Colleagues
All we can say is that Wang Wenshan did not understand Wang Anshi, or that he simply could not understand Wang Anshi at his level.
Wang Anshi was dedicated to his country and his people and didn't care about these things at all.
Of course, this is also one of the reasons why Wang Anshi’s reform ultimately failed.
This court is not about fighting and killing, but about human relationships and worldly wisdom!
But then again, does Wang Anshi have low emotional intelligence, or is he just pretending not to understand
The suffering of a real man cannot be told to outsiders.
After receiving Zhang Fei's contract template, Wang Anshi did not rush to issue a decree, but ran to find Song Shenzong.
"Your Majesty, I have been busy with the house tax recently. I found that the previous miscellaneous taxes involved more than a dozen government offices, so that there were too many people and too few tasks. There were even several government offices collecting several taxes from one household. It can be seen that the disaster of redundant officials is not only harmful to the finances, but also endangers the stability of the world!"
Song Shenzong frowned and asked, "I wonder if you have any good ideas?"
Wang Anshi said: "Since the miscellaneous taxes are unified, I think the personnel should also be unified. Therefore, I suggest setting up a new government office to handle all taxes in the city."
Zhang Fei's plan only elaborated on the unification of tax types, but he did not mention much about the departments. The key point was that he did not understand much about it. The administrative structure of the Northern Song Dynasty was really a mess, so complicated that people who were not majoring in history could not understand it at all.
For example, Xu Zun.
When he served as the prefect of Dengzhou, his official position was actually the detailed judge of the Dali Temple. Simply put, the prefect means temporary management, which is a job.
Now he has returned to the Dali Temple, but his official position has become the Governor of Dengzhou. The Governor is just an honorary title, but his authority is to judge the affairs of the Dali Temple, which also means temporary management.
No matter who you are as an official, you will never do what an official should do.
No dynasty was worse than the Northern Song Dynasty.
It can only be said that the Zhao family, which had experienced the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, was afraid of this like a tiger!
But now this has seriously affected the functioning of the country.
It's time to make a change.
Lu Huiqing is an expert in this area. Since the tax types are unified, personnel should also be unified. When personnel are unified, power will be formed.
To change the law, you must have power.
However, he did it in two steps. He first unified the miscellaneous taxes to see the ministers' reactions. After it was passed, he used this as an excuse to propose the unification of personnel.
The tax is compliant, but if the people are not, it doesn’t make sense!
The ambitious Song Shenzong would not stick to this and immediately agreed.
Although the two were king and subject, they were also master and disciple, and even more so, confidants. They had long sympathized with each other, and they had discussed many times the drawbacks of having too many people overdoing their work.
Overstaffing was also a major problem in the Song Dynasty system.
If unified under one department, responsibilities will be clearly divided and efficiency will be significantly improved.
If we want to reform the law in the future, we must take this step. Otherwise, if the government orders are not implemented, what’s the point of making any reforms
Wang Anshi also used this matter to practice his skills.
After obtaining the consent of Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi returned the favor by handing over the new government office to Lu Huiqing, giving him some achievements to lay the foundation for the future.
I can also use this to tell others that if you follow me, I will not treat you unfairly.
... ..
Ma family.
"Hey, young Liu Dianshi, I am really wronged. You said I am just a small businessman, how could I know the affairs of the court? The reason why I agreed to that boy was just to make money, not for anything else."
Ma Tianhao regretted his decision and spoke to the middle-aged man sitting next to him in fear and trepidation.
This middle-aged man is Liu Shiping, the director of Sinong Temple, whose duty is to manage the Changping Warehouse.
The relationship between Changping Warehouse and pawnshop is also very close, with many business dealings, just like the relationship between store and pawnshop.
Liu Shiping said: "Whether you know it or not, it doesn't matter. The key is that you'd better not associate with Zhang San anymore in the future."
Ma Tianhao immediately said: "Even if Liu Dianshi didn't say anything, I wouldn't associate with him anymore."
Liu Shiping was stunned when he saw his straightforward answer. "What about your mortgage business?"
Ma Tianhao immediately said: "Liu Dian knows nothing. I just bought a contract from him, but I didn't hire him or cooperate with him."
Liu Shiping asked: "Buy a contract?"
Ma Tianhao nodded, "He said that this contract can be guaranteed by the court, so as long as the court orders it, I will have nothing to do with him."
Liu Shiping asked again: "I wonder how much this contract is?"
"Five hundred strings of cash!"
"Five hundred strings of cash?"
Liu Shiping was shocked and asked, "Master, did you drink his magic potion?"
Ma Tianhao said: "Liu Dianshi, think about it, if you can get the support of the court, what does a mere 500 strings of cash mean to you?"
Liu Shiping has a headache!
Earn another five hundred strings of cash
This made their encirclement and suppression seem so ridiculous.
But there was no other way. The cooperation between the two sides had already ended. What else could he ask for
Liu Shiping could only return empty-handed.
But as soon as he left, a man came out from the back room, and it was none other than Zhang Fei.
He had just given the contract sample to Ma Tianhao today and happened to meet Liu Shiping.
