Han Shizu

Chapter 2191 Renzong Chapter 8 The "Suspicion" of dismissal

During his more than five years in power, Fan Zhongyan, with full enthusiasm and loyalty, carried out reforms in many aspects of the empire, including politics, economy, and military.

Of course, in essence, Fan Zhongyan's various policies and measures were just improvements, just to correct the biases and mistakes in the voyage of the Han Empire, but they were often powerless to solve some deep-seated and fundamental problems of the empire.

Especially when it comes to institutional issues, it is even more difficult. There will be endless troubles and resistance from both inside and outside, pressing on him. At the same time, as an elite bureaucrat in the Han Empire era, Fan Zhongyan himself is an extremely loyal defender and consolidator, which also doomed his struggle from the root.

A lot of things have been done, with actions big and small, but the results are far from satisfactory.

Any reform is essentially a redistribution of resources, which is bound to infringe upon the vested interests of the empire's deep-rooted and entangled rentier class. This is bound to attract hostility and resistance.

In fact, after Fan Zhongyan came to power, the ideas for reforming malpractices and a series of specific policy measures he proposed were much weaker in scope and intensity than the reforms during the reigns of Shizu, Taizong and even Shizong, and in many areas they were just scratching the surface.

However, the difficulty of implementation and the opposition and criticism encountered were also beyond imagination. Therefore, in the increasingly difficult days of governing the country, Fan Zhongyan often thought about one thing: why the things he advocated, such as the reform measures in the fields of official administration, rule of law, commercial law, salt administration, land, and taxation, were only to consolidate and continue the laws of the ancestors, but the result was opposition from the public and difficult to implement.

You should know that Fan Zhongyan's thoughts and ideas on governing the country can be said to be the essence of the three dynasties of Shizu, Taizong and Shizong. The many policies and measures he promoted were by no means beyond the scope of the numerous reforms of the previous three dynasties. In terms of influence and intensity, it is even more difficult to compare with them. Even Emperor Shizong, who was known for his prudence and conservatism, had many groundbreaking innovations.

Compared with them, what Fan Zhongyan did was not very innovative. Many of his policies were just rehashing the old tunes, or even copying the policies of his ancestors. However, even so, things often went against one's will.

Thus, during the reign of Fan Zhongyan, the most bizarre scene occurred in the court of the Han Empire. The "Fan Party" held high the "ancestral system" and wanted to correct the mistakes of the empire's governance and eliminate the abuses, while the "conservative party" also held high the "ancestral system" and criticized and attacked it, determined to maintain the orthodoxy of the court and the ancestral system.

Both sides can find accurate and powerful legal basis in the rule of the "Three Emperors", and even find old imperial edicts in the voluminous archives of the empire.
Although many policies and ideas were consistent from the reigns of Emperor Taizong, Emperor Kangzong to Emperor Sejong, with strong continuity, it was common and frequent for successors to improve and reform the system based on the foundation of the previous emperors, especially during the reign of Emperor Taizong.

The powerful people in the empire were very good at using the clan system to refute the ancestral system, and every storm and dispute was accompanied by a struggle for power, status and interests.

The only thing to be thankful for is that in the Han Empire, which had a history of a hundred years, no one dared to break the existing political rules, no matter how bloody the fighting was. Basic decency was still retained among the powerful and wealthy, and there was room for struggle, which was in a rational and balanced state.

This state of affairs has been maintained for several decades, even during the fierce struggles such as during the reign of Emperor Kangzong. Such constraints, which are close to unspoken rules, are obviously of great positive significance to the stability of the empire's military and political affairs.

One point that needs to be mentioned is that as time went by, in the Zhengtong Dynasty more than 40 years later, people from all walks of life, whether aristocratic bureaucrats or literati and poets, had an increasingly high opinion of Emperor Taizong.

In the Spring and Autumn Annals written by civil officials and historians, the status and historical evaluation of Emperor Taizong Liu Yang gradually increased. By the Zhengtong period, his status was almost equal to that of Emperor Shizu.

It is inevitable that there are bad deeds on the body of Emperor Taizu, who was blessed with brilliant achievements and accomplishments. However, even though the pen of history is as sharp as a knife, it is not something that the civil officials and historians of the Han Empire can do to smear him.

Therefore, the only way they could think of to reduce the "sacredness" of Emperor Shizu was to establish a new god, and based on virtue, reputation, and achievements, Emperor Taizong Liu Yang was chosen.

Of course, Emperor Taizong is also worthy of the title, and his significance to the Han Empire should be discussed from a historical perspective. If Emperor Shizu was the true founder of the empire, then Emperor Taizong's role was to lay a solid foundation. It was precisely because of his unremitting efforts to rectify the government, clarify the law, reform and eliminate malpractices during his reign that the "Yongxi Reign" was achieved, and the Han Empire was able to remain strong and stable for a hundred years.

The successor to the Kaibao era and the beginning of the Jianlong era. This is the evaluation of Emperor Taizong summarized by the imperial historians and officials of all dynasties. In the Zhengtong era, which was gradually fading away during the Jianlong era, Emperor Taizong was increasingly high in the eyes of his subjects (mainly the dignitaries of the empire).

There is only one reason for this result. Apart from Emperor Taizong, they could not find anyone else to compete with Emperor Shizu.

As for Fan Zhongyan, nothing could be done smoothly, from small things like prohibiting officials from riding in sedan chairs, to medium things like salt and iron rectification and tea and sugar monopoly, to big things like land surveying.

