Although Wang Anshi has not yet announced his new law, the yamen service will definitely be changed. According to Wang Anshi's current statement, the court may spend money to hire servants in the future.
Since it is an employment-based job, can ordinary people choose not to go
If I don't go, will it be considered as evading military service
How should the government judge then
The rich have to pay to be exempted from military service, but if they don’t pay, how will they be punished
Sima Guang suddenly realized that breaking the law by citing precedents was actually inevitable.
However, his style of doing things was still very conservative and cautious. He did not report to the emperor immediately, but instead transferred some special cases from the Court of Justice for analysis.
See if there are any similar cases.
... ...
On the other side, Wang Anshi was also making final arrangements with the emperor.
First, it is not about enacting new laws, but about making them famous.
Wang Anshi had already stated in advance that in order to avoid spending too much energy on rectifying the administration of officials, he wanted to create a temporary government office and bypass the entire system.
This temporary government office was officially named "Regulations Office of the Three Departments."
It is explained as "to manage state affairs and plan national strategies, to change old laws, and to bring benefits to the world."
As the name suggests, it is mainly in charge of financial power.
Zhao Xu had already agreed to it in advance.
Now there is only one question left: who will be the winner
To Zhao Xu's surprise, there were two heads of the Office of Regulations of the Three Departments. Wang Anshi recommended Chen Shengzhi to share the responsibilities with him, and Chen Shengzhi was the head, with Wang Anshi ranking below him.
"Sir, why don't you take charge of this department alone?" Zhao Xu asked.
Wang Anshi said, "Your Majesty, I have little experience. If I were to take charge of this department alone, I would be unjust and unconvincing. Therefore, I suggest that the head of the Privy Council take charge of the department with me."
He has been in officialdom for so many years and is no longer a rookie. It is very dangerous for him to be in charge of the world's finances alone. Can the emperor be at ease
After all, he is now the vice-prime minister, not the prime minister, and his current qualifications make it impossible for him to be promoted directly to the prime minister.
The four old prime ministers in the current court, Fu Bi, Tang Jie, Zeng Gongliang, and Zhao Yan, all do not support him, so he has to find someone to support him. After all, Wang Anshi has only returned to Beijing for a year.
Chen Shengzhi had a lot of experience and achievements. He was also his good friend and supported his reform.
The Privy Council was in charge of the military and political affairs of the world, and was formed into two ministries together with the Secretariat, one civil and one military. Several old men in the Secretariat were opposed to it, so Wang Anshi had no choice but to turn his attention to the Privy Council.
Zhao Xu also understood Wang Anshi's concerns, nodded with a smile, and then asked: "Why are these officials who examine texts and those who assess interests established, and who should be in charge of them?"
Wang Anshi said: "The officials who examine the texts assist the superiors in formulating new laws and regulations, while the officials who assess the benefits and disadvantages visit various places to see whether the new laws are being implemented. If there are any inappropriate aspects, they will change them immediately."
It can be seen from the appointment of an official to assess interests that the regulations for the three departments not only govern finances, but also have supervisory powers.
In addition, it can be seen from this that Wang Anshi was not blindly stubborn and self-willed. He also knew that the new law would definitely encounter problems, so he set up an official to assess the pros and cons in order to ensure that any problems could be corrected in a timely manner.
Wang Anshi added: "I think it would be most appropriate for some young officials with little experience to take on this role."
Zhao Xu nodded and said with satisfaction: "Sir, you have really considered everything!"
The old drivers in the court, no matter whether they were high-ranking or low-ranking officials, were mostly vested interests. How could they wholeheartedly assist Wang Anshi in his reforms? And those young officials with little experience would certainly do their best to get promoted.
After discussing this matter, Wang Anshi suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, have you heard about Su Shi's lawsuit against the bookstore Ji Juxian a few days ago?"
Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment, and said, "I know a little bit about it, why did you suddenly talk about this, sir?"
Wang Anshi said: "I think what the ear pen Zhang San said is very reasonable. The problem of counterfeiting is becoming more and more rampant. It is not good for the country. The court cannot just ignore it."
