There are two main reasons why the land problem was so serious in the early days of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty:
First, the population has greatly increased. Han Chu, Han Yin? What are the disadvantages of collecting Qin? , so appear? Homework drama and wealth? An embarrassing situation. At this time, facing the situation of people's livelihood and economic depression in the world, the rulers of the Western Han Dynasty clearly realized that they should abandon the tyranny practiced by Qin and take brand-new measures to govern the country so as to avoid repeating the death of II.
To this end, since the founding of Emperor Gaozu, the rulers of the Western Han Dynasty have used Taoism. Governing by doing nothing? Start to implement the concept of governing the country? Clean up your troubles and have fun with the people? National policy. In this way, with the efforts of Hui Di, Lv Hou, Wendi and Jingdi for more than 70 years, the social economy of the Western Han Dynasty has been rapidly restored and developed, and the national population has greatly increased. From filial piety to literature, sharing interest with the people, more than 60 years old, the people increased greatly? (National Records of Counties and Counties in the Later Han Dynasty) At the beginning of Emperor Wu's accession to the throne, the population of the whole country was about 38 million, which was more than double that of150,000 in the early Western Han Dynasty.
With the growth of population, some areas with particularly concentrated population began to form in the Western Han Dynasty. According to Records of the Historian and Biography of Huo Zhi, in the early days of Emperor Wu, the most densely populated area in the Western Han Dynasty was in? Sanhe area? (now the junction of Shanxi and Henan and some areas south of the Yellow River) and? Shandong area? Have these two regions formed? Little people? Situation.
A large increase in population will inevitably lead to a sharp increase in the demand for land in the Western Han Dynasty. But at this time, the cultivated land in the Western Han Dynasty was limited to the north of the Yangtze River, and the rest areas had land but were not fertile, mostly? Poor field? So at that time, the fields that could really cultivate land in the Western Han Dynasty were basically limited to the north of the Yangtze River. But even here, the Western Han Dynasty is facing a serious problem of soil shortage, such as Guanzhong and kanto region, where there are a large number of poor people and there is no land to cultivate. Think about it, even the land-rich area north of the Yangtze River, let alone other areas.
In this way, when the amount of land is almost unchanged and the population is increasing, the contradiction between land and population naturally becomes severe, and the inevitable serious land problems begin to appear.
The second is the crazy land annexation behavior of princes and landlords. During the period of Liang Wudi, the land problem was serious. In addition to the increase in population, the main reason is the endless land annexation by princes and landlords.
In feudal times, the most valuable thing was not gold and silver, but land. With land, you have everything. So at that time, after having absolute power, the princes and ministers began a crazy land merger, just as Dong Zhongshu said: don't be humiliated, live in a high position, have a warm home, have food, and compete with the people for profits with wealth, so that the people can be safe! Is it because it has many slaves, many cattle and sheep, wide fields and houses, and rich industries? (The Biography of Han Dong Zhongshu) These princes and ministers hold high positions and are well-off. When their power and wealth reach a point, they begin to use their wealth and power? Compete with the people for profit? , gradually evolved into? Its many slaves, many cattle and sheep, vast fields and houses, and rich industries? Situation.
For example, Xiao He, the prime minister of the Gaozu period? Buy tens of millions of private land houses? (The Biography of Hanshu Xiao He). Liu Ci, King Hengshan in the Wendi period? How many people invaded the land, and the bad guys thought it was a field? ("Han Wang Hengshan Biography") The son of Huai Nan Wang Liu An? Good at state power and seizing people's farmland? (Han Shu. "The Legend of King Huainan"). During the reign of Emperor Jing, did the state pay tribute to the husband? Tens of millions of people are tired at home, and hundreds of people eat every day. It's different from Yingchuan. (Biography of Han Shu Guanfu).
Of course. At first? Compete with the people for profit? Just those powerful people, and in the early days of Emperor Wu, there was another one? Compete with the people for profit? Brand-new power, after more than 70 years of development? Landlord strongmen group? .
And the decades of the western han dynasty. Governing by doing nothing? In addition, at that time, the Western Han Dynasty liberalized state-owned profiteering industries such as casting money, smelting iron, mining and salt. These industries allow people to operate independently, so the wealth owned by these landlords has increased dramatically. After the wealth reached a certain level, they also began to join the land merger. "History of Food Goods in Han Dynasty" states: "In the seventy years after Emperor Wu's reign, the country died ..... so the people became rich due to neglect of management, and their wealth was arrogant, or both; The mighty man is arbitrary in country songs. " Imperial clan has land, officials and doctors compete for luxury, clothes in the room, and cars exceed the limit. "These people rely on their extremely rich wealth, collude with local corrupt officials, dominate the city, run rampant in villages, and then wantonly occupy the land of the people, forcing farmers to sell the land given to them by the court at a low price. Therefore, the people abandon their roots and pursue them to the end, and the tiller cannot be divided. Although the poor gave land, they still sold it at a low price. )。
In this way, at the beginning of Emperor Wu's accession to the throne, the land problem in the Western Han Dynasty began to become increasingly serious under various incentives such as population and land merger. Subsequently, because the land was occupied by princes and landlords, the yeomen of the Western Han Dynasty began to go bankrupt one after another, and the problem of refugees was serious, and the rule of the Western Han Dynasty began to face serious threats.
