PFC Chapter 202 Wang Anshi’s Reform
Chapter 202 Wang Anshi’s Reform
[Understand what Wang Anshi's reform is all about in one breath. Historical knowledge: Wang Anshi]
This is the most famous reform in history, and it has been controversial for thousands of years. Some people think it led to the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty in the Jingkang Incident, while others think it eliminated the accumulated problems and enriched the country and strengthened the military.
So what exactly is Wang Anshi's Reform? Why has it caused so much controversy? In this video, let's take a look at Wang Anshi's Reform.
Wang Anshi, also known by his courtesy name Jiefu and pseudonym Banshan, was born in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province in 1021. His father, Wang Yishi, was the judge of Linjiang Army and served as an official in various prefectures and counties throughout his life.
Wang Anshi was smart and good at writing since he was young. When he was young, he traveled around with his father to experience the sufferings of the people. At the age of 17, Wang Anshi came to Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, with his father and became close friends with Zeng Gong, who came from a prominent family.
The two were later listed as the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties. Through Zeng Gong's recommendation, Wang Anshi was appreciated by the great writer Ouyang Xiu. Five years later, Wang Anshi passed the imperial examination and it was rumored that Wang Anshi should have been the top scorer, but he missed the top scorer because his essays displeased Song Renzong.
After his term of office as the Huainan Jiedu magistrate was over, Wang Anshi gave up the opportunity to stay in Beijing and continued to serve as an official in the local area. Every time he served as an official in a place, he loved the people like his own children and was loved by the people.
In 1058, Wang Anshi, in view of the century-old problems and harsh policies of the Song Dynasty, submitted a ten-thousand-word letter to Emperor Renzong of Song, proposing reforms. However, after the letter was submitted, it fell into the sea without any response.
But 10 years later, Wang Anshi would get the chance to realize his plan. The one who could give him this opportunity was Song Renzong's nominal grandson, Song Shenzong Zhao Xu. Song Renzong had difficulty in having children, and his three sons died one after another, so he had to adopt his cousin Zhao Zongshi, who changed his name to Zhao Shu.
After the death of Emperor Renzong of Song, Emperor Yingzong of Song started a dispute with other officials, wanting to posthumously recognize his biological father as the emperor. The dispute exhausted all the energy of Emperor Yingzong of Song, and he died after only four years in office.
Wang Anshi did not participate in this debate. His mother died four years after Song Yingzong ascended the throne. Wang Anshi returned to his hometown to observe mourning. When he returned to officialdom, the emperor had become Song Yingzong's eldest son Zhao Xu, who became Song Shenzong.
At this time, the financial deficit of the Song Dynasty had become very serious, and it was time for reform. Wang Anshi once again wrote to the emperor, analyzing the current situation of the Northern Song Dynasty, namely, reforming imperial education, working hard to govern the country, agriculture and other aspects.
The young and energetic Song Shenzong had heard of Wang Anshi's reputation, so he summoned Wang Anshi to the court and appointed him as the Vice Minister of State Affairs at the recommendation of his teacher Han Wei. At the same time, Song Shenzong also appointed Sima Guang as a Hanlin scholar.
He was asked to preside over the reform of cutting fiscal expenditure. However, not long after, Sima Guang and Wang Anshi had a fierce debate over the issue of fiscal expenditure, and such debates would be staged countless times in the court of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In 1070, Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty appointed Wang Anshi as prime minister and implemented the reform, which is known as the Xining Reform, also known as the Wang Anshi Reform. Before the reform, Wang Anshi sent people to various places to investigate the people's sentiments and carried out reforms targeting the redundant officials, soldiers and expenses of the Song Dynasty, involving military, agriculture, science and other aspects, eliminating disadvantages and promoting benefits, enriching the country and strengthening the army.
However, the new law was attacked by a large number of opponents as soon as it was released. Wang Anshi's new laws mainly consisted of 10 items, the first of which was the Baojia Law, which was the first new law promoted by Wang Anshi.
