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食貨志上
Finance and Economics, Part One
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契丹舊俗，其富以馬，其強以兵。 縱馬於野，弛兵於民。 有事而戰。 廣騎介夫，卯命辰集。 馬逐水草，人仰湩酪，挽強射生，以給日用，糗糧芻茭，道在是矣。 以是制勝，所向無前。 及其有國，內建宗廟朝廷，外置郡縣牧守，制度日增，經費日廣，上下相師，服御浸盛，而食貨之用斯為急矣。 於是五京及長春、遼西、平州置鹽鐵、轉運、度支、錢帛諸司，以掌出納。 其制數差等雖不可悉，而大要散見舊史。 若農谷、租賦、鹽鐵、貿易、坑冶、泉幣、群牧，逐類采摭，緝而為篇，以存一代食貸之略。
By ancient Khitan custom, wealth was measured in horses and strength in arms. Horses were turned loose on the open steppe, and warriors were dispersed among the clans. They fought only when need arose. Cavalry and infantry were mustered far and wide—orders given at dawn, all gathered by mid-morning. Horses followed pasture and water; people lived on kumiss and curds, drew powerful bows to hunt game for their daily fare, and carried dried provisions and fodder—the whole economy rested on this. With this they won their victories and swept all before them. Once they possessed a realm, they built ancestral temples and a court within and established commanderies, districts, and prefectural governors without. Institutions multiplied day by day, expenditures swelled, and court and countryside alike grew ever more lavish in dress and display—until the management of finance and supplies became a pressing concern. Accordingly, at the Five Capitals and at Changchun, Liaoxi, and Pingzhou, they set up salt-and-iron, transport, expenditure, and coin-and-silk bureaus to oversee revenue and outlay. Though the full gradations of these institutions cannot be recovered in every detail, their broad outlines appear here and there in the older annals. Grain and agriculture, rents and levies, salt and iron, trade, mining and smelting, currency, and herd management are therefore gathered by category and woven into this chapter, to preserve an outline of the dynasty's economic affairs.
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初，皇祖勻德實為大叠烈府夷離堇，喜稼穡，善畜牧，相地利以教民耕。 仲父述瀾為於越，飭國人樹桑麻，習組織。 太祖平諸弟之亂，弭兵輕賦，專意於農。 嘗以戶口滋繁，糺轄疏遠，分北大濃兀為二部，程以樹藝，諸部效之。
In the beginning, the imperial ancestor Junde, as yilijin of the Dadielie Prefecture, took pleasure in farming and excelled at animal husbandry, teaching the people to till the land according to local conditions. His uncle Shulü, serving as yuyue, directed the people to plant mulberry and hemp and to learn weaving. After the Taizu Emperor suppressed his brothers' rebellion, he stilled the armies, lightened taxes, and devoted himself wholly to agriculture. When the population grew and supervisory districts became too remote to manage, he divided the northern Beidanu into two divisions, set planting quotas for each, and the other tribes followed suit.
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太宗會同初，將東獵，三克奏減輜重，疾趨北山取物，以備國用，無害農務。 尋詔有司勸農桑，教紡績。 以烏古之地水草豐美，命甌昆石烈居之，益以海勒水之善地為農田。 三年，詔以諧裏河、臚朐河近地，賜南院歐堇突呂、乙斯勃、北院溫納河剌三石烈人，以事耕種。 八年，駐蹕赤山，宴從臣問軍國要務。 左右對曰：「軍國之務，愛民為本。 民富則兵足，兵足則國強。」 上深然之。 是年，詔征諸道兵，仍戒敢有傷禾稼者以軍法論。
Early in the Huitong era, as the Taizong Emperor prepared an eastern hunt, Sanke memorialized to cut down the baggage train, hurry to the northern mountains to gather supplies for the treasury, and spare the farmers their labor. Soon afterward he issued an edict ordering the responsible offices to promote farming and sericulture and to teach spinning and weaving. Because the Wugu territory offered rich pasture and water, he settled the Oukun shilie there and added the fertile banks of the Haile River as farmland. In the third year, an edict granted lands along the Heli and Luju Rivers to the Oujintulü and Yisibo shilie of the Southern Administration and the Wenahela shilie of the Northern Administration for cultivation. In the eighth year, while encamped at Red Mountain, he feasted his ministers and asked them about the essential affairs of army and state. Those beside him answered: "In the affairs of army and state, the welfare of the people must come first. When the people prosper, the army is full; when the army is full, the state is strong. The emperor was deeply persuaded. That same year he issued an edict to levy troops from all circuits, with the warning that anyone who harmed standing grain would be punished under military law.
