The famous Xining political reform in history ended in failure, and both Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi were responsible. Song Shenzong is too eager for success. Wang Anshi is too opinionated to go his own way. However, there is nothing wrong with these new laws themselves. They are all out of good wishes and even considerate of farmers. This kind of political reform should not be the result.
one
Let's talk about the young crops method.
In all fairness, the Young Crop Law should be one of the new laws that can best take into account the interests of the country and the people. We know that in a year, the most bitter thing for farmers is spring. At that time, the autumn grain had been eaten and the summer grain had not been harvested, which was the so-called "green and yellow". But from another angle, farmers actually have money and food at this time. This kind of "money and grain" is a young crop in the field, but it cannot be "cashed". So those wealthy families who have money and food lend money to farmers at this time, and agree to raise interest rates to repay them when summer and autumn crops are mature. Of course, the interest is high, and it is usury. Paying back money and grain is generally not a problem, because it is a kind of "mortgage loan" with young crops in the land as a guarantee. Of course, if there is a natural disaster and crops are not harvested, farmers will have to sell their land. Land annexation thus came into being.
To put it bluntly, the so-called "young crops law" means that the state issues such "mortgage loans" instead of rich households, that is, when young crops are not occupied every year, the government lends money to farmers and returns them with interest after the autumn. Interest set is naturally lower than that of well-off households. The advantage of this is that it can "eliminate mergers and help the poor", which not only eliminates the usury exploitation of farmers, but also increases the national fiscal revenue. This is of course the best of both worlds. At least, in Wang Anshi's view, it is better for farmers to borrow from the government than from landlords (reliable and less exploited); It is better for farmers to repay their loans to the government than to the landlords. Back to the landlord, fat and private; Give it back to the government, rich country. Isn't it a good idea for the state to increase income without increasing the burden on farmers?
The funds needed to implement the young crops law are not a problem. Because there are often closed positions and wide positions everywhere. As we know, the agricultural empire is based on agriculture, with grain as the key link, and agricultural production depends on the weather, and the annual harvest is different. In good years, poor grain hurts farmers, and in bad years, poor grain hurts people, all by the government to stabilize prices. In other words, the government must take out a sum of money to buy grain at a low price, deposit it in the official grain depot, and then sell it to the people at a low price when the grain is expensive in the disaster year. This can prevent wealthy profiteers from hoarding and speculating. "Prices are always flat, and public and private benefits." This method is called Changping method; A warehouse dedicated to storing grain and stabilizing prices is called continuous liquidation. In modern times, it belongs to the head of the grain department and the price department.
As for Guanghui Warehouse, it is the national grain reserve for disaster prevention and relief, which was built in the second year of Song Renzong Jiayou (AD 1057). At that time, due to the death of landlords and other reasons, some ownerless land appeared in various places. These lands have always been sold by the government itself. Han Qi, an envoy of the Tang Dynasty, suggested that the land should be cultivated by the government, and the land rent should be earmarked for the relief of the elderly, the sick and the disabled in China. This is Guanghui Warehouse. In modern times, it belongs to the head of the civil affairs department.
Wang Anshi's method is to change the "Changping method" to the "young crop method", that is, in the case that the money is not paid, the money from selling old rice in Changping warehouse and Guanghui warehouse is used as a "mortgage loan". This is also killing two birds with one stone. When green and yellow crops don't meet, food prices soar, and selling Chen Gu in the warehouse can stabilize prices. The proceeds from grain sales can be used for loans, and secondly; Cheap food and mortgage loans can help farmers, third; This is the fourth country that can get interest. Of course, it is also one of the benefits to curb profiteers and the rich and reduce the burden on farmers. In short, the interest on young crops loans is low and farmers can afford it; The old grain sold in the warehouse is not a heavy burden for the country. Besides, the government lending surplus grain can solve the urgent needs of farmers; Recovering interest after autumn can increase the capital of the dynasty treasury. Isn't this public and private? No wonder Wang Anshi boasted that I can increase the revenue of the state treasury without raising taxes ("the people don't raise taxes, and the country uses enough").
