Comrade | Guevara
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was so great that he exhausted the huge financial surplus accumulated by the previous emperors in less than 20 years after he succeeded to the throne, so that the empire was in a dilemma of tight national treasury. In order to solve financial difficulties, maintain the normal operation of the empire, and satisfy his own enjoyment, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty could only take the form of increasing taxes. So, what methods did Emperor Wudi of han use in order to loot wealth? What are the adverse effects?
01 Oral Endowment - The Farmer's "Hypnotic"
Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, China had just experienced the first so-called "prosperous era" in history - the rule of Wenjing, but it was completely different from the imaginary situation of later generations, and the peasants who formed the basis of the lower social foundation did not live a happy life of giving people enough to give people enough food and clothing, but always struggled on the line of food and clothing, and in the slightest accident, they would fall into the situation of starvation. This situation is explained in the Chaotic Error "On Guisu Shu", which served as the imperial master of the Han Jing Emperor Dynasty, and the Great Confucian Dong Zhongshu in the recitation to Emperor Wu of Han, and the authenticity is self-evident.
Portrait of Emperor Wen of Han
Ancient China was a typical agricultural society, and the living conditions of the peasants greatly affected the security of the empire, so since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, it has made it a national policy to be frivolous. According to the historical records, the tax rate on land in the early years of the Han Dynasty was extremely low, at the time of Emperor Wen of Han it was fifteen taxes and one tax, and after Emperor Jing of Han ascended the throne, it was reduced to thirty taxes and one (that is, 3.33%). Since then, successive emperors have continued this low tax rate. But
In addition to the land endowment, the Han Dynasty also levied a variety of miscellaneous taxes and servitude on the peasants, and the "mouth endowment" was the "magic weapon" used by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to squeeze the peasants.
。
"Mouth endowment" is the poll tax, which is subdivided into two types: "mouth money" and "calculation endowment". Among them, "mouth money" is specially levied on minors, and the early Han Dynasty stipulates that all children aged 7-14 must pay 20 yuan to the state per person per year. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, the age of the "mouth money" levied was lowered to 3 years old, and its amount increased to 23 yuan per person per year; "calculation" was a poll tax levied on adults, and those aged 14-56 had to pay a "calculation" (that is, 120 yuan) to the state every year.
Han Dynasty farmers drove cattle to cultivate prints
For the peasants who are struggling to feed themselves, the "mouth endowment" is nothing less than a heavy burden. Therefore, in order to avoid the "oral endowment" and reduce the pressure on family life of the population increase, a large number of peasants choose not to have children, even if they are accidentally born, they will kill them (them), thus staged a tragic tragedy
。 On this point, Gong Yu, the imperial master of the Han And Yuan Emperor period, once said bitterly in the song: "
Mouth money to emperor Wu, conquest of siyi, heavy endowment to the people, the people to produce children at the age of three years old to export money, so the people are very difficult, as for the birth of children to kill, it is very sad
(See The Book of Han and the Biography of Gong Yu).
02 Reckoning - The middle class was wiped out
Except for the slightly different situation in the Yuan Dynasty, all the dynasties generally implemented the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business", restricting and exploiting the middle class headed by merchants, which was undoubtedly a "shortcut" for emperors to stabilize social order and increase financial resources. In the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (119 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent a large-scale army to fight against the Xiongnu, coupled with the serious flood and drought disasters in the counties and counties of Shandong, and the large number of poor people who migrated, the imperial court issued a "reckoning order" due to the serious shortage of state use, and levied property taxes on merchants and usurers.
Prints traded by merchants of the Han Dynasty
The "Reckoning Order" stipulates that all middle-class people, whether in business or not, must truthfully declare their family property to the government and pay taxes. Among them, the merchants are taxed every two taels, and the craftsmen are taxed every four taels
(Note: "缗" refers to the rope that wears money, with 1,000 yuan as a "reed" and 20 yuan as a "count"; those who are not three elders (township officials in charge of education) and knights in the north and have wagons (that is, two-wheeled wooden carts for running transportation) are taxed once for each vehicle, and those who have cars are levied twice; those who own more than five boats are taxed one by each boat.