The wind of land annexation prevailed, many people were displaced, and the number of refugees increased greatly, which directly affected the rule of the Western Han Dynasty over the world. Of course, some people of insight in Liang Wudi Dynasty began to realize the seriousness of this problem, so they began to write to Liang Wudi to explain the seriousness of the problem and put forward solutions. For example, Dong Zhongshu once suggested to Emperor Wu? Restricting people's famous fields, underutilizing them and blocking roads? (Record of Hanshu Food Goods) Yan Shigu's Note:? Tian Ming, Zhantianya. This is called setting limits. If you don't control the rich excessively, will the poor and the weak be enough? , obviously this? Limited to areas that people are familiar with? Our policy aims at annexing princes and landlords.
However, at that time, Emperor Wu's mind was not on the internal affairs of the country, but on? A wide range of things? . At that time, Emperor Wudi's only idea was to carry out foreign wars to expand his territory, especially the war against Xiongnu, so he didn't have much energy to deal with the problems faced by China at this time.
Of course, many people will ask why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty obviously didn't have the energy to deal with these problems. Although these problems are very serious, they do not seem to pose much threat to Emperor Wu. What is the reason?
It's actually quite simple, isn't it? Unintentionally inserted willows into the shade? Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty focused on foreign wars, it was these wars that helped Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty greatly alleviate the domestic land crisis.
First of all, a long-term foreign war needs a lot of manpower, and most of Emperor Wu's foreign wars are hundreds of thousands of battles, such as 133? Will 300,000 people be stationed in Mayi Valley to lure Khan to attack him? (History of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty) In this year, in order to sneak attack the Huns, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent 300,000 troops to station troops in Ant Valley; 1 19 before? General Wei Qing sent four generals out to Dingxiang. When the generals fell ill, they rode fifty thousand each. Thousands of infantry followed the army. ? (History of the Han Dynasty. Liang Wudi Ji), Mobei Battle, the Han army sent 65,438+10,000 cavalry and hundreds of thousands of infantry to fight against the Huns.
It can be said that the number of soldiers needed by the Han court at that time was huge, so a large number of lean laborers actively or passively joined the ranks of foreign wars at that time, and with the recruitment of a large number of laborers, the people's demand for land decreased a lot.
Moreover, every battle in Liang Wudi is not without gains. On the contrary, the war gave the Western Han a vast territory, and most of them were rich places, such as BC 127? It is said that Wei Qing and Li Xi went out of the clouds to the highest place, and marched westward to R&F, where they gained thousands of troops. Collect Henan land and set it in Shuofang and Wuyuan County. ? (Han Shu. The history of Liang Wudi); 12 1 year ago? The evil Xiongnu King Kun killed Xiutu King, surrendered him with more than 40,000 people and put him in the position of five subordinate countries. Take its land as Wuwei and Jiuquan County. ? (Han Shu. The history of Liang Wudi); 11years ago? After the demise of South Vietnam, the Han Dynasty punished Lan and Qiong Jun and killed Ruohou, which made me afraid. Begging me to set up an official. Therefore, Du Qiong is Yue County, Du Ruo is Shenli County, Yi Zhe is Wenshan County, and Guanghan Xibaima is Wudu County. ? (historical records. "Biography of Southwest China").
In this way, with a large number of foreign land incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty, in order to stabilize these newly occupied areas, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty not only set up counties in these newly occupied areas, but also began to practice large-scale reclamation, that is, people who had no land in the Central Plains moved to these newly occupied areas, and then distributed land free of charge. For example, in 127, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established two counties, Shuofang and Wuyuan, in the newly occupied Henan area. Foster people moved to the north of100000 population? (A Brief History of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty) That is, the people who had no land in the Central Plains were moved to new counties with a large number of land in the border areas, which virtually alleviated the domestic land crisis.
Of course, the above-mentioned solution to the land problem did not come from the original intention of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. They only eased the land crisis in the next country invisibly, but did not fundamentally prevent the deterioration of the trend of land merger, so they could not completely solve the serious social problems of landless refugees everywhere in the Western Han Dynasty.
However, the land problem in China was so serious that Emperor Wu always had to solve it. Then, after the war against Xiongnu in 1 19, Emperor Wu began to seriously deal with the domestic land problem. At this time, the border problem was basically solved, because the Han Dynasty had despised its neighbors. At this time, ethnic minorities could no longer pose any threat to the Central Plains, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had enough energy to concentrate on domestic affairs.
