1
《記》曰：「取財於地，而取法於天。 富國之本，在於農桑。」 明初，沿元之舊，錢法不通而用鈔，又禁民間以銀交易，宜若不便於民。 而洪、永、熙、宣之際，百姓充實，府藏衍溢。 蓋是時，劭農務墾闢，土無萊蕪，人敦本業，又開屯田、中鹽以給邊軍，餫餉不仰藉於縣官，故上下交足，軍民胥裕。 其後，屯田壞於豪強之兼併，計臣變鹽法。 於是邊兵悉仰食太倉，轉輸住往不給。 世宗以後，耗財之道廣，府庫匱竭。 神宗乃加賦重徵，礦稅四出，移正供以實左藏。 中涓羣小，橫斂侵漁。 民多逐末，田卒汙萊。 吏不能拊循，而覆侵刻之。 海內困敝，而儲積益以空乏。 昧者多言復通鈔法可以富國，不知國初之充裕在勤農桑，而不在行鈔法也。 夫韁本節用，為理財之要。 明一代理財之道，始所以得，終所以失，條其本末，著於篇。
The Record states: "Draw wealth from the land, and take Heaven as your model. The foundation of a wealthy state lies in farming and silk production. In the early Ming, following Yuan precedent, coin did not circulate and paper money was used instead; private silver transactions were also banned — measures that would seem to burden the populace. Yet under the Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande emperors, the common people prospered and government storehouses brimmed with surplus. The reason was that in those years the state pressed hard to encourage farming and open new land; fields were not left wild, and people held faithfully to their base occupations. Military colonies and the salt-exchange system were also set up to feed frontier armies, so supply convoys did not have to rely on county government — and thus both high and low had plenty, soldiers and civilians alike. Later, military colonies were destroyed through land grabs by powerful magnates, and planning ministers revised the salt regulations. Border soldiers then came to depend entirely on the central granary, and supply convoys often failed to meet demand. After the Jiajing reign, avenues of spending multiplied and the public coffers ran dry. The Wanli Emperor responded with heavier assessments and surcharges; mining taxes sprang up on all sides, and regular revenue streams were diverted to fill the left-hand vault. Palace eunuchs and their petty hangers-on levied at will and preyed on the people. The people turned increasingly to commerce, and farmland in the end lay fallow and overgrown. Officials failed to soothe and guide them, and instead added fresh exactions. The realm fell into distress, even as stored grain and coin grew ever emptier. The misguided often argued that reviving paper currency would enrich the state, unaware that early Ming prosperity came from diligent agriculture and silk production, not from banknote policy. Strengthening the economic base and practicing frugality are the heart of sound fiscal policy. The Ming approach to state finance — how it first prospered and at last failed — is traced here from beginning to end in this chapter.
2
○戶口田制屯田莊田
○ Household Registers, Land Tenure, Military Colonies, and Estate Lands
3
太祖籍天下戶口，置戶帖、戶籍，具書名、歲、居地。 籍上戶部，帖給之民。 有司歲計其登耗以聞。 及郊祀，中書省以戶籍陳壇下，薦之天，祭畢而藏之。 洪武十四年詔天下編賦役黃冊，以一百十戶為一里，推丁糧多者十戶為長，餘百戶為十甲，甲凡十人。 歲役裏長一人，甲首一人，董一里一甲之事。 先後以丁糧多寡為序，凡十年一週，曰排年。 在城曰坊，近城曰廂，鄉都曰裏。 裏編為冊，冊首總為一圖。 鰥寡孤獨不任役者，附十甲後為畸零。 僧道給度牒，有田者編冊如民科，無田者亦為畸零。 每十年有司更定其冊，以丁糧增減而升降之。 冊凡四：一上戶部，其三則布政司、府、縣各存一焉。 上戶部者，冊面黃紙，故謂之黃冊。 年終進呈，送後湖東西二庫庋藏之。 歲命戶科給事中一人、御史二人、戶部主事四人釐校訛舛。 其後黃冊只具文，有司徵稅、編徭，則自為一冊，曰白冊云。
The Hongwu Emperor registered households empire-wide, issuing household slips and registers that recorded each person's name, age, and place of residence. Registers were filed with the Ministry of Revenue, and slips were distributed to each household. Each year local officials tallied gains and losses in population and reported upward. At suburban sacrifices, the Secretariat placed the household registers before the altar, presented them to Heaven, and after the ceremony put them in storage. In Hongwu 14 (1381) an edict ordered compilation of yellow registers for tax and labor service empire-wide: one hundred and ten households formed a li; the ten households with the heaviest adult-male and grain-tax burden became leaders, and the remaining hundred households were divided into ten jia of ten persons each. Each year one li chief and one jia head were called up for duty to oversee the affairs of their li and jia. Duty rotated in order of adult-male and grain-tax burden, completing a full cycle every ten years — the pai-nian rotation. Urban units were called fang, suburban ones xiang, and rural districts li. Each li was entered in a register, and the head of each register bore a summary chart for the whole district. Widowers, widows, orphans, and the solitary who could not perform labor service were listed after the ten jia as marginal (jiling) households. Monks and Daoist priests received ordination certificates; those who held land were registered and taxed like commoners, while landless clergy were also counted as marginal households. Every ten years local officials revised the registers, adjusting household rank up or down as adult-male and grain-tax obligations rose or fell. Each register existed in four copies: one sent to the Ministry of Revenue, and one each retained by the provincial administration commission, the prefecture, and the county. The copy filed with the Ministry of Revenue used yellow paper for its cover — hence the name yellow register (huangce). At year's end they were submitted and deposited in the eastern and western archives at Rear Lake. Each year one supervising secretary from the revenue section of the Secretariat, two censors, and four Ministry of Revenue principal secretaries were assigned to audit and correct discrepancies. In time the yellow register became a dead letter; for actual tax collection and corvée assignment local officials kept a separate working register known as the white register (baice).
