Chapter 14 Chapter 11 Aging of Structure · Song

The relationship between the prime minister and the emperor in the Song Dynasty is basically similar to that in the Tang Dynasty. The prime ministers in the Song Dynasty include Pingzhang and Shenzhi, and they are also collectively assisting the government. Only one of them is called the prime minister. His power is relatively large, equivalent to The position of the foreman.The appointment of prime ministers in the Song Dynasty was a little more free than that in the Tang Dynasty. It was not necessary for the chiefs of the three provinces to be prime ministers. The prime minister's team assists the government together.

Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the emperors of the Song Dynasty were less restrained.First, he was not restrained by military officials, because in the Song Dynasty there was no phenomenon of military intervention in politics, and there was no local independent behavior.On the other hand, the territory of the Song Dynasty was relatively small. Yunnan (that is, Nanzhao at that time) was lost in the southwest, and Xixia was approaching Guanzhong in the west; the Liao people in the north not only occupied the sixteen states of Yanyun, but also the whole Monan. Liao people all.Therefore, on the whole, the territory of the Song Dynasty was much smaller than that of the Tang Dynasty.The population in the Song Dynasty was also relatively small, but not much smaller, because there were still a lot of breeding populations.The difficulty that the Song Dynasty had to solve was foreign aggression, but it did not take offense, but mainly defended.Neighbors such as Khitan and Xixia often harassed the border. The Song Dynasty basically could only barely defend itself, without the ability to attack externally, and did not plan to do expeditionary work.Although the Song Dynasty had a little military action in the southwest, it was not considered a large army, so basically, the consumption of the Song Dynasty's defense budget was not large.Since Taizong, the Song Dynasty only had defense costs.After the peace agreement between the Song people and the Liao people was reached, for a long period of time, the Song people's war was only in the Xixia part to prevent Xixia's attack.The defense budget of the Song Dynasty was not large, and the domestic economy was more developed than that of the Tang Dynasty. The phenomenon of urbanization and marketization had developed significantly.The economic situation of the Song Dynasty has basically reached the situation of quite complicated market economy and currency economy.In addition to farming for a living, a considerable number of people rely on other income to live.

In terms of foreign trade, in addition to economic exchanges with Southeast Asia, it also extended trade routes through Liao and Xixia.The trade exchanges between the Song Dynasty and Japan and Korea were also quite frequent.International trade with foreign countries has made China's economic strength quite good. Under such a situation, the defense expenditure is not large, the economy is quite developed, and the people's lives are also very good.The two aspects that a country has to provide, security and prosperity, and the Song Dynasty have basically achieved good results. Although the Song Dynasty maintained peace with the Liao people, this peace was achieved by sending cloth to the Liao people every year from the Song Dynasty.Compared with the peace bought with cloth and silk, sacrificed at the front line with children, and maintained the image of a powerful country, the policies of the Song people are more economical.The country has been weak for a long time, of course, it is inevitable that later Jins and Mongols will enter the Central Plains.

Now what we want to talk about is the first half: from the case of Wang Anshi's reform, we will examine the cooperation between the prime minister and the emperor in the Song Dynasty, and how they handled the country's major affairs and balanced the relationship between the two sides.The emperor of the Song Dynasty was in power by himself, and he had to discuss government affairs with the prime ministers almost every day.The appointment of the prime minister in the Song Dynasty came from the emperor's order, and the emperor could change it whenever he wanted, without any difficulty.In the Song Dynasty, there were quite professional civil servants, who were scholar-bureaucrats educated in Confucianism.Not long after the founding of the country, the Song Dynasty often had party disputes, and courtiers with different opinions were divided into different parties.These parties are sometimes divided according to opinions, some are grouped according to region, or form parties according to the year of admission. The factional disputes in the imperial court are quite serious, which often delays the major events of the country, and also consumes a lot of talents and resources due to party disputes.

