There are many records in ancient classics about "not picking up lost items on the road" and "not closing the house at night". For example, "Warring States Policy" has "After the period of time, if the Tao does not pick up relics, the people will not take it rashly"; "Han Feizi"

There are many records in ancient classics about "not picking up lost things on the road" and "not closing the house at night". For example, " Warring States Policy " has "After a period of time, the Tao will not pick up relics, and the people will not take it in vain"; " Han Feizi " has "There are no thieves in the country, and the Tao will not pick up relics"; in Han Dynasty Jia Yi "New Book" there is " "If you don't pick up lost things on the road, the country will have no lawsuits"; Tang Dynasty Zheng Qi's "The Legend of Kaitian" contains "If you don't pick up lost things on the road, the traveler will have no food" and so on.

It can be seen that this is a social ideal in ancient times. Since it is a social ideal, it obviously does not exist in real life. This is just like the "Great Harmony Society" mentioned in ancient times, which only exists in people's imagination.

However, in " Zizhi Tongjian", it is truly recorded that during the "Zhenguan rule" of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the phenomenon of "not picking up things on the road" and "not closing the house at night" appeared.

"Zi Zhi Tong Jian" said: "After a few years, the domestic peace will be restored, the roads will not be picked up, the outside will not be closed, and the merchants will stay in the wild."

(Taizong of the Tang Dynasty)

Then, during the period of "Zhenguan's rule", it was really realized Do you understand "Don't pick up lost things on the road" and "Don't close your door at night"?

I think this is obviously not possible. Why do I think so?

For one, thieves will always exist. Not to mention the "Reign of Zhenguan" period, even today, our level of wealth is many times higher than that of the "Reign of Zhenguan", but who dares to go out without locking the door? If you don't lock the door, your home may be "ransacked". There are thieves at all times. No matter how wealthy the era is, thieves cannot be eliminated. Because all wealth requires labor. But thieves can get something for nothing, quite easily, so there will always be people who take risks.

Secondly, the Zhenguan time is too short. The emergence of any prosperous age is definitely not something that can be achieved by one generation or two, let alone within twenty years ("Zhenguan" experienced 22 years).

Thirdly, Zhenguan foundation is too poor. Li Shimin 's "Reign of Zhenguan" started in the troubled times of the late Sui Dynasty. At the end of the Sui Dynasty , the world was in chaos. So many forces fought for so many years, and the country had already been reduced to nothing. The "Government of Zhenguan" began to develop on such a poor basis. The time was very short, and it was not enough to form a prosperous era.

Fourth, Zhenguan consumes too much. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the people were not completely free to produce. In fact, they were still fighting. In the fourth year of Zhenguan (630), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty asked Li Jing to lead his army to fight against the Eastern Turks, and finally destroyed the Eastern Turks; in the eighth year of Zhenguan (634), Emperor Taizong ordered Li Jing, Hou Junji, and others to attack the Turks. Tuyuhun, another King Tuyuhun was established; in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan (639), Tang Taizong ordered Hou Junji, Xue Wanche and others to attack Gaochang Kingdom, and set up Anxi Protectorate; in the 19th year of Zhenguan (645) ), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty personally led an army to conquer Goguryeo . In the end, he returned to the court after running out of food and grass. After that, he continued to quarrel with Goguryeo and fought for three years.

(Leading the army on an expedition, taking the picture as its meaning)

We have not completely cleared up the wars launched by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty during the Zhenguan period. In fact, there were many small wars. Counting it all together, there were no less than ten wars launched during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

You must know that if there were no wars in ancient times and we quietly engaged in production for a few years, production might have been ramped up to a greater or lesser extent. But when there is a war, it will bring a double blow to agricultural production: the first blow is that the army needs to provide food and grass, and the people's own rations are insufficient; the other blow is that the young people who are the most important in agricultural production go to war, and they cannot provide enough labor. . Since there were so many wars during the Taizong period of the Tang Dynasty, how could the people be rich? If we are not wealthy, how can we not pick up lost items on the road and keep our doors closed at night?

Fifth, Zhenguan’s tax burden is not light. If people want to be wealthy, taxes must be reduced. However, if the tax revenue is low, we will not be able to do things like fight a war. Moreover, we have not found any records in historical materials of Tang Taizong reducing taxes like in the "Wenjing Reign". It can be seen from this that the burden on the common people during the "Reign of Zhenguan" was not low.

Since there is a war again, there are no tax exemptions, there are thieves, and the experience is short, it is obviously impossible to form a prosperous age. The phenomenon of "not picking up things on the road and not closing the house at night" is obviously impossible to occur.

( Sima Guang )

Since it is impossible to appear, why did Sima Guang say that in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian"?

I think Sima Guang actually wanted to express a figurative statement, not an actual phenomenon. It is to show that under the governance of Tang Taizong, Tang Dynasty society experienced obvious changes. There are many beautiful words in it, expressing the author's affirmation of this era.

In addition, Sima Guang also used this to explain the obvious changes in social atmosphere during the "Reign of Zhenguan". "Don't pick up lost things on the road" and "Don't close the door at night" actually talk about people not being on guard, not competing for each other, and not hurting each other. It shows that society has begun to emphasize trust and social morality has improved. This improvement in social morals has a lot to do with the mutual trust between emperors and ministers advocated by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty in "Being Good at Accepting Admonitions".

In short, the phenomenon of "not picking up lost things on the road" and "not closing the house at night" did not exist in ancient society. However, the emergence of the "Government of Zhenguan" allows us to see the possibility of human beings moving towards an ideal society.