1
國之有食貨，猶人之有飲食也。 人非飲食不生，國非食貨不立。 然燧人、庖犧能為飲食之道以教人，而不能使人無飲食之疾。 三王能為食貨之政以遺後世，而不能使後世無食貨之弊。 唯善養生者如不欲食啖，而飲食自不闕焉，故能適饑飽之宜，可以疾少而長壽。 善裕國者初不事貨殖，而食貨自不乏焉，故能制豐約之節，可以弊少而長治。
For a state, grain and goods are what food and drink are for a person. A person cannot survive without nourishment, nor can a state endure without its economic foundation. Even Suiren and Fuxi could teach mankind how to prepare food and drink, yet they could not spare people every ill that diet brings. The Three Dynasties could hand down sound policies on public finance, yet they could not keep later ages from the abuses those policies invite. Only those who truly know how to care for the body eat as though indifferent to appetite, yet never go short of nourishment; they regulate hunger and fullness so well that they suffer few illnesses and live long. A ruler who truly enriches his realm does not obsess over commercial profit, yet grain and goods remain abundant; he can modulate plenty and restraint so that abuses are few and governance endures.
2
金於食貨，其立法也周，其取民也審。 太祖肇造，減遼租稅，規模遠矣。 熙宗、海陵之世，風氣日開，兼務遠略，君臣講求財用之制，切切然以是為先務。 雖以世宗之賢，儲積之志曷嘗一日而忘之。 章宗彌文煟興，邊費亦廣，食貨之議不容不急。 宣宗南遷，國土日蹙，汙池數罟，往往而然。 考其立國以來，所謂食貨之法，犖犖大者曰租稅、銅錢、交鈔三者而已。 三者之法數變而數窮。 官田曰租，私田曰稅。 租稅之外算其田園屋舍車馬牛羊樹藝之數，及其藏鏹多寡，征錢曰物力。 物力之征，上自公卿大夫，下逮民庶，無苟免者。 近臣出使外國，歸必增物力錢，以其受饋遺也。 猛安謀克戶又有所謂牛頭稅者，宰臣有納此稅，庭陛間諮及其增減，則州縣徵求于小民蓋可知矣。 故物力之外又有鋪馬、軍須、輸庸、司吏、河夫、桑皮故紙等錢，名目瑣細，不可殫述。 其為戶有數等，有課役戶、不課役戶、本戶、雜戶、正戶、監戶、官戶、奴婢戶、二稅戶。 有司始以三年一籍，後變為通檢，又為推排。 凡戶隸州縣者，與隸猛安謀克，其輸納高下又各不同。 法之初行，唯恐不密，言事者謂其厲民，即命罷之。 罷之未久，會計者告用乏，又即舉行。 其罷也志以便民，而民未見德。 其行也志以足用，而用不加饒。 一時君臣節用之言不絕告誡。 嘗自計其國用，數亦浩瀚，若足支歷年者，郡縣稍遇歲侵，又遽不足，竟莫詰其故焉。
In matters of food and goods, the Jin fashioned laws with care and drew revenue from the people with exacting precision. At the dynasty's founding, Taizu cut Liao-era rents and taxes, setting a far-sighted example from the start. Under Xizong and Hailing the realm grew cosmopolitan; court and emperor together obsessed over fiscal institutions, making finance their foremost concern. Even the worthy Emperor Shizong never let a single day pass without thought for building up reserves. Zhangzong's reign saw cultural brilliance—and soaring frontier costs; debate over finance could hardly wait. After Xuanzong withdrew south, territory shrank daily; exhausted pools fished with net upon net became the norm. Looking back from the dynasty's founding, the main pillars of economic policy were only three: land rent and tax, copper coinage, and paper notes. Each of these three policies changed again and again until every expedient was spent. Rent applied to state lands, tax to private holdings. Beyond rent and tax the state assessed gardens, dwellings, horses, livestock, orchards, and hidden hoards of silver, collecting a cash levy called the property assessment. The property levy reached from highest ministers down to humble subjects—no one escaped on petty pretext. Court favorites returning from foreign missions invariably had their property assessments raised, on the ground that they had accepted gifts abroad. Jurchen meng'an-mouke households also paid the so-called ox-head tax; when grand councilors themselves paid it and the emperor asked at court whether levies had risen or fallen, one may infer how county officials wrung the common people. Beyond the property tax came relay horses, military provisions, corvée, clerks' fees, river workers, mulberry bark, wastepaper charges, and countless other dues too numerous to list. Households fell into many grades: liable for corvée, exempt, original, miscellaneous, regular, supervised, official, bond, and double-tax categories. Officials first took a household census every three years, then shifted to nationwide inspection, then to reassessment and re-ranking. Those registered under civil prefectures paid on different terms than those under meng'an-mouke units, and rates differed again between them. When the policy first took force, officials dreaded any laxity; critics called it oppressive and the court at once ordered it stopped. Hardly had it been abolished when treasurers warned of shortages and it was hurriedly restored. Abolition aimed to ease the burden, yet the people felt no relief. Enforcement aimed to fill the treasury, yet revenue scarcely increased. For a time the throne and ministers never ceased preaching thrift. They once tallied state expenditure—figures vast enough to seem adequate for years—yet a county touched by modest harvest failure would find funds suddenly wanting, and no one ever traced why.
