Chapter 27 Chapter 24 Social Conditions Under the New Unification and Prosperity: Imperial Scholars, Soldiers and Peasants in the Prosperous Tang Dynasty

To grasp the social situation in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, it is best to look at several systems at that time. The origin of scholars in the Tang Dynasty can be divided into three ways: one is a lifetime apprentice, and the other is a school.Second township tribute, by the state, county.Three systems.State and county tribute examinations are divided into various categories. The most authored are scholars, Mingjing, and Jinshi.The tribute is held once a year, and it is concentrated for those who seek family background. "Xiu Cai" must be highly talented, knowledgeable and outstanding.In Zhenguan, those who were promoted but not ranked, sat on their governors, so this department was eliminated. The "Ming Jing" only tries to memorize and recite the scriptures, and scholars are not expensive.

Gongshi Dehuai is self-listed in the state and county. Tribute selection has been carried out since the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the Qi and Sui elections were mostly entrusted. The discussants thought that "it is better to self-raise than to be selfish; it is better to be inward than to be indiscriminate."It is the right to dismiss the state and the government and return to the Ministry of Officials. Collect tests at the center. At the beginning, he belonged to Wai Lang, a member of the Ministry of Officials, who was a merit tester. Later, he was favored by Yuan Wai Lang, so he was transferred to the Ministry of Rites, and he was appointed as a servant.It happened in the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan.

This system, like the six-part system of Shangju Shangshu and the division system of prefectures and counties, was followed by later generations and could not be changed until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The purpose of this system is to use an objective examination standard to continuously select outstanding members of society to participate in the country's politics. Another advantage of this system is that it enables the candidates to self-select with a ultimatum and open elections, which can avoid the necessity of the local government's selection in the Han Dynasty's procuratorial system.

Under this system, the existence of social classes can be completely ablated. It can promote the improvement of the culture of the whole society. It can cultivate people's interest in politics and improve their patriotism. All regions of the country can be united under one central government. The fundamental spirit of this system is still the same as the procuratorial system of the Han and Han Dynasties, but it has penetrated into the inner layers of society more vividly and deeply. The family status of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, on the one hand, seems to be similar to the revival of ancient feudal forces.However, on the other hand, it is actually the continued strengthening of the status of scholars since the pre-Qin and Western Han Dynasties.Therefore, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was a general tribute system, which was the expansion of the status of scholars from the bottom of the family.Therefore, the centralization of power in the Sui and Tang Dynasties can be regarded as the improvement of the government's status, not the Gallon status of the royal family.In terms of the progress of the whole history, the family power of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were twists and turns on the surface, but at the bottom they still followed the general trend of Wenzhi.

From the "equal land" system in the Northern Wei Dynasty to the "Zuyong Diao" system in the Tang Dynasty. All men and women are yellow at birth, young at four years old, medium at sixteen, small at twenty one, and old at sixty.One hectare of land is granted when Ding is over 18 years old, and the inner 80 mu is divided into mouths, and he will return to the official position when he is old.Twenty acres is Yongye. At the age of Ding, the person who grants the land will lose two stones of millet, which is called "rent". From Ding Sui Township, silk, silk, and 絁 (shi, a kind of thick silk in ancient times) are lost at the age of two, and one of cloth is added to five.Silk, silk, and silk are transported in two or three ounces of cotton, and cloth is transported in three catties of hemp, which is called "tune".Using human power, the age is 20 days, and the leap is added to 5 days.Those who do not serve are three feet of silk a day, which is called "yong".Those who have to serve for 25 days will be exempted from transfer; those who will serve for 30 days will be exempted from rent and transfer.It's only 50 days since the official service.

This is a well-known Zuyong modulation, so there are countless people who are praised by later generations as not bad. The first lies in the spirit of lightness and inefficiency. In terms of rent, Mencius used tithes as the king's government during the Warring States period; while the Han system was a tithe, and half the rent was often collected, which was a thirty-one.If it is calculated as one stone per mu, the Tang system is only forty and the tax is one, which is lighter and more lenient than the Han system. To put it bluntly speaking, the Han system changed service for one year and one month, while the Tang system only had 20 days, which is only two-thirds of the Han system.