4
凡戶三等：曰民，曰軍，曰匠。 民有儒，有醫，有陰陽。 軍有校尉，有力士，弓、鋪兵。 匠有廚役、裁縫、馬船之類。 瀕海有鹽竈。 寺有僧，觀有道士。 畢以其業著籍。 人戶以籍為斷，禁數姓合戶附籍。 漏口、脫戶，許自實。 裏設老人，選年高為眾所服者，導民善，平鄉里爭訟。 其人戶避徭役者曰逃戶。 年饑或避兵他徙者曰流民。 有故而出僑於外者曰附籍。 朝廷所移民曰移徙。
Households fell into three broad categories: commoners, military, and artisans. Commoner households included scholars, physicians, and yin-yang diviners. Military households included commandants, strongmen, archers, and garrison troops. Artisan households included kitchen servants, tailors, horse-transport crews, and similar trades. Coastal districts had salt-boiler households. Buddhist temples held monks; Daoist abbeys held priests. Each was entered in the register according to his trade. Household status was fixed by registration, and combining several surnames into one household to attach to another register was forbidden. Households that had concealed members or dropped off the register were allowed to come forward voluntarily. Each li appointed elders — respected seniors — to guide the people toward good conduct and mediate local disputes. Households that fled to avoid labor service were called fugitive households (taohu). Those who drifted elsewhere in famine years or to escape warfare were called floating populations (liumin). Those who moved abroad for legitimate reasons and registered locally were called attached-registration households (fuji). Populations relocated by government order were called state resettlement (yixi).
5
凡逃戶，明初督令還本籍復業，賜復一年。 老弱不能歸及不願歸者，令在所著籍，授田輸賦。 正統時，造逃戶周知冊，核其丁糧。
In early Ming, fugitive households were pressed to return to their home registers and resume farming, and were granted a one-year tax holiday. The elderly and infirm who could not return, and those who chose not to, were registered where they stood, granted land, and taxed accordingly. Under the Zhengtong Emperor a comprehensive fugitive-household register was drawn up to verify adult-male and grain-tax obligations.
6
凡流民，英宗令勘籍，編甲互保，屬在所裏長管轄之。 設撫民佐貳官。 歸本者，勞徠安輯，給牛、種、口糧。 又從河南、山西巡撫于謙言，免流民復業者稅。 成化初，荊、襄寇亂，流民百萬。 項忠、楊璿為湖廣巡撫，下令逐之，弗率者戍邊，死者無算。 祭酒周洪謨著《流民說》，引東晉時僑置郡縣之法，使近者附籍，遠者設州縣以撫之。 都御史李賓上其說。 憲宗命原傑出撫，招流民十二萬戶，給閒田，置鄖陽府，立上津等縣統治之。 河南巡撫張瑄亦請輯西北流民。 帝從其請。
For floating populations, the Yingzong Emperor ordered registration checks, organization into mutual-guarantee jia groups, and supervision by local li chiefs. Deputy officials for pacifying the people were appointed. Returnees were welcomed back, settled, and supplied with oxen, seed grain, and food rations. At the urging of Yu Qian, grand coordinator of Henan and Shanxi, taxes were waived for floating populations who returned to farming. Early in the Chenghua reign, rebellion in the Jing and Xiang region drove a million people into flight. As grand coordinators of Huguang, Xiang Zhong and Yang Xuan ordered the refugees expelled; those who refused were banished to frontier garrison duty, and untold numbers died. Zhou Hongmo, chancellor of the Directorate of Education, wrote On Floating Populations, citing the Eastern Jin practice of establishing attached prefectures and counties: nearby refugees would register locally; distant ones would receive new administrative units for resettlement. Censor-in-chief Li Bin submitted the proposal to the throne. The Chenghua Emperor dispatched Yuan Jie as pacification commissioner; he resettled one hundred twenty thousand floating households on vacant land, created Yunyang Prefecture, and established Shangjin and other counties to administer them. Zhang Xuan, grand coordinator of Henan, likewise petitioned to resettle northwestern refugees. The emperor granted the request.
7
凡附籍者，正統時，老疾致仕事故官家屬，離本籍千里者許收附，不及千里者發還。 景泰中，令民籍者收附，軍、匠、竈役冒民籍者發還。
For attached registration, under Zhengtong rules the families of officials who retired for age, illness, or bereavement could register locally if more than a thousand li from home; within a thousand li they were sent back. Under the Jingtai Emperor, genuine commoners could attach locally, but military, artisan, and salt-boiler households falsely registered as commoners were returned to their original status.
8
其移徙者，明初，當徙蘇、鬆、嘉、湖、杭民之無田者四千餘戶，往耕臨濠，給牛、種、車、糧，以資遣之，三年不徵其稅。 徐達平沙漠，徙北平山後民三萬五千八百餘戶，散處諸府衛，籍為軍者給衣糧，民給田。 又以沙漠遺民三萬二千八百餘戶屯田北平，置屯二百五十四，開地千三百四十三頃。 復徙江南民十四萬於鳳陽。 戶部郎中劉九皋言：「古狹鄉之民，聽遷之寬鄉，欲地無遺利，人無失業也。」 太祖採其議，遷山凱撒、潞民於河北。 眾屢徙浙西及山西民於滁、和、北平、山東、河南。 又徙登、萊、青民於東昌、兗州。 又徙直隸、浙江民二萬戶於京師，充倉腳夫。 太祖時徙民最多，其間有以罪徙者。 建文帝命武康伯徐理往北平度地處之。 成祖核太原、平陽、澤、潞、遼、沁、汾丁多田少及無田之家，分其丁口以實北平。 自是以後，移徙者鮮矣。
For state resettlement, early Ming authorities moved more than four thousand landless households from Suzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Hangzhou to farm at Linhao, supplying oxen, seed, carts, and travel grain, with a three-year tax exemption. After Xu Da pacified the northern steppe, he resettled more than thirty-five thousand eight hundred households from beyond the Yan mountains across Beiping prefectures and guards; military registrants received clothing and rations, civilians received farmland. He also settled more than thirty-two thousand eight hundred steppe remnant households in Beiping military colonies — two hundred fifty-four colonies opening one thousand three hundred forty-three qing of land. He further resettled one hundred forty thousand people from the lower Yangtze region at Fengyang. Liu Jiugao, a director in the Ministry of Revenue, said: "In antiquity people from overcrowded districts were allowed to move to underpopulated ones, so that no land went unused and no one lacked a livelihood. The Hongwu Emperor adopted the proposal and resettled people from Ze and Lu prefectures in Hebei. He repeatedly resettled people from western Zhejiang and Shanxi to Chu, He, Beiping, Shandong, and Henan. He also moved people from Deng, Lai, and Qing prefectures to Dongchang and Yanzhou. He also moved twenty thousand households from Zhili and Zhejiang to the capital as granary porters. Resettlement peaked under the Hongwu Emperor; some deportees were criminals exiled as punishment. The Jianwen Emperor sent Marquis of Wukang Xu Li to Beiping to survey land and arrange resettlement. The Yongle Emperor audited households in Taiyuan, Pingyang, Ze, Lu, Liao, Qin, and Fen with many adult males but little or no land, and redistributed their members to populate Beiping. After that, large-scale state resettlement became rare.
