Volume 26 Treatises 16: Finance and Economics

昔者先王量地以制邑，度地以居民，因三才以節其務，敬四序以成其業，觀其謠俗而正其紀綱。勖農桑之本，通魚鹽之利，登良山而采符玉，泛瀛海而罩珠璣。日中為市，總天下之隸，先諸布帛，繼以貨泉，貿遷有無，各得其所。《周禮》，正月始和，乃布教于象魏。若乃一夫之士，十畝之宅，三日之徭，九均之賦，施陽禮以興其讓，命春社以勖其耕。天之所貴者人也，明之所求者學也，治《經》入官，則君子之道焉。《詩》曰：「三之日於耜，四之日舉趾。」是以農官澤虞，各有攸次，父兄之習，不玩而成，十五從務，始勝衣服，鄉無遊手，邑不廢時，所謂厥初生民，各從其事者也。是以太公通市井之貨，以致齊國之強；鴟夷善發斂之居，以盛中陶之業。昔在金天，勤於民事，命春鳸以耕稼，召夏鳸以耘鋤，秋鳸所以收斂，冬鳸于焉蓋藏。《書》曰：「曆象日月星辰，敬授民時。」傳曰：「禹稷躬稼而有天下。」若乃九土既敷，四民承范，東吳有齒角之饒，西蜀有丹沙之富，兗豫漆絲之廥，燕齊怪石之府，秦邠旄羽，迥帶琅玕，荊郢桂林，旁通竹箭，江幹橘柚，河外舟車，遼西旃罽之鄉，蔥右蒲梢之駿，殖物怪錯，於何不有。若乃上法星象，下料無外，因天地之利，而總山海之饒，百畝之田，十一而稅，九年躬稼，而有三年之蓄，可以長孺齒，可以養耆年。因乎人民，用之邦國，宮室有度，旗章有序。朝聘自其儀，宴饗由其制，家殷國阜，遠至邇安。救水旱之災，恤寰瀛之弊，然後王之常膳，乃間笙鏞。商周之興，用此道也。辛紂暴虐，玩其經費，金鏤傾宮，廣延百里，玉飾鹿臺，崇高千仞，宮中九市，各有女司。厚賦以實鹿臺之錢，大斂以增钜橋之粟，多發妖冶以充傾宮之麗，廣收珍玩以備沙丘之遊。懸肉成林，積醪為沼，使男女裸體相逐於其間，伏詣酒池中牛飲者三千餘人，宮中以錦綺為席，綾紈為薦。及周王誅紂，肅拜殷墟，乃盡振鹿財，並頒橋粟，上天降休，殷人大喜。王赧云季，徙都西周，九鼎淪沒，二南堙盡，貸于百姓，無以償之，乃上層臺以避其責，周人謂王所居為逃責臺者也。昔周姬公制以六典，職方陳其九貢，頒財內府，永為不刊。及刑政陵夷，菁茅罕至，魯侯初踐畝之稅，秦君收太半之入，前王之範，靡有孑遺。史臣曰：班固為《殖貨志》，自三代至王莽之誅，網羅前載，其文詳悉。

The kings of old sized out territory to lay out towns, reckoned acreage to house the people, tuned their duties to the triad of Heaven, earth, and mankind, kept faith with the turning year to finish each season's work, and read popular sentiment so they could straighten what statute and custom required. They promoted tillage and silk as the economy's foundation, extended trade in fish and salt, scaled high hills for ritual jade, and crossed the deep sea to harvest pearls. When the sun stood at the meridian they opened the mart, drawing workers from across the land—first with bolts of cloth, then with coined cash—swapping abundance for scarcity until buyer and seller were matched. The Zhouli records that with the new year's first month they proclaimed the royal teachings beneath the watch-towers flanking the palace gate. Each farmer had his plot and homestead, a short stint of labor service, and the graded land tax; ritual taught humility, and the spring communal feast kept everyone at the plough. Heaven prizes humanity; good government prizes scholarship; the path of the junzi runs through the canon and into service. As the Book of Songs puts it, in the third month they hone the shared blade; in the fourth they stride out to the furrows. Hence field overseers and marsh wardens stood in fixed posts; household instruction hardened young hands without play; at fifteen youths took up work and adult clothes; villages held no loafers and towns lost no farming window—that was the world in which, as the ode says, each newborn generation stuck to its calling. That is how Jiang Taigong turned ward and marketplace into strength for Qi. Fan Li, styled Lord Chiyi, knew how to marshal stores and levies, and so he built up the great pottery workshops of the interior. Under Shaohao's 'Metal Heaven' line, every season had its bird-titled minister—spring for seeding, summer for weeding, autumn for reaping, winter for storage—so the calendar never slipped. The Shangshu counsels men to chart sun, moon, and stars and hand peasants a trustworthy calendar. Tradition adds that Yu and the Lord Millet tilled their own soil—and thus earned the mandate. Once the nine domains were mapped and the four classes knew their trades, the southeast traded ivory, Bashu poured out cinnabar, Yan-Yu warehoused lacquer thread, Qi quarried odd stone, the northwest sent feathers and jade trinkets, the middle Yangzi routed bamboo, riverbanks fattened citrus, the Grand Canal moved freight, the far northeast shipped wool, and the western steppe sent horses—goods crossed every boundary imaginable. Taking cues from the sky and leaving no acre unmeasured on earth, pooling hill and sea wealth, titheing one tenth off each hundred-mu farm, and insisting that nine harvest years include three years of reserves—that was how children grew strong and elders were fed. Carried into hamlet and kingdom, it fixed how high halls might rise and how banners should march in order. Embassies and banquets each had rule-books; wealth filled granaries while neighbors stayed calm. They drained floods, eased drought, and patched every coastland hurt by scarcity—only then did the throne dine with leisure enough to hear bronze bells. Shang and Zhou rose by walking this same road. Zhou of Shang and Di Xin wrecked the treasury on cruelty—gold sheathing for the tilted palace over endless leagues, jade facing for Deer Terrace up sheer cliffs, and nine separate markets inside the harem, each run by female clerks. Extortion stacked bronze at Deer Terrace, bulk grain at Juqiao, concubines for the leaning halls, and curios for the desert hunt. Carcasses hung like a forest, wine pooled like a pond; stripped revelers chased one another while thousands flopped at the pool's lip and sucked wine like oxen; chambers were carpeted in brocade and padded with figured silk. When King Wu smote the Shang king he emptied the Deer Terrace vaults, threw open Juqiao's granaries, and the conquered capital hailed heaven's mercy. King Nan's late reign shifted the court west, lost the cauldrons, silenced the southern hymns, borrowed until bankruptcy, and hid on a platform locals mocked as the terrace for outrunning debt. The Duke of Zhou's six statutes—and the ninefold tribute schedule in the Zhou guan—fed the inner palace vault as permanent law. As government frayed, ritual bundles of thatch grew rare; Lu pioneered the acre tax, Qin seized over half the crop, and ancient fiscal norms vanished. The editors comment: Ban Gu's 'Huozhi zhi' runs from the Xia-Shang-Zhou age to Wang Mang's fall, netting prior sources in exhaustive detail.