Zhao Xu said, "Then how should we manage it according to your opinion?"
Wang Anshi then informed Zhao Xu of his idea of levying a printing tax.
Zhao Xu nodded slightly and said, "This suggestion is good. It can not only prevent counterfeiting, but also increase tax revenue for the country."
Wang Anshi said: "I hope this law will be the beginning of a new law."
Zhao Xu's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Sir, this is a brilliant plan!"
The emergence of this tax law will definitely benefit intellectuals.
Directing pirated copies toward genuine products protects the rights and interests of literati, but at the same time it also complies with Wang Anshi's philosophy of managing the country's finances. Starting with this was obviously an attempt to curry favor with those literati.
This is a temporary decision, but the tax law has a small scope and impact, and will not have any negative impact on the original plan.
... ...
However, Zhang Fei was not idle either.
Bianhe Street.
"Third brother! We are here."
Zhang Fei got off the carriage and saw himself standing in front of a shop, but the door was closed.
This shop is exactly what Ji Juxian is.
Li Si said: "Third brother, Hou Donglai lives behind this shop. Oh, the printing house is also behind it."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Not bad! You found out a lot."
Li Si chuckled, "I've asked around. In fact, all the bookstores in Bianjing are similar. The front is a store, and the back is a printing house."
Zhang Fei nodded and suddenly said, "You stay here to watch the carriage, Long Wu, come in with me."
Li Si asked, "Why?"
Zhang Fei said: "Because it's dangerous."
"oh."
Li Si nodded as if he understood, and then said to Long Wu: "Fifth brother, you go in with Third brother, I will go to park the carriage."
Long Wu nodded and threw the whip to Li Si.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, horse-drawn carriages could not be parked at will. The government built special places, and of course, a certain fee was charged.
"How many can you beat by yourself?"
Zhang Fei asked Long Wu.
He was here to close the store today, so of course violent conflict had to be taken into consideration.
Long Wu said: "I don't know."
Zhang Fei asked again: "How many have you fought at most?"
"I usually don't fight with others." Long Wu shook his head.
"Long Wu doesn't fight?"
Zhang Fei panicked for a moment. If he had known this would happen, he would have brought the black servant Niu Beiqing with him. "You... aren't you very good at martial arts? Oh, I saw your swordsmanship was pretty good that day."
Long Wu said: "That's why I don't fight with others."
"Got it... Go in."
The two entered the Hou family's courtyard.
But there was no violent conflict as he worried about. Hou Donglai was even more anxious than him. He completed the handover procedures as quickly as possible and was ready to leave.
This yard is rented anyway.
If it was his own, it would be more than a thousand strings of cash.
"Wait a minute!"
Zhang Fei suddenly called Hou Donglai.
Hou Donglai asked anxiously: "You... do you have anything else to do?"
Zhang Fei asked: "What are your plans next?"
Hou Donglai glanced at him suspiciously, "What does this have to do with you?"
Zhang Fei said: "If you don't have a good place to go, I plan to hire you to help me look after this store."
Hou Donglai was surprised and said, "You still want to hire me? If it weren't for you... I... you... um..."
Zhang Fei said: "So if you follow me, are you still afraid of being bullied? Look at how wise Mr. Fan is."
Hou Donglai was stunned, and felt that what Zhang Fei said made a lot of sense. Now that Zhang San has appeared, the Kaifeng government is afraid of him. If you follow him, you can walk sideways on the streets of Bianhe!
"How much...how much are you going to pay to hire me?"
A businessman
Money is still the most important thing.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Ten strings of cash for the first month. I'll determine your remuneration based on your performance."
Hou Donglai didn't hesitate for long before agreeing.
It's not a lot of money, but at least there is no cost.
There's no need to move.
How cool.
In fact, Zhang Fei could have opened his own store, but the problem was that he didn't understand this business and he needed a mature store. Even if there hadn't been this lawsuit, he would definitely have bought an existing one instead of building one himself.
