Anhua returned to talk Tao ShuShi Haiwei out of Anhua County, 30 kilometers to the east, came to the Taoshu Cemetery located in Xiaoyan Town, located on the south slope of Xianglu Mountain on the north bank of the Zijiang River, and the Zijiang River flows slowly from west to east in front of the tomb. There are many people who usually pay homage here, and I deliberately chose a rainy day to avoid**, which invisibly adds to the atmosphere of hanging.
Tao Shu was respected by later generations as "the first person in the Huxiang Jingshi School", and he was remarkable. What I admire most is his reform in the economic field. In modern times, Hunan has produced many political and military talents, but talents in the economic field are relatively rare, but Tao Shu is a master who is good at economic reform. He has a broad vision, dares to do things, is determined to reform, eliminate disadvantages and promote benefits, and promotes many reform measures such as Cao Yun, salt administration, and water conservancy have been successful, and has become an advocate and practitioner of the trend of thought that has been applied to the world during the Jiadao period. Tao Shu's reform, insisting on proceeding from reality and aiming at benefiting the country and the people, has obvious characteristics of "valuing business", "benefiting businessmen" and "facilitating business".
During his tenure as governor of Jiangsu, in view of the drawbacks of river transportation blockage, time-consuming and costly, and corruption in China and China, Tao Shu broke the stereotype of "shipping waste" and strongly advocated the implementation of grain shipping based on reality. In terms of specific operations, he weighed the urgency of the situation, grasped the characteristics of shipping, and established regulations in advance for attracting merchants and hiring ships, raising fees for rice, handing over and unloading acceptance, and avoiding wind news. In 1826, the first grain shipping was successful in one fell swoop, and it became a major event for the benefit of the country and the people. Wei Yuan, who participated in this matter, summed up his experience as "the sea is used by the sea, the merchant is used by the sea, and the boat is used by the boat", and believes that taking advantage of the advantages of shipping and merchants is an important reason for success.
During his tenure as the governor of Liangjiang and the envoy of the Lianghuai salt transport, he vigorously reformed the salt law, which was even more commendable. The salt tax was one of the most important taxes in the Qing Dynasty, but the salt administration was full of corruption during the Jiadao period. The merchants colluded with the government to control the salt government, exploit it at all levels, and even run rampant with private salt, so that the official salt was expensive. Tao Shu promoted the implementation of the ticket salt system, allowing all salt merchants to receive tickets to sell salt, free transportation and sales, and the government set up bureaus and factories to collect taxes, which in essence changed the government to a commercial business, and allowed free competition in the field of salt. This not only breaks the monopoly, but also allows the hawkers to make profits, the people benefit, and increase taxes, which can be said to benefit the country and the people. The reform has achieved remarkable results in many resistances, and the history records: in 1830, Huaibei salt owed more than 8 million taels of silver, and ten years after the implementation of the ticket salt system, Huaibei actually levied "7 million hundreds of thousands of taels, and the amount of ticket salt for ten years is only more than 2.2 million, and the ten-year fund is only 1 million".
Wei Yuanshi participated in a series of reforms presided over by Tao Shu in the shogunate of the Governor of Liangjiang, and in the preface to Tao Shu's compilation of the "Imperial Book Printing Heart Stone House Poetry and Literature Collection", he expounded in depth the arduousness and necessity of the reform at that time, and pointed out that the success of the reform required to recognize the set goals, the top and bottom to work together, the lower to fight for the spirit, and the upper to support the lower. These views, presumably Tao and Wei have been many times, are still instructive today.
Tao Shu is rarely famous, and Yu Zhaoxi, the commander of Anhua County at that time, once asked him to test his talent and let him use the word "Anhua" as the title to oppose it. Tao Shu pondered for a moment and replied: Settle down and stabilize the country, and this is also the will; Turning rain into spring breeze, I wish to popularize it. After embarking on his official career, he never forgot and worked hard to fulfill his ambition when he was young, loyal to the country, honest and honest, caring for the people, and diligent, and finally died of exhaustion in the post of governor of Liangjiang. Tao Shu once wrote a couplet: "If you want half a penny, it is not worth half a penny, and no one knows Mo Dao; To do one thing, one thing is necessary, so the heart is safe" to self-police, the upper joint advocates integrity, and the lower joint urges diligent government, all of which are to the point of being an official in politics.
After returning from paying homage to Tao Shu in Anhua, I couldn't help but think that if everyone who went to pay tribute could draw spiritual nourishment from promoting reform and innovation, and obtain the historical enlightenment of writing a "new chapter of senior administration" in the new era, what a great power it would be.
Selected from "Xinxiang Review" Issue 5, 2024).
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