光武寬仁，龔行天討，王莽之後，赤眉新敗，雖復三暉乃眷，而九服蕭條，及得隴望蜀，黎民安堵，自此始行五銖之錢，田租三十稅一，民有產子者復以三年之算。顯宗即位，天下安寧，民無橫徭，歲比登稔。作常滿倉，立粟市於城東，粟斛直錢二十。草樹殷阜，牛羊彌望，作貢尤輕，府廩還積，奸回不用，禮義專行。于時東方既明，百官詣闕，戚裏侯家，自相馳騖，車如流水，馬若飛龍，照映軒廡，光華前載。傳曰：「三統之元，有陰陽之九焉」，蓋天地之恆數也。安帝，天下水旱，人民相食。帝以鴻陂之地假與貧民。以用度不足，三公又奏請令吏民入錢穀得為關內侯云。桓帝，郡國少半遭蝗，河泛數千里，流人十餘萬戶，所在廩給。迨建甯永和之初，西羌反叛，二十餘年兵連師老，軍旅之費三百二十餘億，府帑空虛，延及內郡。沖質短祚，桓靈不軌。，南宮災，延及北闕。於是復收天下田畝十錢，用營宮宇。帝出自侯門，居貧即位，常曰：「桓帝不能作家，曾無私蓄。」故于西園造萬金堂，以為私藏。復寄小黃門私錢，家至巨億。於是懸鴻都之牓，開賣官之路，公卿以降，悉有等差。廷尉崔烈入錢五百萬以買司徒，刺史二千石遷除，皆責助治宮室錢，大郡至二千萬錢，不畢者或至自殺。獻帝作五銖錢，而有四道連於邊緣。有識者尤之曰：「豈京師破壞，此錢四出也。」

Emperor Guangwu's punitive mandate ended Wang Mang and the Red Eyebrows; even when Heaven still favored Han, the provinces were a wasteland until he pacified the northwest and no longer feared Shu—then subjects unpacked their bundles. He minted five-zhu coins, fixed the land rent at one part in thirty, and freed new parents from the head tax for three annual assessments. Ming's accession brought quiet borders, no surprise levies, and full bins every autumn. They stacked the Ever-Full Granary and sold grain east of the walls at twenty coins the hu. Verdant pasture fattened herds; taxes stayed mild; silos swelled; fraud faded while ritual carried the day. Dawn brought ministers to the gates while imperial in-laws vied in splendor—carriages streaming, horses wheeling, light dancing along the colonnades. Ancient glosses hold that the Three Ages' opening counts nine permutations of yin and yang—the fixed mathematics of the cosmos. An's reign drowned and parched the empire until men ate men. The throne parcelled Hong Pool acreage to destitute farmers. Short revenue drove the three excellencies to sell interior marquisates for cash or grain. Huan's years brought locusts across half the provinces, a thousand-li flood on the Yellow River, and over a hundred thousand refugee households fed from state granaries. Early Jianning-Yonghe Qiang risings bled the west for twenty years, burned 3.2 billion on campaigns, emptied the exchequer, and dragged inland provinces into want. Infant emperors Chong and Zhi died young; Huan and Ling turned criminal. Flames swept the Southern Palace up to the northern watch-towers. The court reimposed a ten-cash-per-mu surcharge empire-wide to pay for new halls. Raised a poor cousin from a marquis line, Ling complained that Huan died without a secret hoard. So he stacked West Garden's Ten Thousand Jin Hall as a personal strongbox. He parked fortunes with junior eunuchs until private sums hit astronomical figures. Hongdu notices priced every title from minister on down. Cui Lie bought the ministry of education for five million; moving a prefect meant a repair levy—two thousand strings for the richest circuits—and failure drove men to suicide. Xian's five-zhu pieces bore four ridges along the edge. Critics called it an omen: a ruined capital with coin scattering to the four quarters.

及董卓尋戈，火焚宮室，乃劫鸞駕，西幸長安，悉壞五銖錢，更鑄小錢，盡收長安及洛陽銅人飛廉之屬，以充鼓鑄。又錢無輪郭，文章不便。時人以為秦始皇見長人于臨洮，乃鑄銅人。卓，臨洮人也，興毀不同，凶訛相類。及卓誅死，李傕、郭汜自相攻伐，于長安城中以為戰地。是時穀一斛五十萬，豆麥二十萬，人相食啖，白骨盈積，殘骸餘肉，臭穢道路。帝使侍御史侯汶出太倉米豆，為饑民作糜，經日頒佈而死者愈多。帝於是始疑有司盜其糧廩，乃親於御前自加臨給，饑者人皆泣曰：「今始得耳！」帝東歸也，李傕、郭汜等追敗乘輿于曹陽，夜潛渡河，六宮皆步。初出營欄，後手持縑數匹，董承使符節令孫徽以刃脅奪之，殺旁侍者，血濺後服。既至安邑，御衣穿敗，唯以野棗園菜以為餱糧。自此長安城中盡空，並皆四散，二三年間，關中無復行人。建安元年，車駕至洛陽，宮闈蕩滌，百官披荊棘而居焉。州郡各擁強兵，而委輸不至，尚書郎官自出采穭，或不能自反，死於墟巷。

Dong Zhuo's coup fired the palaces, dragged the court to Chang'an, voided five-zhu currency for light little coins, and fed the furnaces with Luoyang's bronze giants. The new issue had no inner ring and carried clumsy legends. Wits linked the deed to Qin Shihuang casting the twelve giants after the Lintao giant tale. Zhuo hailed from Lintao—different outcomes, same dark rhyme. Once Dong Zhuo fell, Li Jue and Guo Si turned Chang'an streets into war lanes. Grain hit half a million cash the hu, beans two hundred thousand; cannibalism returned, bones heaped, gore slick on the pavement. The throne sent Hou Wen to ladle imperial stores into gruel kettles, but daily handouts only raised the death toll. Suspecting theft, the emperor ladled porridge himself—starvelings sobbed that they were eating for the first time. On the eastward trek Li and Guo smashed the cavalcade at Caoyang; the court forded the river by night on foot, ladies-in-waiting and all. Fleeing the palisade, the empress hugged silk bolts until Sun Hui, under Dong Cheng's orders, pressed a blade to her throat, slaughtered her maids, and splashed her gown. At Anyi the imperial wardrobe was shreds; the court lived on foraged jujubes and greens. Chang'an emptied; within seasons Guanzhong saw no travellers. Jian'an year one brought the court to a Luoyang scraped bare—ministers camped in thorns. Warlords hoarded arms while revenue stopped; clerks scythed their own fodder and died in alleys.

魏武之初，九州雲擾，攻城掠地，保此懷民，軍旅之資，權時調給。于時袁紹軍人皆資椹棗，袁術戰士取給蠃蒲。魏武於是乃募良民屯田許下，又於州郡列置田官，歲有數千萬斛，以充兵戎之用。及初平袁氏，以定鄴都，令收田租畝粟四升，戶絹二匹而綿二斤，餘皆不得擅興，藏強賦弱。文帝黃初二年，以穀貴，始罷五銖錢。于時天下未並，戎車歲動，孔子曰，「加之以師旅，因之以饑饉」，此言兵凶之謀而沴氣應之也。于時三方之人，志相吞滅，戰勝攻取，耕夫釋耒，江淮之鄉，尤缺儲峙。吳上大將軍陸遜抗疏，請令諸將各廣其田。權報曰：「甚善。今孤父子親自受田，車中八牛，以為四耦。雖未及古人，亦欲與眾均其勞也。」有吳之務農重穀，始於此焉。魏明帝不恭，淫于宮籞，百僚編於手役，天下失其躬稼。此後關東遇水，民亡產業，而興師遼陽，坐甲江甸，皆以國乏經用，胡可勝言。

Cao Cao's early years besieged towns, annexed land, and fed friendlies on ad hoc impressment. Yuan Shao's army ate milled oak and dates; Yuan Shu's ranks scraped mussels, snails, and pondweed. Cao Cao then colonized peasants around Xu, planted intendants in every province, and pulled tens of millions of hu yearly for the hosts. After beating the Yuans and holding Ye he capped rent at four sheng per mu and two bolts plus two jin of silk per door—no other impost without leave, guarding smallholders from powerful estates. Huangchu 2 ended five-zhu coinage when millet spiked. With the realm still split and campaigns annual, Confucius's warning—armies stacked on dearth—matched the miasma of civil war. The three kingdoms gnawed at each other; farmers dropped implements; the Huai-Yangzi belt ran dry of stores. Wu grand general Lu Xun begged every general to enlarge military farms. Sun Quan answered: 'Very good. From now my heir and I drive the plough ourselves—eight oxen hitched as four yokes. We fall short of ancient models, yet we mean to sweat beside the ranks.' That marked Wu's turn toward serious tillage. Wei Mingdi chased palace pleasures, impressed ministers as laborers, and let agriculture slip. Later floods ruined Guandong homes while expeditions struck Liaodong and fleets massed on the Yangzi—short treasury, endless grief.

