Chapter 1092: Rule the World

As Wang Yan told Han Qi, governing Kaifeng Prefecture is nothing more than training soldiers, clearing fields, investigating people, and collecting business taxes. After these four things are done, Kaifeng Prefecture is basically turned upside down.

Others can't do it because they are not capable enough, can't distinguish between loyalty and treachery, and are too timid to offend the wealthy and powerful in Kaifeng Prefecture.

Wang Yan is different. He does things according to the law, and he can't be overthrown by the rules. He can fight and run, and no one can kill him. As long as he comes to power, it won't take long for everyone to be united, and others can't do anything about him. Just like he can come back from the northwest, if he doesn't want to come back, no one can make him come back.

This is the capital of Wang's life.

Of course, various tasks cannot be carried out smoothly. There will always be people who are greedy for money and people who don't want to die. Then you have to use force and rely on criminal judgments and lawsuits to bring people to justice. In general, training soldiers and other things are the purpose, and doing things according to the law is the means.

The purpose of training soldiers is to suppress the local forces. Although there are imperial guards in the capital, Kaifeng Prefecture still has an establishment of 8,000 wing troops. In the past many years, they have learned from Wang Yan's method of reforming the wing troops, and have carried out layoffs and separated soldiers and workers.

But obviously, what Wang Yan did was not simply separation and elimination. He laid off people to divide the land, and he separated the craftsmen to improve their treatment, and there were also a lot of projects to be done. If they are not properly placed, then it is just a simple separation, just transferring the people who eat in the wing troops to the workers, which is obviously not feasible.

So it is still necessary to reorganize them. Those who don't need to train can fight more and not fall down. After all, they are wearing armor, armed with bows and crossbows, and have the advantage of numbers. No matter how powerful the wealthy families are, they can't escape death. They are either hacked to death by random swords or pierced by thousands of arrows.

Even the inspection office office needs to be reorganized. Some people in some leadership positions are tired of living, and he has to clean them up.

As for the remaining clearing of fields, checking people, and collecting business taxes, these things are familiar to Wang Yan. He had no shortage of soldiers, grassroots clerks, or people who could check accounts.

Because he directly stopped classes at the Imperial College and the Military Academy, and asked the students to clear fields, check people, and check accounts everywhere, and asked the grassroots officers of this period of the Military Academy to serve as grassroots officers of the Xiang Army, and patrol the divided blocks with the Xiang Army and the patrolmen of the patrol court. Those who committed crimes were directly arrested, those who violently resisted were directly killed, and those who did not cooperate with the government's actions were directly confiscated.

The economic prosperity of Kaifeng Prefecture, which had recovered in more than ten years and became more prosperous, was killed by Wang Yan in less than two months. A large number of shops were closed down, and a large number of related personnel stopped working.

But they did not lose their jobs, because they just stopped selling things, but continued to produce and paid wages. No one cared whether the family of the boss was still alive.

As for the overall social situation, it was of course better. Even the people active on the streets became more and more. People all knew that Wang Yan was the one who made decisions for the people.

The prices of various commodities are still stable, without any turbulence. Except for the blow to commercial activities, there is no bad impact. Even the people of Kaifeng praised Zhao Shu, saying that Zhao Shu is a good emperor and let good officials make decisions for the people.

At the beginning, some people would praise Wang Yan, and in addition to praising Wang Yan, they would also give Zhao Shu a thumbs up. But as time went by, the voice of "Zhao Shu is a good emperor" became rampant. Instead, it became a situation where the emperor was praised first and Wang Yan was praised later.

This situation was of course led by Wang Yan's people. How could he be better than the emperor? That was his fault. Even in the northwest, he has been emphasizing that it was Zhao Zhen's trust that made him achieve what he did at that time.

Today is no exception, not to mention that Zhao Shu still uses his people, let Zhao Shu feel what the people want, and let Zhao Shu feel confused.

Zhao Shu was indeed confused. His favorite thing to do was to send people to inquire about the affairs of the people. He even went out of the palace incognito several times and visited the city of Bianjing. He was immediately satisfied and felt that his headaches were much less.

After he came to power, he had deeply felt the difficulty of being an emperor. He wanted to be a good emperor and wanted to establish greater achievements than Zhao Zhen, which was naturally more difficult.

Especially when he let Wang Yan take the throne, it was even more difficult.