3
至於銅錢、交鈔之弊，蓋有甚者。 初用遼、宋舊錢，雖劉豫所鑄，豫廢，亦兼用之。 正隆而降，始議鼓鑄，民間銅禁甚至，銅不給用，漸興窯冶。 凡產銅地脈，遺吏境內訪察無遣，且及外界，而民用銅器不可闕者，皆造於官而鬻之。 既而官不勝煩，民不勝病，乃聽民冶銅造器，而官為立價以售，此銅法之變也。 若錢法之變，則鼓鑄未廣，斂散無方，已見壅滯。 初恐官庫多積，錢不及民，立法廣布。 繼恐民多匿錢，乃設存留之限，開告訐之路，犯者繩以重罰，卒莫能禁。 州縣錢艱，民間自鑄，私錢苦惡特甚。 乃以官錢五百易其一千，其策愈下。 及改鑄大錢，所准加重，百計流通，卒莫獲效。 濟以鐵錢，鐵不可用，權以交鈔，錢重鈔輕，相去懸絕，物價騰踴，鈔至不行。 權以銀貨，銀弊又滋，救亦無策，遂罷銅錢，專用交鈔、銀貨。 然而二者之弊乃甚于錢，在官利於用大鈔，而大鈔出多，民益見輕。 在私利於得小鈔，而小鈔入多，國亦無補。 於是，禁官不得用大鈔，已而恐民用銀而不用鈔，則又責民以鈔納官，以示必用。 先造二十貫至百貫例，後造二百貫至千貫例，先後輕重不倫，民益眩惑。 及不得已，則限以年數，限以地方，公私受納限以分數，由是民疑日深。 其間，易交鈔為寶券，寶券未久更作通寶，准銀並用。 通寶未久複作寶泉，寶泉未久織綾印鈔，名曰珍貨。 珍貨未久複作寶會，汔無定制，而金祚訖矣。
The disorders in copper coin and paper currency were worse still. At first old Liao and Song coins circulated; even coins of Liu Yu's puppet regime remained in use after his state fell. From the Zhenglong era they debated minting; copper bans on the populace grew fierce, supply failed, and private smelters multiplied. Every copper deposit was combed by officials inside and even outside the realm; everyday bronze ware the people required had to be forged in government shops and sold back to them. When bureaucracy and populace alike were overwhelmed, the state allowed private copperware while fixing official sale prices—thus the copper policy shifted. Coin policy changed too: minting never spread widely, collection and release lacked method, and currency already clogged. First they feared treasury hoards would keep coin from the people and legislated wide circulation. Next they feared hoarding, imposed retention caps, encouraged informers, and punished offenders severely—yet still could not stop private storage. Counties faced coin famine; people minted illicit cash of wretched quality. The state then traded five hundred official coins for one thousand private ones—a policy that sank lower still. They reissued heavy coins at higher nominal value and tried every scheme to force circulation, all in vain. Iron coin followed, proved unusable, and paper notes took their place—yet heavy metal and light notes diverged wildly, prices surged, and notes died in the market. Silver filled the gap, bred new abuse, and remedies failed—copper was abandoned for notes and silver alone. Yet both vexed worse than coin: officials favored large notes, flooded them into circulation, and the people valued them ever less. Commoners preferred small notes; masses of small notes flowed in yet the treasury gained nothing. Officials were barred from large notes; fearing silver would displace notes, they then compelled payment in notes to prove notes were mandatory. Denominations ran from twenty to a hundred strings, later two hundred to a thousand—successive issues mismatched weight and value until the public was thoroughly bewildered. Desperate measures followed—time limits, regional limits, fractional acceptance for public and private use—deepening public distrust daily. Notes became treasure certificates, then universal treasure notes redeemable alongside silver. Universal treasure became treasure spring currency, then silk-woven printed notes called precious goods. Precious goods yielded to treasure tally—until regulations vanished altogether and the Jin dynasty expired.
4
曆觀自古財聚民散，以至亡國，若鹿台、钜橋之類，不足論也。 其國亡財匱，比比有之，而國用之屈，未有若金季之甚者。 金之為政，常有恤民之志，而不能已苛征之令，徒有聚斂之名，而不能致富國之實。 及其亡也，括粟、闌糴，一切掊克之政靡不為之。 加賦數倍，豫借數年，或欲得鈔則豫賣下年差科。 高琪為相，議至榷油。 進納濫官，輒售空名宣敕，或欲與以五品正班。 僧道入粟，始自度牒，終至德號、綱副威儀、寺觀主席亦量其貲而鬻之。 甚而丁憂鬻以求仕，監戶鬻以從良，進士出身鬻至及第。 又甚而叛臣劇盜之效順，無金帛以備賞激，動以王爵固結其心，重爵不蔇，則以國姓賜之。 名實混淆，倫法颻壞，皆不暇顧，國欲不亂，其可得乎？ 迨夫宋絕歲幣而不許和，貪其淮南之蓄，謀以力取，至使樞府武騎盡于南伐。 訛可、時全之出，初志得糧，後乃尺寸無補，三軍僨亡，我師壓境，兵財俱困，無以禦之。 故志金之食貨者，不能不為之掩卷而興慨也。 《傳》曰：「作法於涼，其弊猶貪。 作法於貪，弊將若何。」 金起東海，其俗純實，可與返古。 初入中夏，兵威所加，民多流亡，土多曠閑，遺黎惴惴，何求不獲。 使於斯時，縱不能複井地溝洫之制，若用唐之永業、口分以制民產，仿其租庸調之法以足國計，何至百年之內所為經畫紛紛然，與其國相終始耶！ 其弊在於急一時之利，踵久壞之法，及其中葉，鄙遼儉樸，襲宋繁縟之文； 懲宋寬柔，加遼操切之政。 是棄二國之所長，而並用其所短也。 繁褥勝必至於傷財，操切勝必至於害民，訖金之世，國用易匱，民心易離，豈不由是歟？ 作法不慎厥初，變法以救其弊，只益甚焉耳。 其他鹽策、酒麴、常平、和糴、茶稅、征商、榷場等法，大概多宋舊人之所建明，息耗無定，變易靡恆，視錢鈔何異？ 田制、水利、區田之目，或驟行隨輟，或屢試無效，或熟議未行，鹹著無篇，以備一代之制雲。
History shows states ruined by amassing wealth while dispersing the people—think of King Zhou's Lutai or the Juqiao hoard—cases too familiar to rehearse. Fallen realms often went bankrupt together, yet no fiscal collapse matched the Jin in its twilight. Jin rulers often meant to spare the people yet could not halt heavy exactions; they bore the name of revenue but never achieved true national wealth. In the end they imposed grain requisitions, monopoly purchases, and every conceivable form of squeeze. Levies multiplied severalfold, taxes were collected years ahead, and notes were procured by selling next year's corvée quotas in advance. Under Gao Qi as chief councilor, debate extended even to a state oil monopoly. Buyers of office peddled hollow imperial commissions or bargained for proper fifth-rank regular posts. Selling offices to clergy began with ordination slips and ended with honorary religious titles, deputy ordination rights, ritual insignia, and abbot's seats—priced to the bidder's purse. Worse still, men sold mourning obligations for posts, supervised households bought commoner status, and examination credentials were sold through to full passing. Rebels and bandits who submitted, unappeased by gold or silk, were bound with princely titles; when titles ran short, the imperial surname itself was granted. Titles and reality mingled, laws collapsed unattended—how could order endure? When Song ended yearly tribute and refused peace, Jin coveted Huainan's granaries and resolved on conquest until the Privy Council's cavalry was spent in the south. Campaigns under Eke and Shi Quan aimed first at grain and ultimately gained nothing; armies were ruined, foes pressed the frontier, and troops and treasury alike were spent defenseless. Whoever chronicles Jin finance must close the scroll and sigh. The Zuo Commentary says: "Make law from leniency, and its abuse will still be greed. Make law from greed—what then will its abuse become?" The Jin arose on the Eastern Sea with customs pure and plain, fit to restore ancient ways. When they first entered China proper, conquest drove multitudes into exile and left fields fallow; the surviving populace trembled before demands nothing could refuse. Had they then—even without reviving the well-field system—adopted Tang perpetual and equal-field grants to regulate property and Tang-style rent, corvée, and tax to fill the treasury, how could a century of frantic fiscal schemes have dogged the dynasty to its end! The fault lay in chasing immediate gain and treading worn-out precedents; by mid-dynasty they scorned Liao thrift yet embraced Song ornament; they rejected Song leniency yet piled on Liao severity. They discarded each predecessor's strengths and combined its weaknesses. Ornament exhausts the treasury, severity harms the people—through the Jin age funds ran short and hearts broke away; was the cause not plain? Careless lawmaking at the outset and repeated reforms to cure each abuse only deepened the ruin. Salt monopoly, wine tax, ever-normal granaries, state grain purchases, tea duties, transit levies, and frontier markets—mostly Song inheritances—shifted without cease in profit and loss, no steadier than coin and notes. Field regulation, irrigation, and district-field schemes were either rushed then dropped, tried in vain, or debated but never enacted—all noted here without separate chapters to complete the record of the dynasty's institutions.
