Chapter 11 The Sunset of the Long River Section 47 The third year of Yuanping of the Great Han Dynasty (205 AD), the first month.

On the first day of the first lunar month, the New Year's ceremony. The eldest princess issued a decree in the name of the Son of Heaven to grant amnesty to the world. On the third day of the first lunar month, Weiyang Palace, Qilin Palace.

Grand Sima Xu Rong convened the auxiliary ministers to discuss the meeting. Prime Minister Li Wei formally proposed the strategy of restructuring. Taifu Yang Biao and Imperial Historian Xun You had already received a letter from Prime Minister Li Wei a year ago, knowing that the financial crisis of the imperial court was very serious, and they repeatedly convened the government and Taiwan officials to discuss improvement strategies, and told Li Wei the details of the discussion.

After seeing Li Wei's restructuring strategy today, the two ministers were very surprised, they didn't expect Li Wei's action to be so big.

The "Iron Law of Salt" was revised, and the two ministers agreed. At that time, in order to alleviate the crisis in northern Xinjiang, Li Hong tried every means to force the imperial court to reopen salt and iron, and the opposition in Luoyang was extremely strong at that time, and the Taiwei Cui Lie resigned because of this.

The reopening of salt and iron is actually to encourage business, which has dealt a serious blow to the national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, and is very detrimental to the long-term peace and stability of the society.

More than ten years passed, and when the Han Dynasty got up from the ruins and struggled towards Zhongxing, the drawbacks of reopening salt and iron were immediately exposed, and the imperial court had to change course and propose it again

This is a good thing, but the two ministers questioned the imperial court's de facto control over salt and iron.

The imperial court is directly involved in business, which is equal to

"Worship the end and suppress the original", and

The national policy of "emphasizing the original and suppressing the last" runs counter, which is not conducive to the continuous growth of the imperial court's financial endowment and the continuous enhancement of national strength.

There is a historical lesson to be learned from this, and the facts of the past 10 years or so have also proved that it is necessary to emphasize agriculture and encourage business, and the two are interdependent, and the imperial court cannot completely deny the benefits of doing business because there is a major crisis in its wealth, beat the business to death with a stick, and go from one extreme to the other.

(During the Warring States Period, representatives of Legalists such as Li Kui, Shang Ying, and Han Fei put forward an economic strategy of attaching importance to agriculture and restricting or despising industry and commerce

"Ben", industry and commerce are called

"The end" believes that heavy agriculture must suppress business and prohibit the end of the country, so as to ensure the absolute number of farmers and the enthusiasm of cultivating the land.

There was another important reason why Yang Biao and Xun You agreed to rebuild the "Salt Iron Law", and that was to take the opportunity to attack the power of the Northern Xinjiang system.

In the past, in order to survive, Northern Xinjiang received two privileges from the imperial court to reopen salt and iron and mint coins. After the success of King Qin of Northern Xinjiang, he first handed over the right to mint coins, and the salt and iron were all released because of the edict of Emperor Xiaoling, and this privilege did not exist.

After the reopening of salt and iron in northern Xinjiang, in order to raise tuntian fields and provide money and grain, almost all the mining and management rights of salt and iron were sold.

Later, in order to repay the loan and raise military funds, he borrowed a large amount of money and sold the salt and iron mining and management rights in Jizhou and Youzhou.

After the imperial court arrived in northern Xinjiang, it inherited this huge debt. In order to repay debts and conquests, they then sold the salt and iron mining and management rights in the Central Plains and Guanluo areas, and almost all of the people who obtained these salt and iron mining and management rights were wealthy families and businessmen in northern Xinjiang.

Among them, the most controlled salt and iron mining and management rights are Xu Ling and Lizhong in Guanzhong, followed by the Wei family in Hedong, the Wang family, the Guo family and the Linghu family in Jinyang, the Tian family and Xianyu family in Youzhou, and the Cui family in Jizhou.

These people are all the gate valves, big tycoons and big businessmen of the Northern Xinjiang system

The prominent families of "officials, businessmen, and scholars" are also hot figures in the DPRK and China. Amending the "Iron Law of Salt" will first harm their interests, and the struggle within the northern Xinjiang system will be extremely fierce.

