In 1022, Emperor Zhenzong of Song died of a serious illness, and Emperor Renzong of Song, who was only thirteen years old, took the throne. Due to the emperor's young age, Empress Liu of Zhenzong listened to the government for twenty-one years in the name of "quan tong to punish military and state affairs". After Empress Liu came to power, she always advocated that "the ancestral law cannot be broken" and implemented a conservative policy, which led to the deterioration of many problems in the society of the Song Dynasty. Specifically, these problems within the Northern Song Dynasty can be summarized as "redundant officials", "redundant soldiers", and "redundant expenses".
Song Renzong Zhao Zhen
The first is "bureaucracy". "Redundant officials" actually include three levels, one is that the number of bureaucrats is too large, resulting in overstaffing. The main reason for this is that they have a wide range of entry paths. Scholars of civilian origin could enter the official arena by taking the imperial examination, and after Song Taizong, the number of students admitted to the imperial examination increased. During the forty-two years of the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, the Northern Song Dynasty held thirteen imperial examinations, and more than 10,000 people were admitted to various disciplines. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song and Emperor Zhenzong of Song, officials and relatives of the emperor and relatives of the emperor could apply for yin to supplement his sons, relatives and even guests as officials during the reign of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Zhenzong. There were not a few people who were able to enter the imperial family through Enyin, and within just one year of the seventh year (1047) of the Song Renzong Qing calendar, there were more than a thousand people in the imperial family of Enyin, not including the children of officials who had been added to the imperial family. Its number has far exceeded the number of people who have been elected to the imperial examination.
Second, the duplication of bureaucracy has led to a significant increase in administrative costs. In order to limit the power of officials and implement the concept of decentralization, the rulers of the Song Dynasty readjusted the official system and administrative organs. For example, the power of the original prime minister was divided into three aspects: administrative, military, and financial, which were managed by different institutions such as Zhongshu Menxia, the Privy Council, and the Three Divisions. Although the Song Dynasty inherited the Tang Dynasty system and set up three provinces and six ministries, it set up another institution and personnel to be responsible for the relevant affairs of the three provinces and six ministries, such as the Trial and Punishment Court, which took over the functions of the original Punishment Department to hear cases. The Northern Song Dynasty also set up institutions such as the Transfer Envoy Department, the Tidian Prison Department, and the Changping Department in various roads, which were respectively responsible for administrative, economic, judicial, and civil affairs. In each state, a general judge is set up to control the powers of the state. Measures such as these caused the Song Dynasty administrative apparatus to stack beds and frame houses, and the bureaucracy quickly expanded. According to Bao Zheng's statistics in his deliberations, the number of civil and military officials in the Song Dynasty soared from more than 9,000 to more than 17,000 in the more than 40 years from 1007 to 1049, an increase of nearly double.
Third, the cultural and administrative qualities of bureaucrats are uneven. Before the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, those who entered the bureaucracy through yin supplementation accounted for the largest proportion of the bureaucracy, and some of the children of officials and eunuchs were already in infancy. Most of these officials who have obtained official positions through shading supplements have not received systematic and good education, and they do not have the cultural quality of serving as officials. The combination of these three factors made the administration of the Northern Song government very inefficient, and the huge bureaucratic group greatly increased the burden on the people.
The second is "redundant soldiers", that is, the excessive number of soldiers in the army, which actually stems from the "raising soldiers" policy in the Song Taizu period. Song Taizu believed that in the famine years of bad harvests, only civilians would rebel against the government because they had no food and clothing, while the army raised by the state would not rebel. Conversely, in a harvest year, only soldiers rebel, civilians do not rebel. Therefore, since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the policy of "raising soldiers" has been regarded as a basic national policy by the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty. Even after the Song and Liao dynasties concluded the Alliance of Liaoyuan, the Song Dynasty did not have large-scale wars, and the number of its troops was not reduced, but was constantly increasing. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (1017-1021), the Standing Army of the Song Dynasty was nearly one million, more than three times that of the Taizu period. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song (1041-1048), the Northern Song Dynasty, in response to the western Xia war, once expanded its army size to 1.2 million people, reaching the peak of the number of Northern Song troops. Because the Song Dynasty's policy of "raising soldiers" was different from the prefectural military system and was a conscription system, the huge army was undoubtedly an extremely heavy burden on the state finances.