It is difficult to compare the transfer of cloth and silk with Hankou Fu.However, households in the Western Jin Dynasty, Ding Nan’s households, lost three horses of silk and three catties of cotton every year, which was six times more than Tang’s.In the Northern Wei Dynasty, one husband and one wife tuned one piece of silk, twice as much as in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Zhiyong and Tiao Bingde regarded Tian Deng's consumption as an excuse. In terms of ignoring corvee and ignoring Fu, the Tang Dynasty's Zuyong modulation was the first to be promoted in Chinese history.Under this system, farmers can live and work in peace and contentment.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there was no supervision, and the supervision began after the Kaiyuan period; then the Tang Dynasty was over a hundred years old.There was no tea tax in the early Tang Dynasty, and the tea tax began after Jianzhong.There was no alcohol prohibition in the early Tang Dynasty, and it began to prohibit alcohol in Guangde.Liudian of the Tang Dynasty said that "it is closed but not taxed", and the treatment of industry and commerce in the early Tang Dynasty was very good. Also press: As far as the businessmen in Chinese history are concerned, the figures in the legend of the Western Han Dynasty are irrelevant to their influence in the society at that time.For example, at the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Fan Zhong’s family formed a market behind closed doors, and the military and crossbow equipment cost millions, and Guangwu capital started.In the last years of his life, the former master of Shu also had the help of Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, great merchants in Zhongshan.However, Mi Zhu's ancestors were born and sold, with tens of thousands of children and customers, and assets of hundreds of millions.Enter the sister to the former master, and offer two thousand slaves, gold and silver coins to help the military.In fact, the influence of merchants is still conceivable.When it descended to the two Jin Dynasties, most of them were big bureaucrats of the imperial court who were also engaged in cargo farming, such as Wang Rong and Shi Chong.

In Huizhong of Song and Yuan Dynasties, Zhang Xingshi was the governor of Yongzhou and returned home with a capital of 30 million.Shiyun: "The governor of Guangzhou will get 30 million once he passes the city gate." The governor of Yizhou, the governor of Wuling King of Liang Dynasty, opened Ningzhou in the south, Yuexi in the south, Ziling in the west, Tuyuhun, and colonization. its financial use.A catty of gold is cakes, and a hundred cakes are rice cakes, up to a hundred rice cakes; five times as much silver; and other brocade rice cakes are called the same.Jiahu was also the master of gold and silk.At the same time, Liang Wudi, Wang Hong of Linchuan, accumulated money of one million yuan, which was marked on the yellow bill, with a treasury of tens of millions, and one purple mark was hung.If there are more than 30 rooms, the money is more than 300 million yuan.

It is often seen in the annals of history that rich merchants and great merchants in the Northern Qi Dynasty bribed officials with goods.Business was particularly prosperous in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it was common for officials to become very rich through business.Since the Song Dynasty and below, this trend seems to be calm.There are few officials who are also responsible for the production of goods and become very rich, and the power of wealthy businessmen and businessmen in all aspects of politics and society is also dwarfed.Its trend began to change after Tang Zhongye.One is that business taxes are getting heavier and business profits are getting thinner.For example, in the Tang Dynasty, there were seven-point earners in the "public money".In the sixteenth year of Kaiyuan, the imperial edict said: "If the world is responsible, it is only appropriate to collect 40% of the profit, and 50% of the official capital." It can be seen that the social interest rate at that time was high.

