Do you know that my grandfather was entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple?

Chapter 36 The Emperor's Gaze

Although the government halted the reforms, the deep-seated problems remained.

However, due to the failure of the Qingli Reforms, the emperor still harbored a lingering unease.

If no one discusses reform, the emperor might not be too troubled.

However, nowadays, with the government successively recalling officials who were demoted to local areas due to the new laws back to the capital, coupled with the death of Fan Da Xiang Gong, the reform has become a hot topic of discussion.

This brought the issue of reform back into the minds of the officials.

These days, because everyone in Bianjing is discussing the reform, Wang You carefully learned about the reasons why the reform failed in the first place.

Although this matter is recorded in history, those who have not carefully studied the inside story only know that the Qingli New Policies faced too much resistance, the emperor was weak-willed and could not withstand the pressure, so he stopped the new laws.

However, this perception is actually quite wrong.

The conservative faction in the court opposed the reforms because their own interests were at risk.

However, the problem of excessive redundancy does indeed exist, and there is no dispute about that.

As for the idea that ancestral laws cannot be changed, that's even more ridiculous.

It should be noted that the Qingli New Policies were officially implemented, rather than the government having the intention to reform but encountering resistance and dying in the womb.

At first, some court officials must have brought up the ancestral laws, but the emperor still forcibly pushed forward with the reforms. This shows that the resistance of the ancestral laws being immutable could not stop the implementation of the reforms.

Since the deep-seated problems did exist, and the argument that the ancestral laws were immutable could not stop the reform, the conservatives changed their approach.

If we can't solve the problem, then we should solve the people who created it.

The conservatives launched a fierce attack on the key figures who spearheaded the reform, namely Fan Da Xiangong and Fu Xiangong, among others.

The pretext for attacking Prime Minister Fan was simple: factionalism.

Forming cliques for personal gain has always been something that those in power fear most.

When Fan Daxiang was in charge of the reform, he not only submitted a memorial to the throne requesting the expansion of the prime minister's power.

Furthermore, when selecting officials for various positions, he would directly replace those who were deemed incompetent with those he thought were suitable.

The roads of the Song Dynasty were equivalent to the provinces of later generations.

People gather in kind, and things are divided into groups.

Most of the people that Master Fan chose had personal relationships with him.

After all, the reforms affected the interests of all upper classes, and there were actually very few people who could truly give up their personal interests.

It's normal for Master Fan to have personal relationships with these people.

This gave the conservatives a reason to attack him.

The reason for attacking Prime Minister Fu was even simpler: spreading rumors that he wanted Yi Yin and Huo Guang to depose and install emperors.

People have a herd mentality. When the officials saw that most people said so, and when Fan Daxiang promoted people who were mostly his personal friends, they also wavered.

After all, he implemented the new policies to address long-standing problems and achieve a resurgence of the company.

If the deep-seated problems are resolved, and a group emerges that can influence imperial power, wouldn't the problem become even more serious?

As the government wavered, the new law ultimately failed.

The failure of the new laws was not due to the emperor's inability to withstand the pressure to stop the reforms, but rather because the emperor no longer trusted Fan Da Xiang Gong and others.

Therefore, it is quite normal for the government to once again consider reforms.

The emperor was torn between the possibility of allowing someone to lead the reforms and the possibility of factions emerging, which could jeopardize imperial power.

After careful consideration, Wang You felt that there was more to it than that.

The Emperor is probably unwilling to implement reforms, because the young prince is still young, while the Emperor is already over forty years old.

In ancient times, when one was fifty, one was considered to have reached the age of fifty and thus knew one's destiny. An official was no longer considered young.

Moreover, considering the average lifespan of emperors throughout history, they were already considered to be over the age limit.

In this situation, the emperor was not confident that he would live to see his son reach adulthood.

The Emperor's decision to recall Fu Xiangong and others to the capital seems more like preparation for the young prince's future succession to the throne.

However, the court's long-standing problems do exist, and its finances are now somewhat insufficient to cover its expenditures.

The emperor wanted to maintain stability while also cleaning up the mess so as not to leave trouble for his son.

Perhaps this is the reason why the officials are conflicted.

After careful consideration, Wang You felt that this possibility was very high.

Even knowing the source of the official's dilemma, this question remains difficult to answer.

When people are conflicted, their thoughts tend to waver.

Who knows what the emperor thought when he saw his answer sheet?

Wang You considered it for a long time before picking up his pen to start writing.

He first briefly explained the advantages and disadvantages of the reform.

Then it was mentioned that neither changing the law nor not changing it is a good option. In that case, why not gradually solve the long-standing problems through fine-tuning?

Wang You also cited the reform of the hereditary system as an example.

Many people opposed the new laws at the time, but some of them were retained.

The measures included limiting the number of hereditary titles and the starting point for hereditary officials upon entering officialdom, including changing the evaluation period to four years.

These are actually all contents of the Qingli New Policies.

In addition, some have been preserved and are still in use today.

This is also why Wang You believed that the failure of the Qingli Reforms was not a failure of the reform itself.

A comparison with Wang Anshi's later reforms will give you a clear understanding of this.

After Wang Anshi's reforms failed, he imposed a blanket ban on all reforms, regardless of their merits or demerits.

Although some of the Qingli New Policies were abolished after their failure, some were still retained.

Don't the officials in the court want to restore the previous system of hereditary titles?

After all, the hereditary system directly affected these high-ranking officials.

Those scholars and low-ranking officials, who weren't even qualified for hereditary titles, naturally wouldn't object.

They even support this approach because it increases their opportunities and reduces competitive pressure.

But this system has been preserved.

The reason for this is that the officials, unconsciously, used the method of seeking the superior and obtaining the middle.

At the time, officials were eager to stop the reforms, so they naturally wouldn't argue with the government over these trivial matters.

What if things change if it drags on?

This is why some systems were preserved.

Wang You's view is to change things one by one, so that fewer people will suffer losses, the resistance will be less intense, and it will be easier to implement.

In fact, he didn't understand why the ancients would raise the banner of reform.

Shang Yang's reforms were successful because the military merit system fostered a new group of powerful and influential figures who could rival the old aristocracy and relieve him of much of the pressure.

However, the Qingli New Policies can be said to have harmed everyone's interests, yet no one benefited from them.

That's not quite right either. The imperial court should be considered the beneficiary, while the interests of the people were not harmed.

However, the interests damaged by the upper class were originally obtained from the imperial court, so they were naturally unwilling to return them.

As for ordinary people whose interests have not been harmed, they have no way to voice their opinions, and no one cares about their opinions.

It's impossible to fight against the conservatives.

If that's the case, why do these things in the name of reform?

Why not start with the smaller problems and solve them one by one?

The problem of redundancy, redundancy, and excessive bureaucracy is most serious in the military.

Six or seven out of ten of the imperial court's revenue was spent on military expenses.

If we strike at the military first, will the civil officials still object?

Military officers held a lower status than civil officials and, with the support of civil officials, were essentially powerless to resist under the Song Dynasty's military system.

While Wang You was writing furiously, he was unaware that the emperor was observing him.