Chapter 6 Six, the best candidate

The first time he saw Shenzong, Wang Anshi made the emperor extremely excited. The protagonist of our story met His Majesty the Emperor in April of the first year of Xining (1068), and his official position at that time was a Hanlin Bachelor.Shenzong asked: I want to achieve great order in the world, what does Aiqing think should be the first step? Wang Anshi said: choose the road. Song Shenzong asked: How about studying Tang Taizong? Wang Anshi replied: If you want to learn, you can learn from Yao and Shun, and learn from Tang Taizong! The twenty-one-year-old emperor was taken aback, and his blood boiled a little.

Later, Shenzong talked with Wang Anshi alone, and said with emotion: Tang Taizong must have Wei Zheng, and Liu Bei must have Zhuge Liang in order to make a difference. Wang Anshi replied: Those two people are nothing special. Shenzong was taken aback again. Neither Zhuge Liang nor Wei Zheng paid much attention to him. How capable is this Wang Anshi, and how dare he be so arrogant? The emperor didn't know what to do, and everyone talked about it. The first person to clearly oppose Wang Anshi was Wu Kui, the political adviser who defended Han Qi and dismissed him at the same time as Han Qi, and the reason was very good.Wu Kui said: I used to be colleagues with Wang Anshi, and I know very well that this person is pedantic in everything he encounters.Therefore, if this person is reused, the court will inevitably be disordered.

Tang Jie, another deputy prime minister, also said: Wang Anshi is unbearable. Shenzong asked: Which aspect is not good?talent?Learning?ability? Tang Jie said: No, it's a personality problem.He is a person who likes to read but is stubborn, ambitious but unrealistic, and only wants to change the family law of his ancestors.If he is used as prime minister, the world must be messed up. Shenzong then asked Sun Gu, a scholar in attendance: Can Wang Anshi be prime minister? Sun Gu said: Wang Anshi is highly talented, educated and rich, and is more than enough to be a Hanlin scholar, but he must be measured when he is a prime minister.I am afraid that this person is narrow-minded and headstrong, he cannot listen to different opinions, and cannot tolerate different factions.

In fact, this is exactly what Han Qi advocated.Facts have proved that what Han Qi, Sun Gu and others said is true.Later, Wang Anshi had just become the deputy prime minister, and he really got very stiff with his colleagues.Every time there was a disagreement, he would not only stick to his own opinion, but would roar like a King Kong with furious eyes: You people, the fault is not reading! Another deputy prime minister named Zhao Bian (pronounced Rubian) couldn't bear it anymore and had to retort: ​​What books did Gao Yao read when he didn't know Yao and Shun? Wang Anshi was speechless.

This is of course a later story.But as we will elaborate in Chapter 4, this reform not only failed miserably, but also caused endless troubles. One of the reasons is that Wang Anshi's character is problematic.It's a pity that he didn't feel anything himself, and the emperor couldn't listen to these opinions.As a result, the direct loss was that Tang Jie, the deputy prime minister, was furious to death. Tang Jie was born in Jiangling, Hubei, and he was also an upright official and direct minister who was as famous as Bao Zheng in the Renzong Dynasty.Such a person, of course, couldn't bear Wang Anshi's overreaching and interfering in the government as a Hanlin scholar shortly after he entered Beijing, and Shenzong always listened to Wang Anshi first when asking the prime ministers for instructions and making decisions.Therefore, Tang Jie said to the emperor that since the Imperial Academy could replace the Zhongshu Province, let Wang Anshi preside over the work of the central government, and he asked to resign.

Shenzong was noncommittal. So soon, the deputy prime minister and Wang Anshi were in the same situation. Tang Jijie asked: Why do so many people oppose your proposition? Wang Anshi replied: Because you formed a party for personal gain. Tang Jie, who was loyal and upright, was accused of being a crony. He was so angry that one Buddha was born and two Buddhas Nirvana, a tumor grew on his back and died.Shenzong went to express condolences and presented Tang Jie's portrait hidden in the palace with an inscription written by Emperor Renzong himself.Only then did people realize how important this upright veteran of the three dynasties really is.