It can be seen that what he bought was a person, not a shop.
How could he let Hou Donglai go? He needed Hou Donglai to help him manage the store.
He had also inquired around and found out that Hou Donglai's ancestors were printers in the imperial court and had been in this line of work. Later, they started their own business and made a lot of money, so it was no problem for them to support their family in Hukou.
Unexpectedly, a book killed him.
After the deal was settled, Zhang Fei asked Hou Donglai to take him around.
Just as Li Si said, this kind of bookstore is basically a combination of home and shop, with a yard, the shop in the front, the owner's residence in the back, and the workshops and employees' residences on the left and right sides.
There were seven printers in Ji Juxian, two old and five young.
Two masters with five apprentices.
This is the case in all workshops today.
When a master takes an apprentice, they are mostly relatives.
When he came to the workshop on the left, the smell of ink almost made Zhang Fei faint.
He covered his nose and walked around, then saw the worn-out printing plate and pointed at it, "All these things are lost."
Hou Donglai hurriedly asked, "Lost? If it's lost, what can we use to print it?"
The two masters nodded at the same time.
Zhang Fei said: "Have you forgotten how you were sued? Isn't it because of these broken copies? If you don't throw them away, we will have to go together tomorrow!"
Hou Donglai asked, "Are you still afraid of these?"
"I'm afraid, that's why I'm an ear writer, ahem, an ear writer."
Zhang Fei suddenly looked at the two masters behind him and asked, "Which one of you is the engraver?"
"I... I am."
One of the men, who was in his forties, raised his hand.
Zhang Fei asked: "What's your name?"
"My name is Hongzhong."
"Red center?"
Zhang Fei suddenly looked at the person next to him, "Your name is not Fa Cai, right?"
The old master hurriedly said: "I'm not called Fa Cai, I'm called Bai Ban."
"... ... Good name."
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, "For this name, I will give you two an extra 100 coins per month."
"Thank you, host! Thank you, host."
Hongzhong and Baiban quickly bowed to express their gratitude.
One hundred dollars is not a small amount!
Moreover, most new officials make three big moves upon taking office, and this new boss raised the salary right away.
So cool!
Completely ignored Hou Donglai.
Zhang Fei said: "Hong Zhong, no, hehe... Master Hong, have you ever heard of movable type printing?"
Hou Donglai said: "Of course I have heard of this."
Hong Zhong also nodded and said, "We have all heard of this movable type printing technique."
Zhang Fei asked: "Then why not?"
Hou Donglai said, "We already have a ready-made printing plate, so why bother getting one? It would cost a lot of money, and it would require typeset printing every time, which would require people who can read and write. In our shop, only Master Hong and I can read."
Hong Zhong said: "Also, movable type printing requires many techniques, which we don't know."
Zhang Fei took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Hou Donglai, "Try the method on it."
Hou Donglai took it, looked at it for a while, and suddenly asked, "Zhang Sanlang, how long does it take to bake it for it to stick?"
Zhang Fei said unhappily, "You Song people, you ask me... Ahem, what I mean is, you are in this business, you ask me, how should I know."
Hou Donglai wondered, "Isn't this your method?"
Zhang Fei said confidently: "I just memorized it for the test. How would I know the specific method?"
"take an exam?"
"Anyway...anyway, just try it according to this, and I'll give you some money."
"Oh... ok ok."
Hou Donglai nodded and asked, "Zhang Sanlang, do you use copper to write characters?"
Zhang Fei said: "Try them all."
Hou Donglai added: "I advise you not to do this."
"Why?"
"Even if we find out, I'm afraid it will all be lost in less than a month."
"lost?"
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment before he realized, that's right, now copper is money, hard currency, if you want to make it into movable type, you can touch two a day, who knows! Pointing at Hou Donglai, he said: "This is why I hired you, do as you say."
Hou Donglai nodded and said, "Okay, let's try it first."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Also, find a way to hire some skilled craftsmen. Master Hong alone is not enough. I want to make very exquisite engravings to ensure that each of our books is the most exquisite in the world."