Wang Anshi's reform began when he was ordered to work in the prime minister's team. In 1068, which was the first year of Shenzong Xining, he was dismissed twice and returned to office twice. Finally, he stepped down in 1076, almost eight years later. The time of the year was the period of Wang Anshi's political reform.The purpose of Wang Anshi's reform is mainly to streamline personnel, streamline expenses, and increase the country's income without increasing the burden on the people.At that time, Emperor Shenzong trusted him quite a lot.The government of the Song Dynasty was a civil service system composed of Confucian officials. Therefore, many traditions and practices in the past, as well as Confucian ideas, were quite binding, and it was not easy to reform.Wang Anshi was born in poverty. He understood the hardships of the people at that time, and also understood many difficulties in the government.At that time, the Song Dynasty did not have frequent foreign wars, and the troops used to defend the frontier were not large, but it raised a considerable number of standing troops, which constituted a great burden.At that time, officials were divided into two classes, one was officials and the other was officials.Officials are scholar-bureaucrats, and officials are assistants to officials.In the system of the Song Dynasty, the only official backgrounds were examination and selection and Menyin—Menyin meant that the father became a high-ranking official, and the children could also have a position.The military route can also enter the official class.But officials have no qualifications at all, and there is no real selection process, which is often hereditary from generation to generation.Many government affairs are carried out by officials.Clerks often do the same job, so they often know more about the business than higher-ranking officials.Moreover, officials are mobile, but officials are immobile.However, officials in the Song Dynasty had good salaries, but officials had almost no salary. They could only collect some fees for their work, so officials were inevitably corrupted.Officials have no social status and no future, and they don't have much self-respect.Such a civil service system has become a top-heavy situation, with a large number of officials and high expenditure, but their quality and efficiency are not high.

The fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty basically maintained the two-tax law created by Yang Yan of the Tang Dynasty, but the system of labor labor was restored.In theory, except for the elderly, weak, women and children, they all have to do hard labor.The government under Wang Anshi and Song Shenzong was a costly and loosely organized government structure. Before Shenzong, there were "dispatches" in the official system of the Song Dynasty, and their official positions were not commensurate with their work.An official who holds a certain official position is in charge of another position, and his own position is held by another person.The dispatch system makes the duties unclear, and there is no way to know how long a person will work in this position.This system, which does not live up to its name, also has the advantage of flexibility. The government can send a person to do the most suitable job at any time.However, under such a system, regardless of whether the class and position are compatible, a person with a high official rank does a very unimportant job, and his important position is replaced by an unimportant person. Very chaotic situation.After Song Shenzong took over, he tried to reform.At that time, many veteran officials in the court did not want to change, but Shenzong had the determination to reform, and Wang Anshi also expressed his opinion, and reformed what he thought was wrong.

Wang Anshi was appointed prime minister, and his task was to rectify these chaotic and wasteful systems, and the methods he proposed were all aimed at these ills.The country raises too many soldiers, so he proposed that the whole country should be a soldier. Anyone in good health has the obligation to serve as a soldier. He must learn to defend his home and country at ordinary times. When there is a war, these militiamen can be recruited to fight for the country.He wanted to improve the status of officials and their salaries, so that they could support themselves with their salaries, so that they would not embezzle or charge unnecessary fees.He also hopes to make the chaotic government plan more efficient, for example, what do people in what positions do?How is the prime minister's team formed?It must be decided by the governors of the three provinces... This series of actions makes the government more efficient and the organization more reasonable.When increasing the salaries of officials, someone asked him, where do you find money?He said: Rather than letting the officials go to embezzle themselves to find money, it is better for the government to plan a certain amount of fees collected and distribute them equally so that the officials of each unit can have a reasonable salary.

Wang Anshi also promoted economic reforms. For example, labor is something every man has to bear, but not everyone can do it, and the people who come here are not really able to work as laborers. Instead, the government has to send people Management requires assigning their work, and during the period of hard labor, the government also has to pay for their food and accommodation.Wang Anshi's exemption method is to let people who do not do hard labor pay a sum of money, and the government hires a group of people who are professional to do hard labor to replace them.This method is indeed a relatively streamlined method for an economic market in which currency circulates. As long as the government has a sum of money, the so-called exemption money, and hires people to serve in the service, the common people will pay the money for the service, and it can do such a thing.Those who criticize him think that such an old surname has an additional financial burden, and they have to pay the exemption fee; and the government has collected this extra money, is it exploiting the common people?Wang Anshi's green crop method is regarded as a farming loan. When the fields are sown but the crops are not harvested, the people are usually very poor, and they often have to borrow money from usurers to get through this lean time.Wang Anshi thought this was not good, so he lent the government money to the common people, and when the crops were harvested, he would pay the government a little more interest, which was equivalent to the current loan.This is not a bad thing. Helping farmers tide over the difficulties, and the government can have a little interest income. This is also a suitable thing.But his critics believe that the common people may not need to borrow money, but the officials force the common people to borrow money for their own performance.And if ordinary people borrow money from usurers, they may still be able to negotiate with the creditor for a period of time before they come out, and when the government collects the arrears, they may exert pressure and confiscate their property or put them in prison before they come out. It's a nuisance.

