In the Bilang Pavilion, Ouyang Xiu said with a self-deprecating smile: "How has the position of ambassador ever been like this? It has become a hot pot that cannot sit still. In less than a year, it has been replaced three times like a revolving door?"
"What's the joint behind this?" Chen Ke asked softly.
"It's not disarmament that's causing trouble." Ouyang Xiu said calmly: "Although disarmament is a matter for the Privy Council, the prime minister is in charge of finances. If he tightens his grip, tens of thousands more people will be disarmed and returned to the field. If he loosens his grip, these people can stay.
Next. When disarmament is a foregone conclusion, the attitude of the ambassador determines everything."
"So, the Privy Council will not cooperate with the imperial court in disarmament?" Chen Ke frowned slightly.
"The imperial court is just a few palaces and yamen, and the rice is eaten in separate pots." Ouyang Xiu shook his head and said: "But the rice in the imperial court began to be insufficient for the pot. The year before last, the imperial court had an annual income of 110 million yuan, but
The expenditure was 120 million yuan, which was already beyond its means. The imperial court planned to start several major river projects last year. Among them, the Yongji River and Ling Canal projects have already started, which increased last year's deficit to
Forty million guan, the imperial court has to use its long-term treasury. But if the next bigger river project starts, I am afraid that the treasury will be exhausted. At that time, the imperial court can only stretch out its hands to the people and eat the grain, which will bring disaster to the country and the people!"
Old Ouyang did not answer Chen Ke directly, but he expressed a richer meaning: "Under such circumstances, the imperial court had to reduce expenditures, and the three departments in charge of finance naturally agreed with both hands. But where does this cut come from? Who does it cut to?
, will all be in pain, and they don’t want to suffer this knife.”
There have always been only three major expenditures of the imperial court. One is military, including military salaries, armaments, military supplies, etc. The first is administrative, including official salaries, staff salaries, administrative expenses, etc. The first is various royal expenses, including
Royal expenses, various rituals, rewards, etc.
Basically, the proportions of these three items are: 70% for military expenses, 20% for official expenses, and 10% for palace expenses... Of this 10%, most of them are for various sacrificial ceremonies and rewards for officials.
.
If you want to reduce expenses, you can only start from these three aspects, but the royal expenses are already at the lowest level in history. As a benevolent king through the ages, Zhao Zhen has already cut down on all unnecessary expenses in the palace. Every year, the silk and silk that come into the palace from the local government,
Jewelry and curios have also been reduced by two-thirds. He himself wears regular clothes for all seasons, but only eight sets. He has to change dry cleaning and wet clothes, and the clothes have no new color. He wears clothes for the royal family, envoys, officials and soldiers. He uses them sparingly to meet the needs of the military and the country.
I always think about the difficulties of the country's progress and the difficulties of the people's livelihood. I don't want anyone to be embarrassed to say it anymore. Your Majesty, please save it...
Then we can only operate on the administrative and military aspects. Fan Zhongyan's Qingli New Deal was to attack the redundant officials of the court, hoping to reduce administrative expenses... The officials in the Song Dynasty were fat and fat, and their salaries were increased every year. They also cited classics and scriptures.
It is simply unreasonable for their descendants, guests, and relatives to enjoy all kinds of benefits. It is even more unreasonable not to change.
But what happened? The Qingli Party members quickly transformed from idols of hundreds of officials to enemies of the entire bureaucracy. They suffered a complete defeat.
The lesson was so painful that the subsequent prime ministers did not dare to touch this restricted area again. However, the financial problem had to be solved, and the officials did not agree to increase the burden on the people, so they had to resort to military spending.
The military expenditure of the Song Dynasty reached **10 million yuan a year, which was the absolute majority of fiscal expenditure. It was natural to attack it.
The way to reduce military spending is to disarmament. The idea of disarmament was proposed by former Prime Minister Wen Yanbo. At that time, the court had a heated discussion about whether to disarmament. Officials who supported disarmament believed that the world had been at peace for a long time, and the number of soldiers
But it has continued to increase, which means that the imperial court has spent 80% of its fiscal revenue to support a large group of idle people. It is of no use, so it can be abolished.
Those who oppose disarmament spat, you idiots, do you know that the "military recruitment system" is our national policy? The so-called "military recruitment system", simply put, means that in flood and drought years, when the people are struggling to make ends meet, the government steps in and recruits the victims.
Soldiers. Let them serve as soldiers, eat food, and contribute to the country. For the peasant uprisings that have already rebelled, most of them are recruited and incorporated into the imperial army, so naturally there is no rebellion.
Therefore, later generations did not understand Song Jiang and thought he was a coward who surrendered. In fact, they did not understand the situation of the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, most of the rebels were rushing to recruit peace, and the old Song Dynasty just followed the crowd.
The founder of this system, the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, once proudly said that this would allow the country to have "rebellious soldiers but no rebellious people when there is a rebellion; and in times of disaster, there will be rebellious people but no rebellious soldiers." His world can't be saved no matter how hard it goes.
event.
