The corrupt politics and civil wars of the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, as well as the scuffle in the north during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, caused a great migration of the people in the north. They either go to Liaodong or longyi, but most of them still cross the river and move south. The transportation in Jiangdong is developed, and it has a vein of Hangou, Huaihe and Jishui, which is convenient for the displaced people in the north to go south. The government of the Eastern Jin Dynasty also gave preferential treatment to displaced people in order to win over the scholars in Nandu and expand the basis of their own rule.
Five nonsense
People who cross the south usually gather a number of families according to their place of origin, and migrate from one to another, forming one group of displaced people after another. Nandu bureaucrats also often took parts with them and collected and dispersed along the way to expand their own ranks. Since the Sun Wu period, a major reason restricting its economic development in the Jiangdong region is the shortage of labor, so the southern landlords are also willing to absorb a large number of displaced people as laborers, forming a situation of "the south and the north are powerful and powerful, competing for food".
The displaced people in the north who initially moved south, known as overseas Chinese, were not included in the national household register. In order to control the displaced people and maintain the order of feudal rule, the Government of the Eastern Jin Dynasty successively established many overseas Chinese prefectures, counties, and counties with the same name as the old overseas Chinese in the places where overseas Chinese were concentrated, so that overseas Chinese could write books. The officials of overseas Chinese counties and counties are served by northerners, and overseas Chinese have special "yellow nationality" - white nationality, a single household registration, do not pay rent to the state to serve, even if they later pay rent transfers, it is lighter than the general household.
Distribution map of displaced people from the Eastern Jin Dynasty
The main overseas Chinese states of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and southern dynasties were Southern Xuzhou, Southern Yanzhou, Southern Yuzhou, Southern Qingzhou, Yongzhou, Qingzhou, etc., and You, Ji and other prefectures did not have overseas Chinese prefectures, only overseas Chinese counties and overseas Chinese counties, mainly concentrated in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The setting of overseas Chinese counties and counties has benefited the most from the strong and powerful warriors who have migrated south, one can provide them with more official positions and official positions, and the other is that they control a large number of household registrations, do not pay rent and serve, and their political and economic interests are taken care of.
The soil is broken
With the passage of time, more and more overseas Chinese counties were placed, which seriously affected the state's tax revenue and household management, so from the time of Emperor Xianhe (326-334), the Eastern Jin Dynasty adopted the method of "soil break" to strengthen the control of overseas Chinese, that is, the scattered overseas Chinese were cut off into the prefectures and counties where they were located, and no overseas Chinese counties were set up, and the overseas Chinese who had previously had privileges were incorporated into the administrative system of the counties and counties where they were located. The Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasty have carried out "soil breaks" throughout the dynasties, and have been seen in the records a total of ten times. Among them, the Gengji Tujue and Yixi Tujue are the most famous.
Huan Wen, a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
In the second year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (364), Sima Huanwen presided over the Gengzhi Tujue in order to increase the financial resources of the imperial court and ease social conflicts. He compiled the displaced people in Qiao Prefecture and counties into the household register and paid taxes together. In the past, expatriates have been cared for. After the land break, the state-controlled hukou increased significantly, and the tax revenue also increased.
"In March of the second year of emperor Xingning's reign, Gengshu Shuo ( 庚戌朔 ) made the land where he was located severe, and strictly enforced his legal system , which was called the Gengzhi system."
Gengzhi Tujue was known for his strictness, and Sima Xuan, the king of Pengcheng in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was imprisoned for hiding five households. However, the Gengzhi Tujue also lasted only a few years, and in the first year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (373 AD), after Huan Wen's death, this method did not work. This was followed by the Yixi Tujue presided over by Liu Yu.
Yi Xi tu broken
In the second year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (420), Liu Yu deposed Sima Dewen, the Gong Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and established himself as emperor (Emperor Wu of Song), with the state name Song. After Liu Yu came to power, he reformed the ills of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Emperor Wu of Song liu Yu statue
Since the beginning of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, many overseas Chinese counties and counties have been set up in various localities to resettle the soldiers and people who migrated from the north to the south, adding many official positions, increasing the burden on the people, seriously affecting the state's financial revenue, and causing chaos in the territory. Although the Eastern Jin Dynasty carried out land breakage, it did not fundamentally solve this problem.
In the ninth year of Yixi (413), Liu Yu again implemented the law of soil cutting, abolishing the qiao county. Residents no longer distinguish between indigenous expatriates and are under the jurisdiction of local counties and counties, undertaking a certain number of conscription. Yixi was also particularly strict when the land was broken, and Yu Liang, a member of the Huiji clan, was executed for hiding more than a thousand outlaws. After becoming emperor, he ordered a pardon for "rebellion", restricted bureaucrats from levying taxes arbitrarily, and reduced miscellaneous taxes and servitude. These are conducive to the development of production and the increase of government revenues.
In addition, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Liu Song Dynasty, the Yongzhou region was broken, during the reign of Emperor Gao of Qi, it was also broken in the areas of Yuzhou, Sizhou, and Yingzhou, and during the Southern Liang and Southern Chen periods, the southern Xuzhou region was also broken.
The north and south dynasties stand side by side
The establishment of qiao counties expressed the determination of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasty to recover the lost land, and also pinned on the feelings of the Han people in Nandu to return to their hometown, which played an important role in stabilizing the regime. After the establishment of counties and counties, overseas Chinese reclaimed fertile land in the local area, which promoted the economic development of the south. However, with the establishment of more and more overseas counties, it has also led to the confusion of the social management system. The same geographical name appeared in different regions and was changed from day to time, causing great confusion in the geographical name system. The inconsistency of the household registration system has also made the government face difficulties in tax collection and population management.
To a certain extent, the land break increased the state's fiscal revenue, standardized the division of administrative regions, and alleviated the problems of tax collection and population management, but it could not really be solved, which was determined by the political environment of the split between the north and the south at that time. By the unification of the Sui Dynasty, overseas Counties and Tujue finally withdrew from the stage of history.