During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the territory was expanded and the troops were used everywhere. The war was the logistics, and the expeditions and the pursuits were all consumed innumerable money and food. After the war, the families of the dead soldiers should be given pensions, rewards for their meritorious positions, and resettlement tribes that surrendered and surrendered, and the land they captured should be built and built, migrated people, and settled the border. All of these cost money. The house is leaking and raining all night. At this time, natural disasters occur frequently in China, and disaster prevention and reduction are also costing money to resettle victims. After these burning money, the imperial financial resources that were once full of the treasury were exhausted. In order to continue to use foreign troops, economic reform is imperative.
Han army expeditioned the Huns
The purpose of economic reform is to increase national income. If the country wants to increase revenue, it is nothing more than four words - increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Transactions on power and money, competing for profit with the people, and making money with people's livelihood is open source; practicing frugality, streamlining military and government, and optimizing bureaucratic and financial systems is saving money. At this time, the Han Empire had been declining for years and could not be filled by reducing expenses. What's more, it was easy to save family members and difficult to save millions of families, unless the people had sincere patriotism and a high sense of responsibility. This national level was difficult to achieve even in a modern nationalist country, let alone the Han Dynasty in the era of the world. In addition, Emperor Wu himself is also a big money man, and the possibility of relieving financial crisis is slim. In addition to reducing expenditure, the only way is to open up resources. Transactions on power and money, competing for profit with the people, and living affluence with the people have become the key areas of Emperor Wu’s financial reform.
power and money transaction
Yuanshuo years, in order to increase income, Emperor Wu specially set up a "wugong title", from the first-level creator to the eleventh-level military guard, each level of 170,000 yuan, the higher the level, the more privileges you enjoy, some can be reduced, some can be exempted from service, and some can be given priority to serve as government officials, which is no different from buying an official in the end.
, such a power-to-money transaction, seems to be serious corruption today, but it was the most normal to do so at that time. This thing was not first created by Emperor Wu of Han. The Qin and Han dynasties began with the hijacking of grain and titles in the first place in Shang Yang's reforms, and began to implement the policy of giving more grain and silk to exempt corvee. After the establishment of , the policy of appointing grains and paying titles was followed, and the content of atonement was added. Emperor Wen At that time, Chao Cuo suggested that the people be allowed to buy grain to give titles to enrich the military rations of the frontier, and Emperor Wen approved it. If the ministers and generals at that time had not had the atonement money to save their lives, I wonder how many times their heads would be chopped, including the famous Li Guang and Zhang Qian .
Emperor Wu of Han
Although Emperor Wu has made a fortune by setting up a martial arts title, he has disrupted the administration of officials. Those who spend money to buy officials must make money by becoming officials. If this continues, the administration of officials will become more and more chaotic and difficult to sustain.
Salt and iron specialize in
Power money transactions can only be done for a while, and it will be relatively long to compete with the people for profit. The "profit" of competing for profit with the people at that time mainly included the benefits of natural resources, business benefits, tax benefits and the issuance of currency.
The benefits of natural resources include land, minerals, mountains, rivers, forests, fish, birds, animals, etc., but the benefits of natural resources that the country can compete with the people are not much. To compete with the people for profit, you must first grasp the standard. King Li banned people from going to the mountains and forests to cut down fishing and hunting, which cut off the civilians' way to make a living and also moved the cheese of nobles from all over the country, and was overthrown.
Secondly, the things that are fought for must be indispensable and easy to monopolize in people's lives to seek benefits. Pearls and jade are relatively rare and expensive, and are easy to monopolize and make profits, but only a few rich people can afford it. No matter how luxurious they are, they are not as good as the purchasing power of the general public. The water is needed by officials and nobles, and the common people, but the water is high in rivers, lakes and seas. The people dig a well by themselves, and it is rainy, snow and hail from time to time, so it is impossible to monopolize it. Unless it is almost the same to buy water in an oasis in the desert. At that time, the most qualified natural resources were undoubtedly salt and iron.
Salt is an indispensable food for people, but China's salt production areas are limited to coastal areas (sea water salt making), Jiechi (lake lake salt making), salt well (underground salt making) in Yuncheng, Shanxi, etc. Iron can make agricultural tools, weapons and various tools.Both are goods with high demand and essential demand, so the profit is huge.