Now the court and the local government have a lot of discussions about Wang Yan's coming to power. Because Wang Yan's house confiscation is no longer limited to Kaifeng Prefecture, after all, these are all big families with wide implications. Wang Yan directly sent letters to the local government, asking the local officials to confiscate the house and arrest people. If the local officials did not do it, Wang Yan would collect their evidence of guilt, impeach them, and then confiscate their homes. This blow was too wide and could not be borne.

In a very short period of time, Zhao Shu felt that the Song Dynasty was in turmoil and there was a sign of national destruction. But when he left the palace and looked at the situation in the city, he straightened his back.

He returned to the court and continued to hold on to power and make personnel adjustments.

In fact, even if things were really shaky, Zhao Shu would not kick Wang Yan out of the capital. Instead, he would rely on Wang Yan's ability to rebuild the Zhao Song Dynasty. What's more, it's all an illusion now. The Song Dynasty is at its peak, hundreds of thousands of troops have not been transferred back, and the treasury has countless money and grain, which is the confidence.

And there is another very important point, that is, Zhao Shu has been in power for too short a time and has too little power in his hands. He can count on his words now, and Wang Yan supports him.

Just like when Wang Yan was in office in Kaifeng Prefecture, he kept his word because the patrol office listened to him, and he also had his old subordinates in other positions. These people listened to him, and his power was extended. Instead of fighting for power with various officials. Now whoever disobeys will be dealt with. The same is true for Zhao Shu.

Wang Yan was in charge of Kaifeng Prefecture, and Zhao Shu dealt with whoever disobeyed. His position as the power in charge of Kaifeng Prefecture was enough for Zhao Shu to play his role...

The last time he served as the military patrol officer, he was kicked out of the capital, and this time no one could kick Wang Yan out again.

With the steady progress of various tasks, the fields and population found out soared straight up. As for commercial taxes, a considerable part of them were confiscated by Wang Yan, which was not very difficult. As for those that were not confiscated, they were all fined a large sum of money.

He even rolled up the royal family, and no one escaped.

A large amount of money and grain was received in Kaifeng Prefecture. Without waiting for the three officials to come and grab money from him, he directly started various projects. The construction and maintenance of land roads in Kaifeng Prefecture, the dredging of waterways, the construction of ports, the construction of various water conservancy facilities, the welfare of the orphans and widows, the welfare of the orphanage, helping the people who own their own land, lending them money so that they can plant the land, and also buying a large number of oxen, making steel, and so on.

All these things, one by one, all require a lot of money and grain to support the development, but they have not been able to use up the money and grain that was copied, which shows the wealth of the powerful in Kaifeng Prefecture.

Some money was symbolically handed over, and the rest was reserved for dealing with emergencies, part of it was taken out to improve the treatment and food of the officials in Kaifeng Prefecture, and another part was taken out for urban transformation in various cities.

This was done last, because compared with the current conditions of people, urban transformation is not actually necessary. Now that there is floating wealth, it is spent. It is reasonable to take it from the powerful in Kaifeng Prefecture and use it for the people of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Moreover, urban transformation is a long-term investment project that can drive various indicators and further prosper the economy. People can also earn more money by working. He actually hired people to work, and also stipulated the minimum wage for workers in Kaifeng Prefecture. No matter what kind of work, the minimum wage must be that much. If you dare to pay less, it will be miserable.

In addition, there is another very serious problem, that is, the existence of human trafficking and slaves, which is quite bad. Because although some people who are sold are willing to do so because they can't survive, some are caught and tied up.

For the servants who sell themselves, the rich families often beat and scold them, and even if they beat and kill them, it's no problem, at most they will be fined. This kind of thing is really not good.

However, the level of this problem involves a higher level and is more widely related. After all, if the people can survive, how can they sell their children? If we don't solve the problem from the source, but only stop the trafficking of people, the result will be that the trafficking of people will turn from open to covert, and the price will continue to rise with the intensity of the crackdown, and the industry of trafficking of people may develop better.

As Fan Zhongyan and others always advised Wang Yan, things should be done step by step, and we should not rush for success. Although Wang Yan did everything step by step, there is nothing wrong with what he said.

So Wang Yan did not crack down on human trafficking, nor did he abolish slaves. But a lot of human traffickers were killed, that was not his intention, but the aftermath of clearing fields, checking people, and collecting business taxes, all of which were implicated.