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However, the result of actual operation is extremely terrible.
First of all, the interest is not low. Wang Anshi's standard is an annual interest rate of two cents, that is, a loan of 10 thousand, a loan period of one year, and interest of two thousand. This is actually very high, and prices have to be raised everywhere. The local practice is to issue a loan once in the spring and recover it after half a year, with a profit of two points. In the autumn, another loan was issued, which was recovered after half a year, and then the interest was divided into two points. As a result, the loan was 10 thousand, with a term of one year and interest of 4 thousand. Low-interest loans, which should fully consider the interests of farmers, have become a kind of usury monopolized by the government. And because of the different implementation, the interest rate in some places is as high as 35 times that of the original set!
Not to mention the high interest rate, the procedure is still troublesome. In the past, farmers borrowed money from landlords, and the two sides agreed on the price. To borrow money from the government now, you have to apply first, then examine and approve, and finally repay the loan. All formalities need people to entrust them with "benefits" for small officials. Every time I go through a procedure, I am exploited and blackmailed by corrupt officials. This is still a simple procedure. If it's a little cumbersome, I don't even know how to pay! How much hair can farmers bear their pull?
What is even more frightening is that in order to implement the New Deal, Wang Anshi issued loan indicators to all parts of the country, stipulating how much each state and county must borrow each year. In this way, local officials have to apportion it rigidly. Of course, at the same time of apportioning at different levels, we also increase the price as usual. As a result, not only the poor peasants go down to the middle peasants, but also the rich peasants, rich peasants and landlords have to be "ordered to lend". It is impossible not to lend because the loan has been "legislated". It is illegal not to borrow!
As a result, the burden on ordinary people increased and the income of local officials increased. Moreover, their rent-seeking has another banner, which can be corrupted in the name of reform. Reform contributed to corruption, which was probably unexpected by Wang Anshi, right?
Therefore, don't think that corrupt officials are afraid of political reform. No, they are not afraid of political reform or not changing the law. They are afraid that nothing will happen, nothing will be done, nothing will be done. If they do nothing, they have no reason and no way to make money. On the contrary, as long as the court has an action, they have a way, and they don't care whether it is political reform or something else. For example, if the court wants to recruit soldiers, it will collect conscription fees; To run a school, they charge tuition; If they want to suppress bandits, they will be charged a fee. Anyway, as long as the above command, they will take the opportunity to pull the goose!
Besides, the direct purpose of this reform is to increase the national fiscal revenue. At best, such reform is called financial management, at worst, it can only be called convergence. We know that the gross national product was basically a constant under the conditions at that time. Wealth lies not in the country, but in the people. There is more money in the state treasury, but less money for ordinary people. After the political reform, 32 newly-built warehouses in Zongshen Inner Hall were full of silks and satins and had to be rebuilt. But where did this wealth come from? Did it fall from the sky? Does it grow from the ground? Obviously not. As Sima Guang said, "If you don't take the people, how can you take them?" ?
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the so-called conservatives disapprove of the urgent implementation of this new law. According to "History of Song Dynasty", at the beginning of the reform, Sima Guang clearly pointed out to Zongshen that "the country is under-used, the expenditure is too extravagant, the reward is not festival, the royal family is numerous, the official position is redundant, and the army is not refined." Obviously, these are political issues, not economic issues or technical issues. Therefore, reform must be a systematic project, of course, we can only take a long-term view. No wonder Sima Guang said that Your Majesty, the ministers of the two dynasties and the officials of the three ministries must think deeply about the art of saving the disadvantages, and it will only be effective after a long period of time, which cannot be reduced overnight by a foolish minister. Is there any reason why a brave man like Wang Anshi can't fail?