5
金制，男女二歲以下為黃，十五以下為小，十六為中，十七為丁，六十為老，無夫為寡妻妾，諸篤廢疾不為丁。 戶主推其長充，內有物力者為課役戶，無者為不課設戶。 令民以五家為保。 泰和六年，上以舊定保伍法，有司滅裂不行，其令結保，有匿奸細、盜賊者連坐。 宰臣謂舊以五家為保，恐人易為計構而難覺察，遂令從唐制，五家為鄰、五鄰為保，以相檢察。 京府州縣郭下則置坊正，村社則隨戶眾寡為鄉置裏正，以按比戶口，催督賦役，勸課農桑。 村社三百戶以上則設主首四人，二百戶以上三人，五十戶以上二人，以下一人，以佐裏正禁察非違。 置壯丁，以佐主首巡警盜賊。 猛安謀克部村寨，五十戶以上設寨使一人，掌同主首。 寺觀則設綱首。 凡坊正、裏正，以其戶十分內取三分，富民均出顧錢，募強幹有抵保者充，人不得過百貫，役不得過一年。 大定二十九年，章宗嘗欲罷坊、裏正，複以主首遠，入城應代，妨農不便，乃以有物力謹願者二年一更代。 凡戶口計帳，三年一籍。 自正月初，州縣以裏正、主首，猛安謀克則以寨使，詣編戶家責手實，具男女老幼年與姓名，生者增之，死者除之。 正月二十日以實數報縣，二月二十日申州，以十日內達上司，無遠近皆以四月二十日到部呈省。 凡漢人、渤海人不得充猛安謀克戶。 猛安謀克之奴婢免為良者，止隸本部為正戶。 凡沒入官良人，隸宮籍監為監戶，沒入官奴婢，隸太府監為官戶。
Under Jin law, males and females under two sui were infants, under fifteen minors, sixteen youths, seventeen adults liable for service, sixty elderly; widows without husbands included wives and concubines; the seriously ill or disabled were not counted as adults. Household heads nominated their eldest to represent the unit; those with assessed property were corvée households, those without were exempt. The people were ordered to group themselves in mutual-security units of five households. In the sixth year of Taihe the emperor noted that the mutual-security law had been slackly enforced and ordered households re-grouped, with collective punishment for concealing spies or bandits. Grand councilors argued that five-household units were too easy to manipulate; the Tang system was adopted—five households a neighborhood, five neighborhoods a security group—for mutual surveillance. Ward heads were appointed in cities; in villages hamlet heads were set according to population to verify registers, collect taxes, and promote agriculture. Communities of three hundred households or more had four chief heads, two hundred or more three, fifty or more two, fewer than fifty one—to assist hamlet heads in policing infractions. Strong youths were appointed to help chief heads patrol against bandits. In meng'an-mouke villages of fifty households or more one stockade agent was appointed with duties like a chief head. Monasteries and temples had their own network heads. Ward and hamlet heads were drawn from three in ten households; wealthy families shared hire costs to recruit capable men with guarantors; pay was capped at one hundred strings and tenure at one year. In the twenty-ninth year of Dading Zhangzong considered abolishing ward and hamlet heads; travel to town for duty harmed farming, so property-holding prudent men were rotated every two years. Household registers were revised every three years. From the first day of the first month, counties sent hamlet and chief heads—meng'an-mouke units sent stockade agents—to demand household statements listing every person by age and name, adding births and striking the dead. True counts reached the county by the twentieth of the first month, the prefecture by the twentieth of the second, superiors within ten days thereafter, and the ministry by the twentieth of the fourth month regardless of distance. Han Chinese and Bohai people could not register as meng'an-mouke households. Bondservants of meng'an-mouke units who were freed remained attached to their original unit as regular households. Free persons confiscated by the state were registered under the palace registry as supervised households; confiscated slaves under the imperial treasury as official households.
