Liu's three purposes are to increase the population and benefit the remaining women
Ancient emperors were a difficult task to govern the country, especially for those founding emperors who established their dynasties through war, and they understood better that if the problems of the country were not properly resolved, new uprisings would be provoked and threatened their dominance.
In the early days of the Han Dynasty, the population plummeted due to years of war. In order to increase the population, Liu Bang decided to start from the grassroots level, he formulated three holy decrees to expand the population, and paid special attention to the fertility of older women, and put forward corresponding policies.
So, what kind of policy did Liu Bang propose?
What was the population of the country like in the early Han Dynasty? Although wars in ancient times have always had an impact on the population, the vassal states before the Qin Dynasty had frequent wars, and the population was still as high as tens of millions.
However, by the time of the Han Dynasty, the population never exceeded 10 million, which was undoubtedly a big problem for Liu Bang. Because without enough population, the country will not be able to function properly, and his power as emperor will be greatly reduced.
China has always been based on agriculture and has abundant land resources. However, Liu Bang noticed that the country has a lot of land and a small population, and large areas of land are uncultivated, which can lead to serious food problems.
Despite this, he did not take immediate action and was just thinking about how to solve the problem. In the early days of the Han Dynasty, the people were difficult on the outside, but they were magnificent on the inside.
In order to maintain a life of abundance in gold and silver, Liu Bang recognized the importance of population growth to economic circulation. He decided to reform the country's population policy and issued three edicts, the first of which was to let soldiers who had not been fighting go home to farm.
At that time, the social environment was relatively stable, and most soldiers were in a state of readiness for war, but Liu Bang wanted more people to participate in agricultural production.
Liu Bang believes that people who eat the country's grain but do not do things might as well go home to work as farmers, promote economic development and reproduce offspring. Therefore, he issued a holy decree to let them go home.
In response to the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace, Liu Bang also issued a holy decree, believing that it was inappropriate to trap the key to giving birth to offspring in the palace, so he encouraged them to go home and give birth to offspring.
In order to solve the problem of a way out for the palace maids, Liu Bang allowed them to restore their civilian status and return home to marry and have children, so as to promote population growth.
The Third Sacred Purpose has reduced the forced labor and taxation of the common people throughout the country, and has brought tangible benefits to the broad masses of the people. For ordinary people, this is a major relief, because the burden on them is lightened, and the financial pressure of raising children and marrying a wife is greatly reduced.
This change not only makes people's lives more comfortable, but also encourages them to have more children and make their family life more satisfying.
Liu Bang's "single tax" sparked widespread controversy, and although his first three edicts were supported and praised by the people, this new tax policy left women fearful and dissatisfied.
This policy, known as the "single tax", was levied only on unmarried women, and was related to the age of marriage for women in ancient times, that is, they had to marry before the age of 15, otherwise they would have to pay the tax.
Although the name sounds novel, it is actually an unfair treatment of women, which has attracted widespread attention and discussion in society.
When a certain policy is introduced, it arouses a wide range of discussions in society. In ancient times, the status of women was very low, especially in poor families, and they were seen as beings who could only eat and have no financial responsibilities.
However, if the single tax is implemented again, then these poor farmers will have to bear more of the financial burden.
In ancient times, older unmarried women did not have the only way out of paying money. The existence of the single tax makes the status of women even more humble, and some families are even eager to marry their daughters off quickly, not even a bride price, as long as they can avoid paying taxes.
Some people are happy and some are sad, girls are feeling lost, but single men are looking forward to it, because they are now in high demand, and almost every man has a marriage that he is looking forward to.
After Liu Ying succeeded to the throne, she realized that the single tax was too harsh for women, and immediately adjusted the policy, stipulating that women between the ages of 15 and 30 do not need to pay the single tax.
Despite this, the effect of policy implementation has not been significant. In order to promote population growth, Liu Bang did take some targeted measures to treat women as insignificant commodities and lacking basic human rights.
However, despite the problems of Liu Bang's policies, the rapid development of the Han Dynasty was still inseparable from his policy promotion.