Land rent is a very common system in ancient history, so the land rent system in the Yuan Dynasty is the same as the land rent system in the Song Dynasty. The land rent of the Yuan Dynasty was divided into servitude rent, in-kind rent, and monetary rent. Most of them are mainly based on in-kind rent, and the best development in physical rent is the fixed rent system, which played a leading role in the ground rent system at that time.
The farmer is the head of the household, referring to Figure 1
At that time, the peasants mainly lived on rented land, and only in this way could they have guaranteed grain to support their families. This also fully reflects that the foundation of the Yuan Dynasty in the Song Dynasty did not make effective progress, and still used the land rent system of the previous dynasty.
Rent of servitude
Servitude rent is a relatively old traditional way, but also the most primitive form of rent, which has been very backward in all land rent systems. However, this kind of land rent still existed in the Yuan Dynasty, but it did not play an important role. It mainly appears in the fields of officials, or in places where ethnic minorities are relatively backward. Its use gave backward places to solve the problem of peasants supporting their families; it also reflected that the Yuan Dynasty was still quite backward at that time, and the living standards of some people were still in dire straits.
During the Yuan Dynasty, the rent of servitude often appeared at the same time as the rent in kind, and the general tenant paid the rent in kind according to the contract, but also paid the corresponding various kinds of labor to the employer. In the Song Dynasty, the labor capacity of tenants was relatively large, and this situation still existed in the Yuan Dynasty, and it has not been well changed.
Distribution of the territory of the Yuan Dynasty, reference map
There is a record that "the master household will be a tenant, and all the servants will be sold in the same way as slaves, and all the servants will leave the tenant's house." This reflects the fact that farmers at that time were treated as slaves and that there was a phenomenon of buying and selling. In order to live, in order to support the family, some men also have to work as errand boys and do things for the government. It also shows that the Yuan Dynasty did not effectively improve its economy, and the people were still worried about their lives.
In the third year of the reign (1310 AD), inspector Yushi Shenmou said in his submission: "The officials of the three ranks, the tenant households in the field of occupation are as many as five or seven hundred, down to nine pins, and no less than thirty or fifty households, and they are given licenses, and they are not allowed to be miscellaneous errands, but they are required to provide a family with expenses, which is said to be like borrowing people and livestock, fostering pigs and sheep, and paying horses and grass firewood. ”
This passage tells us that the tenants of the official field often have to pay their own labor for the head of the household and get their due remuneration. The number of tenants of each official is also very large, and sometimes they have to serve as errand boys, and the tenants are arranged by the officials to raise pigs and sheep for the officials' families, as well as forage for horses, and even more to chop firewood, which reflects the hardships of the working people's life at that time.
Rent in kind
During the Yuan Dynasty, the in-kind land rent system was very important, and it occupied a major position in the entire land rent system, and at that time, the land of the imperial court, or private land, had to be levied in kind. In the feudal period, the implementation of the rent in kind system can be divided into a land rent system and a fixed rent system. The rent sharing system in the rent in kind is a relatively primitive way, which began to appear in the Tang Dynasty, and then with the development of the tenant-tenant relationship, a fixed rent system gradually appeared; by the Song Dynasty, the fixed rent system was more developed; by the time of the Yuan Dynasty, the fixed rent system had further developed and occupied a better dominant position.
Farmers are heads of household farming, referring to Figure 2
Through the perspective of the rent system in kind, there was a good development in the Yuan Dynasty, and it was also better improved, and as a very important rent system in the land rent system, especially the fixed rent system, the peasants had a good improvement in their lives and the land lease system had a good change.
A supervisor of Jiangnan Xingtai said in his submission: "Although there are regulations on the work of the honest visiting department and the official field of the department in various places, there is a difference in the fertility of the land and soil, and the amount of the main tenant's income varies. People are poor, there are droughts and floods, there are examples of official taxes and private rents, and there are only grains of land for their own jobs, whether they are rich or bad, most of them are fully levied."