6
當收國二年時，法制未定，兵革未息，貧民多依權右為苟安，多隱蔽為奴婢者。 太祖下詔曰：「比以歲凶民饑，多附豪族，因陷為奴隸。 及有犯法，征償莫辦，折身為奴。 或私約立限，以人對贖，過期則以為奴者。 並聽以兩人贖一為良，元約以一人贖者從便。」 天輔五年，以境土既拓，而舊部多瘠鹵，將移其民於泰州，乃遣皇弟昱及族子宗雄按視其地。 昱等苴其土以進，言可種植，遂摘諸猛安謀克中民戶萬余，使宗人婆盧火統之，屯種於泰州。 婆廬火舊居阿注滸水又作按出虎，至是遷焉。 其居甯江州者，遣拾得、查端、阿裏徒歡、奚撻罕等四謀克，挈家屬耕具，徙於泰州，仍賜婆盧火耕牛五十。 天輔六年，既定山西諸州，以上京為內地，則移其民實之。 又命耶律佛頂以兵護送諸降人于渾河路，以皇弟昂監之，命從便以居。 七年，以山西諸部族近西北二邊，且遼主未獲，恐陰相結誘，複命皇弟昂與孛堇稍喝等以兵四千護送，處之嶺東，惟西京民安堵如故，且命昂鎮守上京路。 既而，上聞昂已過上京，而降人複苦其侵擾多叛亡者，遂命孛堇出裏底往戒諭之，比至，而諸部已叛去。 又以猛安詳穩留住所領歸附之民還東京，命有司常撫慰，且貸一歲之糧，其親屬被虜者皆令聚居。 及七年取燕京路，二月，盡徙六州氏族富強工技之民於內地。 太宗天會元年，以舊徙潤、隰等四州之民于沈州之境，以新遷之戶艱苦不能自存，詔曰：「比聞民乏食至鬻子者，聽以丁力等者贖之。」 又詔孛堇阿實賚曰：「先皇帝以同姓之人昔有自鬻及典質其身者，命官為贖。 今聞尚有未複者，其悉閱贖之。」 又命以官粟贖上京路新遷置甯江州戶口貧而賣身者，六百餘人。 二年，民有自鬻為奴者，詔以丁力等者易之。 三年，禁內外官及宗室毋得私役百姓，權勢家不得買貧民為奴，其脅買者一人償十五人，詐買者一人償二人，罪皆杖百。 七年，詔兵興以來，良人被略為驅者，聽其父母妻子贖之。 熙宗皇統四年詔陝西、蒲、解、汝、蔡等州歲饑，百姓流落典雇為驅者，官以絹贖為良，丁男三匹，婦人幼小二匹。
In the second year of Shouguo institutions were unsettled and war unceasing; the poor clung to powerful patrons and many concealed themselves as bond slaves. Taizu decreed: "Of late famine has driven the people to attach themselves to great clans and fall into slavery. Some who broke the law, unable to pay fines, forfeited their persons as slaves. Others made private contracts pledging persons as ransom—when the term expired they became slaves. All were allowed to redeem one bondservant as free with two persons; where the original contract was one for one, that term stood." In the fifth year of Tianfu, with territory expanded but old domains mostly barren, the court planned to relocate people to Taizhou and sent the emperor's younger brother Yu and clansman Zongxiong to survey the land. Yu and his party brought samples of the soil, reported it arable, and selected more than ten thousand civilian households from meng'an-mouke units under clansman Boluohuo to farm at Taizhou. Boluohuo, who had lived on the Azhu River (also written Anchuhu), moved there at this time. Four mouke led by Shide, Chaduan, Alituhuan, and Xitahan were sent from Ningjiang with families and tools to Taizhou, and Boluohuo was given fifty plow oxen. In the sixth year of Tianfu, after pacifying Shanxi, the court made the Upper Capital the inner core and relocated people to populate it. Yelü Foding was ordered to escort surrendered peoples along the Hun River route under the emperor's younger brother Ang, who let them settle where convenient. In the seventh year, fearing Shanxi tribes near the northwest frontiers might ally with the uncaptured Liao ruler, Ang and Chief Shaohe escorted them east of the mountains with four thousand troops; Western Capital was left undisturbed and Ang garrisoned the Upper Capital route. Learning that Ang had passed the Upper Capital while harassing surrendered peoples into revolt, the court sent Chief Chulidi to admonish him—but the tribes had already fled by his arrival. Meng'an xiangwen Liuzhu was sent to bring his submitted followers back to the Eastern Capital; officials were to comfort them, grant a year's grain, and reunite families separated by capture. When the Yanjing region fell in the seventh year, the court in the second month relocated all wealthy clans and skilled artisans of the six prefectures inland. In Taizong's first year of Tianhui, settlers moved from Run, Xi, and four other prefectures to Shenzhou were starving; the court decreed that children sold for food might be redeemed with labor of equal value. Chief Ashilai was also instructed: "The late emperor ordered officials to redeem clansmen who had sold or pawned themselves. We hear some remain unredeemed—review every case and redeem them." Official grain was used to redeem more than six hundred poor settlers on the Upper Capital route who had sold themselves into bondage. In the second year, self-sale into slavery was met with orders to exchange bondservants for labor of equal value. In the third year, officials and imperial kin were forbidden to press commoners into private service; powerful families could not buy the poor as slaves—coerced purchases required fifteen replacements, fraudulent ones two, all punished with a hundred strokes. In the seventh year, free persons seized as bond servants since the wars began were permitted redemption by parents, wives, or children. In Xizong's fourth year of Huangtong, famine in Shaanxi, Pu, Jie, Ru, Cai, and other prefectures drove people to pawn themselves as bond servants; the state redeemed them with silk—three bolts for adult men, two for women and children.
