preface
Liu Bang was born into an ordinary peasant family in Zhecheng County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province today. He single-handedly established the Han Dynasty and served as the first emperor of the Han Empire.
During his reign, a series of political, military and cultural reforms were implemented, which led to great progress and development in all aspects of politics, economy and culture of the Han Dynasty.
After Liu Bang took office, he promulgated many policies, such as: the division system, the county system, cracking down on the powerful, reducing taxes, and reusing meritocracy.
This article mainly analyzes and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of Liu Bang's many policies in cracking down on arrogance and reducing taxes.
A new emperor is born
As the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang's father was a small landowner and his family was poor, which also led Liu Bang to grow up in a poor family environment.
He has an older brother and two younger sisters, and when Liu Bang was a child, he showed an outlier wit, intelligence and sociability.
Liu Bang was a captain of Changshui as a teenager and had considerable political talent, but was removed from his post because he was falsely accused.
His family was a local wealthy family with a certain social status, and there was a conflict of interest with some officials and magnates of the Qin Dynasty at the time.
By the time Liu Bang turned 30, politics in the Qin Dynasty was already very corrupt, and the centralized political system led to excessive concentration of power among officials.
At that time, the rule of officials was very dark, and officials not only embezzled and accepted bribes, but also acted atrociously, which brought great suffering to the people.
Coupled with the large-scale construction projects of the Qin Dynasty at that time, the country's financial situation was extremely tight, coupled with constant wars and expenses, resulting in difficulties in the country's economy.
The extreme hardship of the people, coupled with the brutal rule of the imperial court and high taxes, made the people generally dissatisfied with the rule of the Qin Dynasty, and this dissatisfaction became an important driving force for Liu Bang's uprising.
All kinds of reasons led to Liu Bang and others to revolt, so Liu Bang began to revolt around the age of 30, leading a peasant rebel army against the then Qin Dynasty rule.
They won the support and support of the people in an arduous struggle, and finally overthrew the rule of the Qin Dynasty and opened a new historical period.
Liu Bang, the new emperor from a poor family, was naturally better able to understand the hardships of the people and more able to experience the shortcomings of the Qin Dynasty's policies.
Therefore, after he became emperor, he immediately took a series of political, economic and cultural measures to consolidate and develop the political status and economic strength of the Han Dynasty, and the following are some important measures:
Consolidate power through the "Ritual Law", implement tax reduction policies, support cultural undertakings, strengthen foreign exchanges, carry out land reform, and promote leniency policies.
We know many of the above policies, but this article focuses on the two policies of reducing taxes and cracking down on the powerful, which have had a profound impact on future generations.
Mitigate the pros and cons of tax policies
After Liu Bang came to power, he promulgated a policy of reducing taxes, abolishing the Qin Dynasty's system of equal fields, and abolishing the private land tax, and implementing a system of unified collection of land endowments by official land and private land.
He also reasonably lowered the collection standards for land taxes in light of the actual conditions in various localities, thus lightening the burden on the people to a certain extent.
After that, the Minyi (commercial tax) that merchants had to pay in business transactions was abolished, so that the operating costs of merchants were reduced to a certain extent, and commerce could prosper.
In addition, the Qin Dynasty's conscription system was abolished, and forced labor was changed to the collection of money and grain.
After Liu Bang promulgated the policy of reducing taxes:
Greatly alleviated the burden of farmers: Liu Bang reduced the tax policy, reduced the tax burden of the poor people, and eased the burden of the peasants;
Allowing farmers to have more energy and time to engage in agricultural production is conducive to improving agricultural productivity and farmers' living standards.
It has promoted economic development, and taxation is an important factor affecting economic development.
Through the policy of reducing taxes, the burden of merchants and farmers can be reduced, the development of commerce and agriculture can be promoted, and it is conducive to increasing the wealth and national income of the country;
It is conducive to stabilizing society, taxation is an important source of social contradictions, reducing taxes can alleviate social contradictions, reduce social turmoil, help stabilize society, and maintain social stability;
Enhance the prestige of the government, and the government's tax reduction policy can let the people see the care and compassion of the government, and enhance the prestige and trust of the government.
These people will defend the government, support the government's policies, and help consolidate the government's dominance;
Promote the interaction between the government and the people, and the government's tax reduction policy can make the relationship between the government and the people more harmonious, and increase the interaction and communication between the government and the people.
Through interaction with the people, the government can better understand the needs and requirements of the people, better formulate policies, and promote the benign interaction between the government and the people.
Enhance the cohesion of the country: The government's tax reduction policy can enhance the cohesion of the country, alleviate the contradictions between various strata, and form a situation of national chess, which is conducive to the long-term peace and stability of the country.
There are pros and cons to reducing taxes, and after Liu Bang's policy of reducing taxes was promulgated, the government's fiscal pressure increased month by month.
Reducing taxes means a decrease in government revenue, which will increase the fiscal pressure on the government and affect the fiscal stability of the government;
Affecting the expansion of the government, reducing taxes will reduce the government's fiscal revenue, which may have a certain impact on the expansion of the government and the growth of military strength, which is not conducive to the long-term development of the government;
It is not conducive to social fairness, and reducing taxes may lead to social inequality, because reducing taxes will make the distribution of wealth uneven, which may lead to social class differentiation;
It is not conducive to the image of the government, and the government's tax reduction policy may also be regarded as irresponsible to the government, which may affect the image and reputation of the government in the hearts of the people;
Economic development is limited, and tax reduction may reduce the government's fiscal revenue, which may lead to the government's inability to carry out necessary infrastructure construction and the provision of public services, thereby negatively affecting economic development;
The government's ability to manage is limited, and the reduction of taxes may limit the government's management capacity, and the government cannot provide sufficient public services, which may lead to chaos in social order;
Policy sustainability issues: The sustainability of government tax mitigation policies is also an issue.
