In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 468 Never give more gifts
Returning to the Imperial City from the Firearms Bureau, the cabinet members of the Song Dynasty were waiting for Zhao Yurui.

Zhao Yurui spotted a newcomer among the three cabinet secretaries at a glance, Li Fenglong.

Li Fenglong was the eldest son of Zhao and Rui's confidant Li Zongmian.

Li Zongmian gave birth to two sons, Li Fenglong and Li Shunlong.

But he gave birth to a son late. Wei Liaoweng's sons had already reached the high position of provincial envoy, and his son only became cabinet secretary.

Li Zongmian retired from office last year, and Li Fenglong was the local magistrate. Zhao and Rui immediately transferred his son to be the cabinet secretary after Li Zongmian retired, which was considered a reward to his confidants.

Li Zongmian was regarded as his hero from the Long Dynasty, and he must be given priority. After Li Fenglong served as a secretary in the cabinet for a few years, he could be decentralized as a prefect, then appointed envoys, and then returned to the cabinet as a minister. In this way, both the local government and the capital had held important positions, and he could Develop people.

At this time, all those who started their careers with Zhao Yurui were considered prosperous. Niu Bao's son was only a few years old when he was with Zhao Yurui. Now he is less than twenty years old and has become a local official.

Zhao Yurui thought of this and hurriedly asked everyone to sit down.

"See Your Majesty." Everyone knelt down and saluted.

By the end of the Song Dynasty, there were three main ways for ordinary people to become officials, namely, the imperial examination, the system examination, and the Yinbu.

The meaning of Yinbu is also very simple. It is equivalent to hereditary inheritance and does not require imperial examination.

Secondly, taxes cannot be raised, as this is for the people.

Zhao Yurui first asked them to get up again, and then persuaded them, your sons are basically serving as officials in the court now. I don't think it matters whether your grandsons can become officials in the future. One generation is in charge of the next, and you are in charge of your sons. Forget it, let your sons take care of your grandson's affairs.

Use previous history to warn ministers, such as the nobles in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, who even had the ability to control the country.

"Everyone, get up and sit down." Zhao and Rui happily asked everyone to sit down, and then motioned to the maids in the hall to serve tea.

As soon as Zhao Yurui finished speaking, the whole place was shocked. Wei Liaoweng stood up without saying a word and knelt down again.

As before, everyone was sitting around the long table in the main hall. The newcomers were doing better, but those who were about to retire, such as Wei Liaoweng, who was in his sixties, still looked a little uncomfortable.

Now more than ten years have passed, and our sons have all started working, and they are still young, and most of our grandchildren have not been born yet.

It is impossible for all of you nobles to be capable and have the capabilities of the founding heroes, but they all occupy important positions. Can the Ming Dynasty survive?

From now on, government offices in various places must have two sentences on the left and right, which serve as couplets.

Sometimes Wei Liaoweng would also wonder if His Majesty would be as courteous and virtuous as a corporal and treat everyone well as a Crown Prince in the future.

The scene was filled with praises.

These eight characters must not only be added to the laws of the Song Dynasty, but also must be engraved on government offices all over the world to remind people all over the world.

"Your Majesty, the Holy Ming, the Eternal Saint--"

Zhao Yurui opposed this article more than ten years ago. Who dares to express his desire for hereditary inheritance?

Hereditary inheritance has advantages and disadvantages. If Zhao Yurui proposed it now in other dynasties or other emperors' times, I am afraid that the whole dynasty would oppose it.

As for Yinbu, he also made changes at that time and set many restrictions for Yinbu. The main purpose was to attack political opponents and promote his own people.

Zhao Yurui wanted to cut off hereditary inheritance and abolish Yinbu.

Even if some people are thinking about it, they dare not show it on the surface.

Everyone knows what the imperial examination means, it is an examination.

Zhao Yurui explained that the emperors of all dynasties after the Song Dynasty could no longer open up roads to make up for their mistakes. This was for officials.

After Zhao Yurui ascended the throne, he began to weaken Zhiju and Yinbu.

This was not because everyone was flattering, but because they were moved by Zhao Yurui.

The left side should be engraved with 'Never Yinbu', and the right side should be engraved with 'Never Add Fu'.

Like the nobles of the Ming Dynasty in later generations, from the founding to the fall of the country, they seriously affected the normal development of a dynasty.

If any of my future emperors reinstates Yinbu and increases taxes on the people, it will be a foolish emperor. The people of the world, as well as the generals and governors of the Song Dynasty army, can fight against it together.

Starting from the ninth year of Yuanzhen, the imperial court called "Yongyinbu" to be added to the Song Dynasty law and placed on the front page of the law.

The horizontal mark above is the word "officials and people".

"Officials are hereditary, and it is easy to create powerful families, as well as centuries-old nobles." Zhao Yurui explained the pros and cons to the ministers earnestly.

Zhao and Rui decided to "never make up for each other" and broke off the hereditary relationship from now on.

