Original Yan Jiulin
During the Wufeng period of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, a financial expert named Geng Shouchang gave the imperial court an idea to increase income:
Triple the sea rent.
The whole world is not the king's land, so all cultivated land must pay "field rent" to the imperial court. The whole world is none other than Wang Hai, so all those who live by the sea must also pay "sea rent" to the imperial court. Geng Shouchang felt that the people relied on the sea of the imperial court to live, and the sea rent paid was too small, so it should be increased by three times.
Emperor Xuan of Han happily accepted this suggestion.
When Xiao Wangzhi, the imperial historian, heard about it, he was so worried that he ran to Emperor Xuan of Han and said:
"Therefore, the imperial history belongs to the Xu Palace, the home is in Donglai, and it is said that in previous years, the sea rent was added, and the fish did not come out. The elders all said that when Emperor Wu was the county official, the fish did not come out, and then it was restored to the people, and the fish came out. The sense of yin and yang, the corresponding types of things, everything is true. ...... Shouchang is accustomed to the business of dividing the baht, and its deep and far-sighted thinking is not enough, and it is appropriate to do the same. ”
The gist of it is: there used to be an official named Xu Gong in the Imperial History Yamen, and their home was on the coast of Donglai (now Yantai and Weihai). According to him, in previous years, as long as the imperial court increased the sea rent, there would be no fish in the sea. The local elders also said: During the reign of Emperor Wu of the current dynasty, a policy was introduced to turn all coastal fishing industries into state-owned, and as a result, no more fish were produced in the sea. It was not until the death of Emperor Wu that the state-run policy of the fishing industry was abandoned, and fish did not come out of the sea again. Geng Shouchang's suggestion was a bad idea, and he couldn't be listened to.
In the Han Dynasty, the five elements of yin and yang were prevalent. Therefore, for "the fish of the sea do not come out", Xiao Wangzhi's explanation logic is also "the sense of yin and yang, and the corresponding types of things" - in order not to stimulate Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, he did not say more specifically, but Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty should be able to understand the true meaning behind these eight words: the imperial court implemented tyranny, and the will of heaven gave feedback, no longer letting the sea produce fish, until the imperial court gave up tyranny.
In fact, what Xiao Wangzhi tells is an ancient and tragic story about lying flat. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty monopolized the mountains and seas with his far-reaching imperial power, turned the fishing industry into a state-run enterprise, and the government controlled the fishermen to work in a fixed area at a fixed time, and all the fish caught were handed over to the government, which sold and distributed them. As a result, fishermen have lost the initiative to improve their living conditions and improve their quality of life, and have become the targets of unrestricted exploitation by the government. They were no match for the imperial power, so they chose to be passive and slack, and told those who controlled and extracted that there were no more fish in the sea.
Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty lived in exile in his early years, and suffered from the political struggles and persecution of the rest of the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. But after he became the emperor, he essentially became the same kind of person as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, playing the game of "overlord and miscellaneous", and he didn't believe that there was really any sense of heaven and man. He cares more about Geng Shouchang's proposal to increase fiscal revenue than public opinion. Therefore, for Xiao Wangzhi's criticism:
上不听。
Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty not only ignored Xiao Wangzhi's criticism, but also vigorously rewarded Geng Shouchang and issued an edict to give him the title of Marquis of Guannei.
The fate of the fishermen can be imagined. They had no better choice than to follow the example of those ancestors of the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who no longer worked hard to fish and no longer hopelessly pursued the improvement of their quality of life. As a result, there were no more fish in the sea again.
Things like "no fish in the sea" are actually a norm in the Qin state. In the Han Empire during the same period, there were many people who gave up having children because they couldn't pay the "mouth money", and if they accidentally got pregnant, they would kill them after birth (see "Those Children Who Didn't Leave Their Names"), and similar stories continued until the Southern Song Dynasty, where many low-level people in the Southern Song Dynasty "would rather kill their children than lose taxes".
The only difference is that the act of "preferring to kill a child rather than lose taxes" creates a strong moral stimulus for society, forcing many readers to pay attention to it and record it. And the more common lying behavior of "no fish in the sea" is difficult to get the attention of the times - if it were not for Xiao Wangzhi's short recital, people today would not know that in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was such a thing as "the county officials taste their own fishing, and the fish do not come out of the sea".
However, only by making up for the details of "the fish in the sea does not come out" can we truly understand why such a thing as "halving the household registration in the world" happened in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The four words "fish don't come out of the sea" are very ordinary, but what is hidden behind it is an extremely tragic passive resistance.