three
The original intention of Wang Anshi's many new laws is "both public and private". This is the case with the young crop method, as well as the simple market method and the equal loss method. In the fifth year of Xining (A.D. 1072), a civilian named Wei Jizong wrote that the prices of Shi Jing department stores are unpredictable, rich profiteers take the opportunity to control them, and profiteers run rampant, and the victims are naturally ordinary people. Therefore, he suggested setting up "Changping Yi Shi" to manage the market. Buy at a higher price when the price is low, and sell at a lower price when the price is high. This is the reason why cities change laws. The specific method is that the court allocates one million yuan to set up a "Yi Shi Company" to control commercial trade. This method, like Changping Law, also uses state power to stabilize prices. Of course, "Yi Shi Company" does not specialize in losing money, but it also makes profits, but it is not profiteering. For example, a rich profiteer buys a penny and sells it, while "Yi Shi" buys a penny and sells it. Although the profit is not too much, it can also fill the national treasury. Coupled with the government's deep pockets and market control, price fluctuations will not be too great.
The purpose of the lose-lose method is also good. We know that during the dynasty, local governments sent property to the central government every year for the necessary needs of the country, which is called "loss". Of course, the variety and quantity of transportation have certain rules. This has disadvantages. For example, in the same place, sometimes the years are good and sometimes the years are not good; The same thing is expensive in some places and not expensive in some places. This is normal. However, according to the old method, it is not allowed to change the variety and quantity of transportation in good years and bad years, which is of course unreasonable. Wang Anshi's method is to change "shipping" into "lose-lose", that is, to allocate 5 million yuan (plus 3 million stone meters) as the basis, and the "shipping envoys" appointed by the court will co-ordinate the supply of goods, so as to "move expensive and easy to approach, that is, buy things in cheap places". The surplus materials in the national treasury are sold to high-priced areas by "shippers". In this way, there will be a price difference between the two ends, and the extra money will become another income of the state finance.
This method can also be said to change "local tribute" into "central procurement", and the concept is advanced enough. But in this way, the so-called "shipping government" has become the largest state-owned enterprise and a monopoly enterprise. In fact, the problem of young crops is also here. Young crops method is yamen or bank, and market change method is yamen, shop or bank. Because "Yi Shi Company" not only does business, but also lends money. Businessmen can use their property as collateral, and five people can guarantee each other, with an annual interest of two cents, and borrow money or handle things from Yi Shi Company. Therefore, the government offices in Yi Shi and Shipment and the state and county governments that issue young crops loans are both government offices and enterprises (companies or banks).
Now, almost everyone in China knows what will happen if government departments run enterprises. What's more, Wang Anshi's method is not that government departments run enterprises, but that the government does business directly. The result can only be to open the door for corruption. Su Shi, who was promoted as an agent in Kaifeng at that time, said that there were many disadvantages in the lose-lose approach, and "books are too expensive" was one of them; "If it is not good, it will not be sold. If it is not a bribe, it will not be sold." This is the second one. Therefore, the "official price" must be expensive for the people. And selling it, the disadvantages are not as good as before. " Therefore, he asserted that the imperial court was afraid that even the capital could not be recovered! Even if it is "thin", it will not be more than taxing businessmen.
There is no doubt about it. Because we know better than anyone what "officials fall off the horse" is, we all know what official (government or state-owned enterprises) procurement is. That's really not the right one. Just buy expensive ones, not brands (not bad ones), not kickbacks (not bribes). So it is not surprising that official procurement is more expensive than private procurement. As for official business, it is even more harmful. In fact, the so-called "Yi Shi Company" later became the biggest profiteer. Their task, originally to buy unsalable goods, is actually to snap up tight materials. Because only in this way can they achieve the profit targets issued by the court, and they can also profit from them and enrich themselves. Obviously, at this point, the so-called "conservatives" are actually right: commercial trade can only be a private matter. Officials and businessmen are bound to bring disaster to the country and the people.
Enlightenment of Wang Anshi's political reform: what is the change of weather to restrict power? 2065438+August 20th 00 10:54 Printed in study times * * * There are 14 comments.