Mainly when Wei Liaoweng was here before, in the Southern Song Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, there was no such thing as sitting with the emperor for meetings in the imperial city.

Today Zhao Yurui's theme is: "Never make up for it, and never add blessings."

However, in the more than ten years since Zhao and Rui ascended the throne, they have mostly used honest and upright ministers. The whole court is full of such ministers. They consider themselves to be honest, so they must oppose hereditary inheritance.

Wei Liaoweng was still thinking about his thoughts, but Emperor Zhao Yurui had already spoken.

He only spoke a few words before everyone understood what the emperor meant.

But the system was a backdoor for the emperor, and at that time he needed a lot of power to reward his confidants at will, so the weakening was not obvious and was not written into the law.

Almost all officials who wanted to take advantage of hereditary affairs were forced out of office by Zhao Yurui.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, this was also called special performance, that is, the emperor could appoint officials at will, and there was no need to take an exam.

The imperial examination system began in the Tang Dynasty. People were directly called to the imperial city for palace examinations. The emperor personally took the examination. In fact, it meant that the emperor liked someone and wanted to appoint him to an official position, so he specially inspected the person and appointed him if he passed the test. There is no need to go through the examination. Imperial examination.

Bah, bah, what am I thinking? Of course your Majesty will live forever and live a hundred years.

If the ability is mediocre, even if it is hereditary, it will only hinder the court and the people's livelihood. If the ability is outstanding, you can still take the imperial examination and become an official.

"Your Majesty is wise." Wei Liaoweng said excitedly again.

Seeing his excited expression, Zhao Yurui felt panicked. Wei Liaoweng was over sixty years old, so don't get high blood pressure.

Wei Liaoweng's two sons are now in their thirties and forties and are high-ranking officials. The eldest of his grandsons is only twelve or thirteen years old, which is still early for the imperial examination.

However, his family couldn't spend all their money, so it didn't matter to Wei Liaowen whether he could pass the imperial examination in the future.

Zhao and Rui also decided on these two things after careful consideration.

First of all, the hereditary line of officials was cut off, and the number of aristocrats and distinguished families after the Song Dynasty was reduced.

If you don't rely on help, you won't be able to be an official for generations, and even if you pass the imperial examination, your future will be limited.

Secondly, his emperor's privileges, that is, imperial examinations or special performances, must also be suppressed.

If the emperor is fatuous and can grant officials whatever he wants, dozens or hundreds a day, this will definitely not work.

When he first came to power, he had already limited the number of places for the emperor's annual special performance. At that time, he had cronies to use, so he had no choice.

Now that he has been on the throne for more than ten years, his layout is complete, and those who can perform special performances have basically finished.

Zhao Yurui decided today to cancel the emperor's right to perform special music.

Whether the imperial examination should be retained or not, whoever the emperor chooses in the future, if he thinks he is capable and can be promoted and reused, can be summoned to the imperial city for an on-site palace examination. After passing the individual examination, he can also become an official.

The cancellation of the right of special performances is tantamount to further restrictions on imperial power.

Wei Liaoweng and others were moved again. This time the emperor had taken action against him and even canceled the special performance. If you think about it this way, it's completely acceptable if they don't have any yin tonic.

Then Zhao and Rui talked about taxes.

After more than ten years of continuous improvement by the emperor, the taxes of the Song Dynasty were actually changed again and again.

Zhao and Rui changed things over and over again, focusing on reducing taxes on ordinary people and using their brains on landlords, businessmen, officials and clans.

The income tax for officials was only implemented last year. The tax is not high, about 1 in 20, which is within the range that officials can afford. The royal family's tax is 1 in 25, which is slightly lower than that of officials.

Many clans in the Song Dynasty were actually quite poorly mixed. For example, Zhao Yurui himself was an ordinary citizen before he became emperor.

Therefore, there are standards for tax thresholds, and taxes will be paid only when the income reaches a certain level.

For example, officials will only pay taxes if their annual income reaches more than 600 yuan.

This income is basically equivalent to the seventh-grade major civil servants and military generals.

The same is true for clan members, who do not need to pay taxes if their income does not meet the standard.

Some people who have no income use land and real estate as the standard.

For example, if a clan owns more than 100 acres of land, it must pay taxes.

After such restructuring, Zhao Yurui slowly shifted the focus of taxation from ordinary people to landlords, businessmen and officials.

So starting from next year, he fixed the taxes of the people so that future emperors would never increase their taxes.

But in order to keep up with the times, the taxes previously set by Zhao Yurui, such as how much grain, how much silk, etc. were required to pay if the farmland reached several hundred acres, were now changed to proportions.

You may have three hundred catties per mu now, but in the future you may have five hundred catties per mu, or one thousand catties per mu, so taxation of grain cannot be based on quantity.

In the event of natural or man-made disasters, if the harvest is lost, the people cannot be forced to turn it over.

All current taxes are proportional.

For example, one-tenth, one-twentieth, etc.

All silk, firewood, money, sheep, cattle, etc. other than grain will be converted into grain according to the price of that year.

