Chapter 14 7. Wang Anshi dismissed as Prime Minister

The trouble started with the law of exchange. Market law is market law or trade law, promulgated and implemented in March of the fifth year of Xining (1072).The reason was that a self-proclaimed grassroots man named Wei Jizong wrote to the imperial court, accusing the major financial groups in the capital of manipulating the market and manipulating prices. Reluctant to deliver goods, urban residents do not talk about their lives and complain endlessly.Therefore, Wei Jizong suggested that the imperial court should set up the Changping City Yisi, just like the Changping warehouse, to buy and sell the daily necessities needed by the citizens at a fair price, so as to stabilize prices and stabilize the market.

This suggestion was adopted by Emperor Shenzong. Wang Anshi's government set up Shiyiwu in Kaifeng, also called Shiyisi, which in layman's terms is a national department store headquartered in wholesale and retail.The purpose is not to make money, but to protect people's lives.At least, that's what the legislation said. It's a pity that Shiyiwu soon went wrong. The problem is said to be with the person in charge.This person is called Lu Jiawen, and he is the great-grandson of Lu Gongzhu's elder brother Lu Gongbi.Lu Gongbi wrote a letter against the reform, but he stole the draft of the memorial and sent it to Wang Anshi. Therefore, Lu was regarded as a family thief, and Wang Anshi was regarded as a confidant.

It is strange that such a person is in charge of the head office of the National Department Store, and he can keep his own place and not do anything.According to later revelations, when Lu Jiawen took office, he turned this civil affairs agency, which was intended to stabilize prices, into a money-making machine for manipulating prices.In other words, in the past, some people monopolized the market and exploited small merchants and hawkers and urban residents, and it is the same now, except that the exploiters have been replaced by the imperial government instead of major financial groups. As for whether Lu Jia asked whether he was filling his own pockets, it is not known.

It is not difficult to imagine that the people were boiling with grievances, and Emperor Shenzong couldn't ignore it.He issued instructions and asked Wang Anshi face to face: I heard that Shi Yiwu has robbed all the businesses, and the government even offered rewards for arresting people to come to Shi Yiwu to buy and sell. , how to explain? Of course, Wang Anshi denied it flatly, and even refused to accept the statement that "Lv Jiawen was young and ignorant", and instead criticized the emperor for not knowing good and bad.He said: If Your Majesty is always deceived by villains and always listens to slander, how can the reform succeed?

Shenzong was speechless, but Wen Yanbo couldn't bear it. Wen Yanbo was also a veteran of the three dynasties, and he was relatively moderate in the opposition camp, so he was able to stay in the post of Privy Envoy for nine years.But now Wen Yanbo couldn't stand it any longer, because Lu Jiawen's Shiyiwu actually sold dried fruits and fruits, and there were also stalls on both sides of Yudao.It is really unbelievable that the dignified imperial government has been reduced to a trafficker.Therefore, from October of the fifth year of Xining to the first month of the sixth year of Xining, Wen Yanbo kept protesting, and even Song Shenzong believed that this kind of thing should be stopped.

Wang Anshi retorted.He said, aren't salt and wine also monopolized by the state?When the government sells salt and wine, doesn't it have to be sold by catty by catty, and tax money is collected by liter by liter?Why not "hurt the country's body"?It doesn't hurt to stand and talk, Lu Jia asked how many people are so loyal and capable?Who should be out of the high-profile and practical deeds? The conclusion speaks for itself.On April 26, Wen Yanbo was dismissed from office. But this is by no means Wang Anshi's victory, although the court has become silent again since then.It's a pity that Fangmin's mouth is stronger than Fangchuan's, and silence does not mean surrender.On the contrary, according to the concept of the unity of man and nature, God also expressed dissatisfaction.After the Huashan mountain collapsed in October of the fifth year of Xining, it stopped raining in July of the sixth year of Xining.Therefore, in March of the seventh year of Xining, the rumors of heaven's anger and people's grievances became rampant.

Yes, God has lost his temper, let's see how you end up! Wang Anshi still wants to intensify reform efforts.In the past, all commercial houses in Kaifeng had to provide labor to the imperial palace and the government. Now Wang Anshi decided to adopt the proposal of the commercial houses, and changed to pay exempt money (read such as Hang) like the exemption law.But in this way, the eunuchs and relatives who are usually in charge of the palace's expenses have been cut off. Of course, Lu Jiawen and others took the opportunity to amass money as always, and the public resentment boiled again.