The government cannot rely on fiscal deficits forever to support tax mitigation policies, and must seek other ways of fiscal revenue and economic growth, otherwise the policy will be unsustainable;
Political stability issues: Reducing taxes may affect the political stability of the government, and if the government cannot provide sufficient public services, it may cause public dissatisfaction and protests, thereby affecting the stability of the government;
Liu Bang's tax reduction policy has many disadvantages, which will not only affect the government's financial and economic development.
It will also affect the government's management capacity and political stability, and the government must balance various pros and cons to formulate more reasonable policies.
After talking about the tax reduction policy, we will continue to talk about Liu Bang's crackdown on arrogance.
The pros and cons of cracking down on the mighty strategy
In addition to the above-mentioned tax reduction policies are worth discussing, Liu Bang's strategy to crack down on arrogance is also worth studying.
Liu Bang's strategy of cracking down on the powerful removed the post of prime minister of the county, which was generally held by wealthy families, who often used the position to seize power.
To weaken the financial resources of the wealthy family, Liu Bang stipulated that all the gold and silver treasures of the wealthy family must be handed over to the state, and the state would account for it in accordance with the regulations, and the remaining part would be returned to the wealthy family.
To combat the armed forces of the wealthy families, Liu Bang stipulated that the armed forces of the wealthy families must be disbanded.
By reducing the power of local officials, Liu Bang reduced the power of local officials, preventing them from becoming representatives of wealthy families and posing a threat to centralized power.
After the promulgation of the strategy to crack down on the powerful and powerful, the centralization of power was greatly enhanced, and the wealthy families controlled local political and military power, which easily formed separatist forces and threatened the stability of the central government.
Cracking down on tyrants can weaken their local political and military power, increase centralization, and contribute to the stability and unity of the country.
Balancing the distribution of social wealth, wealthy families have a large amount of wealth and land resources, resulting in an imbalance in the distribution of social wealth.
Cracking down on the powerful can reduce their control over society's wealth and make wealth more evenly distributed.
To promote economic development, the economic strength of wealthy families and local political power will have a negative impact on economic development.
Cracking down on the powerful can curb the negative impact of wealthy families on economic development and promote economic prosperity.
Enhance political transparency, wealthy families control a large number of local political and military forces, which is prone to corruption and affects political transparency.
Cracking down on tyranny can reduce the risk of local political corruption and enhance political transparency.
Enhance social justice, wealthy families hold a lot of resources and power, which will have a negative impact on social justice.
Cracking down on the powerful can reduce its impact on social justice and promote social justice and fairness.
To improve political stability, wealthy families sometimes challenge the central government, causing political unrest and social instability.
Cracking down on the powerful can curb this and improve political stability.
Increase the trust of the people, the behavior of the wealthy family can easily lead to the loss of trust in the government and the ruler, and cracking down on the powerful can make the people see the fairness and determination of the government and increase the people's sense of trust.
There will be pros and cons to everything, and there are disadvantages to fighting the strong.
Leads to social unrest, and the fight against the powerful often involves the redistribution of power, which is easy to cause dissatisfaction and resistance from wealthy families, which may lead to social unrest.
Resulting in economic instability, wealthy families have a lot of wealth and resources, and cracking down on the powerful may have an adverse impact on the economy, especially for the economic development of some places.
Leads to political instability, and cracking down on the powerful may provoke resistance from the local power, and may even lead to damage to the prestige of the central government, leading to political instability.
Resulting in social injustice, cracking down on the powerful may lead to the weakening of local forces and may lead to the damage of the interests of some wealthy families.
Sometimes local forces can protect local interests to a certain extent, and cracking down on the powerful may affect this, exacerbating social injustice and class division.
It is easy to trigger revenge, and cracking down on the powerful will often harm the interests and dignity of wealthy families, which may trigger revenge and increase social unrest.
It will consume government resources, and cracking down on arrogance requires the government to invest a lot of resources and energy, and also poses a challenge to the government's financial and management capabilities.
The author's opinion
In our view, Liu Bang's policies to reduce taxes and crack down on the powerful have had a profound impact on Chinese history.
The tax reduction policy has reduced the burden on farmers and businessmen, increased production and economic vitality, and contributed to social and economic development and prosperity.
The policy of cracking down on the powerful weakened the monopoly position of the wealthy aristocracy, provided more opportunities and space for the common people, and stimulated the people's enthusiasm and creativity for production.
Liu Bang's policies of reducing taxes and cracking down on arrogance have brought stability to society, cracked down on social injustice and inequality, eliminated people's dissatisfaction and resistance, and are very conducive to social development and progress.
It has made great contributions to the stability of Chinese society, economic development and the welfare of the people, and is of great historical significance and value.
bibliography
"The Biography of Liu Bang"
Liu Bang and the Evolution of the Early Political System of the Han Dynasty
"The Legend of Siyi"
"Liu Bangbenji"