Ma Tianhao looked at Zhang Fei and said with a smile: "It is extremely dangerous to cooperate with you. Before I even made it public, the other party has already come to my door. How can you, a spy, offend so many officials? I really don't know how you did it."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Please rest assured, this matter will be resolved soon. We will have many opportunities to cooperate in the future."
Ma Tianhao asked, "Is it related to the Fan family?"
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "Don't worry about these things now. The most important thing is to win the battle in front of us. The court will soon issue a formal decree. You have to hurry up and make a profit as soon as possible to attract more merchants to join."
Ma Tianhao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm already negotiating with Baifanlou about joining the partnership."
"Alum Tower?"
Zhang Fei asked curiously: "Isn't that a restaurant?"
Ma Tianhao laughed and said, "You really underestimated Baifanlou. We have two big real estate agencies in Bianjing, one in Xiangguo Temple and the other in Baifanlou. According to the contract we drafted, if you can't pay back the mortgage, you have to sell the house. I'm using this opportunity to cooperate with Baifanlou and persuade them to join us. Mr. Fan is also quite interested!"
What a great businessman. Zhang Fei smiled and said, "It's really relaxing and pleasant to cooperate with you."
Ma Tianhao laughed and said, "Working with you really makes me nervous!"
"Ha ha... ..!"
Having said that, Ma Tianhao was not panicked at all. Other people's contracts could become legal provisions, and the threats from Wang Wenshan and others were like a joke.
If you have the ability, go and threaten Zhang Fei!
The fact that you threaten me just proves that you can't do anything to Zhang Fei.
We should strengthen our relationship with Zhang Fei.
... ..
Palace.
"That old fox Ma Tianhao is clearly trying to fool me. What does he do? He doesn't know the grudge between me and Zhang San. Okay, don't fall into my hands in the future."
Wang Wenshan slammed the table angrily and cursed.
Chen Yu advised, "Master, don't be angry. They are just ordinary people. Not all of their actions are aboveboard. We will catch them sooner or later."
Wang Wenshan said excitedly: "You don't know, the court spread the word today that Wang Jiefu is going to set up a new government office to manage the city's taxation."
"Establish a new government office?"
Chen Yu cried out, "This Wang Jiefu really has bad intentions!"
The unification of miscellaneous taxes is a law, and the unification of personnel is power.
This is a qualitative difference!
There is a saying in official circles: Don’t fear the law, only fear power!
In this case, they really have to cut the meat!
Once Wang Anshi controls the taxation in the city, no one can escape.
"This must have been Zhang San's idea. He is clearly taking revenge on us."
Wang Wenshan was getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about it. He had originally wanted to find another opportunity to severely retaliate against Zhang Fei, but he didn't expect that Zhang Fei would bite him back first, and it really hurt. Once this policy was implemented, he would definitely lose a lot of income. Suddenly, a cold light flashed in his eyes, "No, I have to teach him a lesson."
"Master, you must not do that. Although Zhang San is not a concern, he has Xu Zhongtu behind him. He is not someone you can easily mess with."
As soon as Chen Yu saw Wang Wenshan's expression, he knew what he was going to do.
At present, Wang Anshi is protecting Zhang Fei. Even if they rely on their power, they cannot do anything to Zhang Fei, so they can only use other means.
This was actually very common in the Northern Song Dynasty. The most direct way to deal with unruly people was to beat them up!
"Do you think I'm someone who can be easily provoked?" Wang Wenshan snorted angrily.
Chen Yu frowned and said nothing, obviously disapproving of this.
Wang Wenshan glanced at him and said, "But don't worry, I don't want to hurt his life. I just want to teach him a lesson and let him know that Bianjing is not a place for him to stay. As long as we are careful and don't leave any evidence, he will be unable to do anything to us."
Chen Yu knew that Zhang San had become Wang Wenshan's inner demon. After all, Wang Wenshan came from a family of officials and had been pampered since childhood. Now he was in a high position, but he had never been humiliated by the common people. If he did not severely punish Zhang Fei, he would find it difficult to vent his hatred and even feel ashamed to see people.
Chen Yu frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Actually, it's not impossible to do this."
Wang Wenshan asked, "What do you think?"
Chen Yu said: "If Wang Jiefu really sets up a new government office, it will surely cause dissatisfaction among many ministers in the court. However, since Wang Jiefu is deeply trusted by the government, this may be difficult to change. We can take this opportunity to make them vent their anger on Zhang San.
If Zhang San were attacked at this time, many ministers in the court would certainly applaud, but Wang Jiefu might not ignore it. If he does, then we can focus all the conflicts on Zhang San, and then use the power of the ministers to fight against Wang Jiefu, so that we may have a chance to win. "
Wang Wenshan's eyes lit up, "This is a great idea."
That’s what they did last time. Regarding restricting litigation, Wang Anshi and Sima Guang both opposed it, but there was nothing they could do.
As for the house tax reform, Sima Guang and Chen Shengzhi both supported Wang Anshi, and they had the best of time, place and people, and it would be difficult to reverse the situation. But if Zhang Fei was brought in, the situation would change.
This is actually a common tactic used in official circles.