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應歷間，雲州進嘉禾，時謂重農所召。 保寧七年，漢有宋兵，使來乞糧，詔賜粟二十萬斛助之。 非經費有餘，其能若是？
During the Yingli era, Yunzhou presented stalks of auspicious grain, which contemporaries regarded as a sign of the court's devotion to farming. In the seventh year of Baoning, when the Han faced Song armies, their envoy came to request grain, and the court granted two hundred thousand hu to aid them. Without a treasury in surplus, how could they have done as much?
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聖宗乾亨五年詔曰：「五稼不登，開帑藏而代民稅； 螟蝗為災，罷徭役以恤饑貧。」 統和三年，帝嘗過槁城，見乙室奧隗部下婦人迪輦等黍過熟未獲，遣人助刈。 太師韓德讓言，兵後逋民棄業，禾稼棲畝，募人獲之，以半給獲者。 政事令室昉亦言，山西諸州給軍興，民力雕敝，田谷多躪於邊兵，請復今年租。 六年，霜旱，災民饑，詔三司，舊以稅錢折粟，估價不實，其增以利民。 又徙吉避寨居民三百戶於檀、順、薊三州，擇沃壤，給牛、種谷。 十三年，詔諸道置義倉。 歲秋，社民隨所獲，戶出粟庤倉，社司籍其目。 歲儉，發以振民。 十五年，詔免南京舊欠義倉粟，仍禁諸軍官非時畋牧妨農。 開泰元年，詔曰：「朕惟百姓徭役煩重，則多給工價； 年谷不登，發倉以貸； 田園蕪廢者，則給牛種以助之。」 太平初幸燕，燕民以年豐進土產珍異。 上禮高年，惠鰥寡，賜酺連日。 九年，燕地饑，戶部副使王嘉請造船，募習海漕者，移遼東粟餉燕，議者稱道險不便而寢。
In the fifth year of Qianheng, the Shengzong Emperor proclaimed: "When the five grains fail to ripen, open the treasury and pay the people's taxes for them; when caterpillars and locusts bring disaster, suspend corvée labor to relieve the hungry and destitute. In the third year of Tonghe, passing through Gaocheng, the emperor saw women of the Yishi'ao tribe—Dilian among them—whose millet had passed ripeness yet stood unharvested, and he sent men to help them reap. Grand Preceptor Han Derang reported that after the wars, fugitive peasants had abandoned their fields and grain stood ungathered in the furrows; he proposed hiring laborers to harvest it and giving them half the yield. Chief Administrator Shi Fang also reported that the western Shanxi prefectures, burdened with military expenses, had exhausted the people and much standing grain had been trampled by frontier troops; he asked that this year's rent be remitted. In the sixth year, frost and drought brought famine; an edict to the Three Departments noted that tax payments converted to grain had been undervalued and ordered the conversion rate raised for the people's benefit. Three hundred households from Jibi Stockade were also resettled in Tan, Shun, and Ji prefectures on fertile land, with oxen and seed grain provided. In the thirteenth year, an edict ordered every circuit to establish charity granaries. Each autumn, commune members contributed grain in proportion to their harvest, household by household, to fill the granary, and the commune office kept the register. In lean years, the stores were opened to relieve the people. In the fifteenth year, an edict remitted old debts of charity-granary grain at Nanjing and forbade military officers from hunting or grazing out of season in ways that would harm the crops. In the first year of Kaitai, an edict declared: "When corvée labor weighs too heavily on the people, increase their wages; when the harvest fails, open the granaries and lend grain; for those whose fields lie fallow, provide oxen and seed to help them restore cultivation. Early in the Taiping era, on a visit to Yan, the people of Yan, rejoicing in a bountiful harvest, presented local delicacies and rare produce. The emperor honored the elderly, showed kindness to widows and orphans, and granted public feasts for days on end. In the ninth year, famine struck the Yan region; Vice Commissioner Wang Jia of the Household Bureau proposed building ships, recruiting men skilled in sea transport, and shipping grain from Liaodong to feed Yan—but critics declared the route too perilous, and the plan was abandoned.