Seawater salt drying
In the early days of the Han Dynasty, the sources of mountains and lakes such as iron smelting, mining, and boiling salt were handed over to private operations, and the people could freely mine. A large number of businessmen who made a fortune by operating iron smelting and boiling salt appeared. The benefits of salt and iron attracted the attention of Dameng Ling Zheng at that time. Under his suggestion, the official operation of salt and iron was implemented, and the Nanyang Daye iron merchant Kong Teng and Qidi Dashen merchant Dongguo Xianyang were also activated. The Shizhong Sang Hongyang was also used because of his good financial management.
Sang Hongyang
Sang Hongyang, Luoyang people, born in a merchant family. When he was thirteen years old, Sang Hongyang was famous for his proficiency in mental arithmetics. He was ordered to enter the palace (some say he donated his official position to enter the palace), and served as the chief minister, serving Emperor Wu and accompanying him to study. Unlike Kong Zong and Dongguo Xianyang, who was only good at doing business, Sang Hongyang, who had been around Emperor Wu for a long time, was also quite proficient in political power.
The specific method of official salt operation is that the salt boiled by the people is uniformly purchased and sold by the government. The government control of iron is tighter, including direct organization of mining and smelting, casting of utensils and sales, that is, controlling the entire process of production and circulation. The people privately sell salt and cast iron on their left toe (locking the left foot with shackles), and the tools have products but no income.
Salt and iron official method is very good, but there are problems with employment. Kong Chan and Dongguo Xianyang were both merchants, and they also appointed merchants during the official operation of salt and iron. They were originally prohibited from selling salt and iron privately. The execution ability of these merchants and officials who were robbed of their jobs would naturally be greatly reduced. Kong Chan and Dongguo Xianyang were dismissed, and Sang Hongyang followed suit and took charge of the financial power. After taking over, Sang Hongyang not only eliminated the salt and iron officials who were unfavorable to the implementation, but also launched large-scale and standardized production, reducing costs and improving quality, and huge profits continued to transport money to the country.
In addition to salt and iron, Sang Hongyang also had the idea of wine. Wine is not a natural resource, but a commodity made by human secondary processing. The monopoly of wine is essentially a commercial benefit that the people compete for, but in form, the official business of salt and iron is exactly the same. In the third year of Tianhan (98 BC), Sang Hongyang asked Emperor Wu to implement a wine list (a wine monopoly), and the government implemented a specialty for wine, so as to monopolize the profits of wine making and sales. After the implementation of the alcohol policy, the country can obtain 20% of its profits through sales alone. If you add high brewing profits - for every 1,000 brews produced, you can get at least 252,000 yuan in profits, and its income will be a large number, which will indeed play an important role in increasing fiscal revenue. The commercial benefit of both
is to resell goods and earn the intermediate price difference. Sang Hongyang was born in a merchant family and was naturally familiar with this. What a businessman can do, the country can do it, not to mention that the country is far superior to the unique businessman in terms of size and organization. If the power of the country is used to do business, the businessman is by no means a rival to the country. So Sang Hongyang implemented the equalization method and the equalization method to compete with merchants for jobs.
Yuan Hu First year (110 BC), the equal-transport method and the quasi-level method began to be implemented. Before the all-out of the law, the emperor's tribute was given various tributes. In order to make the emperor happy, officials from all over the country competed to buy good things, causing prices to soar and financial waste. They hired personnel to transport cars to the capital, which was another expense.
Western Han Dynasty counties and states
equal-transfer method is to basically concentrate the government's authority to collect and transport materials on large farmers. In counties and countries, some are named after the equal-winning officials (horses), while others are named after the specialties of various places, such as Wooden officials, Orange officials, and Puxi officials. The officers of the Equal Conveyor were sent by the central government and were unified by the Equal Conveyor and the Chief of the Great Aggression. In addition, Shaofu and Taichang have equal officials, and Shuiheng Duwei has equal orders, respectively in charge of their control over the equal transfer of materials. After the implementation of the
equal-transfer method, all the items that each county and state should pay tribute to it are converted into local specialties, and together with the freight price sent to the capital, they will be paid to the equal-transfer official on the spot. The official of the average savings transported some of the local specialties to the capital, and the official needs may be sold at a certain price, while the remaining part will be transported to other areas for sale to make a difference. Sometimes the funds from the sale are used to acquire local products and sell them again.In this way, the government can not only obtain local tribute, but also obtain a large amount of income from trafficking trade, and also reduce some unnecessary remote transportation costs, killing multiple results in one fell swoop.
and the equal-transfer method complement each other is quasi-method . The specific implementation of the quasi-method is to set up an institution called "quasi-method" in Chang'an, Beijing. It is under the jurisdiction of , , under the jurisdiction of Da Nong. The materials controlled by the officials of the Great Agricultural University include all-in-one tribute items, as well as the parts of the utensils made by the workers used as commodities. When the price of a certain commodity in the market rises, similar commodities will be sold at the same time. If the price of a certain commodity falls, it will be purchased in a large number of ways. The implementation of the standard not only stabilizes prices, but also makes a profit, but also suppresses the merchants who hoard and raise prices, which plays a positive role in stabilizing the market economy .
