Wang Anshi, a representative of the Northern Song Reform School, was born in Linchuan (now Linchuan District, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province) in the north. He was brilliant since he was a child, and he loved reading, which was unforgettable. His poems are profound and ingenious, and are appreciated and highly recommended by Ouyang Xiu, Ceng Gong and others. He became famous all over the world at a young age. Wang Anshi followed his father, who was an official in various places, and went to many places to understand the basic situation and the sufferings of the people. He has always had the ambition to do good.
1042, Wang Anshi entered the official career. His thoughts are different from those of ordinary intellectuals. He doesn't want to stay in Beijing, but he has to be an official in the local area to do something practical. He has been a judge of Huainan City, a judge of Yinxian County, a judge of Zhou Shu, a judge of Changzhou Prefecture and a judge of Du Zhi Prefecture. During his tenure, Wang Anshi was diligent and devoted to the people, with outstanding achievements and won high praise. At the same time, years of hard training at the bottom also enabled Wang Anshi to deeply examine the shortcomings of the court in governing the country, and gradually formed a political proposition of reform and reform.
1058, Wang Anshi took advantage of his personal debriefing in Beijing to present the book The Last Words of Shang Renzong, and systematically and clearly put forward his own views on reform. Wang Anshi believes that the root of a series of practical problems, such as economic stagnation and fatigue, destruction of social customs and worrying national security, lies in politicians' ignorance of the law.
The way to deal with it depends on imitating the laws of ancient sages such as Yao and Shun, starting with simple laws, sorting out and reforming the laws since the early Song Dynasty as a whole, abandoning the accumulated disadvantages of the imperial court in governing the country, and distorting the poor and weak situation in China. However, Song Renzong, who was weak in character, did not accept this magnificent reform, and Song Yingzong, who acceded to the throne later, was also unwilling to chew this "hard bone". No one cares about Wang Anshi's political reform.
Until Song Shenzong proclaimed himself emperor, he longed for Wang Anshi's name for a long time and recognized Wang Anshi's political reform. He quickly added it to the nerve center of the imperial court, and the sage was loyal to the monarch and made contributions to the reform. 1069, Zongshen succeeded Wang Anshi as the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, established the planning department of the third division, the general lead department of electric power reform, and promulgated a series of new laws and regulations focusing on investment, financial management and army consolidation, thus starting a vigorous reform movement.
On the economic front, Wang Anshi organized and promulgated the average grain transportation law, the young crops law, the market easy law, the exemption law, the average land tax law, and the farmland irrigation law. On the military side, it mainly includes the law of setting generals, the law of armor and the law of protecting horses. The political reform movement has been going on for fifteen years. Although there were many twists and turns and disputes, there were also many problems. However, let alone, the political reform movement achieved remarkable results: unscrupulous corporate mergers and forced marriages by landlords and big businessmen,
The behavior of completely monopolizing the market has been curbed, the burden on farmers has been reduced, and the government's fiscal revenue has increased substantially. Song Shenzong's fiscal deposits can make the government's fiscal revenue and expenditure balance in 20 years; Public security in rural areas has improved significantly, a national defense reserve force has been established, the quality of weapons and mounts has been greatly improved, and the combat effectiveness of the army has been improved. It has successively occupied five states, such as He, Tao and Min, and its territory has expanded by more than 2,000 miles, distorting the situation that the northwest border post has repeatedly lost and fought Xixia Kingdom.
Although the reform has made great achievements, it has not succeeded in the end. This reform was not successful because of the powerful forces of the old school represented by Sima Guang, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo and Su Shi. It was not successful because some reform measures were too radical, nor because of the civil strife and disintegration of reformist forces, nor because of the suspicion of Emperor Zongshen and the leadership of the harem group. What is puzzling is that the old school is brilliant, while the reformers have seen Lv Huiqing, Ceng Bu, Deng Wan, Li Ding and other adulterers. Considering the dispute between the old and new camps from the perspective of social morality, the old school has long occupied a dominant position, which also made many people in the Song Dynasty hold a negative attitude towards Wang Anshi's political reform.
Joint use is not a problem between people and the implementation of the new law, but an important reason for Wang Anshi's unsuccessful political reform. Lv Huiqing, Chen Shengzhi and Deng Wan were all introduced and appointed by Wang Anshi. Unfortunately, they are all low-level political and metallurgical speculators. They only take part in reform and innovation in order to seek high officials and high salaries, and then put the cart before the horse in order to get their own desires, wantonly undermining the implementation of the new law. As soon as Lv Huiqing came to power, she began to frame Wang Anshi and severely attack him, which facilitated her arbitrariness and led to the disintegration of the reformist forces.
The failure of the reform also lies in "the good classics are misunderstood by the wicked". Wang Anshi and others did not fully consider the possible difficulties in the implementation of the new law and did not take corresponding preventive measures in advance, which led to the implementation of the new law in some areas controlled by corrupt elements and became a "nuisance to the people."
For example, the young crops law was originally designed to protect the rights and interests of farmers. When Wang Anshi was a county grandfather in Yinxian, he tried to "lend money to the people and pay interest", and the effect was good. But when he extended this method to all parts of the country, he came to the opposite conclusion. When illiterate rural farmers apply for loans according to the young crops law, they must pass the following obstacles: in order to fill out the application report, they must pay the librarian; Get the county government application, but also take care of corrupt elements, loan terms are completely written by officials, illiterate villagers are very gullible.
According to historical records, the interest stipulated in the new law at that time was divided into two parts. However, after layers of exploitation by corrupt elements, the specific loan interest to be repaid by the borrower actually reached 35 times as originally set, far exceeding usury, which made the villagers prefer to "beg from the rich and powerful and take it away with interest" rather than borrow from the government. Problems like this have also occurred in the implementation of other new laws and regulations. If Wang Anshi and others can nip in the bud and make some adjustments immediately with the reform process, the actual effect of the implementation of the new law may be better.
What works does Wang Anshi have? Wang Anshi, born in Linchuan, is of Han nationality. He was a famous educator, thinker, writer and reformer in Song Dynasty. His main works include essays Shang, Deng Fei Laifeng, Ren Shang's Story, Nothing happened in this century, Answering Sima's Suggestions, and On Materials. Poems such as boating in Guazhou, Spring Night, Beishan Mountain, Gexi Post, Showing An Jun in Chang 'an, Feilaifeng and Introduction to the Millennium. Words such as Guizhixiang Jinling nostalgia, Nanxiangzi ancient Yuzhou, fisherman's lofty sentiments, turning off the lights in the first half of the first month, Bodhisattva Xia, leaving a few huts by the water, being peaceful and happy, unable to stay in spring, etc.