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食貨志下
Finance and Economics, Part Two
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征商之法，則自太祖置羊城於炭山北，起榷務以通諸道市易。 太宗得燕，置南京，城北有市，百物山偫，命有司治其征； 余四京及它州縣貨產懋遷之地，置亦如之。 東平郡城中置看樓，分南、北市，禺中交易市北，午漏下交易市南。 雄州、高昌、渤海亦立互市，以通南宋西北諸部、高麗之貨，故女直以金、帛、布、蜜、蠟諸藥材，及鐵離、靺鞨、於厥等部以蛤珠、青鼠、貂鼠、膠魚之皮、牛羊駝馬、毳罽等物，來易於遼者，道路繦屬。 聖宗統和初，燕京留守司言，民艱食，請弛居庸關稅，以通山西糴易。 又令有司諭諸行宮，布帛短狹不中尺度者，不鬻於市。 明年，詔以南、北府市場人少，宜率當部車百乘赴集。 開奇峰路以通易州貿易。 二十三年，振武軍及保州並置榷場。 時北院大王耶律室魯以俸羊多闕，部人貧乏，請以羸老之羊及皮毛易南中之絹，上下為便。 至天祚之亂，賦斂既重，交易法壞，財日匱而民日困矣。
Merchant taxation began under Taizu, when he established the Sheep Market north of Coal Mountain and opened monopoly trading offices to facilitate commerce along the highways. After Taizong seized the Yan region, he made it the Southern Capital. A market north of the city wall teemed with goods heaped high as a hill, and he charged the authorities with collecting duties on it; The same arrangement was made at the other four capitals and in prefectures and counties wherever goods were plentiful and trade was active. In the Dongping commandery seat they built a watchtower and divided trade between southern and northern markets: business in the northern market ran through the Wei hour (9–11 a.m.), and in the southern market after midday. Mutual markets were also opened at Xiongzhou, Gaochang, and Bohai to channel goods from the northwestern tribes beyond Song territory and from Korea. Jurchen traders brought gold, textiles, cloth, honey, wax, and medicinal products; tribes such as Tieli, Mohe, and Yujue brought clam pearls, blue voles, sable, fish glue and hides, livestock, and felts to exchange in Liao territory, and the trade routes were unbroken with caravans. Early in Emperor Shengzong's Tonghe reign, the Yanjing military commission reported that the populace lacked grain and asked that customs duties at Juyong Pass be eased so that Shanxi grain could be brought in. He further directed officials to notify all traveling palaces that cloth and silk below standard length or width was not to be offered for sale. The following year an edict noted sparse attendance at the southern and northern palace markets and ordered each responsible tribe to muster a hundred cart-loads of goods for the fairs. The Qifeng route was opened to facilitate trade with Yizhou. In year 23, monopoly border markets were established at Zhenwu Army and Baozhou. At that time Yelü Shilu, grandee of the Northern Chancellery, reported that stipend sheep were chronically short and his tribesmen were impoverished; he asked to exchange old or weak sheep and hides for southern silk, which met with approval at every level. By the turmoil of Emperor Tianzuo's reign, levies had grown crushing, commercial regulations had collapsed, and both treasury and populace sank ever deeper into want.
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鹽筴之法，則自太祖以所得漢民數多，即八部中分古漢城別為一部治之。 城在炭山南，有鹽池之利，即後魏滑鹽縣也，八部皆取食之。 及征幽、薊還，次於鶴剌濼，命取鹽給軍。 自後濼中鹽益多，上下足用。 會同初，太宗有大造於晉，晉獻十六州地，而瀛、莫在焉，始得河間煮海之利，置榷鹽院於香河縣，於是燕、雲迤北暫食滄鹽。 一時產鹽之地如渤海、鎮城、海陽、豐州、陽洛城、廣濟湖等處，五京計司各以其地領之。 其煎取之制，歲出之額，不可得而詳矣。
The salt monopoly dated from Taizu, who, having absorbed large numbers of Han subjects, carved Ancient Han City out of the eight tribes as a separate administrative division for their governance. The settlement lay south of Coal Mountain near productive salt ponds—the site of the Later Wei Huayan Salt county—and all eight tribes drew their salt from it. On returning from the You and Ji campaign, he encamped at Hela Marsh and ordered salt drawn from the ponds to supply the army. Thereafter salt from the marshlands grew plentiful, and court and camp alike had enough. Early in the Huitong era, after Taizong's decisive aid to the Later Jin, the Jin ceded the Sixteen Prefectures—including Ying and Mo—and Liao gained access to Hejian's sea-salt industry. A salt monopoly bureau was set up in Xianghe county, and for a time the Yan and Yun regions northward relied on Cangzhou salt. Salt-producing districts such as Bohai, Zhencheng, Haiyang, Fengzhou, Yangluo city, and Guangji Lake were placed under the respective accounting offices of the five capitals. The methods of boiling and extraction and the annual output quotas cannot be recovered in detail.