Wang Anshi's reform has received many positive and negative comments. Positives believe that his measures are good for the people and put the government on track, while critics think that these measures have negative meanings for various reasons.When Wang Anshi made these reforms, he was very determined. He told Shenzong that if you want to reform, you must spend your mind, work hard, and reform thoroughly. fear.This resolute attitude is rare in history.It just so happened that Shenzong was determined to reform, and Wang Anshi was also quite determined to carry out reforms. This kind of meeting between monarchs and ministers could, logically speaking, remove edema, rebuild bones and muscles, and put the government on track.

However, there were many factions in the government of the Song Dynasty, and party disputes were quite serious.During Renzong's time, there was a Qingli faction dispute, and the two factions attacked each other because of their disagreement on policy.These two factions sounded like gentlemen, but for the sake of fighting spirit, they fought very fiercely.During the time of Yingzong, because Yingzong was adopted by foreign vassals to Renzong who had no heirs.So after Yingzong succeeded to the throne.It also aroused great controversy at the time whether his biological father could elevate his status to become the emperor's father, or still maintain the title of prince.Clique disputes in the Song Dynasty were already very serious at the time, and it was still the same when it came to Shenzong. Parties with different opinions had great struggles with each other.Among the parties, regardless of whether the policies are good or bad, as long as the parties are different, they will use various reasons to criticize the other party and use various reasons to exclude the other party.When Wang Anshi implemented the New Deal, opponents had even more reason to criticize it.Sima Guang was the most critical critic of the New Deal at that time.Sima Guang is also a gentleman, and he led the compilation of a famous Chinese book.Among the critics of the new law was Su Tungpo, who was also a great figure.Many people criticized Wang Anshi's new law. Although Shenzong's trust in Wang Anshi was not shaken by it, Wang Anshi had to resign when the criticism was too severe.Sometimes Shenzong also dismissed those who criticized Wang Anshi.