But no matter how the people of northern Xinjiang kill each other, it is good news for the other powers in the DPRK and China.

Regarding the rebuilding of the "Tian Law", the two ministers had reservations. The restriction of land and the penalty of rent involve too many people, from the princes and nobles, down to ordinary officials and scholars, and even the military meritorious class, and the interests are damaged to varying degrees.

The more land there is, the greater the loss of profits. Yang Biao pondered for a long time and suggested: "Judging from the situation this year, the population is growing everywhere, but due to the 20 years of war, the population has been lost by more than half, and in a short period of time, the supply of land can still meet the needs of the population. In other words, the situation of land annexation is not serious enough to affect the survival of the people. On the contrary, restricting land and imposing rent will cause turmoil in the government and the opposition, which is not conducive to the stability of the state and county. ”

"The imperial court's punishment for land annexation has always been very severe, and the current land annexation is mainly hidden, not open or expanded, and is still within the control of the imperial court. Moreover, some land annexation is based on the need for a rapid resumption of farming, which is different from malicious land annexation, and the imperial court should carefully screen it, and cannot simply deal with it and one size fits all. Xun You also persuaded,

"Considering that the restriction of land directly impacts the interests of the military meritorious class, I suggest that it be slowed down."

"Why am I imploring Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess to recall the state assassins? That's what it's about. I would also like to know if the land annexation is so serious that it is necessary to revise the "Tian Law". Li Wei said,

"But the reality is that the problem is very serious."

"Because of the 20 years of war, the population of the Han Dynasty has decreased, and when the imperial court implements policies such as 'calculating and granting fields' and 'land breaking', it can completely ensure that the people in rich and narrow townships can get enough land to sustain their livelihoods. But the problem is that also because of the twenty years of war, some people have accumulated amazing wealth under the protection of the northern frontier, under the protection of the imperial court. How can this wealth be passed on? How can we maintain and increase our value? Land, and only by buying land can their wealth be preserved relatively safely. ”

"The imperial court has a policy that it is strictly forbidden to annex land, so what should they do? Suppress food prices and raise the prices of farm animals, iron tools, salt, and other necessities for farmers. Even though the peasants toiled day and night, they still had nothing, and finally had to sell their land to them, preferring to become a hired farmer or tenant farmer in order to survive. ”

"According to the Xintian system, the ownership of land belongs to the imperial court, and the farmers only have the right to rent seeds, so we thought that this would prevent land annexation. The rich people took away the land rentals from the peasants at a low price, or even without a single penny. ”

"It's a disguised land annexation. If this kind of thing cannot be curbed and allowed to develop, the land rent of the imperial court will become less and less, and the price of grain will become lower and lower. When the price of grain was the lowest in this dynasty, it was the Emperor Xiaoxuan Dynasty, five dollars and one hundred. But at that time, the population was large, the income of the mouth was high, the income of the salt and iron government was also high, and the society was stable, there was no war, and the imperial court was very rich, so what about now? At present, land rent is the bulk of the imperial court's financial income, and it is self-evident what the reduction of the imperial court's financial endowment means when the counterinsurgency war is still going on and the society is in ruins. If we want to accomplish the great cause of ZTE, we must bow to them and borrow money from them. If you don't have the money to pay back, you have to give up the fight against land annexation, and you have to acquiesce to their land annexation, what is the final result? Quite simply, the imperial court became poorer and poorer, and borrowed more and more money on credit, so it was forced to revise the "Tian Law", sell the land ownership, sell the land to the peasants, and secondly, sell the official mantle, in order to raise money to maintain the operation of the imperial court and various state affairs expenses. ”

"The land lease rights in the hands of the farmers have been plundered by the rich people, and the land is in fact controlled by the rich people, and when we sell the land ownership, we are selling the land to the rich people. These wealthy people were granted the right to lease large amounts of land for almost no money, and then justifiably turned it into their private property. What about the farmers? No matter how cheap the price of the land is, they have long lost the eligibility to buy it, and they still have nothing. ”

"We say that agriculture is the foundation of the country, but what is the truth? In fact, the farmers work hard all year and have nothing, not even the land on which they depend, is this the purpose of the Han Dynasty? The more Li Wei spoke, the more excited he became, and he slapped the case a few times.

