Fan Ning was slightly stunned. It turned out to be Cai Jing. When he was appointed as the Overseas Military Advisor in Quanzhou, he sent someone to find Cai Jing, but learned that he had gone to Beijing to study. He did not expect to meet him at an unexpected moment here.

Fan Ning smiled and said, "So what does Cai County Magistrate think? Will the Qingmiao Law be implemented?"

"We were discussing this issue just now, and each has its own opinions. I personally think that Baojia Law is the basis of Qingmiao Law. If Baojia Law is not implemented, Qingmiao Law will be difficult to promote, but everyone doesn't understand why Baojia Law is the basis of Qingmiao Law?"

Fan Ning nodded, "The function of Baojia Law is to organize the people. Ten households are A and Ten A are a guarantee. It was implemented as early as when Shang Yang's reforms. Shang Yang's reforms were five households into one family and ten households into one. They focused more on military wars. We focused on farming. Each guarantee must have a middle-aged farmer, and each A must have a rich peasant. Why should we arrange this? This has found a guarantor for the implementation of the Qingmiao Law."

Seeing that everyone was very impressed, Fan Ning continued: "The original intention of the Qingmiao Law is that when farmers plowed in spring, they had no money to buy seeds, so they had to borrow usury. In the end, they could not pay back the usury, lost their land, and became a red citizen. To be honest, this problem has been around for hundreds of years and has not been solved well. The middle of the Tang Dynasty was the most serious, and it eventually triggered the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion. So Wang Xianggong wanted to solve this problem through reforms. During spring plowing, the government borrowed money to the farmers, but what should the farmers could not pay back? At this time, the Baojia Law came into effect. The farmers could not afford to pay back the money, and the rich peasants paid it back on their behalf. Then the rich peasants asked the farmers for the owed money. The government had no risks, and the risks were passed on to the rich peasants."

"What if this farmer who owes money refuses to pay back the money to the rich farmer?" Cai Jing asked.

"The problem is here. When Wang Xianggong formulated the Qingmiao Law, he believed that since he was a fellow villager in the country, everyone was in a hurry to pay the money and would not borrow money or repay it. At most, it would be delayed. Rich people would not care about this little money. If they really couldn't pay it back, it would be a moral good thing even if the rich helped the poor. However, during the pilot operation, a situation occurred that a household mainly guaranteed fifty or sixty households.

Everyone thinks that no one else will pay it back, so why do I pay it back? In the end, no one is willing to pay it back, and the land of this household is mostly not worth the money, and eventually they lose everything.

In just ten counties, more than 300 such situations occurred. More than 300 small landlords either lost their money and became poor overnight. They fled their families and disappeared. This is why the Qingmiao Law was strongly criticized."

There was a silence in the lobby, and Fanning's frank and straightforward description made everyone finally understand the essence of the Qingmiao Law: "Equalizing the rich and the poor", which caused a large number of small and medium-sized landlords to go bankrupt, which could shake the social foundation at the least, and trigger rebellion at the worst. It was indeed very dangerous.

Cai Jing asked again: "Mr. Fan, since the hardship of farmers has existed for hundreds of years during spring plowing, if the Qingshou Law is not good, is there any other way to solve this problem?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly, "In fact, there is a way to solve it now. The great development of industry and commerce requires a large amount of labor, and overseas land reclamation and mining also requires a large amount of labor. They absorb rural labor and feed back the countryside by making money. Every household has more money. As long as they are a little frugal, they will definitely have money to buy seeds during the spring plowing season.

For example, when my hometown is Wuxian, rural girls have to find ways to become maids when they grow up to eleven or twelve years old. This is almost their only way to make money.

But now they go to the city to work, spin, weave cloth, silk, etc., and they can earn three to four jin of money a month, which is twice as much as their maids. For a family, it only costs forty or fifty jin of money a year. Isn’t it enough to buy seeds when they plow in spring?"

At this time, another scholar said, "Now we are talking about a problem, saying that there is too much food overseas, which leads to the fact that the food in the market is very cheap now, and the rice is 20 cents. Farmers are not as profitable as before. What should I do about this problem?"