Great achievements were made in the early stage of the reform, and then the Qingmiao Law, the Agricultural Land and Water Conservancy Law, and the Exemption from Military Service Law were promulgated. Among them, the Qingmiao Law was extremely controversial and aroused overwhelming opposition from officials in the court. This was because the Qingmiao Law was a loan provided by the court to farmers in years of famine, which deprived the rich and powerful of the opportunity to lend money at high interest rates to farmers, and thus the opposition was the loudest.
In order to stabilize prices and reduce taxes for the people, Wang Anshi promulgated the Market Exchange Law, the Exemption from Military Service Law, and the Equal Taxation Law for Square Fields. In the military field, there are the Military General Law, the Guardian Armour Law, and the Horse Guardian Law, which are aimed at improving the combat effectiveness of the army and achieving the goal of enriching the country and strengthening the army.
In 1071 AD, Wang Anshi promulgated a decree to reform the imperial examination system, abolishing poetry and lyrics and restoring the three-house system of the Imperial College based on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Mingjing examinations.
Wang Anshi's reform measures were supported by Song Shenzong, but were met with overwhelming opposition from both the government and the public. The court officials were divided into the new and old parties, who quarreled and attacked each other.
At the same time, a large number of problems arose when the new law was implemented, which led to complaints among the people. They then issued an accusation that Wang Anshi was causing chaos in the country, which also caused Song Shenzong to waver.
Wang Anshi had a stubborn personality and was known as the "Sixth Prime Minister". Faced with the overwhelming opposition, he firmly believed that "natural disasters are not to be feared, people's words are not to be pitied, and ancestors' teachings are not to be followed."
But Song Shenzong did not have the same firm determination as Wang Anshi. The Northern Song Dynasty had a long-standing political tradition of discussion and comparison. The so-called discussion and comparison was to make the scholars and officials have different opinions, so as to restrain each other and achieve the purpose of maintaining the imperial power. Wang Anshi was quite disgusted with this. If everyone in the court discussed and compared with each other, it would be like the equator river swimming city.
As Wang Anshi's most important supporter, Song Shenzong had to go through a process of going from full of confidence to hesitant and then to believing in what was appropriate before each new law was promulgated. This made Wang Anshi very painful, and he had to spend a lot of energy to make the emperor believe in him.
However, his political enemies told the emperor every day not to trust Wang Anshi, and even the royal family members slandered him to Song Shenzong. Wang Anshi had no choice but to resign in 1074 and go to Jiangning to serve as the prefect.
On his way to take up his post, Wang Anshi passed by Guazhou and was inspired to write: "There is a river between Jingkou and Guazhou, and only a few mountains separate Zhongshan.
The spring breeze has greened the south bank of the river again, when will the bright moon shine on me again? "Ten months later, Song Shenzong summoned Wang Anshi back to the court to be the prime minister. This move by Song Shenzong was not a change of heart, but the result of political struggle. Before leaving, Wang Anshi recommended Han Jiang as prime minister and Lu Huiqing as vice prime minister.
The factional struggles in the court did not stop with Wang Anshi's dismissal, but intensified, and even the New Party itself was divided. Lu Huiqing tried to please Emperor Shenzong of Song, suppress Wang Anshi, and impose new laws one after another, causing great trouble to the people and causing them to complain.
Prime Minister Han Jiang had no choice but to ask the emperor to invite Wang Anshi back. So 10 months after Wang Anshi was dismissed, Song Shenzong invited Wang Anshi back to the court as prime minister. When Wang Anshi came back, Lu Huiqing couldn't stand it and was demoted to a local official.
Wang Anshi was already ill at this time, and his relationship with Emperor Shenzong was becoming increasingly distant. Emperor Shenzong did not listen to Wang Anshi's suggestions, which made Wang Anshi very disappointed. Even if he only listened to half of them, it would be fine.