"What about our conscience? Where is our conscience? The Han Dynasty can come to this day, who will cultivate food for us? Who made us ordnance? Who pays the taxes to the imperial court? Do we treat the people who shed blood and sweat for the prosperity of the Han Dynasty? Is our conscience all for dogs to eat? The room was silent, and the ministers were silent.

"Prime Minister, this is all your speculation. Although the wealthy men in various places used various means to plunder the land rental rights in the hands of the farmers, according to the "Law of Fields", these lands are still owned by the imperial court, and are not the private property of the rich lords. Strictly speaking, this does not count as a land annexation. Li Wei took out a few bamboo slips from the scrolls piled up beside him, and then put them on the desk again.

"This is a recital of the history of the state, you can take a look. Actually, it's not my speculation. The land that had been seized of the right to lease was becoming the private property of the wealthy in various places, and the tide of land annexation was quietly sweeping in this special period, and the indebted imperial court, because it had no financial endowment, could not come up with an effective way to travel, so it could only watch the situation deteriorate step by step, and was at a loss. ”

"How so?" Da Sima Xu Rong asked in surprise,

"After the end of the Central Plains War, a wave of land enclosure and land speculation broke out in Qingyan and Yan, didn't the imperial court punish it once? Does anyone dare to openly confront the imperial court? ”

"It wasn't someone who confronted the imperial court, but the imperial court that triggered this wave of land annexation." Li Wei sighed.

"Although the imperial court is heavily indebted, the battle to counterbalance the rebellion has to be fought, and the battlefield is getting farther and farther away, more and more. In addition, Chang'an should be rebuilt, and Luoyang should be repaired. After the defeat of Western Xinjiang, the Great Wall in Hexi and the border passes in various places must be rebuilt, and all counties in Western Xinjiang will be relieved, and these will require food, materials, and forced labor. When the price of grain was strictly controlled by the imperial court, the prices of salt, iron, and cultivated animals soared, and even the price of hiring people to serve on behalf of them also rose a lot. The farmer has only so much land, only so much output, only so much income, and when the price of other things rises, and there is a serious imbalance between income and expenditure, there is no way for them to survive. At this time, there was a craze for selling land leases and lending on credit to the merchants (usury merchants), and this boom was accompanied by a boom in abandoning the land to become merchants or working as domestic workers. ”

"In desperation, some of the peasants worked as tenant farmers and hired farmers, some of them worked in the workshops, and some of them took the money from the sale of land leases or loans to the commercial markets to do small business. In recent years, wars have been fought and cities have been rebuilt, and the consumption and trafficking of materials have been very large, and there are many workshops and commercial markets in various places. Workshops require manpower, wages are high, and the market is profitable, and there are many merchants who abandon their fields. ”

"If the land is uncultivated, or there is a serious shortage of people to cultivate it, food production will be reduced. The first to bear the brunt of the reduction in grain production are the local government offices. In order to raise food, the imperial court has issued a quota to the local government offices in recent years, and those who fail to meet the prescribed amount will be dismissed from their posts or imprisoned. In a hurry, the officials in various places had no choice but to take out the privileges in their hands and sell all the land that had sold their land lease rights and was abandoned and uncultivated as reclaimable land (land that could be cultivated but had a very low return) to the wealthy men and lords, and asked them to hire people to cultivate it to ensure that they could complete the grain ration issued by the imperial court. Those gatekeeper tycoons had no trouble getting their coveted land at a very low price. ”

This situation had already started a few years earlier, but the imperial court acquiesced in order to allow all the land to produce food and to take care of the practical difficulties of the local government offices. But this year, that's all the rage. In some places, the wealthy and the government officials colluded with each other to seize the land in the hands of the peasants, and in some places, the local officials even bought the land in the hands of the peasants in the name of the government, so as to increase the number of jobs and seek personal benefits for themselves and their subordinates. Li Wei looked at Xu Rong, Yang Biao and others, and shook his head again and again,