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坑冶，則自太祖始並室韋，其地產銅、鐵、金、銀，其人善作銅鐵器。 又有曷術部者多鐵，「曷術」，國語鐵也。 部置三冶：曰柳濕河，曰三黜古斯，曰手山。 神冊初，平渤海，得廣州，本渤海鐵利府，改曰鐵利州，地亦多鐵。 東平縣本漢襄平縣故地，產鐵礦，置采煉者三百戶，隨賦供納。 以諸坑冶多在國東，故東京置戶部司，長春州置錢帛司。 太祖征幽、薊，師還，次山麓，得銀、鐵礦，命置冶。 聖宗太平間，於潢河北陰山及遼河之源，各得金、銀礦，興冶采煉。 自此以訖天祚，國家皆賴其利。
Mining and smelting began when Taizu first annexed the Shiwei, whose lands yielded copper, iron, gold, and silver and whose people were skilled metalworkers. The Heshu tribe also possessed abundant iron deposits—"heshu" being the Khitan word for iron. Three smelting works were established for the tribe: at Liushi River, San Chugusi, and Shoushan. Early in the Shence era, after the conquest of Bohai, Guangzhou was taken—it had been Bohai's Tieli prefecture and was renamed Tieli prefecture, another iron-rich district. Dongping county occupied the site of the Han dynasty's Xiangping county. Iron ore was mined there, and three hundred smelting households were registered to deliver tribute as assessed. Because most mines lay in the eastern territories, a Households Bureau was set up at the Eastern Capital and a Money and Textiles Bureau at Changchun prefecture. On returning from the You and Ji campaign, Taizu encamped in the foothills, discovered silver and iron deposits, and ordered smelting works built. During Emperor Shengzong's Taiping reign, gold and silver deposits were found north of the Yin Mountains along the Huang River and at the headwaters of the Liao River, and smelting operations were opened. From that time until Tianzuo's reign, the state depended on these revenues.
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鼓鑄之法，先代撒剌的為夷離堇，以土產多銅，始造錢幣。 太祖其子，襲而用之，遂致富強，以開帝業。 太宗置五冶太師，以總四方錢鐵。 石敬瑭又獻沿邊所積錢，以備軍實。 景宗以舊錢不足於用，始鑄乾亨新錢，錢用流布。 聖宗鑿大安山，取劉守光所藏錢，散諸五計司，兼鑄太平錢，新舊互用。 由是國家之錢，演迤域中。 所以統和出內藏錢，賜南京諸軍司。 開泰中詔諸道，貧乏百姓，有典質男女，計傭價日以十文，折盡還父母。 每歲春秋，以官錢宴饗將士，錢不勝多，故東京所鑄至清寧中始用。 是時，詔禁諸路不得貨銅鐵，以防私鑄，又禁銅鐵賣入回鶻，法益嚴矣。 道宗之世，錢有四等：曰咸雍，曰大康，曰大安，曰壽隆，皆因改元易名。 其肉好、銖數亦無所考。 第詔楊遵勖征戶部司逋戶舊錢，得四十餘萬繦，拜樞密直學士； 劉伸為戶部使，歲入羨余錢三十萬繦，擢南院樞密使。 其以災沴，出錢以振貧乏及諸宮分邊戍人戶。 是時，雖未有貫朽不可較之積，亦可謂富矣。 至其末年，經費浩穰，鼓鑄仍舊，國用不給。 雖以海雲佛寺千萬之助，受而不拒，尋禁民錢不得出境。 天祚之世，更鑄乾統、天慶二等新錢，而上下窮困，府庫無餘積。
Coinage began in an earlier generation when Saladi served as yilijin: local copper was abundant, and he was the first to cast money. Taizu, his son, adopted the practice and grew wealthy and powerful enough to found the dynasty. Taizong appointed a Grand Master of the Five Smelteries to supervise coinage and ironworks throughout the realm. Shi Jingtang further presented hoarded border-region coin to provision the armies. When old coin proved inadequate, Emperor Jingzong introduced new Qianheng currency, which circulated widely. Emperor Shengzong opened Da'an Mountain, recovered the treasure Liu Shouguang had buried there, distributed it among the five accounting offices, and cast Taiping coin alongside the old issues. National currency thus spread throughout the realm. During the Tonghe era, funds from the inner treasury were distributed to the military commissions of the Southern Capital. In the Kaitai era an edict to all circuits ordered that impoverished subjects who had pawned children should redeem them at ten cash per day of service until the debt was cleared and the children restored to their parents. Each spring and autumn the court feasted officers and soldiers with official coin; supply so exceeded demand that Eastern Capital coinage was not brought into circulation until the Qingning era. Edicts then barred all circuits from trading in copper and iron to prevent illicit minting and from selling metal to the Uyghurs—regulations that grew ever stricter. Under