世祖武皇帝，既平孫皓，納百萬而罄三吳之資，接千年而總西蜀之用，韜干戈於府庫，破舟船于江壑，河濱海岸，三丘八藪，耒耨之所不至者，人皆受焉。農祥晨正，平秩東作，荷鍤贏糧，有同雲布。若夫因天而資五緯，因地而興五材，世屬升平，物流倉府，宮闈增飾，服玩相輝。於是王君夫、武子、石崇等更相誇尚，輿服鼎俎之盛，連衡帝室，布金埒之泉，粉珊瑚之樹，物盛則衰，固其宜也。永甯之初，洛中尚有錦帛四百萬，珠寶金銀百餘斛。惠後北征，蕩陰反駕，寒桃在禦，只雞以給，其布衾兩幅，囊錢三千，以為車駕之資焉。懷帝為劉曜所圍，王師累敗，府帑既竭，百官饑甚，比屋不見火煙，饑人自相啖食。湣皇西宅，餒饉弘多，斗米二金，死者太半。劉曜陳兵，內外斷絕，十之曲，屑而供帝，君臣相顧，莫不揮涕。元後渡江，軍事草創，蠻陬賧布，不有恆准，中府所儲，數四千匹。于時石勒勇銳，挻亂淮南，帝懼其侵逼，甚患之，乃詔方鎮云，有斬石勒首者，賞布千匹云。

Once Sun Hao surrendered, Jin swallowed million-household Wu, tapped Shu hoards, stacked arms in magazines, broke river fleets, and parcelled waste acres to settlers. With the agrarian asterism at dawn they ordered eastern fields; labourers shouldered hoes and grain like clouds rolling out. Heaven's five planets and earth's five stuffs aligned; peace filled treasuries; palace dress and toys sparkled in rivalry. Wang Jun and Shi Chong outspent one another—carriages, robes, and bronze rivaling the throne, coin heaped like berms, coral dusted like trees—luxury sowing its own fall. Early Yongning Luoyang still hoarded four million bolts of silk and a hundred hu of bullion and pearl. Hui's northern march stalled at Dangyin on cold peaches, one chicken, two cotton quilts, and three thousand cash for the whole cortège. Besieged by Liu Yao, Huai watched armies shatter, stores vanish, ministers starve, hearths go cold, and survivors turn cannibal. Min's western court faced famine so brutal that two ounces of gold bought one dou of rice and half the population died. Liu Yao sealed the city; when only scrapings from the grain jars could be ground for the sovereign, throne and ministers met each other's eyes weeping. Yuan's southern crossing left armies half-built; barbarian cloth tribute lacked a steady gauge; central stores held a mere few thousand bolts. With Shi Le hammering Huainan, the court offered a thousand bolts for his head to frontier generals.

漢自董卓之亂，百姓流離，穀石至五十餘萬，人多相食。魏武既破黃巾，欲經略四方，而苦軍食不足，羽林監潁川棗祗建置屯田議。魏武乃令曰：「夫定國之術在於強兵足食，秦人以急農兼天下，孝武以屯田定西域，此先世之良式也。」於是以任峻為典農中郎將，募百姓屯田許下，得穀百萬斛。郡國列置田官，數年之中，所在積粟，倉廩皆滿。祗死，魏武后追思其功，封爵其子。建安初，關中百姓流入荊州者十餘萬家，及聞本土安寧，皆企望思歸，而無以自業。於是衛覬議為「鹽者國之大寶，自喪亂以來放散，今宜如舊置使者監賣，以其直益市犁牛，百姓歸者以供給之。勤耕積粟，以豐殖關中，遠者聞之，必多競還。」於是魏武遣謁者僕射監鹽官，移司隸校尉居弘農。流人果還，關中豐實。既而又以沛國劉馥為揚州刺史，鎮合肥，廣屯田，修芍陂、茹陂、七門、吳塘諸堨，以溉稻田，公私有蓄，歷代為利。賈逵之為豫州，南與吳接，修守戰之具，堨汝水，造新陂，又通運渠二百餘里，所謂賈侯渠者也。當黃初中，四方郡守懇田又加，以故國用不匱。時濟北顏斐為京兆太守，京兆自馬超之亂，百姓不專農殖，乃無車牛。斐又課百姓，令閑月取車材，轉相教匠。其無牛者令養豬，投貴賣以買牛。始者皆以為煩，一二年中編戶皆有車牛，于田役省贍，京兆遂以豐沃。鄭渾為沛郡太守，郡居下濕，水澇為患，百姓饑乏。渾于蕭、相二縣興陂堨，開稻田，郡人皆不以為便。渾以為終有經久之利，遂躬率百姓興功，一冬皆成。比年大收，頃畝歲增，租入倍常，郡中賴其利，刻石頌之，號曰鄭陂。魏明帝世徐邈為涼州，土地少雨，常苦乏穀。邈上修武威、酒泉鹽池，以收虜穀。又廣開水田，募貧民佃之，家家豐足，倉庫盈溢。及度支州界軍用之餘，以市金錦犬馬，通供中國之費，西域人入貢，財貨流通，皆邈之功也。其後皇甫隆為敦煌太守，敦煌俗不作耬犁，及不知用水，人牛功力既費，而收穀更少。隆到，乃教作耬犁，又教使灌溉。歲終率計，所省庸力過半，得穀加五，西方以豐。

