Some people say that Yelu Abaoji, the Taizu of Liao, established a slave state, which later gradually evolved and became a ...... of feudal society. This kind of argument can easily lead people astray.
What was the nature of the country established by Liao Taizu in the early days?
We know that in a slave society, the slave owner does not manage the slaves, but takes possession of the slaves and all the means of production. All laws, institutions, and all property were at the disposal of slave owners. Slaves are only a part of the resources of slave owners, and there is no personal freedom. If in a society where the majority of the laborers who provide material production are slaves or slaved people, then such a society is a slave society. Its social form is generally that the state management follows the wishes of the slave owners, the land is mainly divided into feuds, the army is mainly based on the family system, and the economy is mainly self-sufficient.
Slave society and feudal society are two different forms of society. Without going through major social changes, relying only on the natural evolution of society will go through a long historical stage. The short 200 years of the Khitan Liao Kingdom is not enough to complete this transformation. In addition, the era and environment in which Yelu Abaoji is located are in the late Tang Dynasty, which the world admires. During the Tang Dynasty, it was recognized as a strong feudal society. The scope of activities of the Khitan Liao State is close to Youzhou in the Tang Dynasty. Wouldn't the living environment of the Khitan people be affected by the politics and economy of the Tang Dynasty?
"Liao History: Benji No. 1" contains:
In 872 A.D., Yelu Abaoji was born, and he was very young. Around the age of 20, he became a "Dama Yue Shali" (Dama, Ren Congye; Shali, Lang Junye; the official who led the people); because of his military exploits, he was called "Ah Zhu Shari" (Shari called by his father and ancestors).
In 901 A.D., he was promoted to Yili Sumire (the commander of the army Ma Daguan, later changed to the king), and in October, he was awarded the title of Yili Sumire of the Great Dielie Mansion.
In 903 A.D., "worship Taizu Yu Yue, always know military and state affairs". Taizu refers to Yelu Abaoji, Yu Yue is higher than the king of the north and south, second only to the emperor's position, but there is no real power, and those who have no great merit are not awarded. However, Abaoji became Yu Yue, and he "always knew military and state affairs".
In December 906, "the ministers were ordered to ask for the establishment of Taizu...... Taizu three lets, from it".
In the first month of 907 A.D., "that is, the emperor's throne".
In the first month of 908 A.D., "the Imperial Palace was subject to hundreds of officials and envoys from various countries".
In July 926, he died in the east tower of the palace.
If Liao Taizu established a slave society, the great slave owner could only be himself. But was Liao Taizu's experience a process of promotion of slave owners? If he changed a feudal system to a slave society, would those nobles, royal families, and officials be willing? Will the common people not flee to the Tang Dynasty? Can his regime be maintained so well? If the Khitans were a slave society from the beginning, will they not be affected by the external environment? How do they maintain their closed small slave society?
The content contained in "Liao History, Benji II, Taizu Xia" shows that Liao Taizu and the previous generations of parents and grandparents: "The ancestor was born and withdrawn, the people loved things, the iron smelting was started, and the people were drummed and cast, which was for the ancestor of Dezu, that is, the father of Taizu." It can be seen that from the father of Liao Taizu (or even earlier), it is not the foundation of slavery, but "benevolence and love of things".
The same text also records that the first four ancestors of Liao Taizu were, "generous and unwanted, and the order was not strict and humanized". His ancestors, "the first to teach the people to crop crops, good animal husbandry, the country to be rich".
- Note that the references here are all "people", not "slaves." In the records of the "History of Liao", there is not a trace of slave owners. It cannot be considered "tribal", that is, slavery. The concept of tribal is fundamentally different from the state system.
"Quanliao Wen, Volume 1" ("Xuanfu Zhenzhi" 14) contains: "There are those who are injured in the military and the crops are damaged and the rent. on military law". This was an order given by Liao Taizu himself, which fully shows that what Liao Taizu carried out could never be a regime in a slave society. This is because a society that has already implemented "rent" cannot be a slave society. Slave owners, too, could not have had such a policy!