The long-term expedition to foreign countries benefited the Han Dynasty a lot, but it also suffered a lot. What is the Western Han Dynasty facing at this time? The world is going from bad to worse, and people are in trouble, and things are different. Embarrassed situation, panic, the Western Han Dynasty has almost reached the brink of collapse, so Emperor Wu urgently needs to restore social order and economy, so as to stabilize the Western Han Dynasty's rule over the world.
In order to restore social order and economy, the first thing to be solved is the land problem. Only when the people have land in their hands can they be stable and the problem of refugees will not arise. Only when the people are stable can the society be stable and the economy develop rapidly. In this way, solving the land problem at that time was the top priority of the Wu Dynasty.
To solve the land problem, we must first curb the land annexation behavior of landlords. To solve this problem, Emperor Wu mainly took the following measures: 1) set up an inspector. /kloc-before 0/06, Emperor Wu? Thirteen States in the original Secretariat Department? At this time, Emperor Wudi entrusted the responsibility of supervising the land merger of landlords to the secretariat. Six questions? What about the first one in the book? The strong clan is superior to the right, and the family is over-controlled, bullying the weak with the strong and controlling the public with violence? ,? Overtime? It is the number of fields that each family can own in violation of court regulations. Obviously, the responsibility entrusted to the secretariat is to limit the land merger of big landlords.
2) A large number of cruel officials were used to suppress landlords. "The book of the later han dynasty. "Biography of Cooler Officials" contains: "Korea is a cunning nation inherited from the Warring States." People who combine the two will spread the countryside and the city, and strong and healthy people will spread the land. ",so to deal with these? A cunning people? , Liang Wudi started? Fight evil with evil? With cruel officials to suppress these? Unruly? . So-called cruel officials? Specializing in bullying, breaking traitors, the first thing is to smell. Indifference and strong will become a non-radial force. ? (Biography of Corrupt Officials in the Later Han Dynasty) For example, when was Zhang Tang an ancient scholar? Rich businessmen give notice of resignation, weeding out the strong and helping the weak, and defying the auxiliary means of dancing? (The Biography of Han Zhang Tang), so under the deterrent of cruel officials, the land annexation behavior of landlords was restrained to some extent.
3) Moving to Maoling means moving the landlord from his ancestral home to Maoling (the mausoleum of Emperor Wu). This suggestion was put forward by Father Yan, a Chinese medicine practitioner. When Maoling was first established, the world was a home of annexation and the people were in chaos. They can all move to Maoling, and they are very cunning in exporting. This is called "no punishment, only harm". ? ("Han Zhufuyan Biography") Actually, Zhufuyan proposed it? Migration is better than Maoling? The purpose is simple, that is, nationalize the land they own. After all, if they are allowed to migrate and leave their place of residence, they can only take away their movable property, not real estate such as land, so they can only be owned by the state in the end.
Then Emperor Wu adopted Zhufuyan? Migration is better than Maoling? After the suggestion, it was carried out four times in a row? Move to Maoling? Action. The first time was in April of the second year of Jianyuan, Emperor Wu? The first episode is in Maoling? (History of the Han Dynasty. The history of Liang Wudi). The second time was in the third year of Jianyuan, Emperor Wu? Give an immigrant Maoling a family of 200 thousand and two hectares of land? (History of the Han Dynasty. The history of Liang Wudi). The third time was in the second year of Yuanshuo, Emperor Wu? A hero who immigrated to the county and spent more than 3 million in Maoling? (History of the Han Dynasty. The history of Liang Wudi). The fourth time was in the first year of Taishi, Emperor Wu? Moving to the county seat, the country and people are arrogant in Maoling and Yunling? (History of the Han Dynasty. The history of Liang Wudi).
In this way, after a large number of landlords and strongmen were forced to move to Maoling, a large number of landless peasants were freed in their former areas, and most of these fields were finally allocated to landless peasants by the court.
Of course, solving the land problem in the Western Han Dynasty can be completely solved not only by restraining the land annexation behavior of landlords. What Emperor Wu needs to do at this time is to solve the problems of land and refugees.
For this problem, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also proposed several measures to solve it: 1) Release the original state-owned land for people to use. As we all know, feudal times? Hayashi tomozawa? It belongs to the state and civilians have no right to use it. So in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to solve the problem of insufficient land, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in the first year of Jianyuan? Give the poor a horse? That is, the landless are allowed to make a living in the horse farm of the imperial court to alleviate the problem of land shortage.
So, in the first year of Ding Yuan, Emperor Wu wrote another letter? Are the mountains and the pool being spared by the people? That is, let go of the restriction that civilians are not allowed to enter the mountain pond. At this time, the landless can freely enter and make a living. In this way, Liang Wudi has transferred some people who lost their land to the state-owned land, which has alleviated the problem of landless farmers to some extent.
