At the beginning, before Zhao Yong ascended the throne, the whole empire, from princes to small and medium-sized landlords, called for reform one after another. However, when Zongshen really appointed Wang Anshi to carry out the reform, most of these people changed their positions, reneged on their words and tried their best to oppose and obstruct the reform. The reform will encounter such unprecedented great pressure, which Zongshen did not expect. According to the history books, Zhao Yong, who worships God, is average in ability, timid and timid in doing things, but relatively speaking, his reason is sound and his will to reform is firm. Although obviously unprepared for the great pressure that the reform may or will inevitably encounter, in the face of the aggressive momentum of the opposition, the young emperor Zongshen was still sober at first, trying to stand on Wang Anshi's side and trying his best to escort the implementation of the new law.

In June of the second year of Xining, when Hui jumped out to publicly attack Wang Anshi and listed his top ten crimes in an attempt to stop the political reform, he not only defended Wang Anshi on the spot, but also later removed Lu Hui from his post of remonstration and demoted him to the state. Subsequently, Liu Qi and Sun Changling, the censor, impeached Wang Anshi and opposed the new law, and Zongshen also demoted him. Later, Fan Chunren, who worked in the suggestion institute, impeached Wang Anshi and accused him of "slapping money for profit". Although Fan Chunren was the son of Fan Zhongyan, he was demoted to the capital, so he was called the middle government. , Zhao Tuan, Tang Dynasty envoy Lu Gongbi, and Cheng Hao, an ancient scholar, were also deposed one after another for opposing the new law. Wang Anshi and his "diehard buddy" Han Jiang were promoted to the same level, becoming the real prime minister and the highest official of the court. However, it is rather regrettable and strange that, as the general background of reform, although Zongshen strongly supported Wang Anshi, and Wang Anshi also tried his best to reform, he tried his best to go forward without hesitation, but the reform always faltered, and he often encountered bumps and even traps. We see that Zongshen's "Xining Reform" is also the same.

There is a saying: "Blow away the moss and drink herbal tea". Today, more than 900 years have passed, if we make a case analysis as calmly and objectively as possible about this once-heated but fruitless reform, then we will be surprised to find that it was not an incurable disease that caused the "Xining Reform" and "abnormal death", but the invasion and injury of external forces that killed him. Indeed, under careful consideration, whatever the original intention and timing of the reform, the "Xi Ning Reform" planned and promoted by Shenzong Zhao You is both appropriate and appropriate. Even if there are some flaws in some specific contents of the new law or the system design of the reform, and some loopholes are inevitable in some specific procedures or links, many difficulties and problems can still be solved as long as they are constantly revised and improved in the reform process.

However, it is precisely because the contents of the reform were distorted or even tampered with by the opposition with ulterior motives in the implementation process that the reform was painted anticlimactic and unrecognizable. Although it is a good reform, it is all fleas in the end! In this regard, we might as well give some practical examples to prove it.

Let's talk about the "young crop method" first. During the Northern Song Dynasty, folk usury was rampant. Those usurers often lend the poor two or three times the interest of their capital, which leads to the bankruptcy of many inferior farmers. The original intention of implementing the Young Crop Law is to realize the mutual benefit of the country and farmers. According to the law, if necessary, farmers can borrow cash (young crops) or grain subsidies from the local government before harvesting in summer and autumn every year, and then repay the government with part of the interest after harvesting, so that farmers with cash flow difficulties will not be exploited by usurers, agricultural production will not be affected, and the government can also collect part of the interest to increase fiscal revenue.

Young crops law is an important content of Xining reform. At first, Wang Anshi was confident in implementing the young crops law, because he tried this law as early as when he was the magistrate of Yinxian County, and the effect was very good. Later, the transshipment in Shaanxi led to the transshipment of Shen Li and JD.COM, which made Wang Guangyuan happen to coincide with each other, and successively carried out "pilot projects" in their respective jurisdictions, all of which achieved good results. In order to be prudent, before the formal implementation of this law, Wang Anshi specially carried out pilot projects in Hebei, JD.COM and Huainan, and after gaining experience, it was officially promoted to the whole country. Moreover, before the promulgation, he added a clause of "no apportionment", that is, it is forbidden to forcibly apportion loans.

However, when such laws were implemented all over the country, the opposite situation appeared: in some places, they were strictly implemented in accordance with the provisions of the court, and they were well implemented, and the people benefited. This law received great support, and the people happily sang praises to the court. However, in other places, there have been serious deviations. The main reason is that officials in these places have violated the new law either for the sake of performance projects or for the sake of interests, so they deliberately made trouble and did not act according to regulations. In the actual implementation process, they tried their best to lend more and charge more interest, and issued indicators at all levels, forcibly apportioning loans, especially to rich households who did not need loans but were able to repay them, rather than lending them to people who really needed them. People will naturally complain about the new law.

According to historical records, although the official interest rate is 20% for half a year, local officials often raise the interest rate to 30% or more in private. For example, in Shaanxi, farmers borrowed a stone of old rice from the government, and it was a new good wheat with eight buckets, seven liters and five combinations, which "nearly doubled the profit". Some records even say that the real interest rate has reached three to five times the original setting, which is much higher than usury. If the interest rate is only raised privately, farmers may not borrow if they think the interest rate is too high. But what is terrible is that local officials not only raise interest rates without authorization, but also "suppress funds", that is, forcibly apportion, divide tasks, set targets, and force ordinary people to borrow money. In order to ensure the recyclability of young crops' money, the new law originally stipulated "five or more households guarantee", and we agreed to borrow how much money, and everyone guaranteed each other. In the process of implementation, it turned out that the government forced rich households to provide guarantees for poor households at all levels and distributed young crops to poor households at all levels. When collecting money, if the poor households are unable to repay it, they will ask the rich households for it and pass on the risk of the loan to the rich households. In this way, the implementation of the young crops law has become the tyranny of the government in usury, interest collection and exploitation of the people. The young crop law has naturally become a "bad law" that makes the world angry and the people angry.