It must be admitted that this skill is very useful. Even in the hundred years since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there has been no large-scale rebellion. Therefore, the opposition said that the army is used to absorb social instability factors. If the army is disarmament at will, then it will be used to playing with swords and guns.
, the violent soldiers returned to their places to cause trouble and affect social stability.
The two sides started a fierce debate. Because conservatives were the majority at all times, the opposition to disarmament prevailed. Moreover, officials were afraid that after disarmament, public security in various places would decline sharply, and the disarmament discussion would be in vain...
But at this time, Wen Yanbo received the support of the governor of the Xifu. The Privy Councilor at that time was still Pang Ji. Although Pang Xianggong was a shameless person on the stage in later generations, in fact, he was an out-and-out good official. He also recognized the imperial court.
The dangers of redundant troops are too great and should be reduced.
With Pang Ji's support, Wen Yanbo issued a military order - if there are problems with social security or other problems after disarmament, I am the only one to ask!
This kind of courage is what men want. Xianggong Wen is an out-and-out man. With his support, the officials finally agreed to disarmament.
Under the close deployment of Wen Yanbo and Pang Ji, all Xiang troops and frontier troops from all over the country who are over fifty years old or who voluntarily return to farming can go home. In this way, the country can save military pay, and people can also farm land.
Old soldiers could also reunite with their relatives. In the end, a total of 80,000 people were laid off across the country, and no violent incidents occurred in the country. The first large-scale disarmament since the founding of the Song Dynasty was declared successful, which greatly eased financial tensions.
However, before they had time to pursue the victory, the two of them were killed one after another. When killing Wen Yanbo, Chen Ke still made a great effort. At that time, he was still very proud, thinking that the ancients were just like this, and he was just a little scholar.
, you can use strategy to get rid of the dignified prime minister without knowing it.
Years later, as he gained more experience and became more knowledgeable, he finally came to his senses... It was Mr. Liu who provided the dirty information, and it was Mr. Liu who was looking for someone to impeach him! He was obviously being played like a monkey by that old man.
Already...
However, Mr. Liu does not have that much ability, but the entire general group does! Because of the Song Dynasty's national policy of emphasizing civility and suppressing military force, the generals of the Song Dynasty no longer had the brilliance they had when the country was founded, and have become very low-key. But being low-key does not mean that the Cao family and the Wang family do not exist.
, Yang family, Liu family, Murong family...these descendants of the founding heroes have always firmly controlled the military circles of the Song Dynasty.
Although they do not have the military talisman of the Privy Council, they cannot mobilize a single soldier, but the army is their territory and their fundamental interests. Disarmament is to disturb their disciples and harm their interests, and will naturally be counterattacked by them.
Once the foundation accumulated over a hundred years flourishes, it will be impossible for the husbands who came from a humble background and suddenly rose to prominence to resist.
Even a wise man like Wen Yanbo could only leave the field sadly. However, he was lucky because he knew that he had offended the army, so when he was sent abroad, he refused to accept any position related to the army, preferring to be a magistrate.
If you don't want to go there, don't go looking for it. It's not pleasant.
Pang Ji was in a terrible situation. This old man was sent to the northwest to defend Xixia, and his men were all soldiers... But back then, he reduced his army by 30,000 in the northwest, ruining the jobs of countless officers. Now he wants to use them for his own purposes. The reality is
What?
Therefore, there have been rumors in the government and the public that the tragic defeat of Qu Yehe, which ruined Xianggong Pang's reputation, was actually a gift given to him by the Jiangmen Group... Otherwise, it is impossible to explain that the old Xijun, who had been constantly fighting with Xixia, could lose like that.
However, the censor who went to investigate the cause of the defeat concluded in his report after his return that it was caused by the border generals underestimating the enemy and rushing in. The deceased was dead, and it can no longer be explained clearly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two prime ministers dismissed get out of class, and the disarmament came to an abrupt end. The millions of military expenditures that had been reduced were quickly offset by the surge in expenditures, and the imperial court once again found itself unable to make ends meet.
Under this situation, Mr. Fu gave his response - to continue disarmament. Since the last disarmament effect was good, what reason is there not to continue? Although some people advised him to be careful of the lessons of his predecessor, Mr. Fu
A gentleman does not care about his own life.
But unlike when Wen Xianggong, he did not get the support of the Privy Council. Han Qi believed that the Song Dynasty and Xixia were in a state of hostility, and the Liao Kingdom was provoking, so the court should increase military expenditures instead of shaking military morale at this time.
Although Fu Bi, with the support of Zhang Fangping, received official approval and passed a resolution to further reduce the army by 100,000, without the cooperation of the Privy Council, the disarmament progress was difficult. Whichever troops he wanted to move, the Privy Council would give countless reasons and elaborate
The reason for not being able to move.
The Jiangmen Group's revenge came soon, and they set up a trap to kill Zhang Fangping.
I looked back at my single chapter, and it was true that I couldn't express myself clearly. Thinking about it, I think it was probably because I was in a state of excitement at the time and couldn't express myself clearly. I'm sorry, I will make it clear next time.
In order to show repentance, I added four updates a day...that is, four updates in ten days.
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