"That's the status quo. Do you want to limit the land and impose rent? Do you want to pay heavy taxes on business? Do you want to increase the price of grain immediately? Yang Biao sighed bitterly,

"Zhong Yuan, I know that it is difficult for you to be the prime minister, but you don't want to fight the princes and nobles and the rich men in order to ensure the interests of the farmers, especially this land restriction and rent also involves the interests of the military meritorious class." Yang Biao glanced at Zhang Yan, who had a cold look on her face, and then said,

During the reign of Emperor Xiaoai, Prime Minister Kong Guang, together with his ministers Shi Dan and He Wu, proposed a policy of limiting land and limiting slaves, which stipulated that princes and kings, liehous, princesses, Guannei marquis, officials (officials), and people (ordinary wealthy and merchants) should not occupy more than 30 hectares of land. This motion met with fierce opposition from all sides of the DPRK and the Central Committee, and had to be shelved. ”

"From our point of view, Kong Guang's 30 hectares of land limit is still quite relaxed, but if you look at the "Two-Year Decree" promulgated in the second year of the Later Lu Dynasty (18 BC) based on the level of military merit and other statuses, you will know that this limit is too low. The "Two-Year Decree" promulgated in the second year of the reign of Lu is actually a famous land system, and the land that is rewarded is not returned, and it is occupied for a long time and passed down from generation to generation. It stipulates the rank of marquis, including the Marquis of Che and the Marquis of Kannai. In addition to the fiefdom, the Marquis of Che received another 105 homesteads. The Qingjue level, including the length of the Dashu to the ninth level of the left Shu, the highest level of the Dashu can receive 90 hectares of land and 90 homesteads, and the lowest Zuoshu can also receive 70 hectares of land and 70 homesteads. It can be seen from this that the amount of land restriction will harm the interests of many people, and how much resistance will he encounter? The striking surface is too large. ”

"It's the same with your land restriction rent today. The amount of land you proposed is 20 hectares, and after the end of the Central Plains War, the court rewarded the 2,000 stone officials with 15 hectares of land. In the Guanzhong War, the Luoyang War, the Western Xinjiang War, and the Yuzhou War, every time the imperial court rewarded the meritorious soldiers with a field house, if nothing else, the ordinary generals and colonels in the army now have at least 30 hectares of land. How do you say that you can get the consent of the ministers of the DPRK and China for this amount of land restriction? "The imperial court has no money, so it can only reward the land to the military meritorious, just as the population has plummeted, and there is a lot of barren land, so since the end of the Central Plains War, the imperial court also imitated the "two-year law" in the early years of the dynasty to formulate the law of reward, that is, it began with the Shang'an reform

"Nada system". The famous field system is the basis of the military merit system, and the ordinary military meritorious class quickly became rich when they had land, and the meritorious and prominent people slowly became high-ranking families.

Yang Biao, as a family of gate lords, of course would not agree to the policy of restricting land and imposing rents, but he was not good at directly opposing it, and immediately transferred the contradiction to the military meritorious class.

Zhang Yan never spoke. He and Xu Rong had already seen Li Wei's restructuring strategy, and it was very difficult to implement.

To be successful, it is necessary

"Advance is retreat, step by step", otherwise it will definitely fail. This is a pure conflict of interest, just as a buyer and seller haggle in a market, where the buyer and seller bargain until both parties make a tolerable concession and reach an acceptable price, and the transaction is successful.

Li Wei has carefully designed three restructuring plans for this purpose, and what he came up with today is the one with the highest asking price and the most demanding conditions.

"Where's the Captain? What about your opinion? Yang Biao saw that Zhang Yan didn't speak, so he simply made it clear and asked directly,

"The generals and captains of all departments fought bloodily for the prosperity of the Han Dynasty, and even died on the battlefield, for what? If the court does this, it will chill them. Before the corpse of the general is cold, the court is going to bully his widows and orphans, which is too unkind, right? ”

"For what? In order to live, in order to stop eating human flesh. Zhang Yan sneered,

"Lord Kojiyi's horse leather shroud, is it just for money? In order to make the people lose their land, be displaced, starve and cold? I believe that if Koji-sama is still alive, he will definitely support the Prime Minister's reform policy and support the imperial court's decision to limit land and impose rents. Yang Biao's smile froze, very embarrassed.