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世宗大定二年，詔免二稅戶為民。 初，遼人佞佛尤甚，多以良民賜諸寺，分其稅一半輸官，一半輸寺，故謂之二稅戶。 遼亡，僧多匿其實，抑為賤，有援佐證以告者，有司各執以聞，上素知其事，故特免之。 十七年五月，省奏：「咸平府路一千六百餘戶，自陳皆長白山星顯、禪春河女直人，遼時簽為獵戶，移居于此，號移典部，遂附契丹籍。 本朝義兵之興，首詣軍降，仍居本部，今乞厘正。」 詔從之。 二十年，以上京路女直人戶，規避物力，自賣其奴婢，致耕田者少，遂以貧乏，詔定制禁之。 又謂宰臣曰：「猛安謀克人戶，兄弟親屬若各隨所分土，與漢人錯居，每四五十戶結為保聚，農作時令相助濟，此亦勸相之道也。」 二十一年六月，徙銀山側民於臨潢。 又命避役之戶舉家逃於他所者，元貫及所寓司縣官同罪，為定制。 二十三年，定制，女直奴婢如有得力，本主許令婚娉者，須取問房親及村老給據，方許娉於良人。 是年八月，奏猛安謀克戶口、墾地、牛具之數。 猛安二百二，謀克千八百七十八，戶六十一萬五千六百二十四，口六百一十五萬八千六百三十六，內正口四百八十一萬二千六百六十九，奴婢口一百三十四萬五千九百六十七。 墾田一百六十九萬三百八十頃有奇，牛具三十八萬四千七百七十一。 在都宗室將軍司，戶一百七十，口二萬八千七百九十，內正口九百八十二，奴婢口二萬七千八百八。 墾田三千六百八十三頃七十五畝，牛具三百四。 迭剌、唐西二部五颭，戶五千五百八十五，口十三萬七千五百四十四，內正口十一萬九千四百六十三，奴婢口一萬八千八十一。 墾田萬六千二十四頃一十七畝，牛具五千六十六。 二十五年，命宰臣禁有祿人一子、及農民避課役，為僧道者。 大定初，天下戶才三百余萬，至二十七年天下戶六百七十八萬九千四百四十九，口四千四百七十萬五千八十六。
In Shizong's second year of Dading, double-tax households were freed as commoners. Under Liao, devotion to Buddhism led many free commoners to be granted to temples, paying tax half to the state and half to the monastery—hence the name double-tax households. After Liao fell, monks often concealed the truth and kept them in servile status; petitioners with evidence were heard by each office; the emperor, long aware, specially freed them. In the fifth month of the seventeenth year the province reported that more than 1,600 households on the Xianping route claimed to be Jurchen from Changbai Mountain and the Chanchun River, enrolled under Liao as hunter households, relocated here as the Yidian tribe, and registered as Khitan subjects. When our armies rose they were among the first to surrender and remained in their original units; they now ask to have their status corrected. The court approved their request. In the twentieth year, Jurchen households on the Upper Capital route evaded property tax by selling bondsmen, leaving too few to farm and causing poverty; regulations were issued to forbid the practice. He told the grand councilors: "If meng'an-mouke kin settle on allotted lands among Han neighbors in clusters of forty or fifty households, aiding one another at planting and harvest, that too is mutual encouragement." In the sixth month of the twenty-first year, people from the Yinshan slopes were moved to Linhuang. Households fleeing corvée with whole families were ordered punished together with their original registration and host county officials—a fixed regulation. In the twenty-third year it was regulated that capable Jurchen bondwomen permitted to marry by their masters required kin and village-elder certificates before marrying free men. That August, meng'an-mouke household counts, reclaimed land, and ox teams were reported. There were 202 meng'an, 1,878 mouke, 615,624 households, and 6,158,636 persons—including 4,812,669 free persons and 1,345,967 bond servants. Reclaimed land totaled more than 1,690,380 qing, with 384,771 ox teams. The Capital Imperial Clan General Office had 170 households and 28,790 persons—982 free and 27,808 bond. It held 3,683 qing 75 mu of reclaimed land and 304 ox teams. The Diela and Tangxi divisions' five banners had 5,585 households and 137,544 persons—119,463 free and 18,081 bond. They held 16,024 qing 17 mu of reclaimed land and 5,066 ox teams. In the twenty-fifth year, officials were ordered to forbid salaried officials' sons and farmers evading corvée from taking monastic orders. At the start of Dading the empire had barely three million households; by the twenty-seventh year it had 6,789,449 households and 44,705,086 persons.
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章宗大定二十九年十一月，上封事者言，乞放二稅戶為良。 省臣欲取公牒可憑者為准，參知政事移剌履謂：「憑驗真偽難明，凡契丹奴婢今後所生者悉為良，見有者則不得典賣，如此則三十年後奴皆為良，而民且不病焉。」 上以履言未當，令再議。 省奏謂不拘括則訟終不絕，遂遣大興府治中烏古孫仲和、侍御史范楫分括北京路及中都路二稅戶，凡無憑驗，其主自言之者及因通檢而知之者，其稅半輸官，半輸主，而有憑驗者悉放為良。 明昌元年正月，上封事者言：「自古以農桑為本，今商賈之外又有佛、老與他遊食，浮費百倍。 農歲不登，流殍相望，此末作傷農者多故也。」 上乃下令，禁自披剃為僧、道者。 是歲，奏天下戶六百九十三萬九千，口四千五百四十四萬七千九百，而粟止五千二百二十六萬一千余石，除官兵二年之費，余驗口計之，口月食五鬥，可為四十四日之食。 上曰：「蓄積不多，是力農者少故也。 其集百官，議所以使民務本廣儲之道，以聞。」 六月，奏北京等路所免二稅戶，凡一千七百余戶，萬三千九百餘口，此後為良為驅，皆從已斷為定。 明昌六年二月，上謂宰臣曰：「凡言女直進士，不須稱女直字。 卿等誤作回避女直、契丹語，非也。 今如分別戶民，則女直言本戶，漢戶及契丹，餘謂之雜戶。」 明昌六年十二月，奏天下女直、契丹、漢戶七百二十二萬三千四百，口四千八百四十九萬四百，物力錢二百六十萬四千七百四十二貫。 泰和七年六月，敕，中物力戶，有役則多逃避，有司令以次戶代之，事畢則複業，以致大損不逃之戶。 令省臣詳議。 宰臣奏：「舊制太輕。」 遂命課役全戶逃者徒二年，賞告者錢五萬。 先逃者以百日內自首，免罪。 如實銷乏者，內從禦史台，外從按察司，體究免之。 十二月，奏天下戶七百六十八萬四千四百三十八，口四千五百八十一萬六千七十九。 戶增於大定二十七年一百六十二萬三千七百一十五，口增八百八十二萬七千六十五。 此金版籍之極盛也。
In the eleventh month of Zhangzong's twenty-ninth year of Dading, a memorialist asked to free double-tax households. Provincial ministers wanted documentary proof; Vice Grand Councilor Yelü Lü argued that proof was unreliable: all Khitan bond servants born thereafter should be free, existing ones not pawned or sold—in thirty years all would be free without harming the people. The emperor found Lü's proposal unsatisfactory and ordered further debate. The province warned that without investigation lawsuits would never end; Wugusun Zhonghe and Fan Ji were sent to investigate double-tax households on the Beijing and Central Capital routes—unverified cases where masters confessed or comprehensive inspection revealed them paid tax half to state and half to master; verified cases were all freed. In the first month of Mingchang a memorialist said: "Since antiquity agriculture has been the foundation; beyond merchants, Buddhism, Daoism, and other wandering livelihoods now consume a hundredfold in waste. When harvests fail, refugees and corpses line the roads—chiefly because secondary pursuits drain agriculture." The emperor then forbade self-initiation as monk or Daoist priest. That year the empire had 6,939,000 households and 45,447,900 persons, but only 52,261,000-odd shi of grain—after two years' military and official consumption, at five dou per person per month, enough for forty-four days. The emperor said: "Reserves are scant because too few labor at farming. He ordered officials to discuss how to make the people attend to fundamentals and build reserves, and report back." In the sixth month it was reported that more than 1,700 households and 13,900 persons on the Beijing route and elsewhere were freed as double-tax households; thereafter free or bond status followed prior rulings. In the second month of Mingchang's sixth year the emperor told councilors: "When speaking of Jurchen jinshi graduates, do not say 'Jurchen. You mistake this for avoiding Jurchen and Khitan terms—that is wrong. In distinguishing household types, Jurchen are original households, Han and Khitan are separate, and the rest are miscellaneous households." In the twelfth month of Mingchang's sixth year the empire reported 7,223,400 Jurchen, Khitan, and Han households, 48,490,400 persons, and 2,604,742 strings in property assessments. In the sixth month of Taihe's seventh year, middle property households often evaded corvée; officials substituted lower households, who resumed after duty—greatly harming those who did not flee. Provincial ministers were ordered to deliberate. Grand councilors reported that the old penalties were too light. Full corvée households who fled were sentenced to two years' penal servitude and informers rewarded fifty thousand cash. Prior fugitives who surrendered within a hundred days were pardoned. Those truly bankrupt were to be investigated and exempted by the Censorate within and surveillance commissioners without. In the twelfth month the empire reported 7,684,438 households and 45,816,079 persons. Households had risen by 1,623,715 and persons by 8,827,065 since Dading's twenty-seventh year. This was the peak of Jin population registers.