When actually paying taxes, people can also lose goods, food, or money.

After setting the ratio and price comparison in this way, the court can never increase taxes, but the taxes collected will definitely be different depending on the prices of goods in different periods.

In order to prevent future emperors from changing Zhao Yurui's decision at will, Zhao Yurui requested that starting next year, all government offices across the country, including military camps in various places, must be engraved with these eight characters.

The imperial court would also issue documents to notify governors (governors, envoys) in various regions, including generals stationed in various regions.

If any emperor dares to violate these eight-character regulations in the future, governors from various places can raise troops to challenge him.

Wei Liaoweng was shocked by this last sentence just now.

Then Zhao Yurui said on the spot: "I have asked the Imperial City Department and the Intelligence Department to write these eight armies into certain regulations."

"If any minister in the court dares to suggest to the emperor that he restart subsidy and increase taxes in the future, the Imperial City Department and the Intelligence Department can directly kill him in court and consider it a great achievement."

To put it simply, this is the emperor's clear instruction from now on. If a minister in the court restarts in the future, he can be killed directly. If the emperor restarts, he can be abolished directly.

Although Zhao Yurui is ruthless, whether the Imperial City Secretary and his ministers can do it in the future is another matter.

But no matter what, future emperors will always be a little wary if they have this ancestral precept in front of them.

Some cabinet officials at the scene may feel disapproving. No one knows what will happen in the future. Future officials may not be able to abide by Zhao Yurui's current regulations, and the future Imperial City Secretary may not dare to do such a thing.

But Wei Liaoweng knew that Zhao Yurui would expand the colony in the future and entrust governors outside. If the emperor of the Song Dynasty dared to do this in the future, the overseas governors could justifiably rise up and rebel independently.

After discussing this matter that day, Zhao and Rui discussed with the cabinet the candidates for the governor of the Bo Ni area.

In the second year of the first year, Zhao and Rui conquered the Feilubin natives and established Hanzhou Prefecture, occupying this important overseas territory.

From then on, the imperial court began to plan an attack on Bo Ni.

Feilubin did not have a kingdom at that time, only indigenous people, so the Song Dynasty progressed fairly smoothly.

But Bo Ni had a kingdom and had trade relations with the Song Dynasty. Zhao Yurui was planning and training soldiers and horses.

In August last year, some Song people burned a merchant ship in the northern part of Balni Bay, and then angrily complained to King Bali that it was their people who had done it. They burned tens of millions of Song people's wealth, killed and injured dozens of people, and demanded compensation.

King Bo Ni was shocked and couldn't imagine that a ship was worth tens of millions.

Of course he couldn't pay the compensation, and some ministers even wanted to propose that it would take decades to slowly pay the compensation in installments.

But of course the Song people did not agree and became famous immediately.

At that time, the whole country of Balni had less than 100,000 people. The Song army sent 10,000 troops, and Balni was pacified in less than a month.

After this battle, not only the large Bo Ni area was captured, but also the entire Borneo state.

At that time, Borneo covered about 700,000 square kilometers, which was larger than the Jin Kingdom in the later period.

Zhao and Rui established Borneo Province locally, established a governor, established envoys, and commanded envoys.

The nearby Singapore and other places in later generations will also be occupied by the Song army and will be included in Borneo Province.

After discussing with the courtiers today, the first governor was decided to be Qin Chen.

Qin Chen was the governor of Hanzhou before, and now he continues to be the governor of Borneo.

At the same time, the governor's office of Hanzhou was removed. Qin Chen, the governor, had further expanded his power and managed Borneo Province and Hanzhou.

That is to say, the Philippines and parts of Indonesia in later generations were under his control.

The area is quite large, larger than that of the Southern Song Dynasty.

But the population is very small. The total population, including the immigrants and garrison of the Song Dynasty, is less than 300,000, which is not as good as a prefecture in the Song Dynasty.

At the same time, Zhao and Rui decided that their brother-in-law Qin Chen would be the governor of Borneo Province.

Thousands of miles away, a group of huge warships were taking turns docking.

Qin Chen gently jumped off the deck and looked at the busy Bo Ni Bay with an excited smile on his face.

He was accompanied by some civil and military officials, most of whom came from Hanzhou.

Among them, the navy controls Zhao Peng, and the Buying controls Nahe Maizhu.

Nahe Maizhu was a surrendered general from the Jin Kingdom and had been fighting overseas for the Song Dynasty. When he went to Borneo Province before, he wondered why there was no cavalry.

Only when we arrived at the scene did we realize that Borneo Province was larger than the Kingdom of Jin, but 80% of the area was covered with forests, so the cavalry really had no role to play here.

When the Song army attacked the Boni Kingdom, they used flintlock guns to advance layer by layer and were almost invincible.

At this time, Qin Chen came ashore and pointed to the other side: "The most important thing here is the navy."

"We must first expand the shipyard in Boni and establish our own firearms bureau."

Everyone looked up to the opposite side, which was the vast sea, but on the other side of the sea were Champa and Annan.

(End of this chapter)