Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 13 Discussion on Reform
Zhao Xing was stunned, then bowed and said, "Thank you, Father."

He originally thought that he would have to talk a lot, but he didn't expect his father to agree so easily.

"You are my only son, and this world will be yours from now on. Since you say you must kill me, then kill me." The emperor said nonchalantly.

What the emperor said to Zhao Xing before was not to glorify himself.

When he first took power, he was indeed full of ambition and ambition, thinking of destroying Western Xia and recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

However, the war with Western Xia poured a bucket of cold water on him and made him calm down completely.

If we can’t even defeat Xixia, how can we recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?
Moreover, the war with Western Xia made him see the various shortcomings within the Song Dynasty and began to think about reform.

Facing the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia, he always maintained a tolerant attitude.

After a long time, giving in becomes a habit.

When he heard that someone in the Liao envoy group had beaten a civilian to death, he did not even intend to commit murder.

It's not that he doesn't care about this matter, but he feels that a lack of patience will ruin a big plan, and it is not worth angering the Liao Kingdom for the sake of one commoner.

Not only him, but all the civil and military officials thought so, and no one suggested severely punishing the murderer.

The Liao man who killed the civilians did not have a high position in the diplomatic corps. He was neither the chief nor the deputy envoy, and could not represent the Liao emperor.

Even if he was killed, the Liao Kingdom would never go to war with the Song Dynasty.

This is not difficult to think of, but neither he nor his ministers brought it up.

It’s not that they can’t think of it, but the long-term concessions have made their first thought of concessions when dealing with matters involving the Liao Kingdom.

It was only then that Zhao Xing's words came to his senses.

"Father, do you still want to reform?" Zhao Xing suddenly asked.

The official was startled when he heard this, and was silent for a moment, then said, "You are still young, and your main focus should be on studying. It is not your turn to worry about national affairs, so go back."

"Father, I just want to hear it. Didn't you say that this world will be handed over to me sooner or later?" Zhao Xing said.

The official pondered for a while after hearing this, and then asked, "Do you think we should continue the reform?"

"I think it should be!" Zhao Xing said, "The officials in the court always say that the laws of our ancestors cannot be changed lightly, but I don't agree. When our ancestors made the rules and laws, it was because of the situation at that time. Over time, the situation has changed. How can we always stick to the laws of our ancestors?"

"You are right, but the ministers in the court don't think so. Reform is definitely necessary, but the resistance to reform is too great and requires careful consideration. I transferred Han Zhang back to the court and appointed him as the prime minister in preparation for the reform." said the emperor.

Zhao Xing was a little surprised. He didn't expect that his father had such considerations when transferring Han Zhang to be the Grand Prime Minister.

Then why didn't he implement the reform again in the original drama?
Could it be because the death of his only son was such a huge blow that he became disheartened?
"Han Zhang is a man of ability, scheming and skill. When I intended to reform the law, he agreed with it. He also advised me that the new policy was too hasty, had many drawbacks and would be difficult to succeed. I did not listen to him. Even so, he still firmly participated in the new policy. After the failure of the new policy, in order not to embarrass me, he asked to be sent away." The emperor sighed.

"Your Majesty, I feel that if we implement the reform, there will still be great resistance," said Zhao Xing.

"Didn't you just say that we should reform the law?" The emperor looked at Zhao Xing suspiciously when he heard this.

The failure of the last new policy has taught the government a lesson.

This did not give up the idea of ​​reform. Over the years, he cleaned up many conservatives who had opposed the reform.

The government also knew that the failure of the previous new policy was due to his excessive haste, so this time it was prepared to proceed step by step.

He was not sure that he could complete the reform in his lifetime, but he was very pleased that Zhao Xing was determined to reform.

The emperor felt that if the two generations of father and son worked hard, they would definitely be able to complete the reform and revive the Song Dynasty.

"Father, I am not against it, but I think there is no need to tell the world to implement reforms, nor do we need to solve all problems at once. The fundamental reason for the great resistance to reform is that the interests of officials and landlords have been damaged. The implementation of reforms involves all aspects, so they will naturally oppose it. But if we focus on one point and solve the internal problems step by step, the resistance will naturally be smaller." Zhao Xing said. He actually couldn't understand the thoughts of the Song Dynasty emperor and those ministers.

Why do we have to set the tone so high and shout slogans of reform and new policies?

Ultimately, these are problems that can be solved through political intrigue.

Those conservatives who opposed the reform did so in order to protect their own interests, which does not mean that they were all of one mind.

When it comes to political intrigue, the person Zhao Xing admires most is Zhu Yuanzhang.

They killed one batch after another, but no one dared to rebel.

Many people think that it was because Zhu Yuanzhang had a high prestige because he was about to conquer the world.

In fact, this is not the case. When they kill people, they kill them in batches.

The same is true for reform. You have to stabilize one part first and then focus on one aspect.

Among them, some people can naturally be eliminated.

Some of the conservatives may be smart enough to notice it, but everyone has a lucky mentality. They always think that no one will touch them unless the knife is put to their necks.

And reform is equivalent to telling all classes in the world that I am going to take action against you, and it would be strange if you do not oppose it.

"But there are too many problems within the court. If we take it step by step, how long will it take?" The emperor shook his head.

"Father, there is a saying in the Tao Te Ching: Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. I think this makes a lot of sense. Although I can't cook, I have heard people say that cooking needs to be done step by step and can't be rushed. The same is true for governing a country. It is unrealistic to expect to make a dish that is both delicious and beautiful in one go." Zhao Xing said.

"Then where do you think is the best place to start if you want to do it step by step?" The official asked after hesitating for a long time.

"Salt!" Zhao Xing said in a deep voice, "Although salt cannot fill the stomach like grain, it is indispensable to everyone. When I was free, I once looked up the income of the court from salt affairs over the years. The current population has nearly doubled compared to when my great-grandfather was in power, but the income from salt affairs is only 70% of that time. Don't the extra people need salt?"

The purpose of the Song Dynasty's reform was to solve the increasingly serious problem of the three redundancies.

The key to the three redundancy problems is lack of money.

There was a very interesting phenomenon in the Song Dynasty. The annual taxes levied by the court were not much different, but the expenditures were increasing.

To the point that it almost reached the point where the income was not enough to cover the expenses.

If there is a natural disaster or war, the court will not be able to come up with money.

In order to deal with these, we can only increase taxes, which will increase the burden on the people.

As a result, there were hundreds of rebellions in the Song Dynasty, and these are the ones recorded in history books. If we count those that were quickly suppressed and not recorded, the number would be even higher.

Amid internal and external troubles, how can we not forget our country?

It is very difficult to curb land annexation and measure the amount of farmland, as there is great resistance and slow results.

Although there was equally great resistance to a thorough investigation of the salt business, the results were immediate.

No matter whether it is the salt merchants who sell private salt or the officials in the interest chain, once their houses are searched, a large amount of silver will come out.

Thanks to the iron-clad time traveler Liu Shui’s golden finger for the reward of 5000 coins. Thank you very much for your support. I have no way to repay you, so I will add another chapter for you today.

Thanks to the skinny old man for the monthly ticket.

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(End of this chapter)