As we all know, Emperor Wen of Sui has always been a man who admired thrift and diligence, and he corrected any extravagant and wasteful places in the court, not only eliminating many unnecessary taxes and miscellaneous taxes, but also setting up granaries throughout the country to store grain.
After such a long period of division, Yang Jian's arrival simply brought a nectar-like existence to the cracked earth. Speaking of the granaries established by the Sui Dynasty, there are two very important legacies, one is huiluocang and the other is Hanjiacang.
Huiluocang is located in a small village in Luoyang, which was established during the Sui Dynasty. At that time, the Sui Dynasty built the capital Luoyang, and the purpose of this warehouse was also to build for the capital of Luoyang and the food supply of the common people. This warehouse was excavated in 2012, but it is very surprising that the size of this warehouse has completely exceeded the scope of normal warehouses, and the size of huiluo warehouse is the same as fifty football fields.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the government and the opposition were in chaos and wars were raging, and this warehouse also successfully assumed an important position in a strategic place, so huiluocang naturally became a fat meat in the eyes of all forces. After Li Mi led the Wagang Army, he also noticed that Huiluocang, as a state-level granary, wanted to rapidly grow his power, and this warehouse was inevitable. Moreover, at that time, the Sui Emperor was playing around, and did not have any heart to focus on the granary, so under Li Mi's strategy, many Sui generals were lured down.
In 617 AD, Li Mi led his troops to attack Luocang, and after winning the battle, he did not hesitate to immediately establish the state of Wei and called him the Duke of Wei.
In 620 AD, Li Shimin noticed the importance of returning to Luocang. He felt that in this protracted battle, the issue of food and grass supply must be put first. If you want to take Luoyang, you must first take back Luocang.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Inspector Yushi once said to Li Shimin, which roughly means as follows: "During the Sui Dynasty, Li Mi, the granary in Luoyang, was used, and the eastern and western countries in the Xijing Treasury have also been using it, but they have not been used up until now." At that time, the Sui Dynasty had been destroyed for twenty years, and thirty-three years had passed since Yang Jian's death, but the food and other things he had stored had not yet been used up.
Finally, surrounded by Tang Taizong's army, Wang Shichong had no choice but to invite Dou Jiande, hoping that he would be able to wish him a helping hand. Dou Jiande did bring his troops to Tiger Prison Pass to save Wang Shichong from water and fire, but he was too arrogant, he thought he was armed with heavy troops, so he did not take Li Shimin in his eyes at all, and those who were defenseless would rush forward, which instead hit Tang Taizong's ambush. Therefore, the rescuers invited by Wang Shichong not only failed to give himself the slightest assistance, but also destroyed the entire army.
After learning that his last hope was also shattered, Wang Shichong had no choice but to open the door and give Hui Luocang to Tang Taizong.
According to some historical records, the amount of food stored in Huiluocang at that time was so considerable that it was eaten from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty and even had a surplus. According to its area, statistics show that if the warehouse is full, it can store up to half a million catties of grain in total.
However, from the words of the inspector Yushi, it can be seen that even if the Sui Dynasty was destroyed for twenty years, the grain stored in this warehouse had not yet been eaten. It can also be seen from this that the resources of the Sui Dynasty at that time were abundant.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the population was only about four million households, but by the time of the Sui Dynasty, the population had grown to nearly nine million households, and the total population had reached as many as 50 million. This is already a very shocking number, because during the Tang Dynasty, it was not until the tang Xuanzong period that it reached such a large population.
Although the Tang Dynasty has always been known for its prosperity and strength, in fact, there is still a big gap with the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, the reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to form the famous "Rule of Zhenguan" was inseparable from the foundation laid by the Sui Dynasty.
After Emperor Gaozong of Tang ascended the throne, he summoned Hubu Shangshu to inquire about the country's demographic changes. Shang Shu replied: "The total number of households in the country is about 3.8 million. In the recent year, the population of Datang has increased by basically the same as in previous years, with an increase of 150,000 households. ”
After that, Emperor Gaozong of Tang calculated from the time of Zhenguan to the present, and found that during the reign of Zhenguan, the annual increase in the number of households in the country was only about 200,000. But when he learned about the population situation of the Sui Dynasty, he couldn't help but take a breath of cool air. At this time, he suddenly realized that during the Sui and Tang Wars, such a huge trauma had been inflicted on the people. So he further learned about the grain reserves in the opening period of the Sui Dynasty.
We learned the following situation: during the founding of the Sui Dynasty, grain could enable 8.7 million households to eat and wear for 50 years. After listening, Emperor Gaozong was even more shocked, and he suddenly realized that the "Rule of Zhenguan", which had been sung all along, was only to let the people of the Tang Dynasty use the food that the Sui Dynasty had accumulated for so long, which had such a thriving scene.
Of course, these stories are not randomly rumored, and there are traces of this story in the historical data, especially in the Zizhi Tongjian, which records in detail the dialogue between Emperor Gaozong and Hubu Shangshu. However, perhaps the statistics will not be so accurate, but it should also be inseparable from ten. In fact, from the change in the population of the people, we can see how much harm this Sui and Tang dynasty dispute has brought to the innocent civilians.
Moreover, the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, which has been praised, is nothing more than eating the old books left by the Sui Dynasty. During Li Shimin's reign, due to the devastation of war, the population was not large, but the amount of grain left behind by the Sui Dynasty was amazingly large, so it seemed that it was still relatively easy to feed the relatively small people with so much stored grain.
Resources:
【Sui Dynasty Granary", "Zizhi Tongjian"】