After Song Zhenzong came to the throne, the positive effect of a series of measures to ease class contradictions and restore and develop production since the early Song Dynasty was fully manifested, the ruling order was relatively stable, production developed, and the social economy showed prosperity.
At the same time, the social contradictions inherent in the early Song Dynasty have also intensified, and the crisis of rule in the Northern Song Dynasty is brewing. Due to the land policy of "not suppressing annexation" since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, land annexation was already quite serious by the time of Emperor Taizong, "the rich have a land of hope, and the poor have no land for excellence." ”
When he was to Emperor Renzong, he was even more "powerful officials and rich surnames, unlimited occupation of land, mergers and fakes, habits and customs, and heavy prohibition could not be stopped." "During the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Song, two-thirds of the country's land was already concentrated in the hands of officials, households, and monk landlords, with the result that the vast number of subordinate households in the main households lost their land one after another, became bankrupt and became tenants of various landlords, suffering heavy exploitation and oppression.
In order to fight for the right to survive, they had no choice but to take risks, and by the early years of the Renzong Qingli (1041-1048), the resistance struggles of the peasant class were already beginning one after another, and they showed new characteristics of developing from remote areas with weak rule to the "heart" areas where the government was heavily guarded, and combining with the struggle of mutinous soldiers.
The "three redundancies" are the vicious expansion of redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses, which made the financial burden of the imperial court increasingly heavy, especially the huge military expenditure, which overwhelmed the state finances. In the last years of Emperor Zhenzong, the imperial court's fiscal revenue and expenditure were still slightly reduced, and Emperor Renzong (1049-1054) could only achieve a balance of income and expenditure, and by the time of Yingzong's reign (1064-1067), the fiscal deficit in the second year of Zhiping (1065) was as high as more than 15.7 million.
In the first year of Baoyuan (1038), Li Yuanhao, the leader of the Northwest Party, claimed that the emperor was founded, and because the Northern Song Dynasty refused to canonize, he sent troops one after another to launch a powerful offensive. The Northern Song Dynasty was defeated again and again in the war with Western Xia, and although Li Yuanhao was forced to negotiate peace with the Northern Song Dynasty, the border tension in the northwest of the Northern Song Dynasty still did not ease.
As the crisis of rule in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty deepened, some far-sighted bureaucrats represented by Fan Zhonghuan put forward reform proposals on the issues of bureaucracy, border defense, and finance.
Forced by the situation, Emperor Renzong of Song was determined to carry out reforms, and appointed Fan Zhonghuan as a counselor in government affairs, and tasked him with planning reforms. In the third year of the Qing calendar (1043), Fan Zhongyan sent Emperor Renzong of Song the "Ten Matters of Answering the Edict of Answering the Hand", putting forward his reform program, including rectifying the rule of officials, eliminating redundant officials, reforming the imperial examination, developing the economy, reducing exploitation, and strengthening border defense, most of which were issued by Emperor Renzong to be implemented throughout the country, which is the "Qingli New Policy".
The goal of Fan Zhonghun and other reformist bureaucrats was to focus on rectifying the rule of officials and achieve the goal of overcoming the crisis of ruling and stabilizing the ruling order by improving the quality of the bureaucracy. However, this is at odds with the vested interests of the privileged and provokes strong opposition from them. They fabricated accusations, attacked Fan Zhonghuan and others for forming a party of friends, endangering the emperor, and making Emperor Renzong intolerant of the actions of reformist officials.
Fan Zhongyan, Fu Yi, and others were either transferred or deposed, and the "New Deal" was completely reversed, and the crisis of rule in the Northern Song Dynasty was further deepened, forming a situation of poverty and weakness. However, in order to emerge from the crisis, a new, larger reform initiated by Wang Anshi, the Xining Reform Law, is in the pipeline.
Wang Anshi (1021-1086), courtesy name Jiefu, a native of Linchuan, Fuzhou (present-day western Fuzhou, Jiangxi), and a scholar in the second year of the Qing calendar (1042), served in the local government for a long time and achieved good political achievements. In the fourth year of Jiayou (1059), he systematically put forward his reform ideas in the "Words and Matters of Emperor Shangrenzong", which although it did not attract the attention of Emperor Renzong of Song, but greatly increased Wang Anshi's popularity.
After Emperor Shenzong of Song ascended the throne, he was summoned to serve in the dynasty under the name of Mu Wang Anshi . Wang Anshi's idea of "changing customs, legislating degrees" was approved by Song Shenzong, who appointed him as a counselor in political affairs, presided over the reform of the law, and used the Department of Regulations of the Three Divisions as the organ leading the reform of the law. Under the auspices of Wang Anshi, a series of new laws were formulated and promulgated, including three aspects: financial management, army rectification, imperial examinations, and schools.
(1) Financial management laws
1. Equal loss method. On the basis of understanding the needs and material stocks of the imperial family and the official government of the capital, the six-way shipping envoys such as Huainan who ordered the procurement of materials for the imperial family and the government in the capital were unified in accordance with the principle of "moving expensive and cheap, and using the near and easy to far", which could not only ensure the supply of materials in the capital, but also save purchase prices and freight rates, so as to crack down on merchants' hoarding and price manipulation.