Not long after, Wang Anshi's son Wang Pang died of illness at the age of 33. Wang Anshi was disheartened and resigned from his position as prime minister again, returning to Jiangning to spend the rest of his life.
Although Wang Anshi left, it did not mean the end of the new law. In 1078 AD, Song Shenzong changed the year to Yuanfeng and personally presided over the reform to strengthen the new law and reform the official system.
Soon, a coup d'état took place in Xixia, and Empress Dowager Liang imprisoned her son Li Bingchang and took power alone. Song Shenzong decided to take the opportunity to attack Xixia, but returned without success.
In 1082 AD, Song Shenzong sent troops again and built a city in the territory of Western Xia. Unexpectedly, the entire army was wiped out. Song Shenzong was devastated and cried in public in front of the court officials.
In 1085, Emperor Shenzong of Song died of depression at the age of 38. The young crown prince Zhao Xu succeeded to the throne, and his grandmother Gao Taotao ruled the country from behind the curtain. Gao Taotao re-employed Sima Guang, abolished the new law, and cracked down on the New Party.
When Wang Anshi heard that his life's work had been ruined, he died of depression at the age of 66. After Wang Anshi's death, the struggle between the new and old parties was far from over.
After you finish your performance, I will take the stage. After the death of Empress Dowager Gao Taotao, Song Zhezong Zhao Xu took power. The New Party came to power again and suppressed the Old Party, and even wanted to depose Gao Taotao.
However, Song Zhezong died young, and another son of Shenzong, Zhao Ji, ascended the throne and became Song Huizong. Zhao Ji appointed Cai Jing, who was from the New Party, as prime minister.
However, after Cai Jing came to power, he persecuted anyone who had offended him, whether new or old. In such a chaotic environment, the Northern Song Dynasty went to its demise.
After the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou believed that Wang Anshi's reforms were the culprit for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, and he abolished almost all of Wang Anshi's new laws, retaining only a few new laws that were better implemented.
[A review of Guiguzi's disciples in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period]
Before he came out of the mountain, his disciples turned the arena of the Warring States upside down, formed an alliance between the six countries, defeated the powerful Qin, moved the capital, and destroyed the Wei Kingdom. As long as he returned to the country and died, the situation in the Central Plains would change accordingly.
So who are Guiguzi's disciples? What kind of storms have they stirred up in the seven kingdoms? In this video, let's take stock of Guiguzi's disciples.
The first person who made a name for Guiguzi was Pang Juan. After he finished his apprenticeship, he went to Wei State and served as a general under King Hui of Wei.
In 362 BC, the State of Wei faced a major crisis. During the Battle of Shaoliang, Zhao and Han pinned down the State of Wei on the eastern front, while the State of Qin took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the state of Wei on the western front. The veteran general Gongshu Cuo and the crown prince of Wei were defeated and captured under the Qin offensive.
Pang Juan, who fought on the eastern front, became famous in one battle. He not only defeated the Han-Zhao coalition, but also forced them to cede land in exchange for peace. Afterwards, Pang Juan led the Wei Wuzu to fight in the south and the north, and made great military achievements. He also occupied an important position in the Wei court because of his achievements.
In 354 BC, the State of Zhao attacked the allies of the State of Wei, and the State of Wei sent troops to intervene. In this battle, Wang's army set up the invincible Wei Wuzu and fought all the way to Handan, the capital of the State of Zhao. This was Pang Juan's highlight moment, but also the prelude to his defeat.
The person who brought him down from the peak to the bottom was his old acquaintance Sun Bin. Sun Bin was also a student of Guiguzi and a classmate of Pang Juan. He was a master of strategy and had many ingenious ideas, so even Pang Juan had to admit his talent.
But because of this, Pang Juan became more and more wary of him. In order not to be suppressed by Sun Bin, Pang Juan decided to strike first. He pretended to invite Sun Bin to help King Hui of Wei to work together for the great cause, but when Sun Bin arrived, what was waiting for him was not promotion, but Pang Juan's frame-up.