After Dong Zhuo's coup, refugees wandered, grain hit five hundred thousand per shi, and cannibalism spread. Planning wider wars after the Turbans, Cao Cao lacked rations until Yingchuan's Zao Zhi urged military farms. Cao Cao decreed that power rests on soldiers and full granaries—citing Qin's agrarian drive and Han's frontier colonies. He named Ren Jun colonel of agriculture, settled peasants around Xu, and reaped a million hu. Provinces posted farm directors; within years bins brimmed everywhere. After Zao Zhi died, Cao Cao ennobled his son in remembrance. Early Jian'an saw a hundred thousand Guanzhong households flee to Jing; peace at home made them ache to go back, yet they had no tools to farm. Wei Ji argued salt was the dynastic treasure—restore government sales, spend proceeds on oxen, and equip returning refugees. Fatten Guanzhong with tillage and wanderers will sprint homeward. Cao Cao sent the herald's vice to watch salt monopolies and shifted the provincial inspector to Hongnong. Refugees indeed streamed back; Guanzhong filled out. He then posted Liu Fu at Hefei to expand garrison farms, rebuild Quebei, Rubi, Qimen, and Wutang dikes for rice, filling public and private granaries for generations. Jia Kua, guarding Yu against Wu, readied arms, dammed the Ru into new reservoirs, and cut the two-hundred-li Jia Hou canal for supply. Under Huangchu, county reclamation kept spreading, and the treasury stayed solvent. Yan Fei of Jibei governed Jingzhao after Ma Chao's rising had pulled farmers from the plough—there were no draft animals left. He levied farmers to stockpile wheelwrights' lumber in off-seasons and rotated apprenticeships among smiths. Households short an ox were told to fatten hogs, sell into a dear market, and trade up to cattle. Grumbling gave way within two seasons to ox-drawn carts county-wide, lighter field service, and a flush Jingzhao plain. Pei's capital sat on soggy ground—floods and famine followed Zheng Hun's appointment. He diked the Xiao–Xiang marshes for rice land while locals complained about the disruption. Zheng Hun overruled them, worked beside the crews, and finished every dike that winter. Record crops followed; rents doubled the norm, so the county cut a stele to the 'Zheng dike' that still fed them. Wei Mingdi sent Xu Miao to Liangzhou, where drought chronically starved the granaries. He restored the Wuwei and Jiuquan salt pans and spent the proceeds buying grain from the border peoples. Wet-field reclamation and poor tenants followed until bins spilled over. Surplus salt revenue bought luxuries for Luoyang and kept frontier trade alive—credit Xu Miao. Huangfu Long found Dunhuang still scratching drills without irrigation—costly effort, meager grain. He introduced seed drills and channel watering. Year-end tallies showed payroll halved and yields multiplied—the northwest fattened.

，關中饑，宣帝表徙冀州農夫五千人佃上邽，興京兆、天水、南安鹽池，以益軍實。，開成國渠自陳倉至槐里；築臨晉陂，引汧洛溉舄鹵之地三千餘頃，國以充實焉。，宣帝又督諸軍伐吳將諸葛恪，焚其積聚，恪棄城遁走。帝因欲廣田積穀，為兼併之計，乃使鄧艾行陳、項以東，至壽春地。艾以為田良水少，不足以盡地利，宜開河渠，可以大積軍糧，又通運漕之道。乃著《濟河論》以喻其指。又以為昔破黃巾，因為屯田，積穀許都，以制四方。今三隅已定，事在淮南。每大軍征舉，運兵過半，功費巨億，以為大役。陳蔡之間，土下田良，可省許昌左右諸稻田，並水東下。令淮北二萬人、淮南三萬人分休，且佃且守。水豐，常收三倍于西，計除眾費，歲完五百萬斛以為軍資。六七年間，可積三千萬餘斛於淮北，此則十萬之眾五年食也。以此乘敵，無不克矣。宣帝善之，皆如艾計施行。遂北臨淮水，自鐘離而南橫石以西，盡沘水四百餘里，五里置一營，營六十人，且佃且守。兼修廣淮陽、百尺二渠，上引河流，下通淮潁，大治諸陂于潁南、潁北，穿渠三百餘里，溉田二萬頃，淮南、淮北皆相連接。自壽春到京師，農官兵田，雞犬之聲，阡陌相屬。每東南有事，大軍出征，泛舟而下，達于江淮，資食有儲，而無水害，艾所建也。

A Guanzhong drought drew Sima Yi's memorial: shift five thousand Ji farmers to Shanggui and work the Jingzhao–Tianshui–Nan'an brine pans for army grain. They cut the Chengguo Canal between Chencang and Huaili. The Linjin barrage steered the Qian and Luo onto thirty thousand acres of salty flats until the exchequer filled. Sima Yi next led the strike on Zhuge Ke—torched Wu supplies and drove Ke from his walls. Intent on annexing Huainan inch by inch, the court dispatched Deng Ai to scout from Chen–Xiang toward Shouchun. Deng Ai reported rich soil but unreliable rain; canals could flood the granaries and float supplies. He framed the argument in his 'Discourse on Channeling the Ji.' He reminded them how colony farms around Xu had fed the defeat of the Turbans. With three fronts quiet, only Huainan still mattered. Each campaign burned logistics—half the effort was convoys—and bills ran into billions of cash. The Chen–Cai depression could soak up irrigation shed from the Xuchang rice plots if sluices turned east. He proposed fifty thousand men alternating guard duty with tillage on both banks of the Huai. Wet years tripled western yields; after costs, five million hu a year could arm the campaigns. Six or seven harvests could stack thirty million hu north of the river—five years' rations for a hundred-thousand-man host. Such reserves would break any southern defense. Sima Yi signed off and executed Deng Ai's blueprint. They lined the Huai from Zhongli past Hengshi—four hundred li of Bi River front—posting sixty-man camps every five li to plough under arms. They dredged Huaiyang and Baichi, tied the Yellow River spill to Huai and Ying, refaced north–south Ying dikes, bored three hundred li of trench, and knitted Huai south and north across twenty thousand qing. Between Shouchun and Luoyang, garrison farms crowded the roads—chickens and dogs crowding the same dikes. Whenever southeast campaigns launched, barges slid down safe channels to the Yangzi–Huai junction with grain to spare—Deng Ai's hydraulic shield.

及晉受命，武帝欲平一江表。時穀賤而布帛貴，帝欲立平糴法，用布帛市穀，以為糧儲。議者謂軍資尚少，不宜以貴易賤。，帝乃下詔曰：「夫百姓年豐則用奢，凶荒則窮匱，是相報之理也。故古人權量國用，取贏散滯，有輕重平糴之法。理財鈞施，惠而不費，政之善者也。然此事廢久，天下希習其宜。加以官蓄未廣，言者異同，財貨未能達通其制。更令國寶散於穰歲而上不收，貧弱困于荒年而國無備。豪人富商，挾輕資，蘊重積，以管其利。故農夫苦其業，而末作不可禁也。今者省徭務本，並力墾殖，欲令農功益登，耕者益勸，而猶或騰踴，至於農人並傷。今宜通糴，以充儉乏。主者平議，具為條制。」然事竟未行。是時江南未平，朝廷厲精於稼牆。四年正月丁亥，帝親耕藉田。庚寅，詔曰：「使四海之內，棄末反本，競農務功，能奉宣朕志，令百姓勸事樂業者，其唯郡縣長吏乎！先之勞之，在於不倦。每念其經營職事，亦為勤矣。其以中左典牧種草馬，賜縣令長相及郡國丞各一匹。」是歲，乃立常平倉，豐則糴，儉則糶，以利百姓。五年正月癸巳，敕戒郡國計吏、諸郡國守相令長，務盡地利，禁游食商販。其休假者令與父兄同其勤勞，豪勢不得侵役寡弱，私相置名。十月，詔以「司隸校尉石鑒所上汲郡太守王宏勤恤百姓，導化有方，督勸開荒五千餘頃，遇年普饑而郡界獨無匱乏，可謂能以勸教，時同功異者矣。其賜穀千斛，佈告天下」。八年，司徒石苞奏：「州郡農桑未有殿最之制，宜增掾屬令史，有所循行。」帝從之。事見《石苞傳》。苞既明於勸課，百姓安之。十年，光祿勳夏侯和上修新渠、富壽、游陂三渠，凡溉田千五百頃。

