Party strife is inevitable in all dynasties, and the Wu Dynasty was certainly no exception.
The current court can be roughly divided into three parties. Among them, Yan Song, the chief minister of the cabinet and a bachelor from a poor family, represents the interests of thousands of students from poor families and is called the Cold Party.
The Cold Party, which grew in strength with the rise of Yan Song, was a party that came from a humble family and was well aware of the dangers of land annexation.
The New Deal presided over by Yan Song was the reform of land annexation, and was known as Yan Song's New Deal.
The New Deal mainly targets three points. First, the land equalization tax law.
All over the world, land-owning gentry would more or less conceal their actual land in order to reduce taxes.
The land equalization tax is to re-measure the land, verify the land owners, and classify the land into five grades according to the quality of the soil as the basis for collecting land taxes.
Second, farmland water conservancy law.
Encourage reclamation of wasteland and construction of water conservancy projects. The cost of construction of water conservancy projects will be funded by local residents according to their rich and poor levels. They can also obtain loans from state and county governments to promote the increase of cultivated land and, to a certain extent, alleviate the damage caused by natural disasters to local areas.
Third, the young seedling method.
During the lean months of February and May each year, the government would provide farmers with loans and grain loans. The interest would be two cents or three cents every six months, which would be repaid with the summer and autumn taxes respectively, thus reducing the oppression of farmers by private usury.
Whether the New Deal is good or not, of course it is, and it is definitely good for farmers.
Unfortunately, there are countermeasures from above and policies from below.
One by one of these three policies, they all infringe on the interests of the gentry class.
In the past, before the emergence of the Green Seed Law, people could not afford seeds and had to borrow money from local landowners.
If you can't pay the debt, you can only use your own land to pay off the debt. Some landowners will even deliberately mistreat you to make you pay back the money and take away your land.
As soon as the Young Crops Law came out, the interests of the country gentry were harmed.
The other two laws, the Farm Equalization Tax Law, are aimed at large landowners and those families with vast hectares of fertile land.
These aristocratic families are famous families in the local counties and counties. Every family has inextricable connections with the government, or they are officials themselves.
If someone is covering up, of course they will not pay taxes honestly. There are people who evade taxes in modern times, let alone in ancient times.
Some people are so crazy that the actual number of acres reported is only one-half of the real number.
Of the 10,000 hectares of land cultivated, only 5,000 hectares were paid the grain tax, and the remaining 5,000 hectares were treated as hidden farmland and avoided paying.
As soon as the Land Equalization Tax Law came out, the interests of big landowners and aristocratic families were harmed. By now, the new law had completely offended the squires and big landowners.
As for the farmland water conservancy law, it is local businessmen who are offended.
Merchants' families are engaged in business and do not directly participate in farming.
The Farmland Water Conservancy Law uniformly funds the construction of water conservancy projects based on the level of local wealth and poverty.
The businessman said, I don’t rely on farming to make a living. If you ask me to pay, what kind of money will I pay?
The New Law and Three Policies were to poach meat from the gentry, merchants, and aristocratic families for the imperial court and ordinary people to eat.
The people are happy, the court is happy, but the gentry, merchants, and aristocratic families are not happy.
What is worth pondering is that the class that controls the discourse is the ruling class. The common people have no voice. They are only the ones being represented.
Therefore, after five years of implementation, the new law has become increasingly difficult to implement, and the waves of criticism have become stronger and stronger.
Wang Xu's side, and even Xue Mushan's side, represented the gentry class and were called Zhu Dang, which alluded to the Zhu family's stinking of wine and meat.
The butt determines the head, self-cultivation, family order, country governance, and world peace.
Self-cultivation and family management are placed before governing the country and bringing peace to the world, which means that the innate conditions for governing the country and bringing peace to the world cannot harm the interests of my own family.
It may be a bit selfish to say this, but there are a few people who can do otherwise.
When Wang Xu looked at history, Zhang Juzheng must have been amazing.
He became a scholar at the age of 12, a scholar at the age of 16, a Jinshi at the age of 2, was granted the title of Marquis and Prime Minister, and presided over a whipping law, determined to change the weak situation in the late Ming Dynasty.
However, three months after his death, the New Deal was abolished, the Zhang family was exterminated, and even Zhang Juzheng's body was exhumed and whipped. Isn't this a satire of the whipping law?
If Zhang Juzheng is like this, it is conceivable that Yan Song's end will not be much better.