Obviously, those who opposed Wang Anshi were not villains. So, why did Shenzong reuse Wang Anshi? It is not difficult to see from the above chronology that this was not the emperor's whim.The straightforward reason is that reform is imminent.In the first year of Xining, that is, in February of the second year of Shenzong's accession to the throne, Shenzong said to the prime minister Wen Yanbo: There are many troubles in the world, and there must be reform.Wen Yanbo is submissive.In March, the emperor said again: financial management is the most urgent task today.To raise troops and prepare frontiers, the treasury must be abundant.You have to work hard!

What was the outcome?There is no text. It is not difficult to imagine what kind of mood and feeling Emperor Shenzong would have when he met Wang Anshi in April and heard him say that he hoped to become the king of Yao and Shun.Although Shenzong modestly stated that such a high standard made him feel powerless, he also said a very important sentence with hope: You can help me with your intentions, and the common people help me in this way. Translated into modern Chinese is: As long as you assist Zhen wholeheartedly, we monarchs and ministers may really be able to realize our political ideals.

Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi fell in love at first sight. What's more, the imperial court has long been depressed.When Wang Anshi served as a political adviser, there were five prime ministers and deputy prime ministers of Zhongshu Province.If Wang Anshi was not reused, who would Song Shenzong rely on? Even so, the emperor still thought twice. Once, Song Shenzong talked with Wang Anshi.He said: I have known Ai Qing for a long time, it is not just today that I thought of using you.Many people don't understand you, thinking that you can only do knowledge, but not practical things. Wang Anshi said: Knowledge is for doing practical things, otherwise it is of no use!

Song Shenzong asked: I don't know if Aiqing is in power, what will he do first? Wang Anshi replied: change customs and legislate. Song Shenzong nodded: Very good! At this time, only Sima Guang could stand against Wang Anshi. It's a pity that Sima Guang also has the problem of being stubborn, and the two old friends soon confront each other everywhere.In the fall of Wang Anshi's entry into Beijing, there was an earthquake in the capital and floods in Hebei. Prime Minister Zeng Gongliang and others proposed that after the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, please no longer reward according to the usual practice, at least the officials of the Ministry of Education and the Privy Council would not reward them.

After receiving the proposal, the emperor asked the Imperial Academy to come up with an opinion. Sima Guang agreed.He said: The money saved is not much, but the significance is great.The imperial court was in financial difficulties, and it was supposed to cut wages, and this happened to be an opportunity.What's more, the way to govern the country is to "praise the gentleman with righteousness, and please the villain with profit", so the prime minister's proposal should be affirmed. Wang Anshi objected.He said: How much money can the reward minister spend?Is it wrong to be petty and unseemly?If the finances are difficult, it is the prime minister's dereliction of duty, and what they should resign is the official, not the reward.Besides, not having enough money is not a top priority. strangeness!Financial hardship is not a priority, what is? Wang Anshi said: Find people who are good at managing money. Sima Guang jumped up against the case: That sounds good!The so-called financial management in the past dynasties is nothing more than arbitrarily levying and extorting under a clever name. It must be tax plus tax, fee plus fee.The people are unbearable to be exploited, so they can only be displaced and become bandits. Is this a blessing for the country? Wang Anshi retorted: What do you know!Are taxes and fees the way to make money?To fill the treasury without raising taxes is to be good at managing money. Sima Guang snorted: nonsense!There are so many directors of all things born in heaven and earth. If they are not in the folk, they are in the public house. If there is more here, there will be less there.If you want to increase the revenue of the national treasury and not take it from the common people, who do you want it from? Two Hanlin scholars quarreled, who is right? Both are only half right.According to the viewpoint of modern economics, Wang Anshi is of course right.Because increasing the revenue of the treasury does not rely on increasing the types of taxes and increasing the proportion of tax collection, but on the development of production to prosper the economy and make the cake bigger.Unfortunately, under the conditions at the time, this was not easy.Although Wang Anshi also has ways, such as building water conservancy projects, etc., it is hard to say whether they can achieve immediate results. Therefore, his so-called "the people don't add taxes, but the country uses them" has become both tempting and very suspicious.So, why can Wang Anshi say this with confidence?What's so great about his new method?

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