The third is "redundancy", which is actually the financial crisis faced by the Song Dynasty government. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, he vigorously engaged in the "Heavenly Book sealing Zen", and also built a large number of civil engineering and palaces, almost squandering the treasury of the Song Dynasty. In the early period of Song Renzong's reign, due to the rapid development of land annexation, the situation of uneven conscription became increasingly serious, and natural disasters were raging, and the state's financial situation was no longer enough to make ends meet. During the years of Baoyuan and Kangding (1038-1041), the Rise of Western Xia, the Song Dynasty had to send troops to requisition, but the Song army was weak in combat, and could only exchange military superiority over Western Xia by continuously increasing troops, and huge military expenditures aggravated the financial burden of the state.
Song Zhenzong
After Emperor Renzong of Song ascended the throne, the diplomatic situation of the Northern Song Dynasty also gradually deteriorated. After Li Yuanhao established the Western Xia State in 1038, he began a full-scale border war with the Northern Song Dynasty. By the third year of the Qing Calendar (1043), the Song army had suffered three major defeats in the war with Western Xia, namely Sanchuankou, Haoshuichuan, and Dingchuanzhai, and a large number of elite troops were wiped out by Western Xia. The defeat of the Song army not only caused panic at all levels of the government and the public, but also greatly intensified the internal contradictions of the northern Song ruling clique. In order to maintain the cost of military supplies on the front line, the local government continued to increase taxes, which eventually provoked the revolt of the people. The internal and external troubles of the Northern Song Dynasty forced Song Renzong to seek change and solve the crisis facing society. To implement change, it is necessary to have the assistance of talents, so Fan Zhongyan has become the best candidate for implementing reform.
Fan Zhongyan, Zi Xiwen, a native of Wu County, Suzhou. When Fan Zhongyan was two years old, his father died, and he remarried with his mother and followed his stepfather Zhu Shi to various places. Although Fan Zhongyan experienced hardships in his childhood, he was dedicated to learning and ambitious. When he was young, he once asked the gods in a temple: "Can I be the prime minister in the future?" God said no. Fan Zhongyan then said, "If you can't be the prime minister, how about being a good doctor?" It can be seen that he already has the ambition to save the world. Because of this, Fan Zhongyan was able to study hard under difficult conditions in his early years and strive to realize his ideal of contributing to the country and the people. He later recalled this experience: "When I was young, I was studying in Changbai Mountain with a classmate surnamed Liu, cooking a pot of corn porridge every day, waiting for it to be cold and cut into four pieces, eating two pieces in the morning and evening. Chop the vegetables, add a little vinegar and a little salt, cook them as a dish, and it's been like this for three years. "
Statue of Fan Zhongyan
In the fourth year of DaZhongxiangfu (1011), the twenty-three-year-old Fan Zhongyan bid farewell to his mother and came to Yingtian Academy, one of the four major academies of the Northern Song Dynasty. He studied very diligently in the academy, and whenever he was sleepy in reading in the cold winter, he washed his face with cold water, day and night, and did not undress and go to bed for five years. The arduous study career not only enriched Fan Zhongyan's knowledge, but more importantly, honed his will quality.
In the eighth year of Da Zhongxiangfu (1015), the twenty-seven-year-old Fan Zhongyan was admitted to the zhongjinshi and was able to enter the career path. Although Fan Zhongyan, who had just entered the official arena, was a man of few words, he soberly realized that the Song Dynasty had various political shortcomings, and dared to speak out and criticize them. In the third year of Tiansheng (1025), Fan Zhongyun, who was still supervising the official salt warehouse at the local level, wrote the "Book of Current Affairs" to the imperial court, exposing the current situation of the flood of grace and shade in the imperial court. While discussing current politics, Fan Zhongyan also wrote letters to Wang Zeng, Zhang Zhibai and other important officials of the imperial court, hoping to have the opportunity to show their ambitions on a higher political platform. Two years later, Fan Zhongyan's mother died, and while guarding the funeral for his mother, he again wrote to the prime minister and proposed his own reform ideas. Fan Zhongyan's petition attracted the attention of the chancellor Wang Zeng, who admired Fan Zhongyan's talent and asked Yan Shu to recommend Fan Zhongyan to enter the imperial court after the expiration of Ding's period, but he ignored Fan Zhongyan's voices calling for reform.