After the Wei–Jin transition, Emperor Wu set his sights on south of the Great River. Cheap grain and dear silk tempted him to institute pingdi purchases—swap bolts for bushels. Advisers balked: armies still hungry, bad time to trade pricey silk for cheap grain. So Wu Di explained his logic: plenty breeds waste, dearth breeds ruin—a seasonal swing. Ancient treasuries stabilized prices by buying cheap surpluses and selling stores when grain spiked. Balanced fiscal relief without waste—that was sage administration. But pingdi had lain dormant so long that officials no longer knew the drill. State bins were still thin, debate gridlocked, and coin could not yet move through the scheme. Fat years still leaked bullion upward while lean years trapped peasants with empty granaries. Magnates parked liquid silver and cornered hoards. Tillers bore the squeeze while artisan trades stayed unstoppable. Even after cutting labor dues and pushing reclamation, price spikes still doubled farmers' pain. Pingdi purchases must bridge the next shortage. Ministers were told to draft executable statutes. Nothing came of it. With Jiangnan still hostile, Luoyang obsessed over every furrow. On dinghai in Taishi year four he drove the sacred furrow himself. Two days later he demanded county magistrates turn every household back to the soil. Leadership meant working beside subjects until exhaustion. He acknowledged their grind. Grass-fed studs from the Central Left herd went one apiece to county and prefectural aides. That year saw the Ever-Normal Granary—buying dearths, selling gluts—for farmer relief. Taishi five opened with orders to maximize acreage and ban itinerant hawkers. Leave-takers had to hoe beside kin; magnates could not draft proxies. An autumn edict cited Shi Jian's report praising Ji prefect Wang Hong for opening five thousand qing while neighboring prefectures starved. He earned a thousand-hu bonus and an empire-wide bulletin. In year eight Minister Shi Bao asked for farming inspectors under each prefect. The throne agreed. Details sit in Shi Bao's chapter. Once Shi Bao tightened inspections, farmers steadied. Year ten saw Xia Houhe rebuild Xinqu, Fushou, and Youpi—fifteen hundred qing wet.

十二月，詔曰：「出戰入耕，雖自古之常，然事力未息，未嘗不以戰士為念也。今以鄴奚官奴婢著新城，代田兵種稻，奴婢各五十人為一屯，屯置司馬，使皆如屯田法。」三年，又詔曰：「今年霖雨過差，又有蟲災。潁川、襄城自春以來，略不下種，深以為慮。主者何以為百姓計，促處當之。」杜預上疏曰：

A winter edict recalled soldiers even while praising the ancient plough-and-sword rhythm. Ye palace bondwomen were moved to the new town to replace tun troops seeding rice—fifty women per tun under colony rules. Third-year follow-up: freak rains and locusts. Yingchuan and Xiangcheng had barely seeded since spring. Ministers had to answer how they would feed the people—fast. Du Yu answered with a memorial.

臣輒思惟，今者水災東南特劇，非但五稼不收，居業並損，下田所在停汙，高地皆多磽塉，此即百姓困窮方在來年。雖詔書切告長吏二千石為之設計，而不廓開大制，定其趣舍之宜，恐徒文具，所益蓋薄。當今秋夏蔬食之時，而百姓已有不贍，前至冬春，野無青草，則必指仰官穀，以為生命。此乃一方之大事，不可不豫為思慮者也。

Du Yu warned that southeastern floods had drowned the crop and the cottage economy—mud flats and gravel ridges alike—and next year would hurt worse. Without a sweeping plan, urgent edicts would stay ink on silk. Vegetable season already left pantries bare; come winter they would depend wholly on state grain. That demanded advance planning.

臣愚謂既以水為困，當恃魚菜螺蜯，而洪波氾濫，貧弱者終不能得。今者宜大壞兗、豫州東界諸陂，隨其所歸而宣導之。交令饑者盡得水產之饒，百姓不出境界之內，旦暮野食，此目下日給之益也。水去之後，填淤之田，畝收數鐘。至春大種五穀，五穀必豐，此又明年益也。

Fish and snails should help, but floods kept them from paupers. Breaching Yan–Yu eastern dikes could steer runoff downhill. Let refugees forage wetlands inside their home counties—that feeds today. Once floodwaters fell, silted acres could yield several zhong per mu. Spring grain on those flats would repay the breach next harvest.

臣前啟，典牧種牛不供耕駕，至於老不穿鼻者，無益於用，而徒有吏士穀草之費，歲送任駕者甚少，尚復不調習，宜大出賣，以易穀及為賞直。

Du Yu renewed his plea to sell off breeding oxen that never pulled a plough—herds that only consumed state fodder without adding use.

詔曰：「孳育之物，不宜減散。」事遂停寢。問主者，今典虞右典牧種產牛，大小相通，有四萬五千餘頭。苟不益世用，頭數雖多，其費日廣。古者匹馬丘牛，居則以耕，出則以戰，非如豬羊類也。今徒養宜用之牛，終為無用之費，甚失事宜。東南以水田為業，人無牛犢。今既壞陂，可分種牛三萬五千頭，以付二州將吏士庶，使及春耕。穀登之後，頭責三百斛。是為化無用之費，得運水次成穀七百萬斛，此又數年後之益也。加以百姓降丘宅土，將來公私之饒乃不可計。其所留好種萬頭，可即令右典牧都尉官屬養之。人多畜少，可並佃牧地，明其考課。此又三魏近甸，歲當復入數十萬斛穀，牛又皆當調習，動可駕用，皆今日之可全者也。」

The court refused: breeding stock must not be dispersed. The proposal died. Officials counted forty-five thousand breeding cattle on the rolls. Without productive work, head count only bled money. Ancient oxen ploughed at peace and pulled wagons at war—not barnyard pork. Idle oxen broke both budget and precedent. The southeast lived by paddy but lacked cattle. With dikes failing, thirty-five thousand head could equip spring ploughing for two prefectures. Tax back three hundred hu per ox after harvest. Sell the herd for seven million hu delivered riverside—years of returns. Add hill dwellers resettling drier ground—public and private wealth would compound. Ten thousand prime breeders could stay under the right herd commandant. Crowded districts could share pasture with audited rotations. The three Wei capital belts would repay hundreds of thousands of hu yearly once oxen learned the yoke—gains available immediately.

預又言：

Du Yu added:

諸欲修水田者，皆以火耕水耨為便。非不爾也，然此事施于新田草萊，與百姓居相絕離者耳。往者東南草創人稀，故得火田之利。自頃戶口日增，而陂堨歲決，良田變生蒲葦，人居沮澤之際，水陸失宜，放牧絕種，樹木立枯，皆陂之害也。陂多則土薄水淺，潦不下潤。故每有水雨，輒復橫流，延及陸田。言者不思其故，因云此土不可陸種。臣計漢之戶口，以驗今之陂處，皆陸業也。其或有舊陂舊堨，則堅完修固，非今所謂當為人害者也。臣前見尚書胡威啟宜壞陂，其言懇至。臣中者又見宋侯相應遵上便宜，求壞泗陂，徙運道。時下都督度支共處當，各據所見，不從遵言。臣案遵上事，運道東詣壽春，有舊渠，可不由泗陂。泗陂在遵地界壞地凡萬三千餘頃，傷敗成業。遵縣領應佃二千六百口，可謂至少，而猶患地狹，不足肆力，此皆水之為害也。當所共恤，而都督度支方復執異，非所見之難，直以不同害理也。人心所見既不同，利害之情又有異。軍家之與郡縣，士大夫之與百姓，其意莫有同者，此皆偏其利以忘其害者也。此理之所以未盡，而事之所以多患也。

Engineers fixing paddies loved slash-and-flood routines. That works only for virgin bush far from villages—not crowded flood plains. Early Jiangdong was empty enough that fire farming still worked. Population packed in while dams yearly failed—prime dirt went to marsh reed, villages squatted in mud, herds and orchards died behind leaky banks. Too many ponds meant thin topsoil and perched water—rain never soaked through. Every storm sheeted across upland farms. Critics blamed the dirt instead of the dams. Han census maps show those acres had once been upland grain. Ancient tanks still holding water deserve upkeep—not the same as recent mistakes. Hu Wei had already pleaded earnestly to breach the worst impoundments. District aide Ying Zun paired a shorter canal route with draining the Si reservoir. Area command and finance vetoed him by committee. Zun was right—an older channel reached Shouchun without the Si pond. That dike drowned thirteen thousand qing inside his county. Even a sparse county could not expand plots—pure hydraulic choke. Everyone should share the fix; headquarters obstruction was ideology, not evidence. Split opinions split cost-benefit math. Garrison, prefect, scholar, and farmer each chase narrow gain and ignore collective ruin. Hence policy stalls and crises multiply.