Core Tip: "Weather is not enough to be feared, ancestors are not enough to learn the law, and human words are not enough to be compassionate" is the famous slogan of "Three Shortcomings" put forward by Wang Anshi during the political reform in northern Song Shenzong. Over the years, this slogan has been praised as a spiritual representative of courage and continuous innovation. But if you think about it carefully, combined with the specific social and historical background of Wang Anshi's political reform at that time, this slogan is not without deliberation.
This article is taken from the 9th edition of study times 20 10 on July 26th. Author: Zhang Jianfeng, original title: Is it enough to be afraid of changes in the sky?
"Weather is not enough to be feared, ancestors are not enough to learn the law, and people's words are not enough to be compassionate" is the famous slogan of "three deficiencies" put forward by Wang Anshi during the political reform in the north. Over the years, this slogan has been praised as a spiritual representative of courage and continuous innovation. But if you think about it carefully, combined with the specific social and historical background of Wang Anshi's political reform at that time, this slogan is not without deliberation.
From the point of view of pure natural science, natural change is of course fearless (fearless here is the theory of the interaction between man and nature, not to say that there is no need to protect the environment and resist natural disasters). However, if we look at the background of ancient China society, it is worth considering that the weather has become insufficient. The so-called reverence for nature comes from the theory of "the connection between man and nature" put forward by Dong Zhongshu in the Western Han Dynasty. He believes that heaven and people are interlinked and interactive, and that heaven can interfere with personnel and people can interact with heaven. Dong Zhongshu regards heaven as the supreme personality god, and thinks that the son of heaven is against God's will, unkind and unjust, and there will be disaster in heaven to condemn and warn, so the son of heaven should fear and turn to benevolence and righteousness; If the government is reasonable and the people are peaceful, God will send auspicious signs to encourage them. This theory seems to be purely feudal superstition, but it is of great significance. In the world, imperial power is supreme, and no one or power can restrain it. So who can restrict the "son of heaven"? Only "days". And how does "heaven" convey its will? Only through "heaven and man induction". However, "Tian" can't speak human words, and can only express his views through some astronomical changes such as thunder, earthquake and solar eclipse, so someone must translate and interpret it. who the hell are all these people？ It is the literati class.
In this way, the situation is clear. On the surface, it is feudal superstition, but in essence it is a "killer" used by literati to legally restrict imperial power. In the feudal society of China for more than two thousand years, whenever the weather changes, such as solar eclipse, earthquake, fire and water disasters, etc. Scholars often use topics to talk about things in books and criticize the current shortcomings. Emperors who are usually furious at this audacious "anti-Dragon Forest" behavior often have to put down their airs and bow their heads to admit their mistakes in the face of sudden changes. Although mutation did not always happen when the emperor was headstrong, and the literati's interpretation of mutation did not always play a positive role, it was a rare means to restrict imperial power, which had important positive significance in ancient China society where imperial power was dominant.
Wang Anshi's slogan of "three shortages" fundamentally overthrew this restriction mechanism. I want to ask, if the weather is not enough to fear, ancestors are not enough, and people are not enough, what else in the world can bind the emperor? No wonder Fu Bi, the prime minister of the Three Dynasties who actively supported Fan Zhongyan's political reform, was greatly shocked when he heard this, saying, "If people are afraid of heaven, they will do nothing!"
Modern political theory tells us that unconstrained power is extremely dangerous. With absolute power, the temptation to abuse power is almost unstoppable. Wang Anshi's political reform encountered such a situation.
With the slogan of "Three Shortcomings" abolishing all restrictions on imperial power, Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi "kept abreast", and Wang Anshi gained almost unrestricted power in the first few years of the political reform. Wang Anshi, known as "quarrelsome xianggong" by nature, has a sincere heart to reform and strengthen the country, but he can't escape the temptation of absolute power.