Increase tax
Tax is an important source of a country's finances. Its form is not much different from the protection fee collected by bandits and robbers, but in essence, there is a world of difference between the two. The protection fee was squandered by the bandits and robbers themselves. After collecting the protection fee, they did not provide protection to the people, but were only protected from their harm. Most of the taxes given to the country are used to feed back to the people. Building roads, rivers, eliminating thieves and disaster relief, cultural education, and defending the country are all supported by the tax revenue of every citizen. After slavery collapsed, the rulers could no longer enslave the people and exploit everything they had, and taxes became the only choice. Increasing taxes has become one of the main ways to increase national income.
The taxes in the country during the reign of Emperor Wu were mainly land rent, which was calculated and calculated. The land rent is agricultural tax . After Emperor Jing, he was thirty tax one. counting is population tax . All men and women between the ages of 15 and 56 are charged every year (120 yuan, which was changed to 40 yuan during Emperor Wen). Men and women over 7 years old and under 14 years old will be levied at 20 yuan a year, which is called levied . Calculation and taxation are included in the national finance, and tuition is the fiscal revenue of the royal family.
The Han Dynasty law stipulates that men (mainly farmers) who are 20 years old (the Qin system was adopted in the early Han Dynasty, and they started to serve at the age of 17, and changed to 20 years old during the reign of Emperor Jing) to 56 years old must serve for one month of labor for the local area every year, and are called to be rescheduled. If you are unwilling to serve in person, you can pay 300 yuan and the government hires someone to serve on your behalf. Sometimes, there is no need for more than a place to spend money, and farmers still need to pay for it, which becomes a burden of taxes and labor, which is called " more taxes and labor ". Calculation is property tax. The increased taxes by Emperor Wu include restoring 120 yuan as a calculation, reducing the age of tax collection to 3 years old, and increasing it to 23 yuan. Increase the calculation of tax collection.
corvee service
Emperor Wu once called on the world's powerful and wealthy households to donate property to support the country, and donating a large amount of property to Bu style gurus As the elder, Bu Shi was appointed as the Central Secretary, and was given the title of Zuo Shuchang, and ten hectares of land, and informed the world of the world to call on the rich to donate money to the country. But few people were willing to donate money. Emperor Wu was very angry. If the country was in trouble, you would not send it, so I would increase the property tax on you. The initial method was to crack down on the cruel officials of the powerful, but because the Dayuan ordered the Yan Yi to disagree with this matter at that time, it failed to implement it. In the third year of Yuanding (114 BC), Sang Hongyang became the Dayuan Chief of , With the strong support of Emperor Wu of Han, calculate the sacrificial quickly launched nationwide. calculate the sacrificial means increasing property taxes to wealthy businessmen. The more property, the more you pay. charge means that the wealthy households who concealed underreported property were reported and all their property was confiscated and sent to the frontier service. Half of the confiscated property was rewarded to the informer. By the sixth year of Yuanding (111 BC), the sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial s . Confiscated fields, thousands of hectares of large counties, more than a hundred hectares of small counties, and many houses. Medium-level and above industry and businessmen went bankrupt one after another, but the government's treasury was enriched and strongly supported the foreign war of Emperor Wu of Han.
rectification currency
currency itself has little value, and issuing currency is essentially a means of robbery. The chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep in your hands, vegetables and grains are exchanged by my hands, copper plates , paper money, which is no different from robbing.But if you can buy equivalent value anywhere with the copper plates and banknotes I gave you, then it cannot be said that you robbed it, but trade.
In theory, anyone can issue currency of equivalent value based on their own wealth, and the grain reserves at home can be issued in the form of currency. But human greed is a bottomless pit and often issues more money than one's own wealth. Moreover, personal wealth is uncertain. If wealth is reduced due to fire, theft, etc., what should I do if the currency I sent out before? Moreover, each issuing its own currency, the market is chaotic and difficult to manage, and in the end it will still have to go back to the stage of exchanging goods for goods.