臣又案，豫州界二度支所領佃者，州郡大軍雜士，凡用水田七千五百餘頃耳，計三年之儲，不過二萬餘頃。以常理言之，無為多積無用之水，況於今者水澇湓溢，大為災害。臣以為與其失當，寧瀉之不滀。宜發明詔，敕刺史二千石，其漢氏舊陂舊堨及山谷私家小陂，皆當修繕以積水。其諸魏氏以來所造立，及諸因雨決溢蒲葦馬腸陂之類，皆決瀝之。長吏二千石躬親勸功，諸食力之人並一時附功令，比及水凍，得粗枯涸，其所修功實之人皆以俾之。其舊陂堨溝渠當有所補塞者，皆尋求微跡，一如漢時故事，豫為部分列上，須冬，東南休兵交代，各留一月以佐之。夫川瀆有常流，地形有定體，漢氏居人眾多，猶以無患，今因其所患而宣寫之，跡古事以明近，大理顯然，可坐論而得。臣不勝愚意，竊謂最是今日之實益也。

Yu Province's fiscal colonies irrigate under seventy-six hundred qing—three years of grain still misses twenty thousand qing stored. Plain arithmetic forbids hoarding useless ponds—especially under megafloods. Better drain outright than mis-store. Publish orders: restore legitimate Han tanks and private hill ponds while auditing outlets. Break Wei-era vanity dikes and accidental reed lakes. Magistrates lead winter crews under emergency law; drain before freeze-up; pay wages to proven workers. Patch legacy channels per Han surveys; schedule winter repairs when southeast garrisons rotate and lend a month's labor. Rivers keep beds; Han peasants thronged yet stayed dry—breaching repeats proven history. Du Yu believes draining beats debating.

朝廷從之。

Luoyang approved.

及平吳之後，有司又奏：「詔書『王公以國為家，京城不宜復有田宅。今未暇作諸國邸，當使城中有往來處，近郊有芻槁之田』。今可限之，國王公侯，京城得有一宅之處。近郊田，大國田十五頃，次國十頃，小國七頃。城內無宅城外有者，皆聽留之。」

Post-conquest ministers cited edicts: princes should live off fiefs, not Luoyang acreage. Until each prince had a manor, they needed urban quarters plus suburban hay plots. Cap each noble to one city residence. Rank land grants at fifteen, ten, or seven qing by kingdom size. Nobles owning only suburban farms could stay.

又制戶調之式：丁男之戶，歲輸絹三匹，綿三斤，女及次丁男為戶者半輸。其諸邊郡或三分之二，遠者三分之一。夷人輸賨布，戶一匹，遠者或一丈。男子一人占田七十畝，女子三十畝。其外丁男課田五十畝，丁女二十畝，次丁男半之，女則不課。男女年十六已上至六十為正丁，十五已下至十三、六十一已上至六十五為次丁，十二已下六十六已上為老小，不事。遠夷不課田者輸義米，戶三斛，遠者五斗，極遠者輸算錢，人二十八文。其官品第一至於第九，各以貴賤占田，品第一者占五十頃，第二品四十五頃，第三品四十頃，第四品三十五頃，第五品三十頃，第六品二十五頃，第七品二十頃，第八品十五頃，第九品十頃。而又各以品之高卑廕其親屬，多者及九族，少者三世。宗室、國賓、先賢之後及士人子孫亦如之。而又得廕人以為衣食客及佃客，品第六已上得衣食客三人，第七第八品二人，第九品及舉輦、跡禽、前驅、由基、強弩、司馬、羽林郎、殿中冗從武賁、殿中武賁、持椎斧武騎武賁、持鈒冗從武賁、命中武賁武騎一人。其應有佃客者，官品第一第二者佃客無過五十戶，第三品十戶，第四品七戶，第五品五戶，第六品三戶，第七品二戶，第八品第九品一戶。

Household taxes fixed three bolts plus three jin for adult males; female-headed halved it. Border counties paid two-thirds or one-third rates by distance. Non-Han households paid tribute cloth—one bolt, or one zhang farther out. Allocation ceilings ran seventy mu per man, thirty per woman. Taxable assignment: fifty mu for men, twenty for liable women, half for youths—other women exempt. Primary adults spanned sixteen to sixty; teens and early seniors were secondary; children and elders skipped service. Frontier tribes paid symbolic grain—three hu default, tapering to poll cash. Nine-rank officials carved fifty down to ten qing by grade. Each grade sheltered kin across nine lines or three by seniority. Royals, honored houses, and scholar lines matched those shelters. Salary slots extended to registered bondsmen—three clients for sixth rank and above, tapering to one for petty guards and cadet halberdiers. Tenant quotas scaled from fifty households for top ministers to one for lowest nobles.

是時天下無事，賦稅平均，人咸安其業而樂其事。及惠帝之後，政教陵夷，至於永嘉，喪亂彌甚。雍州以東，人多饑乏，更相鬻賣，奔迸流移，不可勝數。幽、并、司、冀、秦、雍六州大蝗，草木及牛馬毛皆盡。又大疾疫，兼以饑饉。百姓又為寇賊所殺，流屍滿河，白骨蔽野。劉曜之逼，朝廷議欲遷都倉垣。人多相食，饑疫總至，百官流亡者十八九。

Peace brought balanced levies and satisfied farmers. Post-Hui decay peaked at Yongjia's collapse. East of Chang'an people pawned kin and scattered countless. Six northern provinces saw locusts eat every blade and bristle. Plague layered on hunger. Raids added corpses damming streams and whitening fields. Liu Yao's advance forced a Cangyuan relocation debate. Cannibalism met epidemic while nine-tenths of the bureaucracy ran.