On the recommendation of Yan Shu and others, Fan Zhongyan passed the selection examination of the Hanlin Academy and successfully entered the imperial court as an official. At the beginning of his arrival, the imperial court happened to celebrate Empress Liu's birthday, and some of the birthday ceremonies did not conform to the etiquette, so Fan Zhongyan boldly wrote to Empress Liu, who was listening to the government, believing that the emperor was the honor of the Ninth Five, and should not personally lead hundreds of officials to perform the kneeling ceremony for the empress dowager, and should be performed by the prime minister on behalf of the emperor. In the same year, Fan Zhongyan wrote to Empress Liu again, asking the empress dowager to return the government to Emperor Renzong. The empress dowager did not bother to step on Fan Zhongyan's letter, and Fan Zhongyan indignantly requested to leave the imperial court as a magistrate. Fan Zhongyan's integrity left a deep impression on the twenty-year-old Renzong, and also made him truly and deeply feel the sincere support of his courtiers.
Therefore, after Emperor Renzong took over the government, he summoned Fan Zhongyan back to the capital and promoted him to the position of Right Counselor, who was specifically responsible for advising the emperor and supervising hundreds of officials. At this time, more and more people from top to bottom directly or indirectly attacked the empress dowager's affairs when the curtain was hanging. Although Fan Zhongyan had previously strongly demanded that the empress dowager return to power and even suffered unfair treatment because of this, he did not take the opportunity to take revenge on the empress, but instead advised Renzong that the empress dowager had been ordered by the former emperor to protect you for more than ten years, and some minor transgressions should be covered up to protect the reputation of the empress. After hearing this, Emperor Renzong was very touched, and he respected Fan Zhongyan's character even more, and ordered that he should no longer discuss the affairs of Empress Liu when she was hanging down the curtain to listen to the government. From then on, Fan Zhongyan became the best person to preside over comprehensive reform in Emperor Renzong's mind.
In the third year of the Qing calendar (1043), the war between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia basically ended, and the two sides began to negotiate peace. Song Renzong could not wait to recall the fifty-five-year-old Fan Zhongyan from the northwest front to the capital, serve as the privy deputy envoy in charge of the military, and begin to prepare for change. Emperor Renzong also reorganized the ruling team, deposed the elderly chancellor Lü Yijian, and promoted Fan Zhongyan and others to the post of ruling minister. At the same time, a group of scholars and doctors who agreed with the change gradually gathered around Fan Zhongyan, including Ouyang Xiu and Yin Su, who were good at literature, Han Qi and Fu Bi, who were also capable of excellence, and famous scholars such as Hu Yan, Sun Fu, and Shi Jie, who were the main supporters and implementers of this reform.
The New Deal introduced by Fan Zhongyan fundamentally harmed the vested interests of many officials, so there were actually not many people in favor of reform, and the New Deal was violently attacked soon after its implementation. Many officials, led by the ruling Xia Chun, slandered Fan Zhongyan and others for forming cliques and referred to officials who supported the reform as "friends." Xia Chun and others also instructed the eunuch Lan Yuanzhen to report to Emperor Renzong of Song that Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, and others had formed a party for personal gain. In the face of these attacks, Ouyang Xiu wrote an article entitled "On The Party of Friends" to refute it, saying that the friends of the gentlemen and the friends of the villains were friends of the other villains, Yili, and the gentlemen were friends of the same path, "true friends". The two factions denounced each other as "friends" and engaged in fierce polemics in the court. Although some officials, such as Zai Zaizhang, did not openly oppose the New Deal, they did not actively support it, but patiently waited for problems in its implementation.
Statue of Ouyang Xiu
With the implementation of the New Deal, more and more opposition reached Song Renzong's ears, and the most disturbing thing was that opposition officials accused Fan Zhongyan of "making friends with the party." Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the supreme ruler has made great efforts to prevent his subjects from forming a party, and Emperor Renzong has always been jealous of officials from the DPRK and China from the heart to form parties for personal gain, and he cannot allow a political group around him to form a party under any circumstances. In Song Renzong's view, Fan Zhongyun has a previous conviction on the issue of "partisans." Eight years ago, Fan Zhongyan wrote a joint letter with Ouyang Xiu, Yin Su, Yu Jing and other colleagues, accusing Lü Yijian of nepotism and exclusion of dissidents. However, the old and spicy Lü Yijian immediately retorted, calling Fan Zhongyan "colluding with friends and alienating the monarchs", and instigating Emperor Renzong to demote Fan Zhongyan and all four others from the imperial court. However, Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, during the implementation of the New Deal, once again called themselves friends and flaunted each other as gentlemen, which made Emperor Renzong even more suspicious.
