Chapter 2 Chapter 2 I am from the Ministry of War

ok what are you doing I am dispatching Chinese cabbage from Chanzhou to Beijing... This is the way of working in the Northern Song Dynasty.You are a member of the Ministry of War, but you can't control the affairs of the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War is just a salaried yamen.The rest of the situation can be deduced by analogy. Even the functions of top officials such as prime ministers and privy secretaries are divided layer by layer. Let alone doing some practical things, they can't even improve some efficiency. Want to change?Then you have to be careful about having nightmares at night. From Zhao Kuangyin to Zhao Guangyi, Zhenzong, Renzong, and Yingzong will all come together to give educational lessons to the obedient great-grandson Shenzong.

This was an important means for the Song Dynasty to restrain courtiers and preserve the country.The internal stacking of beds confuses the functions and names, and the external strong and weak branches take back the military power. As long as these two points exist, the land of China will always be named Zhao. History has proven that to be absolutely true.The only exception is that the crisis comes from outside... What Shenzong has to do now is to dismantle the ancestral family law, reorganize this whole set of methods that combine internal and external self-castration and destroy the bloody power of the nation, and rejuvenate the administrative organization.Speaking of which, what was the reason why the Han nation was able to stand on top of the world in ancient times?If it is not wealth, the living space of the Chinese people determines that they will never be the richest people.Even in the Song Dynasty, it was just floating wealth. Once wars, floods and droughts occurred, the wealth chain would be broken immediately; at the same time, it was not combat power. From an overall analysis, the overall outcome of the battle between the Han nationality and the surrounding nations was at a disadvantage.

The most powerful weapon of the Chinese people is the administrative organization that has been able to inherit the same line and stand still, and become the only four ancient civilizations that have been inherited from the original source in 5,000 years.Its sound and effective operation will allow China to continue to exist as a major country. If there is any other reason, it may be that it is extremely ethereal, but it also shrouds the national complex deep in the soul of every Chinese. Are these two points good?To be honest, it's really hard to say.Looking at the various races in the world, the existing three major types of living environments - continents, oceans, and islands, compared one by one, these two characteristics of China are very depressing.

The maritime nations are open to the outside world and take risks, even if they start late and the land is barren, this spirit is destined to bring them development and wealth.And their hearts are very simple, they are only running for money and interests, and there is no self-restraint such as good and evil, morality, and natural justice.Examples are the earliest developed countries in continental Europe, such as Spain and the Netherlands. Island countries are more vigorous. They are the worst of the three environments, but looking at the world, they bring the most damage.Examples are the United Kingdom and Japan.These two countries are extremely small in size and have pitifully few natural resources.For example, in Japan, apart from hot springs, there are only low-quality iron and coal in the whole territory.It is said that this is already very bad, but it is a pity that it has not fallen to the bottom.

There are also volcanoes on the Japanese archipelago...the walls collapse and the houses collapse at every turn, and the wealth is zero. To save trouble, their houses are basically built with the simplest wood, which is very convenient to burn and cover, and then burn after building. It was in such a desperate environment that a hateful, disgusting but also terrifying race emerged.In order to survive, the Japanese took the route of robbery before World War II to seek development by robbing the resources of other countries. After the "World War II", it was disabled, and it began to take the economic route, developing the processing industry and trade in an all-round way. Even if there were no resources, it would still bring money from various countries to its side.

Look back at China. Our characteristic is "a vast land, rich resources and a large population".This is a point of pride that has been promoted since elementary school textbooks, but unfortunately the crisis also lies in these eight words.The place is too big, the population is too large, and the direct result is a mess of scattered sand and rebellion in the nest.Thanks to Qin Shihuang Yingzheng's elder brother, China had a unified centralization when other races were still sleeping on trees. With this, it becomes the power of many people.No matter how many dynasties have been changed and foreign invasions have been experienced during this period, the unified pattern has not changed, and the sense of family and country cognition has always existed firmly.

This is due to the blessing of "extremely ethereal, yet shrouded the national complex deep in the soul of every Chinese", but the hateful thing is that this thing also has side effects. The deep-rooted concepts of homeland, ancestors, bloodlines, etc. have been infinitely magnified, resulting in the behavior guideline of "parents are not traveling far", so that generations of Chinese people are firmly established at the youngest, most impulsive, and most developed age. Pressed in the courtyard. The complex of respecting ancestors gave rise to all kinds of bizarre and stinking rules in the countryside; in the imperial court, it became the scriptures such as "the law is not changed if the benefits are not invaluable" and "the law established by the ancestors cannot be changed".

These rules and regulations are a curse that the Chinese have cast upon themselves. They have gradually adapted to living inside, not only have they lost interest in the outside world, they have also sneered at everything, and more than a hundred years ago they still believed that they were a unique and supreme race... After such a long time, I just have to face up to myself and find out the problem. Well, back to the Song Shenzong period, with the flawed characteristics of the administrative organization itself, plus the flaws deliberately added by Zhao Kuangyin and others, everyone should understand the necessity of reducing the number of departments and re-planning.After much deliberation, Song Shenzong created a Tang Dynasty official society with Song Dynasty characteristics.

