The above is about the formation of ** and the content of its power distribution. Now we will talk about the main economic issue that supports **, that is, the tax system. The Han Dynasty achieved the ideal of light and thin endowment. During the Warring States period, Mencius said: "Tithes and taxes, the government of the king", it can be seen that the amount of taxes in the Warring States period is more than tithes, and Mencius thought that tithes were already very good. However, in the Han Dynasty, the tax amount was only "fifteen taxes and one". Moreover, in fact, only half is paid, and thirty taxes are one. One hundred stone of millet, as long as you pay a little more than three stones. Even at that time, people said that there was a tax of one hundred and one (see Xun Yue's "Records of the Former Han Dynasty"), and during the time of Emperor Wen, all the land rent was exempted, and it lasted for 11 years. This is the only time in Chinese history. This is due to China's vast territory, rich household registration, and light taxes, and it is still impossible to use up the support of one **. ——Excerpt from the first lecture of Qian Mu's "Political Gains and Losses in China's Past Dynasties" "The Economic System of the Han Dynasty".
Taxation is a topic that interests me a lot, and it's something I still haven't fully understood.
The reason for not understanding it is easy to say, it is nothing more than two points: first, ancient China has experienced at least two major historical stages, many dynasties, and the amount of taxes paid by each dynasty in each historical stage is probably different.
What puzzles me the most is the Ida system in the feudal era.
I have also seen some articles about the well field system, which seem to say almost the same thing, that is, a large piece of tic-tac-toe is divided into a tic-tac-toe, and the middle of the tic-tac-toe is a public field, which is divided into eight pieces around it, and the eight households cultivate it, and the income belongs to the public.
Mencius's tithe comes from this.
Speaking of which, this is a matter of self-evidentness, and it is an arithmetic problem for elementary school students, and there is nothing difficult to understand.
But if you think about it carefully, it is really not an easy task to draw tic-tac-toe characters across the country. Most of today's Henan and one part of Hebei can probably be marked with tic-tac-toe. And most parts of the country are not a flat river, how to draw this tic-tac-toe? It's really a test of wisdom.
In all of China's cities today, at least I've seen it, there is not a single city whose architecture follows strict squareness.
Because people live near mountains and rivers, urban buildings or landforms must be affected by the trend of mountains and rivers. This is especially true of the fields, how to draw the tic-tac-toe on the land that is close to the mountains and rivers?
Of course, there is a possibility that where there is no way to mark tic-tac-toe, let it be deserted and become a borderless land. After all, China has a vast territory and a small population, so there is enough land for tic-tac-toe.
Another problem is that the field in the middle of this tic-tac-toe is a public field. What is the meaning of this gong? From today's point of view, this Gong should at least represent the Son of Heaven, right? That is Wang Tian. The question is, since it is Wang Tian, why not just say Wang Tian, but say Gongtian?
I am afraid that there is only one possibility, the so-called public land, in the territory of the Son of Heaven, the taxes belong to the Son of Heaven, and this public belongs to the Son of Heaven. If it is in the territory of the princes, the taxes belong to the princes, and this prince is the prince of the princes.
If this is the latter, do the princes have to pay taxes to the Son of Heaven? That's exactly what I haven't figured out.
No one in history has made this matter clear, probably because this matter is very complicated, and many details cannot be explained, so they simply do not talk about it.
It is precisely because of the complexity that when Shang Ying changed the law, he would abandon the well field and open up the field.
The so-called abandoned well field, originally under the well field system, the land in the world was divided into many tic-tac-toe, each of which was separated by a certain form, such as a field or a fence. Shang Ying's method of transformation abolished this kind of grid, and between the original tic-tac-toe and another tic-tac-toe, it was connected by Qianmo, that is, Kaiqianmo.
This Qianmo is probably what was later called Tian Cheng.
This move solves many of the drawbacks of the previous Ida system. For example, eight households share a common farm, and they will not work hard and be unsatisfied. This is also the inevitability of the laziness of public power and the enthusiasm of private power. Another example is the land at the foot of the mountain and the waterside before, which could not be demarcated with a regular tic-tac-toe, but now it has been solved, so more land can be opened.
Since there is no distinction between public and private land, taxes are no longer counted in terms of fields, but in terms of the weight of the harvest, which also requires the Qin State to be statistically weights and measures.
That's a bit of a stretch. Frankly speaking, if I continue to talk about the ancient Ida system, I am just more confused and unable to explain it more clearly.