The first manifestation of his abuse of power is that he hastily introduced a new law and enforced it without careful consideration and trial verification. In the short five years from the second year of Xining (1069) to the seventh year of Xining (1074), Wang Anshi promulgated more than a dozen new laws, many of which were promulgated at the early stage of the reform. We should know that many of the new laws promoted by Wang Anshi are not tinkering with the old system, but major adjustments to the whole national system (especially in the economic field), and some of them are even pioneering works never seen in the whole feudal society of China. It cannot be said that such a major reform was put forward and promulgated in a few months. At the beginning of the political reform, Wang Anshi had some tentative arrangements, but he was soon overthrown by himself. This brought the problems that could have been found and corrected in the trial stage to the whole country, which caused serious consequences and had a great impact on the failure of Wang Anshi's political reform.
Another manifestation of Wang Anshi's abuse of power, which is also a manifestation of more serious consequences, is that he implemented a one-sided employment policy of obeying the promotion of the new law and opposing the dismissal of the new law. Under his rule, anyone who has expressed opinions on the new law, regardless of whether the opinions are reasonable, whether they are completely opposed to the new law, and whether they can win the new law, will be dismissed, and those who hold high the banner in favor of the new law will be promoted regardless of their motives, conduct and achievements. On the one hand, the consequence of this practice is to push almost all the famous officials in the DPRK who dare to speak to the opposite side of the new law, such as Han Qi, Fu Bi, Sima Guang, Ouyang Xiu, Wen Yanbo, Su Shi brothers, Shen Kuo and so on. Many people did not oppose the new law in an all-round way, but only put forward objective opinions on some specific issues, such as Han Qi, Su Shi and Shen Kuo. On the other hand, among the so-called supporters of the new law appointed by Wang Anshi, there are many people with ability and morality, and even speculators who try to use the new law to promote their positions and make a fortune. Although they have been promoted by advocating new laws, they are not real reformers. Once they are in high positions, they will either corrupt the people, or fight for power and profit, and even go to the opposition between the new law and Wang Anshi in order to obtain greater benefits! For example, Deng Wan, hand-picked by Wang Anshi, is a typical snob, and even said the famous saying that "a good official needs me to do it". The consequence of this employment policy is to blind Wang Anshi's eyes and ears, so that he can only hear flattery, but can't make necessary adjustments to the implementation policy of the new law according to the objective situation. Secondly, it gave many people the impression that the new party was mostly a traitor, which led to the questioning of the new law itself and ultimately led to the failure of the reform.
Wang Anshi made these mistakes of abusing power, of course, because of his personal character, but more importantly, because he mastered unconstrained power. If his power is limited, he is afraid of a little change, and he sympathizes with people's opinions, he will have to debate with the opposition when every new law is promulgated, and he will have to revise several drafts, so that unless it is perfect, it will not be promulgated, and there will definitely be many fewer loopholes in the new law. Similarly, if Wang Anshi can't promote officials at will and leave a few constructive opponents in the DPRK, such as Shi and Shen Kuo, they will immediately point out that once the new law goes wrong, it will force Wang Anshi to adjust his administration. Absolute power seems to be beneficial to Wang Anshi's implementation of the new law, but in the end it hurts the new law and An Shi!
The experience and lessons of Wang Anshi's political reform still have great reference significance for our reform today. After more than 30 years of reform and opening up, the complexity and comprehensiveness of reform policies are increasing day by day, which requires the government to consider more thoroughly and comprehensively when implementing reforms and policies, and to listen more to different opinions from all sectors of society. The slogan "I am fearless, my ancestors are not law-abiding, and people's words are terrible" can still be used as a battle horn to encourage us to boldly reform and innovate, but in the actual reform process, we should be more afraid and have compassion. Moreover, it is necessary to establish a mechanism of "awe" and "compassion" in the system to ensure the scientific and comprehensive decision-making of reform.
In short, "natural change" itself is not terrible, but we must always be afraid of something and limit our power to ensure better and healthier reform.