Under the rule of Northern Qi, Shandong had developed agriculture, industry and commerce, and an exceptionally prosperous economic city, with an economic level far beyond that controlled by the Northern Zhou, and this gap continued after the Northern Zhou unified the north.
After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, in order to better manage and control the old land of Northern Qi, Emperor Wen of Sui adopted a number of suppressive economic policies against the Shandong region, including controlling household registration, transferring water transportation, and exhausting the people's strength, which not only guaranteed the control of the old land of Northern Qi by the Sui Dynasty, but also did not cause local people to revolt.
After Emperor Sui succeeded to the throne, due to his policy shift to decentralization, he intensified the degree of exploitation of the old land of Northern Qi on the basis of inheriting Emperor Wen's economic policy, but it exceeded the scope of Shandong's people's means, and eventually led to the collapse of the economy of Shandong in the last years of the Sui Dynasty.
Northern Qi ruled the economy of Shandong
The old land of Northern Qi included Hebei, Henan, and Huainan, of which Huainan was not taken seriously, and only Hebei and Henan were the main territories inherited by Northern Qi and Eastern Wei. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Hebei and Henan were also collectively referred to as "Shandong" in a broad sense, and the "Shandong" mentioned in this article refers to this. Under the rule of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, Shandong's economic development was prosperous, including a well-developed agricultural system and developed commerce and handicrafts.
(1) The Agricultural System with the Average-Field System as the Core Northern Qi inherited the Yuan and Wei dynasties, so the land system naturally inherited the Yuan-Wei average-field system. During the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Juntian system was stabilized and guaranteed with the support of Gao Huan. The "Biography of Gao Long, Book of Northern Qi" contains: At the beginning of the time, when the land was given to the people, the nobles and powerful people were all good and beautiful, and the poor and weak were barren. Long Zhiqi Gaozu, knowing more against Yi, is to be even. It can be seen that in the early Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Juntian system was destroyed by Xungui, but it was finally implemented smoothly under Gao Huan's intervention.
For example, in the eighth year of Tianbao (557), Northern Qi "discussed the migration of people without land in Hebei, Ding, and Ying, which is called happy to move to Fanyang, Youzhou," and moved those without land to sparsely populated places to ensure the implementation of the system of equal fields. In the third year of the Northern Qi River Qing Dynasty (564), Emperor Gao Zhan of Wucheng again issued the Juntian Order. After comparing the average field system between Northern Wei and Northern Qi, Xu Dezhao pointed out that "the average field order in the third year of Heqing is basically the same as the average field order in the ninth year of the Northern Wei dynasty."
It is worth noting that although the Northern Qi Juntian system was basically the same as that of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Heqing Juntian Order also included restrictions on the granting of land by honorable honors, such as limiting the number of slaves to no more than 300.
In response to the restrictions imposed on Xungui in the Northern Qi Juntian system, Xu Dezhao quoted the "Legend of Kanto Customs" contained in the "Tongdian": "At that time, the strong and the weak were bullying, the power was encroaching, the wealth was unlimited, and the poor had no place to stand... The seller of the post wasted the field for seven years, cooked the field for five years, returned the money to the land, and listened to the order, although Lutian did not listen to the sale, he did not have a heavy responsibility for selling and buying. He held that the attitude of the Northern Qi imperial court toward the annexation of land by Xungui was "resigned," and the Juntian Order in the third year of Heqing was nothing more than a "remedial" move.
In the past, scholars always regarded Gao's imperial power and Huaishuo Xungui as one and the same, so they often came to the view that Northern Qi indulged Huaishuo Xungui and greed. However, as Wang Yichen pointed out, Huai Shuo Xungui, who controlled powerful force, "was both the foundation for the founding of the state and the source of the coup d'état." After Gao Huan's death, Huai Shuo Xungui ceased to be under the control of Gao's successors, but instead became an obstacle to the centralization of power by successive Northern Qi monarchs.
During Gao Zhan's reign, he basically suppressed the Xungui forces, and although the promulgation of the Juntian Decree in the third year of Heqing was not when Gao Zhan was in control of the situation, his political goals were already alluded to in it. Based on this, although the Juntian system in Northern Qi was undermined by the forces of Huaishuo Xungui, the emperors of the Gao clan always worked to limit the economic privileges of Xungui, and the Juntian Order in the third year of Heqing was precisely its symbol, which also showed that the Juntian system was supported and promoted by the central authorities in Northern Qi. In addition to the land system, the rulers of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi also used the water conservancy facilities left over from the Wei and Jin dynasties to carry out large-scale repairs and expansions.
For example, the "Minutes of Reading History and Public Opinion" contains: "In the Eastern Wei Tianping, the Zhangshui was a Wanjin canal to irrigate the fields, also known as the Tianping Canal." The "Northern Qi Shu Gaolong's Biography" contains: "With Zhangshui approaching the imperial city, raise a long causeway to prevent overflow." He also dug canals to divert water from the city to create water milling and benefit the time. In addition, Northern Qi also set up a large number of warehouses along the Yellow River to store grain. In short, under the rule of Northern Qi, Shandong formed an agricultural system with the average field system as the core, supplemented by the construction of a large number of water conservancy, warehouses, and water transportation.
(2) Prosperous Cities and Developed Industry and Commerce In addition to basic agricultural development, industry and commerce were also very developed in Shandong under the rule of Northern Qi, and this can be seen from the prosperity of cities in Shandong, especially Yecheng being the most representative. As the central city of Hebei, Yecheng has been an important town in the north since ancient times, especially during the Cao Cao era, with Yecheng as the royal capital, and since then Yecheng has developed into the economic, cultural, and political center of the north.