Emperor Daozong four coin types were issued—Xianyong, Dakang, Da'an, and Shoulong—each renamed with a new reign era. The dimensions, hole size, and weight in zhu cannot be determined from surviving records. An edict sent Yang Zunxu to collect delinquent old coin owed to the Households Bureau; he recovered more than four hundred thousand strings and was made privy council academician; Liu Shen, as households commissioner, delivered three hundred thousand strings in annual surplus and was promoted to privy councilor of the Southern Chancellery. When disasters struck, coin was issued to relieve the poor and to support palace estates and frontier garrison households. Though the treasury had not yet reached the proverbial heaps of cash rotting on the strings, the state could fairly be called prosperous. In his final years expenditures swelled while minting continued unchanged, and revenue no longer met demand. Though a donation of tens of millions from Haiyun Monastery was accepted without demur, private coin was soon barred from leaving the realm. Under Emperor Tianzuo new Qiantong and Tianqing coin were minted, yet court and country alike were destitute and the treasuries held no reserve.
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始太祖為叠烈府夷離堇也，懲遙輦氏單弱，於是撫諸部，明賞罰，不妄征討，因民之利而利之，群牧蓄息，上下給足。 及即位，伐河東，下代北郡縣，獲牛、羊、駝、馬十餘萬。 樞密使耶律斜軫討女直，復獲馬二十餘萬，分牧水草便地，數歲所增不勝算。 當時括富人馬不加多，賜大、小鶻軍萬餘匹不加少，蓋畜牧有法然也。 咸雍五年，蕭陶隗為馬群太保，上書猶言群牧名存實亡，上下相欺，宜括實數以為定籍。 厥後東丹國歲貢千匹，女直萬匹，直不古等國萬匹，阻卜及吾獨婉、惕德各二萬匹，西夏、室韋各三百匹，越裏篤、剖阿裏、奧裏米、蒲奴裏、鐵驪等諸部三百匹； 仍禁朔州路羊馬入宋，吐渾、党項馬鬻於夏。 以故群牧滋繁，數至百有餘萬，諸司牧官以次進階。 自太祖及興宗垂二百年，群牧之盛如一日。 天祚初年，馬猶有數萬群，每群不下千匹。 祖宗舊制，常選南征馬數萬匹，牧於雄、霸、清、滄間，以備燕、雲緩急； 復選數萬，給四時遊畋； 餘則分地以牧。 法至善也。 至末年，累與金戰，番漢戰馬損十六七，雖增價數倍，竟無所買，乃冒法買官馬從軍。 諸群牧私賣日多，畋獵亦不足用，遂為金所敗。 棄眾播遷，以訖於亡。 松漠以北舊馬，皆為大石林牙所有。
When Taizu was yilijin of the Dielie prefecture, mindful of the Yaolian clan's weakness, he conciliated the tribes, enforced clear rewards and punishments, refrained from reckless campaigns, and pursued policies that enriched the people. Herds multiplied, and court and camp alike had enough. After his accession he campaigned in Hedong, seized the commanderies north of Dai, and captured more than a hundred thousand head of cattle, sheep, camels, and horses. Privy councilor Yelü Xiezhen campaigned against the Jurchen and captured another two hundred thousand horses, which were pastured on favorable grazing grounds; within a few years the herds had grown beyond reckoning. When wealthy households' herds were inventoried, the totals did not swell; when more than ten thousand horses were granted to the Great and Small Hawk Armies, the national herds did not shrink—pasturage was governed by sound regulation. In Xianyong year 5, Xiao Taokui, grand guardian of horse herds, memorialized that herd administration existed in name only, officials and tribesmen deceived one another, and a true census should be taken to establish a fixed register. Thereafter annual tribute included a thousand horses from Dongdan, ten thousand from the Jurchen, ten thousand from Zhibugu and allied states, twenty thousand each from Zubu, Wuduwann, and Tede, three hundred each from Western Xia and the Shiwei, and three hundred each from tribes including Yuelidu, Pou'ali, Aolimi, Punuli, and Tieli; Sheep and horses on the Shuozhou route were barred from sale to Song territory, and Tuhun and Tangut horses from sale to Western Xia. Herds therefore flourished until they exceeded a million head, and pasture officials were promoted in steady succession. From Taizu through Emperor Xingzong, nearly two centuries, the herds remained as abundant as on a