Emperor Renzong summoned Fan Zhongyan and asked him, "Since ancient times, all the people who have formed friends with the party are villains, can gentlemen also form a party?" Fan Zhongyan replied: "When the subjects were on the frontier, they saw that there were both those who had the courage to fight and those who were cowardly and avoided fighting. This is also the case in the imperial court, where the righteous gentleman and the treacherous villain have their own henchmen. I hope that the Saint will see that if people who are bent on goodness form a friendship party, what harm will it be to the country? Fan Zhongyan's remarks were tantamount to directly admitting to Song Renzong that he had made friends with the party, thus deepening Renzong's dissatisfaction.
Xia Zhen took full advantage of Emperor Renzong's dislike of Fan Zhongyan's self-proclaimed partisan mentality, and continued to encourage eunuchs to slander Fan Zhongyun in front of Emperor Renzong, further shaking Emperor Renzong's trust in Fan Zhongyan and others. At the same time, Xia Chen also instructed his maid to imitate the handwriting of the reformist official Shi Jie, forge letters and frame Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu, Shi Jie, and others for plotting to depose the emperor. It turns out that Xia Chen's political means played a great role. In the first month of the fifth year of the Qing calendar (1045), the military threats of the Liao and Western Xia were lifted one after another, and the external situation of the Song Dynasty eased somewhat, and After repeated deliberations, Emperor Renzong of Song finally decided to depose Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi and Du Yan, the chancellor who supported the New Deal. Opposition officials abolished the various New Deal measures promoted by Fan Zhongyan and others, and the brief "New Deal for the Celebration of the Calendar" eventually failed.
In the first month of the fifth year of the Qing Calendar, Fan Zhongyan left the imperial court and served as the governor of Ying Prefecture (邠州, in present-day Bin County, Shaanxi). Although the failure of the New Deal was a foregone conclusion at this time, Fan Zhongyan still expressed his firm belief in "not exhausting his heart with discredit, and not spoiling him more in an article thanking the emperor for his new appointment." In November of the same year, Fan Zhongyan was transferred to Deng Prefecture (dengzhou, in present-day Dengzhou, Henan) as zhi prefecture. During his three years as the Governor of Dengzhou, he left a large number of poems, including the immortal famous "Record of Yueyang Lou".
In September of the sixth year of the Qing calendar (1046), Fan Zhongyan's friend Teng Zijing invited him to write a note for Yueyang Lou. Teng Zijing has a bold personality, and fan Zhongyun entered the examination in the same year, and the two are like-minded and close friends. In the fourth year of the Qing Dynasty (1044), Teng Zijing was impeached for embezzling government funds to reward the army, and was demoted to Yue Prefecture (岳州, in modern Yueyang, Hunan). However, Teng Zijing did not sink because he was degraded, and during his tenure as the governor of Yuezhou, he was diligent in political affairs, and soon achieved the results of "political communication and people, and prosperity of all wastes". Teng Zijing also renovated the Yueyang Tower, and collected the poems of the former sages of the Tang and Song Dynasties on this building and carved them on the upper floor.
Yueyang Building
Fan Zhongyan gladly agreed to his friend's request to write a note and wrote the "Record of Yueyang Lou". Among them, the glorious and famous sentences of "do not rejoice with things, do not grieve with oneself", "worry about the world before the world, and enjoy the happiness of the world after the world", etc., are not only Fan Zhongyan's exhortations to frustrated friends, but also a true portrayal of his noble sentiments and his own pursuits. The spiritual quality conveyed behind these words, putting the worries of the country and the people first and not caring about personal honor and disgrace, has become the precious spiritual wealth left by Fan Zhongyan to the Chinese nation.
Fan Zhongyan is not only a giant of thought, but also a giant of action. He not only launched the vigorous New Deal movement, but also had extensive experience in local governance. When Fan Zhongyan served as the governor of Dengzhou, Hangzhou (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang), and Qingzhou (present-day Qingzhou, Shandong), there were disasters and famines in his jurisdiction. He adopted the active and promising "three policies of absurd administration" and effectively alleviated the disaster situation and helped the victims by increasing employment, expanding demand, and ensuring food supply. In May of the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Yu (1052), Fan Zhongyan died of illness at the age of sixty-four. Fan Zhongyan did not manage the family property before his death, resulting in a family of more than seventy people living in the official house to guard the funeral for him.