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Chapter 107 The method of strengthening the army
  Just when Su Chen was about to continue talking about the reform, Wang Anshi hesitated for a moment and finally asked about his doubts.

Wang Anshi: Anchor, my method of enriching the country can significantly improve the country's financial crisis, but why did it still fail?
  These six policies were not taken for granted by him, but were formulated one by one based on the actual situation through years of observation of the shortcomings faced by the Song Dynasty.

It stands to reason that if implemented, the country's finances would be enriched, but why did it still fail?

Seeing Wang Anshi's question, Su Chen replied: "Although the law you formulated to enrich the country is good, some problems often arise during the implementation process, and you fail to detect and improve it in time. In the end, the reform backfires. Strange."

"Just like the Green Crops Law you promulgated stipulates that in the first and fifth months of each year, that is, when there is no harvest, the court will lend money, grain, and grain to farmers to help them solve their urgent needs. The interest is only two cents, and the loan period is half a year. From then on, The design concept is good from the perspective of curbing loan sharking.”

"However, there were many mistakes in the specific implementation of the Young Crops Law. In order to obtain a large amount of income, local governments invested the old grain in warehouses originally used for waste preparation to make a profit, and the actual help to farmers was limited."

"In addition, although the Young Crops Law is claimed to be voluntary, in fact, officials in various places implement a forced apportionment policy for political performance, and wealthy households who do not need to borrow money are also forced to borrow money from the government and repay interest."

"As for the poor people, in addition to the original landlords and creditors, they have the government as their creditor. Officials often use intimidation, whipping, detention and other means to recover the young crops' money."

"On the surface, the Green Crops Law has reduced the burden on farmers, but it has also increased the exploitation of farmers as a whole, led to confrontation between the government and private households, and intensified social conflicts."

"Also, the effect of the implementation of the exemption law is not satisfactory. You advocate using money in lieu of service. Although it reduces the harassment of the people by corrupt and cruel officials, it liberates social productivity and promotes agricultural development. However, for rural areas that do not originally need to serve, For fifth-class households, they will also need to pay taxes after the reform, which will undoubtedly increase their living burden."

"Another example is the equalization of exports and market exchange laws that you implemented. With the development of the commodity economy in the Northern Song Dynasty, it also led to a series of new problems, making the imperial court monopolize commercial trade, which was essentially a policy to compete with merchants for profits. "

"The Equal Transportation Law and the Market Change Law attacked the monopoly power of large merchants, but small handicraftsmen and small traders were more affected, inhibiting the circulation of goods and hindering the normal development of commerce at that time."

Su Chen pointed out the problems existing in the reform, which made Wang Anshi stunned for a while. He froze on the spot and couldn't believe what he heard.

He always thought that the law promulgated to enrich the country would reduce the burden on the people, but he never expected that it would actually increase the burden on the people's lives.

Although the policies he promulgated were good, the officials at the bottom did not implement them properly. Instead, they used them to make profits from the people, turning his policies that benefited the people into policies that harmed them.

He took a deep breath, his eyes became sharp, and he hated those officials who exploited the people.

Now that we know the problems that have arisen during the implementation of the Young Crops Law and the Immunization Law, we must take appropriate measures to solve them.

Sima Guang: I have long said that the interest rate of the Qingmiao Law is too high, and the forced apportionment of loans regardless of the actual situation and wishes of the people is actually a policy that harms the people.

Ouyang Xiu: The Qingmiao Law charging interest is actually a policy between the court and the people to compete for profits.

Under the canopy, the people of the Song Dynasty who were deeply harmed by the Qingmiao Law nodded repeatedly, and the anchor spoke to their hearts.

If there is a shortage of money, they will naturally be willing to borrow money from the government at low interest rates.

But many times, they are forced to borrow money from the government and pay interest even though they are clearly not short of money. Now some anchors have finally spoken out about their troubles. They only hope that after seeing this, the court can take good care of this matter and stop forcibly apportioning it.

"Wang Anshi has finished talking about the economic reforms, let's talk about the military aspects."

"There are five ways to strengthen the army in military terms: the method of protecting armor, the method of reducing troops, the method of generalship, the method of protecting horses, and the method of supervising weapons."

"Baojia Law: Organize rural households into one, with ten households as one. Each household with more than two members will select one member as a security member. They will gather together during the off-season to receive military training."

"Disarmament Law: Rectify the Xiang Army and the Forbidden Army, stipulate that soldiers must retire after the age of fifty, test soldiers, and those who fail the Forbidden Army will be converted into Xiang Army, and those who fail the Xiang Army will be converted into civilians."

"General Art of War: In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the army and change the situation where the soldiers do not know the generals and the soldiers, the garrison in each area is divided into a number of units. Each unit will have one deputy general and one deputy general, who is responsible for the training of the troops in this unit to improve the quality of the army. "

"Horse Protection Law: Instead of the government raising horses, Baojia households will raise horses. Baojia households can raise horses voluntarily. The government can supervise horses or provide money to buy them themselves, and can be exempted from some taxes."

"Ordnance Supervision Law: Set up an Ordnance Supervision in the capital as the general management agency to oversee the production of weapons in various states and improve the quality of weapons."

"Wang Anshi implemented measures such as the Armor Protection Law, the Military Law, and the Ordnance Supervision Law to eliminate the old, weak, sick and disabled in the army, so that generals with rich combat experience would regularly train the army, which greatly improved the army's combat effectiveness. The Battle of Hehuang was one of the most important battles in the Song Dynasty. The major victories achieved in foreign wars after the founding of the People's Republic of China greatly enhanced the national prestige of the Song Dynasty."

Originally, serious mistakes occurred during the implementation of the method of enriching the country, which made Wang Anshi depressed. But now that he saw the success of the method of strengthening the army, a rare smile appeared on his face.

He knew exactly where Hehuang was.

The victory in the Battle of Hehuang could help the Song Dynasty regain five states and expand the border by more than 2,000 miles.

The anchor has made it very clear that the Song Dynasty was able to achieve such a major victory only because of the method of strengthening its troops, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of its soldiers.

In the past, the Song Dynasty's army suffered more defeats and fewer victories in foreign battles. This was because the army's shortcomings were too serious, resulting in the soldiers' combat effectiveness being too weak.

In order to change this weak situation, he formulated a series of military measures, hoping to improve the combat effectiveness of the army and win victory in foreign wars.

Now, he finally achieved this through the method of strong troops, and the victory in the Battle of Hehuang is the best proof.

The success of the method of strengthening the army shows that his reform ideas are correct.

As long as we keep walking along this road and remove the obstacles encountered on the road, we can achieve the success of the reform and make the Song Dynasty rich and powerful, with a strong people and a strong army.

Song Shenzong Zhao Xu looked extremely excited when he saw the success of the method of strengthening the army. The pessimism just now was swept away, and his belief in firmly supporting the reform was rekindled in his heart.

(End of this chapter)