9
通檢推排
Comprehensive Inspection and Reorganization by Assessment
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通檢，即《周禮》大司徒三年一大比，各登其鄉之眾寡、六畜、車輦，辨物行征之制也。 金自國初占籍之後，至大定四年，承正隆師旅之餘，民之貧富變更，賦役不均，世宗下詔曰：「粵自國初，有司常行大比，於今四十年矣。 正隆時，兵役並興，調發無度，富者今貧不能自存，版籍所無者今為富室而猶倖免。 是用遣信臣泰甯軍節度使張弘信等十三人，分路通檢天下物力而差定之，以革前弊，俾元元無不均之歎，以稱朕意。 凡規措條理，命尚書省畫一以行。」 又命：「凡監戶事產，除官所撥賜之外，餘凡置到百姓有稅田宅。 皆在通檢之數。」 時諸使往往以苛酷多得物力為功，弘信檢山東州縣尤為酷暴，棣州防禦使完顏永元面責之曰：「朝廷以正隆後差調不均，故命使者均之。 今乃殘暴，妄加民產業數倍，一有來申訴者，則血肉淋離，甚者即殞杖下，此何理也？」 弘信不能對，故惟棣州稍平。 五年，有司奏諸路通檢不均，詔再以戶口多寡、貧富輕重，適中定之。 既而，又定通檢地土等第稅法。 十五年九月，上以天下物力，自通檢以來十餘年，貧富變易，賦調輕重不均，遣濟南尹梁肅等二十六人，分路推排。
Comprehensive inspection follows the Rites of Zhou: every three years the Grand Minister of Education took a great census, registering each district's population, livestock, and vehicles—the system for distinguishing goods and levying duties. From the dynasty's founding registers to the fourth year of Dading, after Zhenglong's wars wealth and poverty had shifted and levies grown uneven; Shizong decreed: "Since the founding, officials have held great censuses—forty years have passed. Under Zhenglong, armies mobilized without limit—the once rich now could not survive, while the unregistered grew wealthy yet still escaped duty. Thirteen trusted envoys led by Taining Army Commissioner Zhang Hongxin were sent on separate routes to inspect property empire-wide and fix gradations, reform abuses, and spare the people uneven burdens—as the emperor intended. All arrangements were ordered unified and implemented through the Ministry of Revenue." It was also ordered that supervised households' property, beyond official grants, and any taxable land or houses commoners acquired, all fell within the comprehensive inspection. Envoys often treated harshness and inflated assessments as merit; Hongxin's inspection of Shandong was especially brutal; Di Prefecture Defense Commissioner Wanyan Yongyuan rebuked him: "The court sent you to equalize burdens after Zhenglong's uneven levies. Instead you brutalize the people, multiplying assessments severalfold; appellants are beaten until flesh tears and some die under the rod—what justice is this?" Hongxin had no answer; only Di Prefecture remained relatively calm. In the fifth year, uneven inspection across routes was reported; the court re-fixed gradations by household size and wealth. Land grades and tax rates for comprehensive inspection were then fixed. In the ninth month of the fifteenth year, noting that wealth had shifted in the decade since comprehensive inspection and levies grown uneven, the emperor sent Jinan Prefect Liang Su and twenty-six others on separate routes to reassess and re-rank property.
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二十年四月，上謂宰臣曰：「猛安謀克戶，富貧差發不均，皆自謀克內科之，暗者惟胥吏之言是從，輕重不一。 自窩斡叛後，貧富反復，今當籍其夾戶，推其家貲，儻有軍役庶可均也。」 詔集百官議，右丞相克甯、平章政事安禮，樞密副使宗尹言：「女直人除猛安謀克僕從差使，余無差役。 今不推奴婢孳畜、地土數目，止驗產業科差為便。」 左丞相守道等言：「止驗財產，多寡分為四等，置籍以科差，庶得均也。」 左丞通、右丞道、都點檢襄言：「括其奴婢之數，則貧富自見，緩急有事科差，與一例科差者不同。 請俟農隙，拘括地土牛具之數，各以所見上聞。」 上曰：「一謀克戶之貧富，謀克豈不知。 一猛安所領八謀克，一例科差。 設如一謀無內，有奴婢二三百口者，有奴婢一二人者，科差與同，豈得平均。 正隆興兵時，朕之奴婢萬數，孳畜數千，而不差一人一馬，豈可謂平。 朕於庶事未嘗專行，與卿謀之。 往年散置契丹戶，安禮極言恐擾動，朕決行之，果得安業。 安禮雖盡忠，未審長策。 其從左丞通等所見，拘括推排之。」 十二月，上謂宰臣曰：「猛安謀克多新強舊弱，差役不均，其令推排，當自中都路始。」 至二十二年八月，始詔令集耆老，推貧富，驗土地牛具奴婢之數，分為上中下三等。 以同知大興府事完顏烏裏也先推中都路，續遣戶部主事按帶等十四人與外官同分路推排。
In the fourth month of the twentieth year the emperor told councilors: "Meng'an-mouke corvée falls unevenly because each mouke levies internally and the ignorant follow clerks' word—burdens vary wildly. Since Wowohan's rebellion fortunes have reversed; we should register dependent households and assess family wealth so military duties may be fairly shared." Officials were summoned to debate; Right Grand Councilor Kening, Grand Councilor Anli, and Privy Council Vice Commissioner Zongyin said: "Apart from meng'an-mouke attendant duties, Jurchen bear no other corvée. Assessing only property for corvée, not counting bond servants, livestock, or land, would be simpler." Left Grand Councilor Shoudao and others said: "Verify property alone, divide into four grades, register for corvée—that may achieve fairness." Left Vice Councilor Tong, Right Vice Councilor Dao, and Chief Inspector Xiang said: "Count bond servants and wealth becomes visible; urgent and routine corvée differ from lump assessment. They asked to wait for the farming slack season, investigate land and ox teams, and report findings." The emperor said: "Does not each mouke know its households' wealth? Yet one meng'an levies eight mouke uniformly. If one household has two or three hundred bond servants and another one or two, yet corvée is the same—how is that fair? When Zhenglong raised armies I had tens of thousands of bond servants and thousands of livestock yet levied not one man or horse—can that be called fair? I never decide ordinary affairs alone but deliberate with you. When I dispersed Khitan households, Anli warned of unrest; I carried it through and they settled peacefully. Anli is loyal but lacks long-term vision. Follow Left Vice Councilor Tong's view—investigate and reassess." In the twelfth month the emperor said: "Meng'an-mouke units mix new wealth with old poverty and corvée is uneven—begin reassessment on the Central Capital route." By the eighth month of the twenty-second year elders were gathered to assess wealth, verify land, ox teams, and bond servants, and divide households into upper, middle, and lower grades. Associate Administrator of Daxing Prefecture Wanyan Wuliye led the Central Capital route; Revenue Bureau Administrator Andai and fourteen others joined outer officials on separate routes.
