History of Ancient College Entrance Examination: Qingli New Deal and Wang Anshi's Reform

In the Song Dynasty, class contradictions and ethnic contradictions became increasingly serious, and the ruling group faced a dangerous situation. Scholars feel that they must take measures to get out of trouble. As early as the early years of Song Zhenzong, in the second year of Baoyuan (1039), he was sentenced to the Song and Qi Dynasties in the same dynasty, believing that the country's lack of use was "three redundancies and three expenses". "Three redundancies" means that the country has fixed officials and unlimited staff, and the number of officials at all levels has increased five times than before; Hundreds of thousands of troops have nothing to worry about; The number of monks and nuns is increasing, but there is no limit; The "three fees" are the fasting of the Dojo, and the expenses of the hundred divisions are countless; Build more temples and disciples in the capital to increase the government's food and clothing; The minister was deposed, and he still holds the title of our minister, wasting public funds. He advocated reducing the number of officers and soldiers and saving expenses. All these are enough to show that the Song Dynasty can no longer be ruled by the old chapter with nothing to do.

Li Qing New Deal

In the third year of Li Qing (1043), Song Renzong politically appointed Fan Zhongyan as a counselor, and appointed Fu Bi and Han Qi as Tang envoys, instructing them to do all kinds of urgent affairs in this world, with a view to "peace of mind". Fan Zhongyan, in Answer to Ten Things of Chen, thought that the central problem at that time was to rectify the official management. They suggested that there are too many officials at home and abroad, and those who are old, weak, sick, corrupt and incompetent should be laid off. Song Renzong adopted these opinions and issued several imperial edicts in succession, stipulating: ① Reform the grinding method of seniority promotion of civil servants every three years. Pay attention to promoting officials with practical merits, kindness, talent and conduct, and eliminate incompetent and on-the-job criminals such as old diseases and ignorance. (2) Strict "grace" system. Restrict the privileges of middle and senior officials and prevent relatives of powerful children from monopolizing official positions. ③ Reform the tribute system. In order to establish schools in counties, scholars must study in schools for a period of time before they are allowed to do so. Change the old system of selecting scholars only by poetry and calligraphy, and pay attention to planning and character. (4) Carefully select local officials. The chief executive of each state is carefully selected by Zhongshu and Privy Council, and the chief executive of each state is carefully selected by the chief executive of each county, and the chief executive of each county makes up the difference first. ⑤ Improve the occupational field law. Re-stipulate that officials should give a certain number of professional fields according to their grades, so as to "blame them for being clean and honest" and prevent bribery and bending the law. ⑥ "Reduce corvee". Five counties in Xijing Henan Province (now Luoyang East, Henan Province) were withdrawn as towns, and Wuwang County (now Jiyuan West, Henan Province) was merged into Henan Province to streamline the rural labor force. Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi also put forward some suggestions, such as "cultivating mulberry intensively" and "repairing military equipment", but none of them were implemented.

Fan Zhongyan's policy was promulgated in the whole country in the same year and the first half of the following year, which was called the Qingli New Deal. Because these laws violated the interests of nobles and bureaucrats, they were strongly opposed in the process of implementation. The opposition falsely accused Fan Zhongyan and others of being cronies. At the beginning of the fifth year of Li Qing, Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu and others were successively dismissed from office, and their New Deal was only implemented for a year and a few months before it died. The New Deal failed, but social contradictions did not ease, and the financial crisis became more serious. In this case, the voice of scholar-officials demanding reform is getting louder and louder.

In the fourth year of Jiayou (1059), Wang Anshi, the judge of the Third Division, wrote a book "Shuowen", asking for training talents to reform the current statutes. He pointed out that the country was poor in financial resources and customs declined because it did not conform to the laws of the former king's government. But to "change things, change the world, in line with the wishes of the former king", there is a lack of talent. Talent has become the top priority. He advocates "cultivating" talents from four aspects: teaching, nurturing, taking and using, so that "those in power can get their talents", and then "changing the evil laws in the world according to the situation because of people's suffering, so as to become the first king" He also pointed out that the chaos of Han, Tang and Five Dynasties and the disaster of Emperor Wu of Jin all originated from the lack of talents. "Quotations" also pointed out that the financial embarrassment at that time was by no means because officials were redundant and their salaries were too high. The key is improper financial management, which can not meet the needs of the world. If you can manage your finances properly, even if you increase the salary of officials, it will not affect the state's funds. Therefore, he advocated that "the wealth of the world is born because of the power of the world, at the expense of the wealth of the world." Yan's Book was praised by many scholars, but it was not adopted by Song Renzong.