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初，太祖設養濟院收無告者，月給糧。 設漏澤園葬貧民。 天下府州縣立義塚。 又行養老之政，民年八十以上賜爵。 復下詔優恤遭難兵民。 然懲元末豪強侮貧弱，立法多右貧抑富。 嘗命戶部籍浙江等九布政司、應天十八府州富民萬四千三百餘戶，以次召見，徙其家以實京師，謂之富戶。 成祖時，復選應天、浙江富民三千戶，充北京宛、大二縣廂長，附籍京師，仍應本籍徭役。 供給日久，貧乏逃竄，輒選其本籍殷實戶僉補。 宣德間定制，逃者發邊充軍，官司鄰裏隱匿者俱坐罪。 弘治五年始免解在逃富戶，每戶徵銀三兩，與廂民助役。 嘉靖中減為二兩，以充邊餉。 太祖立法之意，本仿漢徙富民實關中之制，其後事久弊生，遂為厲階。
Early on the Hongwu Emperor established relief hospices for those with no one to support them, issuing monthly grain rations. He established public burial grounds (louzeyuan) for the poor. Charitable burial grounds were established in prefectures and counties empire-wide. He also enacted policies honoring the elderly, granting noble ranks to commoners aged eighty or above. He further issued edicts granting special relief to soldiers and civilians who had suffered wartime hardship. Yet to punish late-Yuan magnates who had bullied the poor, legislation often favored the poor and restrained the wealthy. He once ordered the Ministry of Revenue to register more than fourteen thousand three hundred wealthy households from nine provinces including Zhejiang and from eighteen Yingtian prefectures; summoned in turn, their families were moved to the capital — the so-called wealthy households (fuhu). Under the Yongle Emperor, three thousand wealthy households from Yingtian and Zhejiang were again selected as ward chiefs for Wan and Da counties in Beijing, registering in the capital while still liable for corvée at home. Over time many were ruined and fled; wealthy households from their home districts were then conscripted to replace them. Under Xuande rules, fugitives were banished to frontier military service, and officials or neighbors who concealed them were punished. In Hongzhi 5 (1492) the state stopped forcibly returning fugitive wealthy households; each household instead paid three taels of silver to help ward residents meet labor obligations. Under the Jiajing Emperor the levy was reduced to two taels, earmarked for frontier supplies. The Hongwu Emperor's policy imitated the Han practice of resettling wealthy households to populate Guanzhong; in time abuses accumulated until it became a source of widespread harm.
10
戶口之數，增減不一，其可考者，洪武二十六年，天下戶一千六十五萬二千八百七十，口六千五十四萬五千八百十二。 弘治四年，戶九百十一萬三千四百四十六，口五千三百二十八萬一千一百五十八。 萬曆六年，戶一千六十二萬一千四百三十六，口六千六十九萬二千八百五十六。 太祖當兵燹之後，戶口顧極盛。 其後承平日久，反不及焉。 靖難兵起，淮以北鞠為茂草，其時民數反增於前。 後乃遞減，至天順間為最衰。 成、弘繼盛，正德以後又減。 戶口所以減者，周忱謂：「投倚於豪門，或冒匠竄兩京，或冒引賈四方，舉家舟居，莫可蹤跡也。」 而要之，戶口增減，由於政令張弛。 故宣宗嘗與羣臣論歷代戶口，以為「其盛也，本於休養生息，其衰也，由土木兵戎」，殆篤論云。
Population figures fluctuated unevenly; where records survive, in Hongwu 26 (1393) the empire registered 10,652,870 households and 60,545,812 persons. In Hongzhi 4 (1491) there were 9,113,446 households and 53,281,158 persons. In Wanli 6 (1578) there were 10,621,436 households and 60,692,856 persons. Remarkably, under the Hongwu Emperor — right after the devastation of war — registered population was at its peak. Later, after long years of peace, the count actually fell short of that peak. When the Jingnan civil war broke out, the land north of the Huai was laid waste, yet registered population actually rose above the previous count. Thereafter it declined steadily, hitting its lowest point under the Tianshun Emperor. The Chenghua and Hongzhi reigns saw recovery, but after the Zhengde Emperor numbers fell again. Zhou Chen explained the decline: "People attached themselves to powerful households, falsely registered as artisans and hid in the two capitals, or falsely registered as merchants and roamed the empire — whole families living on boats, beyond any official trace. In the end, population rises and falls reflected whether government enforcement was strict or lax. The Xuande Emperor once discussed historical population trends with his ministers, concluding that prosperity came from policies of rest and recuperation, while decline came from palace construction and warfare — a judgment that rings true.
11
明土田之制，凡二等：曰官田，曰民田。 初，官田皆宋、元時入官田地。 厥後有還官田，沒官田，斷入官田，學田，皇莊，牧馬草場，城鵒需苜蓿地，牲地，園陵墳地，公佔隙地，諸王、公主、勳戚、大臣、內監、寺觀賜乞莊田，百官職田，邊臣養廉田，軍、民、商屯田，通謂之官田。 其餘為民田。
Ming land tenure divided the realm into two categories: official land and private (commoner) land. Initially, official land consisted of fields that had been confiscated or registered as state property under the Song and Yuan. Later categories of official land included restored state fields, confiscated property, adjudicated seizures, school lands, imperial estates, cavalry pastures, alfalfa grounds for city walls and suburbs, lands for ritual sacrifice, mausoleum and tomb precincts, publicly held vacant plots, estates granted to princes, princesses, noble kinsmen, senior officials, eunuchs, and temples, fields assigned to support official salaries, "integrity cultivation" grants for border officials, and military, civilian, and merchant colony fields — all classified together as official land. Everything else counted as private commoner land.