Song Wang Anshi implemented a new law, and the green crops market received 20% of the interest rate, which was criticized for a while, and it was also due to the low social profits at that time.But its profits are reduced, so businessmen can't get rich, and bureaucrats can't get much money from businessmen.However, in terms of social and commercial conditions, the Song Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty were more lively than those before the Tang Dynasty. The ups and downs of social and commercial conditions do not have to be directly proportional to the level of profits earned by businessmen.Therefore, although general commerce in the society below the Song Dynasty flourished, the trend of capital concentration declined day by day.The second is that the privileges of the nobles are declining day by day, and the official regulations are becoming stricter day by day. Therefore, in the Song and Ming Dynasties, the powerful officials and bureaucrats mostly focused on supporting land rents.Land rents are based on commercial profits, so they are almost behind. Occasionally, they insist on claiming to be extremely rich by using goods, but they are often offended, and misfortunes never follow. The disparity between the rich and the poor in society and the survival and abolition of aristocratic privileges also advance and retreat in proportion.From the middle of the Tang Dynasty onwards, there was neither special wealth nor special wealth, and the power gradually became even. Therefore, the social chaos since then, such as Wang Xianzhi, Huang Chao, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, Hong Xiuquan, etc., except for the rebellion of the army, was mostly caused by the hungry people. .Those who seek the so-called heroic uprising in ancient society are also rare.This is also a major program of the ups and downs of ancient and modern society.If you want to know the social prosperity of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, you have to pay attention to this, so I will discuss it here. The second advantage of rent adjustment is that the tax items are clearly listed.This is only comparable to the poor taxation system in the Han Dynasty.Since the destruction of rent-yong modulation, there is no such clear collection system.Therefore, excessive levies can be increased at any time, and there is no limit to progress. More importantly, behind Zuyong's modulation is the spirit of "manufacturing for the people".As for Ding, the mother was granted, and when he was old, he returned to the official position. The two things of "creating production for the people" and "collecting rent for the official" were carried out simultaneously, and this level was even beyond the reach of the Han system. It is conceivable that the peasant life under the regulation of rent and mediocrity is more comfortable and peaceful.The comfort and peace of the peasants' life, the prosperity of the whole society is born from the depression.The prosperity and peace of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and the prosperity and prosperity from Zhenguan to Kaiyuan are no coincidence. Du Fu's poem: "Recalling the heyday of Kaiyuan in the past, there are still tens of thousands of houses in the small town. The rice is fat and the corn is white, and the public and private warehouses are abundant." This is also a portrayal of the prosperous Tang society.During the Anshi Rebellion, Li E said that Yan Lugong said: "At ordinary times, money and silk from Jiang, Huai, and Henan are gathered in Qinghe to support the northern army, which is called the 'Northern Bank of the World'. There are more than 3 million pieces of cloth and 800,000 pieces of silk. The money is more than 300,000 yuan, and the grain is more than 300,000 dendrobium. In the past, the soldiers were all stored in the Qinghe River, but now there are more than 500,000 things. The household is 70,000, and the mouth is more than 100,000." Yan Sui used this to reject the thieves. Xu is far away from Suiyang, and has accumulated grain of 60,000 shi. Zhang Xun blocked the river and Huai River because of it.Wu Chengen surrendered Shi Siming with his letter, and personally handed over the warehouse of soldiers and horses, with 3,000 horses and 50,000 soldiers.At that time, the state and county were still rich. Although it has declined since then, the wealth and wealth of the feudal towns are still far beyond what future generations can hope for.During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, Han Hong served as the envoy of Xuanwu Jiedu in Bian, donating three thousand horses, five thousand silk, thirty thousand miscellaneous silk, and one thousand gold and silver wares.But there are still more than one million coins in Bianzhi's warehouses, more than one million pieces of silk, seven thousand horses, and three million dendrobiums of grain. During the reign of Emperor Mu Zong, Liu Zheng served as the envoy of Lulong Jiedu, offering 15,000 horses for conquest.The financial resources of the vassals and towns are prosperous, which shows that the wealth accumulated by the people in the Tang Dynasty was so thick that the vassals also survived for a long time by defending themselves against foreign invaders.Gu Tinglin Rizhilu said: "Today, everything is abolished. It is because the country takes the wealth of the state and the county, and returns it to the top. However, the officials and the people are in trouble, so there is no money for repairs, just like the post in the Tang Dynasty. There are marshes, fish, boats, ponds, and forests; the post houses of later generations are almost like the walls of the scribes." He also said: "I see that the state cities in the world are the old rulers of the Tang Dynasty, and their walls must be wide. , Received must be upright, and the house is built in the old Tang Dynasty, and its foundation must be spacious. The establishment below the Song Dynasty, the time