Later Sima Guang, Su Zhe, Su Shi, etc. He also wrote many articles and put forward the viewpoint of "considering matters and making profit and loss changes". Sima guang's reform proposition is mainly to reduce the imperial army and improve the choice; Teach students in accordance with their aptitude, so that officials can stay in office for a long time; Reduce redundant expenses and save expenses; Being good at managing money, maintaining financial resources, making "farmers do their best", "workers have skills" and "businessmen are in circulation" can all be happy and prosperous, and then "pay enough". He also pointed out: "Stealing security from top to bottom is not a long-term solution, it is the biggest disaster for the country." Su Shi also put forward political, economic and military reform ideas such as "teaching hundreds of officials", "reassuring the people", "enriching the people" and "training troops". Under the circumstances that the people are in poverty, the government warehouse is empty, and social crisis is everywhere, the literati "argue the cheap words and change the old system." It is inevitable to change course.

Wang Anshi's reform

In the first month of the fourth year of Zhiping (1067), Song Shenzong Zhao Yong ascended the throne. Zongshen is determined to innovate. In April of the first year of Xining (1068), Wang Anshi was called to Beijing as a bachelor and lecturer of Hanlin, and was promoted to participate in politics in February of the following year. Zongshen wholeheartedly relied on Wang Anshi's political reform and reform, established a system, enriched Qiang Bing and changed the status quo of poverty and weakness. At that time, Wang Anshi had become a popular figure, and most scholars thought that as long as Wang Anshi came to power, "it would be peaceful and the people would be salty."

Wang Anshi argued that in order to change the poverty situation of the country, we must adopt the financial management policy of "the people don't give money, but the country saves money". On the one hand, it "sabotaged the merger" and collected part of the exploitation income of big businessmen, bureaucrats and landlords into the court; on the other hand, it fostered "peasants" (the middle and lower classes of landlords and yeomen), reduced the number of bureaucrats, built irrigation and water conservancy projects, developed production and prevented the rise of peasant uprisings. To this end, Wang Anshi established a new institution to guide the reform-the third division of laws and regulations. After the abolition of the Department of Laws and Regulations, Sinong Temple presided over most of the political reform affairs. Lv Huiqing, Ceng Bu and other countries participated in the drafting of the new law. Since then, they have successively formulated "new laws" such as equal damage, young crops, farmland water conservancy, raising services, easy market, exemption from travel, land tax equalization, generals, armor protection, and horse protection. Each road was set up to publicize Changping officials and urge counties to implement the new law. These new laws can be roughly divided into several aspects according to their contents and functions:

The policies to supply national needs and restrict businessmen are mainly equal loss method, market exchange method and exemption method.

Equal loss method

Since the early Song Dynasty, in order to supply the consumption of the royal family, officials and troops in Beijing, shippers have been set up in Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Jinghu and Huainan to supervise and transport the "supplied" materials all over the country. Shipment is only done according to the regulations, completely in accordance with the annual quota. We dare not ship more in good years, but we can't ship less in bad years. We often have to pay a lot of freight to transport some extra items, so we have to sell them at half price in Beijing. The company often hides its wealth and refuses to declare it to the court truthfully. Instead, they pay double taxes in the name of transfer and change. The imperial court always extorts materials regardless of the place of origin and season. These practices facilitated wealthy businessmen like dajia to hoard and control the market, while the people were burdened with taxes and the court was in a hurry to use money.

? In July of the second year of Xining, the loss sharing law of Huai, Zhejiang, Jiang and Hu was promulgated. Take Xiang Xue as the six-way maritime ambassador, set up a butler, and implement this law. The court appropriated 5 million yuan from the state treasury, with a working capital of 3 million stone. Shipment enables us to grasp the financial situation of Route 6, consider the variety, quantity, inventory and annual capital demand of the materials to be supplied by Route 6 every year, and then, according to the principle of "moving expensive is cheap, using near is convenient", "storing and buying is easy to change" and storing it for later use to save the price and labor cost of transshipment. Wang Anshi tried to adjust the relationship between supply and demand through the imperial court, so that "the country is used, and the people are not short of money." Starting from increasing the "national use" of the Song Dynasty, the equal loss method changed the old system to a certain extent, increased the power of financial officials, grabbed part of the interests of wealthy businessmen, and at the same time slightly reduced many additional burdens of taxpayers.