"This is just a recital of the Prime Minister, and we have to discuss it with the court, and we have to solicit the opinions of all parties, don't rush, take your time, take your time......" Xu Rong hurriedly played a round,

"What other opinions do you have on the other proposals for the restructuring policy?" Yang Biao snorted coldly, reluctant to say more.

"Lord Xun, what do you think of the policy of entering the Su Baijue?" Xu Rong smiled slightly, turned his head and asked Xun You.

"Entering Su Baijue originally began in Daqin. In the fourth year of Qin Shi Huang (143 BC), there was a great epidemic in the world. The first emperor decreed that those who donated thousands of stones to the imperial court would be worshiped by the first rank. This dynasty was first proposed by the imperial historian Chao Cuo of the Xiaowen Emperor Dynasty in order to solve the problem of land annexation. Today, the Prime Minister has re-applied this policy to curb land annexation, which is indeed a good way. ”

"But ......" Xun Yu paused for a moment and continued,

"From the perspective of suppressing business, I am opposed to letting businessmen lose Su into the government."

"Merchants seek profit, and the most deceptive to farmers is the worst. The peasants derive most of their income from millet, which they sell in order to pay their contributions. Sell to whom? Merchants. What price does the merchant take? If he wants to get money, he has to keep the price as low as possible. When the peasants were in dire need of money in the face of calamity, the merchants were even more despicable, often taking advantage of the danger of others to plunder the peasants' property at the lowest price. If the peasants have nothing to sell, they have to borrow money from them (usury), which is often the most direct reason why the peasants end up selling their sons and daughters and ruining their families. ”

"Therefore, I think Lord Chao Cuo was right back then, to let those rich people who did not have city citizenship lose to the official, and then the court rewarded the title, and the guilty can be exempted. These wealthy people who do not have a city registration generally obtain wealth by entering the government and farming, but these people have a low status, the wealth is not very large, and they have little influence in the local area, although they have grain in their homes, but because the price is too low and unprofitable, they are generally not willing to sell. If the imperial court decrees that they can use their titles and exoneration rights to buy corn, they will have a way out of the millet in their family. With a title, the status of the rich has increased, and the power is greater, so that they can annex and encroach on the interests of commerce and trade to a certain extent. ”

Compared with the merchants, these people can understand and understand the hardships of the farmers, and they also know that the existence of the farmers is the source of wealth accumulation, so they exploit the farmers better, and will not drive the farmers to a dead end. Farmers sell grain to the rich, and when they encounter calamities, they sell their property and borrow money on credit from these rich people, on the one hand, they can reduce the exploitation of the merchants, and on the other hand, they can also improve their living environment, and the merchants lose the opportunity to exploit the farmers, and the accumulation of wealth and strength will naturally gradually decline. Xu Rong, Zhang Yan and others nodded again and again.

"Lord Xun, this suggestion is good, this suggestion is good." Li Wei also praised repeatedly. There are many wealthy people in various places, and some of them also enjoy a variety of privileges of exemption from taxation and exemption from military service because of their special status, including officials above 600 stone (intermediate officials), knights and doctors above the ninth rank, and other knights.

"What about the Law of Credit and Loans?" Li Wei asked,

"Jia Wei, a money businessman, is mercenary, and he doesn't care about the life or death of the poor people. In order to stabilize the society and reassure the people, it is necessary to let the local government intervene in the matter of credit loans, so as to ensure the survival of poor farmers to the greatest extent. ”

At that time, Wang Mang implemented a new policy and implemented a "Five Equal Credit Loan Law", the purpose of which was to curb the exploitation of the people by the rich money-lending merchants, and the effect was indeed there, especially for those poor people who encountered diseases, disasters, or had no money to hold sacrifices and funerals. After all, you don't need to pay interest on credit to the government for these things, but if you don't repay the principal when it's overdue, you will be punished as a criminal, and the punishment is very severe. ”

"People take out loans on credit because they are poor, and it is difficult for them to repay this debt in a few months or even a year, so in desperation, they pay off the debt with their lives. In addition, the government was corrupt and perverted the law, and the government ruled **, which also allowed a large part of the credit loans allocated by the imperial court to go into the pockets of private individuals, and even became a weapon for the government to crack down on credit borrowers and plunder the wealth of credit borrowers. In short, the money used by the government for credit loans could not be recovered, and it was difficult to make ends meet, and it was difficult to continue, and the "Law of Credit and Loans" soon became an ornament. Li Wei's face showed displeasure,

"What does Lord Xun mean is that the "Law of Credit and Loans" that I drafted is simply an ornament?" Xun Youtan smiled lightly, his eyes full of mockery.

