What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The Song Dynasty government had a kind of public expense, called minister money, and its use was very arbitrary. Because of this arbitrariness, the Renzong Dynasty has triggered several major cases around the legitimacy of the use of minister money, and behind each major case, there is a shadow of party struggle.
1. What is "Minister Money"?
With regard to "minister money", it is the office expenses of the official offices at all levels, and the main purpose is to provide for the daily expenses of the officials and entertain past officials and public servants. This system was founded by Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, and Wang Mingqing of the Song Dynasty once said: "Since Taizu abolished the town of the domain, ordered the people to be in charge of the prefecture, and the world was in a state of tranquility, he set up a minister's treasury, so that when he encountered guests, he would put supplies in the pavilion to help him lack food." This is actually a means for Song Taizu to envelop the locality. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the five dynasties of the feudal towns were strongly divided, and Song Taizu took over the military power of the feudal towns and turned to using this economic interest to confuse them.
Zhao Kuangyin in the film and television drama
There are two sources of ministerial money, one is the positive gift money allocated by the imperial court, and the other is the local self-raised money. Self-financing minister money is generally set according to local conditions, and even illegal operations, common real estate, usury, brothel restaurants, reselling goods and so on.
The imperial court did not restrict the use of minister money, but over time, minister money gradually became generalized, that is, its use gradually expanded, including providing daily food for officials, feasting on local soldiers, and providing relief to subordinates. It is precisely because local officials have greater flexibility in using minister's money and the way of use is more complicated, so the boundary between public and private has gradually become blurred, whether it is used for official business or fake public welfare, it all depends on the personal cultivation of local governors.
The History of Song records that Emperor Renzong's uncle Li Yonghe said: "In the old system, the money given to the envoys above the history of the assassination was privately entered, and the use and use of the money were used for military expenses." Although the law does not stipulate it, many magistrates consciously put this money into their own pockets. And Li Yonghe used all of them as military expenses, which shows that he is a clean and honest official. But the key point is that the act of stuffing the pocket is not recognized by law, but an act that the scholar tacitly acquiesces to. Therefore, when the officials of the Song Dynasty were overthrown, embezzlement and abuse of ministerial money became the most easily framed crime.
2. Teng Zong's forgiveness case
Because of the minister's money, such a thing happened when Emperor Renzong. At that time, Yuan Hao of Western Xia was proclaimed empress, and many wars broke out between Song and Xia, and several large-scale battles were defeated by the Song Dynasty, so Emperor Renzong chose to negotiate peace with Western Xia. After the peace talks, Emperor Renzong transferred Fan Zhongyan, who had performed meritorious service in the northwest, back to Beijing to preside over the New Deal, and Fan Zhongyan recommended his friend Teng Zongyu (Zi jing) to succeed him. At that time, Fan Zhongyan gave a ticket to Emperor Renzong, saying that "if there is no merit and there is a crime, the subject should be willing to commit the same crime", Fan Zhongyan used his reputation and life to guarantee it, and Emperor Renzong agreed.
However, shortly after his arrival, Teng Zongyu was impeached for improper use of the minister's money. In the third year of the Qing calendar (1043), the four roads of Shaanxi deployed Zheng Jian to report Teng Zongyu, saying that he had "wasted 160,000 taels of public money in Gyeongju before".
Inspector Yushi Liangjian also impeached Teng Zongyu, and in his slang, he listed teng Zongyu's specific illegal acts, such as Teng Zongyu's low-priced purchase of ordinary people's cattle when he was in Jingzhou to reward the soldiers.
Fan Zhongyan defended his friend, saying that at that time, because the enemy was approaching, in order to reward the soldiers and let them fight heroically, even if the behavior was excessive, it was forgivable.
Liang Jian also said that Teng Zongyu had rewarded the female prostitutes with silver leaves when he was awarding the state, which caused resentment among the soldiers. Fan Zhongyan defended Teng again, saying that it was not Teng himself. But no matter how to justify it, Teng Zong's forgiveness of using female prostitutes to engage in music and dance is not right. Because Emperor Renzong issued a decree in the first year of the reign, "The banquet of the border ministers will not be treated by female prostitutes from now on."
Liang Jian took advantage of the victory to pursue, and Shangquan said, "After Teng Zongyu arrived at Ren (Gyeongju), he made 160,000 yuan of money, and there were tens of thousands of unknowns in the meantime." This time, Fan Zhongyan believes that of the 160,000 guan, 150,000 guan cannot be counted as minister money, but the material money of the army. This time, Fan Zhongyan was willing to use his own phase as a guarantee for Bao Tengzong.