元帝為晉王，課督農功，詔二千石長吏以入穀多少為殿最。其非宿衛要任，皆宜赴農，使軍各自佃作，即以為廩。，詔曰：「徐、揚二州土宜三麥，可督令地，投秋下種，至夏而熟，繼新故之交，于以周濟，所益甚大。昔漢遣輕車使者氾勝之督三輔種麥，而關中遂穰。勿令後晚。」其後頻年麥雖有旱蝗，而為益猶多。二年，三吳大饑，死者以百數，吳郡太守鄧攸輒開倉廩賑之。元帝時使黃門侍郎虞、桓彝開倉廩振給，並省眾役。百官各上封事，後軍將軍應詹表曰：「夫一人不耕，天下必有受其饑者。而軍興以來，征戰運漕，朝廷宗廟，百官用度，既已殷廣，下及工商流寓僮僕不親農桑而遊食者，以十萬計。不思開立美利，而望國足人給，豈不難哉！古人言曰，饑寒並至，雖堯舜不能使野無寇盜；貧富並兼，雖皋陶不能使強不陵弱。故有國有家者，何嘗不務農重穀。近魏武皇帝用棗祗、韓浩之議，廣建屯田，又於征伐之中，分帶甲之士，隨宜開墾，故下不甚勞，而大功克舉也。間者流人奔東吳，東吳今儉，皆已還反。江西良田，曠廢未久，火耕水耨，為功差易。宜簡流人，興復農官，功勞報賞，皆如魏氏故事。一年中與百姓，二年分稅，三年計賦稅以使之，公私兼濟，則倉盈庾億，可計日而待也。」又曰：「昔高祖使蕭何鎮關中，光武令寇恂守河內，魏武委鐘繇以西事，故能使八表夷蕩，區內輯寧。今中州蕭條，未蒙疆理，此兆庶所以企望。壽春一方之會，去此不遠，宜選都督有文武經略者，遠以振河洛之形勢，近以為徐豫之籓鎮，綏集流散，使人有攸依，專委農功，令事有所局。趙充國農于金城，以平西零；諸葛亮耕於渭濱，規抗上國。今諸軍自不對敵，皆宜齊課。

As prince, Yuan Di graded prefects on harvest figures. Nonessential troops farmed for their own mess halls. An edict pushed autumn wheat on Xu–Yang soils to bridge crop seasons. Han once sent Fan Shengzhi to triple-capital wheat trials—Guanzhong flourished. Ban tardy planting. Even drought-year wheat beat nothing. Second-year Jiangnan famine killed hundreds until Deng You broke granaries. Yuan Di tasked Yu Tan and Huan Yi to dispense grain and cut corvée. Ying Zhan warned: one idle plough meant nationwide hunger. War spending exploded while hundreds of thousands of urban idlers skipped the soil. Expecting plenty without opening revenue defies logic. Ancient wisdom: cold hunger breeds bandits even under sage kings. Extremes let bullies prey—no judge fixes that imbalance. States survive by prizing grain. Cao Cao's colony counsel fed armies without exhausting peasants. Refugees who fled to Wu drifted home when Wu tightened. Jiangxi's idle acres suit quick fire-and-flood clearing. Reset wanderers under Wei-style farm bureaus with merit pay. Year-one grants, year-two split levies, year-three full tax—fills granaries fast. He cited Xiao He, Kou Xun, and Zhong Yao anchoring interior bases. The heartland still waits for reconstruction. Fortify Shouchun with a strategist who revives Huai River farms and shelters refugees. Zhao Chongguo's Jincheng colonies broke the western tribes. Zhuge Liang's Wei River farms sustained northern defense. Idle legions should face identical farm quotas.

，成帝始度百姓田，取十分之一，率畝稅米三升。六年，以海賊寇抄，運漕不繼，發王公以下餘丁，各運米六斛。是後頻年水災旱蝗，田收不至。咸康初，算度田稅米，空懸五十餘萬斛，尚書褚裒以下免官。穆帝之世，頻有大軍，糧運不繼，制王公以下十三戶共借一人，助度支運。升平初，荀羨為北府都督，鎮下邳，起田于東陽之石鱉，公私利之。哀帝即位，乃減田租，畝收二升。孝武，除度田收租之制，王公以下口稅三斛，唯蠲在役之身。八年，又增稅米，口五石。至於末年，天下無事，時和年豐，百姓樂業，穀帛殷阜，幾乎家給人足矣。

Cheng's field survey taxed one-tenth—three sheng rice per mu. Year six piracy stalled convoys—nobles' spare males hauled six hu each. Years of disaster gutted yields. Xiankang audits exposed over five hundred thousand hu missing from ledgers—ministers fell. Mu's wars drafted one porter per thirteen households. Shengping saw Xun Xian's Stone Turtle paddy enrich Jiankang. Ai cut acre rent to two sheng. Xiaowu junked acre assessments for a three-hu head tax with service exemptions. Year eight raised per-capita grain to five shi. Late Xiaowu brought peace, bumper bins, and near self-sufficiency.

漢錢舊用五銖，自王莽改革，百姓皆不便之。及公孫述僭號於蜀，童謠曰：「黃牛白腹，五銖當復。」好事者竊言，王莽稱黃，述欲繼之，故稱白帝。五銖漢貨，言漢當復並天下也。至光武中興，除莽貨泉。，馬援又上書曰：「富國之本，在於食貨，宜如舊鑄五銖錢。」帝從之。於是復鑄五銖錢，天下以為便。及章帝時，穀帛價貴，縣官經用不足，朝廷憂之。尚書張林言：「今非但穀貴也，百物皆貴，此錢賤故爾。宜令天下悉以布帛為租，市買皆用之，封錢勿出，如此則錢少物皆賤矣。又，鹽者食之急也，縣官可自賣鹽，武帝時施行之，名曰均輸。」於是事下尚書通議。尚書硃暉議曰：「王制，天子不言有無，諸侯不言多少，食祿者不與百姓爭利。均輸之法，與賈販無異。以布帛為租，則吏多奸。官自賣鹽，與下爭利，非明王所宜行。」帝本以林言為是，得暉議，因發怒，遂用林言，少時復止。

Han five-zhu coin vanished under Wang Mang's monetary chaos. Shu children sang that white-bellied cattle meant returning five-zhu cash. Gossip tied yellow Wang Mang to white-clad Shu. Five-zhu stood for Han restoration. Guangwu voided Mang's token notes. Ma Yuan urged restoring five-zhu metal. The throne agreed. Restored five-zhu coin satisfied markets. Zhang's era faced dear grain and empty treasuries. Zhang Lin blamed cheap copper for universal inflation. He proposed cloth rents and hoarding bronze. State salt sales echoed Emperor Wu's junshu schemes. The memorial went to joint ministry review. Zhu Hui cited ritual: rulers do not haggle markets with peasants. State junshu peddling mimicked street hawkers. Bolt-and-floss taxes invited clerk theft. Imperial salt shops stole retailers' margin. The throne flipped from Zhang Lin to Zhu Hui and back—salt reform died young.

桓帝時有上書言：「人以貨輕錢薄，故致貧困，宜改鑄大錢。」事下四府群僚及太學能言之士。孝廉劉陶上議曰：

Huan's court heard that debased coin caused poverty—mint bigger money. Policy hit the four ministries and Taixue debaters. Liu Tao answered the mint debate.

臣伏讀鑄錢之詔，平輕重之義，訪覃幽微，不遺窮賤，是以藿食之人，謬延逮及。蓋以當今之憂，不在於貨，在乎人饑。是以先王觀象育物，敬授民時，使男不逋畝，女不下機，故君臣之道行，王路之教通。由是言之，食者乃有國之所寶，百姓之至貴也。竊以比年已來，良苗盡於蝗螟之口，杼柚空於公私之求。所急朝夕之食，所患靡盬之事，豈謂錢之厚薄，銖兩之輕重哉！就使當今沙礫化為南金，瓦石變為和玉，使百姓渴無所飲，饑無所食，雖皇羲之純德，唐虞之文明，猶不能以保蕭牆之內也。蓋百姓可百年無貨，不可以一朝有饑，故食為至急也。議者不達農殖之本，多言鑄冶之便，或欲因緣行詐，以賈國利。國利將盡，取者爭競，造鑄之端，於是乎生。蓋萬人鑄之，一人奪之，猶不能給，況今一人鑄之則萬人奪之乎！雖以陰陽為炭，萬物為銅，役不食之民，使不饑之士，猶不能足無厭之求也。夫欲民財殷阜，要在止役禁奪，則百姓不勞而足。陛下聖德，湣海內之憂戚，傷天下之艱難，欲鑄錢齊貨，以救其弊，此猶養魚沸鼎之中，棲鳥列火之上。木水，本魚鳥之所生也，用之不時，必至焦爛。願陛下寬鍥薄之禁，後冶鑄之議也。

Liu Tao thanked the edict for polling even commoners. Hunger trumped currency. Antiquity synchronized calendars so men farmed and women wove. Grain, not bronze, anchors the realm. Locusts ate shoots while taxes emptied looms. Bellies matter—not mintage specs. Gold paving starving streets buys no loyalty. People endure poverty of coin, never of rice. Mint lobbyists ignored tillage. When treasury thins, mint politics erupts. Ten thousand furnaces cannot feed one hoarder. No furnace satisfies infinite greed. End corvée and predation—wealth follows. Minting while peasants starve broils fish in steam. Misusing wood and water scorches the creatures they sustain. Delay mint schemes; loosen petty-tool bans.