Especially the latter, after entering the orthodox era, the empire's land annexation accelerated uncontrollably, but this was accompanied by a year-on-year reduction in land taxes, and the corresponding tax measures were neglected, out of time and ineffective.

To this end, in the eighth year of the Zhengtong reign, Fan Zhongyan officially launched a nationwide land survey. This decree was controversial within the court, and even more controversial in the local areas.

For this matter, countless meritorious officials, bureaucrats and ministers went to Emperor Liu Weizhen to complain, but in the end, it was pushed forward under Fan Zhongyan's insistence. For this reason, although Fan Zhongyan selected a large number of court officials and clean officials from the court to go to various prefectures for supervision and inspection, the effect was obviously not good.

Ultimately, such a policy approach that was of vital importance to the national economy ended in failure. The data reported by local governments was not accurate for any province, state, or county. In fact, the data was nearly 10% less than the data in the household register at the end of the Jianlong period.

It is a very bizarre but true phenomenon that in less than ten years, the registered land of the Han Empire has decreased by more than 10 million mu, as if it was devoured by a terrifying gluttonous beast.
After nearly two years, the land survey operation was finally stopped with an order from the Political Affairs Hall, and the "land survey envoys" from all over the country were recalled. Then, many of them were accused of corruption, bribery, dereliction of duty, and perverting the law, which also made Fan Zhongyan very embarrassed.

What Fan Zhongyan wanted to do and tried to do was not fundamentally different from what his ancestors had done before him. Even in terms of purpose, they were similar and consistent. But why did they all end in failure? In the final analysis, it was because of his lack of authority.

Fan Zhongyan has a high reputation, great ability, and his moral character is even more respected by the world. However, for the real ruling class of the empire, it is not your turn, Fan Xiwen, to share the sacrificial meat of the Han Dynasty.

To be realistic, for some policy initiatives, the "Three Emperors" of the empire needed to promote, implement and supervise them with great courage and perseverance. Although Fan Zhongyan was appointed as the Minister of the Chancellery, the support from the imperial power was very meager.

After all, Emperor Liu Weizhen believed in "ruling by doing nothing". However, Fan Zhongyan's "flood" eventually drowned him in the empire's powerful class and he could not escape at all.

After four years in power and repeated failures, Fan Zhongyan had realized all of this and changed some of his ways.

The tenth year of Zhengtong was a critical node. In this year, due to successive droughts in Hebei Province, an unexpected rebellion finally broke out in the Han Empire: the Wang Ze Uprising.

Fan Zhongyan had to shift his energy from "self-revolution" to "suppressing the revolution." At the same time, due to the change in his mentality, he was no longer so "eager for quick success and instant benefits," or in other words, his goal had changed.

He no longer tried to touch the interests of the entrenched imperial nobles. He just did his best, within his ability, and based on his moral loyalty, to do some practical things for the king and the country.

However, this change was a little too late for other powerful classes and political groups. There was no room for easing of the contradictions that had accumulated over the years unless Fan Zhongyan stepped down.

Before he came to power, Fan Zhongyan was a well-known and popular sage, and was supported by many people. But after he moved into the Political Affairs Hall, as policies and conflicts arose, more and more people abandoned Fan.

In the administration of officials, because of his strict measures and high requirements for the selection, training, demotion of officials and the imperial examinations, he offended the nobles, bureaucrats and academic cliques. He also attacked the system of nepotism, which further angered the noble class.

In terms of taxation, a series of measures to strengthen state control such as salt, iron, tea, sugar, land, etc., are even more disgusting to the rentiers.

In the military field, the proposals to promote civil officials to key positions, cut military spending, and reduce the military force offended a large number of military forces, not just the military nobles.

Therefore, by the 1052th year of the Zhengtong reign (), although Fan Zhongyan was still in the position of Shangshu Ling, his position was becoming increasingly unstable. Opposition voices arose both inside and outside the court, but the emperor's attitude in the palace remained as "calm".

Fan Zhongyan had a premonition of all this, but all he could do was to do his job, stick to his position, and wait for the day when he would be dismissed.

And this day was not far away, in the early summer of the eleventh year of Zhengtong. The Wang Ze Rebellion, which lasted for more than a year, was finally put down by the imperial army. After returning to the court, Shi Yuansun, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council and the envoy of the Recruiting Army, and Jing Yanbo, the pacification envoy of Hebei, who were in charge of suppressing the rebellion, reported the victory and reported a very important matter to the emperor.

During the interrogation of Wang Ze's followers, a secret was learned. When Wang Ze was wreaking havoc in Lianzhou County and gathering a crowd of 100,000, he told his subordinates that they were rebelling to save their lives, and all the officials in the court despised them. If they could reach Luoyang, they would make Fan Gong the king.
Any wise person would know that such rumors were stupid and untrue, but most of the officials in the empire were collectively "blind" and "deaf" on this matter. As a result, the famous Prime Minister Fan was dismissed from his position in this way.

Of course, he was given enough respect, as Fan Zhongyan took the initiative to retire.

But no matter what, being attacked like this and leaving the court in this way was a great humiliation and blow to Fan Zhongyan. He died of illness in "Fanzhuang" in Suzhou that year.

The "dismissal of Fan Zhongyan from the position of prime minister" later became a major unsolved case in the Zhengtong Dynasty. The mystery lay in that, apart from the reports of Shi Yuansun and Jing Yanbo, there was no evidence about the words of the so-called rebellious leader Wang Ze. However, he actually drove away the Shangshu Ling who had been in power for many years.

No one can tell how many people and forces are behind this, but it must involve a large number of imperial dignitaries.
(End of this chapter)