But in order to deal with human trafficking and protect the human rights of slaves, Wang Yan set two requirements.

The first point is that all people who are bought and sold must have clear and verifiable household registration information, and it is also necessary to ask clearly whether they are voluntary. Of course there will be forgeries, but as long as they are really checked and killed, they can still be very useful. Even if it is only a little useful, it is better than not caring.

The second point is to register all the slave population in Kaifeng Prefecture. Logically speaking, slave status is also a status, and there is registration if there is a slave status, but obviously, if this is really the case, then the world will be much more harmonious.

Not only does it count for registration, Wang Yan's minimum wage is also applicable. Selling one's body is selling one's body, but the personality is still protected. If there is any bad behavior such as withholding wages, beating and scolding without reason, or even beating to death, there will be punishment if there is a complaint, and the punishment will be death.

Of course, things cannot be smooth sailing. There are countless confrontations, both open and covert, and there is no accurate data on the number of deaths. Wang Yan encountered four assassinations, one poisoning, one arson, one close-range assassination, and one distant arrow shooting, all of which he escaped with great danger.

His family is safe. Everyone understands one thing. As long as Wang Yan is not killed, it will be useless. Because Wang Yan is in his prime, he has no shortage of wives and children. If Wang Yan's family is really killed and Wang Yan goes crazy, their fate will only be worse. Lingchi is a light punishment. Now Wang Yan has come up with more punishments, and he has invited officials from the court to watch the execution process on site, which is quite cruel.

In any case, all the policies implemented by Wang Yan in Kaifeng Prefecture this time are being implemented, and nothing can stop Wang Yan's reform. Even with his current power, he has started tax reforms in Kaifeng Prefecture. On the basis of what Fan Zhongyan and others had done before, he further reduced various miscellaneous taxes and implemented them first in Kaifeng Prefecture.

Two years later, Wang Yan's governance of Kaifeng Prefecture was visible to the naked eye.

The roads were wider and better, the waterways were wider, and the waterways were changed to be more reasonable, so the supply of materials to Bianjing flowed more smoothly. The streets were renovated and widened, and it was more comfortable to walk. On the Imperial Street, a bronze statue of the twelve zodiac animals about two meters high was erected.

The market was planned, and all the surrounding houses were demolished and relocated, expanding the scale of the market in the city and making it more prosperous. In the counties near Bianjing, many factories were built to produce various materials.

There were more schools than before, and even in each county town of Kaifeng Prefecture, there was an additional library, full of books. The officials were darker and thinner, but their spirits were better.

The people were naturally the biggest beneficiaries. After two years, all the people who had land had surplus food at home. Many people were given seeds of crops such as sweet potatoes and potatoes, and they had been planting for a year.

The harvest was a lot, much higher than the yield of traditional grains. In the third year, the people kept the seeds and planted some of them themselves. This is exponential growth, and it will get better slowly.

It is impossible to wait until the per-acre yield of cultivation is exaggerated before promoting planting. Instead, it is necessary to cultivate and plant at the same time, and constantly improve. At present, the families who planted potatoes and sweet potatoes have been allocated livestock and poultry by the government. They have surplus food, so they naturally have to start raising meat.

The people of Kaifeng Prefecture have felt like New Year every day in the past two years. The taxes are less, they earn more, and no one bullies them. This was something they dared not dream of before, but now it has been realized.

Compared with the people, the emperor and various ministers were more surprised.

They knew that Wang Yan was awesome, but many people had not been to the places where Wang Yan had governed, and they did not have a real feeling. There was only one place that paid money to the court, Hangzhou. For the rest, they saw how cruel Wang Yan was, and they had no intuitive concept.

This time they saw that while they were dragging their feet, Wang Yan used two years to govern Kaifeng Prefecture with a brand new look, which was simply blinding their dog eyes.

But those who should oppose the reform still oppose the reform. No one wants to cut into their own body. It is the wealth accumulated from generations, and it is also the wealth that generations have been used to earning. No one can bear the sudden reduction.

But Zhao Shu can bear it, he can bear it too much. In two years, he has gathered power. To be honest, his control over the country is no worse than that of Taizu and Taizong. Of course, there is a premise, that is, Wang Yan listens to him.

Zhao Shu did not doubt Wang Yan's loyalty, because he believed in Wang Yan very much because of the northwest affairs, and was secretly happy for Wang Yan's foolish loyalty.