Zuo Si's "Wei Dufu" describes the Yecheng at that time: The three cities of Kuo and the opening of the Dai, the origin of Pingkui and Jiuda. The train is full of bands. There is no constant bias between the economy and the end of the day. The Fortress of the Anti-Flag Pavilion is vast. A hundred tunnels and hubs, a series of thousands of succession, with the help of Shi pounding the horse, the sleeve curtain is half. All directions are mixed up, and the style is very different.
Strict Control Under Gentle Care: Emperor Wen of Sui's Economic Policy on the Old Land of Northern Qi
Qualitative agents are traded equally, but knives are traded without calculation. Finance is industrialized, bribery is business. A rare commodity, this is a blessing. Zuo Si, as a Jin person, was not far from the Cao Cao era, and his "Wei Dufu" should be relied upon. It is not difficult to see that Yecheng, as the capital of Wei, is not only majestic and magnificent, but also densely populated and full of goods, and is indeed one of the best commercial cities in the world. After that, although the north was full of wars, because of its special political status and military significance, Yecheng has always been valued by the rulers, and the commercial economy has also prospered for a long time. After arriving at Yecheng, the capital of Northern Qiding, the southern city of Yecheng "was revived and moved to the capital, and the four people were divergent, and there were more than 400 fangs."
In addition, Zhou Liang keenly perceived the peculiarities of the three counties of Ye, Linzhang, and Cheng'an in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and further pointed out that "judging from the examples of one city and several counties in previous dynasties, it was only when the population was relatively large and the economy was relatively prosperous, that two counties were placed in one city," and he believed that Yecheng at this time must also have a rich population and a rich economy. It can be seen that after several generations of operation, Yecheng in the Northern Qi era has become the largest and most economically prosperous large city in the north. Luoyang in Henan is also one of the metropolises with developed commerce and trade. Yang Zhi's "Luoyang Jialan Ji" is a key historical material for us to understand the urban structure of Luoyang during the Eastern Wei Dynasty, which records that there were "Luoyang Great City, Zhou Hui Bali" in the west of Luoyang City, of which there were "two li of commerce and goods" in the east of the city, "two li of tuning and music" in the south of the city, "two li of Yanyi and Zhiyi" in the west of the city, "two li of filial piety and fengyun" in the north of the city, and "two li of Fucai and Jin" where rich people lived.
In addition, Zhang Guangming and Wang Saishi also counted the prosperous cities in Shandong during the Sui and Tang dynasties, including Jinan, Yidu, and Rencheng, and pointed out that among these cities, "the people were highly concentrated, the culture was particularly developed, hundreds of industries and trades were intertwined, and commerce and trade were very prosperous, presenting a prosperous scene." In addition to large cities, the "Book of Sui" repeatedly mentions that the old land of Northern Qi was "vulgar" and "difficult to govern," and this actually reflected the developed commercial economy of the old land of Northern Qi. For example, "Sui Shu Changsun Ping's Biography" contains that "the Ye capital is vulgar and thin, and the old name is difficult to govern"; the same book "The Biography of Zhao Yan" says that "Jizhou is vulgar and treacherous," and "The Legend of Ling Huxi" contains "the upper temple of Taishan and the second Bianzhou, evil is prosperous, and there are many traitors."
In the above, "Yedu" is Yecheng, and its territory was later changed to Wei Commandery; "Jizhou" governed Xindu, later changed to Xindu County; "Bianzhou" is located east of Luoyang, and later divided into Yingchuan County, Liang County, Xingyang County and other places. The three places are distributed in Hebei and Henan, all of which belong to the former areas of Northern Qi. It is not difficult to see that the rulers of the Sui Dynasty had a very low evaluation of the social customs of the old land of Northern Qi, and were mostly decorated with words such as "treacherous" and "traitorous." However, as Zhou Liang believed, in feudal society, "places where industry and commerce flourished and merchants flourished were often regarded as sinister and difficult to govern."
Sun Jimin also held that Yecheng's "vulgarity" is mainly "determined by its commercial economic characteristics." All this fully illustrates the highly developed commercial and trade economy in the old land of Northern Qi, but also shows that this level of commerce continued until the Sui Dynasty. In addition to the prosperity of the commercial city, the handicraft industry in the old land of Northern Qi was also very developed. Yan Gengwang pointed out that the silk weaving industry from the end of the Northern Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty
epilogue
In order to better control the region, Emperor Wen of Sui focused on controlling Shandong's hukou, transported Shandong's wealth through Caojiang, and requisitioned Shandong laborers to exhaust its people. However, the Sui Emperor, who succeeded to the throne, wantonly conquest in spite of the people's strength because of the shift in his national policy, and as a result, his policy far exceeded the limit that the people of Shandong could bear, which eventually led to the collapse of Shandong's economy and led to a great peasant uprising in the Shandong region at the end of the Sui Dynasty.
The relationship between Shandong and the central authorities in the Sui and Tang dynasties has always been a matter of exploration and study by scholars. Li Hongbin pointed out: The weakening and blowing of Hebei, as the key place for the existence of political power in the east, is an indispensable prerequisite for the great unification of the dynasty in the founding capital of Guanzhong, but at the same time, Hebei, as the hinterland of the Central Plains, has to be paid close attention to and operated by the rulers. Recently, some scholars believe that the Sui Dynasty's management of Shandong was not entirely out of the purpose of controlling the old Northern Qi territory, but also the process of the Sui Dynasty, as the successor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, developing from a local force in a corner to a unified dynasty that ruled the whole world. It can be said that the policy adopted by the Sui Dynasty to suppress and appease the Shandong region is precisely the embodiment of its transformation into a unified dynasty. However, the rapid decline of Emperor Zhao's succession to the Taiping and prosperous era also shows that the policy adopted by the Sui Dynasty was not appropriate, but it provided reference for the later Tang Dynasty.