As long as Yan Song loses power and Han Dang is demoted, Zhu Dang, as a representative of the Qingliu and gentry class, will definitely return to the court.
The Cold Party and the Zhu Party are the two deep-rooted parties, and besides the two parties there is a third party, the Side Party.
Bian Dang does not refer to the edge, but refers to the border town.
There are monsters in the far north and barbarians in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, which have always been a serious concern for mankind.
In the world of Confucianism, scribes rule, literary talent is power, and poetry is magical power.
Not everyone is interested in fame and fortune, so there are border parties who do not participate in party disputes and focus on guarding the border.
The border parties are independent of the Cold Party and the Zhu Party. No matter which party is in charge, they only want money, food, troops, and guard the border.
In terms of reputation, the Han Party and the Zhu Party are powerful, but in terms of strength, the Bian Party is the strongest.
Please come to Lingyan Pavilion for a moment, as if you are a scholar and a prince of ten thousand households.
Being granted the title of marquis is the highest pursuit of literati. Throughout the ages, only military merit can be granted the title of marquis. Even Yan Song, the chief minister of the cabinet, does not have a title.
The Confucian scholars who guard the border are all a group of war madmen. The court can be without Zhu Dang or Han Dang, but it cannot be without border parties.
Once a war breaks out, both the Zhu Party and the Han Party will have to abdicate in favor of their superiors, and the whole country will be taken over by the border parties.
"The new policy is difficult and Yan Song is about to lose power. This is good news for me."
Wang Xu's ass, sitting in the gentry class, will certainly not cry bitterly that if Yan Song goes away, the New Deal will be repeated, and the people of the world will suffer again.
If Yan Song loses power, his own teacher can take over.
Before Xue Mushan retired to seclusion, he was the second-level censor of Zuodu and the leader of the government officials. He retired and returned home because he opposed the New Deal.
The Cold Party lost power, and the Zhu Party sought rewards for their merits. As the vanguard of the Zhu Party, Xue Mushan could not be reinstated.
The Censor of Zuodu is on the same level as the Six Ministers. As an official, the possibility of promotion to the Six Ministers is very low, and the only way up is to enter the cabinet.
Enter the cabinet and take charge of the court!
Wang Xu couldn't help but secretly rejoice when he thought of the beauty. With Mr. Ge protecting him, the future path would not be smooth.
“Ho Chi Minh really said that to you?”
Returning to Jiuquan Town, Wang Xu met with Xue Mushan and told him the news he had heard.
Hearing Wang Xu's words, Xue Mushan didn't look too happy, but looked worried.
"Teacher, are you unhappy?"
"Happy? How happy?"
Xue Mushan frowned, holding a book of Zhongyong in his hand, and said softly: "Do you know how many years the New Deal has been implemented?"
"Five years, right?" Wang Xu didn't know much about the New Deal. He only knew that the Green Seeds Law appeared five years ago.
"Yes, five years is still not the right time!"
Xue Mushan put Zhongyong on the table and said to himself: "The time is too short. Now that the new law has just taken effect and the Cold Party has failed, the new law must be repealed. I have no objection to repealing the new law, but now is not the time to repeal the new law."
, in my opinion, the new law should be implemented for ten years."
Having said this, Xue Mushan turned to look at Wang Xu and asked, "Do you know why?"
"Disciple I don't know." Wang Xu shook his head slightly.
In fact, he knows a little bit, but it's hard to say.
The new law benefits the people, impoverishes the gentry, and enriches the national treasury. Over the years, the treasury has become increasingly rich, and even the allocations to border towns have increased a lot.
Historically, after Zhang Juzheng's reform, he ensured that the treasury was filled during the Wanli period, realized the Wanli resurgence, and laid the foundation for the three major campaigns of Wanli.
The same is true for Yan Song's reform. Before the reform, the imperial court basically could not make ends meet, but now the treasury is full.
Zhu Dang may not have this kind of insight, but their status and position do not allow them to implement the new law.
If Yan Song and Han Dang are allowed to implement the New Deal for ten or twenty years and then wipe it out, the family fortune left by the New Deal will ensure stability for hundreds of years.
Hundreds of years later, it once again fell into the cycle of being unable to make ends meet. At that time, it would be time for a new round of reforms.
The cold party and the Zhu party went back and forth, just like the alternation of summer and winter, which ensured the stability of the dynasty.
It is indeed too early to defeat the New Deal now, as the imperial court has not yet accumulated enough wealth to survive the winter.