I Am Emperor Shenzong of Song, and I’ll Start by Tripping Up My Own People

To implement such a massive reform is nothing short of a pipe dream.

You don't want to emulate Emperor Shenzong of Ming, but you want to emulate Emperor Shizong of Ming.

Wang Anshi's reforms were too difficult and were destined to fail in the Song Dynasty.

Wang Anshi's reforms were initially well-intentioned, but many of his laws were flawed, his personnel appointments were inappropriate, and his short-sighted approach led to numerous errors. Therefore, the author should do their research before accepting everything. For example, the "Green Sprout Loan" scheme—even in today's information-rich society, loan companies struggle to manage it, let alone in ancient times. So, do your research, don't be lazy.

During the Northern Expedition, Yue Fei distributed some of the acquired land to his soldiers, but not all of it. After Yue Fei recovered lost territory, he implemented a policy similar to the "equal-field system," distributing the recovered land and discovered hidden land to his soldiers, landless peasants, and displaced people.

Although Wang Anshi possessed high moral character, he was utterly incompetent. He lacked the ability to unite his subordinates and was surrounded by sycophants. His political acumen was inferior to that of Sima Guang, and far inferior to capable ministers like Fan Zhongyan.

Throughout history, dynasties have paid to support idle officials, but only the Song Dynasty paid to support commoners (Xiangjun). 🤭

The readers completely failed to understand why it was said that reform in the Song Dynasty was utterly impossible. The main reason was that the Song Dynasty was inherently spineless, you know? If your emperors are all spineless, cowardly, and incompetent, what good are fierce generals and capable ministers? Didn't the Song Dynasty have fierce generals? Didn't the Song Dynasty have capable people?

The land systems of the Song and Tang dynasties differed significantly in their core policies and land allocation methods, as detailed below: Core of land policy - Tang Dynasty: The equal-field system was implemented, the core of which was that the state distributed the land it controlled to farmers according to the population and restricted the sale of land in order to ensure the source of…

In ancient times, wealth was either concentrated at the top or at the bottom. If the emperor took more, those below would take less, because the wealth of ancient dynasties was basically stable in one place. Why amass so much money when our material production hasn't increased significantly? Just to increase inflation?