After traveling through time, I became Han Zhang’s grandson?

At the end of March in the second year of Zhiping, after weighing the domestic and international situations and the forces of all parties, Emperor Yingzong formally announced a nationwide reform.

The new policies implemented included: currency unification, land surveying, the Single Whip Law, water conservancy construction, unified service and tax payment for gentry, and interest-free loans for farmers turning to business.

In the Single Whip System, Han Ming, in his "communication" with old-school officials, roughly summarized it as the meaning of "merging taxes" and tried to minimize the part of "spreading the land tax" contained therein.

This is also to ease the criticism and obstruction of the new policy by old-school officials. As for whether there will be in-depth reforms in the future after the implementation of the Single Whip Law, that is another matter.

In the formal promotion of reform, in order to serve as a benchmark for officials, Han Ming directly selected Shaanxi Road and Jiangxi Road as the primary pilot areas.

These two places were the foundation for Han Ming's rise to prominence, and even his former subordinates are still wandering around the area.

On the day the decree arrived, Yongxingjun Road, Qinfeng Road, and Jiangnan West Road under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi Road all launched a vigorous wave of reform.

Officials such as Xue Xiang, Chen Han, Cai Ting, and Zeng Fengxian, who had experienced Han Ming's training, were able to understand the thoughts of their former superior very well.

However, in just one month, by the end of April, nearly twice as much excess land was cleared on Jiangnan West Road and Shaanxi Road.

After the two tax systems are merged, it is estimated that the tax revenue of the Song Dynasty in the middle of the year will be twice that of the entire year of the first year of Zhiping.

This reported count drove the entire court into a frenzy. No one had thought that the tax revenue from Shaanxi and Jiangxi alone could reach this level.

At the same time, it also made many officials who had not been sent to the local areas for many years realize the seriousness of the land annexation problem in the Song Dynasty and the reasons why there were endless rebellions in the south.

Most knowledgeable people immediately switched camps and chose to support Han Ming's new policies, and even demanded to move to other places to promote the new policies.

In this way, the old faction in the entire court was divided and united, and the power of the old faction, which had deep resentment towards the new policy, was suddenly weakened a lot.

Emperor Yingzong and others saw that the fiscal revenue from just the two routes was equal to the total revenue of the Song Dynasty in the past year, and they could not help but strengthen Han Ming's new policy.

During the subsequent money collection process, there weren't many problems except for a few complaints from those who found it troublesome.

After all, there were too many reign-titled coins circulating in the Song Dynasty. After they were collected, the corresponding "Qingli Chongbao" would be minted according to the quantity and supply demand in various places. This would be convenient for the country and the people.

The introduction of policies such as "gentry serving as officials and paying taxes together" and "interest-free loans for farmers to switch to business" that were promoted at the same time also caused the local gentry to curse.

The former's policy analysis forced them to fall into the trap set by Han Ming. If you don't want to implement it, the government will directly put them on the so-called "credit blacklist" locally.

Telling the general public the true face of your family, which is dirty, immoral, and unkind, will cause the moral credibility of the gentry family to collapse and their reputation to be damaged.

As a result, the common phenomenon of smiling on the surface but cursing in the heart is happening frequently all over the country.

The latter's policy of "interest-free loans for farmers switching to business" gave a glimmer of hope to many ordinary farmers who had lost their land, and of course also allowed the battle-hardened gentry class to see another big pie of benefits.

The court's intention was very clear. The excess land after land survey would still belong to the gentry class under reasonable and legal circumstances, but these lands must be taxed.

Those who have more land pay more taxes, those who have less land pay less taxes; those who have no land pay no taxes.

At the same time, free and interest-free loans are provided to landless refugees to encourage them to enter the market and start businesses.

In a nutshell, everyone in the Song Dynasty must be able to earn a few copper coins and have something to eat.

To this end, Han Ming specifically requested that the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions cultivate a new batch of Champa rice seeds, and then promote them in suitable areas such as the south.

Crops such as "Champa Rice" can be seen as similar to the sweet potatoes and potatoes that promoted population growth during the Kangxi and Qianlong eras.

It is produced in the Indochina Peninsula and was promoted from Fujian to Jianghuai, Liangzhe and other places during the Dazhong Xiangfu period (1008-1021) of Emperor Zhenzong.

Its characteristics are: first, it is "drought-resistant"; second, it has strong adaptability and can grow anywhere; third, it has a short growing period, which takes only more than fifty days from planting to harvesting.

This can effectively ensure that the people of the Song Dynasty have enough food and clothing, stabilize the contradictions between social classes, and promote population growth.