Third, the Renzong Dynasty "Minister Money" Controversy
After Liang Jian and Fan Zhongyan argued, a great discussion arose in the DPRK and China about the use of ministers' money, which coincided with the New Deal period of the Qing calendar. Fan Zhongyan believed that the imperial court was originally mean and unkind to the frontier because of its emphasis on literature and light force, so in terms of ministerial money, as long as officials did not put it into their own pockets, they should use it from the sidelines, and should not be framed for this matter. Ouyang Xiu, Yin Su, and Su Shunqin all agreed with Fan Zhongyan's statement.
Emperor Renzong was originally benevolent, and when he heard these words, he demoted Teng Zong to a lower level to close the case, and the matter was temporarily brought to an end. But with the death of Yushi Liangjian, in the midst of grief, the matter was turned over again. In particular, Gongchen, the King of The Imperial History, made a fuss about this matter. He accused Teng Zongyu of burning the account books. Suddenly, many ministers echoed, accusing Teng Zongyu of being too lightly punished. Under the pressure of his courtiers, Emperor Renzong degraded Emperor Teng three times. Fan Zhongyan was soon implicated out of Beijing, and the backbone of the Qingli New Deal has since left.
So what happened to Teng Zongyu's burning of the account book? It turned out that when Fan Zhongyan was in power in the western region, it was an important policy to win over the Qiang people. At that time, a group of Qiang people came to be annexed, and Teng Zongyu spent 3,000 minister money to reward this group of people, and the history books record that "thousands of people belonging to Qiang were attached to them, and Teng Hou added labor to leave them behind to tie their hearts." This is a common practice on the frontier. The 160,000 yuan mentioned by Liang Jian is actually a generalization and amplification of the cost of the past. Only after Liang Jian impeached him, he was worried that there were too many people involved in the case, so he burned the account book. Wang Gongchen made a fuss about this matter, and he really couldn't argue with it.
Teng Zongyu's misfortune was that at that time, the whole country was reducing clothing and food to support the front line, and even Emperor Renzong ordered the reduction of the use of the palace. At this time, he squandered the money of the already sensitive minister, can he not give people a voice? Coupled with his political preference for Fan Zhongyun, he was innocently involved in the party struggle during the Celebration of the New Deal.
Fourth, the Yoon Soo case and the party struggle
Soon after Teng Zong's forgiveness case, because of minister money, the Yin Su case broke out again. Yin Su was also an important officer on the Song-Xia border, Zhiwei Prefecture. In the fifth year of the Qing calendar (1045), Bian impeached Dong Shilian into the dynasty and impeached Yin Su for "diverting hundreds of official money for his own use". Yoon Soo argues that he lent money to his subordinates to pay off their debts, and at the same time used the money to set up an industry to make a profit.
As the old practice goes, Yoon Soo did not violate the rules, but he fell victim to political struggle. Xia Chun, the boss behind the impeachment of Yoon Soo, is a Xiangzhuang sword dancer with the intention of Pei Gong. Because Yin Su and Han Qi were good friends, and at this time, the New Deal party was banished from the imperial court, and at this time, only Han Qi held important positions in the imperial court.
At that time, the war in the west, Han Qi was the main attacker, and Yin Su firmly implemented his strategy and opposed the construction of Shuiluo City, as mentioned above, Dong Shilian, who reported Yin Su, was imprisoned by Yin Su. After the northern Song Dynasty changed its strategy, it realized the importance of rebuilding Shuiluo City, and everything was involved, and naturally it was pulled on Han Qi's head. Under pressure, Han Qi wrote to request a replacement for the post of foreign official, and with his appointment to Yangzhou, the party struggle between Emperor Renzong and the Dynasty came to an end.
The "minister money" of the Song Dynasty had a very large gray space, and there were no strict rules on how to use the minister money. Therefore, in special periods, the use of ministerial money is often magnified and becomes an excuse for the party to frame political enemies. After the outbreak of the Injong Dynasty's Tengzong and Yin Su cases, they had a great impact on the political arena, and a number of officials were demoted from Beijing. The two protagonists of the case were punished by degrading officials, and their chiefs Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi were also implicated.
With this lesson, the generals became extremely cautious about using the minister's money, and although the minister's money was a good resource, they were afraid of stepping on the landmine. Didn't the famous general Di Qing just say, "I don't want to take the minister's money, I'm afraid I don't know the second order"!