Li Wei couldn't stand it a little, he worked hard to write a "Law of Credit and Loans", but in Xun You's eyes, it was just a bunch of useless broken bamboo.

"Then according to Lord Xun's meaning, the imperial court should let those poor people fend for themselves?"

"In your opinion, the "Law of Credit and Loans" may be able to seize the interests of the Ziqian merchants, but in the eyes of those poor people, the government and the Ziqian merchants are also terrible cannibals. The only difference between the two is that the government is a fierce tiger, while Ziqian Shangjia is a vicious wolf. ”

"You ......" Li Wei was angry, and he wanted to fight back when he opened his mouth.

"The rule of officials, the rule of officials is fundamental." Xu Rong immediately stood up,

"Prime Minister, I think, you should think about it carefully, if the conditions are not ripe, this "Credit Law" will be put aside for the time being." Li Wei was so angry that his face was red, and he wanted to smash Xun You's old face with a punch.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the great Sima Xu Rong convened a meeting of ministers and ministers in the Qilin Hall and officially announced the restructuring. Prime Minister Li Wei explained in detail the reasons for the restructuring and came up with a strategy for the restructuring.

The controversy was very fierce from the beginning, mainly around the salt and iron official camp and the restriction of land and rent. Supporters and opponents have their own opinions and do not give in to each other.

Cui Yan, the servant of the court, angrily reprimanded Li Wei,

"The prime minister is a thief who brings disaster to the country, and he should be divided into five horses." Wei Wei Yang Feng pointed at Li Wei and shouted sharply,

"Mess with me, Li Weiye." Li Weili ignored them, argued with the opponents, and his voice was hoarse.

Zong Zhengqing, Zhang Fan, Dahonglu Yuan Yao, Shaofuqing Xu Jing, Tingweiqing Chen Qun, Guanglu Doctor Xin Ping and other ministers surrounded him, and attacked him in turn.

Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Da Sima Xu Rong hurriedly announced a suspension,

"Ministers, go back and think about it, and discuss it tomorrow." In the early morning of the ninth day of the first lunar month, hundreds of businessmen in Chang'an gathered outside the mansion of Prime Minister Li Wei, made a big noise, and smashed the door of the mansion.

Li Wei was helpless, went out of the house through the side door, and hurried to Weiyang Palace. Arguments, arguments. Forty-seven ministers jointly played the impeachment of Prime Minister Li Wei, and the momentum was astonishing.

The eldest princess was shocked, and under the escort of He Feng and two thousand soldiers, she rushed to Chang'an City overnight. On the tenth day of the first month, the eldest princess presided over the court meeting in the front hall of Weiyang Palace and officially expressed her attitude.

"If the Han wants to prosper, the national policy must be revised, there is no doubt about it."

"On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, invite a hundred ministers, Confucians, businessmen and wealthy people to gather in the Qilin Hall to discuss the grand plan of Zhongxing." In the early morning of the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Prime Minister Li Wei was assassinated on Zhichengmen Avenue.

Seven assassins roared up, and the guards were caught off guard, even counting down, but fortunately, Zhao Yun, the general of the right guard, went to court with him, otherwise the life of the prime minister would be in danger.

Zhao Yun executed three assassins in a row and escorted Li Wei into Weiyang Palace. The eldest princess was furious when she heard the news, and reprimanded Yang Feng, the captain of the guard, Yin Yupeng, the commander of the school, Zhang Liao, and the commander of Chang'an, Sun Ping, for neglecting the guards in Kyoto, and ordered the four of them to immediately find out the mastermind and punish them severely.

Jump to