Introduction: In May of the Fourth Taixing Fourth Year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Emperor Sima Rui of the Jin and Yuan dynasties issued an edict to implement a new customer service system in an attempt to compete with the powerful for population control, but unfortunately died. So what is the new guest system, and what was the reason for the Jin Yuan Emperor to implement this policy at the beginning of the establishment of the country? This article attempts to briefly explain the ins and outs of this policy.
1. The origin and development of the guest-giving system
The guest-giving system in history was first created in the Three Kingdoms period. It was a system promoted to protect the interests of the powerful and powerful. The three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu were essentially owned by the gentry and powerful Established with support. At the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in order to ensure the interests of gentry officials, Cao Wei implemented a system of rewarding land, cattle, and labor. Z1z "There is no such thing as the latter...to grant land and officials to farm cattle." "Give me into the mouth" , Huaxin received the "50 servants and maidservants" rewarded by Cao Pi at one time, and Manchu also received the "forty hectares" land reward from Cao Rui. Lv Meng broke Cao’s troops to take Lujiang, and Sun Quan rewarded Lv Meng, that is, "given Xunyang Tuntian 600 people and 30 officials" to Lv Meng; after the death of General Pan Zhang, "given fields and houses, and return 50 families" . In the later period of the Three Kingdoms, the guest system was formally formed, "Wei rented cows and customers to Gongqing and below, and the number of them was different. Since then, the villain has been stricken, and there are hundreds of ways to do it."
In the Western Jin Dynasty, the guest system further developed. At that time, the government clearly stipulated that officials at all levels were allowed to occupy land according to their grades, and they were not subject to land and tax duties. In addition, officials can shade their relatives according to the level of official ranks, and can shade the system that people think of as a tenant or tenant.
"Each of the high and low quality of their relatives, the more and the nine tribes, the less the third. The family, state guests, the descendants of the sages, and the descendants of scholars are also the same. And the people who think that the diners and tenants are the sixth There are three people on the clothes and diners, two people on the seventh and eighth products, and one person on the ninth product, jury and poultry. It should have tenants, the first and second official grades, and no tenants over fifty. Households, ten households in the third product, seven households in the fourth product, five households in the fifth product, three households in the sixth product, two households in the seventh product, and one household in the eighth and ninth product."
Its starting point is entirely to protect the interests of the gentry and landlords, so that officials and their clans can become a class that does not pay taxes and does not serve. Through "give" and "given", these populations were separated from the national household register to become the gentry population, and they paid taxes to the gentry rather than the state power. It further stimulated the development of the feudal dependency relationship. In order to fill the shortage of labor in their manor, the clansmen and clan families recruited tenants everywhere. Because private tenants can be exempted from corvee, a large number of countries’ land tenants have fled to become private tenants. These tenants, not only legal tenants granted by the state and inherited by shame, but more of them exceed the amount prescribed by the government. A large number of hidden households outside. Z3z
The brick painting dock of the noble family manor of the feudal lord during the Wei and Jin dynasties
These diners and tenants did not have their own independent household registration, and they were uniformly marked in the landlord’s home. They were called "family registration" in history. They did not have direct contact with taxation and did not bear official duties. Tax servitude has led to a significant reduction in the population directly controlled by the state.
2. The introduction of a new guest system in the Eastern Jin Dynasty
Since the death of Emperor Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty in the Western Jin Dynasty, due to the dementia of the successor emperor, the Queen Jia Nanfeng took power, which caused the chaos of the Eight Kings, which in turn led to five chaos in the North and the Central Plains, and the two emperors of the Western Jin Dynasty. Captured by the minority regime, the Western Jin Dynasty perished.
Originally, according to Sima Rui’s collateral clan status, he had no relationship with the throne for life. However, due to the support and deliberate packaging of the Wang Dao brothers and others, Sima Rui, who had no political foundation, was able to ascend to the throne of God and rebuild Jin Kingdom in the south of the Yangtze River. For Emperor Jin Yuan. It is precisely because of Sima Rui’s congenital shortcomings that the political structure of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was "deformed" from the beginning. The two Wang brothers, Wang Dao, prime minister, and Wang Dun held military power. "The king and the horse share the world" was at that time. True portrayal.
Jin Yuan Emperor Sima Rui
King and Horse, sharing the world
The Northern Unrest led to a large number of northern refugees moving south, but contrary to the large number of northerners moving south, the number of people directly controlled by the Eastern Jin government did not increase significantly. A large number of refugees who migrated south have become their tenants due to the lure of the powerful gentry.
Figures of the Northern People's Moving to the South during the Eastern Jin Dynasty
"When the people were in distress, they moved to this place, and the refugees sheltered the people as guests."
For the Emperor Jin Yuan, who had no throne but no power but no soldiers, without a sufficient population base, the central government would not have sufficient tax service and military resources.
Situation map of the sixteen kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
Soon after the founding of the country in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the conflicts between the Jin Yuan emperor and Wang Dao and Wang Dun began to intensify. Since the main army of the Eastern Jin government was in the hands of Wang Dun at that time, in order to deal with Wang Dun, who had a heavy hand in his hands, the Jin Yuan emperor had to have an army under his own control. In the fourth year of Taixing, Sima Rui used Dai Yuan as the general of Zhengxi, the governor of Si Yanyu and the military of the six states of Yongji, and the governor of Sizhou, Zhen Hefei; Liu Wei was the general of Zhenbei, the governor of Qing Xu Youping, the military of the four states, Qingzhou governor, Huaiyin town; the establishment of these two military administrations requires a large number of troops. However, due to the short development time of the Jiangnan area and fewer indigenous people, recruiting soldiers from the local area seems unrealistic. Therefore, recruiting soldiers from the refugees has become the most practical way.