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九月，詔：「毋令富者匿隱畜產，貧戶或有不敢養馬者。 昔海陵時，拘括馬畜，絕無等級，富者倖免，貧者盡拘入官，大為不均。 今並核實貧富造籍，有急即按籍取之，庶幾無不均之弊。」 張汝弼、梁肅奏：「天下民戶通檢既定，設有產物移易，自應隨業輸納。 至於浮財，須有增耗，貧者自貧，富者自富，似不必屢推排也。」 上曰：「宰執家多有新富者，故皆不願也。」 肅對曰：「如臣者，能推排中都物力。 臣以嘗為南使，先自添物力錢至六十餘貫，視其他奉使無如臣多者。 但小民無知，法出奸生，數動搖則易駭。 如唐、宋及遼時，或三二十年不測通比則有之。 頻歲推排，似為難爾。」 二十六年，複以李晏等分路推排。 二十七年，奏晏等所定物力之數。 上曰：「朕以元推天下物力錢三百五萬餘貫，除三百萬貫外，令減五萬餘貫。 今減不及數，複續收二萬餘貫，即是實二萬貫爾，而曰續收，何也？」 對曰：「此謂舊脫漏而今首出者，及民地舊無力耕種，而今耕種者也。」 上曰：「通檢舊數，止于視其營運息耗，與房地多寡，而加減之。 彼人賣地，此人買之，皆舊數也。 至如營運。 此強則彼弱，強者增之，弱者減之而已。 且物力之數蓋是定差役之法，其大數不在多寡也。 朕恐實有營運富家所當出者，反分與貧者爾。」
In the ninth month the court decreed: "The rich must not conceal livestock, nor should the poor fear keeping horses. Under Hailing, horse requisition ignored rank—the rich escaped and the poor lost all stock to the state, a gross injustice. Now verify wealth, register livestock, and requisition by register in emergencies—thus avoiding uneven abuse." Zhang Rubi and Liang Su reported: "Once comprehensive inspection is set, property transfers should pay tax according to the new holder's status. Floating wealth rises and falls—the poor stay poor, the rich rich—so repeated reassessment seems unnecessary." The emperor said: "Councilors' families have grown newly rich—that is why you resist." Su replied: "As for me, I can reassess Central Capital property. I once served as envoy to the Song south and had my property assessment raised by more than sixty strings—more than any other envoy on record. Yet common people are ignorant; new laws breed evasion, and frequent upheaval easily panics them. Under Tang, Song, and Liao, comprehensive censuses sometimes came only every twenty or thirty years. Annual reassessment seems hard to sustain." In the twenty-sixth year Li Yan and others were again sent on separate routes to reassess property. In the twenty-seventh year they reported the property assessments Yan's team had fixed. The emperor said: "The original empire-wide property assessment was over 3.5 million strings; I ordered all but three million reduced by more than fifty thousand. The reduction fell short, yet you report another twenty thousand collected as 'continued collection'—that is simply twenty thousand new—why call it otherwise?" They replied: "These are cases formerly omitted now first reported, and land the people could not farm before but cultivate now." The emperor said: "The old comprehensive inspection adjusted only business gains and losses and the amount of houses and land. When one sells land and another buys, the total should remain the old figure. As for business operations, where one grows strong another weakens—raise the strong, lower the weak, and no more. Property assessment exists to fix corvée obligations—the grand total should not turn on sheer quantity. I fear what wealthy traders ought to pay is being shifted onto the poor instead."
