Due to the influence of warlords, the society during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was in war for a long time, and the socio-economic structure and traditional social order underwent earth-shaking changes.
Prior to this, the economy of ancient society was dominated by the natural economy, and the agricultural economy was the main economy of the society, while the traditional agricultural cultivation methods in the form of small families and villages could no longer adapt to the reality of war.
In this case, people can only gather in the city surrounded by the walls to gain a sense of security. This gathering point serves as both a stronghold for agricultural production and a command center for maintaining local security.
The connection between cities and agriculture has become closer, and most of the population is concentrated in cities, and another important role of cities is to maintain population.
War was one of the important characteristics of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties period, and the wars of this period were mainly for land and population. Because the size of the population directly affects the strength of a country, it is more important to rob the population than to rob the treasure.
In order to obtain labor, the competition for cities became inevitable. City managers must protect the city first and foremost, because the city is important, and abandoning it means abandoning the large number of people in the city, which cannot be considered until the last resort.
In this situation of competition between the four parties, the attractiveness of cities to the population is increasing. The core idea of the new copy is that the wars of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were mainly for land and population, and city managers must first protect the city, and the attractiveness of the city to the population is increasing.
Despite the frequent wars, which have led to social unrest and the widespread phenomenon of displacement, the general trend of population movement has not changed, and it is still flowing from rural to urban areas, from small cities to large cities.
This movement includes not only natural migration, but also forced evictions and migrations by warlord regimes. As a result of wars and plunder, the social order was broken, class divisions became blurred, and people lived together regardless of whether they were high or low.
In order to survive, most of the urban residents have the status of citizens and farmers at the same time, living in the city and farming in the surrounding areas. The urban agriculture model of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was closely related to the way of living of the residents at that time, and was essentially a combination of urban and rural areas.
The reason why the princes of the Eighteenth Route during the Three Kingdoms period were able to quickly gather a large number of troops to fight against Dong Zhuo was largely because the population was concentrated in the cities. In times of war, people-centered activities such as agriculture, commerce, handicrafts, etc., were carried out around the city.
At that time, only cities could give people a sense of security and guarantee the safety of people's lives and property. At that time, tuntian fields were usually located near cities, both because farmers also lived in cities for easy farming, and for safety reasons.
The Book of Jin records the harvest of tuntian around the city during the Wei and Jin dynasties. At that time, due to the war and the destruction of village organizations, many people lost their land and residences and were forced to become displaced people.
In order to prevent the threat of displaced people, the rulers adopted militarized management methods, tying them to the fields around the city. This phenomenon still existed during the Southern Dynasties, and the "Biography of Wei Yu" records that after Wang Huan was killed, his son Xiao Su was appointed as the general of Zhennan and the assassin of Nanyuzhou, and led the army to besiege Yiyang.
During the battle, the enemy built a siege and burned the inhabitants, and tried their best to attack the city, and the people in the city held shields and swore to resist to the death.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the urban structure showed the characteristics of combining urban and rural areas. The inhabitants of the inner city were genuine citizens and enjoyed high power and security, while the outers were peasants and outcasts who had relatively little power and might even be regarded as outcasts.
Although this combination of urban and rural survival sounds brutal, it was the most effective at the time. It ensured the orderly progress of social production and life, so that the north during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties basically adopted the production mode of intensive cultivation to ensure the food of the urban population.
Even in wartime, it can ensure the food of the city by defending the city and harvesting wood, as well as collecting cooked wheat and eating livestock grain. This urban-rural integration model centered on cities still existed in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
The economic development of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods benefited from the city-centered economic model, which made the trend of urban-rural integration more and more obvious. At the same time, urban agriculture has developed rapidly on this basis, providing strong support for social and economic development.
Cities, as an important driving force for social development, have naturally become the center of society, which guides and promotes social and economic development. In the era when the natural economy was dominant, the natural economy could never meet the needs of the country, despite the theoretical antagonism between urban and rural areas.
The scale of independent production has always been limited, and this is a fact that cannot be changed. In addition, when the landlord's wealth swelled to a certain extent, the city was also close at hand. The social model of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods can be summarized as urban-rural integration, with most of the population centered on cities.
This integration is not bounded by the city walls, but by the peasant management model equivalent to that of the city. Of course, there are also bureaucrats who fail to always remain city dwellers under the direct jurisdiction of the city.
The city is inextricably linked to the bureaucracy, who is both the leader of the city and the master of the countryside. The sheer size of the bureaucracy is closely linked to the land rent relationship in ancient Chinese society.
Although they were the largest owners of the estate, they were not producers of crops, but only occupants of rent, employing a large number of servants and servants to produce.
This phenomenon runs through the entire history of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The urban population is only one part of the producers of the whole society, and a large number of ** hukou naturally constitute another part.
While most of the land output is still in the hands of the landlords, there are many consumers in the cities. This urban-rural integration social model guarantees the livelihood of the population concerned in the first place.
The prosperity of cities during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties led to a steady increase in the total population of society. This city-centered mode of production played a positive role in promoting the economic and social development at that time.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the city was both a symbol of power and a gathering place of wealth. The combination of power and wealth represents greater wealth. And this wealth is closely related to the working people who work in the fields.
Therefore, the cohesion of the city as a political and economic center is incomparable. In times of social turmoil and frequent wars, this cohesion is even stronger and has become an important guarantee for social stability.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods, cities spread throughout the country, and together with the surrounding countryside, many economic circles were formed. The characteristics of urban agriculture are distinctive, and the importance of cities is obvious.