Wang Dao
In view of the fact that a large number of refugees were dependent on the powerful gentry at that time, in May of the fourth year of Taixing (321), Emperor Sima Rui of the Jin and Yuan Dynasty issued an edict to " the refugees lost their nationality, so that the name of the article has a company in order to provide a guest system." .
"The two ancestors of the former Han Dynasty and Wei Wu were exempted from benefactors. During Emperor Wu, Liangzhou was defeated, and all slaves and maidservants were restored to their homes. This has become a rule for many generations to avoid the beloved in Zhongzhou from suffering as children in Yangzhou counties. Prepare for conscription".
It roughly means that the Han, Wei, and Western Jin courts pardoned Yu Liangren from becoming slaves and servants. It was a “convention” at that time. The Eastern Jin Dynasty should imitate the rules of the previous dynasties and exempt the refugees from Zhongzhou from becoming slaves and tenants of the counties of Yangzhou. A guest who makes him perform military service. In order not to arouse the resentment of the powerful gentry who occupied a large number of refugees and tenants, the emperor of Jin and Yuan increased the number of households given to them in the edict on the original basis of the Western Jin Dynasty.
"Most of the people who live in the city are tenants, diners, clothes and diners, etc., all without school service. The first and second tenants have no more than 40 households, the third is 35 households, and the fourth is the fourth. Thirty households of the fifth grade, twenty-five households of the fifth grade, 20 households of the sixth grade, 15 households of the seventh grade, ten households of the eighth grade, and five households of the ninth grade. According to the plan, there are three people in the first and second places, two in the third and fourth places, and one in the fifth and sixth and the government’s army. All of them are in the number of tenants. The seventh and eighth second, the ninth product and one person, all guests are assigned family status."
From the new guest system in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it can be seen that the number of powerful people in the Eastern Jin Dynasty who can shelter tenants has greatly increased compared with the Western Jin Dynasty. From the side, it also shows that the phenomenon of a large number of refugees becoming tenants due to the war is very serious. Most of the gentry and powerful people occupy a large number of tenants, so the Jin Yuan emperor had to expand the number of tenants they occupied from the law.
The life of the noble families in the Eastern Jin Dynasty
The ultimate goal of the new client system in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is to search for hidden tenants to enhance the government’s strength. According to regulations, tycoons must treat their tenants with a “director”, that is, to declare like the government. They possess the names and number of tenants. The government does not make up for those officials who occupy less than the specified amount of tenants under the system of granting tenants. For those gentry who occupy a large number of tenants, the government will “notify their family status” according to the prescribed amount and recognize them as legal. Those tenants who exceed the number of shady households become the population controlled by the state. This practice is also called registration inspection or household registration. According to the edict, in addition to searching for the excess tenants in the big clans, the Emperor Jin and Yuan also hoped to replenish the army's source of troops by releasing the slaves owned by the northern and southern clans who were originally refugees.
"The emperor took Liu Kui as the Zhenbei general, Dai Ruosi as the Zhengxi general, and the Yangzhou slaves were used as soldiers."
3. The failure of the new guest system
However, the Jin Yuan Emperor’s new guest system was forced to die shortly after it was implemented. In the first year of Yongchang (322), Wang Dun raised troops in Wuchang in the name of slaying Liu Wei. The excuse was Liu Kui's practice of exempting his beloved from being slaves to the army, causing the people to suffer unspeakably.
Wang Dun
"Be free from slaves of good people, and be a blessing. Since you can make a big field to fill your warehouse, you can now cut your allocation, and all will be used as the army; ... and if you are more conscripted, you will return to the same name.It’s been a long time to take out guests. After years... the people are grieving and complaining.”
Soon after Wang Dun stepped up, he attacked his health and killed Sima Rui’s cronies such as Dai Yuan and Diao Xie, Liu Kui was forced to defect to Zhao Shile. Sima Rui was forced to appoint Wang Dun as prime minister, Jiangzhou Mu, and Wuchang County Lord. Soon after, Emperor Jin Yuan died of illness, and Sima Rui failed in this struggle with the Wang brothers. After the end, the new guest-giving system also died.
IV. Postscript
After the death of Emperor Jin Yuan, Emperor Ming ascended the throne and was forced to impose an imperial edict on King Dun into the court. Yangzhou Mu. In the second year of Taining (324), Emperor Ming ordered the crusade against Wang Dun. Wang Dun appointed his brother Wang Han as marshal, and led an army of 30,000 to attack Jiankang. Emperor Ming personally led the army to resist. Soon after, Wang Dun died of illness. His troops will be defeated one after another, and the rebellion of Wang Dun can be quelled. After his death, his corpse was slaughtered and his head was hung. These practices have provided reference and reference for future emperors. Since then, the Eastern Jin government has successively strengthened the military power and economic income of the Eastern Jin Dynasty by implementing measures such as soil cut, registration, and taxation of rice. Decades later, Xie An The Beifu soldiers who won in the Battle of Feishui were mainly refugees and slaves. This may be the follow-up influence of the Jin Yuan Emperor’s new system on the guest system.
Reference material:
"Jin Shu•Yuan Emperor Ji" "Z2z
"Book of Jin·Shihuo Zhi"
"Book of Jin·Wang Dun Biography"
"Book of Southern Qi·Zhou Zhi"
"Sui Shu·Shihu Zhi"