12
元季喪亂，版籍多亡，田賦無準。 明太祖即帝位，遣周鑄等百六十四人，核浙西田畝，定其賦稅。 復命戶部核實天下土田。 而兩浙富民畏避徭役，大率以田產寄他戶，謂之鐵腳詭寄。 洪武二十年命國子生武淳等分行州縣，隨糧定區。 區設糧長四人，量度田畝方圓，次以字型大小，悉書主名及田之丈尺，編類為冊，狀如魚鱗，號曰魚鱗圖冊。 先是，詔天下編黃冊，以戶為主，詳具舊管、新收、開除、實在之數為四柱式。 而魚鱗圖冊以土田為主，諸原阪、墳衍、下隰、沃瘠、沙鹵之別畢具。 魚鱗冊為經，土田之訟質焉。 黃冊為緯，賦役之法定焉。 凡質賣田土，備書稅糧科則，官為籍記之，毋令產去稅存以為民害。 又以中原田多蕪，命省臣議，計民授田。 設司農司，開治河南，掌其事。 臨濠之田，驗其丁力，計畝給之，毋許兼併。 北方近城地多不治，召民耕，人給十五畝，蔬地二畝，免租三年。 每歲中書省奏天下墾田數，少者畝以千計，多者至二十餘萬。 官給牛及農具者，乃收其稅，額外墾荒者永不起科。 二十六年核天下土田，總八百五十萬七千六百二十三頃，蓋駸駸無棄土矣。
The chaos at the end of the Yuan destroyed most registers, leaving land taxation without a reliable basis. On ascending the throne, Hongwu dispatched Zhou Zhu and 163 others to survey western Zhejiang's fields and establish tax rates. He then ordered the Ministry of Revenue to verify landholdings empire-wide. Wealthy families in the two Zhe regions, seeking to evade corvée, commonly registered their property under other households' names — the practice known as iron-foot fraudulent registration. In 1387 Hongwu sent imperial academy students including Wu Chun to counties and prefectures to delineate tax districts according to grain quotas. Each district appointed four grain chiefs who measured plots, arranged records by script size, listed every owner with field dimensions, and compiled booklets shaped like fish scales — the fish-scale register. Earlier edicts had required yellow registers organized by household, using the four-column format (former holdings, additions, removals, and current totals). Fish-scale registers focused on land itself, recording every category from uplands and slopes to wetlands, and noting fertile, poor, sandy, and saline soils. The fish-scale register served as the warp thread — the authoritative record for land disputes. The yellow register served as the weft, fixing the basis for tax and corvée obligations. Sales of land had to document tax obligations; officials recorded transfers to prevent the bane of sold property still carrying the seller's tax burden. Because much central China land lay fallow, he ordered provincial officials to devise plans for allocating fields to the people. He set up the Directorate of Agriculture in Henan to oversee the program. At Linhao land was distributed according to household labor capacity, with mergers forbidden. Uncultivated land near northern cities was opened to settlers, who received fifteen mu of grain land plus two mu for vegetables, tax-free for three years. Each year the central government reported reclaimed acreage — from thousands of mu in some regions to over 200,000 in others. Settlers who received government oxen and tools paid taxes; those who reclaimed wasteland beyond allotments enjoyed permanent tax exemption. The 1393 census recorded 8,507,623 qing of land empire-wide — nearly every foot of soil was under cultivation.
13
凡田以近郭為上地，迤遠為中地、下地。 五尺為步，步二百四十為畝，畝百為頃。 太祖仍元裏社制，河北諸州縣土著者以社分裏甲，遷民分屯之地以屯分裏甲。 社民先佔畝廣，屯民新佔畝狹，故屯地謂之小畝，社地謂之廣畝。 至宣德間，墾荒田永不起科及洿下斥鹵無糧者，皆核入賦額，數溢於舊。 有司乃以大畝當小畝以符舊額，有數畝當一畝者。 步尺參差不一，人得以意贏縮，土地不均，未有如北方者。 貴州田無頃畝尺籍，悉徵之土官。 而諸處土田，日久頗淆亂，與黃冊不符。 弘治十五年，天下土田止四百二十二萬八千五十八頃，官田視民田得七之一。 嘉靖八年，霍韞奉命修會典，言：「自洪武迄弘治百四十年，天下額田已減強半，而湖廣、河南、廣東失額尤多。 非撥給於王府，則欺隱於猾民。 廣東無籓府，非欺隱即委棄於寇賊矣。 司國計者，可不究心？」 是時，桂萼、郭弘化、唐能、簡霄先後疏請核實田畝，而顧鼎臣請履畝丈量，丈量之議由此起。 江西安福、河南裕州首行之，而法未詳具，人多疑憚。 其後福建諸州縣，為經、緯二冊，其法頗詳。 然率以地為主，田多者猶得上下其手。 神宗初，建昌知府許孚遠為歸戶冊，則以田從人，法簡而密矣。 萬曆六年，帝用大學士張居正議，天下田畝通行丈量，限三載竣事。 用開方法，以徑圍乘除，畸零截補。 於是豪猾不得欺隱，裏甲免賠累，而小民無虛糧。 總計田數七百一萬三千九百七十六頃，視弘治時贏三百萬頃。 然居正尚綜核，頗以溢額為功。 有司爭改小弓以求田多，或掊克見田以充虛額。 北直隸、湖廣、大同、宣府，遂先後按溢額田增賦云。
Fields were graded by distance from the city wall: nearest as upper-grade, farther as middle or lower. A bu was five feet, 240 bu made a mu, and 100 mu made a qing. Hongwu retained the Yuan li-she structure: in Hebei, natives were organized into li-jia by community (she), while resettled colonists were organized by colony. Established communities held wider plots while newer colonists received narrower ones — "small mu" for colony fields versus "broad mu" for community fields. By Xuande's time, formerly tax-exempt reclaimed and saline wasteland was folded into assessments, swelling totals beyond earlier records. Officials substituted larger measure for smaller to meet old quotas — in some cases several mu counted as one. Inconsistent measuring rods let officials manipulate acreage; nowhere was land inequality worse than in the north. Guizhou kept no standard land registers; taxes were levied entirely through native chieftains. Over time local land records diverged widely from the yellow registers. By 1502 registered land had fallen to 4,228,058 qing, with official land comprising only one-seventh of private land. In 1529 Huo Yun, compiling the institutional code, reported that over 140 years registered quota land had shrunk by more than half, with Huguang, Henan, and Guangdong showing the steepest losses. Lost acreage had either been granted to princely estates or hidden by powerful local elites. Guangdong, lacking princely estates, could only mean concealment or abandonment to bandits. Should those responsible for national finances not investigate thoroughly? Gui E, Guo Honghua, Tang Neng, and Jian Xiao then petitioned for land verification; Gu Dingchen proposed on-the-ground measurement — launching the surveying movement. Anfu (Jiangxi) and Yuzhou (Henan) pioneered the practice, but incomplete regulations bred widespread reluctance. Later Fujian counties developed detailed dual warp-and-weft registers. Because registers still centered on land rather than owners, wealthy landowners could still manipulate figures. Early in Wanli's reign, Jianchang prefect Xu Fuyuan devised household-centered registers linking fields to owners — simpler and tighter. In 1578 Wanli adopted Zhang Juzheng's plan for empire-wide land surveys, to be completed within three years. Surveyors applied geometric methods, calculating from diameters and perimeters and adjusting irregular plots. Powerful evaders could no longer hide holdings, li-jia heads escaped compensatory tax shortfalls, and smallholders shed fictitious tax burdens. The survey registered 7,103,976 qing — three million more than under Hongzhi. Yet Zhang Juzheng's zeal for fiscal verification encouraged inflating reported acreage. Local officials shrank measuring rods to inflate acreage or squeezed existing fields to meet phantom quotas. Zhili, Huguang, Datong, and Xuanfu subsequently raised taxes on this inflated acreage.
