The well field system is the most respected land system in Confucianism, which is believed to have been implemented in the era of Yao Shunyu's Xianwang, when the land under the heavens was owned by the state and divided into neat tic-tac-toe shapes, the middle piece was wang tian, surrounded by private land, and the people had to cultivate both private land and the state to cultivate public land, so that the state and the people had enough grain to harvest.
However, some scholars believe that the Ida system does not exist, but is only a Confucian imagination, or represents a Confucian ideal. In any case, the well field system had long disappeared during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, represented by the Qin State, the land was owned by the state, distributed to the peasants for cultivation, and the state collected a certain amount of grain as a tax.
In the Han Dynasty, there were even more powerful landlords, who often owned hundreds of thousands of acres of land, which can be said to be rich and invincible. By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Haoqiang already owned most of the land in the world, countless self-employed farmers became tenants, and the state's taxes were getting smaller and smaller. Therefore, many Confucians at the end of the Han Dynasty called for the restoration of the well field system in order to realize the ideal that the cultivator had his own land.
In the praise of the crowd, Wang Mang took the "Han" and replaced it with the establishment of a "new" dynasty, and the Ida system was the system that Wang Mang valued most as a Confucian, and it began to be implemented not long after he came to power. However, how could Hao Qiang willingly hand over his land and try to resist it by all means, but Wang Mang finally had to take it back, and the matter could not be resolved.
From then on, successive rulers and Confucians never mentioned the restoration of the Ida system until the appearance of another Yongzheng Emperor, who was considered a usurper. Folklore has always been that the Yongzheng Emperor was not right in his position, and no matter how Yongzheng got the throne, he really learned Wang Mang in the Ida system.
In the third year of Yongzheng (1725), Yongzheng ordered the establishment of well fields in Suncheon province and Baoding Province, involving 20 villages in 4 counties, totaling more than 21,000 mu of land, every 900 mu as a unit, the middle 100 mu as public land, and the surrounding 800 mu as private land, cultivated by farmers together, completely reproducing the well field system of ancient times.
Did Yongzheng do this to follow in Wang Mang's footsteps? Of course not, his Ida is actually used to place the flag people who have made mistakes, so that they can support themselves, and perhaps he also wants to test how effective this Ida system is.
However, the actual effect was difficult to satisfy the Yongzheng Emperor, and 180 bannermen were placed in the well field, half of which withdrew halfway, the remaining half did not learn to cultivate, and the 20,000 mu of land was basically abandoned, and no problem was solved.
When the Yongzheng Emperor was alive, no one dared to report the truth, and as soon as he died, Qianlong immediately abolished the well field system and let these flag people return to their original homes. The eleven-year trial failed, proving that the Ida system was no longer anachronistic.
Even if Wang Mang really had the ability to enforce the well field system, the final result would not be good, because the requirement of the well field system was 100 mu per household, compared with the average of only 14 mu per person in the late Western Han Dynasty, even if Hao Qiang was willing to hand over the land, it would not meet the standard of 100 mu per household.