He really didn't understand why Zhao Zhen wanted to suppress Wang Yan and prevent Wang Yan from taking office. If Wang Yan took office early, what would the Song Dynasty be like?

But it doesn't matter, he will let Wang Yan take office.

In the spring of the third year of Zhiping (1068), Zhao Shu decided to wipe out the barbarians in Lingnan, transferred Han Qi to the south to lead the war, appointed Ouyang Xiu as prime minister, and promoted Wang Yan to the position of assistant minister.

Wang Yan was promoted to Wang·Tui Zhong Shu Men Xia Ping Zhang Shi·San Zhi Zheng Shi·Ji Xian Dian Da Shi·Jian Xiu Guo Shi·Zhu Guo·Guo Guo·Guo·Guo Guangling Jun Kai Guo Gong·Yuan 3,000 households·Yuan Shi Yuan 1,500 households·Given Zi Jin Yu Bao·Yan, his official position was longer.

It can be seen from the official position that he is not one of the many "San Zhi Zheng Shi", because he has the two official positions of "Tong Zhong Shu Men Xia Ping Zhang Shi" and "Ji Xian Dian Da Shi", which are the standard configuration of the prime minister. In name, he is the deputy minister of literature.

But in fact, everyone knows that he is the prime minister.

Wang Yan once again expressed his determination at the grand court meeting, looking down on the ministers.

After the grand court was dismissed, Wang Yan followed Ouyang Xiu and others back to the political hall. Zhao Shu sat high, Ouyang Xiu was second, and Wang Yan was again. This time, it was not about age, but official position.

"Minister Wang has always wanted to smear the country of Song Dynasty, and now he finally got what he wanted..." Zhao Shu smiled and extended his hand to let Wang Yan preside over the meeting.

Wang Yan folded his hands: "It's all thanks to the trust of the emperor. I am very worried, afraid that I will make a mistake and harm my Song Dynasty."

"Minister Wang is too modest. Stop talking nonsense and start discussing matters."

"To govern a country, you must first govern the people, and to reform the law, you must first change the officials. Now the new law is being implemented nationwide, not just in Kaifeng Prefecture. People who need to be used should go to various places for supervision to avoid collusion between local governments and resisting the court. Therefore, the first thing today is to find some suitable people. What do you think?"

"Minister Wang, just tell me who you want to transfer to Beijing." Fu Bi smiled on the side.

"I like to speak directly, because I'm afraid that you will not adapt if you are too tame for a long time." Wang Yan smiled, took out a list from his sleeve, and handed it to Zhao Shu. He said, "Wang Anshi, Feng Jing, Fan Chunren, Fan Chunli, Ouyang Fa, Zhang Dun, Lu Huiqing... Zhong Yan, Zhang Da... etc., are all capable, capable officials, and brave generals of the country. They can lead us and supervise the implementation of the new law..."

The first thing to do after taking office is to eliminate dissidents and clean up the court. Wang Yan put his own people in various positions, so of course he would be successful.

But it is impossible to take all the key positions. Not to mention the factional interests of the ministers, even Zhao Shu is unwilling to do so. After all, that would really make Wang Yan second to none and hollow out the imperial power. What if Wang Yan is cold and his close subordinates give him clothes?

So during the meeting that day, no one discussed anything else. All the work was pressed down, just to fight for various positions. Of course, it was others who fought with Wang Yan.

Wang Yan took two steps back appropriately and went back to deal with them one by one. The main thing was to arrange his people first.

As for other reforms, there were precedents, so they could be implemented directly. It was nothing more than adding more water transport, salt and iron, etc. His purpose in taking office was to kill.

There was a consensus on this.

From ancient times to the present, during the reign of peace, all the powerful ministers, reform ministers, and cruel officials in all dynasties had no good end.

Wang Yan had gathered all the elements and intervened in all military and political affairs. He even directly transferred most of the forces of the Western Army and the Northern Army to the south. Otherwise, how could he bring out Zhong Yan and others?

He had to forcefully implement various policies. Those who did not obey would be suppressed by the army. At the same time, he also carried out more detailed reforms of the army...

He took office. For Zhao Shu and others, it was just the beginning, but for him, it was over...

I would like to thank the good brothers who voted for the monthly ticket, recommended ticket, and read books silently for their strong support!