14
屯田之制：曰軍屯，曰民屯。 太祖初，立民兵萬戶府，寓兵於農，其法最善。 又令諸將屯兵龍江諸處，惟康茂才績最，乃下令褒之，因以申飭將士。 洪武三年，中書省請稅太原、朔州屯卒，命勿徵。 明年，中書省言：「河南、山東、北平、陝西、山西及直隸淮安諸府屯田，凡官給牛種者十稅五，自備者十稅三。」 詔且勿徵，三年後畝收租一斗。 六年，太僕丞樑埜仙帖木爾言：「寧夏境內及四川西南至船城，東北至塔灘，相去八百里，土膏沃，宜招集流亡屯田。」 從之。 是時，遣鄧愈、湯和諸將屯陝西、彰德、汝甯、北平、永平，徙山西真定民屯鳳陽。 又因海運餉遼有溺死者，遂益講屯政，天下衛所州縣軍民皆事墾闢矣。
Colony land fell into two types: military colonies and civilian colonies. Early on Hongwu established militia units combining farming and military service — the ideal arrangement. He ordered generals to establish garrison farms along the Longjiang; Kang Maocai's outstanding results won imperial praise and served as a model for other commanders. In 1370 when the central government proposed taxing Taiyuan and Shuozhou garrison farms, Hongwu refused. The following year officials proposed taxing garrison farms in Henan, Shandong, Beiping, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Huai'an at 50% for state-supplied settlers and 30% for self-equipped ones. Hongwu postponed collection, setting a rate of one dou per mu after three years. In 1373 a deputy minister proposed colonizing Ningxia and an 800-li belt in southwestern Sichuan, rich land suitable for resettling displaced populations. The court approved. Generals including Deng Yu and Tang He established colonies across Shaanxi, Zhangde, Runing, Beiping, and Yongping, while Zhending migrants were resettled at Fengyang. After drownings during sea transport of grain to Liaodong, the government intensified garrison farming empire-wide.
15
其制，移民就寬鄉，或召募或罪徙者為民屯，皆領之有司，而軍屯則領之衛所。 邊地，三分守城，七分屯種。 內地，二分守城，八分屯種。 每軍受田五十畝為一分，給耕牛、農具，教樹植，復租賦，遣官勸輸，誅侵暴之吏。 初畝稅一斗。 三十五年定科則：軍田一分，正糧十二石，貯屯倉，聽本軍自支，餘糧為本衛所官軍俸糧。 永樂初，定屯田官軍賞罰例：歲食米十二石外餘六石為率，多者賞鈔，缺者罰俸。 又以田肥瘠不同，法宜有別，命官軍各種樣田，以其歲收之數相考較。 太原左衛千戶陳淮所種樣田，每軍餘糧二十三石，帝命重賞之。 寧夏總兵何福積谷尤多，賜敕褒美。 戶部尚書鬱新言：「湖廣諸衛收糧不一種，請以米為準。 凡粟穀穈黍大麥蕎穄二石，稻穀薥秫二石五斗，穇稗三石，皆準米一石。 小麥芝麻豆與米等。」 從之，著為令。
Civilian colonies settled migrants, recruits, or convicts under civil administration; military colonies fell under guard units. On the frontier, 30% of troops garrisoned while 70% farmed. In the interior, the ratio was 20% garrison duty to 80% farming. Each soldier received a fifty-mu plot with oxen and tools, tax exemptions, agricultural instruction, official encouragement to deliver harvests, and punishment for abusive local officials. The initial rate was one dou per mu. In 1402 regulations fixed each fifty-mu share at twelve shi of principal grain stored in colony granaries for the unit's use, with surplus funding guard payrolls. Early in Yongle's reign, garrison farmers who produced six shi beyond the twelve-shi subsistence quota earned bonuses; shortfalls incurred pay cuts. Because soil fertility varied, Yongle ordered each unit to plant sample fields for yield comparison. Chen Huai of Taiyuan Left Guard achieved twenty-three shi surplus per soldier on his sample fields, earning substantial imperial rewards. Ningxia commander He Fu's exceptional grain stores earned an imperial commendation. Revenue Minister Yu Xin noted inconsistent grain types among Huguang garrisons and proposed standardizing on rice. Conversion rates fixed two shi of millet, barley, or buckwheat; two and a half shi of rice or sorghum; and three shi of inferior grains as equivalent to one shi of rice. Wheat, sesame, and beans counted equal to rice by volume. The court approved and codified these rates.