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興宗即位，遣使閱諸道禾稼。 是年，通括戶口，詔曰：「朕於早歲，習知稼穡。 力辦者廣務耕耘，罕聞輸納； 家食者全虧種植，多至流亡。 宜通檢括，普遂均平。」 禁諸職官不得擅造酒糜谷； 有婚祭者，有司給文字始聽。
When the Xingzong Emperor ascended the throne, he dispatched envoys to inspect the grain crops in every circuit. That year, a general household registration was ordered, and an edict declared: "In my youth I learned the ways of farming. Those who toiled diligently in the fields rarely paid their dues; those who lived off others' labor neglected planting altogether, and many fled as refugees. A thorough registration is needed so that burdens may be fairly shared. Officials were forbidden to brew wine and waste grain on their own authority; for weddings or sacrifices, the responsible offices had to issue written authorization first.
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道宗初年，西北雨谷三十里，春州鬥粟六錢。 時西蕃多叛，上欲為守禦計，命耶律唐古督耕稼以給西軍。 唐古率眾田臚朐河側，歲登上熟。 移屯鎮州，凡十四稔，積粟數十萬斛，每鬥不過數錢。 以馬人望前為南京度支判官，公私兼裕，檢括戶口，用法平恕，乃遷中京度支使。 視事半歲，積粟十五萬斛，擢左散騎常侍。 遼之農谷至是為盛。 而東京如咸、信、蘇、復、辰、海、同、銀、烏、遂、春、泰等五十餘城內，沿邊諸州，各有和糴倉，依祖宗法，出陳易新，許民自願假貸，收息二分。 所在無慮二三十萬碩，雖累兵興，未嘗用乏。 迨天慶間，金兵大入，盡為所有。 會天祚播遷，耶律敵烈等逼立梁王雅裏，令群牧人戶運鹽濼倉粟。 人戶侵耗，議籍其產以償。 雅裏自定其直：粟一車一羊，三車一牛，五車一馬，八車一駝。 從者曰：「今一羊易粟二斗，尚不可得，此直太輕。」 雅裏曰：「民有則我有。 若令盡償，眾何以堪？」 事雖無及，然使天未絕遼，斯言亦足以收人心矣。
Early in the Daozong Emperor's reign, grain reportedly rained across thirty li in the northwest, and at Chunzhou a dou of grain sold for six cash. With many western tribes in rebellion, the emperor sought to strengthen frontier defenses and ordered Yelü Tanggu to supervise farming to supply the western armies. Tanggu led his men to farm along the Luju River, and year after year they reaped abundant harvests. He then moved his encampment to Zhenzhou; over fourteen harvests he accumulated several hundred thousand hu, and grain sold for only a few cash per dou. Ma Renwangqian served as expenditure commissioner at Nanjing, where public and private stores alike prospered; he conducted household registration with fair and lenient application of the law, and was then promoted to expenditure commissioner at the Central Capital. Within half a year he had accumulated one hundred fifty thousand hu and was promoted to Left Regular Attendant. Never had Liao's grain production been so abundant. Within the Eastern Capital region—in more than fifty cities including Xian, Xin, Su, Fu, Chen, Hai, Tong, Yin, Wu, Sui, Chun, and Tai—and along the frontier prefectures, each locality maintained harmonized-purchase granaries. By ancestral regulation, old grain was released and new grain taken in; voluntary loans to the people were permitted at two percent interest. Each store held no less than two or three hundred thousand shi; despite repeated warfare, supplies never ran short. By the Tianqing era, when Jin armies swept in, all of it fell into their hands. When the Tianzuo Emperor was driven into exile, Yelü Dilie and others forced the installation of Prince Liang Yali and ordered the herd-management households to transport grain from the Yanliao granary. Households suffered losses in transit, and officials proposed registering their property to make them pay compensation. Yali himself set the compensation rates: one cartload of grain for one sheep, three cartloads for one ox, five for one horse, eight for one camel. A follower protested: "Today one sheep cannot even buy two dou of grain—these rates are far too lenient. Yali replied: "What the people possess, I possess. If I demand full compensation, how can the people endure it? Though nothing came of it in the end, had Heaven not abandoned Liao, this saying alone would have been enough to win the people's hearts.