He took out a book called "Tang Liudian", which contained the list of official positions in the Tang Dynasty.Based on this, the official positions of the Song Dynasty were redesigned.Let's throw aside all the super verbose and normative terms, and we can narrow down to two principles. First, change officials by rank and reduce rank. Guan refers to Jilu Guan.As mentioned above, the people in the Ministry of War are in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Accounts, but they still have to pay wages in the Ministry of War.Then the position of the Ministry of War is his sender.Now it is cancelled, and it will be replaced by the corresponding rank officials.

There are a total of 25 ranks in the new ranking officials, 17 ranks less than the old Jilu officials.The new official rank is still a nine-rank system, and each rank is divided into positive and subordinate, with a total of 18 ranks, which is 12 ranks less than the old ranks. Second, the three provinces and six ministries are responsible for the facts according to the name. As the name suggests, each yamen will do whatever it is called from now on.With the return of power, no one is allowed to cross the line.Note that some names have changed since then as well. For example, in the three provinces, after the restructuring in the Yuanfeng period, they returned to the old system of the Tang Dynasty, where the governor of Zhongshu made decisions, the governors of his subordinates sealed off, and the governor of Shangshu implemented them.The offices of the prime ministers were no longer called Zhongshu Menxia, ​​and were renamed "Dutang".The two titles of Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi and Shenzhizhengshi were also cancelled, with "Shangshu Zuopushe and Menxia Shilang" as the prime minister, and "Shangshu Youpushe and Zhongshu Shilang" as the second prime minister.

The left is the first and the right is the second. It looks very traditional, but the actual situation is just the opposite.Following the Tang system, the Ministry of Zhongshu took the decree, repeated it under the door, and implemented the principle of Shangshu. The real power is in the hands of the right minister. There is nothing to say about the rest, except for the biggest principle.The separation of power between the eastern and western governments and the separation of the military and the government was the biggest foundation of the Song Dynasty, and Song Shenzong did not move it.The Prime Minister of the East Mansion and the Privy Councilor of the West Mansion are still divided into courts, and they are not concentrated on the prime minister like in the Tang Dynasty. After doing this, Song Shenzong has actually completed the most perfect society in the hearts of Sima Guang and Wang Anshi at the same time.Before Xining's reform, one of the two said to increase income, and the other said to cut expenditure. Now that Wang Anshi's open source of income is spreading across the country, the huge profits generated by various new laws are pouring into the treasury; Sima Guang's reduction of expenditure has also achieved the reduction of expenditure and official positions. Between going out and coming in, the situation is the best since the founding of the country.At the same time, military affairs other than politics and finance were gradually perfected.The importance of this point is not at all easier than administrative and financial reforms. The original military system of the Song Dynasty was "Geng Rong Fa".In order to prevent any general from controlling the soldiers, Zhao Kuangyin stipulated that every army in the country should change their defenses regularly, and the soldiers would not move when they were walking.Everyone knows the consequences. Except for the first generation of Song Army led by Zhao Kuangyin himself, the quality of the army has plummeted. This point was first broken by Fan Zhongyan.In order to fight against Li Yuanhao, heavy troops have been stationed in the Northwest for a long time, and the soldiers will cooperate closely for decades, forming the unique combat effectiveness of the Northwest Army.During the reform period of Xining, this successful example was promoted to the whole country, and it is the famous "General's Art of War". After the implementation of the Art of War, the world is divided into two defense areas, with 92 generals. The first defense area is near the capital, with 25 commanders and 20 generals, accounting for about a quarter of the country's military strength; the second defense area is located in the northwest and northeast, with 42 generals, accounting for two-thirds of the country's military strength .The rest of the army is scattered all over the country, and the Lingnan area is also taken care of.In addition to these regular troops, the implementation of the Baojia Law became more and more smooth, and the total number of militiamen was more than 700,000. This changed the distribution of military forces before the Song Dynasty. Except for the border and the capital, which were the two strongest points, the states, counties, and cities were no longer blank.Time passed day by day, and the strength of the Song Dynasty increased by one point every day. It was not at all the bleak situation in the traditional history books that the reform of the new law failed after Wang Anshi was dismissed for the second time. Where did the failure come from?It was not until Song Shenzong's death that Sima Guang jumped out to abolish the new law.Prior to this, the whole country of the Song Dynasty was in the process of implementing the new law. Regardless of the changes in the private economy, the three foundations of national strength, military affairs, and administration were unprecedentedly strong. People are strong and life is strong, and even God helps at critical moments. Before the reform, the opportunity that Wang Anshi and Song Shenzong most hoped for came at the right time.