"Liao History: Benji No. 1" contains: In July 914 AD, when killing 300 rebels, "Shang sighed and said: 'To cause people to die, how can I do what I want.'" If you only bear the burden, you can still tolerate the loan. This Cao did not do anything, brutalized the loyal and good, ruined the people, and plundered property. In the past, there were thousands of horses among the people, and now they are all on foot, which has never been seen since the country. It is really a last resort.'" ”
——These words of Liao Taizu not only show his personality and heart, but also the social state at that time. It is not okay to "make the people miserable". "The people used to have ten thousand horses", which shows that the people were originally wealthy and had property. The word "people" appears in two places in a passage, not the word "slave". Doesn't it explain the social system of the time?
Liao Taizu did migrate people captured in the war to other places, but not as slaves. For example, in 919 A.D., "the ancient city of Liaoyang was repaired, and the Han people and Bohai were realized". Similar languages are found in many places, but they are all "people", not "slaves", and the people who migrated to a new place are still people. The Tang Dynasty also moved the people to the interior on a large scale, can it be said that the Tang Dynasty was also a slave society?
There is no record of captives as slaves in the History of Liao, at least one of the main sources of slaves has been cut off.
There are indeed very few examples in the "History of Liao" where the families of the guilty ministers are not slaves. In the Tang and Song dynasties at that time, there were often such incidents, which were fundamentally different from slaves in the slave society. It is not possible to replace the face with a point, so as to determine that Liao is a slave society.
"Liao History: Geography I" contains: "Taizu went down to support the surplus, moved his people to the west of Beijing (Shangjing Linhuang Mansion), mixed with the Han people, and divided the land for cultivation." Is this the practice of slavery?
"Quanliao Wen, Volume 1" ("Xuanfu Zhenzhi" XIV. Liao Taizu once ordered: "In each village, a strong household should be appointed as the village head." Discuss with the villagers. Powerful households pay for the seedlings to make up for the poor. Do not catch acres of volunteers. According to the complaint". Is this kind of state decree such as appointing village heads, subsidizing poverty, and "expropriating according to the situation" a system of slave society?
"History of Liao, Volume 59, Zhi XXVIII, Food and Goods Chronicles" contains: Many places in Tokyo "have their own and rice warehouses, according to the ancestral law, out of Chen Yixin, Xu Min voluntary fake loans, interest in two". Is this a practice of slavery?
The same text also said: "The system of husband taxation has been used by the state since Taizu was appointed by Han Yanhui." It clearly stipulates: "Zhutun Tian is not allowed to lend money without permission in Guanhu Su, and those who are in Tun are working hard to cultivate public land and do not lose taxes, and this public land system is also." The remnants of the people should be admired, or to govern idle fields, or to govern private fields, then the acres of millet are counted to give the public. In the fifteenth year of unification, the people were recruited to cultivate the open land of the Luanhe River, and the rent was rented for ten years. and did not pay taxes before and after Zhaoshan, and in Miyun and Yanle counties, occupy the land and buy real estate into taxes, and this private land system is also". At the same time, it is allowed to "fold tax money", "fold silk", etc.
Is this method of implementing three tax systems, namely the "public land system," the "idle land system," and the "private land system," to tax the common people, and to calculate and pay taxes separately, the method of a slave society?
The Liao State has a perfect bureaucratic system, and it is recorded in the "History of Liao" that Taizu has a system of managing the people in the south and the army in the north, and there are officials at different levels such as prefectures, prefectures, and counties in various places. The economy of Liao is developed, and it is a strong country and rich people, and it is by no means a low level of production in a slave society. Therefore, the Liao State was able to go on an expedition and close to the war, forcing the Northern Song Dynasty to pay tribute.
"Liao History: Food and Goods Chronicles" contains: "The rebellion of Taizu Ping's brothers, the soldiers were lightly endowed, and they were dedicated to agriculture. Can a slave society be governed by "endowment"?
"Liao History: Food and Goods Chronicles" contains: "The Law of Levying Commerce. Then since Taizu placed Yangcheng in the north of Tanshan, it started to pass through the city. Liao has mutual markets in several important places, Shangjing Nancheng has the largest trade mall in Liao, and there are merchants from home and abroad, as far as Persia. The other four capitals also have a large scale of bazaars, and Dongping County, and "Xiongzhou, Gaochang, and Bohai also set up mutual markets, in order to pass through the Southern Song Dynasty, the northwest provinces, and the goods of Goryeo, so the Jurchen used gold, silk, cloth, honey, wax and other medicinal materials, and Tieli, Ling, Yu Ji and other parts with clam beads, green rats, mink rats, fish skins, cattle, alpacas, horses, and other things, to ease the Liao, the road is a genus. ”
Is it a phenomenon of a slave society that commerce is so developed?