16
又更定屯守之數。 臨邊險要，守多於屯。 地僻處及輸糧艱者，屯多於守，屯兵百名委百戶，三百名委千戶，五百名以上指揮提督之。 屯設紅牌，列則例於上。 年六十與殘疾及幼者，耕以自食，不限於例。 屯軍以公事妨農務者，免徵子粒，且禁衛所差撥。 於時，東自遼左，北抵宣、大，西至甘肅，南盡滇、蜀，極於交阯，中原則大河南北，在在興屯矣。 宣宗之世，屢核各屯，以征戍罷耕及官豪勢要佔匿者，減餘糧之半。 迤北來歸就屯之人，給車牛農器。 分遼東各衛屯軍為三等，丁牛兼者為上，丁牛有一為中，俱無者為下。 英宗免軍田正糧歸倉，止徵餘糧六石。 後又免沿邊開田官軍子粒，減各邊屯田子粒有差。 景帝時，邊方多事，令兵分為兩番，六日操守，六日耕種。 成化初，宣府巡撫葉盛買官牛千八百，並置農具，遣軍屯田，收糧易銀，以補官馬耗損，邊入稱便。
Garrison-farm ratios were also revised. At critical border posts, more troops garrisoned than farmed. Remote posts with difficult supply lines assigned more farmers than garrison soldiers, with centurions commanding 100 colonists, chiliarchs 300, and commanders supervising 500 or more. Each colony posted red placards listing regulations. Soldiers over sixty, disabled, or too young farmed for subsistence without quota restrictions. Colonists diverted from farming by official duties were exempted from grain levies, and arbitrary guard requisitions were banned. Colonies stretched from Liaodong west to Gansu, south through Yunnan and Sichuan to Jiaozhi, and across central China — garrison farming flourished empire-wide. Xuande repeatedly audited colonies, halving surplus-grain quotas where campaigns interrupted farming or elites had seized land. Tribal peoples submitting from the northern frontier received carts, cattle, and tools. Liaodong colonies ranked soldiers by resources: top grade had both labor and oxen, middle had one, bottom had neither. Yingzong waived principal-grain deposits to colony granaries, taxing only the six-shi surplus quota. Later he exempted frontier reclaimed land from levies and reduced border colony taxes variably. During Jingtai's reign frontier turmoil required alternating six-day garrison and six-day farming shifts. In 1465 Xuanfu coordinator Ye Sheng purchased 1,800 oxen and tools for garrison farming, converting grain to silver for cavalry maintenance — a welcomed frontier reform.
17
自正統後，屯政稍弛，而屯糧猶存三之二。 其後屯田多為內監、軍官佔奪，法盡壞。 憲宗之世頗議釐復，而視舊所入，不能什一矣。 弘治間，屯糧愈輕，有畝止三升者。 沿及正德，遼東屯田較永樂間田贏萬八千餘頃，而糧乃縮四萬六千餘石。 初，永樂時，屯田米常溢三之一，常操軍十九萬，以屯軍四萬供之。 而受供者又得自耕。 邊外軍無月糧，以是邊餉恆足。 及是，屯軍多逃死，常操軍止八萬，皆仰給於倉。 而邊外數擾，棄不耕。 劉瑾擅政，遣官分出丈田責逋。 希瑾意者，偽增田數，蒐括慘毒，戶部侍郎韓福尤急刻。 遼卒不堪，脅眾為亂，撫之乃定。
After the Zhengtong era colony administration slackened, though roughly two-thirds of grain levies remained. Eventually eunuchs and officers seized most colony land, destroying the system. Chenghua saw restoration efforts, but revenues reached less than a tenth of former levels. By Hongzhi colony grain levies had fallen so low that some fields paid only three sheng per mu. By Zhengde Liaodong registered 18,000 more qing than under Yongle yet collected 46,000 fewer shi of grain. Under Yongle colony grain usually exceeded quotas by a third; 190,000 regular troops were fed by 40,000 colonists. Recipients of colony grain could still farm additional land for themselves. Frontier troops beyond the wall lacked monthly rations, yet border supplies remained adequate. By then colonists had fled or died in large numbers; only 80,000 regular troops remained, all dependent on state granaries. Frontier disturbances left outer-border land fallow. Under Liu Jin's dictatorship, officials were dispatched to survey land and collect back taxes. Officials currying favor fabricated acreage and extorted brutally — Vice Minister Han Fu among the worst. Unbearable oppression drove Liaodong troops to mutiny, quelled only after pacification.
18
明初，募鹽商於各邊開中，謂之商屯。 迨弘治中，葉淇變法，而開中始壞。 諸淮商悉撤業歸，西北商亦多徙家於淮，邊地為墟，米石直銀五兩，而邊儲枵然矣。 世宗時，楊一清復請召商開中，又請仿古募民實塞下之意，招徠隴右、關西民以屯邊。 其後周澤、王崇古、林富、陳世輔、王畿、王朝用、唐順之、吳桂芳等爭言屯政。 而龐尚鵬總理江北鹽屯，尋移九邊，與總督王崇古，先後區畫屯政甚詳。 然是時因循日久，卒鮮實效。 給事中管懷理言：「屯田不興，其弊有四：疆埸戒嚴，一也； 牛種不給，二也； 丁壯亡徙，三也； 田在敵外，四也。 如是而管屯者猶欲按籍增賦，非扣月糧，即按丁賠補耳。」
Early in the dynasty, salt merchants were recruited to the frontiers for the kaizhong grain-salt exchange system — estates known as merchant colonies. Under Hongzhi, Ye Qi's reforms broke the kaizhong system for the first time. Huai salt merchants abandoned their businesses entirely; northwestern merchants too moved families to the Huai region. Borderlands turned to wasteland, grain hit five taels of silver per shi, and frontier granaries stood empty. Under Jiajing, Yang Yiqing again urged restoring merchant kaizhong and, following ancient precedent, recruiting Longyou and Guanxi settlers to farm the frontier. Thereafter Zhou Ze, Wang Chonggu, Lin Fu, Chen Shifu, Wang Ji, Wang Chaoyong, Tang Shunzhi, Wu Guifang, and others all pressed proposals on garrison farming. Pang Shangpeng directed salt colonies along the north Yangzi, then moved to the nine frontier commands, working with Regional Commander Wang Chonggu to draft detailed colony plans. But years of bureaucratic inertia left little lasting result. Supervising Secretary Guan Huaili said: "Garrison farms fail to thrive. There are four abuses: strict frontier alerts — first; no oxen or seed provided — second; able-bodied men have fled — third; fields lie beyond enemy lines — fourth. Yet colony administrators still seek higher levies from the registers — deducting monthly rations or exacting per-capita payments."