Yi Shi Football Association

In March of the fifth year of Xining, the Municipal Easy Law was promulgated. Prior to this, Wang Shao, the manager of GouQin Feng Road, had set up a company in ancient Weicheng (later renamed Tongyuan County, now Longxi, Gansu Province) and borrowed official money for this purpose, earning about 100,000 to 200,000 a year. Wei Jizong, another civilian, wrote a letter proposing to set up Changping Yi Shi in Kaifeng to manage the capital market. If the price is low, it will be bought at a slightly higher price, and if the price is high, it will be sold at a slightly lower price, so that the government can grasp the "switching power of the company" and achieve the purpose of "connecting business with business" and "meeting the needs of the country". On this basis, Zhongshu formulated the market exchange law, set up a market exchange office in Kaifeng, and controlled commerce with the national treasury1870,000 yuan. E-commerce determines prices according to market conditions, buys unsalable goods and sells them when the market needs them. Vendors borrow money from e-commerce, with the industry as collateral, and more than five people guarantee each other, with an annual interest of two points and a half-year commitment of one point. Vendors who buy goods on credit in bulk from e-commerce can also get an annual interest of two cents. Later, e-commerce was established in dozens of important cities such as Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Yangzhou and Runzhou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), and Kaifeng e-commerce was promoted to be the e-commerce corporation. The market change law has played a role in limiting the monopoly of the market by big businessmen, and also increased the financial income of the court.

Tax exemption method

In July of the sixth year of Xining, the exemption law was officially promulgated. Shops from all walks of life in Kaifeng used to undertake the task of supplying goods needed by the government, and were often forced to buy goods for the government at high prices, so "anyone who corrects himself will be sued." At that time, the butcher Xu Zhongzheng and others first proposed to pay the government "the money for exemption from service" and "not to provide meat for all localities". Song Shenzong ordered Lv Jia in Beijing to consult with the secretary of Kaifeng House, investigate the interests of all walks of life, set up a detailed department to determine the interests of households, and make laws. According to the exemption law, shops in all walks of life pay the exemption amount to e-commerce every month according to their profits, and no longer supply physical objects or manpower to the government in turn. Since then, the court has bought and sold goods through grocery stores and miscellaneous purchases, and set up a municipal department to evaluate prices.

Policies to adjust the relationship between feudal countries, landlords and farmers and measures to develop agricultural production include young crops law, conscription law, land tax law and farmland water conservancy law.

Young crop method

In September of the second year of Xining, the Law Department of the Third Manufacturing Company promulgated the Young Crop Law. In Song Renzong, when the local people were short of food and money due to transshipment in Shaanxi, Shen Li asked them to estimate the grain and wheat output of that year, borrow money from the government first, and then return it to the government when the grain was ripe, which was called "young crop money". After a few years, there is often a surplus of rations. Based on this experience, Wang Anshi and Lv Huiqing formulated the Young Crop Law. It is stipulated that the grain stored in Changping and Guanghui warehouses of all roads shall be more than 15 million mangokus. When the food price is high, it is sold at a price lower than the market price, and when the food price is low, it is purchased at a price higher than the market price. According to Shaanxi Young Crop Money Law, the accumulated cash is divided into two periods each year, namely, the first month and May when sowing is needed and summer and autumn are immature. Farmers voluntarily borrow funds and materials from the government, and every five or ten households form a guarantee, and households above the third class act as the "first head". When a customer borrows money, he must cooperate with the principal. In Hebei Road, the loan limit is 500 yuan for each customer and fifth-class households, three for fourth-class households, six for third-class households, ten for second-class households and fifteen for first-class households. If there is surplus in the county, third-class households and above are allowed to borrow. If there is any surplus, we will lend it to the family of the country with property to buy, and the loan will be converted at a moderate grain price. After the harvest, with the summer and autumn tax, we will raise interest rates by two-tenths or three-tenths to return food or cash. If the disaster damage reaches more than five points, it is allowed to postpone the return. First, extension officials will be assigned to Hebei, JD.COM and Huainan for trial implementation, and then they will be implemented on every road.