"The method of salt policy is to obtain a large number of Han people from Taizu, that is, one of the eight parts of Gudang City is divided into other parts. The city is in the south of Tanshan, and there is the benefit of the salt pond, that is, the later Wei slippery salt county, and the eight parts are all eaten."
"Pit metallurgy, since the beginning of Taizu and the room Wei, its real estate copper, iron, gold, silver, its people are good at making copper and iron ......."
"The method of drum casting, the ancestors of Sera for the loss of the violet, with the local production of copper, began to make coins. Taizu's son, attacked and used it, so he became rich and strong, and opened the emperor's business".
He also said: "The first Taizu was the Emperor of Dielie's Mansion and punished the Yao Yuan clan for being weak, so he raised the ministry, rewarded and punished clearly, did not levy in vain, and benefited from the interests of the people.
Were these practices the practices of slave states?
On the military side,
"History of Liao" recorded: "The old customs of the Khitan are rich with horses and strong with soldiers. Horses in the wilderness, slack soldiers in the people. Something to fight, riding a husband, Mao Ming Chen set. Horses chase water and grass, people look up to cheese, pull strong and shoot life, in order to give daily use, glutinous grain and cocoon, the road is in the way". In addition to the important military affairs of the Beifu Prefecture, it also has a road, a capital deployment, a division of soldiers and horses, etc., and a variety of armies and local townships, respectively, with battalion guard system and soldier guard system and other garrison and management methods.
"Liao History: Bingwei Zhi I" says: "All people who are over fifteen years old and below fifty years old are subordinate to the army." The "History of Liao" Bingwei Zhi said that there are detailed regulations on the allocation of men and horses for the country's regular soldiers and villagers. Among the state-owned troops, the armies of the subordinate countries and tribes are not counted, and only "two accounts, twelve palaces, one government, and five capitals, with 1,642,800 soldiers."
With such a powerful armed force, how could the Liao army be invincible? Let me ask, can a slave country have such an army and management style?
The Liao State did have tribes and vassal states, and the autonomy of its internal clans was very limited. The tribes can only listen to the central government, and the leaders are appointed by the central government. Although the extra-national clans and vassal states had the right of autonomy, they had to pay taxes and tribute according to the regulations of the Liao State, and the king or chief was appointed by the central government, so it was impossible for the vassal states and extra-state clans to practice slavery.
From Khitan to Liao, the name changed many times, but its content and essence were the same. Liao has tribes, and tribes have their own armies, bureaucratic systems, and management methods. However, tribal system is not slavery, and there is an essential difference between the two. The tribal system of the Liao State means that the tribes strictly abide by the policies and systems of the central government of Liao. Slavery is the management of slavery within the same group, tribal system is the social management of multiple groups, and its management methods are different; tribal system and slavery should not be confused.
From a small place in northeastern Hebei or western Liaoning, the Liao State has developed into five capitals and six prefectures, 156 prefectures and cities, 209 counties, 52 tribes, and more than 60 vassal states. "East to the sea, west to Jinshan, to quicksand, north to the Yuqu River, south to Baigou", including a large area of land in secluded, cloudy, Hebei and Lu, thousands of miles away from east and west. (History of Liao)
It is impossible for the state system that relies on the slavery system to develop and grow, and it is still less possible to face the powerful Tang, Song, Western Xia, and Bohai countries that have strong and advanced production relations. Shi Jingjiao, the emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty, who had been in power in China for decades, was canonized by the emperor of Liao after paying tribute to the sixteen states of Youyun to the Liao State, and became the emperor of Shang'er. After Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty and Emperor Jingzong of the Liao State signed the "Alliance of Yuanyuan", they paid 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of cloth to Liao every year. How could such a country develop on the basis of an old slavery country?
Looking at the classics of "History of Liao", from beginning to end, there is no record of changes in the social system of the Khitan Liao State from the slave social revolution, or reform and reform. How did these people who defined it indiscriminately find the basis for the changes in the social system of Liao? The evolution of Liao's social system also had a basis and basis for change? How could they rely on a few mouths to say that slavery was slavery?
In short, the Khitan state established by Liao Taizu and his former leaders was by no means a slave state!