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章宗大定二十九年六月，命為國信使之副者，免增物力。 又命農民如有積粟，毋充物力，錢慳之郡，所納錢貨則許折粟帛。 九月，以曹州河溢，遣馬百祿等推排遭墊溺州縣之貧乏者。 明昌元年四月，刑部郎中路伯達等言：「民地已納稅，又通定物力，比之浮財所出差役，是為重並也。」 遂詳酌民地定物力，減十之二。 尚書戶部言，中都等路被水，詔委官推排，比舊減錢五千六百餘貫。 明昌三年八月，敕尚書省：「百姓當豐稔之時不務積貯，一遇凶儉輒有阻饑，何法可使民重穀而多積也。」 宰臣對曰：「二十九年，已詔農民能積粟免充物力。 明昌初，命民之物力與地土通推者，亦減十分之二，此固其術也。」 承安元年，尚書省奏：「是年九月當推排，以有故不克。」 詔以冬已深，比事畢恐妨農作，乃權止之。 二年冬十月，敕令議通檢，宰臣奏曰：「大定二十七年通檢後，距今已十年，舊戶貧弱者眾，儻遲更定，恐致流亡。」 遂定制，已典賣物業，止隨物推收，析戶異居者許令別籍，戶絕及困弱者減免，新強者詳審增之，止當從實，不必敷足元數。 邊城被寇之地，皆不必推排。 於是，令吏部尚書賈執剛、吏部侍郎高汝礪先推排在都兩警巡院，示為諸路法。 每路差官一員，命提刑司官一員副之。 三年九月，奏十三路籍定推排物力錢二百五十八萬六千七百二貫四百九十文，舊額三百二萬二千七百十八貫九百二十二文，以貧乏除免六十三萬八千一百一十一貫。 除上京，北京、西京路無新強增者，余路計收二十萬二千九十五貫。 泰和二年閏十二月，上以推排時，既問人戶浮財物力，而又勘當比次，期迫事繁，難得其實，敕尚書省，定人戶物力隨時推收法，令自今典賣事產者隨業推收，別置標簿，臨時止拘浮財物力以增減之。 泰和四年十二月，上以職官仕于遠方，其家物力有應除而不除者，遂定典賣實業逐時推收，若無浮財營運，應除免者，令本家陳告，集坊村人戶推唱，驗實免之。 造籍後如無人告，一月內以本官文牒推唱，定標附於籍。 五年，以西京、北京邊地常罹兵荒，遣使推排之。 舊大定二十六年所定三十五萬三千餘貫，遂減為二十八萬七千餘貫。 五年六月，簽南京按察司事李革言：「近制，令人戶推收物力，置簿標題，至通推時，止增新強，銷舊弱，庶得其實。 今有司奉行滅裂，恐臨時冗並，卒難詳審，可定期限，立罪以督之。」 遂令自今年十一月一日，令人戶告詣推收標附，至次年二月一日畢，違期不言者坐罪。 且令諸處稅務，具稅訖房地，每半月具數申報所屬，違者坐以怠慢輕事之罪。 仍敕物力既隨業，通推時止令定浮財。 八年九月，以吏部尚書賈守謙、知濟南府事蒲察張家奴、莒州刺史完顏百嘉、南京路轉運使宋元吉等十三員，分路同本路按察司官一員，推排諸路。 上召至香閣，親諭之曰：「朕選卿等隨路推排，除推收外，其新強消乏戶，雖集眾推唱，然消乏者勿銷不盡，如一戶物力元三百貫，今蠲免二百五十貫猶有未當者。 新強勿添盡，量存其力，如一戶可添三百貫，而止添二百貫之類。 卿等各宜盡心，一推之後十年利害所關，苟不副所任，罪當不輕也。」
In the sixth month of Zhangzong's twenty-ninth year of Dading, deputies on state embassies were exempted from property assessment increases. Farmers with stored grain were exempted from property assessment; cash-poor prefectures could pay in grain or cloth. In the ninth month, after the Cao Prefecture river flooded, Ma Bailu and others were sent to reassess the poor in inundated counties. In the fourth month of Mingchang's first year, Ministry of Justice Gentleman Lu Boda said: "Land already pays tax, yet property is assessed again alongside floating wealth for corvée—a double burden." Property assessments on taxed farmland were then reduced by two-tenths. The Ministry of Revenue reported flood damage on the Central Capital route; commissioned reassessment cut assessments by more than 5,600 strings. In the eighth month of Mingchang's third year the emperor asked the Ministry of Revenue: "People do not store in good years and starve in bad—what policy will make them value grain and store more?" Grand councilors replied: "In the twenty-ninth year we already exempted farmers who stored grain from property assessment. At Mingchang's start, joint assessment of property and land was also cut by two-tenths—that is the established method." In Cheng'an's first year the ministry reported that September's reassessment could not be completed due to circumstances. The court suspended it, noting that deep winter would make completion harm the spring planting. In the tenth month of the second year the court debated comprehensive inspection; councilors warned that ten years after Dading's twenty-seventh-year census, many old households had grown poor—delay risked mass flight. Regulations followed: pawned or sold property was reassessed with the asset; split households could register separately; extinct or destitute households were reduced or exempted; newly wealthy were carefully raised—but truthfully, without forcing the old total. Raided frontier districts were exempt from reassessment. Personnel Director Jia Zhigang and Vice Director Gao Ruli first reassessed the capital's two patrol districts as a model for all routes. Each route received one commissioner with a surveillance official as deputy. In the ninth month of the third year thirteen routes reported reassessed property money of 2,586,702 strings 490 cash against an old quota of 3,022,718 strings 922 cash, with 638,111 strings exempted for poverty. Except the Upper Capital, Beijing, and Western Capital routes, which had no new increases, other routes collected 202,095 strings. In Taihe's intercalary twelfth month the emperor noted that reassessment crammed floating wealth, property, and prior rankings into a rushed deadline and ordered the Ministry of Revenue to adopt ongoing collection: from then on sales followed the trade, separate registers were kept, and only floating wealth was adjusted at census time. In Taihe's twelfth month of the fourth year, officials serving afar often left family property improperly assessed; real estate sales were collected promptly, and families without floating wealth could petition ward and village assemblies for verified exemption. If no one reported within a month after registration, the official's document was used to announce and mark the register. In the fifth year envoys reassessed the Western Capital and Beijing frontiers, often ravaged by war. The Dading twenty-sixth-year figure of over 353,000 strings was cut to over 287,000. In the sixth month of the fifth year Acting Nanjing Surveillance Commissioner Li Ge said: "Recent rules require ongoing property collection on marked registers; at full reassessment only the newly wealthy should rise and the old poor fall—that was the intent. Offices now enforce this negligently; a deadline may pile everything together beyond review—set deadlines and penalties to enforce compliance." Households were ordered to report for marking from the first day of the eleventh month through the first day of the second month of the following year; late reporting was punishable. Tax offices were to list taxed properties and report every half month; violators faced minor negligence penalties. Since property followed occupation, full reassessment was limited to floating wealth. In the ninth month of the eighth year thirteen officials including Personnel Director Jia Shouqian, Jinan Prefect Pucha Zhangjianu, Ju Prefecture Inspector Wanyan Baijia, and Nanjing Transport Commissioner Song Yuanji, each with a route surveillance commissioner, reassessed all routes. The emperor summoned them to the Incense Pavilion and said: "I chose you for route reassessment. Beyond collection, when the newly wealthy and the exhausted are publicly ranked, do not leave the exhausted only partly relieved—if a household owed three hundred strings, exempting two hundred fifty may still be unjust. Do not assess the newly wealthy to the full limit; spare their strength—if three hundred strings are possible, add only two hundred. Each of you must do your utmost—one reassessment governs ten years of welfare; failure will not be lightly punished."