2) implementation? False commons? The law is to lend the land originally belonging to the state to landless farmers for farming in the form of lease, and the court only collects a small amount from it? Fake tax? . Of course, in the process of farming, if farmers don't have the seeds and tools for farming, the court will also distribute them to the people by borrowing.
3) Reclaim new land. As we said just now, the cultivated land in the Western Han Dynasty is unchanged and the population is changing. So no matter how Emperor Wu divided it, the original land was always divided. What shall we do after that? Quite simply, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought of this situation long ago, and his solution was to reclaim more cultivated land. At this time, in order to reclaim more land, Liang Wudi began to build many water conservancy projects in Guanzhong area. For example, in the sixth year of Ding Yuan, Emperor Wu approved Zuo Naishi's proposal. On the basis of the Zheng Guoqu built by the former Qin State, six auxiliary small canals were newly built in the upper reaches to irrigate the high-lying fields and make the land fertile.
During the Yuan light years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty approved Zheng Dangshi's proposal. The water diversion canal starts from Chang 'an and runs from Nanshan to the riverside for more than 300 miles. (Historical Records. The book of the river), it took three years to get through the canal, and then what? After a little more Cao, people under the canal can irrigate the fields. . In the second year of Taishigong, Liang Wudi once again approved Bai Gong's proposal to divert water into the Weihe River and build a white canal. So? Benefiting more than 4,500 hectares of farmland? ,? People get their pity? (Han Shu. Gully records), but later, due to the sediment of Jinghe River, Baiqu brought fertile soil to farmland in the process of irrigation, so many areas in Guanzhong Plain were irrigated into fertile fields, which was praised by people. There are several buckets of mud in a stone. Irrigation and fertilization, planting my millet. Food, clothing, housing and transportation, capital, hundreds of millions of people? .
With the help of many water conservancy facilities built by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty not only obtained a large number of new cultivated land, but also the original land became more fertile, and the land problem was greatly alleviated at this time.
4) implementation? Alternative method? . ? Alternative method? I don't want to introduce specific implementation methods here. If you are interested, you can read the Law of Dai Tian I wrote earlier: Rebirth the economy during the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty and indirectly contribute to it? Xiao Xuan Zhongxing? Here is a detailed introduction. Simply put? Alternative method? It was invented by the captain of Susu, Zhao Guo. Make full use of the land? What are the advantages of farming methods? Does Gu Duo use less energy? Relying on this farming method, farmers can get the maximum return with the least effort.
History goes on? Alternative method? Field? There are many stadiums in the valley. Is there more than one acre of land next to it? ("Han Shu". Grain record "), that is, the grain obtained is better than that not implemented? Alternative method? Every acre of land is more than welcome. So use it? Alternative method? With the implementation of the policy, even if the amount of land in the original area remains unchanged, the grain output has greatly increased.
Therefore, when the imperial court allocated land, it was assumed that a family needed to be allocated 2 mu of land to ensure their survival, but now they only need to allocate 1 mu of land to ensure their survival. As a result, the land that can be allocated by the imperial court is becoming more and more invisible, and more and more people can be allocated to the fields. This also helped Emperor Wu reduce the contradiction between land and population.
In this way, with the help of the above measures implemented by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, the serious land problem of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty was greatly alleviated, and ultimately it failed to affect the rule of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty over the world.
Of course, at this time, the serious land problem in the Western Han Dynasty was only greatly alleviated, but it was not completely cured.
First of all, in the process of restraining land annexation, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very tolerant of the land annexation behavior of dignitaries. Even Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took the initiative to cede the land to his ministers several times. For example, when Bo Shi was a captain, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gave him ten hectares of land. As a powerful class, these powerful people own more than half of the country's land. Therefore, in order to solve the land problem in the Western Han Dynasty, we must solve these powerful people. Obviously, Emperor Wu would not do this. They are the foundation of Emperor Wudi's rule over the world, and he can't destroy his own foundation. Therefore, it is impossible for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to solve the serious land problem in the Western Han Dynasty from the root.
At the same time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was a big feudal landlord, so although he would try his best to make some changes in solving the land problem, such as restraining the landlord's merger, his changes would never harm the fundamental interests of the feudal landlord class, because the world rule of the Western Han Dynasty was based on these people. If even the landlord class opposes the rule of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty will perish, so the land problem solved by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is definitely limited and never completely solved.
I see. Although the land problem in the Wu Dynasty was alleviated, it was not cured. In this way, until the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, with the abolition of some policies implemented by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to curb land annexation, the land problem in the Western Han Dynasty began to intensify and eventually became a fundamental reason for the demise of the Western Han Dynasty.