single prosperous day. Early in Tianzuo's reign tens of thousands of herds still remained, each numbering no fewer than a thousand horses. By ancestral regulation tens of thousands of campaign horses were pastured between Xiong, Ba, Qing, and Cang to meet emergencies in the Yan and Yun regions; another several tens of thousands were set aside for the four seasons of imperial hunts; the remainder were distributed to pasture by district. The system was admirably conceived. In his final years, after repeated wars with the Jin, Khitan and Han campaign horses were lost at a rate of six or seven in ten. Prices were raised several times over, yet no horses could be procured; men violated the law by purchasing government horses for military service. Official herds were sold off illicitly with growing frequency, even the hunt lacked mounts, and the dynasty was overrun by the Jin. The emperor abandoned his followers and fled into exile until the state perished. The herds north of Songmo passed to the Great Stone Yabgu.
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遼之食貨其可見者如是耳。 至於鄰國歲幣，諸屬國歲貢土宜，雖累朝軍國經費多所仰給，然非本國所出，況名數已見《本紀》，茲不復載。
Such is the extent of what can be known of Liao finance and economics. As for annual payments from neighboring states and tribute in local products from subject peoples—though successive reigns drew heavily on these revenues for military and civil expenditure—they were not domestic production; moreover the figures already appear in the "Basic Annals" and are not repeated here.
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夫冀北宜馬，海濱宜鹽，無以議為。 遼地半沙磧，三時多寒，春秋耕獲及其時，黍稌高下因其地，蓋不得與中土同矣。 然而遼自初年，農谷充羨，振饑恤難，用不少靳，旁及鄰國，沛然有餘，果何道而致其利歟？ 此無他，勸課得人，規措有法故也。 世之論錢幣者，恒患其重滯之難致，鼓鑄之弗給也，於是楮幣權宜之法興焉。 西北之通舟楫，比之東南，十才一二。 遼之方盛，貨泉流衍，國用以殷，給戍賞征，賜與億萬，未聞有所謂楮幣也，又何道而致其便歟？ 此無他，舊儲新鑄，並聽民用故也。 孟子曰：「周於利者，凶年不能殺。」 人力茍至，一夫猶足以勝時災，況為國乎！ 以是知善謀國者，有道以制天時、地利之宜，無往而不遂其志。 食莫大於谷，貨莫大於錢，特誌二者，以表遼初用事之臣，亦善裕其國者矣。
That Ji's northern lands suit horses and the coast suits salt is beyond dispute. Liao territory was half desert, and cold dominated three seasons of the year. Spring and autumn farming followed their proper seasons, and millet and broomcorn were planted according to local conditions—conditions that could not match the Central Plains. Yet from its earliest years Liao enjoyed overflowing granaries, relieved famine generously, spent freely at home and abroad, and still had surplus—by what means did it secure such abundance? The answer is simple: agricultural policy was entrusted to capable men, and fiscal planning followed sound methods. Monetary theorists perennially lament the difficulty of moving heavy coin and the inadequacy of mint output—hence the expedient of paper currency. Waterborne commerce in the northwest amounted to perhaps a tenth of that in the southeast. At Liao's height, coin circulated freely, the treasury was flush, garrisons were supplied, campaigns rewarded, and gifts dispensed by the millions—yet no paper currency was ever issued. How was such ease achieved? Again the answer is simple: old hoards and new minting alike were permitted for general circulation. Mencius said, "One who is thorough in profit cannot be destroyed even in years of famine. Where human effort is fully applied, even a single man can overcome seasonal disaster—how much more a state! From this we see that a ruler who governs well has means to adapt to season and terrain and succeeds wherever he turns. Nothing in sustenance exceeds grain, nothing in commerce exceeds coin; these two subjects are recorded here to show that the ministers who shaped early Liao knew how to enrich the realm.