During these eight years, the political struggle was extremely fierce, which prevented the effective implementation of the New Deal.And Wang Anshi didn't have good assistants under his command, so he could only use people who had the same opinion.At that time, some people who were not first-class in character, ability, and morality took advantage of the opportunity of the New Deal to develop their future.They flattered Wang Anshi and became Wang Anshi's henchmen.Wang Anshi was eager to implement the New Deal at that time, so he didn't care whether those people who turned to him really had the same ideals as him. As long as there were people who worked with him, he would protect them and appoint them to high positions.The implementation of the New Deal is very urgent. To get rid of the long-standing habits, sometimes we only seek results and only see the superficial achievements, regardless of the actual results.So sometimes it's overdone, sometimes it's just false reporting, it all happens.The originally well-intentioned reform plan could not be implemented, and the policy was bumpy and ups and downs, which became the main issue of political struggle at that time. In terms of system, the emperor of the Song Dynasty was a single head system dominated by himself, and the prime minister was just his assistant.Therefore, if the emperor only listened to the opinions of one prime minister, other prime ministers would have no way to participate in the discussion. This is different from the collective discussion of many people in the Tang Dynasty.The second prime minister of the Song Dynasty, that is, the second prime minister, basically did not have much say.So on the surface, the Song Dynasty seems to have achieved the division of work between the chief executive and the chief executive. If the chief executive and the chief executive can cooperate with each other, that is, when the emperor and the prime minister can cooperate with each other, at least there is no big problem in issuing orders and formulating policies. . But the structure below is not sufficient for such a job.Wang Anshi once wanted to set up a school to replace the imperial examination, train professionals, and serve as candidates for government officials.Officials have been professionally trained, selected, applied for, and assigned according to a certain track, so that the government can reach the level of a professional civil servant.But this policy has not really been implemented.At least in those eight years, the Song government had no time to train professionals.Although there was a school at that time, the talents trained by the school did not replace the people who took the imperial examination.Shenzong is the head with real power, and Wang Anshi is the executive officer with real power, but neither of them has a coordinating team nor a suitable structure.Wang Anshi was eager to implement the New Deal, and the officials would see results soon after they were sent out. However, these officials had not learned special skills and knowledge; these were the difficulties Wang Anshi encountered in the reform.After Shenzong's death, the Empress Dowager took over, and the conservative Empress Dowager used people like Sima Guang to change the policies of the New Deal.However, after Wang Anshi was dismissed, there was a period of time when a group of assistants continued the work of the New Deal. As a result, the government had another dispute between the new party and the old party, which would not disappear until the Jin people destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty. Wang Anshi's New Deal had a good idea and a good design, but in the end it ended without a problem, which led to a bad result and added a confrontational situation in the government.The new party and the old party take turns to be in power. Whenever the new party succeeds the old party, the policies of the old party are abolished, and when the old party takes power, the policies of the new party are abolished.Sometimes the new party has some wrong policies, the old party cancels them, and restores them when the new party takes power.The entire Northern Song Dynasty has been quite disturbed because of the old and new factional struggles in the middle, and it has reached the point of irrationality.For example, Sima Guang is a very decent person with good knowledge and ability, and good intentions, but in order to win the morale, he opposes everything Wang Anshi does.Regardless of whether the matter itself is beneficial to the common people, as long as it is Wang Anshi's New Deal, he will overthrow it after he takes office.Su Dongpo originally disapproved of Wang Anshi, but seeing that Sima Guang overthrew all of Wang Anshi's policies regardless of injustice, he also felt that it was wrong.For example, the exemption law, as long as it is implemented properly, the common people can indeed benefit, save a lot of trouble, and increase the country's income. Why must it be abolished?As long as the implementation is good, and the people who supervise the implementation will prevent them from forcing the people to borrow money, and will not be so harsh when demanding, then the people can benefit.Sima Guang was so impulsive that even his allies who criticized Wang Anshi at the time criticized him, thinking that it was an overkill. It can be seen that when an organization wants to reform, it does not rely on one or two policy executors or decision makers to do whatever they want. He (they) must have a good team and one who can cooperate government structure.This kind of organization did not appear in the Song Dynasty.Until the end of the New Deal, the Song Dynasty did not reform into a streamlined government.In addition, the Song Dynasty lacked a mechanism for cultivating and training professional talents. The imperial examinations tested knowledge and knowledge of classics, not the ability to do things, nor his political opinions.The division between officials and officials has also made it impossible for professional officials to be promoted to the level of officials.This division between officials and officials began in the Song Dynasty and remained unchanged until the Qing Dynasty.Li is always a low-status, unrespected position with no official government salary and often hereditary.There is specialization, but there is no self-esteem or self-discipline.In addition, officials do not like too much change in the government because they have too many records, so that the records and traditional knowledge they have are useless.Therefore, if a group or organization wants to reform, if these conditions cannot be matched, the reform cannot be achieved. Shenzong basically trusted Wang Anshi very much, and it can be said that he used it very expertly, but he would inevitably be influenced by others.Usually the people who influence him the most are not the most knowledgeable people, but those who are closest to him, and he is most influenced by these people.Sometimes he would send some eunuchs to investigate. These were not very professional reports, but Shenzong believed them quite a lot.Similarly, Wang Anshi was eager to implement the New Deal, so as long as he felt that this person was obedient, willing to accept his instructions, and obey him, he would recruit him to do things for him.It was only later that he discovered that his main assistants were all people of poor character, who wanted to climb up the ladder by taking advantage of his power.These people were the ones who killed him in the end.His original assistants were not because they had confidence in the New Deal, but because they had the opportunity to get a higher position.After Wang Anshi was dismissed as Prime Minister, they beat him to the ground and beat him so hard that he could never return to the government. Wang Anshi was later exiled to Nanjing and died of depression.What's interesting is that Wang Anshi, like Su Dongpo, was relegated to other places. In the south, both of them had a rather miserable life: later, they also became friends.These two people are very talented figures in Chinese history, and their poems and essays are excellent. Until now, everyone still recognizes them as masters of the Song Dynasty.These two men were capable and well-informed, but had the misfortune to stand on different sides, and it was not until they both