Chapter 12 The second section rectifies the administration of officials and promotes the equalization of land

Emperor Xiaowen's reform was carried out in two stages.The first stage began in the eighth year of Taihe (AD 484). In this year, Emperor Xiaowen was 18 years old and had not yet been in power. Empress Dowager Feng mainly presided over the reform. The reform revolved around political and economic system issues. Rectify the administration of officials and implement the salary system.In the early Northern Wei Dynasty, according to the administrative divisions of prefectures, counties, and counties, local officials were divided into three levels: the governor of the state was the governor, the chief of the county was the prefect, and the chief of the county was the magistrate (also known as the magistrate).The general term of office of local governors is six years.Officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty had no salaries, and the daily necessities of the officials mainly came from frequent wars and plunder, such as livestock, grain, cloth, slaves, etc. The spoils were rewarded according to their merits and rank.Before Tuoba Tao unified the north, there were many wars, and officials could maintain without salary.After the reunification of the north, there were fewer wars and less looting. Therefore, officials tried every means to embezzle rent transfers and plunder people's wealth.Although the court ordered severe punishment, the severe ban cannot be stopped.For example, once, Tuoba Tao was going to lead an army to go out and ordered Gongsun Gui to be responsible for recruiting donkeys from farmers to carry the army rations.He openly required an extra piece of silk for each donkey to collect.The common people sarcastically said: "Donkeys are strong and weak, as long as they carry silk on their backs, they are considered strong." Gongsun Gui was addicted to greed. From hundreds of cars, they returned with a full load of money.Since the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, hundreds of officials have not been paid salaries, and clean and honest officials are rare.From top to bottom in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the government was in chaos.

The reform begins with rectifying the administration of officials.Empress Dowager Feng issued an order to stipulate that the term of office of Shouzai does not have a fixed number of years, and it is mainly determined by the merits of their political achievements during their tenure, and officials are encouraged to serve diligently.In June of the eighth year of Taihe (484 A.D.), Emperor Xiaowen issued an imperial edict promulgating the salary system for officials: "Three horses per household, two dendrobiums and nine buckets of grain are used as salary for lawsuits." Poor" ("Wei Shu·Gao Zu Ji").That is, it is raised uniformly by the state and regularly distributed to officials according to their grades.At the same time, a decree was formulated to severely punish corrupt officials, and all officials who embezzled a horse full of silk were sentenced to death.The implementation of the salary system has increased the economic burden of the people, but it has certain restrictions on the wanton plundering of the people by unjust officials.Since then, the administration of officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty has improved, and the style of government has greatly improved.

Implement the land equalization system to develop social economy.The long-term war has caused serious damage to the social economy in the Central Plains. Large areas of the countryside were barren, the people left their homes, and the population fled everywhere. The aristocratic families took the opportunity to annex land and occupy the mountains.In order to avoid taxes and corvee, many farmers left their household registration and entered the manor Wubao, becoming the private household registration of the powerful suzerain.The land and registered population controlled by the government gradually decreased, a large amount of wasteland was left uncultivated, and the country's finances became increasingly difficult.Faced with this difficult economic situation, Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen adopted the suggestion of Minister Li Anshi in the ninth year of Taihe (AD 485) and ordered the implementation of the land equalization system throughout the country.The purpose is to compete with the wealthy families for land and population, to persuade farmers to teach farming and mulberry, and to enrich the people's industry.At the same time, it is also to alleviate the social contradictions of the disparity between the rich and the poor that "the rich and the strong annex the mountains, and the poor and the weak look away from the chan cicadas" ("Wei Shu·Gao Zu Ji").

The main contents of the equal land system are: (1) Men above the age of 15 receive 40 mu of open field (wasteland) and 20 mu of mulberry field; women receive 20 mu of open field.In order to fallow and rotate crops, open fields can be doubled or doubled according to the specific conditions of each place.Lutian is not allowed to be bought and sold freely, but "those who have a surplus have to sell their surplus, and those who are short of it have to buy what they don't have" ("Wei Shu Shihuo Zhi").When he died or was unable to farm at the age of 70, he was exempted from taxation and returned to the government.Sangtian is the world's industry field, which can be passed on to descendants.According to regulations, a certain number of mulberry trees should be planted in the mulberry fields.The land that is not suitable for planting mulberry is changed to hemp field, 10 mu for men and 5 mu for women.

(2) Slave maids and farming cattle are also objects of receiving land. The number and method of slaves receiving land are the same as those of peasants. Strong farming cattle each receive 30 mu of land, and no mulberry land is given. Each household is limited to four cattle. (3) In the sparsely populated land, you can reclaim and cultivate it according to your ability, and there is no quota for the average field, but you are not allowed to move at will.In places where the land is narrow and densely populated, households are allowed to relocate and cultivate any vacant land, but they are not allowed to evade taxes and duties. Those who are unwilling to move due to insufficient land for additional people will use mulberry fields to equal the amount of open fields. For those who are still insufficient, the fallow field will not be given, and a reduced amount will be distributed from the family's field.

(4) Local officials are awarded public land according to their positions (post-divided land), 15 hectares for the governor, 10 hectares for the prefect, eight hectares for Zhizhong and Biejia, and six hectares for the county magistrate and county magistrate.Public land is not allowed to sell.When officials leave their posts, they must be handed over to their successors in full. After the implementation of the land equalization system, the situation of uneven land ownership has not been fundamentally reversed, but it has affirmed the legitimacy of the powerful landlords owning a large amount of land and protected their vital interests.However, the land equalization system openly distributes unowned wasteland to farmers and attracts refugees, increasing the number of self-cultivating farmers and expanding the area of ​​cultivated land.At the same time, the number of land occupied by private households was stipulated, and the purchase and sale of land was prohibited, which restricted the acquisition of land by aristocratic families for a certain period of time, which was conducive to the recovery and development of production, and the state's collection of taxes and dispatch of corvees were also guaranteed.

Establish a three-head system to strengthen local control.At the beginning of the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was no township party system at the grassroots level.With the expansion of the power of the aristocratic landlords, the original suzerainty supervision system has seriously hindered the strengthening of centralization.Following the promulgation of the land equalization system, in the tenth year of Taihe (AD 486), Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen adopted the suggestion of Minister Li Chong and implemented the three-head system in the local area to replace the suzerain supervisor system.The three chiefs mean that five families form one neighborhood, and one neighborhood leader is established; five neighborhoods form one mile, and one mile leader is established; five mileages form one party, and one party leader is established.The three chiefs choose people who have the ability to handle affairs and abide by laws and regulations in the village. Their responsibilities are to take charge of the land and household registration in the village, collect taxes, distribute corvees, and maintain local law and order.The establishment of the three-head system improved the grass-roots ruling institutions of the Northern Wei Dynasty, established the household registration system, and consolidated the feudal order of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

After the implementation of the Three Chiefs System, the Northern Wei government promulgated a new fixed tax system.That is to say, for a family of one husband and one wife, one household shall be paid for one piece of silk and two grains of millet; for unmarried men over 15 years old, four persons shall make one husband and one wife; for middle-aged slaves and maidservants engaged in farming and weaving, eight persons shall make one husband and one woman; There are 20 cattle, which are like a husband and a wife.The implementation of the new household adjustment has abolished the "nine-grade mixed system" system of collecting rent adjustments based on households, etc., and adjusted the chaotic situation of tax collection in the past. burden.The implementation of these measures has effectively mobilized the production enthusiasm of the majority of farmers, the social economy in the north has developed greatly, and people's lives have been improved to a certain extent.