Chapter 44 Section Fourteen

Shi Yue didn't expect that the emperor would summon him suddenly, and he didn't know what the emperor was in a hurry.At this time, he quietly looked at Zhao Xu, and felt that the emperor was getting more and more haggard. "Shi Qing, the last time I was discussing the law of young crops in the Jiying Hall, you said that the ministers of the court are all blind people. Is it speculation, or is it true?" Zhao Xu always seemed very peaceful when talking to Shi Yue. It is also a kind of fate. "Your Majesty, in fact, what I said is neither conjecture nor factual." Shi Yue said realistically, he knew that it would be wrong to speak big words, even if he could deceive the emperor, he would not be able to pass the test in front of Wang Anshi in the future.

Zhao Xu was a little puzzled, and asked with a frown, "How do you say that?" "The minister's statement is not speculation, because the conclusion is deduced by the minister based on various situations, and it is not empty talk; the minister's statement is not true, because the minister is not a local official after all, and is involved in affairs of various places in the world. , knowledge is always limited, so it’s hard to say it’s true.” "After thinking about it over and over again, I finally thought that what you said was justified. However, Wang Anshi is loyal and capable, and he will not deceive me. Moreover, the Qingmiao Law is very beneficial to the country, and the annual income can increase by four to five million guan. Some people easily want to abolish the Qingmiao Law. It is hard to guarantee that it is not because of Prejudice, I can't abolish the Young Crop Law for some unreasonable reasons."

"What the emperor said is that Wang Jiefu is indeed a loyal minister, and the world knows about it." Shi Yue has no objection to this point, in fact, what the emperor said is all reasonable. "However, as Qing said, if the blind man feels the elephant, how many local people are disturbed by the Young Miao Law, and how many treacherous officials make troubles to disturb the people? As the Son of Heaven, I have to ask. Tang Taizong's so-called people For the water, the king is the boat, the will of the people and the aspirations of the people should not be underestimated." Zhao Xu expressed worry.

"The emperor is wise, the hearts of the people are the foundation of the country, and to offend the people is to shake the foundation of the country." "Yes, the people must not be offended, and the hearts of the people must not be lost. However, how can I make it possible for me to observe thousands of miles away?" The emperor seemed to be talking to himself, and seemed to be asking Shi Yue again. "The so-called simultaneous listening will bring clarity, and partial listening will bring darkness. As long as the emperor speaks out, why not be able to discern the subtleties of autumn, thousands of miles away?"

"This is also the so-called one who knows what is easy to do." "Actually, in my humble opinion, the original intention of the Green Crop Law is very good, but the method is inappropriate. If it is improved, it may not become a good law." Shi Yue threw out his long-awaited proposition in due course. "What's your plan?" Zhao Xu's eyes lit up. "I believe that the failure of the Green Crop Law is mainly due to forcing the people to subscribe, and some officials do not hesitate to disturb the people in order to collect more young crop money as their political achievements. The people in the city subscribed for the green crop money, which made the people bear the burden of interest. The officials who opposed it were not well-informed and did not know the benefits of the green crop law to the people, but they deliberately did nothing, which led to the new law not being well implemented. Implementation. The purpose of the Young Crops Law is thus completely destroyed.

"The next level of evil lies in the ignorance of the people. Some people are forced by poverty and have no rice at home, so they borrow money for young crops. They are not used for production, but for urgent needs. In the end, it is time to pay back the money. Don't talk about interest, even the principal will not come out. The officials are eager to get back the capital and hand over the money to the court, so they force the people to pay back the money, and the poor people's families are ruined. "The first-class disadvantage is that the treacherous officials take advantage of the past to fish and meat the villagers. The Ming and Ming courts set a two-point profit, and they collect three or even six points, and they themselves embezzle it for profit. Another first-class disadvantage is that the officials are afraid that they will not be able to collect within the time limit. How can the farmer have the money to pay him back at this time? The officials are like wolves and tigers, but they dare not refuse to pay back, so they have to pawn their property. The law of green crops has changed from being convenient to the people. Harm the people.

"The above-mentioned disadvantages in the implementation of the Green Crop Law are all hidden by the ruling party. Because of these disadvantages, the opponents completely negate the Green Crop Law. They don't know that as long as they talk about politics calmly and prescribe the right medicine, the Green Crop Law can also be turned into a good law." When Zhao Xu heard Shi Yue's eloquent talk, listing the disadvantages of the Qingmiao Law one by one, he couldn't help but change his face miserably, and sighed: "If the Qingmiao Law is really like this, it is really a law that disturbs the people. It is up to me to think that all kinds of treacherous things are true. It cannot be avoided. What is your best strategy to eliminate the disadvantages and retain the advantages?"

Shi Yue and Pan Zhaolin had already stopped all kinds of discussions about the Green Crop Law, and immediately Shi Yue answered with the negotiated method: "I think that all the ills of the Green Crop Law are related to the government. If the government does not preside over the affairs, the problems will be eliminated .” "Don't let the government preside over the matter?" Zhao Xu's eyes popped out when he heard this incredible suggestion. "Exactly. Now the Green Crop Law is based on the country's Changping warehouse. If there is a catastrophe in a certain place, the Changping warehouse is empty and there is no grain storage, the country will be in danger. Many senior ministers oppose the Green Crop Law. It is precisely because of this. Minister With the proposed strategy, the Changping storehouse can be left untouched, and the court does not need to spend a penny, while the common people can reap the benefits of the young crop law without suffering the harm of the young crop. Although the revenue of the court may be less than the original method, it can also The annual income is in the millions."