What is the result?On the thirteenth, sixteenth, and twenty-first day, the emperor talked about the market transaction law and exempt money three times.Shenzong worriedly said to Wang Anshi that he had to pay a fee for selling a bowl of noodles, isn't that too much?I heard that there are still some people who sell real estate in order to avoid paying money.The courtiers and descendants also said that this method was not good, and the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager even shed tears. Of course Wang Anshi knew what was at stake, but he knew better that once he retreated, the whole system would collapse, and he had no choice but to forcefully push back.Coupled with the fact that he was used to being rampant in front of Shenzong, it was inevitable that he spoke bluntly: How can the palace know the sufferings of the people?Relatives are not necessarily unprofitable.The words of eunuchs are even more inaudible, they are those with vested interests.

Don't you give the two palaces any face?Disappointment was written on the emperor's face. Wang Anshi's status has been shaken. Lu Jia asked but caused trouble.After he served as the promotion officer of the city affairs affairs, he ignored Xue Xiang, the third envoy, and even falsely accused Xue Xiang of obstructing the implementation of the city affairs law.Of course, Wang Anshi could not tolerate the fire in the backyard. Song Shenzong also believed that Xue Xiang was not loyal. As a result, Xue Xiang was dismissed on the ninth day of February in the seventh year of Xining. Although he was the first to support the reform, he was once Wang Anshi's capable general.

But this also did not mean that Lu Jiawen or Wang Anshi won the victory, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse after that.On March 20, Shenzong issued an edict at night, secretly ordering Zeng Bu, a Hanlin scholar who succeeded Xue Xiang as the third envoy, to investigate Lu Jiawen.The emperor's instructions were very clear: to find out and report in detail the crimes committed by the Shiyi Division. Zeng Bu didn't like what he did to Lu Jiawen. After receiving the secret order, he immediately asked Wei Jizong to find out the situation, and Wei Jizong really complained.According to his report, Lu Jiawen did bully the market by buying and selling by force, and bought all the goods at low prices and sold them at high prices, turning Shiyisi into a man-eating beast.

After listening, Zeng Bu immediately took him to see Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi asked: If this is the case, why didn't you say it earlier? Wei Jizong replied: How dare a villain be by his side every day? Wang Anshi was silent. Shenzong was overjoyed when he received the report.He asked: Does Wang Anshi know? Zeng Bu replied: I have already told him. Shenzong nodded: It seems that you must understand the truth. Zeng Bu replied: Although I am incompetent, I dare not try my best. Of course Wang Anshi could not agree with Zeng Bu's investigation results, but he could not come up with a decent reason to refute it, so he had to explain it as a personal grievance between Lu Jiawen and Zeng Bu.The emperor did not embarrass Wang Anshi face to face, but issued an instruction that night: I am afraid that Lu Jia asked to deceive the king, not Zeng Bugong to avenge his personal revenge. It was March 23rd, and the countdown had begun. On the 26th, Zheng Xia, Wang Anshi's student and supervisor of Anshangmen, presented his picture of refugees, which once again drew tears from the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager.This was worse than the heavy rain three days later, completely extinguishing the candlelight in Song Shenzong's heart. The emperor's eyes began to become cold. Of course the investigation is still going on, even Lu Huiqing got involved.However, at the two imperial meetings on the third and eighth day of April, Shenzong had already denounced the "market change" law as a disaster for the country and the people, which completely violated the original intention of the reform.On the 17th, when Zeng Bu claimed that Lu Jiawen and his like were more violent than the Qin and Han Dynasties, Shenzong nodded with a smile. Obviously, this was a joke for Wang Anshi.Because when Wang Anshi defended Lu Jiawen, he said in a hurry: besides Lu Jiawen, who else would dare to offend the relatives of the emperor and his majesty's close officials?Apart from the minister, who else is willing to defend Lu Jiawen?Your Majesty is so trivial, she simply doesn't know the emperor's strategy! Well, then let you see me! Wang Anshi couldn't take it anymore, he must seriously resign.Emperor Shenzong also knew very well that he had to seriously approve it.On April 19th, Wang Anshi was removed from the position of prime minister and returned to his second hometown, Jiangning, as the magistrate.The work left by him will be presided over by the reinstated prime minister Han Jiang and the new political counselor Lu Huiqing. This arrangement is of course to ensure that the new laws that have been created and implemented in the past five years will not die because of Wang Anshi's dismissal.In fact, Han Jiang and Lu Huiqing did not live up to their high expectations, and the achievements of the reform have been carefully cared for in their hands, so that they were respectively called "Dharma preaching monks" and "Dharma protectors". Perhaps, this can make Wang Anshi feel relieved, because he has been criticized for being inappropriate and ill-informed.It's a pity that even this poor consolation, God is stingy with charity.Wang Anshi never imagined that it was none other than Lu Huiqing, the kind god who protects the Dharma, who stabbed him in the heart. Of course I couldn't think of it.Even Lu Huiqing herself probably didn't think of it.

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