If you want to establish a stable monetary system, you can only rely on good reputation, while only wealth and power can be maintained. If a person has enough wealth to support, such as thousands of hectares of fertile land, several mines, etc., he can rely on his strong wealth to issue currency. This is the case when private money shops, banks, and current companies listing and selling stocks. Compared with wealth guaranteeing credibility, power can force the maintenance of credibility, and the people must agree to the use of the currency issued by the government.
Whether it is issuing currency based on wealth or power, it must be managed uniformly to prevent currency chaos. Although the government relies on its power to issue currencies to make money, it is not at all worry-free in the subsequent management. First of all, we must crack down on counterfeit currency and damage currency. The second is the question of how much you issue. If you issue more, you can get more wealth. But once you have more money than goods, it will cause inflation and currency to depreciate. What is more serious is that the government's credibility is damaged, and it will be troublesome if the currency is not recognized by the people. There will be troubles when you send too much, and it will not work if you send too little. First, you will get less wealth. Secondly, you will get more money, which will cause to deflate to hinder the circulation of goods. The issuance and stability of currency tests a country's wisdom and ability, and is more related to the overall economic development. Therefore, a government can be assessed by the stability of the currency.
In the early Han Dynasty, the Qin system was inherited, and the currency was followed by half a tael of qian with round square holes in the Qin Dynasty. Qin Banliang liang weighs 12 zhu (in ancient China, 1 liang is 24 zhu), and the money article is called " 1 liang liang ". The two words "half liang" are arranged on the left and right holes, usually the right "half" and the left "liang". In the early Han Dynasty, Liu Bang believed that half a liang of coins was difficult to use, so the people were able to cast copper coins with three zhu. Because private minting is allowed, the money system is relatively chaotic, and there are many people who cut corners. The money they make is small and inferior, and some are as light as less than one baht. Because the square hole of the money is too big, the surrounding area is like four pieces of elm pods and , which is called "pod money" (or " elm pod money "). In addition, there are also half a tael of edge cutting among the people. Some speculators cut the Qin-made half taels off the edge and one circle of seven to eight half taels. They can cut one half tael of copper and cast half a tael of cut copper. As a result, the currency is of varying quality and the economic market is extremely chaotic.
Qin Banliang
Hi Emperor In the third year of the third year (192 BC), the court explicitly prohibited the private minuscule of fake coins from being minted, but the results were very little. The currency's weight loss and depreciation are becoming more and more serious, and the prices are so high that a stone of rice is as expensive as ten thousand yuan. In the second year of Empress Lü (186 BC), Bazhu coins were minted to increase the value of the currency. However, the Bazhu coins are of high value and are not convenient for small transactions. After four years, five cents will be minted, and its weight is one-fifth of half a tael. In the fifth year of Emperor Wen (175 BC), Sizhu coins were minted, and the people were allowed to mint coins again, and it was stipulated that the coins must meet certain quality standards. As a result, the folk coins were once again prevalent, and Wu coins cast by King Liu Bi 2, which was cast by the copper mine of Emperor Wen and Shu coins cast by the copper mountain of Emperor Wen, who was awarded by Emperor Wen.
The result of Wendi's willingness to mint private coins is that market chaos, and various "counterfeit coins" with poor quality standards disrupt the market. What's even more serious is that the people have gone to mint money, and no one is willing to engage in labor production. During the reign of Emperor Jing, private coins were prohibited by the people, and only counties and states were allowed to be minted. Shaofu was managed uniformly, and specific minting was carried out by the central and local counties and states. Private minting is sentenced to death, but private minting coins cannot be prohibited. Some people still grind the edges of the Sizhu coins and grind them into coins.
Yuan for three years (120 BC), Emperor Wu began various currency reforms, Sanzhu coins, , white deer skin coins, platinum (silver tin alloy), and also issued a death sentence order for those who stole money. But the problem of stolen casting has not been solved. Two years later, the Sanzhu coins were abolished and the Wuzhu coins were cast, and the imperial edict was ordered to cast Wuzhu coins in each county and state. The shape of Wuzhu coins has certain regulations. The money text "Wuzhu" was used since then, and it is called county and country Wuzhu , also known as Yuanshou Wuzhu. However, the technical levels of counties and countries are different, and the composition of copper ore is different. Among the officials, there are many people who have cut corners and fill their personal bags. As a result, the more they cast it, the lighter they are, and the more coarse they are. In order to prevent the coins from being stolen, a red copper edge was added to the outside of the coins, called "Chin Ze Wuzhu". "But it was also impossible to prevent the phenomenon of stealing and minting coins. Hundreds of thousands of people were executed in several years. In the fourth year of
Wuzhu coins
Yuanding (113 BC), in order to completely rectify the currency, Emperor Wu of Han accepted the suggestion of Sang Hongyang and others, and the government designated the three officials of Shanglin Sanguan (the three officials of Shueheng, skill, and bronze) under the Shuiheng Duwei who was in charge of Shanglin Yuan ) were responsible for drum casting, engraving and raw materials, abolishing all coins minted in the past, and the newly minted Sanguan Wuzhu was the only common currency in the country. The minting of currencies in local counties and states was prohibited, and the currency minted by counties and states in the past was all melted into original copper and transported to the three officials of Shanglin as raw materials. This reform was a great success. The large-scale standardized production and excellent casting technology of Shanglin officials made the people who stole the castings unable to make ends meet. As a result, the monetary policy of the Western Han Dynasty entered a period of stability.