The purpose of implementing the young crops law is to prevent farmers from being exploited by usurers of the "merger house" at inappropriate times, so that farmers can "keep pace with the times". Compared with the usurer's double interest, the young crop method gets two or three points, which should be said to be relatively light. Young crops law restricts the activities of usurers, and the court also gets a lot of interest from it.

Financing mode

In the first month of the fourth year of Xining, the conscription law (exemption from service law) drafted by Sinong Temple was first tried out in Kaifeng. In the same year 10, it was promulgated and implemented nationwide. According to the exemption law, the original method of taking turns as an official of the state and county governments such as Yaqian (see official service) was abolished, and the state and county governments paid for it. States and counties expect that the annual employment expenses will be shared by families according to their level. Third-class households pay service money in eight grades, which is paid together with summer and autumn taxes, and is called service-free money. Official families, female families, Buddhist monks, undecided families, Chinese families, etc. Those who did not undertake the obligation originally should pay the service fee according to half of the quota, which is called the service fee. State and county officials are complicated and simple according to local official service, and the number is fixed for local expenses; In addition to the quota, two-tenths of the rest of the money is called exemption from service, and all localities are reserved for famine years. When all the money is exempted from the "service charge", it will be regarded as a charge. The law of supporting service makes rural residents who used to serve in turn return to their hometowns to farm, and farmers who used to enjoy the privilege of exemption from service have to pay service money, which increases the government's income.

Square field average tax law

In August of the fifth year of Xining, Sinong Temple formulated the Treaty of Land Tax Equalization and promulgated the Model. Bureaucratic landlords endlessly annex land, conceal land property and population, and middle-and lower-class families in rural areas sell land, but they still bear heavy taxes. Uneven land production and false taxation have always been serious problems. The arable land equalization method is divided into two parts: arable land equalization and tax equalization. County officials are required to measure land in September every year, with thousands of steps in the southeast, northwest and northwest as a "square", accounting for more than 4 1 hectare. According to Fang and Zhuang's account books, the land is measured and fertilized, divided into five grades, and the tax amount is stipulated. After the survey is completed, it will be announced to the public in March of the following year, and four kinds of land hukou posts of zhangfang, Zhang Zhuang, Jia Tie and Hu Tie will be distributed as "land symbols". The division of property, the sale and division of land are all based on the field now measured, registered by the government and issued with title deeds. Anyone who cheats in the name of the tenant will be consolidated and corrected. At the same time, the counties take the original tax amount as the quota, and it is forbidden to use rounding to zero and other means to exceed this amount. The wasteland belongs to the farm house and does not need to be traced. On barren land, it is allowed to occupy the seeds of tenant farmers. After the promulgation of "Treaty" and "Style", Wang Man, Taiwei of Juye County, Jeju, was appointed as the instructor, which was first implemented in JD.COM Road and then promoted in various roads. By the eighth year of Yuanfeng (1085), there were more than 2.4 million hectares of land in Kaifeng, JD.COM, Shaanxi, Hebei, Hedong and other places. Those who had been in the country accounted for more than half of the taxable land in China, which made the tax burden conform to the actual situation of land occupation and ensured the government's land tax revenue.

Farmland water conservancy law

In November of the second year of Xining, the Law Department of the Ministry of Industry promulgated the Treaty on the Rights and Interests of Farmland and Water Conservancy. This is an important measure for Wang Anshi to advocate "controlling water and soil" to develop agriculture and increase social wealth. The treaty encourages all localities to reclaim wasteland, build water conservancy and build dikes, and the beneficiary households will invest in the project according to their grades. If the project is huge and the people's strength is insufficient, the government can borrow money according to the young crops law. If the government is short of money, state and county officials persuade the rich room to pay, calculate interest according to the law, and the government will set up a book to urge repayment. The reformists have widely absorbed suggestions on developing production. Small officials, vendors, farmers, servants and even criminals with low social status can go directly to Tokyo to make suggestions as long as they can stress water conservancy and benefit agriculture. There are achievements in building water conservancy projects, but also official awards. Under Wang Anshi's advocacy, an upsurge of "four parties vying for farmland water conservancy" was formed for a while. Seven years after the implementation of this new law, according to statistics, there are water conservancy projects 10793, more than 360,000 hectares of water conservancy fields and countless dredging branches. Mulan North, Putian, Fujian, was finally completed during this period, and more than 10,000 hectares were irrigated. Thirty-six pits in Tianchang County, Yangzhou (now Jiangsu Province) and Sanhenggou in Linhuan County, Suzhou (now west of Su County, Anhui Province) also irrigated 9,000 hectares after completion. At this time, while harnessing the Yellow River, Zhanghe River and other rivers in the north, a large number of "silt fields" were deposited on both sides of several rivers and canals, turning barren land into fertile fields.

