The "General Code of Food and Goods" once described the wealth of the Sui Dynasty in this way, that is, "the Sui Dynasty saved funds all over the world", which probably means that during the Sui Dynasty, the reserve materials everywhere had a very large number of reserves, even if any disaster occurred, such a large number of reserve materials could also reduce the casualties of the people.
In this way, the Sui Dynasty was indeed very rich, but the Sui Dynasty only experienced the rule of three emperors in total, and there was no shortage of tyranny among the rulers, so how did the Sui Dynasty become rich enough to have almost no dynasty in just a few decades? From the aspect of inheritance and innovation of the fiscal system, this article will analyze why the Sui Dynasty was able to appear "rich in national planning".
1. Inherit the advanced equalization system of the previous dynasty and stabilize the foundation of the state finance
China has been a big agricultural country since ancient times, so land is the foundation of state property, stabilizing the development of land, to a certain extent stabilizing the country's finances, the emperor of the Sui Dynasty also understood this truth, so he chose to inherit the advanced land system of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, that is, the equal field system.
Therefore, I believe that the thorough implementation of the Sui Dynasty's equalization system was one of the important reasons why the Sui Dynasty was able to have such a large amount of wealth.
Although the Juntian system was a product of the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, based on the chaotic division of the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Juntian system was not implemented thoroughly, so the advantages of the Juntian system could not be expressed, and the Juntian system could be completely implemented in the unified Sui Dynasty.
In the first year of the kai emperor, Emperor Wen of Sui issued the Juntian Order, the content of which is recorded in the Book of Sui, which roughly means that every adult male will receive eighty acres of land allocated by the state to plant crops, and every woman will receive forty acres of land to plant crops.
Of course, Emperor Wen of Sui also considered that there was no young and strong labor force in the family, so he counted it as a cultivating cow and sixty acres of land, and four cultivating cattle reached the upper limit, but the ownership of these lands was still owned by the state, and the people only had the right to use, so after reaching a certain age, they would be taken back by the state.
Where there is reclaimed land, there is land that is not recovered, and the state will allocate twenty acres of mulberry fields to each adult male, and these twenty acres do not need to be returned.
With a clear quota for the distribution of land, and a unified environment in which such measures can be thoroughly implemented, it is ensured that every peasant has land to cultivate, and since he can cultivate, he can have money and pay the taxes prescribed by the state, and the more stable this situation is, the more the tax revenue of the state will be.
In addition to the number of lands owned by the people, the number of land owned by officials was also stipulated, and Emperor Wen of Sui set the minimum amount of land granted by officials to a minimum of forty hectares and a maximum of one hundred hectares, which effectively curbed the phenomenon of land annexation by officials and allowed more land to be distributed to peasants for farming.
With land, there is income, so the thorough implementation of the Sui Dynasty's equalization system is to stabilize the financial foundation of the state.
The Sui Dynasty inherited the advanced equalized field system of the previous dynasty, and in the unified social environment of the Sui Dynasty, the equal field system was thoroughly implemented, and the advantages of the equal field system naturally appeared, effectively curbing land annexation, the peasants had a source of livelihood, they could pay the taxes stipulated by the state, and the state's financial revenue had a source, so the implementation of the equal field system in the Sui Dynasty was one of the important reasons why the Sui Dynasty was able to achieve the richest in history.
2. Innovate the census method and increase the number of taxpayers
If the state wants to get more fiscal revenue, it must work taxation, and increasing taxes is only a symptom, not a cure, so in addition to allocating a moderate amount of land to the people, that is, a source of livelihood, the government must also conduct a census in order to increase the number of people who can pay taxes.
Therefore, I think that the Sui Dynasty's innovative census method has greatly increased the number of people who can pay taxes, and the population base that can pay taxes is large, even if the tax standards have been reduced, the state's fiscal revenue has not decreased, which is one of the important reasons why the Sui Dynasty was able to obtain a large amount of wealth in a short period of time.
In order to increase the number of people who can pay taxes, in order to increase the revenue of the state, in the three years after the founding of the emperor, Emperor Wen of Sui conducted a nationwide census, and also innovatively adopted two new census methods, that is, the great soo appearance reading and the import of the sample.
When local officials check the population again, they must record the specific appearance, age, etc. of each family, so that the next inspection can determine whether these people are lying according to these data.
Through this verification, a large number of underreported and underreported populations have developed, and the number can be referred to this record in history: "Great achievements have been made, and the orders have been folded, and each account has been used to prevent concealment." So the account is counted into 443,000 dings, and the new one hundred and sixty-four thousand fifteen hundred mouths" is enough to see how many people who have been underreported and underreported in the past, and these people who have entered the state's household registration will have to pay taxes for the state.
After the reading of the nationality, the sample of the lost nationality is written into a fixed book for the rank of each household, and the number of enlistments is stipulated for each household according to the rank, so that it will not cause a huge tax burden to the people, nor will it reduce the financial revenue of the state.