and people's livelihood and wealth
and people's livelihood and wealth were to enrich the country by increasing the income of the people. In this regard, Sang Hongyang mainly did two things - fake public land and immigrants' reclamation. False public land, that is, the state distributes part of the public land (official land) to farmers who lost their land in the name of rent, and then imposes "fake tax" equivalent to land rent from them. Under the leadership of Sang Hongyang, the number of public land was greatly expanded. Bound wasteland, the construction of increased irrigation fields for water conservancy, the confiscated land, and some gardens and gardens The city is open to the poor. The public land of the fake people made the land lose the land again obtain the land on which the farmers rely on for their survival, eased the social contradictions intensified by the land annexation of . On the other hand, the area of land reclamation was also expanded and the tax source of was increased.
immigration and reclamation followed the policy of immigrating to the border in the early Western Han Dynasty. In order to consolidate border defense and fundamentally solve the food supply problem of the border defense army, military camps were promoted during the reign of Emperor Wu. In the sixth year of Yuanding (111 BC), 50,000 to 60,000 officials and soldiers were sent to the Yongdeng area of Gansu today, and then it continued to expand to Shangjun and Xihe, as well as the newly built Wuwei , Zhangye , Dunhuang, Jiuquan h The number of people in the four counties increased to 600,000. While engaged in agricultural production, the military farmer was responsible for the task of defending the frontier, which not only reduced military expenditure and consolidated border defense, but also promoted the development of the northwest border.
Unified the finance
YuanFeng First year (110 BC), due to his outstanding talents in economics, Emperor Wu appointed Sang Hongyang as the commander of the millet and served as the representative of the Dayuan Order. Shortly after Sang Hongyang became the agent of the Dayuan Order, he requested Emperor Wu to set up the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Minister of Agriculture was responsible for supervising and guiding the financial affairs of various counties and countries, and establishing an financial management system from the central to the local government. Emperor Wu approved what he reported.
In the first year of Taichu (104 BC), after the Da Nong Ling was renamed Da Si Nong, the organizational structure was further expanded. In addition to the Grand Secretary of the Governor, the Grand Secretary of the Governor had added the two chief ministers, Taicang, Junshu, Pingjun, Dunei, Jitian Wulingcheng, Wuguan and Tieshi chief ministers. The division of labor is clear and each performs its duties. While expanding the main officials of the Dasi Agricultural Office, Sang Hongyang also reformed and reorganized the local financial system. The 65 officials and chief officials, including Zhujian (in charge of warehouses), Agricultural Supervision (in charge of agriculture and sericulture), and Dushui (in charge of water conservancy), were all assigned to the direct jurisdiction of the Dasi Agricultural Office. It further unifies the national fiscal management and strengthens centralization.
Although the economic reform during the Wu Emperor period temporarily solved the national fiscal problems, in addition to rectifying the currency, unifying the financial system, fake public land and immigration reclamation, other measures have all suffered from sequelae to varying degrees. Wugong titles have caused chaos in the administration of the government. Although the official business of salt, iron and wine has the advantages of large-scale, high-efficiency and standardized production. However, in actual operations, there are problems such as only seeking quantity but not quality, forcing buying and selling, and forcing farmers to serve labor. Although equal exports and equality can save government expenditures and stabilize prices, the drawbacks of combining official and business are also very obvious. It is not only a corruption problem, but also squeezes a lot of space for merchants. In addition, many merchants have lost all their money due to the calculating of the corruption, which has seriously hit the development of business. As economic reform deepened, these problems gradually emerged. However, Emperor Wu continued to fight against the outside world, which once again pushed the Han finances, which had been temporarily suspended from economic reform, to the brink of collapse.