Han Ming required the cultivation of this product on most of the cleared southern land. At the same time, he was also looking for an opportunity to see if he could organize a fleet to go across the ocean and introduce high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes and potatoes to America.

Only with these high-yield crops as a foundation can the Song Dynasty maintain its stability and effectively combat various problems in the face of various natural and man-made disasters in the future.

However, Han Ming is still very cautious about going out to sea. After all, he does not have the energy to send a fleet abroad yet.

In this case, the only option is to find suitable crops from the Indochina Peninsula and Southeast Asia to increase grain production within the Song Dynasty.

Of course, this is a story for the future. At present, with the strong support of Emperor Yingzong, Han Ming and others are working day and night to continuously promote the new policy across the country.

By the beginning of August in the second year of Zhiping, with the vigorous and resolute actions of the whole Song Dynasty, the first batch of "Qingli Treasures" officially entered the market.

In addition to the part that was originally circulated in the market, the imperial court filled the remaining gap, which finally made the currency in various parts of the Song Dynasty tend to be unified.

After the unification of the "Qingli Chongbao", Emperor Yingzong announced that the first tax collection after the implementation of the "One Whip Law" would begin on the first day of the first lunar month in the third year of Zhiping.

After the decree was issued, officials from all over the country went crazy. After all, the amount of land and market merchants they needed to calculate was too huge.

Thanks to the land survey and the policy requirements of "converting agriculture to commerce", the amount of land in the Song Dynasty almost doubled compared to the Jiayou period, and the amount of tax revenue also reached a historical high since the founding of the People's Republic of China, increasing nearly three times.

In order to make a living, farmers who have gone bankrupt and lost their land are trying to accept the government's policy of "interest-free loans for farmers to switch to business" and enter the market.

As a result, commercial markets across the country have become increasingly prosperous and the commodity economy has flourished unprecedentedly.

With the support of such data, the imperial court calculated that more than 50% of the population in the country was close to bankruptcy and had lost their land.

In other words, apart from the tenants and slaves who sold themselves to the gentry and landlords, most of the people in the basic places were refugees.

Such a calculation frightened all officials at all levels of the court, from top to bottom, and they felt that they were so close to death for the first time.

Nearly half of the country is a refugee population, which is a deadly matter. No wonder the rebellion in the South is always difficult to suppress.

If the situation is allowed to develop and the situation of refugees worsens, the Song Dynasty will face a catastrophic end.

Therefore, at the grand court meeting after this terrifying data came out, Emperor Yingzong rarely lost his temper and scolded all the officials in the court and local officials.

"Is this what you told me, the late emperor, about the world being at peace, stable and peaceful—?!"

Emperor Yingzong was so angry that he threw the statistical documents in his hand to the floor of the court, scaring everyone so much that they dared not say a word.

Especially Tang Jie, Zhao Pin and others headed by the censors, their faces turned pale. After all, they were the main force of the old school, and the blame might very well fall on them.

As for Emperor Yingzong, he was now angry and afraid, and even felt that there was a shining long sword across his head, making him feel very uncomfortable.

Considering the current situation of the Song Dynasty, it is questionable whether it can survive for a hundred years, let alone create a prosperous era.

This mess made Emperor Yingzong feel like he was about to have a headache, and his tone became harsh for the first time.

"Han Hou!"

"I'm here!" Han Ming immediately walked out of the queue holding a jade sceptre.

"You previously proposed the establishment of a 'Three Departments Regulations Office', and I approved it."

"From now on, you will take the lead in establishing the 'Three Departments Regulations Department' to guide the implementation of the national reform and coordinate finances."

"Prince Huan, Wang Jiefu, Sima Junshi, Bao Yu, Fan Chunren, Pang Yuanlu, Lü Haoqing, Sheng Changbai, Liang Han, Sheng Changfeng..."

"All these people will be assigned to the 'Three Departments Regulations Office' and will be under your command. The original three departments will also be subordinate to it. Implement the new policies for me!"

"If anyone questions or objects, have them outsource their work to the area with the most refugees and explain to the people why—!"

Emperor Yingzong's cold tone left everyone speechless.

After all, none of the officials present could escape responsibility for these problems. They represented the ruling class of the Song Dynasty and were naturally the culprits who exacerbated land annexation and social contradictions.

People like Han Ming and Wang Jiefu simply wanted to make the Song Dynasty better and go further through reforms.

However, the old school people like Tang Jie and Zhao Pin just want to be content with the present, not make progress, and live their own lives.

After seeing how serious the situation in the Song Dynasty is today, no one said anything like it was none of their business and they should just ignore it.

"Yes, I obey your order!"

Han Ming bowed, and the corners of his lowered mouth inadvertently curled up.