Moreover, such a policy has made many people leave the landlords in large numbers, declare their hukou to the government, and become the object of taxation of the state, so that many people who can pay taxes can be increased, and the country's fiscal revenue will continue to increase.
The innovative census method has greatly increased the number of people who can pay taxes, the total number of people has risen class, and the new way has also attracted many peasants to consciously declare their household registrations, the number of people has continued to increase, there are more people who can pay taxes to the state, the state fiscal revenue is naturally more, and the wealth of the Sui Dynasty is absolutely inseparable from the innovative census method.
3. Reduce the tax burden of the people and promote the development of agricultural production
Normally speaking, reducing yum's taxation and servitude will not increase the state's fiscal revenue in a short period of time, but Emperor Wen of Sui is worthy of being a far-sighted emperor, and he knows that reducing taxation and servitude will only cause a temporary decline in taxes, and in the long run, this is a very promising policy, so I think that the wealth of the Sui Dynasty is inseparable from Emperor Wen of Sui to reduce the burden on the people and promote the development of the agricultural economy.
In the Book of Sui, it is recorded that "the initial order of soldiers to twenty-one dings, minus twelve times per age for twenty days of service." "This probably means that the Sui Dynasty added another year of adulthood and reduced the time for obedience to servitude, which is a very unworthy measure from the present, but in the long run, in this way, the people have enough time to develop agricultural production, and when the amount of production goes up, the peasant income will increase, the peasant income will increase, and the state's fiscal revenue will also go up.
The Sui Dynasty's practice was actually to fatten and strengthen the people's sheep, and if the sheep were tired and dead when the sheep were thin, they could not always get a steady stream of income, and the same was true for the people.
The reduction of taxation and servitude was to give the people enough time to develop production, and as mentioned above, because of the innovation of the census method, many underreported people were compensated, so even if the taxes were reduced, the revenue of the Sui Dynasty still showed an upward trend.
Reducing the people's taxation and servitude is to buy time for the people to develop agricultural production, and after agricultural production is on the right track, coupled with such a population base, even if the taxes are low, the Sui Dynasty can still obtain a lot of wealth in a period of time, so I think that the Sui Dynasty reduced the burden of the people to promote the development of agricultural production is an important reason why the Sui Dynasty became the richest person in history.
4. Innovate the financial management system and improve the efficiency of officials' work
The Sui Dynasty has a very valuable financial management system for future generations, which is also the central official system, that is, the three provinces and six ministries system, which is not only changing the system of Sui Dynasty officials, but also changing the financial system of sui Dynasty, so the Sui Dynasty innovated the financial management system and improved the efficiency of officials' work, which is an important reason why the Sui Dynasty can obtain wealth.
The three provinces and six ministries system clearly plan the things to be done by each department, such as the drafting of government decrees in Zhongshu Province, the review of government decrees in Menxia Province, and the management decrees of Shangshu Province, each part is performing its own duties, so the work efficiency is also greatly improved, and new and effective measures for finance can be implemented faster.
Therefore, I think that the reformed central financial management system and the improvement of the efficiency of officials' work were one of the reasons why the Sui Dynasty was able to live a lot of wealth.
5. Improve the traffic routes in various places and complete the transportation and storage system in various places
With the production of wealth, it is necessary to have the transportation and reserve of wealth, so the Sui Emperor was also very far-sighted in improving the transportation reserve system in various places, which is one of the reasons why the Sui Dynasty was able to obtain a lot of wealth.
The Sui Dynasty had such a consciousness at the beginning of the founding of the country, so while implementing the equalization system, developing agricultural production, and innovating the census method, it also built warehouses and roads in various places, and land and water roads were carried out at the same time, and transportation routes were soon built in all directions, and many granaries were also built.
In the Book of Sui, there is such a record: "Liyang Cang was placed in Weizhou, Heyang Cang in Luozhou, and Changping Warehouse in Shaanzhou", and almost all important cities were set up granaries to ensure grain reserves, and a strong transportation system and storage system also became the reason for the wealth of the Sui Dynasty.
6. Conclusion
The emperors of the Sui Dynasty were very far-sighted, first of all, to inherit the advanced system of the previous dynasty, in a unified social environment, the land was distributed to the people for farming, and the people had a source of livelihood and the state's taxes. Click to read the wonderful content: Only three of the nine illegitimate children of the fallen officials are biological, who dares to prostitute the woman of the "public security director"?
Secondly, the innovative census method greatly increased the number of people who could pay taxes, so even if the emperor reduced the burden on the people and promoted agricultural production, the financial revenue of the Sui Dynasty could still increase unabated.
Coupled with the continuous improvement of the efficiency of the central financial system and the improvement of the transportation system and storage system in various places, the Sui Dynasty gradually accumulated a large amount of wealth in this state and became an extremely rich dynasty in history.
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