lost their government positions that they became good friends.Similarly, Sima Guang and his group of old party members are also capable, good-natured, and well-cultivated, but they have no way to cooperate with another group of capable people.At that time, party struggles were different from those of today’s political parties. Today’s party struggles appeal to the people’s choice to see which party’s policies the people think are most beneficial to them. At that time, the party struggles were based on which party the emperor thought would be the best. his trust.When you elect from top to bottom, there are two factions under your command. This kind of politics will definitely not work, and it will definitely be inefficient.Changes from day to day, policies and long-term routines will not be implemented to the end. Many difficulties that occurred in the Song Dynasty actually occurred in many large companies and organizations.A large enterprise has many levels and many personnel, but the main executive officer (general manager) and the main decision-maker (chairman) cannot take care of everything, so when they want to make some adjustments to the company, They often fail to make some structural adjustments and policy changes.This is very different from the development of a new company, because the old company has to bear a big burden.In a large company, when the CEO, the general manager, comes in, he will bring a group of his own people, and when the new general manager takes over, he will bring a group of his people, but the original group of people is still there. In terms of position, factions will form between the front and back at this time.Due to the long-term differences in positions between departments, factions will also form.There will be different observations and understandings between Department A and Department B.For example, the financial department wants to save money, the development department wants to spend money, and the production department wants to increase equipment. Each department has its own individual interests.When there is no coordination between departments, it will also become partisan struggle. In an old company with many employees and accumulated burdens, disputes among internal factions are often unavoidable. At this time, neither the new executive nor the new board of directors can change this situation.The Song Dynasty was such an example. The burden was heavy and the internal structure was so clumsy that no matter how good Wang Anshi's intentions and ideas were, there was no way to carry out the New Deal to the end.Structural problems make both moral character and ability secondary.If the structure itself has not changed, any assessment and inspection will only add a layer of control and resistance.For example: when many gears are stuck together, adding one gear will not make the entire series of gears work better, but just add one more resistance, making the efficiency more compromised.Wang Anshi only wanted to change the policy, but didn't expect to change the structure; he only thought about adding majors, but he didn't expect that the increased professionals would be in the old structure, but there would be a new batch of newcomers, and there would still be disputes between these newcomers and the old ones, or There will be conflicts. Lack of normal metabolism is the most basic problem of this tissue.The Song Dynasty is known as a very benevolent era. Compared with the previous dynasties, the Song Dynasty did not kill ministers, and the ministers of the Song Dynasty rarely committed capital crimes.Officials in the Song Dynasty were seldom dismissed unless they retired by themselves.After each official comes down from his position, he receives the same salary or even more.For example, after a prime minister retired from the position of prime minister, he received the same salary as the prime minister, but his job was only to manage a temple (there were many temples in the Song Dynasty, whether it was a temple for sacrificing ancestors, or Taoism praying for the country All national temples have a senior official to manage them).So there was no real metabolism in the Song Dynasty.The dispatch system means that the emperor or any high-ranking official can send someone to work in a certain position. This person does not know when he will be transferred. There is neither a fixed term nor a defined position.In such a structure, metabolism is more difficult.Without assessment, there is no way to achieve rewards and punishments, and there is no way to achieve metabolism.Such a so-called benevolent government, the so-called benevolent tradition, because there is no mechanism to choose the good ones to keep and the bad ones to be eliminated, this government has become bigger and bigger, and more and more deposits have been accumulated. If you look at the corporate history of modern China, you can find many such examples.Before 1949, there were many large enterprises in Shanghai, all of which were members of the family. As long as a certain person in the family achieved a certain position, his relatives, friends, and villagers would be drawn in to work.Because the boss is very kind, when a person grows old, he will not be dismissed, but will only be sent to do some nominal work.And the people he brought in will not be dismissed, because everyone sees the old man's face, so keep the people he brought in.This situation made it arguably the largest enterprise in Shanghai at that time, and finally became inefficient and poor in productivity.By 1949, this company had no way to operate, no way to open new factories, no way to develop new markets, let alone develop new products.Enterprises in Taiwan have only been developing for less than 20 years, and there are no examples of such oversized and bloated private enterprises.Since government-run enterprises have been operating for more than 50 years, most of them have this problem.Because of the short period of time for private enterprises, there has not been a situation like the Song Dynasty.But if you don't pay attention, no matter how capable the chairman, how smart the general manager is, how good the product is, and how big the market is, they will not be truly profitable.The time, funds, labor, and wisdom of the enterprise will be wasted in internal struggles, and the work that should be performed cannot be completed. How to prevent the aging of a unit, and how to remove the dross deposited by an organization that cannot be eliminated are all very important topics in histology.Wang Anshi wants to train people, which is very good, but if the trained people and the applicable process do not cooperate well, everyone who graduates from the school will get a long-term job security, which is a long-term security for him personally , but it is not necessarily useful to this enterprise or organization.A person who has good performance in class may not necessarily be able to achieve some results that this position should have in a specific position.Because there may be differences in aptitude and abilities, the gap in ability between classroom performance and practice may be very large.A person with good academic performance may not be able to apply professional knowledge in practice immediately, all of which have to go through a process of trial and assessment.Reforming the government solely by training professionals may not have a metabolic effect. The organization of a think tank is necessary, but the think tank is best not to become an executive.Wang Anshi confuses think tanks with execution.You have to enforce your own policies.He may be a good decision maker, but not necessarily a good executive.Because the executor needs to persuade others, Wang Anshi does not have a good ability to persuade.Implementation requires the cooperation of different people and different groups, but Wang Anshi is a very stubborn person.His nickname is Yi Xianggong, and he is a very awkward person.Although Shenzong was very expert in appointing Wang Anshi, Shenzong himself was also a person who was not good at communication.A think tank can contribute some good strategies, but if the think tank is asked to do the work of execution, his own aptitude and ability may not be able to cooperate.Wang Anshi was determined to reform, but Wang Anshi did not do it well-this is a great lesson in history.