帝竟不鑄錢。

The court dropped recoinage.

及獻帝初平中，董卓乃更鑄小錢，由是貨輕而物貴，穀一斛至錢數百萬。至魏武為相，於是罷之，還用五銖。是時不鑄錢既久，貨本不多，又更無增益，故穀賤無已。及，魏文帝罷五銖錢，使百姓以穀帛為市。至明帝世，錢廢穀用既久，人間巧偽漸多，競濕穀以要利，作薄絹以為市，雖處以嚴刑而不能禁也。司馬芝等舉朝大議，以為用錢非徒豐國，亦所以省刑。今若更鑄五銖錢，則國豐刑省，於事為便。魏明帝乃更立五銖錢，至晉用之，不聞有所改創。孫權，鑄大錢一當五百。，又鑄當千錢。故呂蒙定荊州，孫權賜錢一億。錢既太貴，但有空名，人間患之。權聞百姓不以為便，省息之，鑄為器物，官勿復出也。私家有者，並以輸藏，平卑其直，勿有所枉。

Chuping debasement sent grain to millions per hu. Cao Cao restored five-zhu coin. Without fresh bronze, grain prices slid forever. Wei Wendi voided metal for barter grain and bolts. Wei Mingdi watched soggy grain and tissue-thin silk defeat torture statutes. Sima Zhi argued coin fed treasury and emptied jails. Restoring five-zhu cuts fraud and fills bins. Wei Mingdi's five-zhu carried straight into Jin unchanged. Sun Quan struck heavy disks worth five hundred cash. He added thousand-to-one tokens. Lü Meng's Jingzhou coup earned a hundred-million string bonus. Nominal wealth, worthless metal—markets groaned. Sun Quan melted the bubble coin into bronze ware and stopped minting. Households redeemed hoards at fair melt weight.

晉自中原喪亂，元帝過江，用孫氏舊錢，輕重雜行，大者謂之比輪，中者謂之四文。吳興沈充又鑄小錢，謂之沈郎錢。錢既不多，由是稍貴。孝武，詔曰：「錢，國之重寶，小人貪利，銷壞無已，監司當以為意。廣州夷人寶貴銅鼓，而州境素不出銅，聞官私賈人皆於此下貪比輪錢斤兩差重，以入廣州，貨與夷人，鑄敗作鼓。其重為禁制，得者科罪。」安帝元興中，桓玄輔政，立議欲廢錢用穀帛。孔琳之議曰：

Eastern Jin recycled Wu coin—large bi-lun disks and medium four-character pieces. Wuxing's Shen Chong clipped 'Shen Lang' petty cash. Thin supply drove bronze dear. Xiaowu warned against melting coin for scrap. Cantonese tribes prized drums—merchants exported heavy Wu coin south to melt into gongs. Ban drum smuggling under penalty. Yuanxing regent Huan Xuan pushed grain-silk currency. Kong Linzhi rebutted him.

《洪範》八政，貨為食次，豈不以交易所資，為用之至要者乎！若使百姓用力于為錢，則是妨為生之業，禁之可也。今農自務穀，工自務器，各隸其業，何嘗致勤于錢。故聖王制無用之貨，以通有用之財，既無毀敗之費，又省難運之苦，此錢所以嗣功龜貝，歷代不廢者也。穀帛為寶，本充衣食，分以為貨，則致損甚多。又勞毀于商販之手，秏棄於割截之用，此之為弊，著自於曩。故鐘繇曰，巧偽之人，競濕穀以要利，制薄絹以充資。魏世制以嚴刑，弗能禁也。是以司馬芝以為用錢非徒豐國，亦所以省刑。錢之不用，由於兵亂積久，自致於廢，有由而然，漢末是也。今既用而廢之，則百姓頓亡其利。今括囊天下之穀，以周天下之食，或倉廩充溢，或糧靡並儲，以相資通，則貧者仰富。致富之道，實假于錢，一朝斷之，便為棄物。是有錢無糧之人，皆坐而饑困，以此斷之，又立弊也。且據今用錢之處，不以為貧，用穀之處，不以為富。又人習來久，革之必惑。語曰，利不百，不易業，況又錢便於穀邪！魏明帝時錢廢，穀用既久，不以便於人，乃舉朝大議。精才達政之士莫不以宜復用錢，下無異情，朝無異論。彼尚舍穀帛而用錢，足以明穀帛之弊著於已誡也。世或謂魏氏不用錢久，積累巨萬，故欲行之，利公富國，斯殆不然。晉文後舅犯之謀，而先成季之信，以為雖有一時之勳，不如萬世之益。于時名賢在列，君子盈朝，大謀天下之利害，將定經國之要術。若穀實便錢，義不昧當時之近利，而廢永用之通業，斷可知矣。斯實由困而思革，改而更張耳。近孝武之末，天下無事，時和年豐，百姓樂業，穀帛殷阜，幾乎家給人足，驗之實事，錢又不妨人也。頃兵革屢興，荒饉薦及，饑寒未振，實此之由。公既援而拯之，大革視聽，弘敦本之教，明廣農之科，敬授人時，各從其業，遊蕩知反，務末自休，同以南畝競力，野無遺壤矣。於此以往，將升平必至，何衣食之足恤！愚謂救弊之術，無取于廢錢。

Hong Fan ranks grain above currency. Ban mint labor if it steals farm time. Farmers and smiths never mined—they traded. Coin replaced shells because it moved cheaply. Turning food bolts into cash ruins cloth. Bolt currency shredded in merchants' claws. Zhong Yao warned wet grain and gauze silk. Wei torture never stopped bolt fraud. Sima Zhi tied coin to lighter torture. War retired coin late Han—not policy genius. Banning coin now strands savings. Regional glut and dearth even out through cash markets. Wealth rides bronze—cut it and savings rot. Urban cash holders starve if grain alone trades. Coin provinces aren't poorer than barter zones. Long habit resists currency shocks. Proverbs demand hundredfold gain before switching trades—coin beats grain. Wei Mingdi's grain era sparked court-wide remint debates. Every minister voted bronze back. Their unanimous remint proved bolt-money failed. Gossip wrongly credits Wei greed for remint. Jin Wen honored lasting loyalty over quick raids—that framed their monetary ethics. That court weighed eternal policy—not petty mint profits. Had grain topped coin, sages would have kept barter. They reminted from crisis, not whim. Xiaowu's peace showed coin compatible with plenty. Today's want came from spears, not sycee. You, Lord Huan, already preach husbandry—finish that before demonetizing. Peace will fill bellies without banning coin. Fix farms, not mints.

朝議多同琳之，故玄議不行。

Kong Linzhi won the hall; Huan Xuan's barter scheme died.

Cite this Chapter