The Territory of the Han Empire was vast, the government lacked sufficient manpower to complete the huge and heavy tax collection work, and the phenomenon of tax evasion and evasion by the middle class was quite serious, and Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty immediately issued a "Notice Order" to solve the problem, encouraging the people to expose and report the tax evasion and evasion of the rich.
According to the provisions of the "Writ Order", once the government discovers that the middle class has evaded taxes and evaded taxes, it will confiscate all the family property of the suspects and charge them to the side for one year. At the same time, the people who report and denounce the wrongdoing of the middle class will receive half of the family property of the offender
Portrait of Emperor Wu of Han
After the two heavy blows of the "Reckoning Order" and the "Confession Order", Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty extorted astonishing wealth from the rich, and the middle class was full of bankruptcies. The Book of Han and the Chronicle of Food and Goods once wrote in a poignant tone: "
Yang Ke told him all over the world. The middle class and above have been sued
......
The wealth of the people is in the hundreds of millions, the number of slaves is tens of millions, the number of tianda counties is hundreds of hectares, the small counties are more than 100 hectares, and the merchants and merchants are above the family, and they are largely broken
。 That is to say, after this catastrophe, the middle class led by merchants was "annihilated", and the economy of the Han Dynasty fell into a state of decay and ruin, and the only beneficiary was the imperial court.
03 "Platinum Three Pins" and Gold Seizure - Extortion against the Nobles
When Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty engaged in the policy of looting, he also did not spare the nobles, and the "Platinum Three Pins" was undoubtedly the first step for the imperial court to take them.
The so-called "Platinum Three Pins" is a silver and tin alloy currency issued by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the fourth year of the Yuan Hunt (119 BC), which is divided into three types: round dragon coins, square horse coins, and oval turtle coins
。 Among them, the round dragon coin, also known as white selection and white food, weighs 8 taels and is worth 3000 yuan and 5 baht coins; square horse coins, weighing 6 taels, worth 500 yuan and 5 baht coins; oval turtle coins, weighing 4 taels, worth 300 yuan and 5 baht coins.
"Platinum Three Products"
Although the value of the "platinum three products" is not cheap, the actual value is very low due to the large amount of cheap raw material - tin mixed in the casting process
。 Taking the highest value of dragon coins as an example, its actual value is less than 100 yuan and five baht coins, and the actual value of the horse coins and turtle coins is even more unbearable, which belongs to the veritable "evil money".
However, after Emperor Wu of han issued the "Platinum Three Products", he forced the princes to buy them when they went to Chang'an for a pilgrimage. In this way, the imperial court squeezed a large amount of real gold and silver from the hands of the nobles, and knocked them a "bamboo bar" fiercely.
In addition to the "Platinum Three Products", Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also ruthlessly plundered the nobles through the method of "seizing the knighthood of gold".
酎金, that is, the tribute of the princes of the Han Dynasty to the imperial court for sacrifice
。 Emperor Wen of Han stipulated that every August when the Gaozu Temple was sacrificed in Chang'an, the princes and princes should offer gold to help according to the number of feudal populations, four or two for every thousand mouths, and the remaining number of more than five hundred was also four two, and was accepted by the Shaofu. In addition, those who have eaten in the southern counties such as Jiuzhen, Jiaotong, and Nichinan can replace gold with rhinoceros horns, hawksbill turtles, ivory, and jade.
Shochu Gold
The trigger for the "Conquest of the Lordship of The Golden Dynasty" was undoubtedly the Han Dynasty's conquest of the South Vietnamese War. In the fifth year of Yuan Ding (112 BC), because no one answered the call to join the army and rushed to the battlefield of South Vietnam, Emperor Wu of Han was extremely angry and determined to teach them a harsh lesson. In September of that year,
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed the princes and marquises on the pretext that the "gold" offered to them was not good or the number of jin was insufficient, and 106 people were stripped of their titles, accounting for half of the nobles who had knighthoods at that time. After this incident, the power of the nobles was not only greatly weakened, but also a large number of directly administered land and households were added to the imperial court, allowing Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to make a fortune
It can be seen from the above that living in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, no matter whether noble or poor, but those who have some money in their hands, there is not much way to live, that is really a miserable bad era.
bibliography
Sima Qian (Western Han Dynasty): Records of History, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1982.
Bangu (Eastern Han): Book of Han, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1999.
Sima Guang (Song): Zizhi Tongjian, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2015.