Here, the tax system discussed by Mr. Qian Mu is the system after the opening of the abandoned Jingtian on the basis of the Shang Dynasty reform, which was laid by the Shang Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty only had to solve the problem of tax rates.
If you want to put this system well, it is the good of Shang Ying, and I am afraid that future generations will only upgrade on the version of Shang Ying, nothing more. If we say that the well field system is a one-point zero version of the land tax system, the Shang Dynasty reform has created a two-point zero version of the land tax system. The tax system of the Han Dynasty was, at best, a two-point one-one version.
This system is still in use today.
As for the tax system of the Han Dynasty mentioned by Mr. Qian, whether it is "15 taxes and 1" or "30 taxes and 1", this is only a question of quantifying the tax system. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, because the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period experienced a 500-year war, and at the end of the Warring States Period, the Qin State experienced many years of annihilation, and the entire Qin State only had more than 20 years, so the large decrease in population was not effectively restored, and the Han Dynasty was founded, and the population of the country was only more than 20 million.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, in fact, it was always turbulent and constantly killing. First, there was the killing between Liu Bang and the kings with different surnames, and then there was the killing between Empress Lu and the kings surnamed Liu for the sake of imperial power, and the population was greatly reduced again.
When Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, the first priority was naturally stability. To be stable, the most important thing is to recuperate, that is, to let ordinary families have more children. To have more children, there must be two major prerequisites, the first is stability, and the second is that there is enough food.
This is because reducing taxes is the most direct way. After all, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and it was completely feasible to reduce the tax rate to 15 taxes or even 30 taxes to 1 at that time. As for the tax of one hundred and one and the tax exemption of Emperor Wen for 11 years, it is not the main point, so there is no need to discuss it here.
Mr. Qian said, "This is because China has a vast territory, a prosperous household registration, and light taxes. ”
It is a fact that the territory is vast, and the population of 20 million or so is almost one-third of the population of a province today, but there is a whole country. It can be said that the household registration is prosperous, but I am afraid it may not be.
According to analysis, during the Qin period, the population was at its highest of about 30 million. After experiencing the great war at the end of Qin, it was reduced to 20 million, which is very normal. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang suppressed the rebellion of Yingbu and other princes with different surnames and killed a lot of people, and Empress Lu almost killed Liu Bang's children and grandchildren for the sake of the Lu family and his own dynasty, and naturally killed a lot of people.
During the time of Emperor Wen, there were many reasons why he was able to lightly deal with the meager endowment. One of the reasons is that the territory is vast and the per capita cultivation of fields is large. The vast majority of the land in the country is in the hands of the princes and kings, not the emperor, which is probably also the reason. The levy that Emperor Wen despised was his own endowment, not necessarily that of the princes and kings. In addition, because one-third of the country's land was in the hands of the princes and kings, Emperor Wen needed to manage relatively small land areas, and there were naturally not many civil servants.
Even so, Mr. Qian said that even if "the tax is as light as possible, and the supply of one ** is still not exhausted", I really can't believe it. I'm afraid it's this**, such as the saving factor is a little more.
After all, in the previous troubled times, the people's hearts were determined, and all the people, including civil servants, as long as they were stable, all other needs were secondary, and they just wanted food and clothing. Zhu Xi commented, "Below three generations, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty can be described as the lord of frugality. "That's exactly what it says.
This belongs to the new atmosphere of the opening of the dynasty, which is the case in any dynasty, and those who were extravagant even before the founding of the country, such as Hong Xiuquan and Li Zicheng, will definitely not last long. If this is used as a rule, or cited as a miraculous feat of the rule of Wenjing, I am afraid it is difficult to say.
In 1993, in the book "In Remembrance of ***" edited by the ** Literature Research Office, there was an evaluation of *** comrades, "After Gaozu, the historian was known as the rule of Wenjing, in fact, the second emperor of Wenjing was a conservative king, an incompetent person, and the so-called Xiao Gui Cao followed, there is nothing to praise." ”
Emperor Liu Heng of the Han Dynasty was originally the king of weakness, and when Empress Lu was in power, he thought he was dispensable, so he survived. After the death of Empress Lü, Prime Minister Chen Ping, Taiwei Zhou Bo, and the emperor's grandson Liu Zhang's brothers joined hands to destroy the forces of the Lü family, they were established as emperors, and they were originally a weak king.
The imperial power is weak and the power is heavy, Emperor Wen has to obey the regime in everything, otherwise, Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and others can set up a new monarch at any time, even if he doesn't want Xiao Gui Cao to follow, only the order of the prime minister is respect, and there is no other way.