This passage learns that officials' occupation land must be charged a fixed amount of rent, and if there is a drought or flood situation, the official's occupational land rent and private rent can be reduced or reduced, but only the occupational land must be paid in full regardless of drought and flood. For the fixed rent system of the Yuan Dynasty, it was still relatively humane, and most of the occupation fields were only owned by officials. Therefore, it is not so strict with the peasants, and it is also a good start for the peasants.
In 1305, there was an edict that the taxes south of Jianghuai and the peasants who planted the official fields could be exempted from two-tenths of the taxes. These preferential policies have allowed the peasants to enjoy good treatment, and the progress is to improve the living standards of the peasants, and it is also fully explained that the official land rent and the civilian land rent must pay a fixed rent, which shows that the fixed rent system is relatively fair.
During the Yuan Dynasty, the fixed-amount rent system of Mintian and Siguantian was relatively popular and played a very important role in dominating at that time. First, the tenancy contract methods drawn up by the people of the Yuan Dynasty and the contract method of selling land reflect the important position of the private land fixed rent system. These forms of contract are based on the people's lives as a reference basis, thus illustrating the inevitable popularity of the private land flat rent system. Second, historical records record that the fixed rent system for private land expropriation has appeared in most parts of Jiangnan. Third, the fields of the Yuan Dynasty were mainly counted in terms of rent, rather than counting by mu.
Farmers plant seedlings for the head of the household, refer to Figure 3
In the historical records, it is recorded that in this place of Xiuning, when a man named Wang Shilong calculated the field, it was according to the following: "The field of The Land of Qi is counted as fifty out of a hundred by rent." There is also Taihe's Xiao Ruyu according to the following: "Taste the donation of three hundred stones to help the people of the service fee." All this fully shows that at that time, land was calculated on a rent-by-rent basis, and also reflected the promotion and popularization of the fixed-amount rental system.
The rent sharing system occupied a certain position in the people's fields of the Yuan Dynasty, and the proportion of sub-rents at that time was often 55% of the rent, which was later well improved.
Historical records record that Dongyang's expropriation and rent sharing is as follows: "Dongyang has many Song noble ministers, and the people of the clan who art their fields, both enter the millet and half, and re-enlist the silk of the mu", and the county Yin's expropriation share is as follows: "It is ordered that the people near and far have those who can cultivate the waste land of Wu, and they are ten times more than Qiucheng, the cultivator takes six, and the landlord receives four."
This fully shows that the expropriation and sharing of rents in the belt was divided according to The June Fourth, reflecting that there were obvious changes in the rent-sharing system at that time, and there was also a good economic improvement, because the peasants could get 60 percent and the landlords got 40 percent, which greatly increased the peasants' income.
During the Yuan Dynasty, the emergence of monetary land rent also brought benefits to the imperial court. The land under the jurisdiction of the Jianghuai Finance General Office is as follows: "More than three million stones of rice and rice are more than one million stones." This reflects that the amount and weight of the monetary rent are very good, rich to the court, bitter to the common people.
The land lease system of the Yuan Dynasty reflects that the peasants' lives are not easy, and some of the improvements have allowed the people to have higher incomes, indicating that the economy at that time also had a certain improvement, and the peasants' lives were slowly getting better.
bibliography:
Yu Ji: "Monument to Yin Zoujun of Chong'an County, Jianning Road"
Yu Que: Records of the Constitutional Envoy Dong Gongjun
《元典章》
General History of China
Yu Xilu: Zhishun Zhenjiang Zhi
Xu Shuo: Zhiyuan Jiahezhi
Song Rulin: Chronicle of Songjiang Province, Jiaqing
Jang Hyun: "Zhizheng Jinling New Chronicle"
Li Cun: After the Title of Yuyao Prefecture Seawall
Chen Que: "Wang Shilong's Epitaph"
Liu Yueshen: "Xiao Mingxi's Epitaph"
Song Lian: The Complete Works of Song Wenxian
Zhao Fang: Records of the Political Achievements of the Marquis of Zhou
Chen Lu: "Inscription of the Governor-General of Jianghuai Caifu Capital"
Text: History of the Great Wall
Figure: Source network
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