by step, when we see the splendor of a flower, don't forget to think of it.

(End of this chapter)