19
屯糧之輕，至弘、正而極，嘉靖中漸增，隆慶間復畝收一斗。 然屯丁逃亡者益多。 管糧郎中不問屯田有無，月糧止半給。 沿邊屯地，或變為斥鹵、沙磧，糧額不得減。 屯田御史又於額外增本折，屯軍益不堪命。 萬歷時，計屯田之數六十四萬四千餘頃，視洪武時虧二十四萬九千餘頃，田日減而糧日增，其弊如此。 時則山東巡撫鄭汝璧請開登州海北長山諸島田。 福建巡撫許孚遠墾閩海壇山田成，復請開南日山、澎湖； 又言浙江濱海諸山，若陳錢、金塘、補陀、玉環、南麂，皆可經理。 天津巡撫汪應蛟則請於天津興屯。 或留中不下，或不久輒廢。 熹宗之世，巡按張慎言復議天津屯田。 而御史左光鬥命管河通判盧觀象大興水田之利，太常少卿董應舉踵而行之。 光鬥更於河間、天津設屯學，試騎射，為武生給田百畝。 李繼貞巡撫天津，亦力於屯務，然仍歲旱蝗，弗克底成效也。 明時，草場頗多，佔奪民業。 而為民厲者，莫如皇莊及諸王、勳戚、中官莊田為甚。 太祖賜勳臣公侯丞相以下莊田，多者百頃，親王莊田千頃。 又賜公侯暨武臣公田，又賜百官公田，以其租入充祿。 指揮沒於陣者皆賜公田。 勳臣莊佃，多倚威捍禁，帝召諸臣戒諭之。 其後公侯復歲祿，歸賜田於官。
Colony grain levies were lightest under Hongzhi and Zhengde, rose through Jiajing, and in Longqing the one-dou-per-mu rate returned. Colony laborers deserted in ever greater numbers. Grain administrators ignored whether fields were actually farmed and paid only half the monthly ration. Border colony land often turned saline or sandy, yet tax quotas could not be lowered. Colony censors piled extra principal conversions on quotas, crushing garrison farmers further. By Wanli, registered colony land totaled 644,000-odd qing — 249,000 qing less than under Hongwu — while levies rose as acreage shrank. Shandong Grand Coordinator Zheng Rubi proposed opening farmland on the Changshan islands off northern Dengzhou. Fujian Grand Coordinator Xu Fuyuan reclaimed Tan Mountain in the Fujian straits and petitioned to open Niri Mountain and Penghu; he also urged developing Zhejiang's coastal islands — Chenqian, Jintang, Putuo, Yuhuan, Nanji, and others. Tianjin Grand Coordinator Wang Yingjiao urged expanding garrison farms around Tianjin. Some proposals languished at court; others were tried briefly then dropped. Under Tianqi, Touring Censor Zhang Shenyan revived the Tianjin colony proposal. Censor Zuo Guangdou ordered River Intendant Lu Guanxiang to expand paddy cultivation; Vice Minister of Rites Dong Yingju continued the effort. Zuo Guangdou founded colony schools at Hejian and Tianjin, tested horsemanship and archery, and granted each military student one hundred mu. Grand Coordinator Li Jizhen pressed colony work equally hard, but drought and locusts year after year prevented lasting success. Ming pasture reserves were extensive and often seized from commoners. The worst scourges were imperial estates and manor lands held by princes, noble kinsmen, and eunuch officials. Hongwu granted manor estates to meritorious officials from dukes and marquises down — up to one hundred qing; princes received up to one thousand qing. He also granted public salary fields to nobles, military officers, and civil officials, whose rents funded their stipends. Commanders killed in battle received public fields as well. Noble estate tenants often bullied neighbors with impunity until the emperor summoned ministers to warn them. Later nobles resumed annual stipends and returned granted fields to the state.
20
仁、宣之世，乞請漸廣，大臣亦得請沒官莊舍。 然甯王權請灌城為庶子耕牧地，帝賜書，援祖制拒之。 至英宗時，諸王、外戚、中官所在佔官私田，或反誣民佔，請案治。 比案問得實，帝命還之民者非一。 乃下詔禁奪民田及奏請畿內地。 然權貴宗室莊田墳塋，或賜或請，不可勝計。 御馬太監劉順家人進薊州草場，進獻由此始。 宦官之田，則自尹奉、喜寧始。 初，洪熙時，有仁壽宮莊，其後又有清寧、未央宮莊。 天順三年，以諸王未出閣，供用浩繁，立東宮、德王、秀王莊田。 二王之籓，地仍歸官。 憲宗即位，以沒入曹吉祥地為宮中莊田，皇莊之名由此始。 其後莊田遍郡縣。 給事中齊莊言：「天子以四海為家，何必置立莊田，與貧民較利。」 弗聽。 弘治二年，戶部尚書李敏等以災異上言：「畿內皇莊有五，共地萬二千八百餘頃； 勳戚、中官莊田三百三十有二，共地三萬三千餘頃。 管莊官校招集羣小，稱莊頭、伴當，佔地土，斂財物，汙婦女。 稍與分辯，輒被誣奏。 官校執縛，舉家驚惶。 民心傷痛入骨，災異所由生。 乞革去管莊之人，付小民耕種，畝徵銀三分，充各宮用度。」 帝命戒飭莊戶。 又因御史言，罷仁壽宮莊，還之草場，且命凡侵牧地者，悉還其舊。
Under Hongxi and Xuande, land petitions multiplied, and even senior ministers could request confiscated manors. When Prince of Ning Zhu Quan sought Guancheng for his sons to farm, the emperor refused by citing ancestral precedent. Under Yingzong, princes, consort kin, and eunuch officials seized public and private land everywhere — sometimes accusing peasants of trespass to have them prosecuted. When investigations proved the facts, the emperor repeatedly ordered land returned to peasants. An edict then forbade seizing peasant land and petitioning for plots in the capital region. Yet powerful clans still received countless grants of manor land and tomb estates. Imperial Horse Supervisor Liu Shun's household presented Jizhou pastureland — beginning the practice of land presentation. Eunuch manor estates began with Yin Feng and Xi Ning. Under Hongxi came the Renshou Palace estate, followed by Qingning and Weiyang palace estates. In Tianshun 3, with princes still in the capital and expenses heavy, estates were set up for the heir apparent and the Princes of De and Xiu. When those two princes departed for their fiefs, the land reverted to the state. When Chenghua took the throne, Cao Xiangji's confiscated property became palace estates — the term imperial estates dates from this. Manor estates soon spread through every prefecture and county. Supervising Secretary Qi Zhuang said: "The Son of Heaven owns the four seas — why establish manor estates to squeeze profit from the poor?" The emperor paid no heed. In Hongzhi 2, Revenue Minister Li Min and others, citing omens and disasters, reported: "In the capital region there are five imperial estates totaling 12,800-odd qing; noble and eunuch estates number 332, totaling 33,000-odd qing. Estate managers and retainers recruit thugs as estate heads and attendants, seize land, extort goods, and assault women. Anyone who disputes them faces false accusations. Official retainers bind and arrest them; whole families live in terror. Popular resentment runs bone-deep — the source of heaven's warnings. We beg to remove estate managers, let peasants farm the land, and levy three fen of silver per mu for palace expenses." The emperor merely ordered estate tenants admonished. Following a censor's memorial, the Renshou Palace estate was abolished and restored to pasture; encroachers on pastureland were ordered to return it.