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夫賦稅之制，自太祖任韓延徽，始制國用。 太宗籍五京戶丁以定賦稅，戶丁之數無所於考。 聖宗乾亨間，以上京「雲為戶」訾具實饒，善避徭役，遺害貧民，遂勒各戶，凡子錢到本，悉送歸官，與民均差。 統和中，耶律昭言，西北之眾，每歲農時，一夫偵候，一夫治公田，二夫給糺官之役。 當時沿邊各置屯田戍兵，易田積穀以給軍餉。 故太平七年詔，諸屯田在官斛粟不得擅貨，在屯者力耕公田，不輸稅賦，此公田制也。 餘民應募，或治閑田，或治私田，則計畝出粟以賦公上。 統和十五年，募民耕灤河曠地，十年始租，此在官閑田制也。 又詔山前後未納稅戶，並於密雲、燕樂兩縣，占田置業入稅，此私田制也。 各部大臣從上征伐，俘掠人戶，自置郛郭，為頭下軍州。 凡市井之賦各歸頭下，惟酒稅赴納上京，此分頭下軍州賦為二等也。
The system of levies and taxes dates from the Taizu Emperor's employment of Han Yanhui, who first established state revenues. The Taizong Emperor registered household males in the Five Capitals to fix levies and taxes, though the exact numbers can no longer be verified. During the Shengzong Emperor's Qianheng era, at the Supreme Capital the "cloud-as-household" registers were assessed as genuinely wealthy and adept at evading corvée, to the detriment of the poor; the court then ordered that whenever loan interest reached the principal, the full sum be surrendered to the government, and corvée burdens equalized among the people. During the Tonghe era, Yelü Zhao reported that among the northwestern populace, each farming season one man served as scout, one worked the public fields, and two performed corvée for supervisory officials. At that time, garrison-farming troops were posted along the frontiers, tilling fields and stockpiling grain to supply the armies. Hence an edict in the seventh year of Taiping: at all garrison farms, government grain might not be sold without authorization; garrison personnel were to work public fields and pay no taxes—this was the public-field system. Other people who answered the call, whether working idle land or private fields, paid grain to the government according to the acreage cultivated. In the fifteenth year of Tonghe, commoners were recruited to farm vacant land along the Luan River, with rent due only after ten years—this was the system for idle government land. Another edict required untaxed households south and north of the mountains to establish holdings in Miyun and Yanyue counties and enter the tax rolls—this was the private-field system. Ministers of the various tribes who followed the emperor on campaign captured households, built their own walled settlements, and established touxia military prefectures. All market levies went to the touxia lord; only the wine tax was remitted to the Supreme Capital—thus touxia military prefecture levies were divided into two classes.
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先是，遼東新附地不榷酤，而鹽曲之禁亦弛。 馮延休、韓紹勛相繼商利，欲與燕地平山例加繩約，其民病之，遂起大延琳之亂。 連年詔復其租民，民始安靖。 南京歲納三司鹽鐵錢折絹，大同歲納三司稅錢折粟。 開遠軍故事，民歲輸稅，鬥粟折五錢，耶律抹只守郡，表請折六錢，亦皆利民善政也。
Previously, in the newly submitted lands of Liaodong, wine was not monopolized and restrictions on salt and yeast were likewise relaxed. Feng Yanxiu and Han Shaoxun, one after another, pursued commercial profit and sought to impose the same regulations as at Pingshan in the Yan region; the people rebelled, and the great Dazhonglin uprising broke out. For years afterward edicts restored their rents, and the people at last grew tranquil. Nanjing paid the Three Departments' salt-and-iron revenue in silk; Datong paid the Three Departments' tax revenue in grain. By precedent at Kaiyuan Army, yearly taxes were collected with each dou of grain valued at five cash; when Yelü Mozhi governed the commandery, he memorialized to raise the rate to six cash—all policies that served the people's welfare.