2. Young seedlings method. It stipulates that in February and May of each year, when the peasants are not receiving green and yellow grain, they will be loaned and lent grain according to households, and the interest rate will be raised by two cents in half a year, and the principal and interest will be repaid to the government when the summer tax and autumn grain are paid, so as to help the peasants tide over the difficulties in production and life, and curb the exploitation of the peasants by usury, and the government will also receive interest income from it.
3. Farmland Water Conservancy Law. It stipulates that farmland water conservancy projects are to be built by beneficiary households, and if the people's resources are insufficient, they can borrow money from the government in accordance with the "Young Seedlings Law", and if one state and one county are not competent, they can be jointly built by several prefectures and counties, and private construction of water conservancy projects can be advocated and rewarded.
4. Exemption from military service. Also known as the Conscription Law, the official households that were originally allowed to be exempted from military service were also paid by half of the official households, called the auxiliary money, and the official households and households that were not yet exempted from military service were also paid by half, called the auxiliary money, and two points were added to the positive amount every year in preparation for disaster apologies, saying that the exemption from military service was left over.
5. Municipal Easy Law. Following the equal loss method, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other cities have successively set up municipal easy services to purchase slow-moving goods in the market, sell them to businessmen on credit when the market is out of stock, and raise interest rates by two points when repayment, so as to crack down on businessmen's monopoly on the market and manipulate prices.
6. Fang Tian Jun Tax Law. In order to stop the tax evasion of hidden fields by official households and landlords of current households, it was ordered that the whole country clear the land, verify the owner and area of the land, and divide it into five classes according to the quality of the soil, as the basis for collecting land endowments.
(2) Laws for the whole army
1. Protection of the law. The main customers in the village are guaranteed by 10 companies, 50 as major insurance, and 10 major insurance as capital insurance. Households with more than two dings draw one ding as baoding, and agricultural leisure is concentrated; He received military training, was responsible for maintaining internal security in peacetime, and participated with the forbidden army in wartime to save the cost of raising troops.
2. The Horse Protection Act. The state horse herding supervision and horse breeding is changed to protect the horse by the private household, and the official government gives the horse or gives money to buy it for itself, and the horse breeder is exempted from the depreciation and payment, saving the land occupation and cost of horse herding supervision and horse breeding.
3. The Art of War. Also known as the method of placing generals, on the basis of eliminating the old and weak in the army, 92 generals are placed in strategic places, each with about 3,000 soldiers, so that the garrison of the forbidden army is relatively fixed, and experienced generals are selected to lead and train to enhance the combat effectiveness of the forbidden army.
4. Establish a military weapons superintendent. The Military Arms Superintendent replaced the three divisions, commanded the eastern and western workshops and the prefectures, managed the production of weapons, designed the French style of weapons production, and improved the quality of weapons production.
(3) The imperial examination and school laws
In the fourth year of Xining (1071), the "new system of tribute" was formulated, and the Jin Shi section was retained in the imperial examination, the Ming Jing subject was abolished, and the Ming Law Department was added. In the entrance examination, poetry, scripture, and ink meaning are no longer examined, but the content of the examination is based on the meaning of the scriptures, discussions, and current affairs.
Wang Anshi presided over the interpretation of the "Book of Poetry", "Shang Shu" and "Zhou Li", and compiled the "Three Classics and New Meanings", which served as the basis for the examination of scripture and the basic textbook in Tai Xue. Expand the scale of taixue and increase the number of students.
In the taixue, the "three-rounding method" is implemented, and the students are divided into three levels: outer house, inner house, and upper house, and those who are newly enrolled are outer house students, and the number of students is not limited, and those who pass the spring and autumn examinations are promoted to inner house students, with 200 students, and those who have passed the examination are promoted to upper house students, with 100 students, and those who are excellent in learning and deeds among the upper house students can be directly awarded officials without the imperial examination. Later, he also set up martial arts, law, medicine, etc. in the capital to train various specialized personnel.
Under the auspices of Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi, the reform lasted for nearly 20 years, enabling the Northern Song Dynasty to shake off the crisis of poverty and weakness, and to achieve the expected goal of making the country rich and strengthening the army.
After the death of Song Shenzong, Song Zhezong was only 10 years old when she ascended the throne, and Empress Dowager Gao, a representative of the opposition to the law change, came to the court, and she summoned Sima Guang into the dynasty as prime minister, and the officials of the law change faction were successively expelled from the dynasty, and within a few months, the new law was abolished, and the history is called "Yuan Yu Reform".
After the death of Empress Dowager Gao, Emperor Zhezong of Song took the government and revived the use of the law changers Zeng Bu and Zhang Chun as the phasers, restoring some of the new laws, while Zeng and Zhang and others focused more on retaliation against the anti-law reformers, branding the powerful officials during the Yuan Yu period as "Yuanyu party members", and the new law has become a pretext for various political forces to fight each other.