21
又定制，獻地王府者戍邊。 奉禦趙瑄獻雄縣地為皇莊，戶部尚書周經劾其違制，下瑄詔獄。 敕諸王輔導官，導王奏請者罪之。 然當日奏獻不絕，氣請亦愈繁。 徽、興、岐、衡四王，田多至七千餘頃。 會昌、建昌、慶雲三侯爭田，帝輒賜之。 武宗即位，逾月即建皇莊七，其後增至三百餘處。 諸王、外戚求請及奪民田者無算。
A rule was set: presenting land to princely mansions earned frontier-service punishment. Palace Attendant Zhao Xuan offered Xiong County as an imperial estate; Revenue Minister Zhou Jing impeached him for violating regulations and Zhao was jailed by imperial order. An edict warned princes' tutors: any who coached memorial petitions would be punished. Yet land presentations never stopped and petitions grew ever more frequent. The Princes of Hui, Xing, Qi, and Heng each held up to 7,000-odd qing. When the Marquises of Huichang, Jianchang, and Qingyun disputed fields, the emperor granted them at once. Within a month of Zhengde's accession, seven imperial estates were created; they eventually exceeded three hundred. Princes, consort kin, petitions, and peasant land seizures became innumerable.
22
世宗初，命給事中夏言等清核皇莊田。 言極言皇莊為厲於民。 自是正德以來投獻侵牟之地，頗有給還民者，而宦戚輩復中撓之。 戶部尚書孫交造皇莊新冊，額減於舊。 帝命核先年頃畝數以聞，改稱官地，不復名皇莊，詔所司徵銀解部。 然多為宦寺中飽，積逋至數十萬以為常。 是時，禁勳戚奏討、奸民投獻者，又革王府所請山場湖陂。 德王請齊、漢二庶人所遺東昌、兗州閒田，又請白雲等湖，山東巡撫邵錫按新令卻之，語甚切。 德王爭之數四，帝仍從部議，但存籓封初請莊田。 其後有奏請者不聽。
Early in Jiajing, supervising secretaries Xia Yan and others were ordered to audit imperial estates. Xia Yan argued forcefully that imperial estates scourged the people. Much land seized since Zhengde was returned to peasants, but eunuchs and consort kin repeatedly blocked enforcement. Revenue Minister Sun Jiao compiled a new imperial-estate register with lower totals than before. The emperor ordered acreage verified, estates renamed official land rather than imperial estates, and silver levies remitted to the ministry. Eunuchs pocketed much of the revenue; arrears in the hundreds of thousands became routine. Petitions from noble kin were banned, fraudulent land presentations curbed, and princely requests for hills, lakes, and marshes abolished. The Prince of De sought idle Dongchang and Yanzhou fields left by Qi and Han cadet lines plus lakes such as Baiyun; Shandong Grand Coordinator Shao Xi bluntly refused under the new rules. The Prince of De appealed four times; the emperor upheld the ministry, keeping only his original fief allotment. Further petitions were rejected.
23
又定，凡公主、國公莊田，世遠者存什三。 嘉靖三十九年遣御史瀋陽清奪隱冒莊田萬六千餘頃。 穆宗從御史王廷瞻言，復定世次遞減之限：勳臣五世限田二百頃，戚畹七百頃至七十頃有差。 初，世宗時，承天六莊二湖地八千三百餘頃，領以中官，又聽校舍兼併，增八百八十頃，分為十二莊。 至是始領之有司，兼併者還民。 又著令宗室買田不輸役者沒官，皇親田俱令有司徵之，如勳臣例。 雖請乞不乏，而賜額有定，徵收有制，民害少衰止。
A rule fixed that distant generations of princesses and state dukes retained only three-tenths of manor estates. In Jiajing 39, Censor Shen Shu recovered more than 16,000 qing of concealed manor land. Under Longqing, following Censor Wang Tingzhan, generation limits were set: meritorious families at the fifth generation capped at 200 qing; consort kin from 700 down to 70 qing by rank. Under Jiajing, Chengtian's six estates and two lakes totaled 8,300-odd qing under eunuch control; school estates annexed another 880 qing, split into twelve manors. Now they passed to civil officials, and annexed land was returned to peasants. Imperial clansmen who bought land without paying corvée forfeited it; consort-kin estates were taxed by civil officials like noble manors. Petitions continued, but fixed quotas and regulated collection eased the burden somewhat.
24
神宗賚予過侈，求無不獲。 潞王、壽陽公主恩最渥。 而福王分封，括河南、山東、湖廣田為王莊，至四萬頃。 羣臣力爭，乃減其半。 王府官及諸閹丈地徵稅，旁午於道，扈養廝役廩食以萬計，漁斂慘毒不忍聞。 駕帖捕民，格殺莊佃，所在騷然。 給事中官應震、姚宗文等屢疏諫，皆不報。 時復更定勳戚莊田世次遞減法，視舊制稍寬。 其後應議減者，輒奉詔姑留，不能革也。 熹宗時，桂、惠、瑞三王及遂平、甯德二公主莊田，動以萬計，而魏忠賢一門，橫賜尤甚。 蓋中葉以後，莊田侵奪民業，與國相終云。
Wanli's grants were extravagantly generous — no request refused. The Prince of Lu and Princess Shouyang received the greatest favor. When the Prince of Fu was enfeoffed, Henan, Shandong, and Huguang land was swept into his estate — 40,000 qing. Ministers protested fiercely until the grant was halved. Princely staff and eunuchs measured land and levied taxes along every road; retinues and lackeys numbered in the tens of thousands — exactions too brutal to recount. Imperial warrants seized peasants; resisting tenants were killed; the realm erupted in disorder. Supervising secretaries Guan Yingzhen, Yao Zongwen, and others remonstrated repeatedly — all ignored. Generation-reduction rules for noble estates were revised, slightly more lenient than before. When reductions were proposed, edicts invariably allowed temporary retention — reform failed. Under Tianqi, the Princes of Gui, Hui, and Rui and Princesses Suiping and Ningde held estates reckoned in the tens of thousands of qing; Wei Zhongxian's clan received especially lavish grants. From the mid-Ming onward, manor estates seized peasant livelihoods until the dynasty's fall.