is getting closer, and the system is poor. The human relationship is more than ten hundred than the previous generation." According to today's press : The prosperity and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, in the central government, cannot be obtained from the prefectures and counties, and especially important, in the central government, it cannot be completely obtained from the people. The "Fu Bing" system developed from the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. The Tang Mansion Bing was established in the tenth year of Zhenguan, and there were ten roads in the world. There were six hundred and thirty-four Zhechong Mansions, and there were two hundred and sixty-one in the Guannei. The mansion is divided into three classes, the upper mansion has 1,200 people, the middle mansion has 1,000 people, and the lower mansion has 800 people.The number of prefectures is different.Lu Zhi said: "There are more than 800 mansions, and there are almost 500 in Guanzhong." Du Mu said: "Fan mansions are 574, with 400,000 people." All of them are inconsistent with Tang Zhi.The cover has its own increase and decrease ears.Han and Tang Shijian said: "The count of the number of prefectures in each state in the topography of the Tang Dynasty is only the same as that of Du Mu. It should be based on the statement." It was also inherited from the Zhou and Sui Dynasty by the military system of the government. Because of its heritage, it is especially prosperous in the Guan. Each prefecture set up one captain Zhechong, one captain on the left and one captain on the right Guoyi. A regiment of 300 soldiers is formed, and the regiment has a school lieutenant.Fifty people are the team, and the team has a positive attitude.Ten people make fire, and fire grows. In the 20th year of the Republic of China, you will be a soldier, and you will be exempted at the 60th year.Every year in winter, the captain Zhechong leads the practice of fighting. The government soldiers are all subordinate to the guards.For those who are the old guards, the Ministry of War will give them by distance, and they will all be on the moon. Note: Han Wei died in terms of age, which was superior to that of Tang Dynasty, which was too disturbed. The advantage of the military system of the government is that if you have nothing to do, you will farm in the wild, and you will go to the guards. If you have something to do, you will be ordered to go out.The soldiers scattered in the government will return to the court.It avoids the disadvantages of soldiers specializing in troops, and it also avoids the pain of wasting money to support soldiers. In particular, the government military system is not "all farmers are soldiers", but "all soldiers are farmers".In the Western Han Dynasty, all farmers were soldiers. One was that the trainers were not easy to master, and the other was that there was no need to mobilize the entire peasantry for military service.The Tang system selects qualified peasants from among the entire peasantry to serve as military soldiers, without any special state salary, and ordinary peasants are freed from the obligation to serve as soldiers. Therefore, on the one hand, the Fubing system is the integration of soldiers and farmers, but on the other hand, it is the separation of soldiers and farmers.Fubing and Jinshi are actually two paths for peasants to make a fortune.Farmers who are well-to-do and physically and mentally strong can join the Fubing.There are smart and handsome children who can study and study in the spare time of farming in the family, and enter the tribute family. In ancient society, force and intelligence were exclusive to the aristocracy, and common people could not interfere with them.Now the force and the intellect, cultivated from among the common people, still have their special political protection. The Zuyong modulation in the Tang Dynasty laid the foundation for the lives of farmers across the country.The Fubing system in the Tang Dynasty established a sound armed force.The Jinshi system in the Tang Dynasty opened up the regime, melted classes, and promoted social culture.The government organization of the Tang Dynasty condensed an unprecedentedly large country in a symmetrical and reasonable way under a completely dense and great system.Facts speak louder than words, and the greatness of Tang Dynasty has been clearly demonstrated in fact. The greatness of Tang people can be highlighted in Tang Liudian, Tanglu, and even works such as Du Youtongdian, Li Jifu Yuanhe County Chronicles.From the Northern Confucianism, Su Chuo and Lu Bian came into being, followed by Li Wenbo, Wang Tong, Then came Tang people's more solid and magnificent construction of politics and society.As for the poetry, literature, and art of the Tang people, they were conceived from the grand occasion of the Tang Dynasty, not the grand occasion of the Tang Dynasty.It is also rare to find the truth if we only focus on a few figures such as Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty. This kind of political and social more reasonable progress is obviously guided by a reasonable concept or ideal behind it. Such reasonable concepts and ideals are the brightness of national history and the driving force behind the advancement of national culture.He does not need to be shown in the career of a certain individual, but is produced with honesty and brilliance through the long-term struggle of the entire nation. From the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Northern Zhou Dynasty, that is, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, gradually progressing, the light grew and matured in the dark atmosphere, and reached its apex in the peaceful class.As for social turmoil, it is just some twists and turns caused by dark and blind forces to the progress of history. To see the recovery of the new life of the Chinese nation at that time, we should focus on these places.