Measures to consolidate the feudal ruling order, rectify and strengthen the army include Sun Tzu's Art of War, Armor Law, Horse Protection Law and the establishment of military equipment supervision.

The general art of war

As a "Qiang Bing" measure, on the one hand, Wang Anshi streamlined the army, eliminated the old and the weak, and merged the barracks, on the other hand, he also practiced the art of war. Since the seventh year of Xining, more than 100 generals have been set up in various roads in the north, one for each general, and military attaché s with higher martial arts and more combat experience have been selected for training. In the fourth year of Yuanfeng, thirteen generals of Huaidong, Huaixi, Zhexi and Dong Zhe were established in the southeast. The "general" has become the basic unit of the military establishment, and will be composed of lieutenants, generals and team commanders. The implementation of Sun Tzu's art of war will enable soldiers to know their generals and practice their soldiers, thus improving the combat effectiveness of the army.

Jiabao method

In the third year of Xining, Sinong Temple formulated the Jiabao system of Jixian County and promulgated it. Rural households everywhere, regardless of the main household or the customer, have one guarantee for every ten (later changed to five), five guarantees and one guarantee, and ten guarantees and one guarantee. Where there are more than two people at home, one person will protect Ding. Among the main households, people with "the highest material resources" and "talented and hardworking" are selected as Changbao, Dachangbao and Du Baozheng. During the slack season, gather for military training in Baoding; Patrol in turn at night to maintain law and order. The Garbo Law was subsequently introduced to all walks of life in the country. Jiabao originally belonged to Sinong Temple, and it was changed to Ministry of War in Xining eight years. In the second year, Ding Bao received military training in military law, and two major insurance companies organized a team of 50 people. This year, there were more than 7180,000 volunteers and Jiabao militia, including 6.93 million Jiabao militia. Wang Anshi organized Jiabao to train Baoding for two purposes: First, to enable able-bodied men all over the country to receive military training, join forces with regular troops, and save a lot of national military expenditure. With the increase of age, the Garbo militia can replace most of the troops. The second is to establish a strict public security network and organize the people of the whole country according to the Garbo religion to stabilize the feudal order.

In addition, reformers such as Wang Anshi also reformed the imperial examination system and reorganized schools at all levels. Wang Anshi's political reform aims at "enriching Qiang Bing". It took nearly fifteen years from the implementation of the new law to its abolition by the imperial army. During this period, after the implementation of each new law, although some disadvantages inevitably occurred, some changed their original intentions because of the reformists, and some deviated from the implementation of the new law, they basically achieved the expected results, restricted the activities of the merger and usury of the tyrannical powers, reduced some privileges of middle and superior officials and the royal family, and alleviated some servants and tax burdens of rural landlords and farmers. The same is true in feudal countries. At that time, the money accumulated in the warehouses inside and outside the imperial court was "all filled".

The new law has more or less infringed on the interests of middle and senior officials, royalty, tycoons and usurers. Therefore, in the process of implementing every new law, they are always obstructed and opposed. They used every opportunity inside and outside North Korea to create troubles, spread rumors and make waves, forcing the new law to be implemented in a very difficult environment.

The new law aimed at "enriching Qiang Bing" and launched an attack on Xixia in the northwest frontier. In the sixth year of Xining, the strategy of persuasion and suppression was adopted, and the Tibetan tribes lived in (now Lintao, Gansu) and Hehe (now northeast Linxia, Gansu) States were occupied. In Yuanfeng in 1945 after Wang Anshi's Rebellion, Song Shenzong launched two more attacks on Xixia. Song Jun Xixia failed to attack Xiping Prefecture (now southwest of Lingwu, Ningxia) for the first time; In the second battle of Yongle City (now northwest of Mizhi, Shaanxi Province), Song Jun was defeated and more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians lost their lives.