The young emperor couldn't help being dumbfounded when he heard Shi Yue say such words. He couldn't think of anything Shi Yue could do anyway. Could it be that he would change money out of thin air? Shi Yue knew that Zhao Xu was not easy to understand, so he said with a smile: "Actually, the method is very simple. All you need is for the imperial court to issue an imperial edict to recruit merchants to establish banks in various places. Farmers can use their land as collateral to borrow money for young crops from the banks. The limit is two points, one point for the bank, and one point for the imperial court. In this way, the imperial court can not move the regular liquidation, exempt from the labor of execution, and just reap the benefits, while the merchants can get their own profits and are willing to do it, and the people are not subject to coercion. The suffering of the levy. All three are beneficial.

"The local government has no pressure on political achievements. It has changed from a creditor who sits on the bank to a supervisor. It can adjudicate when there is a dispute between the bank and the people, and the people will not have nowhere to sue. Moreover, even if there is treachery, the people should also blame it. Merchants will not blame the imperial court. It can be said that favors are attributed to the imperial court, benefits are also enjoyed by the imperial court, and grievances are attributed to the merchants. "At the same time, according to the new law, it is possible to branch the world with dozens of mentions, supervise the banks not to raise interest rates, and specifically deal with disputes between banks and the people. In order to prevent the mentions from infringing on the people, we can imitate the Seven Articles of the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. For the case of questioning, the imperial court enacted the "Regulations on Promoting Youth Law". smell.

"In this way, the harm of the young crop method can be avoided, and the benefits of the young crop method can be preserved. This is called the strategy of laying eggs with the chicken." Zhao Xu couldn't help high-fiving after hearing Shi Yue finish speaking. Shi Yue leaned slightly, and said with a smile: "Actually, this method was not created by the minister, and the imperial court has already used it." "How can I not know about such things?" Zhao Xu was confused by Shi Yue's words. "Has the emperor forgotten the fact that the imperial court transported food to the border guards in the past?" Shi Yue asked with a smile. Zhao Xu was startled when he heard the words, and suddenly realized: "So that's how it is!" It turned out that in the Northern Song Dynasty, someone came up with a way to solve the problem of grain and grass for the border guards, which was to let merchants from all over the world buy grain and transport it to the border.The merchants then took the note to the salt field, and the salt field sold them the salt for that amount of money.In this way, the merchants are profitable, and the court does not need to work hard, and the border is self-sufficient in food and grass.Merchants objected to this method, because it would take a lot of energy and time for the merchants to buy salt directly with money. Therefore, under the influence of the merchants, this method did not persist for long, and was sometimes implemented and sometimes abolished. Shi Yue was deeply influenced by the market economy, and was inspired by this incident when talking with Pan Zhaolin, so he came up with a method to solve the problem of the young crop method.In order to prevent the merchants from being unwilling to cooperate, he even suggested that the banks in the world can be forced to accept the business of lending money for young crops if they want to operate legally. made. Zhao Xu was depressed for a long time, and when he heard such a good strategy, he suddenly smiled and praised: "Shi Qing is really a genius in managing the world." Shi Yue said a few words humbly, then Fang smiled and said: "Your Majesty, in fact, there are some points that need to be paid attention to in this method, and there are still other ways to make up for it." "Oh?" "First, businessmen are people who talk about profit. They must do everything possible to deceive the court when they lend money to farmers for young crops. Because the court wants to extract profits, they must have borrowed it and said they have not borrowed it. Therefore, the court should let the secretary regulate the bills. There should be a certain format, and each bill has its own number to facilitate future audits. If the bills are not standardized, farmers don’t have to pay back the money they borrowed. However, if this is the case, the small officials in the government offices in various places will be more troublesome up. "Secondly, merchants value profits. Those extremely poor people, because they don't have property mortgages, the bank will definitely not lend them money for young crops. If this is the case, the imperial court should have other strategies to help these small people." "Do you have a good plan for this?" Zhao Xu asked. "I have a foolishness to call agricultural mutual aid cooperatives, which may be helpful." Shi Yue put forward his proposition step by step.Once these suggestions are adopted, how much impact they will have is beyond his own calculation. "What is an agricultural mutual aid cooperative?" Zhao Xu was very interested in this. "This method has been implemented by good officials in ancient times, but it has not been widely implemented. It is a method in which farmers voluntarily join in and help each other in production. For example, in a village, 20 households joined the cooperative, After these twenty households finish their own household affairs, all public welfare undertakings that are beneficial to everyone, such as road construction, canal digging, etc., should be done together. If it can be done, all twenty households will benefit. In each household, some have oxen and some have no oxen. Those who have oxen will help those without oxen to plow the fields, and those without oxen will compensate those who have oxen with corresponding labor. It will not miss the farming season. Also, if the poor family cannot get the money for young crops, other members of the cooperative will contribute to help him, and the money will be paid back when his family's situation improves." "This is a really good method!" Zhao Xu sighed, "But I am afraid that foolish men and women will not be able to do it, so I need the local officials to supervise it." "There are elders in the village, and the head of the clan, who can be the leader. If there are officials in the village to help the village, it may not be impossible." Shi Yue also knew that the implementation of cooperatives was not as easy as imagined, but he and Pan Zhaolin deduced for a long time, thinking that as long as local officials are not allowed to participate too much, even if it is not beneficial, it will not be harmful.After all, there are not many opportunities for local officials to profit from it. "Your words are very kind, you can write this matter in a letter and submit it, and I will discuss the implementation of these two methods at the moment." Zhao Xu is really excited, this Shi Yue is indeed extraordinary.