After Emperor Huizong of Song came to the throne, the darkest and most decaying period in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty began. Cai Jing, who was good at speculative drilling camps, flaunted the banner of the new law of "Shaoshu", and the official to the prime minister, colluded with Tong Guan, Zhu Mian, Li Bangyan, Liang Shicheng, Wang Yi and others to control the imperial government, and was sometimes called the "Six Thieves".
The "six thieves" were in one breath, and the party was the same as the party, and all those who opposed them were included in the "Yuanyu party membership", so that their henchmen and children were entrenched in important positions, sold official titles, and bribed the government, so at that time there was a saying of "3,000 suo, straight secret pavilion, 500 guan, and the judgment of the general judgment."
Emperor Huizong of Song worshiped Taoism, and Taoist priest Lin Lingsu advocated that Emperor Huizong was the eldest son of God and the Immortal Emperor was born on earth, so Emperor Huizong proclaimed himself the "Emperor of the Daojun", built the Yuqing Shenxiao Palace and the Shangqing Baojiao Palace in the imperial palace, and ordered the construction of Shenxiao Wanshou Palace throughout the country; Set up Taoism, imitate the imperial examination system, let Taoist priests take the exam to become Taoist officials, and receive Yulu, and Lin Lingsu's disciples alone became Taoist officials, and there were as many as 20,000 people.
In order to invite favors to retain the throne, Cai Jing and others "flattered the emperor with palaces", built large-scale Yanfu Palace and Liangyue, which were dotted with countless famous trees and raised various rare birds and exotic beasts.
In order to arrange the inside and outside of the palace magnificently, a Yingfeng Bureau was set up in Suzhou, a Zhengzuo Bureau was set up in Hangzhou, and various exotic stones and processing crafts were presided over and transported to Kaifeng, the capital, through the canal, and every 10 ships were organized into a class, called "Huashi Class".
The officials of the Yingfeng Bureau and the Creation Bureau relied on extortion and forcible robbery, and if the people had a rare foreign object, they would inevitably be blackmailed until they lost their property. During the transportation of the tall Taihu stone, all water gates, bridges, city walls, etc. must be demolished, and the freight cost of one stone is as high as 300,000 threads.
In order to enrich their own pockets and curry favor with Emperor Huizong, the "six thieves" did their utmost to loot and cleverly set up tax headings, making the tax burden of private households heavier. In order to increase fiscal revenues, the "Guotian" was implemented, and the Xicheng Guotian Office was established, and in just 10 years, 3.43 million mu of civilian land were usurped in the name of barren land and fleeing land, resulting in the bankruptcy of many homesteaders and small and medium-sized landowners becoming tenants. Big bureaucrats and landowners also took the opportunity to annex land, and Cai Jing's Yongfengxu alone had nearly 1,000 hectares of land.
The perverse actions of Emperor Huizong of Song and the "Six Thieves" sharply intensified social contradictions, spreading the ballad "Break the barrel (Tong Guan), splash vegetables (Cai Jing), it is a good world on earth" among the lower classes, expressing their desire to overthrow the dark rule of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Under the leadership of Fang La, the peasants of Qingxi, Muzhou (present-day Xichun Township, Chun'an County, Zhejiang), who suffered from the harassment of Huashi Gang, used Manichaeism's secret activities to revolt in the second year of Xuanhe (1120).
Fang La proclaimed himself a saintly duke, established a political power, established Yuan Yongle, and appointed officials and generals. The peasants of the two Zhejiang provinces rose up in response, and the ranks grew to tens of thousands, and soon captured the lands of 52 counties in six prefectures: Mu, Xiao (present-day Xiao County, Anhui), Hangzhou (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang), Wu (present-day Jinhua, Zhejiang), Qu (present-day Qu County, Zhejiang), and Zhi (present-day west of Lishui County, Zhejiang).
The Fang La Uprising took place in the richest regions of the Northern Song Dynasty and Zhejiang, which greatly shocked the ruling class, and Emperor Huizong of Song appointed Tong Guan as the envoy of Jianghuai and Jingzhe, leading the 150,000 forbidden troops who had assembled in Kaifeng to go north to jointly attack the Liao Dynasty with the Jin army to suppress the Fang La uprising, and Fang La was forced to lead his people to retreat to Qingxi Gangyuandong. In the end, 70,000 rebel soldiers were killed in battle, and Fang La was captured and taken to Kaifeng to take up his righteousness.
Before the Fang La Uprising, peasant uprisings led by Song Jiang had already occurred in Hebei and Jingdong regions, and were called "Hebei Drama Thieves" by the rulers. Song Jiang repeatedly refused the imperial court's recruitment, winning more with less, and defeated the encirclement and suppression of the officials and troops. In the third year of Xuanhe (1121), when Song Jiang led his people to Haizhou (southwest of present-day Lianyungang, Jiangsu), he was ambushed by Zhang Shuye of Haizhou Zhizhou, and Song Jiang and 36 others surrendered to Zhang Shuye.