Sun Bin was framed and subjected to the punishment of "bin" (a form of punishment for humiliation), and he could not stand up from then on. He endured the humiliation and finally got a chance to save himself. Sun Bin secretly visited the envoy of Qi State, who was impressed by his talent and secretly took him back to his country.
Soon Sun Bin seized the opportunity in the horse race again. He asked Tian Ji to use the best horse to fight against the opponent's medium horse, and then used the medium horse to fight against the inferior horse. In the end, he won two out of three games and successfully won the championship. This time, the Qi general Tian Ji noticed Sun Bin and introduced him to King Wei of Qi.
In 353 BC, one year after Wei surrounded Zhao's capital, Zhao finally could not resist and asked Qi for help. King Wei of Qi sent Tian Ji as the chief general and Sun Bin as the military advisor to rescue Zhao.
During the march, Sun Bin proposed the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao. He suggested to Tian Ji that instead of directly engaging the Wei Wuzu head-on, it would be better to attack the Wei capital Daliang while the Wei army was besieging Handan and the country was empty.
In this way, the siege of Handan could be lifted and the Wei army had to withdraw. Tian Ji followed Sun Bin's advice and sent people to besiege Daliang. At the same time, he sent a small number of troops to fight the Wei army according to Sun Bin's suggestion. At the same time, he deliberately showed weakness to make Pang Juan underestimate the enemy.
The Wei army was fooled. To speed up the rescue of the capital city of Daliang, Pang Juan decided to destroy his equipment while running, abandoning his baggage and marching lightly, rushing back to Daliang day and night. What Sun Bin had to do was to capture his former classmate and today's enemy in Guiling, the only way for the Wei army.
In 341 BC, the State of Wei finally withdrew from Handan and signed an alliance with the State of Zhao, and Pang Juan was released back to the State of Wei. However, this return was not the end of his nightmare, but the beginning of his road to hell.
In 341 BC, the Battle of Maling broke out, and the war between Han and Wei broke out again. Han lost five battles in a row and could only ask Qi for help. Facing Qi who had ruined his plans twice, King Wei Hui decided to teach them a lesson, so he appointed Pang Juan as the general to lead his troops to fight Qi.
Pang Juan's enemies were his old rivals Tian Ji and Sun Bin. At that time, the Wei Wuzu, relying on the Wei Wuzu's increasingly courageous fighting, thought that more than half of the Qi army had fled under his pursuit, so he once again abandoned his infantry and baggage and led his light cavalry to pursue day and night.
Afterwards, Sun Bin withdrew another 1 archers from Maling, and at the same time sent people to pull out the bark of a tree and carve the words "Pang Juan died under this tree" on the trunk.
When Pang Juan led his troops into Ma Ling, his subordinates found words on the tree and asked Pang Juan to look. When he saw the words clearly, the Qi army fired thousands of arrows at Pang Juan, and Pang Juan was defeated. He drew his sword and committed suicide, just as Sun Bin predicted: "Pang Juan died under this tree."
If Pang Juan and Sun Bin's expedition to the mountains shook the hegemony of Wei, then Su Qin and Zhang Yi's entry directly stirred up the situation of the seven kingdoms. Su Qin was originally just a commoner, and his family made a living by farming.
However, when he was studying in his early years, he happened to be taught by Guiguzi. After completing his studies, he traveled around and sent out resumes to find a job. Unexpectedly, after all his money was gone, he still had no job. Su Qin could only go home and continue his studies amid the ridicule of his family.
In 334 BC, after completing further studies, Su Qin finally found her mentor - Yan Wenhou.
After meeting Yan Wenhou, Su Qin pointed out the strategic problems of Yan State with his 100-point geography score. He advised Yan Wenhou to worry about Zhao State which was close at hand instead of Qin State which was thousands of miles away. Xiao Huayan would be easy.