Fan Ning nodded, "This is indeed a big problem. The court is also paying attention to it. There are methods, such as implementing the sale of grain by the government. The government collects grain from farmers at high prices, and then sells it at an appropriate price. Major grain merchants can only buy grain from the government. This is a method. The second is to expand the cultivation of corn and encourage farmers to feed pigs with cheap corn. Farmers raise pigs more than grow grain to make money. In short, it is just a saying that makes every household have as much channels to make money, and they cannot make a living by growing grain."

The atmosphere in the lobby was very lively, and everyone rushed to ask questions, and Cai Jing was qualified to ask questions again.

"Young people all support reforms, but I heard that Xianggong Fan firmly opposes reforms and still confronts Wang Xianggong in the newspaper. Does this mean that Xianggong Fan is a conservative?"

"The sentence of Cai County Wei is wrong. The one I am not against in the newspapers of the reformist Wang Xiangguo, but the conservative Sima Xianggong. However, I am indeed not a reformist, but not a conservative."

"We all know that Xiao Fan's husband is a reformist," someone snatched the conversation and everyone in the lobby laughed.

Fan Ning smiled and waved his hand, "You can have a misunderstanding. You always think that reform is good. You always think that the Song Dynasty is conservative and rigid in the current situation, dragging the court and the people down, and it must be completely broken and changed. So young people support reform, but I tell you that reform may not be a good thing in many cases."

"Can you give me an example?" asked a young scholar next to me.

Fan Ning nodded, "Take the Baojia just now for example! Ten households are A, hundreds of households are A, three hundred or five hundred households are a large insurance, and the capital is a guaranteed official. After the experiment in the ten counties, a new yamen appeared in almost every township. There are dozens of baozis under it. Then I will ask everyone, where do the money and grain for baozis and baozis come from?

The court's financial expenditure only reaches the county, so where is the income of the Baoya? It turns out that all the expenses of the Baoya are distributed to every household. If they are not given, Baoding will go and lead the sheep and cow. The people sued the county, but the county did not accept it. Instead, they denounced it as a tough guy and beat it up. Why? Do you know the reason?"

There was silence in the lobby, Fan Ning said slowly: "Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the financial control has been very strict. The counties have almost no spare money. The county government has dilapidated and no money to repair it. The county officials can only make a living by salary and are forced to be honest. However, after the Baoya, the county officials have a source of wealth. The Baoya pays tribute, the Baoya has distributed ten taels of silver to the farmers and sucks four taels of silver. In this way, the county officials have become fat, all smiles and raise their hands to support the reform. Therefore, the officials who firmly oppose the Qingmiao Law are basically in the court, but there are not many oppositions in the county below. Do you know the reason now? Can you still say that reform is a good thing, and conservatism is a bad thing?"

The lobby was silent and silent, and everyone was pondering. Fanning taught them a profound lesson today.

The scholars knew that the mentor was going to invite his son-in-law to dinner, so everyone said goodbye one after another.

Cai Jing walked up and bowed and said, "Mr. Fan, are there any preferential treatments he had when he was an overseas official now?"

"What kind of preferential treatment does County Wei refer to?"

"Just turn to the positive side?"

Fan Ning smiled and said, "Now the new system of the imperial court stipulates that officials in the imperial examination can be transferred to regular positions for five years, but overseas officials are indeed favorable. If you go overseas officials, you can become regular positions for three years. Could it be that the lieutenant Cai County is interested?"

Cai Jing nodded, "I am a Jinshi this year. I will have to be an official for nearly five years before I can become a regular official. If I can become an official overseas, I can become a regular official as soon as possible."

Fan Ning smiled and said, "Even if you apply for approval now, you have to go overseas in spring. If you stay overseas for three years, you will only become a regular one year in advance. Besides, your overseas term is at least five years, so you must consider the gains and losses clearly."

Cai Jing hesitated and said, "I think it is better to train my abilities when I go overseas to become an official."

Fan Ning nodded secretly. Cai Jing did have the vision and courage. He knew that the qualifications of overseas officials would be better. Fan Ning smiled and said, "Now, the main thing is that the Southern Continent needs officials. If you want to be an overseas official, you can only go to the Southern Continent. If you are willing, I can help you mention it at the Ministry of Personnel so that you can get approval as soon as possible after applying!"

"I am willing to go to Beijing this time. I will submit an application as soon as possible. Thank you for your help!"
Chapter completed!